Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Wales’s journey from outsiders to group favourites to narrow play-off failures leaves Paul Ashley-Jones unsure whether to despair at another defeat or celebrate progress
It’s the Euro 2004 draw and, despite my shutting myself in the other room, my wife insists on shouting out who’s in which group. I’ve not quite reached the fingers-in-ears stage but it’s getting pretty close.
Latvia may be the least expected qualifiers for any major tournament, but Daunis Auers believes they travel with a realistic aim: to overcome indifference to football at home
In November, Latvia, a tiny nation of 2.4 million wedged at the northern end of the Baltic, trampled all over World Cup semi-finalists Turkey, home and away, to win a lucrative place (worth eight million Swiss francs, apparently, £3.6m or 3.4m Latvian lati) at Euro 2004. This is all too much for the small band of long-suffering Latvian football fans, accustomed to years of tediously predictable underachievement. Success has usually been measured by the odd victory over neighbours Estonia. Just a few years ago there were a half-dozen Latvians plying their trade on the substitute benches and reserve teams of English professional football. Now only Marians Pahars (in the cosy Southampton treatment room) and Andrejs Stolcers (Fulham reserves) remain. Yet Latvia have suddenly started playing well, winning and attracting sell-out crowds.
Dear WSC
I enjoyed Roger Titford’s nostalgic piece about half-time scoreboards (WSC 202). Many people will remember Huddersfield Town’s big scorebox at the old Leeds Road ground. It was manned from within and, although it couldn’t boast Fulham-style coloured lights, it was still a complicated business to fathom its information. Scores were displayed in three groups (A, B & C) of eight and unless you watched it constantly, you couldn’t be sure whether the scores shown were from Group A or Group B. I missed many a goal and other dramatic incidents early in second halves through over-attentiveness to my programme to see how (for example) Plymouth and Blackburn were getting on. It was usually 0-0.
Stuart Barker, Carlisle
Chris Webb explains why the best laid plans of Brighton haven't worked out
An emotionally charged 1-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers on July 28, 1997, marked the end of an era for Brighton & Hove Albion FC. It was to be the last ever game played at the Goldstone Ground, the Seagulls’ home for over a century. Now it’s six years on and we remain without a permanent stadium, leaving many fans such as myself angry and frustrated as the club continue to pay the price for their lack of stability.
In the absence of hooligans in the stands, the press analysis of the Turkey-England game focused on violence invloving the players. Barney Ronay examines the evidence
FIST-ANBUL… We’re through despite shocking Turk violence… EVERY KICK, EVERY BRAWL: PAGES 2,3,4,5, back page & Score. The News of the World found itself in reflective mood the morning after England’s scoreless draw in Turkey. Stretched above a picture of “hate-filled Alpay” poking a naughty finger in David Beckham’s face, FIST-ANBUL captured in one idiot tri-syllable the mood of salacious voyeurism among the tabloid press in the days following England’s final Euro 2004 qualifying match.