After last week’s trip to Oxford for some league two football, I ventured even further down the footballing pyramid today. On a trip for the Non-League Paper I made way to the FA Trophy Quarter Final clash between Highbridge Town versus Tadcaster Albion in deepest darkest Wiltshire. Last week I said it’s been a long…
The ludicrous decision by FIFA to award Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup is looking dafter and dafter with every passing FIFA meeting, think-tank or committee charged with making this World Cup happen. It appears to be one problem after another since the Arab state was charged with hosting the largest sporting…
It’s been well over 5 years since I’ve attended a lower league football game. But today I made the trip to the Kassam Stadium to watch Oxford take on Mansfield in a good old-fashioned relegation six-pointer. Both sides have been languishing in the bottom of League Two, England’s lowest fully professional league, and were desperate…
In the wake of Callum Baird’s brilliantly written report on a 0-0 bore draw between Airdrieonians and Morton earlier this week, I have been contemplating where we stand in the discipline of match reporting. For years, the simple match report has been the bedrock of newspaper back pages with often entire pull-outs dedicated to a…
Much has been written and said about Manchester United’s poor start to this season and in particular their shoddy defence. It is certainly true that United’s defence has been anything but watertight during the opening months of this campaign – shipping 5 goals to Leicester being the nadir. While Louis Van Gaal’s heavy investment in…
In what has been a compelling and unpredictable Premier League season thus far, two young mangers have emerged from the scrap for a top four finish with immense credit. Both Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool and Roberto Martinez at Everton have earned the respect of their halves of Merseyside. Despite their differing positions in the table…
“We have 24 very good teams, so this tournament can be a success…24 teams will be as good as 16 teams.” These are the thoughts of UEFA president and deputy laughing stock (to Sepp Blatter of course!) Michel Platini, unfortunately it is a view almost universally rejected by fans and administrators across Europe. Sure, an…
After reviewing the first half of the season for the top half of the league in my previous post, I’m now going to turn my attention to the bottom half of the table.* Aston Villa (10th, 24 points) After last year’s relegation scrap, Villa’s fans were more hopeful this season after their young squad had…
With all 20 teams in the Premier League having played the same number of games (21) it seems like a good time to assess how things stand for each club as the season heads into its second half. Things are delicately poised at the top this season with only 2 points separating the top 3…
At the start of this season Tottenham were tipped by many to have an outside chance at the title. But despite having a good start to the season and being initially strong defensively Spurs have slipped up against their top 4 rivals and even suffered an embarrassing 3-0 home defeat to a strikerless West Ham.…
Last night news broke that Steve Clarke had been ‘relieved of his duties’ at West Brom and placed on immediate ‘gardening leave’ – sacked! West Brom sit in 16th place and are just 2 points above the relegation zone after losing their last 4 games, but that’s not the full story. This is also the…
Wilfried Zaha was hailed as a wondered when United splashed out £15 million on him in January of this year. He was bought by Ferguson to add creativity to an increasingly conservative midfield and doubtless to learn from Giggs before it was too late. Zaha had wowed fans at his former club Crystal Palace for…
Manchester United find themselves in 9th place in the Premier League and already 12 points off league leaders Arsenal after just 14 games this season. It’s an amazing reversal of fortunes after running away with the league last season and sweeping all before them. Most football fans expected a period of transition for United after…
Jack Vittles 