There has been a new twist in the Freddiegate scandal. As Crystal Palace responded to the their defeat at Ashton Gate like a hellfire preacher on heat – one can imagine the howling in the dressing room at Portman Road as Neil Warnock out-Keane-ed Keano – it emerges that the South London side may still owe their hosts from Saturday a fair chunk of money for the transfer of Nick Carle last season. Robins’ chairman Steve Lansdown claims that the blond bombshell Simon Jordan still owes him £250,000. Two injustices don’t make for equilibrium but as a neutral, I eagerly…
Under the Glanford Park lights
Other than chewing over how my own team plan to turn over a McCormackless Cardiff this evening after a pretty uninspiring performance on Saturday, my thoughts circle around how two of the league’s new boys will fare when they meet tonight under the Glanford Park lights. Having kept hold of their manager Nigel Adkins after a short-lived bout of interest from Norwich (do Colmans do laughing stock?), Scunthorpe ought to pose a real threat, particularly on the back of an encouraging 3-2 win against Derby, so I think their game at home to Boro is the pick of the midweek…
No Prima Donnas Here
That Newcastle United’s powerful start to the season has evinced so much surprise is significant. Pundits have been queuing up to have a pop at their expensively assembled squad, earners of the highest probable collective wage packet in the history of the division, and the assumption that they would tumble onto their faces like a squadron of prima donnas has been repeated ad nauseam.But Saturday’s comprehensive demolition of an admittedly rookie-filled Reading line up has begun to convince even the doubters. Sure, more players could leave soon – Reading were also on the end of Fabrizio Ravanelli-inspired 3-0 reverse early…
Book Review: Inverting the Pyramid
Inverting the Pyramid: the History of Football TacticsBy Jonathan WilsonPublished by Orion BooksMay 2009, £8.99, ISBN: 9781409102045Back in 2006, I wrote a slightly pernickety review of Jonathan Wilson’s Behind the Curtain, a superb overview of the history and current state of East European football. His latest offering, published in paperback earlier this year, could be contender for the best book about soccer ever written. It’s a monumental achievement; a book that leaves you thirsting for more information with every page.Wilson’s selected topic for analysis this time out is the history of football tactics. Over 350 pages, he charts the development…
Good news and bad news for Albion
First, here’s the bad news. West Bromwich Albion were utterly uninspiring in yesterday’s win at Nottingham Forest. Any neutral present would have found it hard to understand why the Baggies are considered joint favourites for promotion.But now the good news. Teams who ‘bounce back’ at the first attempt following relegation from the premier league generally do so by being, well, utterly uninspiring.Seem illogical? Look at the evidence. Birmingham City played a cheerless brand of football throughout last season – as their average crowds of 19,000 might suggest – yet they managed to scramble up. And Blues’s 2006/07 promotion season under…
James: Are the wealthy middle classes really the ones to back a football team...
Lanterne Rouge: Garath McCleary on signing for Reading today:
"It's amazing to be a...
Lloyd: On the Oxford / Reading thing, Lanterne, you write that "there is no c...
Ben: Yes, it does loom a bit, doesn't it? Moxey's comments on the ground re...
