Y bêl yn rownd

Jul. 31 | It’s not all beaches, ice cream and lava bread down here in Wales you know. Part of my work for the week is to look at the state of Welsh football, quoted a month ago by Neville Southall as “in the last chance saloon” and obviously...

The original gamefather

Jul. 29 | A couple of months ago we stumbled across a Monday night game across the river at Aveley. The game was in the Championship Manager Cup, a trophy for the Ryman’s League teams. Eidos had kindly sponsored the trophy, which on a good day we see 150...

The school of hard knocks

Jul. 27 | First week of the summer holidays and the weather is crap. Of course it is. Just as we prepare to that the TBIR roadshow down to Wales we get dull grey skies and rain. So we delayed heading off until later in the day, and as we were heading west it...

Down by the Jetty

Jul. 25 | Some 30 miles from the centre of London in an easterly direction you will find Vange Creek which separates mainland Essex to the alluvial island known as Canvey Island. Formed from silt in the Holocene period on a bed of old red sandstone the island actually...

A new beginning…

Jul. 19 | It may have escaped your attention but a revolution has been going on down on the south coast. Last week, amongst all of the noise coming out of South Africa, a long drawn out story eventually had a happy ending. Lewes FC became a Community club. This...

Boldklub and Hedges

Jul. 19 | Danish football is back….what I hear you say, you didn’t know it had gone? Well it had been asleep for two months whilst that little tournament took place in South Africa. The Danes had gone into that tournament like a bloke on a first date...

The Battle for Southwark

Jul. 17 | Trivia question for the day. Q: Name a football team named after a person? I am sure in years to come we will see Dave Whelan Athletic instead of Wigan judging by the subtle changes he is making in Lancashire, and who would begrudge Roman slipping in...

An open letter

Jul. 14 | Dear Mr Gold and Mr Sullivan, I refer to your letter to me on the 19th May when you laid out your ten point plan for the future of the club I have supported since I was 5 years old, and one where for the past 11 seasons I have had a season ticket. At...

It’s just not cricket

Jul. 10 | Can you imagine Manchester United playing Chelsea in a home game at The Emirates, or West Ham playing Everton at Anfield? It simply would not happen unless there was a blooming good reason such as some ground redevelopment going on. Well those crazy...

The quickest penalty of all time?

Jul. 6 | The 18 May 1946 is not a day that many will remember as being well known for anything. If you are old enough to remember, then President Truman gave a televised speech announcing the end of the railroad strike in America and that is probably it, unless...