Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
WSC readers keep spotting players in the unlikliest places…
I was humbled when Archie Gemmill spotted me driving into the Forest car park to fetch some tickets, at what he regarded as an excessive speed. Before I had had a chance to park and get out of the car he ran over to me, told me to wind down the window and called me “a bloody moron”, before turning and walking away. James Crosby
Harry Golightly offers some guidance to anyone with a spare afternoon in Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe United’s top scorer last season, Jamie Forrester, outraged locals by describing the town as “a shed” in a recent interview with top onanist’s periodical Loaded. In the inevitable media storm that followed (well, one publicity seeking local politician blowing a fuse in the town’s nightly excuse for a newspaper) Forrester neatly attempted to sidestep the issue with the same precision as he might finish off a move on the pitch. He claimed he had “never actually used the word ‘shed’”, as if this were crucially distinct from the words he actually uttered. Clever. “All I said was that there was nothing to do and nowhere worth going,” he disclaimed.
Stephanie Pride recalls the scenes of despair at Scarborough as Carlisle deliver a killer blow on the final day of the season
Sometimes the greatest crowds invite the greatest disasters. Take Scarborough’s baptism of fire in the Football League in 1987, when £25,000 worth of damage was done by rioting Wolves supporters – the attendance was 7,314, our highest in the league. So the omens were not good for what was billed as “the biggest game in the club’s history”.
Having been caught on camera leading a chorus of sectarian songs, the former Rangers vice-chairman Donald Findlay had no choice but to resign, Gary Oliver explains
A peculiarity of Scottish law is that a jury may find a charge “not proven”, a verdict widely interpreted as meaning: we think the defendant is guilty, but cannot prove it. One who argues passionately that this controversial option be preserved is leading defence lawyer, and erstwhile vice-chairman of Rangers, Donald Findlay QC – a man against whom the accusation of sectarianism has for some years been, well, not proven.
Following the sacking of Graeme Souness as Benfica boss, Phil Town explains why the Scotsman was doomed from the start
Graeme Souness, sacked last month by Benfica, had a rocky ride at the end of his season and a half with the club, but it was not always so. He had been a trump card in candidate João Vale e Azevedo’s campaign for election to the club presidency, and his name helped the Lisbon lawyer sweep to power in late 1997.