Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Mark Rowe explains why fewer stewards and a loosening of health and safety regulation may see standards at stadiums decline
John Rutherford was insistent. If a group of home fans wanted to bring their giant flag in, they had to show a fire safety certificate. It was April 2009 and Rutherford, the formidable safety officer at Sheffield Wednesday, had a lot on his plate. As well as the usual matchday duties there were TV crews doing live interviews for the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough.
Following the security problems during Italy’s abandoned international fixture against Serbia, Vanda Wilcox discusses how crowd safety and hooliganism is still a problem for the Italians
Before anyone in Italy knew his name or had even seen his face, Ivan Bogdanov had made himself instantly recognisable. Continuous TV footage and acres of newsprint were immediately dedicated to Bogdanov and his fellow hooligans, responsible for the violent disruption of Italy’s European Championship qualifier against Serbia in Genoa on October 12.
Ian Plenderleith raises the difficulties faced in creating a football blog that is both successful and commercially viable
Why would anyone work for free? One major plot in the internet’s rollercoaster storyline has been the rebirth of amateur media and its consequent claim to be taken seriously. In terms of football journalism, this has meant an emerging forum for that perennially seething vocal mass, the fans. The initial resistance by the mainstream newspapers to that untamed articulation of frustration and discontent has given way to a partially welcoming embrace.
Mike Woitalla explains why US players are having to cross the Mexican border in order to get their break
José Francisco Torres and Edgar Castillo were born and raised in the US, the children of Mexican immigrants. Both showed signs of great soccer talent from an early age. Both were told that they were too small at the trials that lead to youth national team selection. Neither would have been heard from again as soccer players if they hadn’t moved to their parents’ homeland as teenagers to join Pachuca and Santos Laguna respectively.
As financial uncertainty looms at Manchester United, Ashley Shaw explores how Wayne Rooney’s interference may have forced the hand of the Glazer family.
So the cat is finally out of the bag. Whatever the repercussions of the Wayne Rooney saga, we now know that concerns over the club’s ownership extend into the dressing room. On the face it, United’s American owners have given in to player power at the risk of losing their most saleable asset for a song in the summer.