There might be one more, meaningless game to come, but last weekend saw the final game at San Mames, the first football ground built in Spain. It looks its age, but it’s packed with history. The new stadium, already overshadowing the old and waiting for its opportunity to engulf it, has a lot to live … More The Final Week of San Mames
Scouting isn’t rocket science! Every time a Premier League side signs a good foreign player the nation goes crazy. Who is this mystery guy? Where did he come from? Anyone with a decent knowledge of the game outside the UK would have known that the likes of Santi Cazorla, Oscar and Papisse Demba Cissé were … More Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)
We revere the great names of football’s past, but many are lost in the mists of time. Very few people remember Patrick Starr, you won’t find his name mentioned in the National Football Museum in Manchester, and he is rarely even a footnote in histories of the game. Yet he played a crucial role in … More English Football’s Forgotten Trail Blazer
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens A week after the vice–president of the LFP, the governing body which runs Spanish football’s top two divisions, claimed there is match fixing in La Liga, how appropriate that this weekend sees a rematch of perhaps last season’s most controversial match. Granada versus Real Madrid doesn’t immediately grab you … More La Liga: The spectre of match fixing looms
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens Their remaining time on the pitch is running out: some bewitched us and are embarking on a final lap of honour; others won’t be missed until they’re gone. It’s time to raise our hats to the players who won’t be around forever. Last night Juan Carlos Valerón watched his … More Last Chance To See: Juan Carlos Valerón
Scouting isn’t rocket science! Every time a Premier League side signs a good foreign player the nation goes crazy. Who is this mystery guy? Where did he come from? Anyone with a decent knowledge of the game outside the UK would have known that the likes of Santi Cazorla, Oscar and Papisse Demba Cissé were … More Jano Ananidze (Spartak Moscow & Georgia)
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens The Bundesliga returned last weekend, and in the process welcomed back its player of the year from two seasons ago. Nuri Sahin’s failure to flourish after leaving Germany is a surprise. Whether it says more about him or the coaching he received during his sojourn is something we may … More Can Only Klopp Unlock The Sahin Enigma?
The extent to which figures in football seem to think they operate beyond the law fascinates me. I’m not talking about the antics of the players which fill the tabloids. There’s an air of inevitability to the sort of incidents which take place when you give a young lad a pile of money and tell … More Ferguson Treads the Fine Line Between Football and the Real World
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens Cannavaro and Grava try to keep positive As the dust settles on Napoli’s punishment over an aborted match fix three seasons ago, the simmering sense of resentment built up over years of enmity with the north shows no sign of abating. The €70,000 fine is a pittance, the six … More Napoli’s arbitrary punishment only encourages the conspiracy theorists
It’s difficult to see the notion of the mind game as anything other than a journalistic invention, a key part of the narrative arc which has little effect on the changing room, except perhaps a gradual erosion of the credibility of the likes of Rafa Benitez as the press constantly proclaim him the loser of … More If PR own goals matter, Liverpool are in trouble.
Scouting isn’t rocket science! Every time a Premier League side signs a good foreign player the nation goes crazy. Who is this mystery guy? Where did he come from? Anyone with a decent knowledge of the game outside the UK would have known that the likes of Santi Cazorla, Oscar and Papisse Demba Cissé were … More Mattia De Sciglio
Here’s something I wrote for Soccerlens It’s one of those expressions that work equally well in Spanish and English: “Mourinho Tira La Toalla A 22 Jornadas Del Final” – “Mourinho Throws In The Towel With 22 Games Left”. AS’s front page had put it in a nutshell: the game was up in the league. Maybe … More Spy Versus Spy as Mourinho Finds Madrid’s Not Forever
Peripheral Vision 