Well Wednesday pretty much went according to script for football’s most successful property developers– a valiant late charge that fell just a little short followed by vigourous backpatting and much talk about mental strength in the postmortem. No sale here. The mental strength will display itself for the final run-in, starting in south Wales on [...]

It’s always nice to have midweek games in the Premier League. It’s sort of like putting on a coat you’ve not worn for a while and reaching into the pocket and pulling out $20, an unexpected and pleasant break in the normal mundane routine during the week. And it also allows us to watch football [...]

As I regularly make fun of Fleet Street types for lazy stereotyping, it would seem hypocritical to question whether Arsene Wenger’s nationality makes him every agent’s favourite pigeon manager at the bargaining table. Because given some of the dribs and drabs coming out of  Theo Walcott’s contract capitulation negotiation, it’s easy to understand why Holloway Road Properties doesn’t have [...]

A very thin gruel today, both in terms of punditry and rumours. But there’s some rare brilliance from the good folks at the Oxford Internet Institute, who used Twitter to track where supporters of different clubs actually live and find out if the fanbase of Salford’s finest was actually concentrated in Surrey. It was a good [...]

So I made the mistake of watching Fox Soccer Report again last night, long enough to hear the considered cockney wisdom of Danny Dichio along with a video clip of Stewart Robson accusing Arsene Wenger of being an egomaniac, which is a pot-kettle-black moment if I’ve ever heard one, along with the modern invention — [...]

With pretty tepid fare on the midweek schedule — save for perhaps the lesser lights electric start against Brendan Rodgers’ tika-taka merchants — I thought I’ve give my readers some insights into the glamourous world of public relations and the beautiful people whose only agenda is the truth and serving the public’s interest. No, I [...]

When Roman Abramovich pitched up in the west end with his petroroubles and grand ambitions, it pretty much guaranteed the football hacks who populate Fleet Street would never, ever have a dull news day. And with charming characters such as Choc Ice and football’s Nick Griffin in the change room, well there’s no end to [...]

So it’s my final day for in Fort McMurray before beginning the pilgrimage to Islington, with stops in Edmonton (to see family) and B.C. (to see friends) along the way. I confess I’ve haven’t completely worked out logistics of blogging in Old Blighty just yet but I will endeavour to have a full report up at some point, likely when I’m in the departures [...]

It’s international week *long yawn* and it always makes me just a little sleep zzzzz.  Sorry dozed off there for a second. It’s actually sort of amusing watching Fleet Streeters trying to find some fresh angles to hype for Friday’s qualifier between the Three Lions and San Marino, which should be about as competitive as the average [...]

Today is a milestone as I’m officially closer to 50 than 40. And I think it’s fair to say that short of Arsene Wenger squaring up to Bombardier Allardyce and kicking him square in the swingers during the pre-match handshake at Upton Park on Saturday and saying “Blow on those bubbles, fat man”, I couldn’t [...]