tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32096437036460351072012-01-27T00:25:04.700Z"...Saha del mundanal ruido." Predominantly blogging about Spanish football.William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.comBlogger1341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-22644878433944843492011-08-08T08:00:00.002+01:002011-08-08T10:24:06.540+01:00

This article was written for The Seventy Two Unfortunates Football League Preview, a collaboration between The Seventy Two and The Two Unfortunates - a pair of the web's finest sites devoted to the world's oldest round-robin competition. You can download the whole thing here as a pdf in all its 108-page glory. And it's free.To tie in with my new job, then, in this piece I tell the story of the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-5596022442576042182011-07-05T16:45:00.002+01:002011-07-05T16:45:02.639+01:00

Some readers of this blog and followers of mine on Twitter might already be aware of this, but at the end of March I started a training programme with a company that specialises in data analysis and statistical modelling in relation to football. With players and teams across most of Europe assembling for pre-season training, the time seems right to announce that from the beginning of the 2011/12

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-25866838703371021082011-06-27T09:00:00.000+01:002011-06-27T09:00:01.746+01:00

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William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-46453618158681619812011-06-20T17:00:00.001+01:002011-06-20T17:04:18.911+01:00

Andrew Thomas' astoundingly good Twisted Blood blog celebrated its first birthday recently. For the past month or so, Andrew has been running a feature entitled Through Gritted Teeth dedicated to players that fans admire against their better judgement. My choice, the nineteenth in the series, was former Arsenal captain (and erstwhile nemesis of Roy Keane) Patrick Vieira.In episode 1F18 of The

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-12608145227544482412011-05-17T10:21:00.005+01:002011-05-17T10:35:44.450+01:00

This article first appeared on The Two Unfortunates - the non-partisan website for everything to do with the Football League.Being dubbed a young player with promise is sometimes the cruellest thing that can happen to a footballer. As contemporaries in the Norwich City youth set-up a decade ago, Ian Henderson and Ryan Jarvis made their first team debuts within six months of each other. In

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-60724692958479069922011-05-13T23:00:00.000+01:002011-05-13T23:17:22.008+01:00

After all the debate this season over just how inferior the current United side is to its many predecessors from the last twenty years, results over the past month have gone a long way to making such discussions redundant. Beating last year’s league and cup winners three times in just over four weeks means that this comparatively unheralded group of players need just one more point to

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-66146139881958515372011-05-06T09:00:00.001+01:002011-05-06T09:00:01.364+01:00

Earlier this week on The Two Unfortunates, David Cox stated that fans should have their football allegiance determined by where they grow up. You can read his excellent article on being a Northampton Town supporter here.The promotion of my hometown club to the Premier League a few nights ago, however, got me thinking about a particular kind of sadness felt in adulthood by fans who, as children,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-51856973506261986522011-04-26T09:00:00.000+01:002011-04-26T09:00:02.962+01:00

The venerable Two Footed Tackle was kind enough to publish my contribution to their thriving My Favourite XI feature last week. I have reproduced my selection below. It came between those by Rob Langham of The Two Unfortunates and Liam Blackburn of Same Name, Different Games.Goalkeeper: Peter SchmeichelEuro 92 is a tournament that few people in this country remember very fondly, or indeed

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-11273370971477161142011-04-20T08:00:00.001+01:002011-04-20T08:00:01.072+01:00

His early coaching success now a distant memory, Paul Ince found himself out of a job once again this month after leaving relegation-threatened Notts County. With several of his former Manchester United teammates having enjoyed relatively straightforward routes into top-level management, is it circumstance or something else that's holding back Ince's managerial career?The latest change of manager

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-76196891902785375982011-04-15T09:00:00.002+01:002011-04-25T21:00:55.031+01:00

Written for Red Flag Flying High.The traditionally elongated cry of “Wem-ber-ley” rang around Old Trafford as Chelsea were disposed of on Tuesday night. The crowd could have been singing about Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final in the capital but, with the Champions League final to take place in London too this season, it was impossible not to take the chant as a sign of the fans’ confidence about

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-89707918762540297142011-04-12T18:00:00.004+01:002011-04-14T12:18:13.596+01:00

Last summer I posted an article about my trip to Budapest and how I had attempted to visit the city's most notable football stadiums during the course of one day. Shamefully, it has taken me until now to retrieve the photos that I took using the borrowed camera I brought to Hungary.Better late than never, though, I present these snaps that show both the old and new of Budapest's stadium

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-42109400083074365702011-04-08T13:00:00.002+01:002011-04-08T18:56:48.174+01:00

Manchester United's last two matches have seen first Ryan Giggs and then Antonio Valencia put in a shift at full back. Could playing wingers in defensive positions possibly be a throwback to a formation made popular in the '30s?Antonio Valencia is receiving a lot of praise for his forty-minute spell as an emergency right back against Chelsea on Wednesday night. The Ecuadorean was perhaps not the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-62627756694486382982011-04-02T09:00:00.001+01:002011-04-02T09:00:04.130+01:00

Originally written for Red Flag Flying High - the Manchester United fansite. Sunday sees the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final take place at Wembley between Brentford and Carlisle United. The match is practically a home tie for the Bees but, for their League One rivals, the journey will be one of the longest of the season.Those fans travelling down from Cumbria could be forgiven a sense of

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-59763688745969413602011-03-25T08:00:00.003Z2011-03-25T09:56:18.982Z

Next month sees an opportunity to mark the enduring contribution to football of the world's second oldest round-robin competition. Northern League Day falls on 9th April and the community of football bloggers known as Socrates will be at Ryton, near Newcastle, for the Division One club's game against Billingham Synthonia.A number of famous football names have owed their careers to the Northern

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-49839964740482858762011-03-23T13:00:00.002Z2011-03-23T13:00:23.292Z

Following my preview of Saturday's crucial Championship fixture between Preston and Coventry at Deepdale for The Two Unfortunates, I wrote a piece about the game itself for the same site. Being called love by the barmaid was a sign I was in the north; having to wait several minutes to be served was proof that she’d clocked a southerner. It was my fault for being under thirty and dressed in a

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-87625032120819723352011-03-21T13:00:00.002Z2011-03-21T13:03:46.063Z

Following the fine example set by The Seventy Two, The Two Unfortunates, Ryan Hubbard, and The Football Hobo, this post is the fifth leg of a football blog carnival for World Poetry Day. To view poems by other bloggers, you can search on Twitter or Google Realtime for WPDfootballpoems.Sonnet for Some Semi-FinalistsA squad of stars, we supplied Toffee and a Ram.Bilić partnered Štimac, Germany

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-34345495376956482292011-03-18T18:29:00.003Z2011-03-18T18:38:12.696Z

This post also appears on The Two Unfortunates - the non-partisan football blog. I'm always delighted to get my writing on there.For someone with such a glowing complexion, Phil Brown is a notoriously difficult man for the neutral to warm to. When a good friend of mine currently living/exiled in Glasgow (the same friend who offered directions to Selhurst Park in this post) suggested we take in a

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-64267967412024460222011-03-18T08:00:00.001Z2011-03-18T13:01:44.203Z

With a few notable exceptions, the relationship between football and writing used to extend little beyond the occasional player autobiography – almost always not actually written by the player, but ghosted by a sympathetic/well-remunerated journalist instead – and the enthusiastic but banal content of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly. All that started to change at the beginning of the 1990s,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-1833046048320211712011-03-17T08:00:00.000Z2011-03-17T08:00:10.910Z

Written for FootballFanCast.A London club has never won the Champions League but, when the English capital became the first European city to boast three sides in the group stage of the competition this season, the likelihood of its long wait to win the competition ending at last looked to be greater than ever. When Arsenal, Chelsea, and Spurs all succeeded in reaching the knockout stages, the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-56716295834899432292011-03-12T11:00:00.001Z2011-03-12T11:00:02.032Z

There have been so many examples recently of footballers behaving badly that BBC3’s Christmas schedule of sporting clip shows must surely already be sorted for material. From Ashley Cole opening fire in the Chelsea changing room, to a player in Colombia executing a banana shot with an owl, to a 21-man brawl at the end of a game in League Two, players seem to be doing all they can to appear mad,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-91834553419890059812011-03-10T13:00:00.001Z2011-03-10T13:40:15.351Z

As Spurs' first Champions League campaign marches on, spare a thought for the team that blew their chance six years ago.Two cup ties, separated by ten days, sum up Everton’s season and, perhaps, the whole of David Moyes’ time in charge. After defeating the holders Chelsea on penalties at Stamford Bridge in their FA Cup fourth round replay, Everton then lost the following home tie against Reading

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-56431259738645533592011-03-04T13:00:00.006Z2011-03-04T15:40:24.299Z

Sunderland spent lavishly during the 1950s, earning themselves the nickname "The Bank of England Club." It brought them no trophies, though, only trouble. With the Black Cats currently £66m in the red, for how much longer will their transfer policy and wage bill be sustainable?Written for FootballFanCast.It’s ten years since Sunderland last finished in the top ten of the Premier League but, even

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-4056970930445646772011-03-03T16:00:00.003Z2011-03-04T15:46:03.277Z

Leyton Orient’s hopes of playing at Wembley this season might have ended in pretty emphatic style at the Emirates on Wednesday night, but while Arsenal move on to a quarter-final meeting with Manchester United in a week’s time there might yet be a way for the Os to reach Old Trafford this season too. The venue for the League One and League Two play-off finals at the end of May has been switched

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-46371900264606430252011-03-01T08:00:00.001Z2011-03-01T08:00:11.730Z

With over two centuries of goals spread across a seventeen-year career, Jamie Cureton is one of the better Football League strikers of the recent past and one with a special affinity for the third tier. And he's played in Korea. My profile of the two-time Norwich City player also appears on The Two Unfortunates - the non-partisan Football League blog.When Andy Gray, as was his wont, offered

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-32410616484454054052011-02-28T09:00:00.001Z2011-02-28T09:00:10.431Z

We all want better pundits and presentation levels on television, but there’s been something rotten about football coverage for 40 years. The dissatisfaction felt by fans back then proves it - as the pages of an innovative 1970s football paper, FOUL, demonstrate.This article of mine appeared recently on In Bed With Maradona, that behemoth of football blogging, as part of an ongoing debate over

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-81901129225714153482011-02-26T09:00:00.001Z2011-02-26T12:32:43.321Z

Written for FootballFanCast.Plenty of Sir Alex Ferguson’s former players have gone into management but of all his former charges the one who has arguably received the least credit for what he has achieved in the dugout is Alex McLeish. After taking Motherwell to second place in the Scottish Premier League in his first season as a manager in 1995 while still in his mid-thirties, the Scot enjoyed

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-39542756536027067022011-02-25T13:00:00.000Z2011-02-25T13:00:04.595Z

Written for FootballFanCast.The League Cup celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year, and the competition has certainly had an eventful history since it was first played in the 1960/61 season. The cup was devised with a midweek format specifically in mind because evening kick-offs allowed the growing number of Football League clubs with floodlights at their grounds to make use of the new

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-3498391670784147232011-02-24T13:00:00.001Z2011-02-24T16:01:05.574Z

Written for Red Flag Flying High.Didier Deschamps said before the match that a goalless draw would be a good result for Marseille and that should have sounded as a warning for what followed. Wednesday night’s Champions League last-16 game between United and the French champions failed to live up to the impressive surroundings of the Stade Vélodrome and the welcome given to the players before

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-46731648962438079722011-02-22T13:00:00.002Z2011-02-22T23:52:08.166Z

A bumper crowd witnessed a tremendous match at the Valley on Saturday. The result didn't go Charlton's way, though, and they dropped more than three points too; ticket prices had been slashed for the occasion. Did any good come of the day then? This article appeared on The Two Unfortunates - one of the Guardian's Top 100 football sites.The Valley boasted the Football League’s third-highest

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-53810286583576503692011-02-18T09:00:00.002Z2011-02-18T17:11:30.244Z

Here's another piece I've written for FootballFanCast, this time about a player who is - I am very reliably informed - remembered kindly by fans of at least one club in the Suffolk area.He’s the bellyflopping, club-hopping centre forward who Newcastle have signed to fill in for the departed Andy Carroll and the injured Shola Ameobi. And at 6ft 2in and 14 stone, Shefki Kuqi will certainly allow

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-42611365166186639202011-02-16T02:16:00.006Z2011-02-16T09:52:23.125Z

1. Good things come to those who wait in European footballThirty-nine years is a very long time for two sides with as proud a European pedigree as Spurs and Milan to go without playing each other. Likewise, eighty minutes is a long time for a side away from home in the Champions League to have to wait before they get the chance to run behind their opponents’ midfield. Peter Crouch’s winner for

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-38876597625646993222011-02-11T15:30:00.001Z2011-02-11T16:40:33.492Z

A generation of Manchester United fans have grown up knowing that their club is the biggest and most successful in the country, let alone the city. This is the generation that came of age during the era of the Premier League and blanket satellite television coverage. United finishing above City has been one of the great certainties of our footballing lives, like Richard Keys sitting next to Andy

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-85680155636678898062011-02-11T08:30:00.000Z2011-02-11T08:30:00.535Z

Only a few months after Gareth Bale announced his arrival on the world stage in Spurs’ 4-3 defeat to Inter Milan in the group stage of the Champions League, next Tuesday the Welshman and his teammates will take to the San Siro pitch for the second time this season. The venue might be the same but, of course, the stripes on their opponents’ shirts will be different. This time the Londoners will be

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-73846282598055813792011-02-05T12:49:00.000Z2011-02-05T12:49:34.840Z

A navigation error on the way to watch Crystal Palace unexpectedly turned my thoughts to the future of Leyton Orient, giving me the perfect excuse to submit this article to The Two Unfortunates.“Depending on if you’re coming from Thornton Heath or Norwood Junction,” my friend’s text to me read, “you’ll approach a Sainsbury’s or a stand that I thought was a supermarket.” It was then that I

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-34118483731102845072011-02-02T17:05:00.010Z2011-02-10T21:35:04.435Z

This article features on FootballFanCast.You can’t blame Charlie Adam for feeling devastated following the failure of Blackpool and Liverpool to agree a fee for his transfer. With the £50m sale of Fernando Torres giving Kenny Dalglish licence to go on a 24-hour shopping spree on Monday, the Liverpool manager channelled £35m of it Newcastle’s way for Andy Carroll and didn’t have enough left over

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-60086962624903513692011-02-02T16:58:00.006Z2011-02-04T18:47:04.576Z

Last April I wrote a piece for FootballFanCast about Andy Carroll in the aftermath of the girlfriend-related tête-à-tête with Newcastle teammate Steven Taylor that resulted in the latter reportedly requiring hospital treatment for a broken jaw. Back then, Carroll was a Championship striker with a modestly good scoring record cursed by off-the-field dramas that threatened to derail his career. Now

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-36628478214402229602011-02-01T23:43:00.007Z2011-02-02T15:15:27.243Z

Manchester United and Marseille renew acquaintances in February. Their previous meetings, in late 1999, were dramatic encounters. This article was written for the United fansite Red Flag Flying High.Later this month the Champions League resumes, the point in the calendar that has increasingly come to mark the beginning of the football season’s climactic chapter. The league table has taken shape,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-21996709662946880742011-01-31T12:36:00.002Z2011-01-31T12:49:17.236Z

For the past couple of months I have been receiving a lot of encouragement from the Guardian-approved Football League blog the Two Unfortunates. They have very kindly offered to host my writing on a regular basis, my latest submission being this book review.My Favourite Year: A Collection of New Football WritingEd. Nick HornbyPublished by Gollancz/WitherbyOct 1993New edition Aug 2001, published

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-60038611075545828592011-01-28T18:17:00.003Z2011-01-28T18:23:19.109Z

Ruud Gullit has swapped the Sky studio for a dugout in Chechnya. Understandable?Football studios often have the appearance of detention centres for managers between clubs and ex-pros without the inclination to enter coaching. Andy Gray falls into the latter camp and the sacked former Sky analyst is one of three personalities the network has lost this month. The presenter Richard Keys - an

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-26797376214301749972011-01-28T18:05:00.004Z2011-01-29T11:14:12.462Z

The FA Cup stirs into life again this weekend with sixteen fourth round ties taking place over Saturday and Sunday. A good blend of fixtures sees five all-top flight affairs – including arguably the tie of the round, Everton versus Chelsea – mixed in amongst several Football League match-ups as well as a game between League Two side Torquay and the side that – by virtue of being the only one

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-78471529173679949972011-01-27T08:46:00.006Z2011-01-27T15:28:23.078Z

A pleasing statistic from my match-going activities this season is that I’ve seen as many Blue Square South sides in action as Premier League outfits. As well as trips to Old Trafford and Upton Park – where Wigan were the visitors on both occasions – I’ve watched Ebbsfleet United hold AFC Wimbledon of the Blue Square Premier to a goalless draw in an FA Cup first round tie and then last weekend I

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-39847615945440759112011-01-20T12:28:00.004Z2011-01-20T21:02:06.148Z

Aston Villa have paid Sunderland a lot of money for a player who scores a lot of goals, and yet remains strangely unloved.Darren Bent might only have scored one goal in an England shirt but, following his surprise move to Aston Villa, top-flight managers have now spent a total of £53m to acquire the striker’s services throughout his career. The reason? As has been widely quoted this week, only

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-34958609413389863982011-01-20T12:11:00.008Z2011-01-20T19:15:34.281Z

He plays in red but Manchester United's young tyro Rafael turned the air blue after being sent off against Spurs.The defensive resilience shown by Manchester United in last Sunday’s goalless draw against Spurs should have given answers to a few of those questioning souls wondering how the league leaders have managed to avoid defeat in the Premier League so far this season. Lapses in concentration

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-25675043468671617902011-01-13T10:44:00.004Z2011-01-13T11:06:46.965Z

Norwich City haven't had a cup run worthy of the phrase since 1992 - too long ago for a growing portion of the club's supporters to remember. This article was originally posted on The Two Unfortunates, a blog that I would urge any supporter of a Football League club to read. In fact, even if you usually run with the Premier League herd like me, following TTU is well worth doing.The joke about the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-60396983502308922632011-01-07T18:34:00.005Z2011-01-07T19:05:10.976Z

When this blog began in September 2009 it was named after Louis Saha because of a certain admiration for his abilities on a football pitch - not only for the way his surname lends itself to a good pun. It's about time I explained further.This article features on the new Manchester United fansite Red Flag Flying High. Former United striker Louis Saha did something he hadn’t done for the best part

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-2119621200609797202011-01-04T23:07:00.004Z2011-01-10T13:23:31.710Z

Saha From The Madding Crowd has been on an unplanned hiatus since mid-December owing to a bout of illness on my part. During this winter break from writing I've been mulling over what 2011 might have in store.The ideal result of combining writing Saha with pursuing my studies would be for some sort of symbiosis to develop between the two. The blog and my thesis are two very different beasts but I

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-51118444050391106282010-12-13T12:03:00.003Z2010-12-13T12:28:36.741Z

Last month I wrote about some of the tensions at Manchester United, where Wayne Rooney’s recent contract dispute resulted in a multi-sided stand-off at Old Trafford between the club’s owners, the team’s best player, the manager, and the fans. For a few days United’s cause seemed anything but united as internal disputes over squad investment and player remuneration spilled out of the club and into

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-55665363054324945502010-12-10T22:39:00.007Z2010-12-11T00:07:11.452Z

Last month I mentioned that some of my writing had been published in Pay As You Play, a new book assessing the English transfer market since the inception of the Premier League. Below is an article I have written for the book's accompanying website. The version on the Transfer Price Index site can be accessed here.Note: CTPP stands for Current Transfer Purchase Price, the modern-day equivalent of

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-10925602503738858412010-12-04T16:02:00.007Z2010-12-04T17:26:02.326Z

Six months after facing heavy criticism for England’s pitiful showing at the World Cup, the Football Association could now almost be a subject for pity from the general public following Thursday’s humiliating dismissal of the nation’s bid to host the 2018 tournament. In late June, following the 4-1 evisceration against Germany, the FA was blamed for everything from its choice of team hotel in

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-59611781649776808742010-11-30T00:53:00.007Z2010-11-30T11:48:13.508Z

Although the other nineteen Premier League clubs are planning on playing through until May as normal, West Ham billed Saturday’s late-November encounter with Wigan as a “save our season” game. The club’s owners, the Davids Sullivan and Gold, had reacted to the team being bottom of the Premier League with only one win from their first fourteen games by reducing ticket prices to £20 and inviting

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-89375986439960835242010-11-24T02:58:00.006Z2010-11-24T11:20:48.048Z

A trip to Old Trafford on Saturday has got me thinking about football fanzines. The fan who writes for a fanzine is likely to be a very different sort of supporter to the fan who doesn’t. Furthermore, those who submit opinion pieces to fanzines are not necessarily the same people who call radio phone-ins or post rumours on forums. Fanzines revel in what we could, for the purpose of this article,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-8640474976228649172010-11-21T21:24:00.008Z2010-11-24T11:21:16.233Z

Saturday’s Premier League game between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic marked my first ever visit to Old Trafford. I'm planning to do a few articles about the day but, personal milestones aside, the match was significant for the club too. While their 2-0 win might, at face value, suggest that it was a routine home performance, on a wider level the match seemed to sum up the club’s current

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-90824317483045865322010-11-16T16:38:00.004Z2010-11-16T16:55:55.381Z

Following the royal announcement that emerged late on Tuesday morning, the news that Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, are to settle their £220m Payment-in-Kind (PiK) loans is unlikely to dominate bulletins in the way that New England Sports Ventures’ takeover of Liverpool did in October. Do the Glazers have a direct line to the Clarence House press office? It’s unlikely, and even if

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-72154650171478603322010-11-13T01:27:00.010Z2010-11-13T11:11:01.427Z

My blog's one-year anniversary passed without fanfare in September because at the time I was too distracted by my impending move to London to mark the occasion. However, something happened last week of such significance that it merits a little reflection upon the thirteen months that have now elapsed since I began writing these articles as a way of keeping post-university brain decay at bay. I've

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-5747511716495038752010-11-08T00:02:00.005Z2010-11-08T10:40:53.940Z

There aren’t many clubs that, in their match programme, boast equally of FA Cup success alongside regional and amateur honours. AFC Wimbledon are such a club. In 2002, when Wimbledon Football Club were given permission to play their ‘home’ games in Milton Keynes, the majority of the team’s fans opted against travelling over fifty miles to watch the side and formed AFC instead. By relocating,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-7562368468923500022010-10-31T16:30:00.006Z2010-10-31T17:00:40.592Z

Following Rooney Week earlier in October, when the Manchester United forward went from publicly requesting a move away from Old Trafford to signing a new five-year contract at the club within the space of 72 hours, the fallout from those days’ events lingers on.Rooney is likely to be out of first team action for longer than expected with an ankle injury – sustained after a training-ground tackle

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-48443531063237683382010-10-24T03:17:00.005+01:002010-10-24T19:21:53.798+01:00

A week after watching Leyton Orient climb out of the League One relegation zone, I dropped a division this weekend to see Barnet take on Macclesfield Town. The north London side won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mark Byrne on nine minutes and moved out of the bottom two in the process. Perhaps I should think about making this a service that clubs could paid for? I am a graduate student living

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-55862413054369052832010-10-17T20:14:00.002+01:002010-10-17T20:23:16.938+01:00

One of my aims now that I’m living in London, and at least temporarily not working at weekends, is to go and watch more live football. There’s no shortage of places to see games in the capital, from the obvious Premier League venues to the array of teams playing further down the Football League tree, as well as the sides plying their trade in the semi-professional pyramid.Some matches are far

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-57938317361084138222010-10-14T11:45:00.002+01:002010-10-14T12:07:12.692+01:00

Britain’s first-ever magazine devoted to the global game, World Soccer, is celebrating its 50th birthday this month with a special anniversary edition. Fifty of football’s most famous figures have answered questions on their careers and what they think about the modern day game. Those who have agreed to take part include Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, and Michel Platini; the world’s greatest ever

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-62767250069127960642010-10-10T19:46:00.004+01:002010-10-10T20:38:33.074+01:00

Imagine, if you will, that England are a goal down to Montenegro with thirty minutes to play on Tuesday night. It’s not such a far-fetched proposition. The team from the tiny nation that borders the Adriatic have so far gained three straight single-goal victories and currently top Group G. Fabio Capello’s side might have enjoyed two comfortable wins themselves too at the beginning of their

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-74045342937538349852010-10-06T18:58:00.004+01:002010-10-06T19:09:58.613+01:00

Football autobiographies have come a long way in recent years. The standard arc for a player’s life story used to be something like ‘grow up, play football, retire, buy pub.’ The book would often see the footballer in question indulge in a few fruity anecdotes and also take the opportunity to settle old disputes with former colleagues, each time leaving the expression “Needless to say, I had the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-9506973646204316132010-09-23T18:25:00.009+01:002010-09-24T19:51:33.985+01:00

On the evening that Gérard Houllier guided Aston Villa through to the fourth round of the Carling Cup in his first game in charge, Liverpool were knocked out of the competition that their former manager won twice during his six years on Merseyside by Northampton Town of League Two. Houllier’s return to English football and Liverpool’s surprise defeat were just two of the stories that an

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-74245020768723701482010-09-19T19:37:00.007+01:002010-09-20T18:53:47.312+01:00

If over the past couple of years you’ve picked up a copy of either Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson or Why England Lose by Simon Kuper & Stefan Szymanski, then the chances are that, like me, you probably found both titles to be immensely enjoyable reads but were struck by the intimidating amount of research that the authors had undertaken. Naturally, as professional writers it is their

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-27515861737592614002010-09-15T19:11:00.008+01:002010-09-15T22:01:50.124+01:00

Some people are accusing Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson of fielding his Carling Cup XI for Tuesday night’s opening Champions League group game against Rangers at Old Trafford, in which the home side were held to a frustrating goalless draw. Darren Fletcher was the only survivor from the weekend’s match against Everton, as the United manager made ten changes to the team that started

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-37229889563759111612010-09-03T23:39:00.009+01:002010-09-04T00:44:06.993+01:00

The award for most underwhelming rule change of the season goes to that regarding the necessity for each Premier League club to name a specific 25-man squad consisting of at least eight so-called “Home Grown Players”. It was billed as the rule that would force clubs to pick British players at the expense of those from abroad. Except, of course, it didn’t. Take Roque Santa Cruz as an example.

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-5223312460619786222010-08-29T15:31:00.005+01:002010-08-29T15:44:10.045+01:00

David Ginola’s transfer was delayed due to a fashion show commitment, while Laurent Robert was as famous for his free-kicks as he was for his fall-outs with managers during his time in England. Newcastle can’t resist a talented but temperamental winger from across the Channel. Like the girl who maintains that her wayward boyfriend will one day mend his ways no matter what her friends think,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-7547216708911809302010-08-27T19:48:00.007+01:002010-08-27T22:21:49.993+01:00

Two weeks have passed since Bebé was announced as Manchester United’s latest signing of the summer but the decision to invest £7m in the unknown Portuguese striker got even more intriguing this week when he was overlooked for selection for a reserve game against Manchester City. Bebé arrived in England amidst unsubstantiated reports that he had once turned out in the Homeless World Cup, but

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-79363857216008441892010-08-27T16:22:00.007+01:002010-08-27T16:42:45.406+01:00

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League took place in Monaco on Thursday, with an unlikely union of Gary Lineker and most of the Inter Milan squad conspiring to place Manchester United in Group C alongside Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor.It is a group from which United should be confident of progressing. Valencia amassed the third-most amount of points in La Liga last season but

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-52517837249969360422010-08-17T20:44:00.006+01:002010-08-17T21:49:38.204+01:00

I was in Edinburgh last week to visit the Fringe and reacquaint myself with some of the refreshing beverages that I developed a taste for as a student there. On the final day of my stay I took a break from watching comedy to see Hearts’ first SPL game of the season against St Johnstone.After a week of schizophrenic weather, Saturday was a glorious day in the Scottish capital and I found myself

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-64791306987700786302010-08-10T03:46:00.003+01:002010-08-10T04:00:16.797+01:00

Following the announcement of Fabio Capello’s first squad since it all went Emmanuel Frimpong in South Africa, ineptitude in the England ranks appears to have given way to unwillingness. On Sunday, hours after being called up for the friendly with Hungary this Wednesday, first Paul Robinson and then Wes Brown opted to retire from international football instead.Robinson’s reason for withdrawing

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-36437443068771303002010-08-03T02:37:00.005+01:002010-08-03T03:09:39.066+01:00

Take a look at the following passage and try to guess when the book it comes from was published:“The whole appearance and manner of professional football have been transformed, not to everybody’s liking...The game is played at sprinter’s pace; it is more explosive than it was; players are cunning veterans by their mid-twenties; referees are frequently treated with undisguised contempt; managers

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-21556546103594536732010-07-21T23:15:00.006+01:002010-07-22T09:55:58.760+01:00

Having promised myself the first foreign holiday of my life while I still have the necessary time and money (that is, before my PhD starts) I flew to Budapest on Monday morning to spend a few days by the Danube.The reasons why I had never been abroad before this week are less relevant to the blog than the motivation behind my choosing Hungary as my destination. This is a football blog, not

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-12325745208998165602010-07-14T00:08:00.007+01:002010-07-14T18:28:40.078+01:00

(This blog will make mention of the works of Jacques Derrida but don't let that put you off.)Not since the Netherlands played Argentina in 1978 had the World Cup final featured two nations that had both never won the tournament before. The 2010 showpiece had a novelty value because – for the first time ever – Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Italy were all absent. Spain meeting the Netherlands was

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-33424570959800336292010-07-06T18:29:00.002+01:002010-07-06T18:36:25.429+01:00

Ten days ago, after Uruguay had eliminated South Korea in the first round of sixteen tie, I confidently asserted that the World Cup was destined for South America this summer. This prediction continued to look good as the rest of the second round matches were played out. Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay won their respective games to join Uruguay in the last eight. With all four of Conmebol’s

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-42190820323118127992010-06-28T20:40:00.004+01:002010-06-28T21:13:21.913+01:00

England exits from major tournaments always result in some deep questions being asked about the state of the game in this country. The national side returns to the drawing board with such frequency that fans might picture the team as being attached to the figurative illustration apparatus by a piece of elastic. This time, as Germany trounced England by four goals to one in Sunday’s World Cup

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-38893274803694077052010-06-26T19:08:00.003+01:002010-06-26T19:20:57.153+01:00

Uruguay beat South Korea 2-1 in Port Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon to become the first side through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Two strikes from Luis Suarez either side of a headed goal by Bolton’s Lee Chung-yong won the match for the South Americans in driving rain at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.Suarez is now on three goals for the tournament, a tally matched by three other

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-11210389560156434682010-06-24T19:02:00.006+01:002010-06-25T11:52:22.394+01:00

After two dismal draws that had threatened to tarnish forever the legacy of the so-called ‘golden generation,’ England delivered when it mattered against Slovenia on Wednesday. Joe Cole again started on the bench, despite John Terry having lobbied for his former Chelsea teammate’s inclusion in the wake of the Algeria debacle, but Fabio Capello still made three changes from his side’s last game.

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-33631179504164139732010-06-22T18:01:00.004+01:002010-06-23T23:22:25.664+01:00

With their game against Italy some 92 minutes old, New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert used his third and final substitution. Replacing Chris Killen was Andrew Barron, who plays semi-professionally for Team Wellington in the New Zealand Football Championship. As the television commentator gleefully pointed out, Barron works in a bank by day and has taken time off in order to represent his country at

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-18476964553859423192010-06-20T17:25:00.005+01:002010-06-23T23:16:37.403+01:00

According to the Sunday Times, England’s players are urging Fabio Capello to include Joe Cole from the start in next Wednesday’s decisive group game against Slovenia. The players’ pleas echo those of England supporters. Cole has yet to feature in South Africa but fans of the national side are championing the Chelsea forward’s cause, seeing him as the man to loosen the static 4-4-2 approach that

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-57288292650592026892010-06-19T03:05:00.006+01:002010-06-19T03:17:23.760+01:00

With so many options to choose from, selecting one defining moment from England’s abject goalless draw against Algeria is an unhappy task. Could it be the moment in the second half when Gareth Barry and Steven Gerrard ran past one another and neither one remembered to take the ball? Or perhaps it could be the bit towards the end when, finding himself in the position of an auxiliary right winger,

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-23340049741016187052010-06-16T12:11:00.003+01:002010-06-16T12:15:34.103+01:00

Jong Tae-se wept during the North Korean national anthem before his country’s 2-1 defeat against Brazil on Tuesday night, but those watching this World Cup at home could be forgiven if they had already been bored to tears.A total of 23 goals have been scored in the opening 14 games, a record low in the tournament’s history. Moreover, six of the matches so far have been drawn and two of those

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-15949451295996924592010-06-14T12:56:00.004+01:002010-06-14T13:11:39.958+01:00

It was all going so well. After four minutes, big Emile held off his marker and fed the advancing Steven Gerrard, who duly scored. Just as against Paraguay four years ago, England’s World Cup campaign had begun with an unexpectedly early goal. The distinctly average performance that followed echoed that in Germany too, except this time England were punished at the other end.I say punished; the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-9872285047919170012010-06-12T12:03:00.004+01:002010-06-12T12:31:30.903+01:00

The World Cup’s opening day excitement was reserved for events in Johannesburg, where the hosts South Africa scored the first goal of the tournament only to be denied a win by a late Mexico equaliser, but there was something momentous about the goalless evening game in Cape Town between Uruguay and France too.At the age of 31, a dozen years after making his international debut, Nicolas Anelka

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-62419583709026649692010-06-09T11:51:00.009+01:002010-06-09T13:57:23.474+01:00

The following World Cup forecast will no doubt fall wider of the mark than Frank Lampard's penalty in the semi-final, but in both cases it remains nobler to try:Group A1st France2nd South Africa3rd Mexico4th UruguayEvery host nation in World Cup history has made it beyond the group stage. Backed by their own supporters, South Africa are quite capable of surprising any one of the other teams in

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-74020392529750257472010-06-08T19:31:00.004+01:002010-06-09T11:48:31.414+01:00

If you’d said “Jabulani” to someone a few months ago they would have assumed you were repeating one of Del Boy’s catchphrases from Only Fools and Horses. Say it to them now and, if they know their football, they’ll probably start swearing. The Jabulani is the name of the ball that Adidas have manufactured for the World Cup and, if the criticism from the players is to be believed, it is about to

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-36134923190281316302010-06-05T19:03:00.005+01:002010-06-05T19:19:04.288+01:00

The campaign to oust the Glazer family as owners of Manchester United was tempered last week when the Red Knights, the investor group aiming to buy back United from its American overlords, admitted that they were unwilling to meet the £1.5bn valuation of the club. The news came as a blow to the fans who care about the long-term future of the club and who want a new ownership model that

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-49806225105605671462010-06-04T16:50:00.001+01:002010-06-04T16:51:55.553+01:00

There was me thinking this was the calm before the storm. England arrived at their Rustenburg training base on Thursday morning with nine days of preparation and acclimatisation ahead of them before Saturday week’s opening group game against the United States. With only a low-key friendly against a local side to come, the national side’s focus should have been on training and – most importantly –

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-14544589218204752742010-06-01T16:25:00.003+01:002010-06-01T16:43:23.427+01:00

Speaking in the aftermath of England's uninspiring 2-1 win against Japan on Sunday, Fabio Capello said the game had had little effect on his squad selection for the World Cup. Given that Theo Walcott and Leighton Baines have been omitted from the final 23-man party, it seems possible that the England coach saw enough in their performances against Mexico last Monday to decide against taking the

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-33566987009233880992010-05-30T22:07:00.005+01:002010-05-30T22:36:00.330+01:00

Gareth Barry has until Tuesday to prove his fitness to Fabio Capello and secure a place in the England squad for the World Cup. Meanwhile, his teammates have been doing their best to state Barry’s case for selection even while his ankle injury continues to put his participation in the group stage in doubt. England might have won their final two warm-up games for South Africa, but Barry’s absence

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-30100680340454705162010-05-28T19:34:00.012+01:002010-05-31T01:02:13.135+01:00

When Fulham’s improbable run to the Europa League final had writers in the Times and the Guardian trumpeting Roy Hodgson’s charges as everybody’s second favourite team, I asked myself the following question: how does having a second favourite team work at international level?In the case of Fulham, they earned the backing of British neutrals by virtue of being a Premier League club in a European

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-89125276527422234232010-05-25T01:06:00.004+01:002010-05-25T01:16:24.367+01:00

Beating the best side in North America two months after a victory against the best side in Africa should be a cause of optimism for England in their quest to become the best side in the world, but Monday night’s 3-1 win over Mexico at Wembley was as qualified a success as the defeat of Egypt in March by the same score.Mexico, who beat the United States 5-0 in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup

William Abbshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564206651128166186noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3209643703646035107.post-4155929670593769742010-05-23T17:14:00.007+01:002010-05-23T17:50:15.983+01:00

Norwich City, one of the country’s best-supported provincial football clubs, secured promotion back to English football’s second tier at the first attempt this season. The upturn in the Canaries’ profile does not end there though. Their re-elevated league status has coincided with some of football’s bigger powers seemingly looking to the Norfolk club for style tips.From the beginning of the year

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Inter Milan continue to dominate Italian football and have finally shown some of that form in European competition too. However, while fans in this country are constantly fretting about the difficulty that English players face in securing a place in Premier League clubs’ first elevens, it is worth pointing out that Inter’s starting line-up for Saturday night’s Champions League final against

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An article was published in the Times last week about the food that will be on offer to England’s players at the World Cup. In other food-related news, according to this month’s FourFourTwo magazine Wayne Rooney has a particular penchant for a bowl of Coco Pops before a match – although he is at pains to point out that he only eats the regular version, “not the Moons and Stars.” Wayne is either a

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There are currently not one but two piles of football books beside my bed, most of which are titles that have some relevance to my impending PhD research. One book I’ve read purely for pleasure, though, is Jonathan Wilson’s historical study of football formations and tactics, Inverting the Pyramid. I bought it long before the thought of writing a thesis on football writing seriously entered my

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On Tuesday night, television viewers in Britain and across the world watched as Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister. In stepping down as the leader of the Labour party at their London headquarters, Mr Brown reminded those present of the maxim on the back of their membership cards: “By the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more together than we do alone.”Twenty-four hours later, at

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Goalkeepers: Green, Hart, JamesDefenders: Baines, Carragher, A Cole, Dawson, Ferdinand, G Johnson, King, Terry, Upson, WarnockMidfielders: Barry, Carrick, J Cole, Gerrard, Huddlestone, A Johnson, Lampard, Lennon, Milner, Parker, Walcott, Wright-PhillipsStrikers: Bent, Crouch, Defoe, Heskey, RooneyZamora, Wes Brown, and Carlton Cole miss out then, as well as Owen Hargreaves and Joleon Lescott.In

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It is the football fan’s prerogative to think that they know better than the manager who picks the team. Part of the fun of the build-up to a major tournament is drawing up the squad that we would take to the competition. The coach and his assistants might have all the inside knowledge concerning the players’ fitness levels and their states of mind going into the most important month of the past

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Fabio Capello will name his provisional 30-man World Cup squad on Tuesday and the big news over the weekend has been that Jamie Carragher looks to be ready to end his international exile and return to the fold. If the Liverpool defender is named in the party for the friendlies against Mexico and Japan later this month, England’s final warm-up games prior to the tournament in South Africa, then

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Group H is three parts Hispanic to one part Helvetian. Spain are most people’s favourites to win the World Cup, and it is easy to understand why. Even though they surprisingly lost to the United States in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup last year, that defeat is the only one Spain have suffered since Vicente del Bosque took over from Luis Aragones after the latter finally ended the

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