Our latest book review comes from Tom Bodell, editor of Vital Watford. Tom can be followed on Twitter at @TBBodell and here casts his eye on the autobiography of Richard Lee, one time Hornet and now a Bee. Graduation: Life Lessons of a Professional Footballer By Richard Lee Published by Bennion Kearny August 2010, £9.

Notts County v Stevenage
Meadow Lane | League 1
4th February 2012 | 3:00pm kick off

Gary Smith's first game in charge was against Notts County last weekend and his first league game will also be up against Martin Allen's side as Boro travel to Nottingham this Saturday. Stevenage are still on a high from last weekend's Cup win and the bonus of drawing Tottenham in the 5th round.

Graham Westley is beginning to discover that the grass isn't always greener at Deepdale. The papers reported this morning that GW has got off on the wrong foot with the Preston players with text messages at 2am telling players have been dropped and giving motivational messages.

It's fair to say that it hasn't gone down too well in Lancashire.

[T]his hasn't been a plum week in the history of MK Dons. Their dumping out of the cup at the hands of Premier League QPR on Tuesday night followed a weekend of sincere apology from all involved at the club after the farcical cancellation of their League One match with Carlisle. The game was the only weather casualty in the entirety of the professional game across England and Scotland – a mind blowing situation that owed much to bad planning and which was unbecoming for a stadium which was one the England 2018 bid's chosen host venues.

[I]t was only a matter of time before Graham Westley's achievements at Stevenage piqued the interest of more firmly established members of the Football League. And the club that tempted him from Broadhall Way could hardly be more established. Following the confirmation of Westley's appointment as Preston manager last Friday, much scepticism was expressed among the Football League Twitterati regarding the suitability of club for man, suggesting perhaps that he would have done better to wait for an offer from the league above that in which he continues to ply his trade.

One of this website's latest followers on Twitter, Simeon F. W. Pickup states his interests as ‘Reading FC, Atheism, Labour. In that order.' Although Ed Miliband's negligible impact on the polls may have something to do with his party being relegated behind Brian McDermott and Richard Dawkins in Simeon's thinking, I did read this as tongue in cheek.

[F]or our first proper post following the big redesign, we are very pleased to welcome back John McGee. Bring Me the Head of Keith Mincher is John's blog devoted to Carlisle United and he likes nothing better than to rail against anyone who disagrees with him on Twitter under the nom de plume of @epouvantail - he's a little smug at the moment given the club's continued robust play-off push.

The latest in our conversations series is an important one in that it features a supporter of the only Championship club to break even in 2010-11, Scunthorpe United. After our re-launch in January, we hope to increase the amount of attention paid to the financial ills of the game and as Max Bell states below – success on the pitch is no proper substitute for sustainability long term.

The latest in our conversations series is an important one in that it features a supporter of the only Championship club to break even in 2010-11, Scunthorpe United. After our re-launch in January, we hope to increase the amount of attention paid to the financial ills of the game and as Max Bell states below – success on the pitch is no proper substitute for sustainability long term.

[T]he latest in our conversations series is an important one in that it features a supporter of the only Championship club to break even in 2010-11, Scunthorpe United. After our re-launch in January, we hope to increase the amount of attention paid to the financial ills of the game and as Max Bell states below – success on the pitch is no proper substitute for sustainability long term.

You've got to feel for Andy Rhodes. Most fathers, having just witnessed their son score four times to single-handedly salvage a point from a pulsating and fiercely contested derby match in front of more than 28,000 spectators, would be bursting to the seams with pride. But not Andy, who, as Sheffield Wednesday's goalkeeping coach, had just seen his charge Stephen Bywater beaten four times, his

You've got to feel for Andy Rhodes. Most fathers, having just witnessed their son score four times to single-handedly salvage a point from a pulsating and fiercely contested derby match in front of more than 28,000 spectators, would be bursting at the seams with pride. But not Andy, who, as Sheffield Wednesday's goalkeeping coach, had just seen his charge Stephen Bywater beaten four times, his own flesh and blood Jordan wresting two points from the Owls' grasp seven minutes into stoppage time.

[Y]ou've got to feel for Andy Rhodes. Most fathers, having just witnessed their son score four times to single-handedly salvage a point from a pulsating and fiercely contested derby match in front of more than 28,000 spectators, would be bursting at the seams with pride. But not Andy, who, as Sheffield Wednesday's goalkeeping coach, had just seen his charge Stephen Bywater beaten four times, his own flesh and blood Jordan wresting two points from the Owls' grasp seven minutes into stoppage time.

NME Album of the Year: Elephant by The White StripesCrufts Best in Show: Yakee a Dangerous LiaisonPalme d'Or Joint Winners at Cannes: ElephantVice President of the United States: Dick CheneyGiven the uncanny coincidence that artworks with the same title scooped the NME Album of the Year and Palme d'Or Awards in 2003, it's appropriate that one of the blogosphere's finest polymath's should contribute the fourth in our fledgling series of hopeless teams.

[G]iven the uncanny coincidence that artworks with the same title scooped the NME Album of the Year and Palme d'Or Awards in 2003, it's appropriate that one of the blogosphere's finest polymath's should contribute the fourth in our fledgling series of hopeless teams. For Chris Ledger is none other than the brains behind Obscure Music and Football, a site with a sometimes unhealthy predilection for Salad (the band that is), the musical career of one Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne and the witticisms of everyone's favourite xenophobe, Steve Claridge.

NME Album of the Year: Elephant by The White Stripes Crufts Best in Show: Yakee a Dangerous Liaison Palme d'Or Joint Winners at Cannes: Elephant Vice President of the United States: Dick Cheney Given the uncanny coincidence that artworks with the same title scooped the NME Album of the Year and Palme d'Or Awards in 2003, it's appropriate that one of the blogosphere's finest polymath's should

This weekend's fixtures look like a pretty sedate set on the face of it. Leeds' terrestrially televised trip across the shires to meet Burnley and what may be the most pathetic grudge in history, Saints versus Seagulls, are worth keeping on the radar perhaps, but otherwise I can't help but be drawn down the leagues to the two derbies west of Bristol.

Today's profile is penned by Ian Rands. Ian a is a regular visitor to our pages; most recently penning a review of Alan Biggs' new autobiography. Here he looks at perhaps the brightest of Sheffield United's crop of teenage sensations: It has been a whirlwind last 6 months for 18 year old Sheffield United defender Harry Maguire.

Anyone who takes even a passing interest in the Football League, let alone obsessives like us, will be aware of Thursday's vote to approve the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP). For those of you who remain unaware aware of its details, the EPPP can be summarized either, by its cheerleaders, as a blueprint for the improvement of the England national XI or, by its detractors, as an attempt by

League 1's top-eight looks, as things stand, much like the masses predicted back in August, with the monied Charlton, Huddersfield, Franchise, Preston and Sheffields United and Wednesday all present and correct. Yet, defying convention and sticking it to Big Boyz are two of the division's less chic teams, Notts County and Brentford.

Having insisted in July that Gillingham's budget should provide enough wherewithal to challenge for promotion this year, the early signs have been encouraging for chairman Paul Scally. Saturday's 3-1 victory over Burton Albion was comfortably earned and Danny Kedwell, uprooted from AFC Wimbledon with the promise of a return to his native Kent, scored twice to take his tally for the season to

In last week's profile of Joe Bennett, I ruminated on the nature of the attacking full back and although we have no intention of focusing the Monday Profile on archetypes alone, this third study of September again concentrates on a boilerplate figure. For Andy (like Mr. Cole, seemingly now known as Andrew) Hughes is surely the epitome, the quintessence, the very embodiment of that well known

We've all been there: the hubris and cockiness borne of conviction and enthusiasm coming back to bite us firmly in the backside. And so it was on Saturday for the Bury fans - rejoicing at being back in League 1 and fortified by pre-match pints in the metal box of a social club adjacent to Gigg Lane (£1 in for non-members; distinct odour of hot dogs, cooking lager and sweat) - who lustily

Forgive me for suggesting this, but this bottom of the table match seems a lot less special an occasion than the last time these two met. That game marked the passage into the history books of one of the few remaining `proper' English football grounds, Saltergate, rendering the 2-1 win for the home side frankly irrelevant.

This week's Monday Profile comes from our Yeovil previewer Ben Barrett, whose writings can usually be found at http://barrettsportswriting.webs.com/. Browsing through the BBC Sport pages, you quickly learn that there really have been a lot of comings and goings this summer. Some, like Aguero and Nasri, attract worldwide media attention.

It feels a bit like Groundhog day at the moment and it's not because I'm stuck in the Insurance industry from 9 til 5 during the week. It is however because Stevenage have begun this season in a very similar fashion to last year's campaign. A draw at home was followed by a narrow defeat in the Carling Cup first round to Championship opposition.

It feels a bit like Groundhog day at the moment and it's not because I'm stuck in the Insurance industry from 9 til 5 during the week. It is however because Stevenage have begun this season in a very similar fashion to last year's campaign. A draw at home in the league has been followed by a narrow defeat in the Carling Cup first round to Championship opposition.

Last season, Brighton cantered to the title, with Southampton and Huddersfield fighting neck-and-neck for most of the campaign before the Saints eventually prevailed and were joined in the Championship by play-off winners Peterborough. But who will be up there or thereabouts this year?

Who's Looking Good?

The penultimate amuse-bouche to the Season Preview that you might well be getting a little bored of by now focuses on the specially commissioned quintent of articles that may have gone unnoticed in the midst of the club-by-club chow down. Rob Langham, aka Lanterne Rouge, exploited his day job experience as a Commissioning Editor of books to hook in five writers to this section.

This weekend kicks off what is sure to be a thrilling season in France. After Lyon's selfish display of seven consecutive league titles from 2001-8, the past three champions have been different and a fourth this season would be no surprise. Luckily, League 1 has always boasted an exceptional array of club names.

The third of our posts supplementing our season preview bonanza in NPowersville centres upon League 1 and how the division rivals the white stuff for deepness, crispness and even-ness. Reading through the 24 contributions to our spanking pdf (click on the inset below) left me somewhat bewildered. While other classifications promise some element of predictability due to the influence of money -

We continue our Five Days of Football League build-up with a focus on the archival section of our 108-page overview of the coming season. In putting together the Preview, we wanted to touch upon the writing that we feel best represents our sites by giving selected pieces a second airing.So, kicking the section off on page 66 is Iain Macintosh's ode to Southend, which first appeared on The Seventy

Scouring Scotland for players has its hazards of course. Remember Craig Levein's unhappy spell at Leicester and Tommy Burns' at Reading? James McFadden, Barry Ferguson and others were quasi megastars in the goldfish bowl, only to act the part of "any other player" down south - sometimes even less than that, as was the case with Kris Boyd and the majority of his Middlesbrough cohorts after the

We complete a quartet of Conversations by picking the brains of Ian Rands and it will be hard to beat this one for anguish given that its topic is Sheffield United Football Club. Ian is of course the proprietor of the superb website A United View on Football, famous for its series of offbeat footballing charts and a burgeoning set of Dislikable XIs.

For the most part this site is resolutely non-partisan, shying away from inflammatory articles and the bilious, monosyllabic responses they attract from spittle-flecked, talkSPORT-listening meatheads in favour of carefully considered argument and reasonable, civil debate. In fact, the only thing that seems to get the eminently agreeable Lanterne Rouge hot under the collar is a certain mob from

The phrase `yo-yo club' is well established in the football lexicon, but is there also such a thing as a yo-yo player? While Michael Chopra himself might not reply in the affirmative, fans of Sunderland probably would. It was, though, the subject of another recent transfer further down the Football League, Paul Hayes, that brought the notion to mind.

It's been relatively quiet at Broadhall Way so far this summer. Not that much has happened since we beat Torquay at Old Trafford that we didn't think was going to happen this summer anyway. I'm going to attempt to round-up all the news since then and get back to the normal updates as we approach pre-season.

It will come as no surprise that the words ‘simply' and ‘astonishing' were used by several different contributors independently of one another in reference to Paul Lambert's stewardship at Carrow Road. It's a kind of rags to riches story that's been done to death, of course. Indeed, in trying to sum the past two years, which have seen Lambert pick Norwich up by the scruff and build a mentally

Our votes in this most storied of categories were split evenly and many of the usual characters cropped up. Grant Holt, so hearteningly wonderful in this year of Canary yellow, will be looking back on his days as a definitive journeyman and Singapore leaguer with disbelief and Scott Sinclair's play off heroics confirmed an ability to link wideside flair with end product.

For the simple reason that we think the Seagulls would have been less likely to stroll to promotion like they did without him, Elliott Bennett takes this year's Young Player award. Of course, the man of the protruding tongue has since caved in to Paul Lambert's advances but given the Canaries' rising star, who can really blame the lad?