SOME fans are talking about a Liverpool decline, claiming Jürgen Klopp’s side are not making a very good job of defending the title they won so impressively in 2019-20. That’s a little of an over-reaction, Liverpool may have lost some of their momentum, but the long-awaited triumph – accompanied by premature and over-zealous claims the […]
Tag: English Football
Solskjær will become a victim of the barometer approach
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJÆR’s job at Manchester United is under constant surveillance: by the media, by the fans and by the club’s owners and board. If you believe all you read, then OGS is just one more big defeat away from the sack. Every week that passes, the popular Norwegian’s future appears to hang by a […]
The Premier League has two teams on the brink of greatness but needs a more even playing field
THE PREMIER LEAGUE, thankfully, has finished and the FA and the clubs must be breathing a collective sigh of relief. It has been a peculiar campaign, unprecedented in so many ways, but even without the disruption of the pandemic, it has not been a classic year. Liverpool fans, will, of course, claim it is the […]
Crystal Palace aim to be liquid in a crisis
CRYSTAL PALACE, at long last, made public their financial performance for 2018-19 and underlined a relatively conservative approach to keeping their house in order. Palace, who are in their record-breaking seventh consecutive season in the top flight, made a pre-tax profit of £ 5.4 million on the back of best-ever revenues totalling £ 155.4 million. […]
Tottenham most valuable club in two-speed Premier
IT may be a surprise to some people, but Tottenham Hotspur have the highest valuation among Premier League clubs, according to the latest report from the University of Liverpool’s Sports Business Group. Spurs have a valuation of £ 2.6 billion, some £ 400 million more than Manchester City and Manchester United, and about twice as […]
Aston Villa, Leeds United, Liverpool, QPR, Wolves and five other would-be champions
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 attacking power of the team will forever be remembered, and not just by Reds’ fans. […]
Liverpool’s “run” is unimportant – on and off the pitch, they are on a roll
THERE was plenty of schadenfreude across social media, radio phone-ins and among football fans after Liverpool’s unbeaten run came to a stuttering end at, of all places, Watford. Within minutes of the final whistle, hordes of Arsenal (and maybe Preston North End!) keyboard warriors were reminding the Koppites that the Gunners’ last league title winning […]
Manchester United, the religious argument
ACADEMICS somewhere in the world are probably debating right now whether football has replaced religion as a defining element of society. To some people, football is the prominent feature of their life, the opium that drags them away from the mundane. The importance of the game, to those who have little else to lift their […]
Crewe Alexandra and football’s class divide
EVERYBODY has changed at Crewe at some point in their lives, or at least, that’s the popular myth. It was once one of the key railway hubs of Britain, the point where train lines intersected. At one stage, the railways employed thousands of people, more than 10% of the local population. It’s no real surprise […]