It’s very rare that someone who is – at best – grossly incompetent in their job, can deliver a master class. Stuart Attwell is such a man. The only catch is that the Numpty from Nuneaton or the Wally from Warwickshire (feel free to insert your own alliterative adjective ) only excels at more of the same. Be it breathtaking ineptitude, or maybe something more sinister, Attwell managed to manipulate […]

As City and Spurs go head to head on Sunday in the League Cup Final, it’s just a fortnight shy of 40 years since the two clubs battled out a historic Wembley Cup Final. Not only was it the 100th FA Cup Final – it was the first time the ‘Home of Football’ ever hosted a Cup Final replay. Having outplayed the hot favourites from White Hart Lane in a […]

An open letter to Manchester City’s hitherto, impeccable Chairman: Dear Khaldoon, You’ve played a blinder for City since becoming chairman in 2008 – nigh on faultless for nearly 13 years – with a MOTM performance in beating UEFA at CAS last year. We all make mistakes, even you, but it’s not too late to rectify them. Time is of the essence. City incur more and more reputational damage with every […]

Just a month shy of her 105th birthday, the wonderful lady would’ve marvelled at the sight of the fledgling superstar – 85 years her junior – smashing home Manchester City’s fourth goal at Anfield last Sunday. Vera Cohen would’ve been thrilled as Phil Foden cut inside from the right wing, shredding the last remnants of Liverpool’s ragged and demoralised defence, before unleashing an unstoppable strike past Alisson – cold feet […]

A Manchester City team wearing sky blue shirts, each bearing the number 8, will tonight pay homage to arguably the club’s greatest ever player. The tribute to Colin Bell – King Colin, as he has been and will always be to City supporters – will take place against Manchester United in a vital League Cup tie at Old Trafford. It’s a tragic irony that City will mark the death of […]

Pre-match it was puzzling and potentially perplexing. City’s starting XI suggested an uncharacteristically cautious – almost negative – approach from the Catalan genius. Whatever misgivings soon gave way to the usual sentiments of ‘In Pep We Trust’. As fans and mere mortals, who were we to question the thinking of the club’s most successful manager? Post match it was painful and, with the benefit of hindsight, predictable that a master […]

Jordan Henderson winning the Footballer of the Year Award makes it all the more staggering, outrageous, pathetic – at this point you can choose your own adjectives – that David Silva has won next to no personal awards in his decade in the Premier League. It isn’t intended as a pop at the Liverpool captain’s achievement – as subjective as it is since it’s voted on by football ‘journalists’, the […]

The polarization of Manchester City hit new heights and plumbed unchartered depths following the club’s win at the Court of Arbitration for Sport – CAS – and the overturning of the two year Champions League ban imposed by UEFA. At one end of the spectrum you’ll find words such as ‘totally exonerated’, ‘innocent’ and ‘vindicated’ – at the other, you have ‘got away with it’, ‘technically guilty’ and ‘pyrrhic victory’. […]

English football’s so-called ‘leaders’ are desperate to complete the 2019/20 season behind closed doors – irrespective of the Coronavirus – but at what cost? As far as the likes of Premier League chief executive Richard Masters and Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke are concerned, that cost is measurable by one overriding factor – avoiding the risk of repaying hundreds of millions of pounds to broadcasters, including Sky, BT and Qatar-based, […]

This brief article is not about any kind of pathetic, petty point scoring. It’s just a few hundred words about perspective and priorities, as the Coronavirus sweeps across the face of the earth, squeezing the life out of thousands upon thousands of victims. As the pandemic gathers pace we’re all having to adjust to a ‘new normal’ in our daily routines. Football, like many aspects of our lives, has to […]

“I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again, so watch it, drink it in…” Every Manchester City fan will readily identify with those words, taken from an iconic moment in football history, arguably – no, indisputably – THE best ever for a City supporter. Martin Tyler’s commentary is etched indelibly into football folklore. Incredible, unbelievable beyond their wildest imaginings – 93:20 AGUEROOOO – City grabbed the title on […]

The legendary Bill Shankly is accredited as saying: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it’s much more serious than that.” Whether his words were ironic or sincere, it’s still a great quote from the ex-Liverpool manager but, either way, they don’t stack up in reality. When Anthony Martial put Manchester United 2-0 up against Manchester City […]