FCupdate - a regular round up of world football news

Welcome to the latest edition of FCupdate, our regular round-up of news and views from around the football world that should appeal to fans of a supporter-owned club such as FC United.

We hope you enjoy the latest edition and do let us know if you see anything that we should be including in future issues.

Football governance inquiry continues
Having been on the road in the North West recently, the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is continuing its special inquiry into football governance with further hearings this week at Wembley Stadium. Far be it from us to suggest that the honourable members on the committee are exploiting the chance to see England in action at the same time as taking a long hard look at the way the game is run, but you can check out their deliberations on the committee’s website.

Football press coverage ’blinkered and cliched’ says blogger
Here at FC Update, we try to bring you a smorgasbord of football writing by delving into the bloggersphere. Dominic Pollard’s Polly’s Pause for Sport blog is worth a look this week for an interesting piece on the predictable and repetitive way that the press and media cover football.

Manchester United’s parent company posts record £109 loss
The circus that is Manchester United plc rumbles on with the news that United’s parent company, Red Football Joint Venture Ltd, has announced a whopping pre-tax loss of £109m for the financial year ending June 2010. The record loss is an additional £29m from the £80m pre-tax deficit posted for the same period by Red Football Limited, the football club’s immediate holding company, back in October. Read more at The Guardian.

When Saturday Comes celebrates 25 years
For many football fans of a certain vintage, the magazine When Saturday Comes holds a special place in our hearts. Spawned out of the fanzine movement, WSC was ’our’ magazine that cocked a snook at the establishment and the powers that be. This month sees WSC celebrate its 25th anniversary - a significant milestone for any magazine, let alone one that has been independently published for its entire life. This article on the Twohundredpercent website celebrates WSC’s 25 years.

The fickle fate of football managers
The recent sacking of Aidy Boothroyd by Coventry City highlights once again the farcical way that ’professional’ football is run, with managers dismissed on a whim or at the first sign of poor results. On seeing Boothroyd’s fate, Dr John Beech, winner of the Football Supporters’ Federation Writer of the Year Award 2009/10, has written this interesting commentary on the management of more than 160 English football clubs. Read Beech’s blog here.

Standing up for standing at football
The campaign to reintroduce standing at football matches was in the news last week when the issue was discussed by the sports minister Hugh Robertson, who said that he was prepared to look at the latest evidence to show that modern terracing can be safe. The Guardian’s David Conn has the story here.

And sign up for standing here
Speaking of standing up for standing at football, if you support it and judging by what we see in the MRE on a Saturday many of you do - then you should sign the petition on the issue organised by the Football Supporters’ Federation. The FSF believes that fans should have the choice to watch football from a safe standing area, if they so wish, at all matches in England and Wales. You can sign the FSF petition here.

Standing - how they do it in Europe
At the risk of getting all ’anoraky’ on you, to back up its campaign for safe standing areas at football, the FSF is keen to highlight some of the continental models of safe standing currently in use at football grounds across Europe. To take a look at what some top grounds on the continent are doing to enable safe standing at football click here.

Clubs paying "lip service" to fans’ charters says FSF
Too many football clubs pay only "lip service" to customer service, according to a comprehensive review of Premier League and Championship club charters by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF). It is 12 years since the government-appointed Football Task Force Report proposed that all clubs should adopt a customer charter and it seems that many clubs are using them as window dressing while still treating fans poorly. More at the FSF website.

Brilliant video report on St Pauli
This brilliant video report on the Guardian website sees reporter Marcel Theroux going in search of the rebel spirit of Hamburg’s St Pauli football club to find fans fighting for the club’s soul. It’s well worth watching and is sure to strike a chord with FC United fans. Watch it by clicking here.

Andy Walker