Archive

Everything that’s not something else, in reverse chronological order. All the stuff that’s actually me, if you like. It’s probably worth pointing out at this stage that the first few pieces were written before I had really worked out what this blog was going to be, where it was going, what I wanted to write about, not write about, and so on. Not that I actually know now.

Anyway, enjoy.

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It’s Nice To Be Nice, by Kevin McCauley: Mainstream media, blogging, and the importance of not being a “complete fucking jackass”

Wake up: Welcome to the Sports Direct Arena

On the Origin of Clichés: Stonewall: Hardcore academic research

Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: Loyalty

Filmstar: What Bébé’s future held

Up in the air: A brief history of keeping the ball in the air with the foot

It’s okay to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings: Media double-standards, and why the fans matter

One sunset further behind: Looking for the folk history of football

Rabbit: Barcelona, and sterile dominance

Pictures of women in states of undress: The media, and [[CENSORED]]

The sacrificial lamb: In (partial) defence of Avram Grant

Careering down the aisles: The perils of purchase

Some of them want to abuse you: “Munichs”

Who by brave assent: Bravery

Does it look like I’m here?: Why Neymar doesn’t actually exist

Rooney’s broom: Football clubs, and identity over time

plenty Portuguese practice probably prophecy puerility: Alphabetti spaghetti

O captain! My captain!: John Terry and The Armband

Their law: Ashley Cole, has gun, will — oops!

Whistlin’ past the graveyard: Robin van Persie’s hearing problems

Eye of the lens: The power of images

What we talk about when we talk about love: Tactics blogging, and the New Seriousness

My love is bigger than your love: Barcelona and arrogance

Where I end and you begin: Refereeing decisions and the standard of proof

Broken social scene: Left-wing perspectives on football

Wishing the days away: Transfer rumours, why?

The paranoid style: Gray & Keys

Backwards, and in high heels: Keys & Gray

Money money money: The worth of transfers

That’s not what democracy looks like: Models of club ownership

How strange, innocence: Roy Hodgson and the veil of ignorance

Dude looks like a lady: Snoods

Joy in diminishing returns: Carlos Tevez, homesickness, and the joy of money

Best. Present. Ever.: Naranjito!

Send in the clowns: Mike Ashley, prick

I started counting on my fingers: Making sense of sabermetrics, sort of

With a little help from my friends: Nani, quite good

The man in black: Why referees matter

To forgive: Wayne Rooney’s un-transfer request

One more man gone: Wayne Rooney’s transfer request

The loneliness of the non-league linesman: Fictions

The boy done wrong again: Statting about Wayne Rooney

The seventh seal (part 1, part 2): How much can the first seven games of the season tell you?

Put your hands up: The great card-waving hypocrisy

Dulwich Hamlet 4-0 Godalming Town: Match report

Bigmouth strikes again: Sam Allardyce – actually quite good

Why aye, man: Alan Shearer, meet Hatem Ben Arfa

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!: Dimitar Berbatov scored three goals against Liverpool

Dulwich Hamlet 2-0 Walton & Hersham: Match report

With crippled wings: How might Manchester United cope in the absence of Luis Antonio Valencia?

Things go on with mistakes: Analysis of Manchester United’s defence against Everton, 11 September 2010

The hand that rocks the cradle: Wayne Rooney and the tabloids

The fragile: Robin van Persie and his injuries

There’s a space between us: Analysis of Manchester United’s midfield against Fulham, 22 August 2010

Some goals are bigger than others: Goals, and their importance

He waits. That’s what he does: Berbatov and goals

Joe Cole: I do the maths: Looking at Joe Cole’s move to Liverpool in light of his history at Chelsea

Awards!: Ripping off the Fiver

Told you so: Looking back at those predictions

The first cut is the deepest: Germany, and how not to play them

Heads held high: An XI of those players eliminated in the group stage of WC2010

The English disease: England, and their World Cup history

Ou sont les Bleus?: France. Domenech. Sacre bleu.

He comes from Uruguay: Diego Forlan

WC2010: Round One: Another World Cup round-up

South Africa 1-1 Mexico: Match report

Thoughts so far: A World Cup round-up

First post! Mystic Blood predicts: World Cup 2010 predictions