Done us a favour

Gray and Keys did us one favour – stripping bare the sexism behind the TV experts’ so-called banter. Dinosaur attitudes not restricted to the studio either. Wear “Kick Sexism out of Football” to campaign against all those who believe it is gender that determines our knowledge or otherwise of the Offside rule.

Half-price “Kick Sexism Out” mug when purchased with the shirt.

Available from www.philosophyfootball.com philosophyfootball●com sporting outfitters of intellectual distinction WSC No 289, March 2011

An Anish Kapoor sculpture overlooks the Riverside, Middlesbrough

Contents

Nick Hornby observed that a football crowd is “always teetering on the edge of rage”. That was in north London. This is Teesside. These people stopped teetering long ago. Match of the month Middlesbrough v Preston p20

COLIN MCPHERSON

4 Editorial Clubs at the mercy of their mad owners 6 News watch Gray and Keys are roundly disdained 8 Sidelines An awkward anniversary; suggestions for standing; Kevin Muscat’s terrible timing; the growing power of football agents 12 Shot! Blackpool beat Liverpool at Bloomfield Road 14 Being Andy Townsend How simple it was to slip into a pundit’s shoes 15 Facing facts A debate over how to improve sports journalism gets personal 16 Scotland from top to bottom Only one game matters to the money men;

plus a Cup grudge match is postponed 15 times and a manager swaps sides 18 Celebrity squared How Beckham can’t be blamed for his circus 20 Match of the month Middlesbrough host Preston but neither side get what they want 24 Saluting a Spurs hero Remembering John White,

killed at the height of his career

C OL OR S P ORT

26 American revolution Why US football wants rid of UK influence 27 TV tomfoolery A pioneering but dubious non-League deal 28 Verona hit the heights Outsiders upset the Italian establishment 30 Loan rangers Why selected teams benefiting from other clubs’ players tilts the playing field 32 Russian Premier League Why changing the football calendar may alleviate some clubs’ financial woes 33 A Bohemian existence Wage worries in the League of Ireland 35 Strange case of... John Jensen, Arsenal’s 1990s icon 36 World view Early warnings in Qatar; a star striker survives; football in France’s territories 40 Reviews George Best hits Hibs; Malaga on the mind;

truthful Trundle; Derby County crash out 42 Letters Dear WSC, I know I shouldn’t but... 46 Season in brief Division One 2000-01