When Saturday Comes | The half decent football magazine

Power Rangers

Bernie Ecclestone’s takeover at QPR and how it nearly cost the club promotion

Roman Abramovich is said to be an enigma because he never speaks in public. In fact he might have done so occasionally but no reporter has been allowed to get close enough to hear him. There couldn’t be a greater contrast with another owner of a west London club, QPR’s Bernie Ecclestone, who seems to announce every thought that has passed through his head. He has had plenty to say about QPR lately, none of which will have impressed Rangers fans.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

That empty feeling

Darlington’s white elephant has turned into a cautionary tale. Owen Amos explains plans to return to something more modest

When lower-league clubs discuss moving grounds, there’s one thing they know: whenever they go and wherever they go, they don’t want to “do a Darlington”. This means moving to a new ground, then barely filling one tenth of it. A quick Google search shows fans of Gillingham, Hartlepool and Rotherham, among others, have used it. But soon, the phrase might – just might – lose its meaning.

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Good will hunting

Financial demands keep rising at Everton but a new ground still hasn’t been located. Simon Hart looks at a unique set of problems

The Mirror journalist David Maddock is a sympathetic chronicler of the Merseyside football scene but his blog on Everton on January 18 was unfortunate in its timing. With David Moyes’s team underperforming and rumours circulating about the club entering administration, he sought to explain “why Everton’s achievements under Moyes and Kenwright are far more impressive than anything Man City have done” – urging fans to “rejoice in the fact that the club is run prudently with no danger of going bust”.

Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - Book reviews

Having a say

Adam Brown looks at how the political interaction of fan culture has developed since the disenfranchisement of the mid-1980s

The year 1985 was a nadir for English football in a decade of great change for football supporters in Britain. And May was the pit of the trough. Supporters were caged in decrepit stadiums and 56 of them died in a fire at Bradford City’s ground on May 11. Violence was rife at home and abroad, policing was brutal and on the same day a 14-year-old was killed during fighting between Leeds and Birmingham fans and police at St Andrew’s. Just over two weeks later, these two factors came together killing 39 and injuring 600 at Heysel.

Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Scottish Premier League 1985-86

Mark Poole describes the season in which Celtic won the championship on goals difference

The long-term significance
The year Hearts threw it all away, in one of Scotland’s most dramatic league finales ever. The Jam Tarts last won the title in 1960 and only Celtic and Rangers have won it since Aberdeen in 1984- 85. Hearts, unbeaten in seven months, went into the last day of the season needing just a draw.

Monday, February 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Search: 'administration'

Stories

Power Rangers

Bernie Ecclestone’s takeover at QPR and how it nearly cost the club promotion

That empty feeling

Darlington’s white elephant has turned into a cautionary tale. Owen Amos explains plans to return to something more modest

Good will hunting

Financial demands keep rising at Everton but a new ground still hasn’t been located. Simon Hart looks at a unique set of problems

Having a say

Adam Brown looks at how the political interaction of fan culture has developed since the disenfranchisement of the mid-1980s

Scottish Premier League 1985-86

Mark Poole describes the season in which Celtic won the championship on goals difference