When Saturday Comes | The half decent football magazine

Standing back

If fans want to enjoy football on their feet and can do safely, there is no need for draconian stewarding, says Michael Glenister

Travelling fans who hanker after standing areas in the all-seat era often mutter bitterly before grudgingly taking their seat. Around a hundred Cardiff City fans defied this habit and took part in a boycott of the closing stages of their fixture at Leeds United on October 30. Their gripe seems to have focused on the ejection of a number of their fellow supporters for persistent standing. At £36 a ticket, it is easy to see why Cardiff fans may have felt aggrieved that they were not allowed to enjoy the game standing up.

Sunday, January 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Everton 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

Goodison Park was once a place ahead of its time but, as Simon Hart reports, the rebranded “Old Lady” is now a meeting place for disgruntled supporters frustrated by their club’s decline

Step into the parish hall of St Luke the Evangelist church on the corner of Goodison Road and Gwladys Street, and you enter a world that could not be any further removed from the ad-man’s fantasy of the face-painted, replica-shirted modern “footy” fan and their agony-and-ecstasy matchday experience.

Sunday, January 1st, 2012 - The Archive

Stable mates

One-team dominance has been broken in Georgia but, as Margot Dunne finds, football’s continued revival depends on peace and politics

On a warm August evening in Tbilisi’s Boris Paichadze National Stadium, a crowd of over 20,000 is roaring on the Georgian champions Zestafoni in their Europa League play-off against Club Brugge. But, strangely, the majority aren’t supporters of either of the teams involved in the tie. Most are fans of Zestafoni’s main domestic rival and Georgia’s biggest club, Dinamo Tbilisi.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Soft touch Sven

Leicester City fans have been shaken out of their Sven-Göran Eriksson hypnosis, declares Derek Hammond

Along with most Leicester City fans, I greeted the club’s appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson with a certain pride. Here was a successful England boss, a celebrity of wealth and distinction. A man who had won league titles in Sweden, Italy and Portugal, led Lazio to the double, the UEFA Super Cup and the Cup-Winners Cup, was now coming to little old Leicester.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 - Book reviews

Free to Ayre

Steve Davies says that dividing TV deals unequally would make football less competitive but it could also be a legal minefield

Ian Ayre, the managing director of Liverpool, quickly qualified his reported assertion that his club should sell its own overseas TV rights and keep the income. He now says he meant that they should be sold collectively but the income divided on the basis of a team’s popularity, in terms of the number of times their games are featured. Clearly he was under pressure to modify his stance, given that even the other clubs who could have benefited from the move were against it. When Ayre heard Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck condemning his plan he must have realised he was on his own.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 - The Archive

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Stories

Standing back

If fans want to enjoy football on their feet and can do safely, there is no need for draconian stewarding, says Michael Glenister

Everton 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

Goodison Park was once a place ahead of its time but, as Simon Hart reports, the rebranded “Old Lady” is now a meeting place for disgruntled supporters frustrated by their club’s decline

Stable mates

One-team dominance has been broken in Georgia but, as Margot Dunne finds, football’s continued revival depends on peace and politics

Soft touch Sven

Leicester City fans have been shaken out of their Sven-Göran Eriksson hypnosis, declares Derek Hammond

Free to Ayre

Steve Davies says that dividing TV deals unequally would make football less competitive but it could also be a legal minefield