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Farr and footie

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Late yesterday a very excited Stephen Browett, owner of Britain's biggest fine-wine trader Farr Vintners, sent a triumphant round-robin email in large red letters: 'I just bought Palace..............................YESSSSSSSSSSSS!'

You need to know a little about Britain, Browett and soccer to realise the importance of this news. This particular Palace is nothing to do with Buckingham, but is Browett's beloved favourite football team, Crystal Palace. It has been in a parlous state financially but a consortium of besotted fans (sorry, 'local businessmen' as the official report has it) has now managed to rescue it from liquidation. The official statement from Martin...