The M62 Derby - Alan Gibbons

Here’s a question: what’s the first game you look for when they publish the fixture list? For me, there is no competition, it is the M62 derby, Manchester United v Liverpool.  There was a loud gasp all the way down the thirty-odd mile corridor between the two great North West cities when the teams were drawn against each other in the FA Cup. The fierce rivalry will recommence on January 9^th.

It may surprise many that a dyed in the wool United fan like me is more excited by the prospect of a clash with the reds of Liverpool than the light blues of Manchester City. Maybe that will change now that City have the money to compete at the top level. Maybe Carlos Tevez’ controversial transfer will rekindle the old rivalry. For the time being, the Liverpool game is still the one that gets my taste buds tingling.

I have a personal interest. I was born in Warrington, equidistant between the two football centres that hold 36 top level champions medals and eight European Cups. In 1968 my mate’s dad took Peter and I to Old Trafford. Chelsea beat us 3-1 at home, but the sight of Best, Law, Charlton, Crerand, Syles, Stepney and co strutting their stuff sealed my loyalty that season. We ended it losing the First Division title to City by the narrowest of margins, but compensated by upstaging the noisy neighbours by becoming the first English club to lift the European Cup in a 4-1 victory over Benfica.

I lived in Manchester throughout the 1970s when Liverpool eclipsed us completely. They were grim times. We got better. They got better still. Then, in the early eighties came the job offer that made the Manchester-Liverpool rivalry more acute than I could ever have imagined. I moved to Liverpool to work, met my wife and stayed. So there I was, a Man U fan living in Liverpool. It was like the moment Luke Skywalker entered the Death Star!

My wife is a Scouser. My four kids are Scousers. Two are Liverpudlians, one is an Evertonian and the other prefers fishing to football. It makes for a passionate, three-way civil war. We can’t watch the Man U-Liverpool games in the same room! My kids refer to me to their friends as: “My dad the Manc” or “My dad the woollyback.”

So who will be wearing a smile on January 9^th and who will be in mourning. No contest. What price another hat-trick for Berbatov?

Alan Gibbons is author of Total Football and Julie and Me and Michael Owen Makes Three (Orion).

Berbatop

Berba-trap

Berba-dribble

Berba-twist

Berba-soul

Berba-header

Berba-goal!

Berba-challenge

Berba-run

Berba-tackle

Berba-fun

Berba-slick

Berba-control

Berba-bicycle kick

Berba-goal!

Berba-rescue

Berba-brilliance

Berba-grit

Berba-wise

Berba-movement

Berba-rise

Berba-nod

Berba-goal!

Berba-one

Berba-two

Berba-three

Berba- hat trick

Berba-win

Berba-adulation

Berba-joy

Berba-top

No Berba-flop.

Gutted

It should have been my day of rest,

A chance to get stuff off my chest.

It should have been United’s day.

But it didn’t turn out quite that way.

So I was gutted, gutted

The bathroom wall I could have butted.

I was gutted, gutted

Next door’s dog I could have nutted-

Yes, I was gutted!

There were warning signs in the first forty-five.

United looked more dead than alive.

Berbatov went walkabout

As for Ferdinand, he did nowt.

So I was gutted, gutted

The bathroom wall I could have butted.

I was gutted, gutted

Next door’s dog I could have nutted-

Yes, I was gutted!

Nando Torres latched on the pass,

Went past Rio, stepped on the gas,

Went in on goal

And destroyed my soul.

So I was gutted, gutted

The bathroom wall I could have butted.

I was gutted, gutted

Next door’s dog I could have nutted-

Yes, I was gutted!

We had a go, we pressed it hard

Then Vida went and got a red card.

Ninety minutes gone, oh no, oh no

They’ve scored again, it’s David Ngog!

That’s it then…

Day ruined….

Humiliated…

Pig…

Flippin….

SICK!

  

So I was gutted, gutted

The bathroom wall I could have butted.

I was gutted, gutted

Next door’s dog I could have nutted-

Yes, I was gutted!

(No dogs were hurt in the writing of this poem!)

Leeds v Portsmouth - Tom Palmer

I was at Leeds v Portsmouth yesterday.

What a game! Leeds were 3-1 up with minutes to go, then we scored a couple for Portsmouth.Two own goals. That was festive of us, wasn't it?

The ref was a joke. I have never said a referee has cost us a game before. Well, not on this blog. But he did. We had a perfectly good goal disallowed, then a stonewall penalty.

I don't go to every game at the moment. I used to: I had a season ticket for 17 consecutive years. But I'm a dad now, so that comes first. Plus I can only afford £30 a game nine or ten times a season. I like going with my daughter best.

In fact, was meant to be sitting with my daughter at the Pompey game, but she's in a pantomime at the moment and they decided to have an extra rehearsal, so I went alone. But you're never alone at the football. Me and 31,999 mates.

I came away from the game in a good mood. I love going to watch Leeds. It makes me happy.

(Me and Iris at the football earlier this year.)

A Dark Day For Fergie - Dan Tunstall

Well, we're halfway through the festive football schedule. And for Leicester City, it's been a case of so far, so not very good. A come-from-behind home draw with Leeds and a weak away defeat at Millwall. Whatever the results though, it's nice to get to a match over Christmas.

Boxing Day has always been the big favourite for football fans. Two or three hours away from overheated houses and turkey leftovers is never a bad thing. Almost all the Boxing Day matches I've attended have been in Leicester. Filbert Street in the old days, the Walkers Stadium more recently. Perhaps the most memorable of all though, didn't involve Leicester at all. And it's no exaggeration to say that the match very nearly changed the whole course of English football history.

In the late 80s and early 90s I lived in Birmingham for three years. During this time I quite often went to watch Aston Villa, standing on the old Holte End terracing. And so, on Boxing Day 1989, I joined over 41,000 others for the visit of Manchester United.

The Manchester United of 1989 were nothing like the global footballing superpower they are today. In 1989 they hadn't won the League in over twenty years and their fans were getting restless. Their manager, in particular, was under big pressure. He'd been in charge for more than three unsuccessful years, and many people were calling for his head. You might recognise his name. Alex Ferguson.

That afternoon at Villa Park, United were woeful. Villa ran out 3-0 winners, and the match ended with Villa fans gleefully singing "Fergie, On the dole, Fergie, Fergie, On the dole." More than a few Mancunians joined in.

As it turned out, Ferguson avoided the chop. Thirteen days later, Mark Robins scored the goal that beat Forest in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. United went on to win the trophy, and three years later won the first of their Premier League titles. I don't suppose we'll ever know how close Ferguson came to the end of his time at Manchester United that day back at the end of the 80s. But just imagine if he had. Just try to visualise the last twenty years of the English game without Sir Alex.

What's that you say? You can't?

No. Me neither.

http://www.dantunstall.com/

Christmas period 2 - Helena Pielichaty

I agree with Tom (see below). The matches over the Christmas period can feel like 'six pointers' i.e. worth double, especially if you are playing teams near you in the league.

Our match down at Brentford has been postponed today because of the weather (again). This means sides have to spend more time and energy later on playing catch up. It's all right having games in hand but you still have to win them.

Huddersfield Town's matches over Christmas are:

December 26th: Home to Hartlepool

December 28th: Away to Southampton

January 1st: Away to Carlisle

January 3rd Home to Sheffield Wednesday

If we managed 9 out of 12 points that would be wonderful but I think we might get 6 (hoping for wins against Hartlepool and Southampton). Carlisle are always a tough side for us and Wednesday will be really hard as they're going for promotion too. I'm hoping to attend that one. It's also going to be on telly. 12.15 kick-off. Watch out for me. I'll be the one in earmuffs!

The Christmas Period - Tom Palmer

Christmas is one of those times of the year that can have a big say in how your team is going to do in a season. Five games packed into little more than a fortnight. 

If your team play well, you can get ten or more points and feel like you might achieve something: if they don't do well you drop into relegation danger.

But there's more to Christmas than that. You end up playing your most hated rivals or teams that could stuff you. You invariably play a team that someone in your extended family supports... on the day you have to sit round the Christmas tree with that person.

Take Leeds. This proves my point:

QPR (h) - top of the Championship, we could lose heavily like we did to second place Cardiff, 4-0 at home

Leiciester (a) - my father in law's team which has already beaten us twice this season... and guess where I am that day?

Portsmouth (h) - me and my daughter going for our Christmas match

Boro (h) - I hate Boro more than Man U, for various reasons, so this one gets under my skin

Cardiff (a) - see above

See what I mean?

How is your Christmas shaping up?

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. I HOPE YOU DON'T SUFFER TOO MUCH.

http://www.tompalmer.co.uk/

A Touch Of Class - Dan Tunstall

I've watched a lot of football over the last few days. Premier League, Championship, SPL, La Liga, live games, highlights. You name it, I've watched it. The thing that always strikes me, when I see matches from so many levels, is that there really is a difference in quality between the top,top players and the ones who never quite reach the heights.

It's hard to define exactly what it is that sets some players apart from the rest. My best explanation would be the better the footballer, the better their touch. Having said this, touch is itself quite a difficult concept to describe. I suppose basically it comes down to the speed at which players can bring a ball under control and make it do what they want it to do. The very best players, the Ronaldos and Messis and Rooneys and Iniestas, can do this instantly. At Championship level, it takes a split second longer. And this split second makes all the difference.

Watching Leicester City for over thirty years, I've seen literally hundreds of players in our colours. Not all of them have had the greatest touch. But there have been exceptions. Keith Weller, Gerry Daly, Gary McAllister, Garry Parker, Neil Lennon, Muzzy Izzet, Stan Collymore, and for the brief spell he had with us in the early 2000s, Roberto Mancini. These lads could really play.

Of course, there's more to being a crowd favourite than having silky skills. At Leicester we're realistic about the sort of players we're likely to see. Every now and then we'll get someone with the magic touch. Sadly, they're usually just passing through on the way to bigger things, but we cherish them while we can. But for the rest of the time we're happy to see hard, committed footballers proud to wear the blue and white.

http://www.dantunstall.com/

Huddersfield Town 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 1 by Helena Pielichaty

Pete and I had three things on our list for Saturday:

1. Take flowers to Pete's Mum and Dad's grave in Huddersfield

2. Have lunch with my brother and swap Christmas presents

3. Go to watch Town v Brighton and Hove Albion

This is what happened.

1. Took flowers to Pete's Mum & Dad's grave

2. Had a coffee with my brother and swapped presents

3. Drove to Nottingham to buy a telly.

It was gutting not to be able to make the match, especially as we'd ear-marked that particular one as a 'must see'. Unfortunately our old telly (RIP) conked out on Friday and Saturday was the only slot we had over the weekend to buy a new one. If we still lived in Huddersfield we'd have had time to do everything but we don't, so we couldn't. Plus the £50 we saved on tickets meant we could put it towards the TV. It's needs must these days, as we all know!

It was with mixed emotions I watched the highlights on the BBC1 Football League Show  later that night. Mixed because while it was great to see Town on our new flat screen telly it would have been greater to watch it live. Then I'd have witnessed:

• Town keeper (and England U19) Alex Smithies save a penalty in the 36th minute.
• Brighton manager Gus Poyet riling Town manager Lee Clarke by holding up an imaginary red card for Town's captain Peter Clarke.
• Brighton's in-form striker Chris Wood, on loan from West Brom, causing a lot of problems.
• Brighton & Hove Albion score in the 56th minute
• Town's Jordan 'Country' Rhodes equalise with a header soon after
• Jamie 'Boom-boom' McCombe score the winner in the 84th minute.
• A bit of a fracas between players at the end.

The win - and losses by rivals Colchester and Bournemouth - puts Town third in League One. That's excellent. If we can keep up the momentum over the Christmas period we can start looking towards automatic promotion. Touch wood, fingers crossed, Hail Mary and Matt Cardle.

Burnley 2 Leeds 3

Yesterday I was doing what I do some Saturdays: two things at once.

I was at a football party in Halifax. One of my daughter's friends at school was having a party. 3pm to 5pm. So there I was being a half-decent dad, while monitoring Burnley v Leeds on my iphone.

We were 2-0 down at half time and I was not pleased. But I managed to remain civil with the other party guests.

The second half was great. We did pass-the-parcel and musical statues...

It was also good at Burnley v Leeds. 2-0 became 2-1, then 2-2.

I punched the air when we equalised during the last round of pass-the-parcel, but nobody noticed.

And I was lucky that I was in the corridor, taking my daughter to the loo, when Johnny Howson scored the winner. I needed calming down.

Here's a picture of our heroic captain and goalscorer. And, no, he's not for sale.

Going to the football with my daughter - Tom Palmer

My mum took me to my first fifty football games, give or take a couple. But she was not a football fan. Not at first.

Elland Road was a dangerous place to be in the early 1980s, but she still took me. Because she knew it made me happy, we sat there week after week in the South Stand.

This is a pair of tickets for Leeds v Portsmouth on 28 December, this year. One adult: one junior.

Now, thirty years on, I'm taking my daughter to Leeds United. 'Man hands misery on to man,' as Philip Larkin said.

I get really excited taking her to matches. She is keen. She likes dance more - and reading more - but she is still keen. She's been four times already. Three at home. One away. And we've won them all.

I have this dream of us getting season tickets together for a couple of years. I often meet librarians who are seriously into football and they tell me how their dads took them to matches and it was a wonderful part of their life and was part of the reason they were so close to their dads. I want that.

I think going to Leeds was part of why I was so close to my mum. She can't have felt comfortable surrounded by 1980s football and its brooding violence and unfettered racism. I realise now what an amazing thing it was that she did that.

I wish she was here for me to say thanks to, but sadly she'd dead.

I also wish she was here to come when my daughter and I go later this month. That's why I got tickets in the South Stand this time, in seats near where she used to take me.

http://www.tompalmer.co.uk/
http://www.footballdetective.blogspot.com/

Racism in football by Helena Pielichaty

The FA and Fifa have done a lot over the years to stamp out racism in football http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/WhatWeDo/Equality/RacialEquality  but as Richard Sutcliffe points out in today's Yorkshire Post, there's a long way to go yet. He's talking mainly about racism in Russia and gives an example of  when Lokomotiv Moscow fans unfurled a huge banner reading 'Thanks, West Brom' to mark the Baggies' signing striker Peter Odemwingie from their club.

'And just to make sure everyone got the shameful point about a player who was born in Uzbekistan of a Russian mother and a Nigerian father, the Lokomotiv racists included a picture of a banana on the banner.'  Shameful indeed.

But it's not just in Russia, Italy etc that racism is an issue. Earlier this week four players from Bournemouth AFC went to Pizza Hut after training. Unlike another group who went in at the same time, the players were asked to pay for their meals 'up front.' When they asked why they were told it was because of 'the way' they looked. Unfortunately for three of them, the way they looked was black.  The players quite rightly refused to pay before they'd had their meal and the police were called. Pizza Hut were quick to point out this 'policy' had nothing to do with race but it seems strange this particular group was singled out, doesn't it?  The other customers all backed the players up, saying they hadn't been doing anything wrong. You can read the full story on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-11934942.

For more on this article visit my blog on: http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/

FIFA Ballon d'Or - Seb Goffe

With Christmas only weeks away it's the season for handing out shiny baubles, and in particular the brand new FIFA Ballon d'Or. This award is the combination of two older awards: the Ballon d'Or (or "Golden Ball" in English) awarded by France Football magazine and voted for by journalists, and the FIFA World Player of the Year award voted for by international coaches and captains. Bringing the two together under one name makes a lot of sense, especially since the European requirement for the old Ballon d'Or was scrapped in 2007. The fact that it is decided over a calendar year rather than a football season has always struck me as a little odd, but it does at least give us something to get worked up about over the cold winter months.

A shortlist of 23 players were named back in October, and now the top three have been decided: Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, all of Barcelona. This is the first time all three finalists have been from the same club since 1989, and is yet another sign of how Pep Guardiola's Barcelona side have dominated the football landscape in the past couple of years. All three are fantastic players, but I do feel sorry for poor Wesley Sneijder of Holland and Inter Milan, who many had tipped to win the award. A man who led his club side to the treble of League, Cup and Champions League as well as scoring five goals in the World Cup and dragging his team to the final must wonder what else he could have done.

There has been enough talk in recent weeks about the mysterious workings of FIFA, but it is all too easy to point to Iniesta's World Cup Final winning goal as the main reason for his inclusion in the final three. His season for Barcelona was good but not exactly great, with most of his appearances coming from the subs bench, and in truth the success of his team had a lot more to do with his fellow nominees Xavi and Messi. A World Cup win is of course the crowning achievement in any player's career, and it's understandable that FIFA want their flagship event given prime importance, but taking the calendar year as a whole it is hard to see how Iniesta deserves the award more than Sneijder.

Grumbling aside, my vote for the eventual winner has to go to Xavi, a true great of the modern game. While Messi dominates the headlines with his phenomenal goalscoring record, for me the real star of Barcelona and Spain is the midfield maestro Xavi, whose precise passing is crucial to the way both teams play. In the World Cup he attempted an incredible 669 passes (over a hundred more than the next highest passer), and he has been doing this for years, calmly and quietly providing the ammunition for his more celebrated team mates. When he was nominated for the World Player of the Year award in 2009 the Daily Mail printed the laughable headline "The best players of the world (and Xavi)" but there can be no doubting his quality now.

Messi has been crowned the world's greatest before and will no doubt win the award again in the future, but this year there is no-one more deserving than Xavi. He should win on the merits of this year alone, but also for his career as a whole and the impact he has had. Ideally I would have Sneijder second and Messi in third, but working with the shortlist as it is it has to be Xavi-Messi-Iniesta. I can hardly wait until January 10th to see if I'm right!

Seb Goffe is the author of the Stadium School series, written with Cindy Jefferies.

Best Children's Books on Football by Helena Pielichaty

As well as writing about football I read about it. The photograph shows just a few of the football titles I have at home. The pile doesn't include the non-fiction titles I own or have borrowed for research. I'll save that for another time.  Football is notoriously difficult to write about. It is, after all, a spectator sport, meant to be watched or played. When I first took my idea about a girls' football series to OUP, my publishers, they weren't keen. They felt it was too 'niche' - in other words, only a few people would like it. I don't think this is true - and luckily Walker Books agreed with me and took the books on.
The thing about football is it has everything any reader could want - drama, excitement, variety, a twist in the tale, wonderful characters and thrilling adventures. What's not to like?

Children's football stories have been around for a long time. The Times newspaper is currently running a piece on the best sports books of all time and in at number 48 is the Roy of the Rovers Annual 1954-2000. Ask anyone over 30 in your family about Roy of the Rovers and they'll tell you all about the things he got up to with Melchester Rovers.
The first children's football book I became aware of was The Goalkeeper's Revenge and Other Stories by Bill Naughton published in 1961.

How's this for an opening paragraph: 'Sim Dalt had two long, loose arms, spindly legs, a bony face with gleaming brown eyes, and, from the age of twelve, was reckoned to be a bit touched in the head.'

Sim takes on Bill Thropper, who reckons he's the best centre-forward since sliced bread and all goalies fear him.

After that came Michael Hardcastle, who for a long time was the only writer to focus on football stories for children. He's also a Huddersfield Town supporter and therefore a thoroughly decent bloke. Rob Childs then seemed to take over as well as Michael Coleman with his Angels FC series.

However, my TOP SIX favourite children's books on football are:

Keeper by Mal Peet published by Walker  suitable for aged 10+ 

This story had me gripped from page 1. Check out http://www.paulfaustino.com/ for more

Match of Death by James Riordan published by OUP (out of print) aged 10+

Based on the true story of Dynamo Kiev/FC Start during World War 2.

Foul Play by Tom Palmer published by Penguin

First in the Football Detective series following the adventures of Danny Harte aged 9+

Cool by Michael Morpurgo

A moving story about a boy in a coma and how football helps him recover aged 7+

Football Mad by Alan MacDonald, John Goodwin and .. erm... Helena Pielichaty published by OUP.

Four excellent stories (one in particular is outstanding!) for aged 7+

Bend it Like Beckham by Narinder Dhami published by Hodder

Groundbreaking book about culture clashes and girls playing football.

Also check out Paul Cookson's poetry books on football including:



published by Macmillan

Paul is an Everton fan (http://www.paulcooksonpoet.co.uk/)

There are many other exciting series around - Stadium School by Cindy Jeffries and Seb Goff, Soccer Squad by Bali Rai and The Beautiful Game by Narinder Dhami as well as many, many stand-alone titles. There's never been a better time for football fans to read about their favourite topic. So, if training's cancelled again because of the lousy weather, you can always curl up with a good book.

Helena Pielichaty is a children's writer. She is currently editing book 10 of her Girls FC series published by Walker Books (http://www.walkerbooks.co.uk/)

  http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/

Open Letter to The Observer re: Russia getting the 2018 World Cup by James Riordan

This is the letter I've written to the newspaper in response to Paul Hayward's piece:

Dear Editor,

What a shame that Paul Hayward added to the xenophobic rants in crying 'Foul!' over Russia and Qatar hosting the World Cup. We wuz cheated or, as Hayward puts it, 'The World Cup has been stolen: appropriated by unaccountable empire builders... This is Russian political interference and Qatari petro-wealth smashing aside all considerations of fairness.' Whatever happened to English 'fair play'? No mention of the £15m we spent on England's bid or the gift of expensive handbags to FIFA members' wives. What else was promised to gain a single vote is never questioned. The results could not possibly have had anything to do with FIFA's stated aim to spread the game round the world -- to Russia and Eastern Europe, to Qatar and the Middle East where the World Cup has never been held before.

Thank Goodness for David James who asks in the same issue, 'Why shouldn't Russia have it? They are a world economic power, an enormous country spanning time zones and cultures... I think it's great that first South Africa and now Russia and Qatar have been invited to host the tournament. If the compettion was only awarded to the western world it would be a closed shop.' Still, what does David James know? He's only a footballer, not a journalist.

Jim Riordan

Twitter Football - Tom Palmer

Last week I decided to take Twitter a bit more seriously and follow some football journalists that I like. I searched for a few and came up with Henry Winter from the Telegraph, Patrick Barclay from the Times and Gabriel Marcotti.

And it's been great. 

One, because I hear about rumours of managerial sackings, then have them confirmed without needing to search on the internet. Like today.

Two, because they all start arguing with each other - or get mad collectively and have a go at... say... FIFA.

Three, because they retweet footballers, which got me following Rio Ferdinand.

Rio tweets a lot. Most of it is not greatly interesting. But, over the last few days, I've had a great insight into when Rio is sitting on his sofa, if he has trained, what he's doing with his kids and what he likes on TV.

I would have thought this would be boring, but it's great. 

Why?

As you know, I write books about football. Footballers are often characters. They've usually been murdered, burgled or kidnapped, but they're still characters. Following the humdrum life of footballers away from the MOTD cameras is excellent research. Detail.

I'm on Twitter too at http://twitter.com/tompalmerauthor

www.tompalmer.co.uk

Memories and Midget Gems - Dan Tunstall

When I first posted to this blog, I talked about my football baptism. Leicester -v- Brighton, 1978. It brought up a whole lot of memories. The funny thing is, I can't actually remember much about the match itself. I know we won 4-1. I know I saw Leicester City legend Keith Weller score one of the goals. Other than that though, it's all a bit of a blur. What really sticks with me from that day is a whole mass of little details.

My dad used to work at Leicester University, so we parked the car there that Saturday afternoon and walked down the hill. We went past the fire station, under the railway bridge, across Nelson Mandela Park, past the Royal Infirmary and the Granby Halls, then headed right down Walnut Street. Turning left into Burnmoor Street, we stopped off to get a quarter of Midget Gems from the Lucky Supermarket. And then finally, the stadium came into view. I'd been past before, of course, but this was the real thing. This time I was going inside. I felt like I was going to explode.

Once we were inside the ground - East Stand, Block T - my senses went into overdrive. Everything was getting downloaded. The sweet taste of the Midget Gems. The bright green of the pitch. The chanting of the crowd, bouncing down off the low corrugated roof. The smell of whisky, the smell of aftershave, the smell of Pukka pies and the smell of cigars. I'd never experienced anything like it.

A lot has changed since then. Leicester City play in a new ground now, a few hundred yards from Filbert Street. There are no low corrugated roofs, and the smell of cigars is long gone. Some things have stayed the same though. The Lucky Supermarket is still there, I still go with my dad, and I still chew Midget Gems through the games. It's hard to buy them in quarters now though, so I get them in pre-packaged bags. I just wish the black ones still tasted of liquorice.

http://www.dantunstall.com/

The Only Way is Up?

The very bottom of the Premier League is a cold and lonely place to be. And for a while there last weekend, Wolves were rock-bottom of the Premier League on goal difference after losing to Blackburn - until West Ham kindly went out and lost to Sunderland the following day. And so Wolves moved back up the table one place, which isn't quite so bad as being last. No-one wants to be bottom of the Premiership at this time of year (or any time of year, come to think of it) because, as everyone always reminds us, the team that's bottom at Christmas is almost always relegated.    
Following Wolves is often fairly depressing. Sometimes I wish I'd started supporting Man Utd when I was a kid, but I come from a strange and distant time when people tended to support their home team, meaning the place where they were born. For me, that's Wolverhampton. So no ifs and buts. It has to be Wolves.

 

Portsmouth FC by James Riordan

I went to my first football match as long ago as 1944. Portsmouth were playing Crystal Palace in a wartime friendly... and won 9-1 thanks to borrowed soldiers like Ted Drake. This is the team for me I decided. So I have now followed the team all over the country, from Spotland to York, Wrexham to Gig Lane, for 68 years. Crikey, as long as that?

In the last three years my team has won the FA Cup, lost to Chelsea in a final, had some of the best players (Crouch, Defoe, Johnson, David James, Muntari, Diarra) and... crashed to bankruptcy. It became the plaything of billionnaire fraudsters and crooks, using the club to borrow vast sums of money, asset stripping and doing the stuff that Liverpool and Manchester United know so well. Last year we had four different owners, though one was never seen -- it is rumoured he didn't exist. You couldn't make it up. The present owner has no interest in football, Portsmouth FC or the community. But with over £100m in debts, an antiquated stadium, no training ground, the price of £25m is too high even for oil-rich sheikhs.

We fans haven't sat back. We formed a supporters' group and are ready to form a new club on a local ground (Havant & Waterlooville) in the Conference should the almost inevitable happen: liquidation. It is time for fans everywhere to take things into their own hands for, without them, no football club could exist.

James Riordan is the author of THE YOUNG OXFORD BOOK OF FOOTBALL STORIES; MATCH OF DEATH; WAR FOOTBALL and his autobiography:COMRADE JIM. THE SPY WHO PLAYED FOR SPARTAK.

Snow 1 Football 0

The snow has put the kibosh on almost all the football matches in League One today. My team, Huddersfield Town (http://www.htafc.co.uk/) were due to play away to newly promoted Dagenham & Redbridge but it's been postponed. The only match on was Swindon v Sheffield Wednesday. I hope next week is back to normal. We've got top of the league Brighton and Hove Albion coming to Leeds Road and I'm hoping to go to that one. It should be a cracker!
By strange coincidence the book I've just finished editing in my Girls FC series, 'We're Still the Dream Team, Right? is set during winter. The main action takes place when a match is abandoned half way through because of the snow. When striker Eve's mum gets stuck on the motorway and can't pick her up, central-midfielder Gemma reluctantly invites Eve back to her house. Gemma is reluctant not because she's mean but because she doesn't want Eve to know certain things about her family. Having nosy Eve in the house is a disaster waiting to happen. As Gemma's dad drives them closer to the house, Gemma becomes more and more tense. You'll have to wait until May to find out why! Meanwhile, you can play my Girls FC penalty shoot-out game to keep warm. Good luck! http://www.walker.co.uk/girlsfc/girlsfc_preloader.swf

World Cup 2018

I'm with Helena on the World Cup vote.

I went to Russia to research my book, Dead Ball. It is about a Russian billionnaire trying to kill England players to fix World Cup qualifiers. I also read a lot about Russia to get my facts straight.

Look, Russia is a great country. And my favourite novel is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. A Russian. But...

... Russia has serious problems. The government is dodgy. Much of the media dare not criticise the government. Great journalists - like Anna Politkovskaya - who have written about Russian oligarchs and their 'wars' in Chechnya, etc. have been murdered.

Politkovskaya on President Putin's birthday.

Our media is free. Well, more free than Russia's. We have seen this with the Times and BBC's investigations into FIFA.

Would you rather live in a country with a free media and not have the World Cup in 2018? Or would you rather live in a less free country and have the World Cup?

The one good thing about all this is that Russia must be really careful with how it treats football, big business and its journalists from 2010-2018. So it's a good thing! It means ordinary Russian people may get a better deal. And less former Soviet States will be invaded.

Read Marc Bennett's Football Dynamo: Modern Russia and the People's Game. Or my own Dead Ball.

http://www.tompalmer.co.uk/

2 crummy votes for 2018 by Helena Pielichaty

When I wrote yesterday I didn't realise just how badly England's bid to host the World Cup in 2018 had gone. We only got 2 votes out of 27. On Newsnight it was put down to us not 'understanding' how FIFA works. 'We didn't work the room.' In other words, we didn't suck up to the FIFA officials. In fact, we did the opposite. The media has been revealing stories about vote rigging and corruption within FIFA for weeks. The Panorma programme about it last week can't have helped much either. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and many others said we should have waited until afterwards to reveal what was going on. I disagree with that. If we'd revealed it now it would have looked like sour grapes.

There's only one thing for us to do now. Build a great team and win the World Cup in 2018. It doesn't matter which country we lift the Jules Rimet trophy in as long as we lift it. Heads up, lads.

Russia gets 2018 World Cup - Helena Pielichaty

I've just watched history being made. My heart raced as, live on TV, the President of FIFA, Sepp 'if women want me to take their football seriously they should wear shorter shorts' Blatter,  announced the nation to host the World Cup in 2018 would be... Russia. This was after speculation that because President Putin hadn't turned up, they'd already thrown in the towel. So much for speculation. The presence of Abramovic and Arshavin was enough to convince the 27 members of FIFA who had the vote.
A few minutes earlier the commentator had said that news was breaking on Twitter that England's bid had fallen short, despite the best efforts of our 'three lions' - David Cameron (prime minister) Prince William (Kate's bloke) and David Beckham (legend).

I'm disappointed - of course I am. Hosting the World Cup would have been amazing and I know we'd have done a first class job of it. Still, I'm sure everyone in Portugal, Spain & Holland feel the same. I'll have to wait and see what reasons FIFA give for choosing Russia tomorrow. The media will be in meltdown, that's for sure. In his opening speech, Blatter called England 'the motherland of football.'  It is and while nobody can take that away from us, I wish they'd stop penalising us for it too.