Dear WSC
After “sick as a parrot” and “early doors”, it seem we must now brace ourselves as another football cliche takes root. Apparently, no one in the game can now refer to the patently obvious without reach- ing for a little spurious gravitas by des- cribing it as “well documented”. In case it is not yet well documented just how irritating this affectation has become, I thought I’d get the ball rolling.
Jeffrey Prest, via email
The Archive
Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Paul Pomonis examines the bribery allegations that have tainted football in Greece
On September 7, Greece beat Armenia 1-0 in Yerevan in a Euro 2004 qualifier. A few hours later, Suren Baghdassarian, press officer with the Football Federation of Armenia, alleged that the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) had unsuccessfully attempted to buy the game. According to Baghdassarian, in the days leading up to the game, former Armenia international Yervard Sukassyan had repeatedly phoned the national manager and the chairman of the federation, offering $1 million (£600,000) on behalf of the HFF chairman Vassilis Gagatsis in order to secure victory. The Armenian officials had taped the incriminating phone calls and, prior to the match, notified UEFA’s match delegate, who decided to give the match the go-ahead and look at the case afterwards. Based on the evidence collected since, UEFA have appointed a disciplinary inspector, Austrian Gerhard Kapl, who is expected to report back ahead of the final series of qualifying matches on October 11.
Tom Davies examines the day to day struggle for survival of three clubs in the lower leagues
The wheels have well and truly come off at Barry Town. Mounting debts have caught up with the seven-times League of Wales champions, forcing the club into administration and the team to the bottom of the Welsh Premier table. The crisis came to a head shortly after shy and retiring John Fashanu quit in August. As reported in WSC 192, Fashanu took over at the end of last year with talk of using the club as a gateway to European football for African players for whom he acted as agent. But none of this came to pass and fans now see his tenure as just a publicity stunt.
In the dizzy heights of the Premier League when emotions run high things can get out of hand
Millions of neutrals will have watched the recent Manchester United versus Arsenal match and greatly enjoyed its conclusion – even people who dislike the Premiership for what it represents will have been entertained. They may have been surprised, therefore, to learn that civilisation itself was undermined by what followed a late penalty miss. Sky, of course, were shocked by the hounding of Ruud van Nistelrooy and made sure we saw why, repeatedly, from every angle. Revulsion swept through the media – phone-ins were jammed, the tabloids brought out extra large point sizes for their headlines and the letters pages were full of tearful letters from parents about how their poor children were shocked by what they saw (while they were outside, arguing over who was going to play Martin Keown in their reconstruction).
Neil Andrews explores the world of fantasy football while looking back at its roots
Years ago, fantasy football used to be such a simple thing. All you needed was a Subbuteo set and a group of friends who were willing to compete in some kind of championship. In fact, Subbuteo used to encourage the formation of independent leagues, as it was a good way of selling more sets. Of course, things used to be much simpler in the old days.