Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
A quick history with all things football in Wigan, courtesy of Mike Wareing
1932 Wigan Athletic are born. Previously there was Wigan Borough (slung out of the League in 1931), Wigan Town, Wigan United and Wigan County – none survived. Fingers are crossed for the future success of the new club as the town is rapidly running out of names.
Part -time TV soap star look alike, part-time adventure explorer – Craig Gurney looks at Swindon Town's chariman
Distinguishing Features He used to look a bit like Coronation Street’s Les Battersby in a sharp suit. But not even Tricky Rikki can cheat the ageing process and he is now starting to look like the middle-aged businessman he surely is; more bloke down the golf club than bloke down the pub. The Battersby motif still has some mileage though. Les, you may recall, has made a fool of himself over professional blonde scouser, Margi Clarke. Hunt has a love of all things scouse; himself for a start. He stood by another blond (if receding) scouser, Steve McMahon, much longer than he should have. Even now, Hunt will not hear a bad word spoken against the manager who brought us two years of disastrous mid-season slumps.
A tale of football, betrayal and a kangaroo. Sam Beckwith reports on the peculiar case of Bohemians Prague
British fans looking for a second home in Prague could do much worse than visit Bohemians’ D’olnicka stadium. The stadium – Bohemians’ home since 1932 – fits your image of a classic football ground – the crowd is squeezed right up against the pitch, creating a good atmosphere even if the attendance doesn’t often top 4,000. There’s a large grandstand to one side, and vociferous support from the terrace behind the goal. But the chance to see a game there could already be gone, as Bohemians fans face some unattractive, but familiar, aspects of the modern game – cold-blooded redevelopers, and an enforced move from their home.
Tuesday 1 Home wins in the Worthington for Sunderland, who score two in the last minute in beating Luton 3-0, and Wimbledon, where the holders Chelsea suffer their first defeat in 19 games. Gianluca becomes the 1,000th defeated manager to say: “We tried to play football, not long ball like Wimbledon,” while Joe Kinnear virtually writes his own invite to an FA disciplinary hearing by announcing that his players “had a nice few bob” on themselves to win the tournament at the start of the season.
Wednesday 2 In the Worthington Spurs beat a Man Utd team featuring nine changes from their last match. “Some clubs may treat this tournament lightly but we’re not in a position to do so,” says George. “Even the best teams can’t win all the time,” sniffs Alex. In the other tie, recent cup specialists Leicester plough on with a 1-0 win over Blackburn , who announce that they have been given permission to talk to Brian Kidd about their managerial vacancy. “I just hope he decides to stay,” whispers Alex, being brave for the sake of the kids.
John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson trace the toots of England's international impotence and the shambles at the FA
December’s crisis within the FA, when chairman Keith Wiseman and chief executive Graham Kelly faced a vote of no confidence from the FA Council, can only be properly understood in relation to English football’s recent lack of standing in Europe and in FIFA politics. In the run-up to the 1998 World Cup and critical UEFA and FIFA congresses, Kelly was asked whether the British associations lacked influence in UEFA.