Off The Record
If there’s something that must be said, but cannot be said within blogging / journalistic confines, this is the place to say it. We’ve used this column to poke fun, to provoke and to just say our minds.
4 things to remember about the 2008 Olympics
The 2008 Olympics will end on Sunday 24th August (with the 08 Olympic football final on Saturday) and there’s been lots to talk about this time around, from the politics to the environment to the questions about age to the outstanding performances and the odd funny moments. What will you remember most about Beijing 2008?…
Floating Football Pitch – Singapore points to the future of sports entertainment
Singapore’s ‘Marina Bay Floating Stadium’ is a fascinating idea – to quote Times Online:
So Mr. Blatter – are Real Madrid slavers too?
Sepp Blatter was happy to call Ronaldo a ‘modern-day slave’ when asked about Manchester United’s refusal to let the player follow his ‘dream’ to play for Real Madrid. Now that Real have done the same for Robinho and ‘killed’ his ‘dream’ to move to Chelsea (to Ronaldo’s credit he took it like a man and…
Why do Arsenal players criticise their teammates?
This isn’t a slight against Arsenal, any Arsenal player or the Arsenal manager – more a question about Wenger’s management methods. At times in the last two seasons it’s almost as if William Gallas never stopped talking to the press. He’d talk about the players, the team, himself, the manager – anything that was put…
How the Dutch sabotaged England’s Euro dreams
An astonishing leaked interview with former England boss Steve “Umbrella” McClaren has made it clear to British football authorities that the man they entrusted with England’s dismal Euro 2008 qualifying campaign was in fact a Dutch spy, sent in to sabotage English football. The interview (shown below) is thought to have been taken when McClaren…
Barton’s Cigar Did WHAT?
You keep hearing about how Joey Barton stubbed a lit cigar in the face of a team-mate (way back in 2004 – someone should have caught a hint then), right? Well, the player who got ‘poked’, Jamie Tandy, is now suing Barton for causing “major psychiatric deterioration” which ultimately forced him out of the game…
49% of fans blame Ronaldo, 28% blame the Press
Last week Soccerlens asked readers who they blamed for the torturous summer-long United-Ronaldo-Madrid saga. The results are detailed below:
10 Tricks Clubs Use To Keep Players
This summer (much like every summer before it) football sees a mad dash for the good and not-so-good footballers around the world which is reported on/fueled by the can-do-no-wrong-with-free-speech press and their always-telling-the-truth journalists. It can turn ugly, especially with players’ heads being turned by the thoughts of more money, greater glory and managers doing…
We can’t all be Arsenal…
I love watching football, I love playing football (although it hurts too much now) and I love coaching football. When I watch football I can see all the good ideas and all the mistakes. When I play football I know exactly what I should do and where I should be but my body won’t do…
Chelsea and Spurs sign Arshavin, Arsenal and United get Huntelaar, Liverpool get Barry and Villa as Chelsea sell everyone
A run down of the summer silly season can leave newspaper readers in no doubt: there have been a lot of big-money transfers already. Depending who you believe, both Chelsea and Spurs have signed Andrei Sergeyevich Arshavin at least four times, for fees ranging from about £20 million to about £50 million.
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