Book reviews
Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
Mark Poole explains that even though their club is owned by a millionaire, one group of SPL players are not having their wages paid regularly
Last month the Scottish Sun reported that Hearts midfielder Ian Black had taken on casual work as a painter and decorator to pay for his children’s Christmas presents. It was perhaps the most evocative example so far of the current turmoil at Scotland’s third biggest club. For three consecutive months, the players’ wages have not been paid on time. Their October wages weren’t paid until weeks after they were due, and their November pay arrived in their accounts a month late. At the time of writing they are still waiting for their December pay.
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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Book reviews
Gavin Barber looks at how, despite experiencing major changes in recent years, Ipswich are no closer to getting out of the Championship
When Preston were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season, pub quiz aficionados made note of the fact that Coventry took over as the longest-serving team in the second tier of English football. It is a mantle that seems to sit uneasily on Sky Blue shoulders, given the apparent hurry with which they are setting about the task of following their predecessors out through the trap door. Should they do so, the title will pass to Ipswich Town – assuming that they too can stay out of League One.
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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Book reviews
Managers who do badly nearly always get the sack, so why is such a drama made out of it? Jeffrey Prest explains
I was in two minds whether to write this because the chances are that you’ll see Steve Kean’s name in the opening paragraph and promptly turn the page. That’s if he is Blackburn Rovers’ former manager by the time you read this. Should his team have built on that bolt-from-the-blue at Old Trafford to keep him in a job until this issue of WSC hits the shops, I may be able to count on your attention for a little longer.
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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Book reviews
When team selections are made by senior players rather than managers things can only end badly, writes Mark Brophy
To an outsider, it seems mad that a club that has been in the top four of the Premier League pretty much all season should be rumoured to be in turmoil and on the verge of dismissing their manager. Yet that is exactly the situation Chelsea and Andre Villas-Boas have found themselves in at various points, usually coinciding with a marginal dip in performance level or results. These are not the chief reasons for the speculation, however. Constantly looming in the background is the over-confident shadow of player power.
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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Book reviews
When struggling to secure promotion to the Football League, Wigan attempted to join the Scottish pyramid. Owen Amos explains more
Wins may be scarce, but the Premier League fixture list offers consolation for Wigan Athletic: Manchester United one week, Liverpool the next. But if things had gone to plan in 1972, it could have been quite different: more like Stranraer one week, Stenhousemuir the next.
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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Book reviews