Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
It may not be in the public eye, but Tim Springett believes that away supporters are treated badly by the powers that be
The experiences of Manchester United supporters in Portugal recently were probably the most shocking and extreme examples of a phenomenon which remains unacceptably widespread in football even at home; the view, held by clubs, the police and the FA, of visiting team supporters as second-class citizens.
Alex Horsburgh profiles the little-known man behind Clydebank
Distinguishing features: Not unlike a Glasgow detective in the Taggart mould. Jack was way ahead of his time when merging Clydebank and East Stirlingshire in 1965. ES Clydebank only lasted a season but Bankies, then a junior club, got into the League when East Stirlingshire retained their identity in a court action. Since then Jack has been master of all he surveys, which is sometimes from the PA booth on top of the stand from where he has even been known to do the announcements.
Mark McQuinn recalls a thriller on 7th June 1995
The previous meeting between these two teams had resulted in Bulgaria’s glorious 2-1 triumph in the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup. Both were unbeaten in the qualifying group, although Bulgaria’s form was the more impressive – 5 straight victories, while the Germans had drawn with Wales and scraped past Albania, 2-1 home and away. The general consensus amongst the pundits was that it would be a tight match, in which Germany would play for a draw and probably get it.
England's next opponents, South Africa, have problems that go further than the football pitch, says John Perlman
By the time Benedict McCarthy set off for the African under-20 championships in Morocco last month, he had just seven South African Premier league games under his belt. By the end of the tournament in which his five goals had taken South Africa to the final – they lost 1-0 to the hosts – the young striker from Cape Town’s “coloured” townships was having to get his brain round a bewildering array of choices: Ajax? Feyenoord? Milan?
Dear WSC
Surely the insouciant arrogance with which David Elleray slithers to cover up his mistakes cannot be unconnected with his day job? Who remembers a school teacher who ever admitted to getting something wrong? Of course, as a servant of the privileged classes, Elleray performs his role with a polished charm, his eyes glinting like a demented pterodactyl. But beyond this saurian resemblance, I can’t be the only person to notice that the penalty he gave against Sean Dyche, for obstruction outside the area, was a carbon copy of the dreadful decision he gave against Frank Sinclair when he came shoulder to shoulder outside the box with the dying swan of the Ukrainian ballet, Andrei Kanchelskis, in the 1994 Cup Final. It’s time this man was confined to the playing fields of Harrow.
Martin Humphrey, London SW4