Not everyone can be a role model for the future generation of sporting stars out there, but perhaps being a role model is the last thing on the mind of a...
Category - Quick Reads
Signed in 1991 from Shakhtar Donetsk for a fee worth £650,000, Andrei Kanchelskis was Manchester United’s first out and out right-winger since Steve Coppell...
On April 5, 2009, Sir Alex Ferguson entrusted a 17-year-old with the responsibility of getting United back into a must-win game against Aston Villa in an...
Interviewed by ‘FourFourTwo’ in May 2018, Rafael van der Vaart remarked, “I shouldn’t have left Tottenham, but AVB wasn’t the right coach for...
Pedro Neto has already had a larger part to play in Wolves season when compared to last season. So far, Neto has featured for 841 minutes in 11 games, less...
On 3 December 2018, Andrey Arshavin announced his retirement from the game.
While such a declaration didn’t exactly provoke shock waves within the game...
For players at clubs such as Real Madrid, breaking through from the academy ranks can be the sternest of challenges. To do so at a time when Los Blancos were...
Never a certified starter during a 7-year spell with Manchester United, Ji-Sung Park did, however, make a name for himself by being a go-to man in the...
I imagine you are familiar with one of 2019’s early front-runners for most annoying Tweet template. It starts with something along the lines of...
In the summer of 2005, just after José Mourinho had made Chelsea the champions of England for the first time in fifty years, Michael Essien signed for the...
In the panopticon of the footballing world, wherein the players are watched via satellites, in the flesh, or printed on the front pages, their character and...
Born in February 1967 – a full three years before PSG were formed – it’s fair to say that Kazuyoshi Miura has been about for quite some time. He...
Jack Grealish is the free-range creator England need to take hold of the game and pull it in their direction. And against Wales, Grealish showed how a creator...
Composed, tough in the tackle, and equally effective in the air as he is on the deck, Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa is well on his way to establishing himself as...
To start with let’s look at a few questions. Have you ever heard of players receiving a signing on fee when they sign for a new club? Of course. Have you...
So the story goes, Schmeichel wrote to Liverpool in 1991 professing his admiration for the recently dethroned league champions and asked for a trial. With...
If there’s one thing that the history of football teaches us, it’s that nothing is forever. The wheel always turns. There’ll always be a faster gun...
Ibrahim Afellay is a name known by many, despite playing just 21 times for Barcelona and having played at such other teams as Stoke City, Schalke 04 and...
Not far from the football-adoring city of Naples in southern Italy in 1967, a soon-to-be monster in the world of sport was born. Just one year later, a young...
After finishing in 11th place at the end of the 2000-01 Premier League season, Sir Bobby Robson’s Newcastle United enjoyed a progressive 2001-02 campaign...
With the Premier League season restarting this weekend, Fantasy Football is once again re-emerging in football fans’ consciousness. There are a host of...
David ‘I drive a’ Bentley was one of a rare breed of footballers. He walked away from the game on his own terms with no regrets at exactly the moment he...
The name of Freddy Adu has become synonymous with that of unfulfilled promise within the game, yet his story deserves more than a cursory glance accompanied by...
Leeds United have released a statement of intent upon arriving back to the Premier League with the signing of Spanish international Rodrigo from Valencia for a...
Luis Nani, a curious case of ‘what if’ transpires when reminiscing on a career that promised so much, but effectively fell off the wheels. After departing...
It was approaching half-time with Portugal and Iran locked in a goalless draw in their final Group B qualifying match. After a pulsating draw against Spain in...
Goran Pandev is perhaps the best-known Macedonian footballer of all time and certainly one of the most highly-decorated and celebrated.
In March 2019, he won...
Gabby Agbonlahor’s playing career with Aston Villa, ended with the completion of the 2017-18 season when the club declined to renew his contract, despite the...
“Mark Clattenburg is by far our best referee…”
And, before you go reaching for your tablet or smartphone and jump onto social media to dispute that...
Say the name Maksim Tsyhalka and you’ll be met with mostly blank looks. Make a slight adjustment to Maxim Tsigalko and you’ll soon be inundated with tales...
Although he wasn’t the first Iranian player to try his luck in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, Ali Karimi is probably the most renowned. A...
Let’s think about football as of today; right now, who is the best player in the world? The divide on this is probably as close as a Brexit referendum with a...
Usually at a top football club, it’s one eye on the present and one eye on the future. But in a certain position in particular, the powerhouse that is Real...
Back in the 1987/88 Serie A season, the champions AC Milan fielded the much-fabled defensive quartet of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini and...
Gheorghe Hagi belongs to the small group of players who have played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona and, unlike Luis Figo Hagi managed to keep his legacy at...
Despite football currently being on hold in England, transfer rumours are flying around as is customary for this time of year ahead of the summer transfer...
Ronaldo, Eto’o, Suarez. Some of Europe’s elite strikers have worn the iconic number 9 shirt for Blaugrana over the years but who will be the next in line...
In purely footballing terms, Fabrizio Miccoli was a successful striker appearing for a number of Serie A clubs including Juventus and Fiorentina, scoring 211...
The decision has been made to postpone the Euro 2020 Championships until the summer of 2021. While we would have all loved to have seen the tournament take...
Carrying a £35 million pound transfer fee means there is a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Nobody knows that better than Danny Drinkwater.
After winning...
With Klopp claiming Atlético should be playing a better brand of football, is he starting to show the strain?
It was all so promising at Anfield for the...
There are millions upon millions of children who grow up with aspirations of making it into the world of professional football. 99% won’t make it into an...
There’s a lot of debate around what it is Man Utd need to get back to the top. On a weekly basis, I hear that they need to be appointing a Director of...
With money seen by many as spoiling the Premier League, is MLS worth a shot as an alternative?
The new MLS season saw debuts for two new teams over the weekend...
Keisuke Honda is celebrated as perhaps the most famous and decorated Japanese player of all time. Still playing at the age of 33, the much-travelled midfielder...
You remember Gareth Bale’s display for Tottenham Hotspur against Inter Milan at the San Siro in the UEFA Champions League in October 2010, right? He scored a...
Although still only 33 years of age, the once-promising career of the French starlet seems all but over. Tipped to reach the very heights of European football...
The modern-day professional footballer can very much be a citizen of the world, seeking fame, and more often than not, fortune in all around the globe. Very...
When Arsenal acquired the services of Mexican striker Carlos Vela in November 2005, it was the prize in a race against a number of big European clubs also...
As Arsenal lay in tenth place a staggering 40 points behind leaders Liverpool with over a third of the season still to go, thoughts invariably turn to the...
How many Belarusian footballers can you count? Aliaksandr Hleb, obviously. Championship/Football Manager enthusiasts can also name Maksim Tsyhalka as an...
‘The Living Years’ is considered one of the most successful songs ever released by the band named Mike + the Mechanics. It is about a father who sees his...
One was a 23-year-old winger, the other was a well known former international, aged 36, coming towards the end of an illustrious career as an attacking...
When Silvio Berlusconi purchased AC Milan in February 1986, they were hardly one of the powerhouse clubs of Calcio. The mega-rich and controversial...
Will Liverpool become invincible? That is the question being asked by a lot of the media world right now.
Can Jurgen Klopp’s side not just win their first...
A few notable exceptions aside, full backs are rarely regarded with the same reverence as flashy playmakers or world-class strikers. Liverpool legend Jamie...
Luca Toni is somewhat unique in his standing in the game in as much as he is seen as an idol without a particular club following. Such was the nomadic nature...
11th July 1982; Italy defeat West Germany 3-1 in the World Cup final in front of millions of adoring fans in the luxuries of the Santiago Bernabeu. One day...
Before Jimmy Bullard was a Soccer AM staple and I’m a Celebrity contestant, he actually used to be quite good at hitting a football very, very hard. He...
Few footballers possess the skill to make the game look easy. The high intensity of the modern-day game, coupled with the abundance of quality that is rife...
“The best left-footed striker of a ball I have ever seen!” It’s a quote from Steven Gerrard and reflects the time when Berger was at the height of his...
At the ripe old age of 39, Ricardo Oliveira shows no sign of quitting the game he has graced professionally for almost two decades.
A slightly late developer...
There’s a special date in Brazilian footballer, and one player in particular. On 20 August 2006, São Paulo were playing against Cruzeiro and in goal for the...
Marco Silva lasted just 18 months in the Everton hot seat, presiding over a miserable record of winning just 24 of his 60 games in charge. Last week’s...
Liverpool started the season with a strong signal of intent, winning their first nine games, opening up a considerable advantage over their closest...
The date was 19th November 2005. While this date comes around once every year, what was unfolding at the Santiago Bernabeu probably hasn’t happened since...
Before the 2016/17 it was announced that 16 academies would join League 1 and 2 sides in a revamped EFL Trophy. A decision that was far from unanimous but the...
One of England U17’s 2017 World Cup Winners, 19-year-old Marc Guehi is progressing quickly and looks to be another promising youngster coming through...
When any list of ‘West Ham Legends’ is being drawn up, inevitably the names of truly great players such as Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds and Sir Trevor...
18-year-old Dylan Levitt has been a mainstay in the table-topping Manchester U23 side so far this season, and having been called up to the Welsh national side...
As Chelsea prepare to host Brighton this Saturday, there is a sense of hope around Stamford Bridge that seems to have evaded the club since the departure of...
As I sit typing this article it is the day after Manchester United narrowly avoided humiliation on a grand scale by scraping past League One Rochdale in the...
It was back in 2016 when Leicester City won the hearts of the sporting world by defying their 5000/1 title odds, the millions of pounds spent in the transfer...
Things are not right at Manchester United – that is obvious. What’s not so obvious is what can be done about it. Throwing money at the problem is...
Zero pounds. The figure that Norwich City had to fork out to earn themselves a player who would be top scorer in the Championship.
That player was Teemu Pukki...
As the domestic leagues across Europe come to a close this month, most fans and clubs begin to cast a watchful eye towards the summer transfer window. A likely...
Atop the EFL Championship, four points clear of West Bromwich Albion with five matches to play, Leeds United look poised for a return to the Premier League for...
Pressure is a fixation of modern football, the ability to come out on top in crunch moments. If you fail you are a bottler, succeed and some excessive...
Goalkeeper Mat Ryan is confident he can be part of Brighton’s development in 2020/21 despite recent transfer speculation.
He was a consistent performer...
The summer of 2020 saw record levels of spending on football transfers. The “big five” of Europe – Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and England –...
On the first day of 2019, Billy Sharp scored the 220th goal of his professional career. It made him the top English goalscorer in the 21st century and helped...
At the age of 32, Giuseppe Rossi was back at Manchester United’s Carrington training ground. The forward who had left the Red Devils back in 2007, was back...
Michael Kennard has met David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and many other luminaries of the early seasons of the Premiership era. They have even posed for...
Liverpool’s oh-so-near miss in pursuit of the Premier League title and their hectic journey in the Champions League has seen their front line lauded as they...
In the January 2018 transfer window, Portuguese midfielder Bebé signed a three-year deal with Spanish club Rayo Vallecano and may, at last, have found a home...
It seems only a few short years ago that to watch a match you’d either have to be there in person or hope that the game was important enough to be...
Last season I visited the splendid city of Enschede in the Netherlands as part of a short break in the country, and as pre-planned I ended up at De Grolsch...
There are very few players who leave a club at the lower reaches of the Premier League, being considered broadly as a failure, but then go on to become a star...
It’s not always easy following in a famous and talented father’s footsteps – just ask George W Bush and Paul Dalglish. Two extreme examples perhaps, but...
‘The name is Bond, James Rodriguez’. Five years on from that ingenious headline, is the Colombian agent slow dancing out of global notoriety?
‘Too fat...
There is an interesting story coming out of the Highlands of Scotland right now, and that is the current plight of Highland League club Fort William FC. With...
Trying to make your way in football, despite being in the shadow of a famous father or brother can be hard enough, but when a player has both those things, the...
When Ralph Hasenhuttl first arrived at Southampton on December 5th 2018, James Ward-Prowse went three games without a single minute of football, after coming...
When Barcelona came back from two goals down in injury time to secure an unlikely point against Villarreal in a surreal 4-4 draw at the beginning of April, the...
John Guidetti signed for Manchester City at the tender age of 16 but, unlike so many other youngsters hoovered up across Europe by cash-rich Premier League...
“To have a comeback, you have to have a setback”, those are words once echoed by Mr. T, and this seems to ring true with SC Paderborn 07 who are...
Kai Havertz is following a long line of expressive midfielders in beginning his career at German side, Bayer Leverkusen. Trailing in the footsteps of players...
For an Italian footballer with a record of international honours reaching as far back as the Azzurri U16 team, passing through all of the age groups and...
We all love a maverick. There is something refreshing about a sporting individual that breaks the mould and adds their own personal individualism to their...
It is perhaps a sign of both the times and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ statement of intent on joining the elite of English football, that they were able to sign...