The Football IQ a player is born with is crucial in shaping the arc of their career—but so are other mental capacities that they can sharpen. Allow me to tell the story of a friend of mine; a friend from child-hood and one of my closest mates to this day. We’ll refer to him as “John.” For … Read more
You may have thought that clubs getting into financial difficulty was a recent phenomenon. The plight of Portsmouth, Luton, Chester City and Halifax Town are well documented as well as many other clubs who have entered administration over recent years, including Southampton, Swansea, Crystal Palace and Derby County. But this is not a new feature of a … Read more
The season is 1976-77 and the club in focus is Bristol City. They’d made it to the big time when they gained promotion the season before from the old Second Division, along with Sunderland and West Brom. Their last game in English football’s top tier was in April 1911 and so a wait of 65 years was … Read more
One of the more surprising rumours to emanate from this weekend’s round of Premier League football was the rumour linking AS Monaco to West Bromwich Albion’sco. The French principality club had used £50 million of owner Dmitriy Rybovlev’s oil-money to sign Radamel Falcao in the summer, but have now allegedly turned their attentions to the … Read more
Roberto Martinez So, we’ve reached ten games gone of the 2013/14 Premier League season and as such, a rather convenient landmark by which to judge the early reign of Roberto Martinez as manager of Everton Football Club. It’s probably fair to say that initial reaction by supporters to his appointment was mixed; a man known … Read more
When was the “game the best teacher?” Maybe it was when kids played in the neighborhood with older kids who played at a higher level and knew more about the game than the younger ones. That sure isn’t what happens now. Maybe it was when kids watched older ones and then practiced what they saw and improvised … Read more
17 October 1973 ENGLAND (0) 1 (Clarke, pen 63) POLAND (0) 1 (Domarski 55) ENGLAND: Shilton (Leicester); Madeley (Leeds), Hunter (Leeds), McFarland (Derby), Hughes (Liverpool); Bell (Man City), Currie (Sheffield Utd), Peters (Tottenham); Channon (Southampton), Clarke (Leeds), Chivers (Tottenham) [Hector (Derby)] POLAND: Tomaszewski; Szymanowski, Bulzacki, Musial, Gorgon; Kasperczak, Cmikiewicz, Deyna, Gadocha; Lato, Domarski This is … Read more
England has a rich history of quality goalkeepers and some have even been considered as the best in the world. Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence, David Seaman have all graced football pitches around the world and been lauded and admired from afar. But there is a crisis in the position where English football has … Read more
In the wake of Paolo Di Canio’s departure from Sunderland, it has emerged some of the senior players complained to the Chief Executive about many of his methods. In particular they were unhappy with the way he had talked to them after the defeat to West Brom on 21st of September. Di Canio had been … Read more
As Arsenal returned to the top of the table- on goal difference- after the 1-1 draw at the Hawrthons against West Brom, most Arsenal fans and football journalists credited the team for coming away with a point in what was a closely fought game. With 16 points from 7 games Arsenal have made a very … Read more