From Graveyard to Ambition by Phil Sumbler Published by Amberley Publishing 2013, £12.99 Perhaps the most successful manifestation of supporter involvement in football ownership is the story of Swansea City who, despite some icky form of late, have enjoyed a quite ludicrous rise to prominence over the last decade while being held up as a poster child for all that is good in soccer governance. Here, Alex Quayle, an exiled Manchester City and part-time Swansea City fan runs the rule of Phil Sumbler’s account of the whole process. Alex lives in Reading, where he mentions the 2011 Championship Playoff final often…
All posts tagged Stockport
Depression Continues to Linger at Stockport
A 4-1 home win wasn’t what anyone in the stadium had expected, least of all after Stockport had taken the lead in the opening sixty seconds. Oxford City were bottom of the Conference North and County had arrived on the back of a 4-2 win against high-fliers Telford. But, as Stockport fans know full well by now, it doesn’t take long for such brittle hope to unravel. Here, things started to go awry when County were reduced to 10. To compound things, the red was waved just minutes after City had taken the lead in the early part of the…
Whirlpool’s End: Stockport County in the Conference North
Blackburn. Wolves. Manchester City. Colwyn Bay. Frickley Athletic. Brackley Town. It doesn’t take long for things to change in football – a few right decisions and you can be transformed from nowhere to become a star pupil, held up as an example to follow. Swansea are the most obvious example, and in previous years Cardiff and Blackpool have enjoyed similar meteoric rises from bottom to top. Longer term, many of these clubs have ended up back where they started. Carlisle and Swansea famously went from Fourth to First Division in the 1970s and came right back down again, whilst Plymouth,…
Eight Out of Work Managers Revisited
The serious lack of imagination shown by Football League chairmen continues to fuel the managerial carousel. Almost three years ago, we were bemused by Paul Hart’s arrival at Crystal Palace while the likes of Alan Irvine, Brian Laws and Darren Ferguson played musical chairs. Two and a half years on and it’s Dougie Freedman, Mick McCarthy and Dave Jones making sideways moves, as well as Laws again. The message is – don’t be out of a job for too long or you’ll be viewed as yesterday’s man. No matter how disappointing one’s spell at the helm of a football team,…
The Monday Profile: Paul Cook
John Coleman’s departure from the Accrington Stanley job in January after 12 years in the role reverberated throughout Lancashire. The Liverpudlian had transformed the beleaguered Accies from a name used to market dairy products into a serious footballing concern again, and defeat to Stevenage in the play-off semi-final last May wipes none of the gloss from his striking achievements. Having been linked with a succession of details since Stanley returned to the Football League in 2006, there was nonetheless a patina of inevitability about Coleman’s final departure. His destination, however, did provoke more than a little surprise. Although enjoying one of the…
Lanterne Rouge: Enjoyable post John and I don't disagree with Tony when it comes to Tr...
Stagsdude: More utter tosh from this attention grabber....
Thomas: Really interesting and well constructed article, John. Brilliantly det...
Michael: Great stuff, John.
1992 - 1996 was a fantastic time to be a teenage N...
john unitt: Just for the record - when i posted my comment at 09.27 the one now sh...
