London's big clubs promised much, but only Arsenal have won regular league championships. Mike Ticher wonders why

There is no particular reason why a capital city should produce successful or popular football clubs. In fact in Europe the opposite seems the case. The records of the main clubs in Berlin and Paris are woeful. Roma and Lazio have won just four Italian titles between them. London’s part in English football history is also one of potential only partly fulfilled, char­acterised by lots of cup triumphs but few league titles (Arsenal ex­cepted), by huge spectator support, a proliferation of middle-ranking clubs – far more than any other city in Europe – and a patchwork of interesting but rarely mutual rivalries.

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Massed ranks of WSC writers and interviewees reflect on the best and worst of 2000

Jim Rosenthal
Ups
– Premier League highlights acquired by ITV
– Cardiff losing at Gillingham to ensure Oxford United avoid relegation
– Playing for the Cookham Dean Parents against 12-year-old son Tom (lost 8-7)

Downs
– Hearing the country I had backed to win Euro 2000 (Italy) had lost in the final in extra time. They were still leading with two minutes to go when I boarded a flight home after the French grand prix.
– Oxford United’s owner Firoz Kassam telling the fans after the Luton game to “piss off” unless they gave him their support. The club’s “saviour” is taking us into the fast lane out of the League.
– Sitting in the stadiums of Florence, Rome and Turin and hearing the racist abuse directed at black players of Manchester United, Arsenal and England

Hope for 2001
– It stops raining and English clubs go all the way in the Champions League.

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Terry Fenwick claims to have ejoyed his time as manager of Portsmouth. Steve Morgan and thousands of other Pompey fans did not

There is a strange no-man’s land in football, a place reserved for those who inspire a unified raising of the hackles, whether you watch at St James’ Park, Exeter, or Newcastle. In any self-respecting fan’s Room 101, there is surely a corner table set aside for Terry Fen­wick. Fenwick’s appointment at Portsmouth for his first managerial post in February 1995 was symptomatic of the mal­aise that descended on Fratton Park after the club failed to clinch promotion to the top flight by scoring one goal fewer than West Ham in 1992-93. (Thanks to the Hammers’ 2-0 win over Cambridge on the last day which saved Terry Butcher’s Sunderland.)

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Joe Boyle swallows hard and thinks back to 1993, when Terry Butcher brought his own brand of English traditions to the Sunderland hot seat

Though the recent triumph over Newcastle has created a mood of benevolence among Sunderland supporters, rancour has been a more predominant tone this season. Astonishingly, some people believe Peter Reid has taken the club as far as he can and want him out.

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England have announced that former players such as Peter Beardsley and Alan Shearer will be fast-tracked into the national team coaching set-up. Harry Pearson assesses  Bryan Robson's reign at Middlesbrough

A friend of mine sits in the North Stand at the Riverside Stadium next to a man whose already dark mood has been exacerbated in recent years by the ban on smoking in the stands. Natural pessimism coupled with nicotine deprivation has turned him into a ner­vous wreck. During one home match he ex­pressed so many doubts and fears about the team’s prospects that a bloke sitting a few rows in front turned round. “Ow, mate,” he bellowed, “will you shut your face, you sound like the fucking Grim Reaper.”

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