Screen Break By Martin Kelner 14 March 2016 It’s a simple game, rugby. As ITV pundit Jonny Wilkinson said before Saturday’s Six Nations match between England and Wales: “It’s about growth, it’s about learning, and in order to do that, you’ve got to be prepared to ask questions of yourself constantly, and put yourself in that position. […]
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Arsenal’s Premier League start bang average for Wenger era
By Brian Sears 4 December 2015 In Arsene Wenger’s reign as the manager of Arsenal they have gained as many as 36 Premier League points from the first 14 games of a season (in 2007-08) and as few as 21 (in 2012-13) but the average for the Wenger era is 27. That’s the amount they’ve got so far this […]
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‘Political football? It’s been ages since any government took fan democracy seriously’
By Jim Keoghan 17 April 2015 With the general election looming in Britain and the parties publishing their manifesto documents over the past five days, we should have a clearer idea what the next Parliament might deliver for football fans, no? Football matters in Britain. Each week, 1.96m people play. Every season, nearly 25m people […]
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West Ham win at Liverpool: from the era of JFK, Nehru, She Loves You and the 5p loaf
By Brian Sears 30 January 2015 West Ham are above Liverpool in the Premier League table and go to Anfield this weekend looking for a result that will keep them there and still in contention for a top-four finish. But it’s been a long time since West Ham won a league match at Anfield. A […]
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‘Community is at the core of football, and with it notions of identity and place’
* In his latest book, ‘Taking Our Ball Back: English Football’s Culture Wars‘, MARTIN CLOAKE quotes political philosopher Michael Sandel’s statement that “The pleasure of sports has been diminished by its commerciality.” One of the central questions running through the collection of articles that make up the book is how the thing that makes sport so […]
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Survival chances up but ‘at least one of Leicester, Burnley, QPR down’
By Brian Sears 15 July 2014 The Premier League is about to start its 23rd season, the 23rd season since England’s top division was rebranded ‘Premier League’ and effectively broke away from the rest of English football. The 23rd season of the ‘money era’ when TV riches have poured into the game in ever-increasing amounts. The […]
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Arsenal’s unbroken post-war top-flight tenure puts them top of 15 ‘deserved’ PL teams
By Brian Sears 8 August 2014 With the 2014-15 English football season about to begin, and with every fan still at the stage where they can dream that this will be the year, the notion of where a club ‘deserves’ to be is again a topic of relevance. Up and down the country there will […]
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Chelsea’s challenge: a rampant Man City with a scoring home run of 61 matches
By Brian Sears 3 February 2014 Chelsea visit the Etihad Stadium on Monday evening to face a team racking up goals at unprecedented levels in the Premier League era. This season already City have netted 115 goals in 37 matches in all competitions for an average of 3.1 goals per game. At home they have […]
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NUMBER-CRUNCHED: the best and worst of English league football in 2013
By Brian Sears 30 December 2013 Of all the teams playing in the four main divisions of English football in 2013, Arsenal performed the best in the calendar year in terms of points per game. Arsene Wenger’s side played 38 league games, winning 25 and drawing seven for 82 points in total or 2.16 points […]
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Newcastle seek 20th Premier League win against Villa in 20th shared season
By Brian Sears 13 September 2013 Newcastle have been in the Premier League for 19 of the completed 21 PL seasons since the top division was revamped in 1992-93. They missed that inaugural year, and then the 2009-10 season. Of all the teams they’ve played in those 19 seasons, this weekend’s opponents Aston Villa have […]
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