Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Ahead of a nothing-to-play-for match against Shakhtar Donetsk, Richard Mills explains why Partizan Belgrade fans are proud of their team for competing on the same stage as Europe’s finest
This season Partizan Belgrade succeeded in qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in six years, resulting in a mad scramble for tickets with supporters desperate to see their club compete against Europe’s elite.
Simon Tyers watches ITV’s build up the Manchester derby, while Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker returns
This column recently speculated on the appeal to football show producers of David Ginola. He has to be coerced into saying anything of interest but nonetheless has the inbuilt advantages of a French accent and the fact that he’s going grey in a dignified fashion. For these people, Eric Cantona is the lodestone. Write in a couple of aphorisms, allow him to sparkle gently with a sideways look to camera and you’re away. Cantona turned up as the de facto centrepiece of Looking For Manchester, essentially ITV’s preview of a derby for which they had no broadcast rights. It did not promise much for City fans hoping for a fair hearing and, sure enough, all they got was Denis Law’s backheel and a brief clip of the 5-1 derby win in 1989.
Derek Brookman discusses the possibility that Ajax’s recent mediocrity may not just be a passing phase
When Martin Jol’s Ajax embarked on a magnificent late-season run in the spring, winning their last 13 league matches in a row while scoring 47 times in the process, it seemed like – for the club’s supporters at least – the natural order was being restored.
Dave Lee watches Abbey United v Bully Wee United – two of the UK’s supporters’ clubs
It’s 10.30am, and in the car park of a leisure centre, manager Richard French nervously thumbs out a text message. It’s half an hour until kick-off, and there is still no sign of today’s opponents. He’d last heard from the opposition manager an hour ago. They had just passed Birmingham, but the minibus was limited to a paltry 60mph. And, after a night of heavy snow, they were down to just 11 men after one of their number found himself snowed in.
John Duerden covers the growth of the Asian Champions League, currently held by Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma thanks to their manager known as “the Korean Mourinho”
If José Mourinho was still manager of Inter he would be in with a chance of meeting his eastern equivalent at December’s FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. The Italian club are likely to play the newly crowned champions of Asia, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, who are led by Shin Tae-Yong, aka “the Korean Mourinho”.