THE SMELL OF SUCCESS TAKES A LONG TIME TO WASH AWAY. For a football club with a history as illustrious as Manchester United’s, the odour develops a particularly powerful resistance. It lingers in…
Month: December 2015
FRANCISCO GENTO MAY NOT BE A NAME that many of today’s younger supporters will recognise, however he is one of the most successful and decorated players of all time at club level.…
Mark Lawrenson wasn’t always a dour, moustachioed TV pundit. Many years ago, he was a dour, moustachioed centre-back. And, briefly, he even found time to become a dour, moustachioed football manager.
THERE AREN’T MANY YOUNG COACHES in today’s British game that can successfully draw your attention amidst the hubbub of modern football, but Kevin Nicholson is already doing just that. In an era…
Football has its greats. It has its brilliant players. Modern or otherwise, you can always argue love for one, or dislike for another. Even now, in the era of Lionel Messi, argument can…
FOOTBALL IS LITTERED WITH PLAYERS that have failed to live up to the expectations placed upon their young shoulders. Players that play their careers in a type of footballing purgatory. The rise of…
While Italy’s famed Catenaccio system may have been invented elsewhere, nobody used it to such devastating effect quite like the legendary Helenio Herrera
THOUSANDS OF VOICES COULD BE HEARD singing the famous Russian folklore song ‘Kalinka’ during another of Chelsea’s match at Stamford Bridge. The crowd cheered a goal scored by the Blues and peered gaily,…
This feature is part of A Tale of One City “Daddy needs vodka, or he can’t ensure victory.” When Oleg Romanstev sent his five-year-old son into the VIP box at Anfield during…
IT IS NO GREAT SECRET that José Mourinho is fond of mind games. Throughout his two spells in charge of Chelsea, whenever things have been going against him – and even when things…
As Pavel Nedvěd walked off the pitch for the final time he could’ve been forgiven for wondering what exactly was going on. He was being substituted in the 89th minute of his last…
MATHS IS SEEN AS THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, something that everyone can recognise no matter where they are located on the globe. Yet to many, maths is that thing you had to endure during…
As featured on Guardian Sport With one brief, shocking press conference, he was gone. Marcelo Bielsa announced to the media at the Stade Vélodrome following Olympique Marseille’s 1-0 loss to Caen that he had…
“The state of the sport in general, my dear brother, has deteriorated since the 1990s because politics got mixed in with it,” states Mukhtar Mohammed, a sports journalist for Yemen’s Al Ayam. “Everything…
IN 1973, a tall, handsome Swede bought the Villa Boemia estate in the Monferrato hills in the Asti region of Italy. A verdant area known for its fine wines and amazing vistas, this…
LONG BEFORE A TEAM OF ANIMATED PUPPETS decided to take on the world under the banner of Team America, a hodgepodge collection of superstars and NASL underlings joined together in 1976 to take…
ON 28 APRIL 2012, Southampton completed their rapid leap to the top tier of English football after slaughtering Coventry at St Mary’s stadium. Whenever there has been a piece regarding this extraordinary journey…
REAPING IMPROVEMENT AND SUCCESS year after year is a tricky scheme to accomplish for even the very best and most capable of managers and players. Simply put, the art of long-standing perfection…