| Panathinaikos v FC Copenhagen: match preview Follow match preview of the Champions League Group D match between Panathinaikos and FC Copenhagen at the Athens Olympic Stadium on Wednesday Sept 29 2010, kick-off 19.45 BST. telegraph.co.uk |
Arsenal Next Up to Test Chelsea's Title Hopes LONDON (Reuters) - After failing their first big test of the season by losing 1-0 at Manchester City last week, champions Chelsea face another tough examination when Arsenal visit Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Sunday. feeds.nytimes.com |
Dark days descend on Dundee The danger attached in letting one man control the fate of a football club is under the spotlight again as cuts faced by the Scottish First Division side are bluntly spelled outThe recently published and excellent book In Search of Alan Gilzean offers a rare insight into a man whose legendary status at Dundee and Tottenham Hotspur has been overshadowed by a reclusive lifestyle. It also gives a timely reminder of the period when honours were shared around Scottish football to a far greater extent than they are now.The author, James Morgan, worked tirelessly in tracking down surviving members of Dundee's championship-winning team of 1962. This was a side who won 5-1 at Ibrox, with Gilzean claiming four of the visitors' goals.There is a cruel irony attached to the fact that Morgan's fine work has hit the shelves at a time when Dundee supporters are at yet another dark juncture. Today, confirmation that the club has fully entered administration will arrive, complete with the job losses that such a scenario entails. The manager Gordon Chisholm and his assistant BillyDodds were among the first to be sacked. Interested onlookers are entitled to question, and in a bullish manner, how on earth it has come to this.For Dundee were in the hands of an administrator seven years ago, after a speculate-to-accumulate policy went wildly wrong. So wrong, in fact, that debts were reported as high as £20m after the club splashed out on the likes of Claudio Caniggia and Fabrizio Ravanelli.Only a tenth of that figure is owed this time – and none of it to the bank – but Dundee still entered territory which they should have known to avoid. Calum Melville, a multimillionaire, appeared at Dens Park as a benefactor last year and has since bestowed about £1.5m on the club.As Melville arrived and conducted transfer dealings on his own, the strict business plan, to which Dundee had stuck after escaping administration first time around, essentially disappeared. As SPL teams struggle for cash, First Division Dundee could pay £300,000 to sign Leigh Griffiths from Livingston, handing the young striker the relative fortune in Scottish League terms of £1,800 a week. Melville never, though, completed a deal to buy Dens Park and, in doing so, returning it to Dundee's own control.What has followed is the latest example of the dangers attached when one man, or one company, controls the fate of a football club. Whether Melville is unwilling or unable to continually fund Dundee is unclear, but what is known is that no agreement could be reached over payment of a £365,000 tax bill, which triggered this disastrous situation. All of a sudden, contracts signed by players and staff in good faith will prove to be worthless.The cuts announced this afternoon will be harsh, with youth team players likely to be required so Dundee can fulfil their season's fixtures. Even within that scenario there can be no guarantees, with funding urgently required simply to keep the club operating as a business. The administrator, Bryan Jackson, has ominously described keeping Dundee alive as the toughest challenge he has ever faced.As ever, those who will suffer are supporters. Even if Dundee's historical status as one of Scotland's "big" clubs counts for nothing today, their followers hardly deserve another harrowing time on account of bad management.The prospect of relegation cannot be discounted or, at the very least, a points deduction; either sanction would have a detrimental effect on crowds, and therefore income streams. Some form of punishment is essential so that other clubs have a warning not to follow Dundee's dubious example, but one which leads to more turmoil for fans and whatever players are left at the club – who have done no wrong themselves – is unfair in its own way.The notion that Dundee could ever return to their position of 1962 has long-since been a fanciful one. Nonetheless, it is patently sad that they have regressed into the state which will be bluntly spelled out at Dens Park this afternoon. Even more worrying for the Scottish game generally is that too many other clubs are teetering, close to a similar position.DundeeEwan Murrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
One red card in 2010: Blackburn defend their disciplinary record Blackburn Rovers respond to Danny Murphy's "brainless" tackling accusations by publicising their disciplinary statistics. telegraph.co.uk |
Goal: U.S. Drops 2018 World Cup Bid The United States dropped its bid to host the 2018 World Cup, choosing to focus on the 2022 tournament, while England, the favorite for 2018, will withdraw from consideration for 2022. feeds.nytimes.com |