In Naples, football is more than a sport. This southern city, famous for its natural…
Classics
Football, Mental Health, and Belonging
I like to think that everything in life is a metaphor. Things can be broken…
Football Twitter, Arsenal, and Coming Back to Myself
Getting older is a peculiar experience, particularly hitting 40. There are highs—a new decade, the…
The Europa Conference League: an unlikely stroke of genius?
When UEFA announced the introduction of a tertiary continental club competition, it’s fair to say…
Towerin’ Thompson: Part I
“Ah want me name printed on the back o’ me shirt!” Thompson leaned his spindly,…
We’ve Got Super Mik Arteta: An Alternative Match Report
At the start of 2020, despite the feel-good factor of Mikel Arteta’s late-December appointment as…
Messi, Lusail, and closing a personal chapter
“Everyone remembers their firsts. The memory of my first taste of football is tangled up…
Five iconic matches from the 2006 World Cup
The World Cup generates an entirely different feeling to club football. All the animosity that…
Baila Brasil, Baila! Can This World Cup Be Saved?
I think this is going to be the worst World Cup of all time. I…
The Champions League Final is Damned and Doomed: Part I
Barrie Davies’s journey to the Champions League Final takes a turn when he finds a…
Jack Kerouac and the Childish Art of Fantasy Football
I have always had an uneasy and uncomfortable relationship with the work of Jack Kerouac.…
Lies, Deceit, and Illusion: Football in the 21st Century
Martin Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’ is the perfect specimen of deception. Teddy Daniels reaches the brink…
Mason Greenwood, Harriet Robson, and a World Designed to Protect Assaulters
I am a man, and just reading detailed reports on physical abuse makes me sick.…
How Goran Pandev Put Macedonia on the Football Map
If you were to mention the name Goran Pandev to an informed commentator of European…
Town in Albion: The Strange Recent History of Ossett’s Footballing Landscape
The unassuming market town of Ossett, nestled between Wakefield and Dewsbury in Yorkshire’s West Riding,…
Kerr’d his Enthusiasm – Sam Kerr 1 – 0 Pitch Invader
In the dying minutes of a nail biter of a Chelsea/Juventus match-up, Sam Kerr added…
Ole Had to Go, but United Have Deeper Issues
And so, after a stretch of performances that can be labelled as a total suspension…
To Find Solutions, Manchester United Need to Start Asking Questions
Most of us have known this feeling. At playgrounds and classrooms, backyards and alleyways, nothing…
Visions of the Dutch Big Three
(This piece was written following the September 18-19 football weekend.) Over the previous international break,…
Romelu Lukaku – What Was It That You Said About Slow and Clumsy?
I sometimes wonder how tough life must be for a Premier League footballer. The ball…