IT’S a strange and often confusing football world we live in, one in which Manchester United, the dominant force in English football from 1992 through to 2013, are now considered comparative underdogs. United have surprised everyone with their recovery after some early-season dramas, such as their home defeats against Palace and Spurs. The calls for […]
THE PANDEMIC may be having an unexpected impact on the football management sector in that fewer managers have been sacked so far in 2020-21. With the Premier League at the halfway stage, only one manager, West Bromwich Albion’s Slaven Bilic, has departed in a mid-season taxi. There will surely be more to come, but the […]
A FEW week ago, after Arsenal had won at Old Trafford, the backside seemed to be dropping out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s world. Manchester United had been beaten by Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Arsenal at home and the knives were out. Now, some 11 games later, United are top of the Premier League, they are […]
THE 1974-75 season wasn’t a classic for English football. The country had been suffering a long hangover after the national team’s exit from the World Cup. We were excluded from the 1974 finals in West Germany, pinning our hopes on Scotland and Jack Taylor the referee. While the global audience marvelled at the exploits of […]
IN an age of anodyne post-match interviews and black-suited corporate football managers, there would probably be no place for the likes of Tommy Docherty. His bluntness, humour and market-trading improvisation would be totally at odds with the modern game. The “Doc”, as he was fondly known, has died, aged 92, and with him goes one […]
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 […]
I’VE SAT next to two members of the 1966 World Cup winning team, and both are no longer with us. I’ve been in the same bar as two others and I saw one of the England legends snip a ribbon to open a social club. To be in the company of players who achieved something […]
AT A time when the city of Manchester has been in the spotlight over the issue of lockdowns and monetary aid, Manchester United Football Club announced its financials for the 2019-20 season and revealed how the pandemic has affected its off-pitch performance. United’s total income was down almost 19% to £ 509 million, which on […]
IN A UPTOPIAN world, football clubs would represent the towns they come from and their players would be locally-reared, devoted to their places of birth and loyal to their clubs. The world has changed: in Victorian England that may have be the case, an age where someone from a neighbouring town would be treated much […]
