Football

The funeral cortege trundles slowly towards Doncaster Rovers’ Belle Vue stadium. Joined by hundreds of mourners, the congregation approaches the grounds bearing wreaths, banners and handmade memorials in remembrance of the departed. It’s the final day of the 1997/98 season and Doncaster are playing host to Colchester United. Only today’s match is just a mere […]

For possession-obsessed top clubs, the search for the modern, high-aggression centre-back with a satin touch and the passing range of a cruise missile has become incessant. Many top teams are now intent on a level of technical skill whereby all players – and at a push the goalkeeper – could be capable of playing in […]

In the eternal circle that is the Premier League season, we have revolved back around to the January transfer window. Like a snake eating its own tail, football is doomed to repeat itself forever. So we must tolerate the return of gossip, speculation, transfer live blogs, warchests, raids, swoops, wantaway players and spending sprees. Given […]

There he stood in a corner of the ground, the Salford Warhol in a beanie hat. Paying tribute to the astonishing transformation of his home town club, Charlatans front man Tim Burgess chose Salford City’s Peninsula Stadium to push his Bands FC initiative, a funky project aimed at bringing together through the trading of badges […]

A small, puffy weal of skin just under Brad Barritt’s left eye is the only outward sign of the ironmongery and embroidery that have mended the face of the Saracens captain. A crack in his cheekbone last season needed a metal plate inserted, and Barritt played a European quarter-final away to Leinster a few days […]

Deciphering whether 2018 was a good or bad year for Real Madrid is difficult. On one hand, they claimed their third successive Champions League title, taking the club’s total number of European Cups to 13 – almost double the number of their nearest competitor, AC Milan (seven). And yet on the other hand, 2018 witnessed […]

For all that links the two, there are many differences between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, not just as players, but as people do. Of course, much of what we know about the character of the duo comes through the prism of public perception. It’s difficult to know what is real and what is merely […]

Before Trent Alexander-Arnold missed Gameweeks 16 and 17 he was one of the most reliable sources of points in defence, scoring 73 Fantasy Premier League points in just 13 appearances. But during Liverpool’s crucial win over Napoli he picked up a nasty foot injury. Over 21 per cent of Fantasy Premier League players still own […]

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was given his first taste of management at Manchester United as a youth coach. Winning trophies back in his previous coaching involvement at the club, as well as his work with young players in Norway, means Solskjaer understands the process of shining gems and helping prospects develop to the point where they […]

“I’d love to see two or three — and not players you have to Google and say, ‘Who’s that?’” is one of the great lines in modern English football. It had a bit of everything: the spice of an ambitious player calling out his own club for their lacklustre signings, contextualised by a current, technological […]

Spurs return to Premier League action after a victorious north London derby in the Carabao Cup, hoping to build upon their recent good form and ignore the rumours circulating around manager Mauricio Pochettino and Old Trafford. They’ll fancy their odds, considering Everton have not beaten them in the league in the past 12 attempts. However, […]

On a cold day in Chorley in the early 1920s, a male professional goalkeeper challenged Lily Parr to beat him from the penalty spot. His tone was condescending. From his point of view a woman could never strike the ball with enough power, let alone sufficient accuracy, to beat him from 12 yards. Parr accepted, […]

Game of the weekend When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was relegated with Cardiff in 2013/14, few expected his next Premier League job to be with Manchester United. The Norwegian is indeed the man occupying the hot seat at Old Trafford until the end of the season, following the dismissal of Jose Mourinho on Tuesday. The Red […]

The debate of who will succeed Jose Mourinho as next Manchester United manager has dominated the headlines since the 55-year-old’s departure. But following years of muddled thinking in the transfer market and on the training ground since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, there is a growing sense that United must also appoint a new […]

Mauricio Pochettino has inched closer to winning his first trophy with Tottenham Hotspur with a comfortably victory against rivals Arsenal. For a competition that has often seen second strings played by the top Premier League clubs (and even the not-so-top Premier League clubs) all the way up until the final, there were two sides out […]