Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
Duncan Young looks back on Leeds' darkest hour
Keith Mincher. Carlisle United fans know who I’m talking about, but most Leeds supporters have never heard of the former youth-team coach who very nearly became manager when Eddie Gray was sacked during 1985-86, which saw the club’s lowest league finish since Don Revie’s first full season in 1961-62.
Having a bad season? Worried that things couldn't be much worse? Cheer yourself up with some schadenfreude as Graham Lightfoot looks back on Sheffield Wednesday's darkest hour
Sheffield Wednesday’s fall from grace over the last few years has been more plummet than decline. Ask any supporter under the age of 30 to name their worst ever season and our most recent campaigns in the Nationwide League would undoubtedly figure. Wednesdayites with the odd silver hair curling out from under their blue and white bobble hat will have memories of darker days. In the 1970s, for the first time that most of us could remember, we would have to grudgingly admit that Sheffield United were actually a better side than us.
The intense rivalry between Rangers and Celtic is about more than just football. But Ken Gall feels not enough is being done to turn focus back to the pitch
In December, as part of a wider package of measures aimed at ending sectarian behaviour in Scotland, First Minister Jack McConnell announced a campaign to end bigotry at Old Firm games. This might prompt the cynical to speculate as to what his next project might be – the prevention of night following day, perhaps.
John Fashanu's latest venture is the small Welsh team Barry Town. Simon Price outlines the reasons behind the new arrival
When John Fashanu popped up on Talk Sport in December to announce proudly that he had bought the champions of Wales, there were many patronising references to “little Barry Town”. In some respects, this is understandable. Barry, for the uninitiated, is a seaside town at the southernmost tip of Wales with a population of 50,000. The town is a microcosm of the Old Wales: sheep farms to the north, Bhopal-sized chemical plants to the east, dying dockyards to the south, and a third-rate mini Blackpool called Barry Island to the west. Most people with the means to do so get the hell out. Why, then, is Flash Fash moving in?
Walter Zenga's short time as a manager in Romania looks set to end soon, as Ben Lyttleton notes
When former Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga was appointed coach of Romanian side FC National last summer, he explained that one attraction of making a fresh start was to help him get over a broken heart after his split with Italian actress Hoara Borselli. Four months later, Zenga, rumoured to have had a fling with Madonna after Italia 90, cannot wait to leave Bucharest and he looks set to do so at the end of the season. The reason? Another woman. A drugs bust. And a potential smear campaign.