Swan Songs #14: The past few months
May 18th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Being bright like stars falling
or rain on leaves;
Everywhere the lights leaning
like wilting flowers;
The last quiet cold of winter
quickly fading; « Read the rest of this entry »
Through Gritted Teeth #45: Garry Cook
May 10th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
by Danny Fitzgerald
A promising striker from a small German club, a combative midfielder plucked from a city whose last flirtation with kitsch came more than 30 years ago; a troublesome sub notable heretofore only for the contempt in which he was held by his team-mates; a mad-fringed full-back masquerading as a centre-half; a Barca player, but the last one on anyone’s lips; the second best player on the third, fourth or at times even fifth best team in Spain; and another shit-stirring substitute whose starring role at his team’s treble winning exploits was conspicuous for how little he had to do with their success and the real sensation that the myth is no bigger than the man, a man, moreover, who was ousted by — oh jesus — Dimitar Berbatov! « Read the rest of this entry »
Swan Songs #13
March 9th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Swansea 1-1 QPR; Swansea 1-1 Tottenham
So many parts in motion, and straining,
it’s what’s working, making, or building, « Read the rest of this entry »
The many names of Joleon Lescott
February 28th, 2012 § 9 Comments
This afternoon, as I was gazing idly at Joleon Lescott’s name on my computer screen, I noticed that you can nearly break his name into four complete, separate names: Jo, Leon, Les, and Scott, with just a tiny overlap on the last one. I then noticed that you could also get Leo, and Ole, and proudly told Twitter that I thought six names might be some kind of record, assuming you disallowed (a) surnames, (b) anagrams/moving of letters, and (c) names that were part of the actual name, like “Joleon” itself. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Week That Was
February 24th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I do still find it slightly disappointing that his first name isn’t Edison. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Week That Was
February 17th, 2012 § 2 Comments
Yay Herve Renard! Yay fitted cotton shirts! Yay for the grand narrative! « Read the rest of this entry »
One By One: Grand Tour
February 14th, 2012 § 1 Comment
So the Champions League is back. Are you excited? A bit? Yeah, me too. The football’s decent, though there is the ever-present sense that it’s all a charade, played out to line the pockets of men that are already insensitively rich. Plus, Heineken’s shite. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Pre-Match Handshake Is A Pointless Exercise In Nonsense And Must Be Stopped Immediately, Else I’ll Go Postal
February 10th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
This piece first appeared on SB NATION on 3 February 2012. However, the fact that Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez will be playing one another this weekend means it remains relevant. Thank you, football. Thank you.
In the end, amid rumours that the entire of Queen’s Park Rangers’ side were set to “snub” John Terry’s limpid and outstretched foreleg in solidarity with Anton Ferdinand, the FA did the sensible thing, and sent both sides onto the pitch without insisting that they line-up in front of the director’s box and wobble one another wrists. The disappointment from the assembled media was palpable, as both sides of the delicately stoked either/or, will he/won’t we narrative collapsed into “oh, we’ll never know”. A thousand opinion pieces cried out, and were suddenly silenced. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Week That Was
February 3rd, 2012 § Leave a Comment
The transfer window, eh? Not with a bang, nor even a whimper, but a gentle click of mutual skintness and prudence. Premier League clubs being sensible? Lunacy.
