Losing My Favourite Game: ‘Caught in a Trap’ with Joseph McCarthy

It’s the penultimate International Break of the year, and while England cruise to qualification, Scotland rue having focussed on developing left-backs over the last decade, Wales continue to give fans false hope before their inevitable brave failure, and Northern Ireland try to work out how they stop the Netherlands from overtaking them, our neighbours across […]

Love Letters To The European Union: Simplemente Rojo

To celebrate forty-six years of peacetime and prosperity in Europe, this season we’ll be profiling the footballing history of each remaining member of the EU, looking at some of their most iconic matches and the players that have left a lasting impression on the game. Our penultimate love letter goes out to a nation that […]

Love Letters to the European Union: We’re Gonna Head For New Horizons…

On the 29th March 2019, the United Kingdom is (currently) scheduled to exit the European Union. To celebrate forty-six years of peacetime and prosperity in Europe, this season we’ll be profiling the footballing history of each remaining member of the EU, looking at some of their most iconic matches and the players that have left […]

World Cup Diary Part One: Putin, Penalties and Partying Like a Russian.

For the duration of the 2018 World Cup we’ll be keeping a diary of all the happenings on and off the pitch, keeping abreast of the thunderbastards and the actual bastards, and casting our eye over the winners and losers at every stage. In Part One, we’re looking at the first four days of the […]

World Cup 2018 Preview (Part One)

1,432 days after Mario Gotze’s volley nestled into the back of the Argentinian net, the twenty-first edition of the FIFA World Cup will kick off in the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow. In spite of all the talk of bribery, the fall of Sepp Blatter’s regime, condemnation over the ingrained culture of racism at games, concerns over […]

World Cup Tales: Hands Across Africa (2010)

South Africa, 2010 At the turn of the century it was decided that the 2010 World Cup would be the first hosted in Africa, with bids placed by Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and a joint-bid from Tunisia and Libya. With FIFA deciding to ban co-hosted bids, the North African joint-bid was ruled out immediately, and […]

World Cup Tales: Dynamite! (1986)

Mexico, 1986 Colombia were due to add their name to the list of South American countries that had hosted the World Cup in 1986, having successfully bid for the tournament in ’74. However, in the months after Spain ’82, the Colombian authorities declared that the venture was too financially demanding on the country’s economy, and […]

What a Nice Way to Turn 17

England’s victory at the U17 World Cup in India last weekend was met with mixed reactions. For many it was a chance to trumpet the work of the FA youth programme ‘DNA’, and proclaim that the future looks bright for the national team, while others were quick to pour scorn on the achievement, having seen […]

Vile Barrage’s Eurotrip – Episode 2: Spain

Each month we’re sending our objectionable Eurosceptic correspondent to a scout a different league on the continent, and asking him to report back with his gibberish disguised as fact. This month, it’s La Liga. God help them. “ Gibraltar. Chorizo. Quince. Castanets. The SEAT Leon. Just a short litany taken from the roll of horror […]