Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Known as many things, mainly to rude to print, the referee has a tough job. Cris Freddi is taking no pity on the men in black
As always, there are enough examples of dreadful refereeing to fill a book, let alone a couple of pages. Only room here for a quick mention of Alan Hudson being given a goal for Chelsea against Ipswich, when the ball hit the side netting, and Clive Allen being denied one when his free-kick came back off the stanchion, both pushed aside by more momentous examples.
Dear WSC
So Adam Powley thinks Chelsea have “obscene ticket prices” (WSC 151). He’s right, obviously, but having paid £29 to watch Tottenham play Chelsea from a seat situated behind the police control room at White Hart Lane last season, I hardly think Spurs fans are in a position to take the moral high ground. As for Chelsea’s “contrived glamour image”, I can only wonder at how he sees the image of his own club. “Real” glamour perhaps?
Colin Maitland, Ascot
With the attention of off-field matters increasingly turning towards the finances of the game, how long can football clubs survive working on unsustainable budgets?
It’s an unlikely feat, but the youngster seems to have pulled it off. Even in a summer when words such as “Office of Fair Trading” and “minister for sport” have been grappling for our attention, nothing has hit the high notes on the Yawnometer quite like a mention of Nicolas Anelka.
A poor performance while on international duty could have a more worrying effect on a player's domestic club than meets the eye, writes Neil Wills
When Martin Palermo missed three penalties against Colombia he unwittingly wrote himself into the Copa America record books. What he probably did not realise at the time (hey, he probably had other things on his mind) was that his profligacy from 12 yards would have far-reaching repercussions for British football clubs in this age of the market.
In last month's issue we asked for your views on England's 2006 World Cup Bid and Manchester Utd's exemption from the FA Cup. Roger Titford digests the results
Here are some early views on the burning issues culled from our reader survey in WSC No 150. We looked at the first 500 questionnaires to come in and found plenty of disgruntlement with the FA. No change there, some might say.