The Archive | When Saturday Comes

Austerity measures

Continuing our anniversary series we look back at how the spectator experience has changed in the last 25 years. David Wangerin was fascinated with English football in the 1980s as everything was so different to his native US. Times have changed

I was unlucky, I suppose, that both of the first two English football matches I ever saw ended without a goal. But what I remember most about my first trip to Villa Park, on the first Saturday of February, 1984, wasn’t the score, the weather, or even the opposition: it was all the empty seats.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Birmingham City 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

A West Midlands derby leaves the home team just about over the safety line, while the visitors are left with the volatile mood swings familiar to anyone who has experienced a relegation scrap. Adam Bate relives the action

I’m meeting an old school friend to go to the game. Although we are both Wolves fans, he lives behind enemy lines – near the Mailbox in the centre of Birmingham. He greets me at the door with a sheepish raise of the eyebrows. No words. We both know this is not a social call. Such is life for the supporters of a team in the midst of a relegation battle.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Percentage points

Thanks to share rules, German fans retain a say in the running of their clubs. But Paul Joyce worries this may be about to change

German football is justifiably proud of its strict regulations on club ownership. In order to prevent predatory investors seizing control of teams, the statutes of the German Football League (DFL) decree that at least 50 per cent of a professional club’s shares plus one controlling vote must be owned by its members, ie the supporters. This democratic model also means that fans of teams such as Schalke 04 and 1.FC Cologne have recently been able to use their clubs’ AGMs to block unpopular measures proposed by their boards.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Three’s a crowd

An international ban would endanger Bosnian football at all levels. Kenneth Morrison explains a presidential problem

On a mild March evening in the industrial town of Zenica, a late goal by Edin Dzeko brought Bosnia another impressive victory, this time coming from behind to beat Romania 2-1. Having failed to qualify for a major tournament since their first competitive match in 1996, they narrowly missed out on World Cup qualification in 2010, losing in the play-offs to Portugal.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Talking heads

Cameron Carter traces the social history of Britain through 25 years of friendly faces presenting football programmes on TV

In 1986 presenters and pundits sat stiffly, in wife-selected jackets, behind desks, because the desk is the key western symbol of wisdom. In 2011 we have lounging gigglers like Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson who do not even wear neckties, or the man-child Jamie Redknapp who is allowed to wear expensive fashion-clothes and constantly interrupt his elders in a career-long attempt to prove his right to be heard. The desk has gone.

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - The Archive