When Saturday Comes | The half decent football magazine

Blackburn’s poor start increases Ewood Park gloom

Owen Coyle hasn’t endeared himself to fans, who are protesting against the club’s owners

26 August ~ A recent ex-Burnley manager was never going to be in for an easy ride at local rivals Blackburn Rovers, so what Owen Coyle most needed to keep supporters on-side was a good start to the season. After a disastrous first game against Norwich in which they were 3-0 down within 30 minutes and the subsequent loss of the team’s two centre-halves (Grant Hanley sold to Newcastle, Shane Duffy who has just gone to Brighton having been suspended and fallen out with Coyle) the coach is already under serious pressure.

Friday, August 26th, 2016 - Stories

There’s always last year ~ Premier League 2015-16

Leicester 17th, Chelsea champions and Watford relegation – what WSC contributors got right and wrong about the previous season

LeicesterOutside

12 August ~ “The arrival of manager Claudio Ranieri doesn’t seem to be the most reassuring,” wrote Leicester City fan Simon Tyers in WSC’s 2015-16 season guide last summer. “I’m still confident we’ll survive… but probably with someone else at the helm.” He wasn’t alone, with the Foxes averaging 17th position among the rest of the Premier League contributors’ forecasts.

Friday, August 12th, 2016 - Stories

Oldham eager to leave their summer of chaos behind

Latics faced hunt for new manager, a winding-up petition and ownership uncertainty

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6 August ~ The start of 2016-17 can’t come soon enough for Oldham Athletic fans like me. Last season ended on something approaching a high. From near certainties for relegation, the return of John Sheridan as manager kickstarted a remarkable recovery that saw us survive for another season in League One.

Saturday, August 6th, 2016 - Stories

Bundesliga 2 – the home of Germany’s champions

For the first time the second tier will have more title winners than the top division

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5 August ~ For the first time ever, Bundesliga 2 hosts a higher number of former national champions than the top division. Tonight, Kaiserslautern and Hannover 96 contest the inaugural match of the new season. A pairing like that wouldn’t look out of the place in the Bundesliga given that those two sides share no less than six national championships between them. Indeed, preceding the set-up of the Bundesliga, Kaiserslautern and Hannover met in the 1954 national final, the rank outsiders from the north thumping their more illustrious opponents 5-1.

Friday, August 5th, 2016 - Stories

Grimsby back in the League and indulging in optimism

After six years in non-League the Mariners pulled together under Paul Hurst

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4 August ~ “Clap, clap, clap, clap… Fish!” is still reverberating around my head a couple of months after Grimsby’s play-off final victory and return to the Football League. It doesn’t seem over six years since I wrote about going to work past the street named after Mariners legend Jackie Bestall and how he would be turning in his grave as we slipped into non-League. There is a whole generation of Grimsby fans (my own boys included) who had never experienced promotion, only relegation.

Thursday, August 4th, 2016 - Stories

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Stories

Blackburn’s poor start increases Ewood Park gloom

Owen Coyle hasn’t endeared himself to fans, who are protesting against the club’s owners

There’s always last year ~ Premier League 2015-16

Leicester 17th, Chelsea champions and Watford relegation – what WSC contributors got right and wrong about the previous season

Oldham eager to leave their summer of chaos behind

Latics faced hunt for new manager, a winding-up petition and ownership uncertainty

Bundesliga 2 – the home of Germany’s champions

For the first time the second tier will have more title winners than the top division

Grimsby back in the League and indulging in optimism

After six years in non-League the Mariners pulled together under Paul Hurst