Tuesday 07 October 2008, 16:10
You may be relieved, or disappointed, to discover that Monty Python and the controversial parrot have no place in this blog. The Norwegian Blue in question are Stabaek, surprise leaders of the Norwegian Tippeligaen. Once chiefly famous for being monopolised...
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Monday 06 October 2008, 08:00
Obama’s Hammer blow for McCain... “The beautiful game is democracy in action and reflects American ideals and values like teamwork and diversity.” So says the campaign website Soccer Fans For Obama . There is a dearth of posts on the site. There aren...
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Friday 03 October 2008, 12:00
Mumsy Scottish troubadour Lena Martell’s philosophy was “one day at a time, sweet Jesus.” Football managers officially take one game at a time. Yet after this week’s results, some coaches are privately spinning different scenarios. Marseille’s Eric Gerets...
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Thursday 02 October 2008, 17:00
This is where I suck up to Michel Platini, the UEFA president who, indirectly, keeps me in a job. When he suggested opening up the UEFA Champions League to teams that the British press, with characteristic open mindedness, dubbed “minnows,” there was...
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Friday 26 September 2008, 11:00
I didn’t realise how bad Newcastle United’s crisis was until I read that the club had asked Keith Harris to smooth its sale. Were billionaires in the Middle East/India/Nigeria going to be impressed by a man brandishing a green duckling wearing nothing...
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Wednesday 17 September 2008, 14:30
The rehabilitation of Jose Mourinho, the world’s most charismatic coach, took a giant step forward in Athens on Tuesday night. Inter’s efficient 2-0 win over Panathinaikos was exactly the kind of result the Nerazzurri so seldom produced in Europe under...
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Friday 12 September 2008, 10:00
When Wayne Rooney slotted home England’s third, even the cynics in the pub started to believe that England would earn at least a draw. At half-time, with England 1-0 up courtesy of the Stanmore Pelé, someone had started up a chant of “We’re on the way...
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Wednesday 10 September 2008, 08:00
European football in 12 paragraphs... Ironic slogan of the week Newcastle United’s invitation on its homepage: “YOU could be Newcastle’s best signing of the season.” Although, wait zenaba minute, that’s not ironic, it’s true. Anyone of us could be… even...
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Thursday 04 September 2008, 15:00
Or, if Roger Federer can stay in good shape for Wimbledon every year, why are so many top footballers missing crucial games because of torn adductor muscles, torn cruciate ligaments or mumps? Or, to put it another way, why haven’t the hordes of sports...
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Tuesday 02 September 2008, 08:00
I was at a party with Zinedine Zidane last week. Granted, Zizou never knew I was in the same room as him – a brush past on the way out was the closest we came to actual contact – but I am still so sad that my pulse raced as he walked past. Zidane was...
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Wednesday 27 August 2008, 15:00
The legendary speculator, philanthropist and pontificator came close to buying the Serie A club this summer just before its president Franco Sensi died after a long illness. Though he was briefly linked with the Washington Nationals baseball team, Soros...
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Thursday 21 August 2008, 14:00
How bad is the Dutch league? It’s a question various punters and thinkers have been mooching over in cyberspace’s most cavernous recesses. The evidence that the Eredivisie is as dire as Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol is so scanty that even James...
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Friday 15 August 2008, 11:49
The blazers have done something right. Oh frabjous day, quelle surprise and benissimo – the internet being an interactive medium feel free to add any foreign or indeed made up phrases that signify surprise, joy and relief – UEFA, along with the governing...
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Saturday 09 August 2008, 10:00
On August 4, Gerard Houllier did something he is very good at: he lectured people. As technical director of the French Football Federation, he told French coaches, referees and players it was their duty to encourage attacking play. Such an address reflects...
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Tuesday 05 August 2008, 15:05
“I always considered Rodney Marsh a sugar-coated turd.” You don’t expect footballers to write like Oscar Wilde but I had hoped for something more eloquent from Len Glover, whose thundering runs down the wing for Leicester in the 1970s left such an impression...
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