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The Archive

Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.

 

Give and go up

wsc299 Teams can pass their way into the Premier League, but Adam Bate thinks that the long ball game is the best tactic to keep them there

It all looks set for an interesting battle at the top of the Championship. While Southampton are heralded for their pleasing football under Nigel Adkins, West Ham continue to power on with the arch-pragmatist Sam Allardyce. The prevailing wisdom is that trying to play football is not practical in the Championship. But history suggests you can pass your way to promotion.

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National disservice

wsc299 Playing for your country is the peak for most footballers but, as Steve Menary points out, it can come at a cost for lower-league players

For players in the lower leagues, pursuing an international career is a real gamble. The latest international calendar allows for 19 matches over a two-year period ending in 2012. With no automatic suspension of games in the lower divisions, players going on international duty risk losing their place at their clubs.

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Everton 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

wsc299 Goodison Park was once a place ahead of its time but, as Simon Hart reports, the rebranded “Old Lady” is now a meeting place for disgruntled supporters frustrated by their club’s decline

Step into the parish hall of St Luke the Evangelist church on the corner of Goodison Road and Gwladys Street, and you enter a world that could not be any further removed from the ad-man’s fantasy of the face-painted, replica-shirted modern “footy” fan and their agony-and-ecstasy matchday experience.

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Standing back

wsc299 If fans want to enjoy football on their feet and can do safely, there is no need for draconian stewarding, says Michael Glenister

Travelling fans who hanker after standing areas in the all-seat era often mutter bitterly before grudgingly taking their seat. Around a hundred Cardiff City fans defied this habit and took part in a boycott of the closing stages of their fixture at Leeds United on October 30. Their gripe seems to have focused on the ejection of a number of their fellow supporters for persistent standing. At £36 a ticket, it is easy to see why Cardiff fans may have felt aggrieved that they were not allowed to enjoy the game standing up.

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Terrace talk

wsc299 Taking their lead from the Bundesliga, Celtic fans are campaigning for the return of standing areas, reports Mark Poole

Terracing could soon be returning to top-flight British football. Celtic are conducting a feasibility study into installing safe standing areas at Celtic Park, following a proposal from the Celtic supporters’ trust. The board seem well disposed to the proposal and Neil Doncaster, the Scottish Premier League chief executive, says it is an option he “would like to see explored”. Unlike in England and Wales, Scottish law doesn’t prohibit terracing, but SPL and SFA rules would have to change before any top-flight clubs could bring back standing areas.

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