CONTENTS

WSC No 303, May 2012

Alex Nimely, the brightest playing star in Coventry’s feeble firmament, does not even belong to us. He is on loan from Manchester City. Every silver lining has a cloud Match of the month Coventry City v Birmingham City p20

Blue skies but grey times at Coventry cPHERSON

MCOLIN

5 Editorial The drawback of the domination of

Lionel Messi and Barcelona

6 Sidelines Mario Balotelli’s rock-star interview;

Sepp Blatter’s full-time jobs for referees; Corinthian spirit; reassessing Scotland’s video evidence; Airbus take off; a special train of thought; the winning ways of Kenny Dalglish

12 Shot! Newport County head for Wembley in the

FA Trophy via Wealdstone

14 The state of the game The FA’s dereliction of duty; the rotten rise of ex-Sheff ield Wednesday chairman Dave Richards; the righteous anger of Arsenal supporters; Leeds bans their own fans

18 Winter wonderland Would a Christmas holiday keep English players fresh for the spring and summer?

19 Anglo-Irish relations James McClean and the League of

Ireland’s production line

20 Match of the month Coventry take an honourable point from Birmingham City in front of the Scouts

24 Focus on...

Derby fans enjoy the club’s f irst season in the European Cup in 1972-73

26 Motion picture sickness The good, the bad and the ugly of footballers’ appearances on the big screen; Mike Straight on Chelsea’s race relations

29 A good grounding Travellers trek through European football

30 Euro view Winterthur’s social services in Switzerland;

lacking leadership in Spain; Jörg Haider’s persistent failures in Austria

34 Grassed off

An Oldham fan recalls the club’s painful plastic pitch; mixed materials in Moscow

36 World view Supermarket sweep in Argentina; domestic decline in India; strikes and action in Peru

IMAGES

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40 Books Life lessons from Richard Lee; winning favour in Pohnpei; Didier Hamann’s Liverpool love-in; dull David Weir

42 Letters Dear WSC, has anyone else noticed...

46 Last word Is your son as mature as Wayne Rooney?

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