Paul Auster: A Blog Of Two Halves

The European Championship tournament has been known by the nomenclature of ‘Euro’ plus the year since the 1996 iteration, which was hosted by England and won by Germany. That was also the same year that the number of teams participating was increased to sixteen. It was a name the stuck, but there’s debate over what the next Euros will be called. The postponement of the quadrennial iteration of the competition because of the global pandemic that began in December of…

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When shutdowns began to happen around the world as a result of the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak, one of the most immediate casualties was mass gatherings. Anything that could result in the virus being spread became a ‘no-no’, with the Cheltenham Festival in horse racing becoming one of the final examples of a large crowd gathering to watch sport (although that almost didn’t happen either). Football started to cease all over Europe, with the Premier League, Championship and Leagues One and…

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A football manager once said that the sport is the most important of the least important things in life. Perhaps no time is a greater example of that than right now, with the world going into various states of lockdown because of the Coronavirus pandemic. On the one hand, every sensible person understands that that makes complete sense, with lives taking precedent over football. Yet on the other hand there is also a tacit acknowledgement that football really is important…

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Financial Fair Play rules were agreed by UEFA in September of 2009 by the governing body of football in Europe’s Financial Control Panel. Despite that, they didn’t actually come into play until before the start of the 2011-2012 season, with the idea being that sanctions could be taken against clubs that exceeded spending limits over a number of seasons. The general idea behind FFP was that it would stop professional football clubs from spending more money than they earned in…

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Another weekend passes by and the Premier League remains as strange a place as it was the week before. Leicester City continue to prove the doubters wrong, with Jamie Vardy quietly doing the work necessary to be declared the best player in the entire world. The Manchester derby was a predictably quiet affair, Jose Mourinho tried to get dressed up as a referee for the second half of Chelsea’s game against West Ham, and Tim Sherwood finally got the boot…

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Howard Kendall, 1946 – 2015 On Friday morning Everton Football Club confirmed the news that Howard Kendall, their former player and manager, had passed away. It was a tragic announcement that caused all of football to pause for a moment’s reflection. Kendall was the most successful manager Everton have ever had at the helm of the club and was renowned for his generosity of spirit as well as his sense of humour. As well as being the manager who turned…

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Six teams in Group E; ten matches played; thirty one goals scored with just three conceded; thirty points on the board. England made it through their European Championship Qualifying group without dropping a single point and taking 100% of those available to them. Yet to most the notion of England’s football team achieving any kind of success at the 2016 Euros is nothing short of a joke. So we ask the question, does Roy Hodgson deserve more credit for his…

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The Premier League constantly throws up surprises; from Spurs beating Manchester City 4-1 through to Chelsea losing 3-1 away at Everton, barely a week goes by without something slightly crazy happening. Has there ever been a weekend in which two managers have left their posts and one other has been given the dreaded vote of confidence before, though? We’re not too sure. Regardless, this week in the Premier League saw both Brendan Rodgers and Dick Advocaat leave Liverpool and Sunderland…

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Premier League Week 7 – An Analysis Another week passes in the Premier League and things remain as clear as mud at the top of the table and not an awful lot better down at the bottom. Admittedly Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal could all stake a solid claim that they’ll finish in the top for at the end of the season, but what are West Ham doing in there? And how are Everton, Spurs, Crystal Palace and Leicester…

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A Weekend In Review Another Premier League weekend has come and gone and there have been one or two developments in the league itself. Manchester City finally conceded a goal and, in doing so, lost their first game of the season; Diego Costa proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he’s the snidiest of snides; and the pressure on Brendan Rodgers has gone up even further. We take a look at all of the major talking points and explore the things…

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