The writing blog of David Stringer
The latest Lower League Week is now up at Born Offside.
Bath City and Kettering Town have been relegated, Fleetwood Town near certainly promoted, while Darlington and Chesterfield are all but relegated from their respective divisions.
Paul Buckle and the delightful Steve Evans have taken new managerial jobs, while Darlington’s young players are being pushed literally beyond breaking point.
The Lower League Week – In Need of a Miracle
One of the WordPress blogs I follow is PRattleblog, in which Matt Briggs writes about football from a PR point of view.
Myself and @Mark2606 talked with Matt about the impact Twitter has had on football, the results of which are now up on Matt’s blog.
Also, the latest edition of the Lower League Week is now up at BornOffside.
It’s been a colourful week in the lower leagues, with a playground spat breaking out after a match between Bradford and Crawley last Tuesday, and Preston manager Graham Westley accusing his senior of playing for the other side.
That came out wrong.
There’s also the usual kind of stuff – Bury breaking back into form, a good goalscoring week for Ched Evans, and the like.
Come this way for The Bad Things Happening to Unpopular Managers Edition
My latest Lower League Week for Born Offside is now up.
It’s been a busy week in English football’s lower leagues this week – two sets of fixtures, the closing of the loan window, and the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, and a certain Scottish Yorkshireman equalled a club record. I also cover various teams out of form, breaking back into form, and why.
You can find all of the above in the Trapped On The Magic Roundabout Edition
The latest Lower League Week is now up at Born Offside.
In it I discuss Barnet FC’s Underhill ground and a potential new stadium; Stockport planing for the future at the expense of the present; unhappy Luton Town fans; League Two managerial sackings; and, after Hartlepool United were awarded the Football League Marketing Campaign of the Year award, I’ve developed a sudden interest in marketing.
If that’s not enough to pique your interest, I’ve included a snazzy black and white picture of John Prescott. It’s not connected to the article, but sex sells, and I’m not going to apologise for pandering.
Click here for The Clearly Biased Edition
My latest Lower League Week is up on Born Offside.
This column covers the first legs of the FA Trophy Semi-Finals, the race for the Conference title becoming even closer, Stevenage’s league form alongside their impressive cup run, Gillingham’s continued habit of losing high scoring back and forth matches, and Keith Curle continuing his impressive start as Notts County boss. Of course, I’d previously said that appointing Curle was a very bad idea, but let’s not dwell on that.
You can read my latest Lower League Week here
The latest edition of the Lower League Week is now up at Born Offside, and boy, it’s a long one.
In it, I rundown all of the biggest events in the lower leagues – the managerial change at Sheffield Wednesday, Wrexham’s deal with a local university, Bradley Wright-Phillips’ apparent return to form, the Oxford-Swindon derby, Nobby Solano going missing, and a bizarrely dramatic nine goal thriller.
To read all that news in a column that has been described as ‘genuinely bearable’ come this way for the Lower League Week.
*May not be an accurate quote.
Harry Redknapp is a talented football manager. His Tottenham team are currently third in the table, they are playing an entertaining style, and he’s the first English manager to challenge for the title for about ten, fifteen years.
God, that’s a depressing thought.
The England manager’s job is currently vacant, after Fabio Capello’s departure last month, and Redknapp has been talked about by the English media, particularly Fleet Street, as if he is the nailed on certainty, the only possible choice. He’s also referred to as the fans’ choice – for instance, Match of the Day has said that the only people in the country who don’t want him to be England manager are the fans of his current club.
While I don’t totally disagree with his good press, I do to a large extent.
I’ve written an opinion piece for Born Offside, presenting the counterargument to the pro-Redknapp press.
My latest Lower League Week is now up at Born Offside, and for a change I’m linking to it on the day, rather than a fortnight after. It’s a radical approach, but I feel it may help keep the blog more timely and relevant.
My latest column features news on the weekend’s Sheffield derby, Bournemouth’s half time team talk (more interesting than that sounds), Keith Curle’s start at Notts County and Port Vale’s financial troubles.
Just come along this way for this week’s Lower League Week.
Looking back at the dates of recent posts, I’ve been neglecting the blog in the past few weeks, and, like the alcoholic father I am in this metaphor*, I intend to overcompensate dramatically in a way that embarasses everyone.
So, in the next few days I intend to polish off a few things I’ve been working on, and get them up either here on the blog or elsewhere (and remember to link to them this time).
So in the next few days there should be a follow up to my earlier Life’s Too Short article in a shameless attempt to cash in on the show’s American debut. I intend to write reviews of the books I’ve read since my last review was posted, and more.
That is, if my day job of rocket scientist/rockstar doesn’t get in the way.
Since my last post here at the blog, I’ve written two entries for Born Offside. The first of the two, filed on the 15th, went into depth on the lovely cuddly Steve Evans, while covering Torquay’s remarkable winning streak, Kettering not being able to afford to pay police for their matches, and more.
Then, last week, I covered the reasons for Stevenage’s rise and congratulated them on holding Tottenham to a draw, the reasons why Lee Clark’s sacking at Huddersfield was reasonable, and once again giving Darlington sympathetic press.
Really, as a Hartlepool fan, I hope they sort their finances out so that I don’t have to be sympathetic to them so often.
Once again, in case those links were hard to find in the text: February 15th’s ‘P All Draw Edition’
February 22nd’s ‘You Wait Ages for a Full Fixture List and then Two Come Along at Once Edition’
* Not literally of course. I’m really more of a junkie than an alcoholic.
Nine days without posting – if I don’t write more often, I’ll never clog up people’s inboxes.
Right. After spending a few days away, I missed a week of lower league column for Born Offside, and compensated with Born Offside’s first ever Lower League Fortnight.
Knowing my issues with reliability and consistency, I’m sure it won’t be the last time that happens.
This issue covered transfer movements, changes in management, Bournemouth paying a huge £800,000 transfer fee…it’s crazy, a tell thee.
This past week, Fabio Capello, the Italian manager of the England national football team, walked out. It was the culmination of a long series of irritating events – the media attacked Capello for not walking on water, Wayne Rooney did something stupid and Capello didn’t stop him from doing it so is therefore dangerously incompetent, John Terry may or may not have said something potentially hugely offensive and faces a trial for it, Capello wanted to stick by him, his bosses didn’t, Capello told Italian television he wanted Terry to remain as captain.
SciFiFootball 