In preparation for the 2012/13 Premier League season, Swansea City’s kit manufacturers Adidas opted to make a slight deviation from the club’s most traditional colour combination, choosing to partner their invariant white…
Tag: premier league
The date of 16 March 2008 – a cold, dreary day in London – will mean little to most. Thankfully, though, the Premier League was on. With a 2:30pm start time, Fulham…
There are two enduring emblems of Leeds United’s title win in 1992. Alongside the quiet authority of Howard Wilkinson, there’s that epochal midfield of Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister, David Batty and Gary…
In 2016, Maurizio Sarri memorably said: “If I saw my team defending and counter-attacking after 30 minutes, I would get up and return to the bank because I would not be having…
Leonardo Da Vinci once said: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Life is full of complexities, yet success often derives from the simplest of acts. For Kevin De Bruyne, that simple act was scoring…
The tradition within English football has always been to value hard work, physicality and determination over skill, technique and flair. It is a conundrum to me that, when football is known as…
There was a time towards the turn on the Millennium that clubs in Britain, and indeed the England national team, were crying out for a poacher. The now almost forgotten art of being…
In glorious but fleeting moments, Patrik Berger would show at Liverpool, and for the Czech Republic, why he was one of his era’s finest talents
Since the turn of the century, Manchester United have been one of the defining factors in the Premier League, expanding horizons with unprecedented levels of success. But just as success came to…
This feature is the third in a three-part series looking at why English football struggles to produce and develop creative midfielders, how it can learn from Spanish football’s success over the past…
This feature is the second in a three-part series looking at why English football struggles to produce and develop creative midfielders, how it can learn from Spanish football’s success over the…
When Roy Hodgson took charge as manager of Fulham in December 2007, the outlook for the Cottagers was bleak. The west London side languished in 18th, two points from safety, having only managed…
This feature is the first in a three-part series looking at why English football struggles to produce and develop creative midfielders, how it can learn from Spanish football’s success over the…
One September evening in 1998, Arsène Wenger sat down to watch some of his Arsenal players represent England in their Euro 2000 qualifier against Sweden in Stockholm. David Seaman and Tony Adams…
Ajax Amsterdam are one of the most successful football clubs in the world and the most famous of the Netherlands’ club sides. Famed for their highly successful youth academy, the early to…
After navigating a tricky early period, Sir Alex Ferguson often appeared to have everything under measured control at Manchester United, with squad rebuilding seemingly a fluid and effortless transition, allowing the club…
We begin in the French town of Le Havre. The town’s French character does not meet the eye obviously, with the city eschewing both Paris’ famous Haussmannian architecture and the sunshine endemic…
Yaya Touré calls him Papushka, which means Daddy in Russian. Dimitry Seluk, Toure’s eccentric, extravagant and colourful Russian agent, seems to be proud of that fact and calls Yaya his ‘kid’. The two…