Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Hankies out for the European Cup-Winners Cup, which ended its days at Villa Park on May 19, 1999. Cris Freddi looks back on a trophy largely unloved outside Magdeburg.
So farewell then ECWC. No more clogging up sentences with “European Cup-Winners Cup quarter-final second leg”. The last of the three Euro competitions to be founded is the first to disappear. Fair enough, perhaps, and I suspect it won’t be unduly mourned.
Jamie Rainbow takes a look at club websites from Yorkshire, Wales and the West Midlands
Being defined by whom one hates, rather than who one is, can cause no end of problems. Just look, for example, at The Square Ball, a fanzine-cum-website devoted to Leeds United. In terms of who to support, the forthcoming European Cup final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich has caused much anxiety. Should Leeds fans be influenced by a “long-term dislike of Man U” or a “burning sense of injustice from the 1975 European Cup Final”? Or, like the rest of us, should they get on with their life and just enjoy the game on its merits?
Brazil v Guatemala, CONCACAF Gold Cup, February 5th 1998, Miami. Neil Wills witnessed a shock result
Every so often something comes along which imbues life with fresh meaning. Such an occurrence befell several million people simultaneously on an otherwise ordinary day in February 1998. It is sad to recount that the incident in question was of no greater import than a football match, but there you go: sometimes you have to take what you can get.
Wednesday 31 In Euro 2000 qualifiers, Scotland lose 2-1 to the Czech Republic, their first home defeat in a competitive match since 1987. "If we win in Prague we'll be back in contention," says the perennially chipper Craig Brown. Sweden's 1-0 win in Poland means England are unlikely to do better than second place in their group. There are disappointing results too for Wales, beaten 2-0 in Switzerland, and Northern Ireland, held to a goalless draw in Moldova. To howls of protest from the clubs battling to finish fifth, Newcastle are guaranteed a European place after it is announced that one of England's three UEFA Cup places must go to one of the last four teams left in the FA Cup. "I wonder if UEFA's attitude would have been the same if Barnsley were one of the semi-finalists," mutters John Gregory. Crystal Palace appoint a new administrator and obtain a High Court order allowing them to remain in business. South≠ampton receive planning permission to build a 32,000 seater stadium on the site of an old gasworks. Alan Little is the new manager of Southend.
Rather then follow the general consesus of an uphappy team, Argentina's national squad have taken a different approach. Peter Hudson investigates
Any strike is a rarity in Argentina these days, given the weakness of the local labour movement. But the latest is doubly unusual in being led by professional footballers, hardly noted for their revolutionary fervour. What’s more, the players are not looking for higher wages or better conditions. Rather, they are withdrawing their labour in defence of their poorer colleagues, who have been prevented from plying their trade by a court order late last year suspending all matches outside the First Division.