Stories | When Saturday Comes

Three hundred club

To commemorate the 300th issue of WSC here are a few notable moments from our history, along with some WSC trivia

A new issue had just been unloaded from the printer’s van. We opened one of the bundles, each of which had been covered with a sheet of paper. On the front cover, where a picture of Graham Taylor is supposed to be, is a close up of a studded black leather boot with an enormous heel. It is Skin Two, an S&M magazine. A phone call to the printers confirms that the wrong bundles had been loaded on to the van. A few miles away, Skin Two staff unwrap their new issue, stare at Graham Taylor and wonder if they have gone too far this time.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Community spirit

Peter Geoghegan looks at St Mirren supporters’ bid to buy the club through turning the Buddies into a Community Interest Company

Billed as a “national day of action”, November 30 witnessed the largest strike in Britain for a generation. That evening, 70 supporters gathered at St Mirren Park not to protest changes to public sector pensions or Tory cutbacks but in a bid to resuscitate an innovative community-led takeover of the Paisley club.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Generation game

Adam Bate explains how the launch of the NextGen Series, dubbed the teenage Champions League, will help bridge the gap between youth football and the senior level

These are exciting times to be a young footballer coming through one of Europe’s premier academies. This season has seen the launch of a new competition – the NextGen Series – pitting 16 of the continent’s major clubs against each other in a teenage version of the Champions League. Spanish football expert Graham Hunter summed up the excitement best: “I find it impossible to understand why this brilliant but simple concept hasn’t existed for years.”

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Out of time

As Arsenal celebrate their 125th anniversary with the unveiling of three bronze statues outside the Emirates, Jon Spurling looks at their somewhat disputed origins

With a parade of former stars prior to the league victory over Everton, and the official unveiling of the bronze statues of Herbert Chapman, Thierry Henry and Tony Adams outside the Emirates Stadium the day before, Arsenal celebrated their 125th anniversary in some style. Over the last few years, the Arsenal History Project, run by the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association (AISA), has undertaken a review of the club’s often murky formative years. One of the main drivers of the Arsenal History Project, Tony Attwood, commented on his blog: “In the early days of writing histories of the club, people relied on their memories or occasional comments from others. This built up a range of documentation all based on the flimsiest of evidence.” The Woolwich Arsenal blog has highlighted and questioned several elements of the story of the club previously been taken as gospel.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Book reviews

Melting pot

Hayes and Yeading’s controversial merge has yet to have the desired affect off the pitch with fresh doubts over the financial future of the club. John van Laer looks at where it all went wrong in West London

The official statement to announce the formation of Hayes & Yeading United FC in 2007 asserted that the two major clubs in the west London suburb of Hayes would “join forces, integrate resources and bring together a community, creating a new super-club on the non-League scene”. A key part of this ambitious plan was to sell Hayes FC’s stadium and land on Church Road, and use the funds raised to redevelop Yeading’s council-owned ground to create a multi-purpose facility that meets Conference grading regulations, while also generating extra income from renting out all-weather, floodlit pitches to the local community.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - The Archive