Preston North End fan Martin Atherton explains that with the exception of a few teams, there was not a lot to choose from the teams in Division One

Having been a Preston North End fan since well before the club were last in the second level of English football 20 years ago, it was interesting last season to see how standards compared to the lower echelons we have inhabited for so long. Overall, I have to say that there was generally not a lot to choose between the top of the Second Division in 1999-2000 and the majority of the First Division last year.

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Lifelong Walsall fan Jeff Bonser bought into the club in 1991, eventually going on to become the chairman in 1997. Paul Giess explains how his unpopular methods have given the club finanacial stability

Distinguishing features Looks like a business studies lecturer with a Mercedes.

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Dear WSC
Alun Rogers (Letters, WSC 173) may well be right about Wales’ superior claim to Owen Hargreaves, but repeats the canard about how they “should by rights have Michael Owen”. Owen has two English-born parents. They moved to Wales, but close enough to the border that Michael James was born in a maternity hospital in England. He may live in and have been educat­ed in Wales, and took Deeside schools records from Gary Speed and Ian Rush, but chose the training set-up of, ahem, the land of his father, at an early age. While “Owen” clearly suggests Welsh roots, the player’s own comments when asked about this subject are that his nearest Celtic relative is a solitary Scottish grandparent, while he had three English ones. In which case, is he even qualified to play for Wales?
Philip Cornwall, Lewisham

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Cameron Carter exposes the myth behind the idea that playing away from home is more difficult and comes up with a few possible solutions

Because it clearly isn’t. What is the immense problem in taking a luxury coach 80 miles down the road to a carefully groomed pitch and playing to the same level as you play at home? Why, year after year, are experienced clubs full of world-class players happy to come away with a point? Think about your reaction as a fan. Should your team lose 1-0 away, it is simply a case of puffing out the cheeks and nodding ruefully. Should they lose at home, however, it is out on the streets with us and we have learned the chairman’s name to say out loud

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It's looking grim for Mexico, unitl now perpetual World Cup qualifiers from concacaf. Simeon Tegel looks for clues to the recent failures of the central American giants

If there was ever a country that should have been able to assume automatic qualification for the World Cup, then surely it is Mexico. With a football-obsessed population of 100 million, a league as rich as any in the Americas and a 110,000-capacity home stadium at a height of 2,400 metres, the country seems blessed.

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