November issue available in stores and online
The new WSC is out now, available from all good newsagents or to order from the WSC shop.
Inside WSC 369
The strange decline of Dutch managers | Tribute to John Motson | Football’s media revolution | Fallout from Arsenal v Cologne | Hero for a day in the FA Cup | Stress at Chesterfield | Harry Redknapp bows out | Why players got bigger | Southampton’s six titles | South America’s World Cup bid
Plus
Manchester – city of football culture | Scottish students aim to take on pros | Huddersfield ditch the kids | fans form plan of action | The unintentional entertainers | Focus on Kevin Keegan’s time in Hamburg | Meet the players’ helpers | Stalybridge Celtic’s missed opportunity
Chesterfield 1 Accrington Stanley 2 Dark days for the Spireites
A woman with short white hair and glasses, clutching a children’s football magazine in a plastic bag, is in Chesterfield’s Market Place looking at the Princess Diana tribute. “Hair’s good,” she says. “Teeth aren’t bad. It’s the face, isn’t it?” She turns to her companion. “Let’s take a picture and show it Derek.” Buy here to read the full article
Speaking his mind John Motson’s retirement
The retirement of John Motson represents the drying up of a deep channel of continuity in British footballing culture, one which stretches all the way back to the third round of the 1972 FA Cup. Through the slumps, tragedies and present-day hyperinflation that has beset football in those 45 years, Motson has never exactly been a figure of protest (though he was called upon to pass grim commentary at Hillsborough in 1989 as events unfolded). And yet, precisely because of his wide-eyed inanity, the agog spirit of a 12-year-old boy that he has unfailingly maintained, he has represented an opposition of sorts to wholesale change for the worse. As Theresa May might have put it, Motty has always been Motty. Buy here to read the full article
Total disaster Decline of Dutch managers
Whatever you think of Frank de Boer’s sacking by Crystal Palace, his short stay as manager reminds us of the diminished state of Dutch football. A previously unthinkable gap has opened up between the Netherlands and the top football nations. Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV have all been humiliated in Europe this season. And it’s been decades since the national team were so bad. The players who reached the 2010 World Cup final and came third in 2014 are mostly retired now and Holland’s new normal was exemplified by the 4-0 defeat by France in August. Buy here to read the full article
Famous for fifteen minutes FA Cup heroes
Non-League football is littered with promising young players who never quite made it to the top. Sean Geddes came far closer than most having been a member of the Manchester United youth set-up, and a contemporary of Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison. He’s 25 now and feels his moment has passed. Born and raised in West Bromwich, Geddes works for a local engineering firm and plays semi-professionally. His current circumstances are a world away from some of his former team-mates but he still has a significant FA Cup legacy to look back on. In 2014 he scored a brace for Worcester City in a famous first-round giant killing. Buy here to read the full article
Availability
WSC is the only nationally available independent football magazine in the UK, and you can get it monthly for a very reasonable £3.50. You should be able to find a copy in your local newsagent, otherwise outlets that stock WSC include WH Smith, mainline train stations plus selected Tescos. If you’re having trouble finding the magazine, you could do one of the following:
1. Subscribe now and also get access to the complete digital archive
2. Buy the latest issue direct from WSC
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4. Email us
5. Ask your local newsagent to order it for you
Photo by Paul Thompson, illustration by Matt Littler