About Me

Richard Foster : football author, broadcaster, expert historian and writer, based in London.

I am regarded as the authority on the EFL Play-Offs, having written the only book on their history – The Agony & The Ecstasy – first published in 2015 and with a new updated edition coming out in 2021. Dubbed ‘Mr Play-Offs’ by the media I have guested on a variety of broadcasts including Sky Sports News, BBC5Live, BBC Radio London, several other local BBC stations as well as regular appearances on talkSPORT.

I have also established myself as a purveyor of the more unusual and quirky facts on the Premier League, following publication of latest book Premier League Nuggets in November 2019. Premier League Nuggets is considered to be “the commentators’ bible” by many in the trade with Peter Drury, Guy Mowbray and Martin Tyler all keen advocates of the book.

Having been a regular features contributor for The Guardian for several years, a reputation for generating thought-provoking, illuminating and engaging content has been underlined by those features proving to be amongst the most popular of the award-winning Guardian Sport section.

This website has been a long time coming but now is the right time to launch The Football Mine. The site will house not only fresh content on a regular basis via The Football Mine blog and the constantly updated Nuggets section, but also archive material including previous Guardian features, podcasts and extracts from my books.

I am looking to involve other writers and broadcasters to make guest contributions to provide a different perspective. Other voices will always be encouraged to contribute and help create a dialogue of well-informed opinions and observations.