Building a respectable reputation in any line of work requires time, effort, the right results and plenty of satisfied customers. It’s the very same in the world of football management. Yet something gives…
Tag: england
As the referee blew the final whistle to confirm arguably England’s most ignominious result for a generation, the collective look on the players’ faces wasn’t one of anguish but of sheer stupefied,…
Picture the scene: an apprentice footballer walks into his manager’s office to learn his fate. It’s decision time, a contract or no contract, a yes or a no. It’s a lifetime of…
This feature is part of The Masterminds AS THE SMOULDERING WRECKAGE morbidly illuminated the snow-drenched gloom, one flame threatened to go out altogether. A few survivors scrabbled through the shredded shards of…
This feature is part of The Masterminds GOOD FOOTBALL TEAMS require direction and leadership. The captain functions as the on-field general, rallying the troops in the heat of competition. The manager is…
Many believe that the last great Battle of Britain took place between Rangers and Leeds in 1992. This is the story of an epic two ties
Statement: Glenn Hoddle is a footballing genius. I think he’s up there with the very best English managers in, or out as the case may be, of the game today. Sure he’s a…
After a resurgent Liverpool’s victory over Bournemouth, Jürgen Klopp was antagonised by one tabloid journalist who was keen to peddle the line that Daniel Sturridge won the match. “We have a football…
MANY PEOPLE SEE THE DEFINING GOAL of John Barnes’ career as the one he scored for England in Rio de Janeiro, at the Maracanã against Brazil, in June 1984. While undoubtedly a…
If I were to argue that England were the Arsenal of international football, who would I be insulting? On face value it’s Arsenal right? Some may say England. The answer is neither,…
SOME PLAYERS HAVE what is referred to as “it” – the gusto, the stuff, the goods, the flair, the swagger – whatever you want to call it, when you see it, you know…
”Mi amigos” is how Diego Maradona is known to describe them. Ali Bin Nasser and Bogdan Dotchev are not on cordial terms with one another. Over three decades on, they still blame each…
Reminiscing of a time before he became Ireland’s pre-eminent sports writer, Con Houlihan recalled the World Cup of 1966 with particular affection: “It was the first to be broadcast on television in…
Paul Scholes is arguably the most naturally gifted English midfielder since Paul Gascoigne, but his time at the top was marred by the circumstances surrounding his early international retirement, as well as his…
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…
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 has always been a game of binaries, of rivalries, of winners and losers. The victors are rewarded by having their place in footballing legend enshrined for generations to come. The losers either…
David Beckham crouched low in front of the MLS Cup, a Cheshire grin etched across his bronzed face. His three young sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz chased after their dad as he posed…