The Gooner issue 224: Anger Management column

For me, time for blogging lately has become like the g-spot: very hard to find, though probably still worth the effort if you do. In the absence of enough hours to write my definitive piece on why Messi is the greatest player ever, but also isn’t, here’s my most recent column for The Gooner issue…

Mark Hughes – no likey

I’ve never liked Mark Hughes. He’s annoying because he doesn’t seem to realise what an unpleasant character he is. This is what I wrote about him in my new (at the time) Anger Management column in The Gooner, back in 2007, when he was attempting to manage Blackburn: Mark Hughes, Bad News Others may comment…

Statistics Part 2: Putting It In Context

Most of the people who have commented on my recent statistics blog post, both here and on Twitter, seemed to agree with it, though there were a few dissenters. Some have pointed out that Arsène Wenger himself is a big fan of stats, so how dare I criticise them, and by implication him. Others say…

88% Of Stats Are Stupid & Pointless

If Man City win their next home league match (v Sunderland on 31/3) they will equal the English top flight record of 21 successive home wins, set in 1972 by Liverpool. (Liverpool didn’t win the league in ’72, but they did in ’73. Maybe next year, eh City?) This to me is a good stat,…

Hello people of Iceland!

Hæ! Icelanders, according to my site stats, you are consistently the third most avid readers of this blog, behind only the UK and US, and a long way in front of everyone else. The population of Iceland is very small, so maybe the stats are rubbish and WordPress lies like a rug. But if you’re…

My Revolutionary Tactical Idea

Is Arsene Wenger a tactical genius? No, I don’t think he is. But people might think he was if he adopted my revolutionary idea.  At least, it was revolutionary when I thought of it ten years ago, but amazingly still no one has adopted it. When I read my old stuff, I am often amazed…

Fabrice Muamba: My Thoughts

I’m sure I’ll get some criticism for writing this; someone is bound to get the wrong end of the stick, either deliberately or accidentally. But what the hell, I’ve seen plenty of other people’s opinions on the situation Fabrice Muamba finds himself in, so I’ll go ahead anyway. Firstly I have nothing but sympathy for…

Official: Horseracing is Pointless and Dull

Horseracing is the only sport that exists purely to sustain a betting industry. Maybe that’s why the people involved can be quite odd – John McCririck for example. But I am fascinated by this picture of trainer Nicky Henderson – has an expression ever said ‘Nice but dim’ any more clearly than this? The horse…