Sorry, your browser is out of date. The content on this site will not work properly as a result.
Upgrade your browser for a faster, better, and safer web experience.

The Archive

Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.

 

The impossible job

The media lambast England manager Fabio Capello as some choice decisions see his side losing a friendly to France 2-1.

Fabio Capello can please no one. Harry Redknapp thinks he shouldn’t pick players he turned down for the World Cup. Sam Allardyce is upset that he disrespected Paul Robinson. Robert Huth thinks he should pick Ryan Shawcross. David Moyes wants him to play Leighton Baines more. And Roy Hodgson wants him to play Steven Gerrard less.

Read more…

Supporting cast

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.

Read more…

Cantona revisits Manchester

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.

Read more…

Restoring order

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.

Read more…

Back to basics

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.

Read more…

Copyright © 1986 - 2025 When Saturday Comes LTD All Rights Reserved Website Design and Build C2