There has been a trend appearing recently: blogs on football that used to provide excellent content are being discontinued for various reasons.
An Old International will also take an extended break. You may have noticed that since July there have been less posts than the usual a-post-a-week. This was initially only seen as a summer break as I did not intend to cover about the World Cup. Well I did anyway but it was not as much as say for the EURO 2012.
Be not alarmed, however. This blog is not going to be discontinued. Rather, the break is necessary now as I am in the midst of finishing my research project. All energy and focus are on this now and I hope to submit my thesis by late September. I have tried to put posts together but my mind drifted off to the editing task of an 80000-word PhD-thesis. Writing 1000+ words on football history or a comment does not go together with a full-time academic task. The exception will be match reports on an unregular basis; I need to get out some times and also guest posts which will be highlighted. Anything else will have to wait. I have forbidden myself to save any drafts except for hand written ones. My notepad is seeing some ideas develop; sprinkled on it with my Waterman.
Over the past six years my research has accompanied me like a good friend and a pain in the back side at the same time. I want it to remain a friend and a source of inspiration for An Old International. Seeing it coming to an end will be a relief. It will open up capacities to research more on topics hitherto not covered here. Hence this break.
There are ideas for the future, rest assured. An Old International will not vanish.

My dear readers, be patient. Thanks for your comprehension and your trust.