Albion Road - Latest News, Columns and Profiles http://albionroad.com Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:50:16 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://albionroad.com/images/M_images/rss20.gif http://albionroad.com Albion Road - Latest News, Columns and Profiles http://albionroad.com/articles/a-season-of-sussex-soccer.html As the title suggests this book follows a season of football in Sussex, from League side Brighton, through Crawley and Lewes in the conference, all the way down to sides such as Little Common, in the Sussex County League division 3 (step 7 of non-league). It charts the Sussex clubs' fortunes month by month, including their cup exploits, accompanied by dozens of colour photos from various aspects. A Season of Sussex Soccer is an easy read, with the summaries being objective, factual and concise. The general format of the book is a two page written summary of the month proceeded by about 10 to 12 full page photos, with clear and detailed captions. The photos are the stars of the book and could justify the book in themselves, making a great coffee table read for connoisseurs of football photography. The pictures are crisp and give a real sense of the passion for the game at all levels. Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:27:03 +0100 http://albionroad.com/articles/english-major-titles-chart.html If you're looking for a big picture snapshot of English football history it can be found in Bill Turianski's latest contribution. Taking a break from the maps he usually does he's put together a chart recording the total major trophies won by English football clubs. An image of each club's kit is displayed (sized proportional to the number of titles won) and ranked left to right in order. The titles in question - the Premier League, the old Football League First Division, FA Cup and League Cup as well as the international trophies on offer - European Cup/Champions League, Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup and the old European Cup Winners' Cup. He's even thrown together kit images for some of the game's Victorian vanguards, Wanderers and Old Etonians. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:11:21 +0100 http://albionroad.com/club-profiles/thrasivoulos-fylis.html Thrasivoulos (sometimes spelled Thrasyvoulos) take their inspiration from an Ancient Greek military hero of the same name. Thrasivoulos was an Athenian leader who successfully led the military recovery of Athens against Sparta in a series of battles in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The general used the town of Fylis as his base of operations when he fought against the Thirty Tyrants government of Spartan leader Lysander. We shall see if the football club succeed against equally potent opponents in this season's Greek Super League, where Thrasivoulos make their debut. Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:53:24 +0100 http://albionroad.com/articles/comments-disabled.html Hello all. I've disabled the comments section for now. Something was going wrong on the backend that I can't figure out, it would time out every time someone tried to leave a comment. Still trying to figure that one out and hope to have it back up soon. But for now - no comments. Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:32:00 +0100 http://albionroad.com/articles/economic-tsunami-and-football.html The past month has been the most turbulent since the website www.footballeconomy.com (http://www.footballeconomy.com) started some ten years ago. There has been considerable speculation about the impact of the economic tsunami on football, much of it somewhat exaggerated. It is not the end of football as we have come to know it, but there are also going to be some changes. In this article I try to draw some of the strands together, focusing on the following themes:The future of the Premiership modelThe future of foreign ownershipThe likelihood of greater regulationThe impact on lower league and non-league clubs Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:31:16 +0100 http://albionroad.com/club-profiles/panserraikos.html Panserraikos ended a 16-year absence from the Greek top division by winning the 2007-08 Greek Second Division title. The Lions are based in the northeastern Greek city of Serres, in the shadow of the Rhodope Mountains. Panserraikos were founded in May 1964 by the merger of two local clubs, Iraklis and Apollon, with the intention of creating one club from Serres strong enough to compete at the national level. Serraikos is an adjective for someone or something from Serres, so Panserraikos translates as something like All-Serres. The Red and White have spent most of their history shuttling between the first and second division, their best period being a six-year run in the top flight in the mid-seventies. Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:27:53 +0100 http://albionroad.com/club-profiles/1899-hoffenheim.html 18 years after software magnate Dietmar Hopp renewed his involvement in his childhood club with a famous phone call, 1899 Hoffenheim find themselves rubbing shoulders with Germany's football giants. Hoffenheim is a suburb of Sinsheim, a city in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district of Baden-Württemberg state in southwestern Germany. Hopp had played for the club as a boy and in 1990, with Deutsche Marks coming out of his ear and the club mired in 7th division obscurity, he placed a call to the club president. His words - Things can't go on this way. I want to help - have become legend and 1899 Hoffenheim have gone from strength to strength ever since, the culmination being promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2008-09 season. Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:46:29 +0100 http://albionroad.com/articles/2008-09-uefa-cup-map.html The 2008-09 edition of the UEFA Cup will technically be the last, with its reorganization next season and renaming as the Europa League. It seems to me a patently absurd change because whatever you call the tournament it will continue to be second-tier and consist of champions of smaller countries and also-rans of the bigger ones. I just don't think there's anything that can fundamentally change that and certainly not a rebranding to give its proper corporate-speak description. It is what it is. If you're looking for something to spice it up, make it a blind draw and straight knockout from the very beginning. Bring back a bit of the romance.But I digress. We're talking about the 2008-09 UEFA Cup and the map that our man Bill Turianski has created for it. It's got what you've come to expect - a table lising each club's domestic league attendance and a map displaying the logo of each club that's made the Group Stage, sized proportional to their attendance. As with the Champions League Western Europe heavily dominate, only 9 of the 40 clubs come from the East and even that includes Olympiakos and Galatasaray. Germany and Holland with 5,... 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Club Deportivo Atlético Huila (Huila Athletic Sports Club) were founded November 29, 1990 and are based in the city of Neiva, in the departamento of Huila in the Southeast of Colombia. Atlético Huila won promotion to the Primera A in only their second season of competition and lasted four seasons in the top division before relegation in 1996. They bounced back at the first attempt and have remained in the Dimayor ever since, include last year's strong performance. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:46:05 +0100 http://albionroad.com/club-profiles/bradford-city.html The Bantams of Bradford City actually have rugby league to thank for their club's creation. Bradford had traditionally been a stronghold of rugby league and the Football League were interested in placing a club in the city as a way to strengthen the popularity of the kicking version of the football game. In 1908 Manningham Football Club, one of the pioneers of the rugby league game, were convinced to transition from rugby league to football, relaunch as Bradford City, and join the Football League for the 1903-04 season. Manningham, a district within the city of Bradford, were founded in 1880 and began using claret and amber colors in 1884. The most likely reason for the colors being adopted were the close proximity of the Belle Vue barracks of the Prince of Wales Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment to their Valley Parade ground. Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:44:28 +0100 http://albionroad.com/club-profiles/america-sp.html From the interior of Brazil's São Paulo state, from the city of São José do Rio Preto, we bring you América Futebol Clube - SP, also known as just América - SP. América hold the proud distinction of being the interior club with the most appearances in the São Paulo state championship. This may not sound initially impressive but when you consider the near complete dominance of São Paulo's big four (Corinthians, São Paulo, Palmeiras and Santos) and São Paulo city in general, to be best of the rest is certainly an achievement. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:51:00 +0100 http://albionroad.com/articles/how-will-credit-crunch-hit-football.html The financial storm is not over yet but at the moment, within the Premiership at least, the top clubs are sitting pretty while smaller clubs in less prosperous areas have to be more innovative in their response. Watching football at the top level either live or on television isn't cheap at a time when incomes are being squeezed. A Sky package costs around £400 a year and season tickets have gone up by almost 800 per cent since the Premiership was set up. Another consideration is sponsorship and corporate entertainment budgets which companies often have to cut back in hard times. However, Dan Jones of the sport business group at Deloitte, believes that Premiership football is less vulnerable than other industries, because of fans' enduring loyalty, and because much of clubs' money is already secured. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:08:01 +0100