Ho ho ho! Happy Christmas! Or Feliz Natal! as AVB might say. Although that’s a bit of a stab in the dark as if I’ve learnt anything this season it’s that you can’t predict in any way what AVB is going to say, ever. He’s like a multilingual philosopher with a thesaurus, and no post-match [...]
First let’s clear up some misconceptions: as a term of address, Negro in South America means ‘man of the people’, ‘salt of the earth’, an archaic reference to the dark skin of the natives who lived there before the Europeans colonised. As such it is now used as a casual interjection to mean mate, pal, [...]
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Well I have to say, I haven’t had as much fun down at the Bridge for a long time. The Carling Cup win on penalties over Fulham encapsulates all that AVB brings to Chelsea and only goes to confirm why Abramovich was so keen to sign him: alongside essential tactical awareness and a renewed determination [...]
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Ah, the summer holidays. Happy days filled with peace, serenity, airport queues and rental cars on which you’ve opted not to pay the zero excess and so crap your pants as you reverse out of the parking space. Thank heavens they’re over and we can get back to the serious business of trekking down the [...]
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The appointment of Andre Villas-Boas heralds the dawning of a new age at Stamford Bridge, in spite of some uncanny historic echoes: A young Portuguese manager, inexperienced in the big leagues, replaces an old, admired Italian coach, for little reason other than Abramovic’s impatience. And just as there were tuts when Ranieri was made a [...]
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And so it comes down to this: Two teams, one game, winner takes all. Well, winner takes all in our case, win or settle for a draw takes all for Man U. And it’s at Old Trafford too, so there’s no doubt the ball’s in their court. That said, considering where we were a month [...]
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That’s nice! Really nice! We’ve had our fair share of dud results this season and after a while you begin to worry: how come this imbalance in the order of the universe isn’t righting itself? How come karma hasn’t kicked in yet? We couldn’t possibly be responsible for any of this misfortune ourselves could we? [...]
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What a week! Really this week had all the comedy and drama of watching a Greek play. And I don’t mean an Ancient Greek play with unities and crap like that, I mean watching a Greek like Kyrgiakos play. Yup, that would have been a better joke if I’d actually had anything to say about [...]
Continue reading …I don’t know about you, but I’ve always liked this patch of January. Yes it’s cold and grey and wet, but cold and grey and wet is good when you’re shaking off a month-long hangover. I suspect professional footballers must feel much the same way as we do about December. Sure for them it’s sport [...]
Continue reading …A defensive lapse, a scrappy midfield performance and to cap it all, a missed penalty: you might not have thought it, but Chelsea are back on track. Now, obviously, you could look at the one-all draw with a predictably blinkered perspective and conclude that we’re still on shaky form, struggling to pose any credible threat [...]
Continue reading …As football fans we are a pretty righteous bunch. We’re faithful and dedicated and where others might just talk, we put in hard hours and back them up with real money. We’re selfless and generous and honest. We’re like angels really. And, like angels, we’re allowed to cast judgement on those beneath us. Of course, [...]
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Apparently today is the most depressing day of the year in the UK, at least that’s what I heard on Radio 2 this morning before realising with bleak dejection that I was listening to Radio 2 on a Monday morning and had irrevocably become old. Old. I tried Radio 1 but that was just noise. [...]
Continue reading …No, no, no, no, no. Far be it from me to tell Carlo “Champions League Maestro” Ancelotti how to do his job, but you know, in the same way as there’s always some toothless old geezer in the background of a disaster movie, sitting in a beaten-up shack, warning ‘I wouldn’t do that if I [...]
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