Category: SOCCER

  • Too much money at stake to be penny pinching

    Too much money at stake to be penny pinching

    Where do you stand in relation to the Play Offs in English league football? The process whereby, though the top two in any of the three divisions under the Premier League get automatically promoted, the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th placed sides play off in a series of matches – commensurate to the concluding stages…

  • Help! I agree with Gary Neville

    Help! I agree with Gary Neville

    Do not adjust your sets. This is not a drill. But nor does it change the fact that he was one of the biggest imposters to ever milk a living out of Old Trafford. Just as he is currently doing with Sky Sports. In a playing sense, such were his underwhelming contributions, that my late…

  • No longer a derisory destination

    No longer a derisory destination

    At the outset here, it will be willingly admitted yours truly has no idea where the phrase originated but that to “Send somebody to Coventry” was a derisory term which meant to get rid of somebody or to send them to somewhere wholly unpleasant. However, for as long as I can recall at least, in…

  • From Kobe to Dowman, go with what you see before someone else cops it

    From Kobe to Dowman, go with what you see before someone else cops it

    On the first Sunday of December in 1997, Dunboyne and Summerhill drew 0-07 apiece in the Meath U-21 FC Final. Typically putrid winter dross wherein the only bit of excitement was yours truly taking exception to Mattie Kerrigan taking exception to one of our lads after their full back Barry Fagan had earned them the…

  • Propaganda riders need reins thrown on their neck

    Propaganda riders need reins thrown on their neck

    There are some tasks, perhaps in life but most definitely in sport, which, to those taking them on are an absolute hiding to nothing. Replacing Alex Ferguson or becoming Manchester United manager at any stage while the great man is still on this big old ball will probably take some trumping in terms of topping…

  • Hanging the hat on hope once again

    Hanging the hat on hope once again

    Peter Quinn was the first GAA President of whom there is proper recollection in this seat. Perhaps obviously, because he was the first holder of the office I met. Since then, Jack Boothman, Joe McDonagh, Sean McCague  (God rest all three of them), Nicky Brennan, Sean Kelly and Liam O’Neill have all been encountered along…

  • Come on Ireland – must do better

    Come on Ireland – must do better

    If you were to stick to the rudiments of teams and individuals representing the nation in major sporting events, with the exceptions of Katie Taylor, Kellie Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and the horse racing set, the above headline remains wholly applicable. Admittedly, the idea of sports persons being ‘role models’ has always been hogwash…

  • Same clubs, same methods, no solutions

    Same clubs, same methods, no solutions

    Nobody must have informed Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis about Einstein’s proclamation that the definition of stupidity was repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Except, for the time being, that would be tantamount to closing the stable door when the horse has already bolted. Because, you see, the grumpy Greek has…

  • FA Cup 4th Round Draw

    FA Cup 4th Round Draw

    At a time when cut-throat cynicism and lack of common sense is spreading through top level sport and having a noxious effect akin to the invasive scourge that is Japanese Knotweed – Munster GAA I’m looking at you – at least the FA Cup can always be relied upon to inject a bit of much…

  • Did nobody tell Gary about glass houses?

    Did nobody tell Gary about glass houses?

    There was something nauseating about listening to Gary Neville eviserating Gabrielle Martinelli shunting Jeremy Frimpong out over the sideline towards the end of the Arsenal-Liverpool game. Now, I would consider myself as big a Roy Keane fan as there is, but, Gary is in no position to have a barb at anybody over skating the…