Sunday 1 The SPL title may have been decided at Tynecastle, where Hearts go two up against Celtic but lose 3‑2 to two goals in the last three minutes. Celtic take a seven-point lead. Lincoln manager Keith Alexander is sent “on leave” by the club, who are 15th in League Two.
The Archive
Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
The appointment of Steve Staunton and Sir Bobby Robson has not met universal acclaim in Ireland, as Paul Doyle reports
“Oh Christ, we’re doomed. Not Sieve Staunton, anyone but Sieve bloody Staunton!” Those were the exact words that resounded through the Lansdowne Road press room on June 2, 2001, when the team sheet revealed that partnering clumsy Richard Dunne in defence for the Republic of Ireland’s vital World Cup qualifier against Portugal would be 32-year-old Steve Staunton, a once-admired left-back who in recent years had become the personification of a tool with many holes but, mercifully, had hardly so far featured in this campaign. It was obvious that either Luis Figo or Staunton himself would tear the Irish defence apart.
Under political pressure, UEFA are looking into the murky rules surrounding club ownership and finance. But, as Steve Menary reports, some want to stop them
Over the next few months, UEFA is supposed to be reviewing how European football is run. The study of the game’s corporate and social governance was announced by the sports minister, Richard Caborn, on December 8, towards the end of the UK’s six-month presidency of the European Union. But the results of this review are far from certain and plenty are willing to debate its purpose.
The Curva Nord extremists are backing Paolo Di Canio’s right to be a fascist but, as Matthew Barker reports, some Laziali are up in arms. What will the chairman do?
Lazio must have the worst PR in world football. The continuing fallout following Paolo Di Canio’s Roman salutes is the latest in a long line of far-right associations that have plagued the club over the past 25 years. Di Canio, who saluted the travelling support twice in the volatile atmosphere of a game at Livorno and then repeated the trick a week later during a home match against Juventus, seems determined to take on both the Italian FA and now FIFA, as he prepares to contest charges of inciting racial hatred and violating the governing body of international football’s code of ethics. And, for the time being at least, the club seem happy enough to back him.
The Cross of St George may be everywhere but it’s not that long since it was mainly used by extremists – and, as Dan Turner explains, the BNP have stepped into a row at Oldham
It takes a hell of a story these days to divert Oldham fans away from moaning about their team’s on-field woes. As the most expensively assembled squad of recent times at Boundary Park spent most of the autumn stumbling from one mediocre performance to another, the groans of dissatisfaction from the faithful grew and threatened to come to a head. But just as manager Ronnie Moore’s lump-it-and-pray tactics were leading even the most phlegmatic of Latics to question his position, along came the flag. And never has 18 square feet of material caused such a rumpus.