Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Television deals are becoming increasingly important in the modern game. Roger Titford explains the latest agreement that will determine how we view football
More evidence of football’s growing importance as the new national religion arrives: the left-wing, oops sorry, independent, think tank Demos have published a pamphlet arguing that price controls should be imposed on Sky TV by a newly-created Office for Regulating the Broadcasting of Sport (ORBS?).
Former police commissioner Sir John Smith was asked by the FA to look into football's values after the colourful financial events of recent years. Martin Le Jeune, who assisted with the report, explains why we should take it seriously
Betting, bungs, bribes… there have been times in the past few months when football’s financial dealings might as well have come straight out of a business studies course taught by Del Boy Trotter and Arthur Daley.
Although standing at football matches is forbidden, Ashley Shaw disapproves of the thuggish stewarding at Old Trafford
When eye-witness accounts talk of scuffling in the stand between stewards and supporters, it is a clear sign that all is not well at Old Trafford.
Thursday 1 The FA say that they will ask for more World Cup tickets when they meet tournament organisers later this month. At present only 20% of tickets for each match are to be given over to fans from the two teams involved. Man Utd fan representatives demand a meeting with club officials after some supporters were ejected for standing up during the Boxing Day match with Everton. “The brutality of some of the security staff has gone beyond a joke,” says a spokesman for United’s Independent Supporters Association. Hearts miss a chance to go back to the top of the Scottish Premier after bottom of the table Hibs come back from two down to draw 2-2.
Friday 2 Celtic get their first league win against Rangers in eleven matches, 2-0 at Parkhead. Rangers’ lead at the top is now down to a point. Paul Gascoigne may be in trouble again after responding to the barracking of Celtic fans as he was warming up by pretending to play the flute in an Orange march style (he’ll plead ignorance again, you watch).
USA v Iran may not be the greatest match at this summer's World Cup, but Mike Woitalla hopes it will help to end political hostility
To be considered as soft on Iran has been the kiss of death in American politics since Jimmy Carter’s presidency crashed with a failed attempt to rescue 52 US hostages, who were held for 444 days in Tehran. But Iranians could have felt some relief had Bob Dole defeated Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election. Comic relief, that is. Pronounce or spell “Dole” in the Persian language (Farsi) and it comes out as “penis”. (Not that the White House dick has stayed out of the news, but that’s another story).