“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, it’s...
Category - Quick Reads
Latest football news, opinion pieces and player profiles on failed / promising wonderkids.
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 of...
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 the...
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...
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...
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 powers...
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 crushing...
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 that...
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...
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 in...
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...