Despite interference from NATO among others, Yugoslavia made it to Euro 2000. Dragomir Pop-Mitic looks back at an extraordinary campaign
“All games for the coming weekend are postponed.”
The Archive
Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Referees have clamped down with a series of red cards, but as John Williams finds out, it is not just them who should shoulder the blame
Forget just for a moment all the argy bargy about the standard of refereeing, the alleged increase in violence in the English game and Patrick Vieira’s recent disciplinary charge for spitting at Neil Ruddock. Consider this instead: Vinny Samways, remember him – impish little midfielder, quite skilful but a bit lightweight, much too faint-hearted for the English game? Spurs and Everton fans will probably recall the urgings from the stands that little Vinnie should cease fannying around and “get stuck in”.
Italy have tried the idea of two referees. Richard Mason tells us why he is impressed
The second round, first leg matches of the Italian Cup, played on October 12-14, saw the start of an experiment that could have far-reaching consequences. For the first time in an important competition in Europe, matches were controlled by two referees.
As well as looking at sad stats for transfers and appearances, Jamie Rainbow takes in unofficial Stoke City and official Accrington Stanley
You get what you pay for, we’re often told. Not in the world of football you don’t, where, according to a site devoted to the transfer market, Transfer News, financial outlay bears little or – in the case of Newcastle – no relation to success. Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the three heaviest spending clubs have been Newcastle, Liverpool and Everton, none of whom currently show any signs of justifying their massive investments.
It seems that everyone in Britain thinks we have the hardest centre-halves. Matt Nation disagrees
There appears to be a stipulation in certain player-turned-TV-pundits’ contracts which dictates that, at least twice a season, the audience must be told just how much one six-footer is looking forward to kicking lumps out of another six-footer in the game coming up on Saturday. Similarly, the pundits’ stooge is obliged to inform the camera just how much the fans will be looking forward to it as well. Their failure to use the phrase “Clash of the Titans” represents potential grounds for instant dismissal.