Last month The Economist hit the headlines for publishing a distinctly unflattering portrait of several British towns including Wolverhampton, Hull, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. As the stats - for unemployment in particular, but also educational standards, welfare cuts and numbers of empty retail units - made clear, the towns and cities in question are undeniably enduring tough times. But the emotive choice of title for the article (“Rustbelt …
All posts tagged Newcastle
Have Football’s Boo Boys Gone Too Far?
It may have taken half an hour of the hors d’oeuvre clash between Porto and Napoli, but the largely partisan home crowd at Arsenal’s showpiece season opening ‘Emirates Cup’ have finally found a reason to become animated. Often noted for their quiet approach to both triumph and despair, the patrons of Ashburton Grove have laid to one side their sang froid and sputtered into a chorus of boos.
The …
The U20 World Cup, and what it means for England
On Tuesday, England produced a highly encouraging 6-0 win over the auld enemy at Under-21 level. It has been, however, a miserable summer for the Three Lion Cubs. Here, our resident expert on youth football and designer of our rather fabulous site logo, Ben Piggott runs the rule over the possible reasons for England’s failure in the U20 World Cup in particular. Ben can be followed on twitter at …
TTU Go Predicting: Best Free Agent
A look at the Professional Footballers’ Association list of out of contract and available players becomes more depressing by the year, even if there are Premier League outcasts aplenty whose current availability is often more a consequence of protracted contract negotiations and a choice of suitors. Hence, Chris Baird, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Carlton Cole and the like will end up somewhere eventually.
Of those, the pick of the list …
A Football League SWOT Analysis: The Weaknesses
Of course by its very definition the Football League is weak – comparatively. While it’s true that West Ham and Southampton skilfully negotiated the step up to the Premier League this past year, both enjoyed wage structures and transfer budgets way beyond the scope of second tier clubs.
Yesterday’s opening post on this four day SWOT analysis salvo perhaps painted too rosy a picture of the League’s attributes. Today’s …
Ben: Sounds like an interesting read - and a useful companion-piece to Tony...
sean smith: Brilliant article. Shared. COYS...
Steve: C.f. Phil Neville on MOTD2 talking about Rosicky's audacious blind pas...
Winch: An enjoyable read. I'm not sure they bring back any good memories, but...
