Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
Joyce Woolridge explains why a guided tour of Old Trafford left her with mixed feelings
A confused Japanese woman on Piccadilly Metro Station had asked me, in what amounted to sign language, what tram she needed to board to get to Old Trafford. She waved a photocopied tourist information sheet which presumably suggested that there was only one place worth visiting in England outside London, and that was the self-styled Theatre of Dreams.
Ian Cusack reports on the way the local media handled the departure of Kevin Keegan
I happened to be in Newcastle city centre at 10.30 am when the story of Kevin Keegan’s resignation broke, so I saw the stage-managed outpourings of false emotion at first hand. The sudden nature of the departure made it a perfect opportunity for soundbite and snapshot.
Ian Cusack explains why Darlington and Hartlepool United are synonymous with the term 'perennial strugglers'
Imagine the scenario: a resurgent North Eastern club, managed by an ex-international captain, playing the best football in their history and seemingly certain to be rewarded with a major prize, inexplicably falter in the closing weeks of the season and chuck it away on the final day. The next season begins with an air of gloom despite a major signing and rumours of a relocation to a brand new stadium. Eventually the board accept one of the frustrated manager’s numerous offers to resign and replace him with a former manager and former player.
Brian Homewood salutes an unconventional goalkeeper
Like Timbuktu and Outer Mongolia, Paraguay is best-known for being an out-of-the-way place. If it has any claim to fame, it is for harbouring Nazi war criminals. It is mocked by neighbouring Brazil, which sees it as a smugglers’ haven (in reality Brazil is one of South America’s crime capitals), and sneered at by Argentina, which looks on it as a source of cheap labour. An estimated one million Paraguayans live in Argentina, many of them employed cleaning up after rich natives.
Cris Freddi takes a look at 'unique' goalkeepers
Leslie Henderson Skene, who kept goal for Scotland in 1904, was a specialist in mental disorders. What a nugget to dig up. Let the rest of the article write itself, one case history after another.