Pep Guardiola will always have points to prove with his magnificent Manchester City side, despite being the fastest manager in Premier League history to amass 500 points. In a tough and bruising encounter with a Southampton team that were more sinners than saints, Pep chalked up his 500th point in just his 213th top flight game, the only downside being he couldn’t make it to 502 at St Mary’s Stadium. […]

Psychologists claim the third Monday of January is the nadir of the year for most of us. Applying a formula of bad weather, post Christmas debt, unpaid credit card bills, low motivational levels and already failed New Year’s resolutions, the boffins would have us believe that January 17th, 2022 is one of – if not the – most depressing day on the calendar. Today is supposed to be ‘Blue Monday’ […]

Long before a heart condition threatened to curtail Sergio Aguero’s career, it was conventional wisdom that Manchester City required a world class replacement for their legendary striker. Plagued by injuries, the club’s all-time highest goal scorer with 260 in just 390 games (not forgetting 73 assists), was reduced to occasional cameo appearances as City cruised to their third title in just four years. Pep Guardiola’s masterly deployment of a false […]

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, […]