Opinion/Features

On and off the pitch, Man United are a long way off emulating the elite, and it could be a while before they can do so again.  There were many remarkable things about this week’s Champions League action, but one that perhaps went under the radar was the gulf in …

Red cards are a necessary part of the game to curb rash tackles and cheating, but there have been some really odd sendings off over the years. Football writer Pablo Maurer recently introduced us all to possibly the weirdest red card you could possibly see: snapping an opponent with a …

The master of his domain and the director of our nostalgic imagination. Eric Cantona stars, in his own life, as ‘The King’… Marlon Brando was a tricky customer. It was notoriously difficult to secure an interview with the superstar so it was a real coup when Dick Cavett managed it …

Normally we’d call these lists “5 of the Best” but can we really say best when we’re talking about players who, very often left as big a mark half way up the leg of their opponents as they did to their own teams cause? We don’t want to say worst …

Thierry Henry’s terrible term in management reminded us of some other great players who couldn’t make it as managers.  In retrospect, maybe AS Monaco shouldn’t have given one of the biggest jobs in French football to a man with zero experience as a manager. Sure, Thierry Henry has experience in …

Gobby agitators, sly snakes, pantomime villains; this is how we choose to describe the players who employ the ‘dark arts’ in football, but they are just polite ways of talking about the shithouses that pervade the game at all levels. While they might be more common the lower down the …

In the wake of Tommy Smith’s passing this week, is it possible to respect the dead while being honest about the complicated legacy of the ex-Liverpool captain? Legend. Hero. Winner. Racist. Bigot. Bully. Either one of these subsets could be used as descriptors for the late Tommy Smith, but only …

Sure, we already have the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and even the Charity Shield but there’s something about All-Premier-League games in the Champions League that really get the juices flowing.  English clubs haven’t had the best of times in Europe’s top competition in recent years, but with all …

Man City have done just fine without Kevin De Bruyne this season, but with the Belgian midfielder back to his best, the tightest title race for years could be tilted in their favour. On Sunday afternoon Manchester City put another notch on the post of their title run-in in their …

From Dennis Bergkamp to Edwin van der Sar, Ajax have produced some of the best young talents in world football over the years, with many of them going on to play in the Premier League. The ten best Ajax products to have played in the Premier League: Dennis Bergkamp There …