Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
When the World Cup ended, many thought Japanese football would slump but, as Justin McCurry reports, the exact opposite has happened
Strange things are happening at Gamba Osaka. It isn’t just that the perennial underachievers are closer than ever to winning J-League honours; they are doing so in front of crowds not seen since the heady days of the league’s launch ten years ago.
Ian Plenderleith goes looking for football collectibles and comes back without any bargains, but with an insight into a weird world where Eva Perón rubs virtual shoulders with middle-aged Surrey saddos
At DC United’s final home game of the season you could have your match ticket punched in exchange for a Bobble Doll of United and US defender Eddie Pope. Eddie is modelling the black kit of his club side, who that evening finished bottom of the US professional league, and has a star-spangled banner draped around his neck. He is also, according to the box, “genuine” (meaning the doll is either honest, or is the actual Eddie Pope), “hand crafted and hand painted”, and his oversized head jerks around on a spring like he’s having some sort of a seizure. What’s more, he’s collectible.
The big issues affecting clubs in the Football League
The principle that clubs should not leave their ground unless they are certain of being able to return to a site in the local area is one that was meant to have been established after Brighton left the Goldstone Ground. However, it shows no sign of being universally accepted. Ron Noades, for one, is keen to move Brentford out of Griffin Park, despite the fact that no new long-term home has been secured.
Almost alone among their former communist neighbours, Czech clubs have made some headway in the Champions League era. Sam Beckwith reports
These are strange days in the Czech Republic: European Union entry, which has been dangled on a string since 1989, finally seems imminent; the citizens of Prague and Brno are spoilt for choice when it comes to multiplex cinemas and out-of-town shopping centres; and even Viktoria Zizkov’s Jurassic-era stadium is all-seater now.
French players and managers are already all the rage in England. Now they are exporting their behind-the-scenes coaches as well. Ben Lyttleton reports
July 14, 1998, was one of Francisco Filho’s most memorable days in his 28 years at the Institut National du Football, based at Clairefontaine. “It was two days after France had won the World Cup,” Manchester United’s new Under-17 coach said. “Gérard Houllier told us he was leaving for Liverpool and Aimé Jacquet’s first words were: “We need to further improve our training.” He didn’t even mention what had happened two days earlier. I was taken aback, but that’s an example which illustrates the success of French training methods.”