David Stubbs reviews Mike Bassett: England manager as Ricky Tomlinson takes England to the World Cup

So, England’s manager has had a heart attack during the qualifying stages of the World Cup, to be held in Brazil. In a smoke-filled room at FA headquarters, the powers-that-be realise that for want of better applicants, they must approach Norwich City man­ager Mike Bassett (Ricky Tomlinson) for the England job. They need one win from their last three games to qualify. However Bassett, whose tactical nous doesn’t appear to extend beyond blustering about pressure, com­mit­ment and 4-4-2, very nearly makes a balls-up of it.

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The "referee crisis" fuelled by television exposure that should just be ignored

As in so many other respects, people often look back on the 1970 World Cup as a golden age of refereeing. Do you know, not a single player was sent off, they will tell you. Not like now, when games are persistently ruined by referees des­perate to get into the limelight, imposing absurdly over-fussy regulations.

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Dear WSC
I am writing in defence of “Super”Chrissy Sutton, who was bracketed along with Collymore and Anelka as a “take the money and run” football pirate by Patrick Brannigan in his musings on the Sol Campbell affair (Letters, WSC 176). Maybe I’m missing something, but as far as I am aware Sutton has played for only four clubs in a ten-year plus career – which seems about an average ratio, I would suggest. At none of them did he make outrageous wage demands, nor has he ever refused to play – in any position, as Norwich fans will remember. Why is he equated with Anelka or Collymore? What’s the problem here? “Super” Chrissy, as us country folk in Norfolk remember him, seems to attract much opprobrium among general football folk, which confuses me. Yet, apart from a dodgy season with Chel­sea, he has invariably played well and always with all his heart. Two champion­ship medals and a bag of goals either side of the border would suggest he’s worth the cash. But then, I’m just a simple country lad who knows nowt but tractors.
Jez Booker, via email

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Saturday 1 Germany 1 England 5, and a hat-trick for Michael Owen after the home team had taken any early lead. “For a non-German it must have been a brilliant spectacle,” sighs Franz Beckenbauer. “I would have been happy with 2-1,” says Sven, containing his excitement. “When we scored the third, fourth and fifth goals we just looked at each other, trying to figure out what the hell was going on,” says a shocked David Beckham. Ireland’s 1-0 win over Holland means they will make the play-offs at least, while their opponents are out, tactical maestro and all. “The pitch was too dry, which made it more difficult for us to pass the ball,” Louis van Gaal explains. Wales and Scotland are held to goalless draws by Armenia and Croatia. Northern Ireland get a 1-1 draw in Denmark. An Englishman also makes the decisive contribution to events in Group 1 as a dubious last-minute penalty gives Slovenia a 2-1 win over Russia – referee Graham Poll is denounced as “a snivelling creep” by Russia’s Alexander Mostovoi. Former ITV commentator Brian Moore dies.

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Jan Lotze takes issue with the webs leading purveyor of exclusive nonsense about top players, which it is keen to keep a firm grip on

First came the internet, with unlimited free access to all the information that was on it. Then came people who thought that the internet would be a good way to make themselves some money, which was inevitable. Then came people who wanted to have their cake and eat it, like icons.com.

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