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TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine1986

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine

2011

Inside Dilemmaforteenstars

SwindonTown’sworstseason

SwindonTown’sworstseason

CarltonCole’sTwittertrouble

CarltonCole’sTwittertrouble

Crawley-unpopularchampions

Crawley-unpopularchampions

RelegationbattleinBirmingham

RelegationbattleinBirmingham

BARCELONA: BEST IN THE WORLD? IN THE WORLD? IN THE WORLD?

£2.95 June2011 Issue292

Noonecan matchusfor passing...

hype...

andfalling over

AroundtheworldRacisminBrazilBosniabannedbyFIFA

AroundtheworldRacisminBrazilBosniabannedbyFIFA

Germandemocracyunderthreat

Germandemocracyunderthreat

ForeignownersforSpanishclubs

ForeignownersforSpanishclubs

China’sfootballboom

China’sfootballboom

1986

2011

25thAnniversarySpecial

Fromfanstocustomers–the changingmatchdayexperience

11/05/2011 18:25

Discount offers

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine1986

2011

Inside FootballLeaguereview

FootballLeaguereview

Swanseabackatthetop

Swanseabackatthetop

WholikestheEuropaLeague?

WholikestheEuropaLeague?

TheFAatwarwithFIFA

TheFAatwarwithFIFA

AnIrishmaninLibya

AnIrishmaninLibya

HAS BLATTER

HAS BLATTER RUINED FOOTBALL?

RUINED FOOTBALL?

No,itwill takeatleastanothertakeatleastanother

No,itwill takeatleastanother fouryears fouryears

AroundtheworldGoodtimesforPorto

Italian fancampaign SeasonrestartsinJapan

Serbia:Arkan’sclubindecline

Latvianfootballonthebrink

Argentinarefereeingcontroversy wsc293_cover.indd 1

£2.95 July2011 Issue293

£2.95 July2011July2011July Issue293

1986

2011

25thAnniversarySpecial

Thechangingfaceofclubownership fromIpswichbrewerstoRussianoligarchs

08/06/2011 18:21

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine1986

1

2011

Inside Over-pricedEnglishtalent

Players’ superinjunctions

HowforeigntourshavechangedHowforeigntourshavechanged

Howforeigntourshavechanged

Whathappenedtoawayends?

Football’s onlineabusers

THE NEW MOURINHO?

Failtowinthe ChampionsLeague,fall outwithAbramovich,

takeabigpay-off

AroundtheworldMexicowintheGoldCup again

Palestine takeonAfghanistan

NewhopeforIndianfootball?

GranadaontheriseinSpain

CorruptioninSouthKorea

AderbydayinRio wsc294_cover.indd 1

£2.95 August2011 Issue294

1986

2011

25thAnniversarySpecial

Howthegamehaschanged,from

Howthegamehaschanged,from parkfootballtothetacticalrevolution parkfootballtothetacticalrevolution

06/07/2011 18:30

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine

TRANSFER MADNESS!TRARANMADNDNDNDNESS!S!MADNDN

1986

2011

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine

INSIDE Football and the riots

Joey Barton’s long goodbye

Life in League One for

Sheffield Wed and Notts County

Sheffield Wed and Notts County

Footballers’ Desert Island Discs

Footballers’ Desert Island Discs

Media-savvy managers

1986

2011

Let’sall moveto Manchester

TheHalfDecentFootballMagazine

INSIDE Stars from the lower divisions

Stars from the lower divisions

Should clubs compensate fans?

Should clubs compensate fans?

Footballers love computer games

Footballers love computer games

Gateshead aiming for the League

Gateshead aiming for the League

When crowd abuse goes too far When crowd abuse goes too far

When crowd abuse goes too far

Hartlepool’s lost rivals

TEVEZ CONTROVERSY

Iwon’tplaywith peoplewhoareonly hereforthemoney

£16million forPhilJones?

£20million forJordan Henderson?

£20million forStewart Downing? £20million£20million forStewartforStewart Downing?

wsc295_cover2.indd 1

£3.50 September 2011 Issue295

INSIDE The Carlos Tevez saga

Women’s World Cup

Wimbledon are back

Uruguay win Copa

Bundesliga scandal

Champions League in decline?

Fulham return to Europe

Pat Rice’s glasses

1986

2011

25th Anniversary Special

Football writing: broadsheets,

tabloids and player biographies tabloids and player biographies

27/07/2011 19:14

ARSENAL’S NEW DIRECTION

AROUND THE WORLD

South Africa’s World Cup hangover

South Africa’s World Cup hangover

Shamrock Rovers in Europe

What next for Asian football?

Mundialito: the tournament

England turned down

Slavia Prague in crisis

£2.95 October 2011 Issue296

31/08/2011 18:27

wsc296_cover.indd 1

AROUND THE WORLD

Joe Cole is a hit in France

Spanish players’ strike action

Premier League still big in Japan

Footballers and booze in Brazil

Lebanon’s World Cup target wsc297_cover.indd 1

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Order online wsc.co.uk Editorial

Imperfect matches

As Barcelona break more records, their often f lawless football has a downside years. The poorest teams are st i l l thrashed occasionally, but each week’s results are much harder to predict than they would have been a couple of years ago.

Soon there will be a Lionel Messi-related stat ist ic for every number up to four f igures. In eight successive games between February and mid-March he scored 18 times – more than Wayne Rooney managed in the whole of 2010-11 – and now has 55 for the season. In fewer than seven complete seasons he has become Barcelona’s all-time top league goalscorer. There are all manner of madeup stories about him that sound plausible, from his birthday becoming a public holiday in his home city of Rosario, to Kim Jongun of North Korea offering him a honorary t it le in exchange for coaching t ips and a signed shirt.

In Spain, however, Real Madrid and Barcelona seem immovable at the top due, principally, to the huge f inancial advantage they gain from being able to negotiate their own TV deals. Real

Madrid are even building their own holiday resort in the United Arab Emirates, due to open in 2015. Even though the overall standard of the Spanish league is higher than in England, as witnessed by seventh-place Athletic Bi lbao’s comfortable home and away victories over Manchester United in the Europa League, there seems litt le prospect of a return to a t ime when other clubs – Valencia, Deportivo La Coruña, Atlético Madrid – were able to break up the duopoly.

eams will never be completely evenly matched, but when the balance swings too far in favour of one side, competitive

Messi is the best player in the world’s best team, one with whom the stars of future generations will be compared. He is only 24, with at least three years to go before he reaches what is usually considered a player’s peak age, but he does not seem l ikely to be corrupted by fame. It helps that, at 5ft 4in, he looks like a school-leaver at a f irst job interview whenever he wears a suit, and so is unlikely to be making guest appearances on catwalks or to launch a range of male grooming products. In any case, he seems modest, quick to compliment team-mates and generally far more l ikeable than his opposite number at the Bernabéu, Cristiano Ronaldo.

football is reduced to the level of an exhibition game

In a more balanced league, a Barcelona side containing Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi might still be playing the best football, but they and Real Madrid would not be beyond reach. You can admire the way they set about demolishing opponents, the team equivalent of Usain Bolt f inishing seconds ahead of the f ield in the 100 metres, but among the 4-0s and 5-1s, an occasional 0-1 can feel like a cause for celebration.

He has contributed hugely to making Barcelona the most popular club in the world, a position they are l ikely to retain as long as he plays for them. People who could not name more than a handful of teams in their domestic league know all about “Barça”, which may be a source of irritation to some. Nonetheless, millions enjoy watching a team playing fast, skilful football that is relatively free of cynicism, conf ident they can win games by scoring more goals than the opposition rather than trying to stop them playing.

So it might seem churlish to wish that Messi and co have everything their own way a little less often – and not just in losing to Real Madrid. The problem is that, sometimes, when the goals are f lying in – 82 in 28 La Liga games up to the end of March, another 30 in eight Champions League matches – it is just too easy. Teams will never be completely evenly matched, but when the balance swings too far in favour of one side, competitive football is reduced to the level of an exhibition game.

Read Editorials from the WSC archive wsc.co.uk/editorials

The Premier League often felt l ike that for a decade or so, with the “Super Sunday” head-to-heads between the same four clubs seeming like the only f ixtures that counted. This has changed, partly because playing in England, with its relatively high tax rates, is no longer as attractive to many of the world’s best players, with the exception of those who have signed up for Manchester City’s “project”.

As results in Europe bear out, the effect has been a decline in the overall level of the top sides balanced by a rise in the competitiveness of the league. If Manchester United win the t it le this year, it will be with their most ordinary squad in over 20

Lionel Messi en route to 55 goals this season, and counting photos

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