Author: Olly Cooper
Drawing a Line Between Fantasy and Football
Who was the better player last season, Yaya Tourà© or Stephane Sessegnon? If your answer is Sessegnon, you’re probably either a Sunderland fan, or you didn’t watch the Ivorian powerhouse impose himself on the Premiership run-in — or maybe you’re just one of those contrary souls who think Spain are boring and Portsmouth should be signing players on £5,000 a week. Or perhaps you’re one of the 4.5 million …
Book reviews Week: Moneyball
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Published by W. W. Norton
2004, £9.99
ISBN: 978-0-393-05765-2
Unless you’ve spent the last year living under a rock or in Andy Carroll’s armpit, you’re sure to have heard of Moneyball. Either you’ve read the seminal Michael Lewis book, seen the Brad Pitt film adaptation, or read one of the torrent of blogs, articles, and sundry internet scoffings about the statistics based system developed by …
Great Football League Teams 32: Tottenham Hotspur 1949-50
It somehow feels appropriate that this article is appearing in the week after Spurs’ 5-2 bubble bursting against Arsenal. For supporters who have traditionally had to rely more on the past to supply the “glory, glory” than the present, this season has been a bit of a trial for Spurs fans (bear with me, please). There has been something unsettling about the way that Harry Redknapp’s team have steamrollered supposedly …
The Monday Profile: David Bentley
Playing at the Madejski
I approached getting the chance to play a game at the Madejski Stadium this week with some trepidation. Not only was there the usual possibility of embarrassing myself in a competitive match, the worry about breaking something valuable in the dressing room, and the fear that I might somehow get glued to the subs bench and not actually get to play on that sumptuous surface, but also a sense that …