Kicking off a short series of posts which consider the geographies of football in England, we take a look at the football scene in Cornwall, tussling in particular with the question as to whether a Football League team will ever pop up in this corner of the country. Over the years, a select number of Cornish footballers have overcome the inconvenience of their faraway place of birth to go on to play in England’s top-flight. Most recently, Nigel Martyn – a son of St Austell originally spotted by the Bristol Rovers’ tea lady while holidaying in Cornwall – and Matthew…
All posts tagged Exeter
From League of Ireland to Football League
It’s hard to guess what level League of Ireland players would be capable of playing at elsewhere, at least I have always found it so. When Kevin Doyle was signed by Reading from my own club Cork City I remember wondering why on earth they overlooked his more prolific strike partner John O’Flynn. Although O’Flynn has since found success at Barnet and Exeter, there are clearly factors for consideration above and beyond strike rates, or their status as local stars. English league clubs, those higher up the echelons at least, tend to look for strong athletic young players from the…
Where next for Paul Buckle?
Forget Roy Keane, among the weapons the now former Bristol Rovers manager Paul Buckle had in his armoury was an icy stare that could single-handedly re-freeze the polar ice caps. I’ve seen it used on misbehaving players in training, at fans who’ve had a differing opinion, and at journalists (including myself) who’ve asked questions that he doesn’t think are worth answering (which, on some occasions, has been a fair response). This icy blast may well have been unleashed earlier this week when he was relieved of his duties as Rovers manager, but it is Buckle who now finds himself out…
The Thursday Preview: Yeovil Vs Exeter
This weekend’s fixtures look like a pretty sedate set on the face of it. Leeds’ terrestrially televised trip across the shires to meet Burnley and what may be the most pathetic grudge in history, Saints versus Seagulls, are worth keeping on the radar perhaps, but otherwise I can’t help but be drawn down the leagues to the two derbies west of Bristol. Plymouth’s trip to Torquay, which the Gulls go into as comfortable favourites for the first time in years, has sold out and is likely to provide its fair share of spark, but our Preview this week rolls up…
The Thursday Preview: Exeter Vs Plymouth
The Championship promotion race looks set to run beyond this weekend and with that same league’s relegation places all but sewn up, it seems like an idea to return to League One. That’s not to say that Accrington Vs Barnet a further division down doesn’t have its appeal, but the likes of Swindon, Bristol Rovers, Notts County and Tranmere have all featured in this column over recent weeks, and for continuity’s sake we’ve decided to pitch up at the A38 Devon Expressway derby, which kicks off at midday on Saturday.With all away tickets sold and the game nearing a sellout,…
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...
