“He’s better than Shaun, he’s better than Sha-au-un, Bradley Wright-Phillips, he’s better than Shaun”. Or so Plymouth fans became accustomed to singing in the few months leading to the Londoner’s recent move homewards to League One rivals Charlton. But, as an Argyle fan, I have a confession to make. Tongue-in-cheek as that chant was meant to be, I always found myself disagreeing with a petulant shake of the head. “Well no, he clearly isn’t”, I muttered to the Old Man on several occasions. BWP really didn’t float my boat and I was glad to see the back of him.Signed by…
All posts tagged Man City
Great Football League Teams 2: Manchester City 1988-9
Great? Probably not in the conventional sense of the term, but Manchester City’s promoted side of 1988-89 deserve the label for their sheer likeability. City trailed Champions Chelsea by 17 points at season end, and were roundly humiliated by the Blues in the run in, a match that saw the Graham Roberts inspired Londoners canter to a 3-0 lead before stepping off the gas at Maine Road. They had also started the season with a defeat at Hull and a 4-1 embarrassment at home to neighbours Oldham, been knocked out of the FA Cup at Brentford and lost 4-0 at…
20 Years of Fan Culture Part 1
In the first of a three part series charting the development of a different fan culture since the Eighties, I turn my attention to the early years of the fanzine movement.In a recent post covering Howard Wilkinson era Leeds United, I underlined how appalling the Eighties were for the whites, but in all truth, they were a pretty bad time for us all. The wider populace had to put up with Margaret Thatcher and Bruno Brookes, but football fans were extra noteworthy for their pariah status. In 1990, I worked for a small publisher in Reading with a staff of…
The Thursday Preview: Scunthorpe Vs Manchester City
I’m not sure what we expect from the Cup at the moment but, Reading and Leeds aside, this year’s has been another disappointing sideshow up to now. Seeing United and Liverpool stutter on home turf before millions on national TV is nice, but not much more than that. Maybe I’m being a little sceptical, but both ‘giant-killings’ were tinged by the fact that the Davids, neither of which would look out of place in the Prem, weren’t exactly the most unlikely of winners in the circumstances. Whereas in days of yore our Cup legends were put up on a plinth…
Coming to a Championship Ground Soon?
With less than a month to go before the commencement of new Championship season, I thought it would be worth identifying those players currently operating outside the division whom one of the 24 managers might like to take a punt on. Some have been talked about all summer and seem destined to be plying their trade at second tier grounds come August, some have so far escaped too much attention, and some are outrageous plucks from the ether. Here goes:Nicky Bailey (Charlton Athletic)The “ginger chav” has an irritating way of winding up opposition fans but he is the prototype defensive…
Lanterne Rouge: I saw Arnason form a very good central defensive partnership with Reda...
Hellon Gills: When Rotherham played Gillingham on Easter Monday, I thought that they...
Ed: This is a good piece. The only issue I have with it is what sticks out...
Sanchez_76: I have to agree with your cynicism Lanterne. I suspect this seasons al...
Coley-lana: But they 'piggy backed' whist forgoing the money they would've got for...
