The Archive | When Saturday Comes

Growing pains

If Matt Nation could relive his youth again he would like to be as mature as young footballers

As anybody who has ever read about footballers letting off fireworks in their bathroom, visiting nightspots midweek or doing any number of things involving shopping trolleys and trousers round the ankles knows, it is down to their “lack of maturity”. Footballers, who are often “cocooned” in “bubbles”, will simply not grow up because the clubs will not let them.

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Character building

The fortunes of Sheffield Wednesday and the club’s former chairman, Dave Richards, have differed wildly in the past 20 years, writes Tom Hocking

When Bert McGee, who had been the Sheffield Wednesday chairman since the mid-1970s, stepped down in 1990, it was left to a local businessman and fan of the club, Dave Richards, to continue his predecessor’s good work. Over the following two decades, Richards’s rise in football was as meteoric as Wednesday’s fall. The contrast has been so remarkable it prompted the Guardian’s David Conn to call Wednesday “the picture of Dorian Gray in Sir Dave Richards’s attic”.

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Breach of trust

Relations between club and fans are fraught at Arsenal, where a new stadium has left some feeling short-changed, reports Matthew Bazell

A lot of accusations have been levelled at Arsenal fans recently, claiming we are a spoilt bunch of ingrates who have no right demanding better from our team. We are told we should be happy where we are because things could always be worse. I do not go to games any more, partly because modern-day prices are a rip-off, but when I put myself in the position of Arsenal season ticket holders I came to the conclusion that, if I spent that kind of money for admission, I too would be incredibly demanding.

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Bite your tongue

Nick Miller reports on Ken Bates’s decision to ban critical supporters from Leeds United games

To put things delicately, Ken Bates’s tenure as chairman of Leeds United has been interesting. It was difficult to imagine a way he could top appointing his godson’s father as manager, banning journalists for having the temerity to ask whether he actually owned the club (before eventually admitting that he did) and calling Leeds fans who disagreed with his methods “morons”. However, Bates arguably outdid himself in March, after a group of fans were barred from Leeds games, simply for speaking out.

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Club v Country

Mike Bayly on why England’s warm-up match against non-League opponents might not have been the best way to prepare for Euro 88

One of the more curious international friendlies of recent times took place in June 1988. England had just qualified for the European Championships in Germany. A year earlier, on the return journey from a qualifying match in Turkey, the journalist Frank McGhee had approached Bobby Robson, suggesting England play a non-League team in their build-up to the tournament.

Sunday, April 1st, 2012 - The Archive