Will Forest’s frantic transfer activity succeed?

For the inaugural Premier League season under Brian Clough, Nottingham Forest brought in only two players who commanded a transfer fee – Neil Webb returned to the City Ground from Manchester United for £800,000 while Robert Rosario cost about half that from Coventry City, giving a total spend of £1.2 million. Thirty years on andContinue reading “Will Forest’s frantic transfer activity succeed?”

The 2022 Play-Offs – Return of crowds, Records and Redemption – Part Two

  For both Nottingham Forest and Sunderland the 2022 Play-Offs finally provided two clubs recently starved of success with a reason to celebrate as they gained promotion after many years in the wilderness. However, the most heart-warming story of this year’s Play-Offs came in the League Two Final. Port Vale’s 3-0 triumph over Mansfield TownContinue reading “The 2022 Play-Offs – Return of crowds, Records and Redemption – Part Two”

The 2022 Play-Offs: Return of crowds, Records and Redemption

If any evidence of the popularity of the Football League Play-Offs was needed, it was provided this week by the Sunderland Sheffield Wednesday tie. On Friday night the record for the highest attendance of a semi-final was broken by over 4,000 as 44,724 gathered at the Stadium of Light for the first leg. An impressiveContinue reading “The 2022 Play-Offs: Return of crowds, Records and Redemption”

Like father, like son

So it looks highly likely that Erling Braut Haaland is on his way out of Borussia Dortmund and en route for either La Liga or the Premier League with Barcelona, Real Madrid, both Manchester clubs and Chelsea all in the frame. If he, or more significantly Mino Raiola, chooses England as his next destination, heContinue reading “Like father, like son”

Own Goals Part One – Keepers’ Clangers

They are football’s equivalent of tragicomedies. Own goals litter the football landscape with an intoxicating mixture of laughter and tears. Over the next few weeks here on The Football Mine I will be publishing an occasional series of pieces that focus on these captivating slices of football history, those little vignettes that can define aContinue reading “Own Goals Part One – Keepers’ Clangers”