2498: G-14 on the prowl again

by : Hugh Larkin The self-styled G-14 clubs are in the business of flexing their muscles again. European soccer’s cartel of richest clubs are backing small Belgian outfit Charleroi in that club’s attempt to prise compensation from FIFA after one of their players was injured playing in an internatio...

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1760: Politics: The rise and rise of

by : Alex Ross Premier League football is becoming more and more a middle-class game since the advent of the growing number of ‘modern’ stadiums. Executive boxes are flooding top grounds while ticket rises are always on the up; both are combining and pushing the real, long standing fans out the gam...

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1749: Championship: New Champions’ L

by : Alex Ross The widespread problem of Premiership clubs robbing Championship clubs of their young talent is set to continue this summer due to a UEFA ruling earlier this year. This damaging prospect will only widen the worrying gap between the Premiership and the Championship. On the 3rd Feb ...

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1692: FA: Geoff Thompson- What’s My

by : Bill Urban Football Association Chairman: Why, that doesn’t seem like a vague title at all. Seems that the position implies a responsibility over the body charged with overseeing the health of football in England. From such simple understandings are muddled messes made. Geoff Thompson, titu...

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1630: FA: The tasks facing Brian Bar

by : Stephen Orford Amid the furore surrounding transfer deadline day, and the intrigue of the FA Cup fifth round draw yesterday (January 31), the arrival of Brian Barwick in his new job as Chief Executive of the Football Association went almost unnoticed. Barwick replaces Mark Palios in the role, ...

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1567: FA: Reining In Ferguson and We

by : Bill Urban Setting: A luxuriously-appointed, full of trophies for things other than playing football, Soho Square office. Seated at the desk, FA Chairman Geoff Thompson... Thompson: (musing) All this domestic silliness with Sir Alex and the Frenchman is distracting me from my lucrative, I mea...

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1502: FA: About time they made sense

by : Sam Craig 4) I’ll need a healthy dose of slack cut for me on this one: two Yanks, neither of whom play in goal, got onto the pitch, although McBride’s 90th minute appearance for a petulant Andy Cole was notable only because of its brevity, very much a cameo appearance. But still, it’s not so u...

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1426: Standing: An Open Letter To Sq

by : Bill Urban Having recently written responses to Squarefootball articles which might charitably be described as scathing, the appearance of an article by Alex Wolstenholme concerning standing during matches has had the opposite effect, stimulating a desire to compose a piece in support of some ...

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1400: Time for a sensible debate on

by : Alex Wolstenholme The debate over re-introducing standing areas at football grounds has come back into the spotlight recently with Leicester City chief executive Tim Davies becoming one of the first high ranking officials in football to publicly say that he would like a standing area at his cl...

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1279: FA: A special briefing on raci

by : Bill Urban In defence England were not exactly carved open at will, as some pundits seemed to suggest. The marking for Del Horno's 9th minute winner was inadequate, with Nicky Butt culpable for not picking up the run of the left-back. However, other than that, only Gary Neville's last ditch ...

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1265: Premiership: Get me the Direct

by : Stephen Bartley Football’s talking heads had a flag week last week. As Jacque Santini walked out on Spurs “for personal reasons”, (now determined to be impersonal reasons), the vultures made their way to the canteen. Shortly after the announcement Santini’s reputation fell quicker than the M...

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1233: FA CEO: A massive irrelevancy

by : Bill Urban In their time-honoured and well-developed tradition of total incompetence and comprehensive inability to accomplish a task in anything resembling a timely fashion, The Football Association has yet to fill the position of Chief Executive Officer, vacated after Mark Palios’s resignati...

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