Author Archives: Richard Whittall

I’m not one to advise anyone how to spend their Champions League February knock-out phase Week One matchday(s), but I know from experience there are worse ways than at your local public house over a pint, or if you’re in … Continue reading →

The Football Comedy is closely related to the Football Film: both are nearly impossible to pull off and both tend to leave fans deeply divided.  In my experience, football comedy is usually best when it targets soccer’s absurd periphery, like … Continue reading →

Steven Wells, scholar of punk, smasher of football’s sacred cows, and scribe for guardian.co.uk, FourFourTwo and Philadelphia Weekly, is not one to mince words when it comes to the prejudices held about football on both sides of the UK/USA divide.  … Continue reading →

 The FA Cup tie that could have been. Twenty-five football matches scheduled for today have been canceled due to…snow?  What?  Some puffy white water falling majestically from the sky?  This is particularly ironic considering the prognosticators of climate change doom … Continue reading →

 I have no idea how this keeps happening! Now, before you start calling me charlie and suggest I place various things in my nether regions, I should begin by mentioning I am in fact an Aston Villa supporter, so much … Continue reading →

 Sorry Mum.  Uh, I mean, sorry Arsene. Okay, this is getting ridiculous, and I don’t even support Arsenal. Sure, publicly we talk about the Gunners’s depressingly sub-par performance this season as a victory for parity in the Premier League.  Privately … Continue reading →

   Masal!  Willifred the Destroyer is open! Manchester (AP) Manchester City, after failing to acquire AC Milan and Brazil midfielder Kaka for the proposed sum of a Gajillion pounds [Bajillion American dollars], are considering making a bid for former Arsenal … Continue reading →

Back When it Was All So Simple Imagine for a moment you’re walking through the streets of Manhattan on a lovely June day.  You pass by a Nike store and notice a display stand decked out in a familiar claret … Continue reading →

Say what you will about Maradona — he never put on a suit.  Michel Platini on the other hand is on one hell of a roll at the moment. Earlier this week, he went off Arsene Wenger as if the … Continue reading →

A while ago, an SNL skit featured an ad for a book that could get you out of debt and save your life.  It was called “Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford.”  It’s a book that the CEOs and owners … Continue reading →

So, the shortish reign of Thaksin Shinawatra has finally come to an end. None too soon perhaps for Man City fans settling down to some Pepto Bismol after that ridiculous and probably unnecessary roller-coaster ride.    While stern looking Premier League … Continue reading →

Lovely Craven Cottage. The name conjures images of a county hamlet where you might retire after an afternoon of fox hunting and lawn bowling. Hardly the Gates of Hell for a club like Arsenal who have only conceded defeat to … Continue reading →

With the 1.24 billion league matches on offer at Sky, Setanta, and the Other Ones, you can’t really blame professional football announcers for over-relying on their trusty grab bag of football clichés.  But now that John ‘Motty’ Motson has left … Continue reading →