Monthly Archives: September 2011
The Premier League: Some things we learned this week
Here’s the next installment of Headers & Volleys alternative look at the Premier League table. This week, Tevez upset after bench row, Out of the frying pan, into… another frying pan, Lost in translation, Warnock’s finger on the pulse, Three defenders does not a back-four make and Follow the Ewood Park Road….
Pero, ¿qué pasa con El Niño?
by Edar Mullan
This article was originally penned on September 16 as a way to keep myself out of the pub on a Friday night. However, two lunchtimes later the subject of this piece managed to out-do himself completely in a fantastic game against Manchester United, whilst simultaneously usurping ‘Rosenthal’ as a by-word for how-the-hell-did-he-miss-that-open-goal in playgrounds up and down the country. I had been gambling on the fact that, in the red half of Manchester, amid a record breaking start to the season and with Wayne Rooney gunning for a third hat-trick in as many games, Oh Fernando wouldn’t get so much as a sniff. Then the goal happened. Then that miss happened.
The Football Shake-Up: Plymouth Argyle & financial crisis in the lower leagues
The Football Shake-Up series will be taking a look at our beloved game and the problems it faces today. We will be discussing ways to improve the lot of the fans, the clubs, competitions and much, much more. If you’d like to contribute to the series, please get in touch. What would you change about the way football is run to make it better?
Since May of this year, Plymouth Argyle Football Club has been in administration. With debts of £17m and players and staff unpaid in nearly nine-months, talks of a strike have been confirmed by manager Peter Reid as the search for a new owner of the 125 year old club have stalled.
The Premier League: Some things we learned this week
Here’s the next installment of Headers & Volleys alternative look at the Premier League table. This week, Wele, Shave those sideburns, New York • Paris • Stoke, La Cosa Scousa and Sack Steve Kean?
Re-enter The Dragon – A new beginning for Wales?
by James Riches
Football, as they say, is a funny old game, and this week there is no greater support for that statement than the contrasting feelings of two Home Nations.
On the one hand, you have England, who end the week with two wins from two, four goals scored, none conceded and just one point away from qualification for Euro 2012.
On the other, Wales, bottom of the group with just one win, their qualification hopes long since cut adrift, and for the moment ranked by FIFA as officially worse than such footballing luminaries as Syria, Cuba, Antigua & Barbuda, Guatemala, Guyana and, perhaps most notoriously, the Faroe Islands.
Chaos at the Cottage: A ‘response’… of sorts
Following yesterday’s article on the debacle of Monday night at Craven Cottage we today received a response from Fulham Football Club by way of an email from Supporter Relations Manager Tommy Guthrie. We are posting the response below in full and unedited (with the only exception being my personal order reference number and personal email address which I have redacted). We will then go through each point in their email - as we have by return email to Mr Guthrie - challenging the falsehoods and excuses that have been offered and demanding that they, as a club and a business, accept responsibility for the events of Monday night.
Chaos at The Cottage
This morning I wrote to Fulham Football Club to express my anger and disappointment at the organisation of last night’s friendly international between Ghana and Brazil. The ticketing system and the non-existent crowd control so badly needed outside of the ground shortly before kick-off were nothing short of ludicrous.
For Non-League Day: Waltham Forest FC vs Ilford FC
Yesterday, in the midst of a bizarre week of International fixture scheduling, fans up and down the country were left without a game to watch in the top two tiers of English football. With no Premier League or Championship matches, the hugely successful Non-League Day returned for its second year. Without a game or even Jeff and the boys’ ranting on the TV available, I trundled down to the home of Ryman Division One North (RD1N) team Waltham Forest FC to see their FA Cup Preliminary round match-up against rivals Ilford FC.
Their Blown Ball
By Aidan McGee
Between plunging valleys, on a bareback of hill
Men in bunting colours
Bounced, and their blown ball bounced…
The ball blew jumped up and out and hung on the wind
Over a gulf of treetops.
Then they all shouted together, and the ball blew back.
Football at Slack, Ted Hughes (1930-1998)
