Saturday 2 Man Utd march on with a 4-1 win over sliding Sunderland but Arsenal slip up, drawing 1-1 at home with Southampton, for whom Matt Le Tissier is booked while warming up for saying something rude to an assistant referee. Newcastle come from behind twice to beat Bolton 3-2, one of their goals stemming from a free-kick given for Bolton’s keeper holding on to the ball for more than six seconds. John Gregory celebrates a debut win at Derby, 1-0 against Spurs, and explains why he hopes the FA won’t impose a touchline ban for alleged misconduct a month ago: “I need to be out there to kick a backside and offer a cuddle.” Wolves close to within three points of Man City with a 2-1 win over Rotherham, whose manager Ronnie Moore is unhappy about the controversial decider: “If that ball crossed the line I’ll wear a dress next week.” Robert Prosinecki hits a hat-trick for Portsmouth but they only get a point in a 4-4 draw with Barnsley, who equalise in the last minute. Reading take a break from seven successive wins with a 1-1 draw at Bury, but still lead the Second by seven points. In the Third, Luton cut Plymouth’s lead to four points by beating them 2-0.
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 case for and against the idea of bringing video replays into football to aid referees' decisions and cut down on mistakes
Yes ~
Spurs v Leicester this season. Leicester have just pulled a goal back with ten minutes to go and, suitably reinvigorated, they tear into the home side straight from the restart. Robbie Savage clatters into Les Ferdinand, Ferdinand eyeballs Savage and a predictable midfield melee erupts.
Dear WSC
In the article about hooliganism in WSC 181 the usual catchphrase “every club has their trouble makers” was once again wheeled out. Can I just point out that Macclesfield Town have had no arrests in at least the last two years and possibly further. I know for a fact that they are the only Football League club who can boast this for the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 season. To my knowledge they are currently running at zero for this season as well. Perhaps the phrase “every club (except for Macclesfield Town who are a friendly lot and would be an ideal day out for yourself and the kids) have their trouble makers” would be more appropriate.
Tom Rance, Macclesfield
Dear WSC
Neil Reynolds (WSC 180) thinks it inconceivable that Lee Hughes should choose to leave West Brom for Coventry for footballing reasons, but I think he should consider the facts at the time that decision was made rather than the current league table.
When Hughes signed for Coventry we were rated as second favourites by most bookmakers to be promoted back to the Premiership. Just about every pundit considered us to be more likely to get promotion than the Baggies and at the point of Hughes’s signature the full extent of Coventry’s debts had not yet been made public. These are the footballing reasons. We were considered to have a better team than West Brom. The fact that West Brom have a bigger stadium and higher attendances are not footballing reasons. The fact is that Hughes would have felt that he was more likely to get promotion with Coventry than with Albion.The real gist of this is that fans of some of the other Midlands clubs cannot accept the fact that Coventry have been a more successful club for the last 15-20 years and that this may be the reason we have been able to lure their players away (Birmingham – Liam Daish and Gary Breen; Wolves – Steve Froggatt; Baggies – Hughes) so they choose to believe that the players can only have been influenced by financial considerations. To borrow Neil Reynolds’s warthog analogy, that doesn’t wash either.
Ian Hossack, via email
In Genk, the former mining town in Limburg, the team most likely to challenge Anderlecht is making waves again, as John Chapman reports
Nestling in the centre of the Brussels-Liège-Eindhoven triangle, Genk was once home to a thriving mining community. No more. With the closure of the first pit in 1966, the Ford motor company moved in and now dominates the town. But the legacy of coal lingers on. In the Fifties, thousands of Italians came to Belgium to work in the mines – including Enzo Scifo’s dad. In multicultural Genk, the Belgo-Italians are now the predominant immigrant population and their presence at home games helps fan the atmosphere. Indeed, so many flares were being lit during games that spectacular firework displays are now arranged for before and – something of a hostage to fortune this – after every home match.