Book reviews
Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
Phil Town explains how a recent ruling could mean more good news for Porto, while Boavista hope for a reversal of fortunes
“This is our destiny” ran the stadium banners that accompanied FC Porto’s best ever season. They won four out of a possible five trophies – Portuguese Championship, Cup and Supertaça (between last season’s Champions and Cup-winners) and the Europa League – and faltered only twice. The League Cup went to Benfica and the open-top bus broke down on the way to the city-centre celebrations for the Europa League win.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
One Belgrade club has floundered since the assassination of their infamous and highly feared owner in 2000. Richard Mills reports
Earlier this year Serbian pop singer Svetlana “Ceca” Ražnatović was finally charged with embezzlement over the sale of footballers and the illegal possession of firearms. These charges date back nearly ten years and relate to transfers from Obilić Belgrade Football Club. Ceca took over the running of Obilić when her husband Željko “Arkan” Ražnatović was assassinated in 2000 after an extraordinary life which included bank robberies, prison breaks, commanding a paramilitary organisation and indictment for war crimes. In death Arkan continues to be a legendary figure among Serbian nationalists, but the plight of his football club has been less well documented.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
While Fulham are now established in the Premier League, Neil Hurden has fond memories of older matchday customs, despite the prevailing chaos at the club for much of the 1980s and 1990s
Happiness is such an awkward bastard to pin down, isn’t it? We are told that think-tankers, politicians and philosophers spend countless hours of valuable research time pondering why we’re not as happy as we were in 1948 when we now have about ten times more food to eat, infinitely more sources of entertainment to occupy us and clothes that are startlingly less beige.
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Nick House doesn’t mind that little has changed at Torquay Utd’s home ground and thinks plenty has improved in the last 25 years
If 1986 was one of English football’s low points, it’s even more starkly remembered at Plainmoor where Torquay United were in the process of finishing bottom of the pile for the second year running.
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Gary Andrews bids farewell to some contentious champions and their suitably controversial manager
Even after cantering to the Conference title, Crawley’s manager Steve Evans was still taking potshots at his nearest rivals. “I did expect the players of Luton Town to give my players a guard of honour onto the pitch at the start of a wonderful night, but obviously they were told not to do that,” he complained following their first game after securing the title. This minor spat over a bigger occasion sums up Crawley’s championship triumph neatly.
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews