FootballOpinion

And So, The End is Nigh

The English season has finally came to a close, with the playoffs finals of League One and Two coming last weekend.
There’s also been serious economic troubles for Kettering Town and Darlington, in both cases the culmination of a series of struggles both on the pitch and the ledger book.
In addition, for reasons that are beyond me, a number of goalkeepers have moved club, including two former England internationals.

I’m also going to try something a little different with this link – I’m going to tease the start of the article here at the blog, so readers have the ability to read before clicking over to Born Offside, just to see if that has any effect on clicks.
Basically, I’m treating you as my guinea pigs.

Do you think they're used for science because they seem really curious?
Do you think they’re used for science because they seem really curious?

You can read The Lower League Week – Dramatic Endings here.

 

 

 

Kettering Town Rolls Downward

It was starting to look like Kettering would, relatively speaking, be alright. Although relegated from the Conference, new owner George Rolls has already poured some of his money into paying off the club’s debts.

However, Kettering still have debts of £1.2m, and the Conference authorities demand all the debts of teams in their leagues (Blue Square Premier, North and South) are repaid in full. By reaching an agreement to pay creditors 10p in the pound, Kettering have guaranteed that they’ll be relegated an additional division.

There is an unusual complication to Rolls’ ownership. When in charge of Weymouth…

Continue reading…

FootballOpinion

The Later Lower League Week

While the English football season is over for most teams, there are still the matter of the playoffs, an FA Trophy final, economic troubles, Paolo di Canio possibly doing a racism, and several teams putting in early preparations for next season.

The penultimate Lower League Week went up at Born Offside yesterday.

FootballOpinion

Double Dose of Football This Easter

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

FootballOpinion

Taking Over The Internet

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

FootballOpinion

A Column In Which I Try To Write About Literally Every Thing That Has Happened In English Football’s Lower Leagues

 

The latest edition of the Lower League Week is now up at Born Offside, and boy, it’s a long one.

"Being long means something's good right?" - Peter Jackson quote*

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.

FootballOpinion, Recaps

My Neglected Blog

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.

Hard at work

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.

Despite his crimes, this is the closest he gets to a prison these days

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.

FootballOpinion

Born Offside – Lower League Week

Just a brief post to tell everyone reading this (and statistically, that means you’re probably a random googler who was searching for a picture of a mountain or jawless zombie) that my latest column for BornOffside is now up.

In it you’ll be able to read about Les Parry at Tranmere, Paolo di Canio’s actions at Swindon, and Giles Coke making a bad impression at Bury, which is pretty much  the same thing, right?

Go on, you know you want to.

FootballOpinion

Last Saturday’s Week

Okay, catching up a little with the blog.  Firstly, I’m planning to start writing regular features pretty soon, promise.

I’ve now started writing for bornoffside.net – an up and coming English football website that I think will get a fair bit bigger over the course of the year.
You should start reading now, so you know all about Born Offside before your friends, bug them about how cool it is when they’ve not heard about it, and, eventually, they’ll grudgingly accept that you did know about Born Offside before them, so you must be really cool.

This is what cool looks like

My feature on Born Offside will be a weekly column, recapping the biggest events in the lower leagues. So, if you want to know about the goings on at Bristol Rovers and Swindon Town (and let’s face it, why wouldn’t you?) you’ll be able to read my weekly column.

The first edition of The Lower League Week went up on August seventh