Yesterday’s 1-0 defeat of Manchester City against the Spanish giants Barcelona, saw the last English club eliminated from UEFA’s top competition. Once again, the soul searching has begun.There is no conclusive answer to the fact that none of the English clubs have made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season. It would…
England, the country that gave birth to modern football hosted Hungary at Wembley in Noember 1953 and had to acknowledge that they had a bit of work to do to keep up with the Europeans. Read more →
It seems this year has a special ring to it as 3 of the 5 major soccer leagues in Europe celebrate a particular anniversary in 2013. England: Football 150 This is certainly the biggest date this year for football historians and fans alike. A century and a half a group of enthusiasts codified the rules…
The Euro 2012 was the last tournament to be played out with 16 teams. In four years time, when the gravy train stops in France there will be 24 teams competing for European football glory. However, Michel Platini seems to go even a step further in 2020. The Euro is growing The obvious point is…
After 12 days of group games in the test day will be a welcome break for the many journalists covering the event live in Poland and the Ukraine. It is time for a resume on the action so far. Who were the biggest surprise in a positive and negative way? Which team played the best…
There are few words in English that are better suited to describe a title race with only two serious contenders. Two horse race describes the situation in many European top footballing divisions at this stage of the season. For obvious reasons, Scotland and Spain will be excluded in this little summary of Europe’s best football…
FIFA have stolen the game from England! So said Sir Dave Richards at conference today. What a pleasure to read Sir Dave Richards comments on the origins of the game! If there was need to prove that the governing body of English football, The FA along with the Premier League, of which Richards is the…
The writing has been on the wall for a good few weeks for Andre Villas-Boas. Yet, he did not react to appease certain powers at Chelsea, namely player power. At least, this is how the papers saw it this morning. For the memory: Villas-Boas was the eigth manager at Stamford Bridge since Roman Abramovich has…
After the resignation of Fabio Capello as Manager of England it appears that the country has been plunged into a crisis. If one follows the live blog of the guardian, one is inclined to think to follow a live match or live debate but not the mere reactions to Capello’s decision to call it a…
It has been highlighted elsewhere on this blog that small football clubs are suffering while bigger clubs get ever richer. That process has accelerated with the arrival of pay per view television and heavy marketing of the game at the top level. Yet those small clubs struggling to make ends meet should be the focus…