Friday 2 Martin O’Neill denies being approached by Liverpool – “I’m going to try and remain calm and say that story is totally and utterly untrue” – while Lazio coach Roberto Mancini is the latest to be linked with the Spurs job. The transfer window opens with a creak: Leicester sign Nikos Dabizas from Newcastle and turn down a Blackburn bid for Muzzy Izzet; Wolves sign Romania striker Ioan Ganea on a short-term deal; Eyal Berkovic may take a wage cut to leave Man City for Portsmouth.
The Archive
Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Racing Genk have recently experiemented with earpiece technology, enabling the coaching staff to send orders to their keeper. Despite being used in cycling, Genk's innovative approach was a global first in football, as John Chapman writes
Where did Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary anger and desire to win come from? Some say it’s due to the time he spent as an apprentice tool-worker, but others trace it back to Rangers’ 4-0 defeat by Celtic in the 1969 Scottish Cup final. Fergie was made the scapegoat for the defeat, after he failed to mark Willie McNeil at a corner two minutes into the match. Almost as the final whistle blew, Ferguson was on his way out of Ibrox, seemingly into obscurity.
Having watched Conference football since 1997, Hereford United fan Richard Butler is eager for his team to escape non-League and once again compete with their Welsh rivals
Could Hereford’s gates increase significantly if they made it back into the Football League?
When we first broke into the Fourth Division in the 1970s, the club regularly drew crowds of 10,000, an astonishing figure for a town Hereford’s size, and we would once again be the only League club for about 50 miles in any direction. But sadly, 25 years of mostly mediocrity has made many folk cynical about the club. However, council plans for redevelopment of the “Edgar Street Grid” are in the pipeline, which could secure the long-term future of the club and may even mean a new stadium.
Al Needham couldn’t quite believe just how poor John Barnes is working in television – and was even more shocked when he started thinking about all the competition and realised that Emlyn Hughes was quite good
He dealt with intense media scrutiny ever since the start of his playing career. He went on to become one of the most important players in the country. He played a major part in England’s 1990 World Cup campaign. He’s dabbled in TV adverts. As soon as he retired, he was snapped up as a pundit and before too long became a presenter on a terrestrial channel. So why is John Barnes so toe-curlingly bad at his new job?
Dear WSC
I enjoyed the articles on the links between football and rap (WSC 204). One important connection has been overlooked, however. In a slightly surreal interview on Liverpool’s official site from 2001, Dr Dre reveals himself as a fan of the (his words) “cool cats in red”. At the time of the interview, Dre’s Liverpool favourite was Michael Owen, though he says he was first attracted to the Reds by John Barnes. “He was bad,” Dre explains. “Kinda reminded me of Magic Johnson.” He goes on to describe Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp as “old school” and Czech midfielder Patrik Berger as “the bomb”. How long will it be before Eminem admits that Tomas Repka is a role model?
Sam Beckwith, Prague, Czech Republic