91Èȱ¬

At London Road.

Peterborough manager Mark Cooper and Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan were united by a common purpose at London Road on Saturday as both men searched for their first victory since they took charge of their respective clubs.

The wait goes on after , but you suspect that the need is most urgent for Strachan.

Boro have collected just two points from his four games in charge at the club. He took over with them one point off top spot; . Rivals Newcastle occupy first place - and that cannot help.

Read the rest of this entry

Before you hit me with a sexism charge, please do read on...

The has just launched a new supporters' survey - and I would recommend you have a go as there are some quirky, original and interesting questions.

I recently came into possession of a document outlining the findings of a 1962 survey conducted by the Football League. I would wager the conclusions eventually drawn by the current version are radically different.

Worried by a decline in attendances, the League, which then presided over the top four divisions (then called Division One down to Division Four), commissioned the 1962 report to work out why it was happening and what could be done about it.

Nestled in among the reasons for crowds being on the slide is a section simply entitled 'Women'.

Read the rest of this entry

Nobody older than 27 has pulled on the famous blue and white stripes of Huddersfield Town this season, with every matchday squad rich in players to have graduated from the club's Academy.

In recent years of financial difficulty it had been out of necessity. Now, with the Terriers bankrolled by , it appears to be a firm policy.

"The criteria I set out for signings is this - I want young and hungry players who want to get better and have the desire to play at a higher level," said manager Lee Clark, .

and although League One rivals such as Leeds, Norwich and MK Dons have them too, the Terriers' is particularly successful.

Read the rest of this entry

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is undoubtedly a man whose glass is half full.

He had just three outfield substitutes on the bench for but the Cherries boss chose to focus on the fringe benefits rather than his debilitating lack of options.

"There were only 15 players on the coach travelling to the match so we had a lot of room to stretch out," Howe told me.

In conversation he comes across as composed, considered, mature and ever so slightly wary when discussing his team's promotion prospects. In other words, it really is staggering that Howe is just 31 - by some distance the youngest manager in the Football League.

His team are second in League Two, with only goal difference denying them the top spot they have occupied for much of this season.

Read the rest of this entry

Australia coach Tim Sheens has been using some of his spare time in England .

The respected and likeable Aussie would have to go back a rugby league lifetime to locate the last time the Kangaroos failed to win a major rugby league final against the Poms.

Not since Great Britain squeezed out Australia in the 1972 World Cup have the men of the green and gold returned down under with their tails between their legs after losing out on the main prize to a northern hemisphere side. And that came by virtue of GB's superior record in qualifying after the final finished 10-10.

Tony Smith's England have the chance to write their own piece of history at Elland Road on Saturday when .

Smith's youthful side have played with a vim and purpose during the tournament that has gone a long way to restoring credibility in northern hemisphere rugby and the Super League competition that produces its players after the miseries of last year's World Cup.

Read the rest of this entry

was dug-in on Port Pleasant on the East Falklands as he watched .

Unusually, there had been no air-raid warning and Stant, then 19 and a member of , was powerless as he watched the grisly and depressing events unfolding 200-300 metres away from him.

"It is difficult to talk about it even now," Stant told me. "Some of the sights that you see live with you forever."

Within months of the Falklands War ending in June 1982 Stant made his Football League debut for Reading.

Publicity shots at the time show the young Bolton-born soldier posing alongside Kerry Dixon. Stant is wearing his fatigues and brandishing a machine gun while Dixon is in his Royals kit.

Read the rest of this entry

At the Galpharm Stadium.

The scenes inside the England dressing room shortly after the final whistle on Saturday evening told their own story.

Tony Smith's team had just to reach the final of the Four Nations and the normally reserved England coach appeared to be leading the victory song as his charges joined him and stamped their studs on the ground.

Smith raised his arms in triumph, another unusually extrovert gesture, as the singing finished - but it would take a mean-spirited person to deny the likeable Australian his brief display of celebration.

The 42-year-old's reputation was at its lowest point 12 months ago after England's dismal World Cup campaign down under. His team left home with great expectations but mustered only a solitary win over Papua New Guinea before a thrashing by Australia was followed by two losses to the Kiwis.

Smith took it hard and retreated to the sanctity of his farmhouse close to Huddersfield to nurse his bruises and reflect upon what had gone wrong.

Read the rest of this entry

At Pride Park.

People who question whether Derby boss Nigel Clough is too mild mannered to manage in the Championship would have done well to watch the man springing in and out of the home dugout at Pride Park on Friday evening.

With the scores locked at 1-1 between the Rams and Coventry, the stress and anxiety was clear to see as Clough bemoaned every decision that went against his team and reacted with fury whenever his players needlessly squandered possession.

It was a Clough I have not seen before. Then again, it has been a difficult few months for the 43-year-old. His team went into Friday's match a perilous on the back of .

I browsed through a few Derby County message boards this week and sensed that opinion had started to turn against Clough.

Read the rest of this entry

Tucked away inside a large drawer in Iain Hume's bedroom is a selection of the thousands of cards and letters that he was sent last year as he recovered from surgery on a fractured skull.

"They really helped. They made me realise that people actually cared about me as a human being," the Barnsley striker told me.

"It wasn't just someone going down the pub and asking their mates whether they saw television pictures of me getting injured."

There is little doubt that plenty of people did discuss the incident that took place . Replays of it were shown over and over again on television.

Sheffield United defender Chris Morgan had caught Hume with an elbow as a long ball came over the top. The Tykes striker went down in a heap and was subsequently substituted but was well enough to go home after the match.

The following day, however, Hume says he was talking gibberish. Not that he remembers - the day has been pieced together for him by his wife and father-in-law. He was taken to hospital by his wife and within hours had undergone major emergency surgery. Hume and he has an 18-inch scar as a permanent reminder of what happened to him.

Read the rest of this entry

Cardiff City are second in the Championship with - and manager Dave Jones reckons there is a lot more to come from his team.

Nottingham Forest are currently ninth, but just four points behind the Baggies. Even so, Forest boss Billy is passionately, vehemently, absolutely and totally insistent that his team will not figure in the promotion reckoning this season.

After watching at the impressive Cardiff City Stadium on a wet and wintry Sunday evening, I reckon that both teams must be regarded as promotion candidates.

Read the rest of this entry