Roger Titford looks at the progress of Supporters Direct, the government scheme set up to help fans play a role in running their clubs 

“Who rules the game?” In an attempt to answer that age-old question, here are two extracts from the leading football fanzine of the day. “It is clear where the way to democracy lies but it will only be followed as part of the road to socialism as a whole… Eventually I would like to see democratic supporters’ associations withdraw paying support at the turnstiles in order to force financial crises on the boards until democratic control is handed over to them.”

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Boavista, the second club in Porto, have broken the domination of Portugal's big three. Phil Town tries to work out how they did it 

The old David and Goliath cliche was wheeled out for some heavy use by newspapers, TV and radio stations to describe Boavista’s title triumph, but it was a cliche well employed. Boavista are indeed dwarfed by the big three of Benfica, Sporting and Porto. In the week before the game against Aves which decided the title, Boavista proudly announced that their subscription-paying fan base had risen to a club record 15,000. This compares to Porto’s 60,000, Sporting’s 80,000 and Benfica’s whopping 115,000. Those three clubs had budgets for this season of £25 million, £20 million and £25 million respectively. Boavista’s was £4.5 million, of which just £1 million was spent on players.

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After their performance in the UEFA Cup final the Basque side Alaves found themselves with few enemies, even in other regions of Spain. But, says Phil Ball, things have already started to go wrong

When Jordi Cruyff headed the equaliser for Alavés that took the UEFA Cup final against Liverpool into extra-time, there seemed a reasonable case for stopping the game and awarding the cup to both teams. Right now they’ll be squabbling over the rights to the official video, and desperately brainstorming an alternative title to Game of the Century.

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Despite a magnificent cup run, German minnows FC Union's success may not last long, writes Markus Hesselmann 

In the weeks between promotion and cup final, Union were all the rage in Germany. The club made head­lines in the arts pages of the national newspapers. There were television features about the upright working-class blokes from the eastern district of Köpenick, who had always been sub­dued by the Stasi but would now arise as the true team of east Berlin and the whole of east­ern Germany.

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Coventry City's first ever relegation will cost them on and off the pitch, writes Neville Hadsley 

For Coventry City fans, relegation is a new and strange experience. It is the first time City have been relegated from any division since 1958. Even that was more of a reshuffle as Divisions Three North and South became Divisions Three and Four. In fact it is the first time Cov­entry have finished in the bottom two of any league since 1952.

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