Stories | When Saturday Comes

Hope against hope

Summer is a time for dreaming of coming success for your club, before grim reality kicks in. Enjoy it while you can, says Jon Spurling

Before the start of the campaign, each team is technically dead level. Even the most battle-weary of supporters may cling to the belief that the new owner/chairman will usher in “a new age of prosperity”, that the “dynamic” and “forward-thinking” new boss will cajole and inspire the troops and that the new striker will rip through opposition defences at will. Reality can sink in within minutes, or the belief may seep out of the club like a slowly deflating balloon over a period of weeks. Unless you happen to follow one of the elite group who actually land trophies regularly, supporting a football team is just one long false dawn.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Carlito’s way

Ian Farrell bids a grateful but unemotional farewell to Carlos Tevez as he looks for another move

If you filter out any stories containing the words “romp” or “affray” and only count the football-related, few Premier League players have generated as much news over the last five years as Carlos Tévez. Not that there haven’t been sleazier revelations along the way, but it’s at work that he is truly a leading headline-maker, with the success and salvation his goals have delivered accounting for only a fraction of the coverage.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 - Book reviews

Talent spotting

Adam Bate explores the unwanted attention that success in Europe’s lesser leagues has brought from the big fish in England and Spain

“Before we declare that Wolverhampton are invincible, let them go to Moscow and Budapest. And there are other internationally renowned clubs: AC Milan and Real Madrid to name but two. A club world championship, or at least a European one – larger, more meaningful and more prestigious than the Mitropa Cup and more original than a competition for national teams – should be launched.”

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Character assassination

Inappropriate comments are hard to expunge from the social media archives. Paul Butler tells how the image of football fans can suffer as a result of such stupidity

Footballers are constantly in the papers for their social media faux pas, but fans have transgressed too. In May, Norwich City fan Luke O’Donoughoe became the first supporter to be banned from a football ground for posting racist tweets, after commenting on news that the Canaries had signed former Evertonian James Vaughan. Not only was he banned for life, the police charged him with “sending an offensive message by public communication network under the Communications Act 2003”, and the 22-year-old was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Tricky for the trees

Despite success in the Netherlands, Steve McClaren is still a laughing stock to many. Nick Miller wonders if he can rehabilitate his once promising reputation at Nottingham Forest

Steve McClaren is an easy man to mock. There is plenty to choose from – the odd peninsula of hair in the middle of his head, the matey demeanour, the rather goofy grin and, of course, the Dutch accent that has given way to a curious generic European inflection.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 - Book reviews