DAVID HEPWORTH is a fine journalist and an excellent chronicler of popular culture. His highly readable book, 1971: Never a Dull Moment, accurately recalls the year … Continue reading For Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea, 1971 wasn’t half bad
FA CUP final day was always special when you were a kid. Perched in front of the TV all day, absorbing everything from “How they got there” to “It’s Knockout”, by the time 5pm came around you were exhausted and … Continue reading Rats in the shed: Leicester City’s 1969 FA Cup final
FORBES has just issued its wealthiest football club list, a tale of higher valuations but falling revenues across the industry. It is quite astonishing that against a backdrop of financial crisis caused by the covid pandemic, football’s top clubs have … Continue reading Six clubs worth US$ 4 billion or more – football is still relatively modest
JIMMY HILL was a character who divided opinion, but nobody can deny he was an ideas man. Not everybody agreed with some of his schemes, but Mr Hill had the good of the game at heart and was often concerned … Continue reading Three points for a win – has it made a difference?
MALCOLM ALLISON, the wayward, some might say eccentric, Manchester City coach, said the period between 1967 and 1972 was the last golden age of English football. Allison, whose team was one of the leading lights during those years, was talking … Continue reading England v Poland: When the lights went out on the home of football
THE STATISTICS suggest that Liverpool 2018-19 are the best-ever nearly men in English football history. Certainly, 97 points is a phenomenal record, but the figures only tell part of the story. Liverpool’s performances, the charisma of Jürgen Klopp and the … Continue reading The best bridesmaids: 10 teams that should have been champions
IT HAS been a year now since big crowds were allowed inside football stadiums. A whole 12 months and the likelihood is that 2020-21 will be a complete “behind closed doors” campaign. The world’s most popular pastime had been consigned … Continue reading When football as spectator sport returns, will we rush to the turnstiles?
APPARENTLY, the architectural style “brutalist” is making a comeback and people are reassessing a much-maligned school of design. Football fans, generally, are nostalgists, so the older the better as far as most are concerned. The favoured materials, for years and … Continue reading Stadiums: Learning to love the brutal building
FOOTBALL films invariably disappoint, but the documentary about three legends, Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Jock Stein, is a chapter from the rich history of the game that reminds us it has not always been about corporatisation and hubris. Three … Continue reading Busby, Shankly and Stein – the three kings bearing gifts and wisdom
