For the inaugural Premier League season under Brian Clough, Nottingham Forest brought in only two players who commanded a transfer fee – Neil Webb returned to the City Ground from Manchester United for £800,000 while Robert Rosario cost about half that from Coventry City, giving a total spend of £1.2 million. Thirty years on andContinue reading “Will Forest’s frantic transfer activity succeed?”
Category Archives: Play-Offs
The 2022 Play-Offs – Return of crowds, Records and Redemption – Part Two
For both Nottingham Forest and Sunderland the 2022 Play-Offs finally provided two clubs recently starved of success with a reason to celebrate as they gained promotion after many years in the wilderness. However, the most heart-warming story of this year’s Play-Offs came in the League Two Final. Port Vale’s 3-0 triumph over Mansfield TownContinue reading “The 2022 Play-Offs – Return of crowds, Records and Redemption – Part Two”
The 2022 Play-Offs: Return of crowds, Records and Redemption
If any evidence of the popularity of the Football League Play-Offs was needed, it was provided this week by the Sunderland Sheffield Wednesday tie. On Friday night the record for the highest attendance of a semi-final was broken by over 4,000 as 44,724 gathered at the Stadium of Light for the first leg. An impressiveContinue reading “The 2022 Play-Offs: Return of crowds, Records and Redemption”
Palace’s FA Cup semi-final : a chance to celebrate
As a Palace supporter I find it difficult to contain the thrill of going to Wembley this weekend for the club’s fifth appearance in an FA Cup semi-final. While for the fans of our opponents Chelsea and the other semi-finalists, Liverpool and Manchester City, this is much more routine. It is all part and parcelContinue reading “Palace’s FA Cup semi-final : a chance to celebrate”
Life after Football – when Academy players are released Part Two
Following on from last week’s piece on Palace’s innovative and much admired after-care programme [https://bit.ly/33245hS] here’s more detail on the South London club’s work as well as a look at what other clubs and organisations are doing. Having spent a fair amount of time in the last year talking to player care/welfare officers and headsContinue reading “Life after Football – when Academy players are released Part Two “
Up, Up and Away – the 2021 Play-Offs
This year’s Play-Off finals started with a penalty and they ended with a penalty. The first was stroked home with consummate confidence by the Championship’s top scorer Ivan Toney, his 33rd goal of the season, which set Brentford on their way to finally ending the curse of clubs that traditionally wear red-and-white striped shirts withContinue reading “Up, Up and Away – the 2021 Play-Offs”
The 2021 Play-Offs: Will the Curse finally be broken?
As the build-up to the Play-Offs weekend intensifies, a slight dampener was cast on proceedings. Unlike the FA Cup Final which was deemed ‘a test event’ with Chelsea and Leicester City receiving around 10,000 tickets each, only 4,000 tickets were made available to each of the Play-Offs finalists. Although an extra 2,000 tickets have nowContinue reading “The 2021 Play-Offs: Will the Curse finally be broken?”
The Football Mine 