Losing My Favourite Game: ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ with Alex Dieker

The Champions League makes its long-awaited return next week, but sadly for fans of football purism, one of last season’s outstanding sides won’t be contesting the round of 16. Ajax wowed everyone on their way to a last-gasp defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals of the competition last time out, playing the kind of […]

The Kids Are Coming: What’s Behind The Resurgence of English Youth Prospects in the Premier League?

“You look at Under-16s or Under-17s and it’s absolutely riddled with foreign players. What chance does that give to young English players? It gives them virtually no chance.” Paul Scholes, speaking to the Daily Mail in 2015 It has become a staple of football quizzes in Britain. ‘How many non-British or Irish players started in […]

Losing My Favourite Game: ‘Talking About Madrid’ with Dan Tracey

Welcome, one and all, to our new feature for the 2019/20 season, Losing My Favourite Game, where football fans from all walks of life come together to wallow in the one thing that unites us all: the pain of defeat. Every week this season, we’ll be asking prominent voices from the world of football and beyond […]

Premier League 2018/19 Season Review

That’s it. That’s the season. 380 games, 1,072 goals and one black cat later, and Manchester City have only gone and won the blummin’ thing again. There were things to savour despite the predictable denouement however; Liverpool’s endless pursuit, Tottenham’s squatting rights, Manchester United (general), Watford being good, actually? The return of Brendan, Neil Warnock […]

When A Cock Crows. Premier League Week 13 Hitters & Shitters

The Premier League was somewhat overshadowed this weekend by the second leg of the Copa Libertadores in Buenos Aires, where fierce rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors were scheduled to resume hostilities on Saturday night after a 2-2 draw at Boca’s La Bombanera a fortnight ago. In scenes of civil disobedience that made Brexiteers’ threats […]

TV Party. Premier League Week 11 Hitters & Shitters.

After an emotionally charged week in the world of football, in which a city mourned the sudden passing of its beloved club owner, a farcical reality check arrived just in time for the weekend, as proposals for an oft-slated European Super League were leaked by German publication Der Speigel. The leak revealed that a clutch […]

Heaven N17: Haringey Borough Preparing for Friday Night Lights.

“And the Crazy Gang have beaten The Culture Club!” A lot of water has passed through the River Brent since Wimbledon pulled off the biggest shock Wembley Stadium had ever seen by beating the all-conquering Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final. Sixteen years after Vinnie Jones’ reducer, Lawrie Sanchez’s header and Dave Beasant’s famous […]

This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us: Premier League Week 7 Talking Points

This week the news was dominated by a man with a daft haircut who’s spent the last eighteen months locking horns with his boss, being caught on camera laughing at inopportune moments, living off his former reputation, and regularly inviting the question: What does he actually do? In Paul Pogba’s defence, at least he’s furthered […]

Knowing Me, Knowing You (Za-Ha): Premier League Week 5 Talking Points.

After a fortnight in flip-flops revisiting your summer romance, only to discover that, in the harsh light of oncoming autumn, they’re just as dull, frustrating and disappointing as you’d previously suspected before the relentless sunshine, airborne pints and endless nights had convinced you otherwise, it’s nice to return to your multi-billion pound slippers. The gold-leaf […]

There’s No Place Like Home

Most of the conversation between the end of the World Cup and the beginning of the new season in North East London surrounded Tottenham Hotspur’s lack of activity in the transfer window. After seeing their club become the first in the Premier League since the introduction of the window in 2003 to eschew summer recruitment, […]