LETTERS

When Saturday Comes, PO Box 587 , Beckenham BR3 9NY ~ editorial@wsc.co.uk

Dear WSC

During August 2024 , we took our young grandchildren to the “Football: Designing the Beautiful Game” exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. We travelled from Birmingham by train. After disembarking, my wife asked if I knew where we were going. A passer-by overheard and asked if he could help. He also asked when had I first seen Wolves play. I suggested it would have been around 1967 . He then said that he’d probably been playing and insisted I tried to guess who he was. I guessed incorrectly before he gave me a clue… “my brother also played football”.

I nearly hyperventilated when he revealed that he was Peter Knowles, the subject of The Perfect Shot feature in WSC 468 . He was absolutely charming and spent approximately 15 minutes just chatting and encouraging the boys to enjoy their football before we went our separate ways. I lived off the story for months. Malcolm McHenry, Birmingham

After disembarking, my wife asked if I knew where we were going. A passer-by overheard and asked if he could help

Dear WSC

I much appreciated seeing the picture of Peter Knowles in WSC 468 , and was not a little touched. In a lifetime (nearly) of supporting Wolves, I am happy to state that he was the most extravagantly talented player I saw in an old gold shirt.

My wife and I actually bumped into him recently at a local cafe. He saw us watching him negotiate what must be for him the customary queue of people approaching him and asking about football and having pictures, and mock-rolled his eyes. We asked him if he minded all that, and he replied that he knew it came from a good place, that he was happy to help them, but it was all a long time ago, and far away in the past.

He still wished the club well – in fact he was recently photographed at the funeral of his old team-mate Phil Parkes – but he had no regrets whatsoever. We had no doubt at all that he was absolutely sincere. Paul Quinton, Wolverhampton

Dear WSC

While one can only be grateful that Krys Kujawa (Letters, WSC 467 ) has failed in his attempt to popularise the term “El Castleco” for matches between Edinburgh City and Stirling Albion, the “stunning architectural wonder” that appears on Stirling Albion’s badge is not Stirling Castle but the Wallace Monument atop the rock outcrop of Abbey Craig. This was completed in 1869 and was funded by public subscription. It was erected on the supposed site of William Wallace’s viewpoint of the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 against Edward I of England (the Scots won). The monument can be seen by looking northwards from Forthbank, Stirling Albion’s home.

There are several club badges in Scotland that feature castles, and Hibernian have the same drawing on theirs as their near neighbours Edinburgh City, not that they are likely to meet in a league match any time soon. Sadly, I have also to report that after some 30 years of watching Stirling Albion, mostly in League Two, that very few games would merit the description “classic”. John Sanz, Dunblane

Dear WSC

I’ve been enjoying the recent correspond - ence about alternative nicknames for local derbies. There was one in North Lanarkshire that can be added to the list. Airdrieonians’ travails over recent years meant they regularly met with their Monklands neighbours Albion Rovers – an encounter that became known as “The Buckfastico” because of the local youths’ penchant for a certain fortified wine.

Rovers have never looked like returning the Scottish League since their relegation in 2023 but the Diamonds’ recent form suggests a Lowland League meeting mightn’t be too far off. Local off-licences may have been placing orders with the Devon abbey in anticipation. Peter Smith, Glasgow

Dear WSC

In 2018 , my side UCD were given an FAI Cup tie away against the winners of CIÉ Ranch (with links to the Irish public transport semi-State company) and Dublin Bus (the works team of the capital’s bus network, and one of CIÉ’s own subsidiary companies). CIÉ v Dublin Bus was, of course, immediately nicknamed “El Traffico”. CIÉ deserved their win, which made RTÉ’s headline ( CIÉ park the Bus in El Traffico ) all the better. Kevin Burke, Greystones, Republic of Ireland

Dear WSC

Alan Hayes (Letters, WSC 468 ) asks when the practice of exchanging shirts at the end of major games stopped. As far as FA Cup finals are concerned one significant event was the 1970 final replay between Chelsea and Leeds at Old Trafford. Four Chelsea players – Ian Hutchinson, Peter Osgood, John Dempsey and David Webb – swapped shirts with their opposite numbers, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner, Paul Madeley and Eddie Gray, before the trophy presentation. When the first of them (Hutchinson) got to the top of the makeshift steps, installed specifically for the match, the FA chairman, Dr Andrew Stephen, tried to stop him, assuming he was a Leeds player.

My memory of the longer-term outcome is hazy, but I think it was made a rule that players at future cup finals must not exchange shirts until after the trophy presentation. Tim Manns, Yetminster

Dear WSC

Alan Hayes asks why it is relatively uncommon nowadays to see players swap shirts at the end of matches. The simple answer may be that modern-day players may not want to experience a sense of regret that can follow if they give away the shirt they wore in possibly the biggest game they’ll ever play in.

Two examples I can think of, both from 1982 . Firstly, a few years ago, both Nigel Spink and Peter Withe travelled to Bayern’s museum to “swap back” the shirts they received from Manfred Müller and Klaus Augenthaler respectively at the end of that year’s European Cup final. For Spink in particular, getting his goalkeeper shirt back was a touching moment, given that he hadn’t expected to play, while his performance that night in Rotterdam surely contributed to his long playing career thereafter.

Secondly, at the end of Scotland’s match against Brazil at that year’s World Cup, Gordon Strachan swapped shirts with the striker Serginho, who was seen as one of the very few weak links in that fantastic Brazilian side. His sense of regret at not swapping shirts with a more well known player is at least balanced out with a sense of mirth that, in his words, “there’ll be a No 7 shirt somewhere in a loft in São Paulo”. Graeme Coleman, Carnoustie

Dear WSC

Stuart Saunders (Letters, WSC 468 ) perhaps misunderstands my stance on Southampton. I neither blame the article writer Tom Williams nor the authorities but blame Southampton for their utter disregard of the rules of the game and the spirit in which the game should be played.

On the severity of sentencing, the long-standing societal approach (in the UK at least) is precedent. This is the first time the new rules relating to “espionage” have been broken. The comparison with sanctions imposed on other clubs remains irrelevant, as they have not been charged with the same offences; as such, different precedents apply. I would also note that many other sanctions against clubs relate to financial or business transactions, while Southampton have broken a wholly sporting rule.

The simple outcome is: don’t break the rules if you can’t take the consequences. Or don’t blame the authorities for your own transgressions. John Goodwin, Leicestershire

Dear WSC

I enjoyed the extract in WSC 468 from Daniel Gray’s new book about fanzines. I was formerly a PC with Wiltshire Police and I used to enjoy policing Swindon Town matches. I was often on duty at the away end and used to buy fanzines.

In the early 1990s I was on the turnstiles for a fixture against Watford where their fanzine The Yellow Experience was being sold. When I asked to have a look at it, the seller was a little reluctant as there was an article ridiculing the police for holding away fans back after the match.

The article was very funny and on searching fans going into the ground, I suggested to those who hadn’t bought a fanzine that they might buy one, which many did. Mark Barrett, Amesbury

Dear WSC

Further to Gavin Duenas’s letter in WSC 468 regarding his bugbear relating to modern football “projects”, I have to vent at the commentators who say towards the end of any major cup final that the team in the winning position are “going to make history”.

As all cup competitions finish with a final it is a foregone conclusion that some - body will inevitably win it. This results in a happy day for the winning team and its supporters but hardly a historical mile - stone such as man landing on the moon, the Battle of Hastings or the first four-minute mile.

Obviously a few football finals have become etched in our minds for their significance but not each and every one of them. Alan West, Romford

Dear WSC

Mark Sanderson asks about the use of the orange ball in the 1973 FA Cup final (Letters, WSC 468 ) . As it was a dull, rainy day, it might have been thought that a coloured ball would offer a contrast to Leeds’ all-white kit. Also, in 1973 , black and white televisions were still very common and the coloured ball may have helped TV viewers in that regard, with Wembley at the time having various white pitch perimeters. I’m now going back to watching the 1974 World Cup final highlights where a white ball with black pentagons was used. Whatever happened to those? Mark Alton, Sale

LETTERS

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Dear WSC

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Harry Pearson’s column on the Hungarian game Gombfoci (Born to play, WSC 468 ). It brought me back to my self-made Subbuteo tournaments, which Barcelona somehow always ended up winning.

It also got me thinking, out of all the games about football made all around the world, there must surely be an in-depth, detailed Football Manager -style game from some nation or another that can be played with cards or pieces out of a box rather than with pixels on a screen. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them as this sort of game with detailed league tables and transfers seems surprisingly hard to come by. Eesa Azad, Amersham

Dear WSC

Regarding Mike Keane’s letter about David Beckham in WSC 468 , he isn’t the only person mystified by Beckham’s omnipotence. I was on holiday in the United States shortly after St David moved to LA Galaxy. While channel surfing in my hotel room, I found a sports channel showing their game live. Beckham was on the bench, which the network decided was much more interesting than anything happening on the pitch. The thrill of watching him chewing gum and scratching his arse can’t be overstated.

Imagine my delight when I happened to be in the National Portrait Gallery a few years ago and came across Sam Taylor-Johnson’s film David , which lasts 107 minutes and consists of Beckham sleeping. Shot in one take, apparently. It’s as vacuous as it sounds. If the theory of multiple parallel universes is correct there must be a parallel universe where Beckham is forgotten, and some other 1990s footballer is everywhere. Iain Dowie’s Miami signs Lionel Messi? Jamie Pollock says visit Qatar? Neil Redfearn blessed by Pope? Paul Thompson, Bradford

Dear WSC

While doing my Sunday morning hunt for highlights of games played overnight I came across pre-match footage from the Mexican “Super Clásico” between América and Chivas on September 19 .

Commemorative cardboard hats were placed on every seat so fans could throw them into the air by recreating the “rain of hats” seen at the 2026 World Cup opening game and the 1986 World Cup at the same stadium. Perfect footage to “go viral”. Sadly for the organisers at the Azteca this was not enthusiastically adopted and the expected thunderstorm of headgear was more passing squall (no risk of delayed kick-off at this match).

Maybe this can be adopted for games in England though? Could Manchester City provide inflatable bananas to inject some 1980s Maine Road energy at the Etihad? Celery by the stalkload at Stamford Bridge or wooden rattles at Wembley for an authentic 1966 atmosphere?

Or – as per WSC letters passim – they could just turn the music down and let the fans make their own atmosphere. There might something worth sharing on social media then – and think of the savings the clubs could make from shelving the sombreros. Simon Melville, London

Dear WSC

Was Charlie Morris (Letters, WSC 468 ) only born in October 2023 ? That would explain his lack of understanding of, well, anything really, but specifically his own “omissions and one-sided assertions” and his inability to grasp what is happening in Gaza and Lebanon and the issues surrounding the Nations League matches between Ireland and Israel. For anyone who wants a grown-up response please have a look at #StopTheGame. Chris Reid, Preston

Please note that all correspondence will be considered for publication unless it specifically states otherwise