The football blog for fans of all clubs
There is one basic reason why a football team wins a match (you may wish to note this down for future reference), it’s because they score more goals than the other team. For those requiring more detail this can be further broken down into three sub-categories; 1 – they were better than the other team, […]
“My heart and soul was tied to Arsenal with a fisherman’s knot. I don’t think even Houdini could have unravelled it. Not for one minute did I see myself leaving. There was only ever one club in England, let alone London, and that was the Arsenal.” – My Defence, Ashley Cole. Ashley Cole is a […]
What does a football manager look like? It might sound like a facile question but it matters. In Britain, a top-level football manager is likely to be a white, middle-aged man. He is extremely likely to have been a former football player. In the higher-levels of the game being Scottish helps disproportionately as does a […]
I watched the 2005 Champions League final with my buddy Andrew. Andrew is Scottish, so thus doesn’t really care about football, instead preferring that darkest and most pious of arts, rugby union. As Liverpool scored once, twice, three times, Jerzy Dudek pulled off a miraculous/fluke save from Andriy Shevchenko then that penalty shoot-out, events escalated […]
There’s nothing wrong with the game itself. There’s no harm at all in spending a lazy afternoon getting Exeter City into the Champions League. There are far too many people, however, who seem to have lost sight of one of the most fundamentally important aspects of the top-selling management simulator, Football Manager… brace yourself… isn’t […]
Football had a bad week last week. In Scotland, football seemed to implode. This sorry saga will run and run and there will be few winners and many losers. In England, regardless of the fact that Terry was found not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, neither of the players came out of the debacle […]
In the first chapter of Genesis, God tells mankind (yes, I know) to go out and conquer the world, and ever since (yes, I know), we’ve been gripped by a paranoid, neurotic desire to understand everything. But however hard we try, it’s simply not possible: whether its spontaneous combustion, kicks in snooker, or red trousers, […]
Whilst it is probably unlikely that the FA will act against John Terry after the verdict today, it is certainly possible. To be convicted of a criminal offence, you have to appear guilty “beyond reasonable doubt”. As it cannot be proven that Terry didn’t think he heard Anton accuse him of calling him a “black […]
Thanks to the special relationship between the US and Britain, many elements of American culture have made their way across the pond. Some of them have been great (pizza, Breaking Bad, Soundgarden), some not (pointless wars, wearing hats sideways, Beyonce) but when they start creeping into our football, it’s time to draw a line in […]
It’s the year 2012. There’s a double dip recession in full swing, banks are wasting your money, floods are hitting places you’ve never heard of and politicians seem more intent on arguing over policy than actually doing anything proactive to help the country as a whole. So, plenty to moan about then. But despite all […]
So the International Football Association Board has agreed that goal-line technology should be introduced in football at some point over the next season. IFAB considered this a few short years ago. At that point, they were opposed to it but now the scales (apparently) have fallen from their eyes. What has hastened this change? A […]
If you’ve ever listened to the BBC’s 606 Football Phone-In show after a manager has been sacked, then you’ve certainly heard the famous line uttered that “Football is a Business.” Of course, the Premier League is a business. The £3.018billion deal for domestic TV rights over a three year period is proof in the pudding, […]
Despite having delivered huge success since taking the reins at Manchester City, Roberto Mancini is yet to really receive the level of praise his performance merits. Whilst Harry Redknapp and other more media-friendly managers are lauded over for their average achievements, Mancini is left relatively ignored despite his impressive record during his short stint in […]
It was confirmed yesterday that Andre Villas-Boas has become the new manager of Tottenham Hostpur, signing a three year deal with the club. But can he be a success for them? Can he take what Harry Redknapp has done and build on it so that they progress as a club? First off, I don’t think […]
Following penalty misses from Ashley Young and Ashley Cole in England’s defeat to Italy at Euro 2012, Twitter was littered with some moronic England fans racially abusing them. All the tweets have been deleted and some users have blocked their accounts but the police are investigating complaints made. The FA have then released a statement […]
