October issue available now online and in store
The new WSC is out now available from all good newsagents or to order now from the WSC shop with free UK delivery.
Inside
Football on film: The trials of a TV cameraman | A career in matchday photos
Tribute to Gerd Müller: The greatest striker ever?
Plus
Beckham’s Miami mess | The Subbuteo revival | Living next door to a ground | No more pies at Kidderminster | Newcastle & West Ham: heading different ways | Back on the road with Bolton | Mansfield’s happy homecoming | The demise of paper tickets | Breakaway clubs go unpunished | PSG get starstruck | Liliam Thuram’s education plan | A Boro Bernie Slaven T-shirt | Northwich’s big split | Kilmarnock v Ayr United | Focus on Don Revie | Chesterfield champions in 2013-14
Travel bug Fans return to away ends in England
Though this was my first away game for 585 days, a couple of things made it feel like it had been even longer in coming. My previous attempt to visit Sincil Bank in October 2019 had been thwarted by biblical rainfall, with postponement only confirmed as we hit Markham Moor roundabout around half an hour from Lincoln. Bolton’s relegation later that season at least came with the silver lining of previously unvisited grounds, though even that crumb of comfort was swept away when it became clear Covid would amount to a bit more than three weeks of inconvenience after all. Given those disappointments, a belated first trip to Lincoln felt a fairly fitting place to restart life back on the road, though things didn’t get off to the greatest of starts.
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Newcastle United 2-4 West Ham United The Premier League kicks off
It’s a certainty that when any of the greats of jazz sang or played the standard Makin’ Whoopee, none of them was referring to football’s annual big kick-off. Nevertheless the lyrics – “Another season, another reason, to make whoopee” – sum up the atmosphere at St James’ Park today. The opener to a new season is always a time for whatever hope can be mustered, even if that only lasts a few scant minutes before the goals start flying in. But aside from one game at the very end of last season, this is the first time in a year and a half that fans have been allowed in here. So there’s a feeling as the crowd assembles that collectively we are determined to enjoy today, even more so than usual.
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Pied off All change for Kidderminster’s famous catering
Bad food is a touchstone of British football culture. At many grounds, queuing for an anaemic tray of chips or incinerated burger remains a stubbornly underwhelming part of the matchday experience. Within this traditionally bleak culinary landscape, Kidderminster Harriers’ Aggborough has been a shining stadium on a hill. When the club announced a change to their longstanding catering arrangement earlier this summer, it triggered a wave of reaction that demonstrated why their food was held in such high regard.
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Pace setter Remembering Bayern’s goal machine
Generations of German football fans are divided by whether or not they saw Gerd Müller play. Those who grew up watching the Bomber der Nation effortlessly putting them away never felt like debating the respective merits of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. For them there is no doubt who was the best goal poacher of all time. On August 15 Gerd Müller died, aged 75, in a palliative care home near Munich, having spent the best part of a decade living with dementia.
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Lincoln City v Bolton Wanderers photo via Getty Images, Newcastle United v West Ham United photo by Paul Thompson/WSC Photos, Kidderminster photo by Colin McPherson/WSC Photos, Gerd Müller photo via Colorsport
Availability
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