Steve Morgan on the ups and downs of being a Portsmouth fan

Verdict so far on the Milan Mandaric regime?
Mandaric has put his money where his mouth is. On paper, this is the strongest squad we’ve had in years – the signing of Robert Prosinecki could be a masterstroke if he loses some weight. Mandaric talks a good game too. He criticised the club for having been run along “mom and pop” lines – a spot-on analysis of the last 30 years. However, he seems a trifle impatient: rejuvenation is likely to take between five and ten years. The much-vaunted move to the goods yard adjacent to Fratton Park is no nearer fruition, although planning permission has been granted and there seem to be even more roadworks than usual at the proposed access road for it.

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Spartak Moscow have not reacted well to a provincial challenge for this year's championship, back by a dodgy aluminium company. Kevin O'Flynn reports

The Russian premier league hasn’t been a foregone conclusion this year as four teams, two from Mos­cow, two not, have remained in contention for much of the season. The big surprise has been Krylia Sov­ietov Samara, until now perpetual mid-table fodder, who stayed at the top for most of the first half of the season. Backed by a mighty corporation, they seemed for a long time to have a chance to become only the second team from outside Moscow to win the Russian title. Krylia have been joined by their neighbours across the Volga river, Sokol Saratov, who, newly pro­moted, raced up to the top of the table and still harbour vague hopes of a UEFA Cup spot.

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Liverpool were supposed to be world-beaters in the early Eighties. But, given the chance to prove it, all they came up with was excuses, says Cris Freddi

The move to Tokyo saved the World Club Cup – or at least that’s how Europe saw it. Now that they no longer had to travel to South America to have lumps kicked out of them by Estudiantes and Nacional, Euro­pean clubs felt it was safe to dip their toes in again. A one-off match on neutral territory – English clubs in particular had been getting good at those. So how do you explain the first half here? Try the early goal per­haps. Liverpool weren’t especially good at recovering from those. Here they were caught flat-footed at the back by a flick from Zico that caught out Hansen and sent Nunes in to score.

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Gavin Barber attempts to explain how a loping Ipswich youngster became a cult hero at his hometown club but a figure of fun almost everywhere else

F­ootball is littered with underachievers, players who are shoved into the spotlight at an early age like American prom queens with dreams of Hollywood, and end up on the sport’s equivalent of the shopping mall circuit. Anyone could instantly reel off a list of their club’s past players who fit this description (unless you support Manchester City, in which case it might be quicker to list the ones who don’t). But the Jason Dozzell story is somehow more odd than simply to merit some weary epithet about “not living up to his potential”. Many of those who observed his career at close quarters from an early stage found him an utterly compelling footballer to watch; the rest of the world will probably never understand why.

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Where does the future of football on the internet lie? Bob Roberts believes big clubs hold the whip hand, while general, free-access sites are in trouble

On Tuesday May 14, 2001, Celtic made internet foot­ball history by transmitting Tommy Boyd’s testimonial game against Manchester United as the first ever live broadband broadcast. The broadcast on their official website was the first “free-to-air” football match available on the internet, with pic­ture quality allegedly comparable to television.

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