As Ipswich revel in their role as the nation's sweethearts and Norwich flounder, Gavin Barber reflects on their sudden change of fortunes

What were you doing on August 22? If you are an Ips­­­wich fan, you were probably wat­ch­­­­­­­­­ing a thril­ling draw with Man­­­ches­ter United. If you sup­port Norwich, you were most likely searching for a rea­son to miss your team’s 0-0 draw with Bournemouth in the Worthington Cup. This stark illustration of the current disparity between the two teams didn’t go unnoticed by either set of supporters. Since then, of course, Ipswich’s astounding Premiership form and City’s further struggles have only made it more marked.

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Cris Freddi reviews the local tie which ended non-League Canvey Island's FA Cup hopes

“You can’t be serious about these shrimps.”

“We’re not, really…”

The Shrimpers Club bar. Some poor sod hobbling round the pitch in a pink prawn outfit, tail trailing in the mud. Who decided we needed cuddly toy mascots? Cyril the frigging swan. Dumber and dumb­er.

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The vioence at Africa's Champions League final was the climax of a troubled year. Alan Duncan fears little will change as a result

The reputation of African football suffered yet another knock following December’s ill-fated second leg of the Champions League final between Tunisian outfit Espérance de Tunis and Ghana’s Hearts of Oak, in the west African country’s capital, Accra. The match, the climax of the continental club cal­endar, degenerated into scenes of pandemonium with 18 minutes of the second half remaining when security forces responded to a hostile, missile-throwing faction of Ghanaian fans by firing teargas up into the stad­ium’s north stand, with one canister landing above the VIP enclosure.

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Who are G-14 and what do they want? More money, as if you didn't know. John Sugden investigates the gathering threat to UEFA's control of European club football

Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds are all through to the second group phase of the Champions League but, while that may induce a sense of well- being in England, we should not be blinded by the glitz and glamour to the reality that European club football is mired deep in crisis. Already reeling from the un­folding consequences of Bosman and the latest European Union attack on the transfer sys­tem, UEFA are faced with a new double chal­lenge to their monopoly over the European game. As usual, the essence of the latest crisis boils down to money, or, to be more precise, who generates the cash and who gets their hands on the lion's share of it.

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Lots of people have said nice things about David Coleman since the BBC put him out to grass. Harry Pearson isn't one of them

Trying to decide who is the best football commen­tator of all time is clearly a pointless exercise, on a par with arguing over who is the better looking, Kevin Phillips or Phil Stamp. Nevertheless, the news that the BBC will not be renewing David Coleman’s contract has provoked just such a debate and a recent convening of the Radio 5 sports panel, among others, unanimously declared the sep­tuagenarian gurgler from Stockport the greatest ever.

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