“Here we go, here we go, here we go”, as the old ditty reminds us, another season beckons. The 2026/27 edition is already underway with the EFL having already kicked off – and here’s last week’s quiz form the Guardian to test your knowledge of the three divisions below the Premier League – https://bit.ly/4cAfl5r ToContinue reading “2026/27 Season”
Category Archives: Guardian
World Cup 2026 Week 6 :The Finale
And so it ends with Spain winning their second World Cup, a victory for a proper football team playing proper football. Their opponents in the Final behaved disgracefully throughout the match and in the post-match furore. Argentina are the definition of bad losers, in fact they have taken it to new lows with their aggressionContinue reading “World Cup 2026 Week 6 :The Finale”
‘It Started With a Kick’ -Episode 101
It Started With a Kick Episode 101 : special edition Welcome to the last two parts of this special episode of ‘It Started With a Kick’, featuring some of the best clips from a vast array of guests since the launch in April 2024. As we finish this podcast’s version of Match of the DayContinue reading “‘It Started With a Kick’ -Episode 101”
Football Argentinian style/ It Started With a Kick Episode 54
When imagining a football match in Buenos Aires many visualise La Bombonera shuddering to its foundations by the jumping mass of blue and yellow Boca Juniors fans or the majestic Estadio Monumental bedecked in streams of ticker tape when hosting Argentina’s World Cup victory in 1978. My experience earlier this month was different, very differentContinue reading “Football Argentinian style/ It Started With a Kick Episode 54”
The welcome return of the 12th man and home comforts
When Everton squeaked past Chelsea last weekend it provided a huge boost to the Toffees’ chances of survival, something that was celebrated with raucous gusto by the Goodison crowd of over 39,000. The influence exerted by the home supporters that started the night before and reached a climax in the last frenetic minutes of theContinue reading “The welcome return of the 12th man and home comforts”
Qatar 2022 – The most unusual of World Cups
The twenty-second World Cup Finals will be unusual in many ways. Not only will Qatar become the first Arab nation to host the World Cup but also the first to have never qualified (with the exception of Uruguay who were the hosts in the inaugural tournament in 1930). With a population of just under 2.9Continue reading “Qatar 2022 – The most unusual of World Cups”
Life after football – when academy players are released
Last week Crystal Palace launched the first ever comprehensive after care programme for released academy players. The Football Mine will cover this subject in two parts, Part 1 looks at the key issues and Palace’s bold initiative. Over the next few weeks hundreds of teenage academy players will find out if they are going toContinue reading “Life after football – when academy players are released”
Arsenal’s century of Premier League red cards:- Winterburn to Gabriel
Gabriel’s second yellow card in the space of a few minutes against Manchester City on New Years’ Day handed the champions the initiative in a match in which they had struggled to assert their customary superiority. The successive yellow cards were reminiscent of Arsenal’s first red card in the Premier League when Nigel Winterburn receivedContinue reading “Arsenal’s century of Premier League red cards:- Winterburn to Gabriel”
The Football Mine 