Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
Once seen as a jinx, David May became something of a mascot at Manchester United as he all but vanished from sight except for trophy ceremonies, as Chris Taylor remembers
“Who the hell is that?” asked my dad. “David May,” I told him. May had just come on as a 90th-minute substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy at Anfield. With the score 2-1, Sir Alex had decided enough was enough and it was time to shut up shop completely.
Csaba Abrahall looks back on a bench-warmer in the days before three subs, a loyal servant who rarely got to serve – Ipswich Town’s Mr Reserve Team, Tommy Parkin
So successful was Ipswich’s youth policy in the 1970s that anyone learning his trade at Portman Road could reasonably expect to have to consider storage arrangements for international caps sooner or later. Eric Gates, George Burley and John Wark were among many who made the transition from Ipswich junior to full international. Tommy Parkin, a member of the club’s FA Youth Cup-winning team in 1973, was not, yet his rather prosaic contribution is remembered almost as fondly as those of his illustrious peers.
Once, twice and once more (as a coach) an Evertonian, Alan Harper had a host of nicknames and collected several medals for Mark Tallentire to count
Alan Harper joined his team-mates in picking up the 1984 FA Cup while clad in an uncomfortably tight tracksuit top. It was almost as if he was underlining his bit-part status – Everton’s utility player had spent the final against Watford waiting patiently for the call which never came.
The ever-promising Chris Plummer has gone down and down and is now out of Queens Park Rangers, but Anthony Hobbs and his fellow Rs have a soft spot for the fellow
Centre-half Chris Plummer could justly claim to be the very-nearly man of QPR over the last ten years. His final appearance for Rangers – at Layer Road, Colchester at the end of last season – completed a series of just over 50 first-team appearances, spread over an eight-season period that started with Rangers in the Premiership and finished with us in Division Two.
Chelsea fan Mike Ticher pays grudging and limited tribute to the man who has run the Blues for good or ill for the past 21 years – and isn’t going anywhere just yet
For more than 20 years, Chelsea have been run by a man who has sailed close to the wind in his business dealings. Some of Ken Bates’s closest associates have been in serious trouble with the law and the ownership of the controlling stake in Chelsea Village was officially a mystery for many years.