TOTTENHAM Hotspur are one of English football’s under-achievers. Their last league title was won in 1961 and their only other championship was secured in 1951. The modern era hasn’t exactly by-passed them, for Spurs have retained their position as a club that attracts respect, praise and plaudits, but something has been lacking, what some might […]
WITH Spain’s big two struggling to live up to their illustrious names, Real Sociedad and Atlético Madrid have emerged as title contenders in the early months of 2020-21. While Sociedad have been boosted by the arrival of David Silva, Diego Simeone’s side are going through something of a reinvention and their new look is winning […]
CAPITALISM demands that when you’ve made money, you have to generate more to keep the spiral going in the right direction. That’s what it is all about, continual growth and accumulation of wealth. Some aspects of capitalism are clearly unsavoury, heartless and inhumane, others try to combine the pursuit of money with some philanthropic good. […]
WOULD football, if it were invented today, position itself around nine-month league competitions and knockout tournaments that involve multiple rounds over half the year? League formats, which began with the Football League in 1888, have largely remained unchanged for decades, although some have introduced phased structures where titles, relegation and European places are decided through […]
THE TERM “flawed genius” has been overused down the decades, often to describe a footballer with extreme talent whose personality frequently courts controversy and ultimately, proves to be his downfall. The rise and fall of a star sportsperson has become a very cliched set of events. Diego Armando Maradona was, arguably, the most celebrated player […]
ON FRIDAY November 27, Cairo hosts the 2020 African Champions League final between two of the Egyptian capital’s major clubs, Zamalek and Al-Ahly. Global interest in the competition has risen over the past few years, but the intense passion that usually defines the final may be missing owing to the ban on fans, due to […]
IF THERE is was one thing remarkable about Diego Maradona, it was the achievement of living to his 60th birthday. Sadly, he barely got beyond that landmark. There was something very inevitable about his premature demise, his lifestyle catching up on him to consign him to legend status. On November 25, 2020, football, Argentina and the […]
RANGERS are enjoying a tremendous start to the 2020-21 season, opening up an 11-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership and pushing well ahead of old-firm rivals Celtic. They have won 13 of their 15 league games and have yielded just three goals, keeping eight clean sheets in a row at Ibrox Park. […]
MARCUS RASHFORD is one of the faces of 2020, a young footballer who urged the UK government to help children with school meals at a time when low-income families were being severely challenged. Rashford has become just as relevant to 2020 as Greta Thunberg was in 2018 when she led climate change protests. His elevation […]
LOSING 6-0 would normally prompt drastic action and kneejerk reactions in football boardrooms. In the football world of today, directors and owners have a particularly low threshold of tolerance. Hence, managers are often sent to the gallows prematurely even though change sometimes brings no improvement. It is fair to say that Joachim Löw, Germany’s coach […]
IF, like me, you grew up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, you will be aware of how our access to the global game has changed so dramatically for the better. Recall those midweeks when British teams played in Europe and, occasionally, photographs would appear in the daily newspapers implying the Fairs’ Cup tie […]
URUGUAY has long struggled to live up to its football heritage, but then any country of just three and a half million people battles against huge odds to win major competitions, especially with far noisier and more acclaimed neighbours on their doorstep. Yet two Olympic titles and two World Cups, along with 15 Copa America […]
FOOTBALL continues to be divided over the timing of fans’ return to the stadiums. From a business perspective, no paying spectators is a disaster for most clubs, but the game still suffers from the ingrained perception that it is not a very important segment of society. Equally, there is a lack of widespread acknowledgement that […]
MIKE Bayly is an excellent photographer, of that there can be no doubt. His book, British Football’s Greatest Grounds, is packed with marvellous shots of scenic stadiums set in very evocative backdrops. Sadly, Mike’s book may also end up becoming a record of what used to be – how many of the stadiums will exist […]
