My football adventures all over the world
With the Copa Libertadores Final being played in the home of football, the Centenario, it seemed the perfect opportunity to delve into my memories of the 15 games I have seen there. Just having been once at this magnificent historical venue would be phenomenal, but my passion for futbol in Uruguay and Argentina has pulled … Continue reading El Centenario remembered
The classic trio of Italian cities for tourism are of course Roma, Firenze and Venezia. Each and everyone of them is absolutely amazing, and certainly if you have never been, even to one of them, I would implore ticking that box. Curiously, football in cities of great beauty rarely converts too much in the way … Continue reading Oh Siena
If you are a follower of Scottish football from a distance, and just keep tabs on the league tables or Cup matches, the recent appearance of Clydebank in the Scottish Cup might have brought back some misty eyed memories. For the first time since 2001/02 The Bankies as they are known, were back in Scotland’s … Continue reading The Curious Case of Clydebank
In early March 2020 I guess we all knew something bad was evolving with the virus, but as I walked out of the stadium in Alloa, I never thought that the final whistle on the 2019/20 was coming. The cancellation of all football from Friday 13th March was an omen, just a week shy of … Continue reading Hop ’20 (played in ’21)
The summer of 2021 had its usual round of financial issues in Italy. It was probably to be more than expected, after all, if a normal close season is chaotic, a season without matchday income was always going to be an even more fraught passage of time. When the dust settled, the situation wasn’t as … Continue reading D Tales
The first part of my recollections seemed to be well received, and as promised here is part two. Instead of 10 tales we have 11, after all a football team has 11 players, and I just didn’t want to leave any of these games out, on occasion not so much the match, but more importantly … Continue reading Argentine Futbol Recollections, Part 2
I don’t know if this feeling is the same anywhere else, but perhaps due to the extremely lengthy closed shop nature of the league structure in Scotland, pitching up at an old stalwart ground which is now in the non-league world, it just feels weird. I was at Berwick Rangers when they debuted in the … Continue reading A Highland Bonanza
Exactly a year ago, two FA Cup ties I watched in Northumberland and Tyneside featured home sides in black and white striped shirts, tales I brought to light from Ashington and Heaton Stannington last autumn for Football Weekends. Here on Bank Holiday Monday at the end of the August, with the Northern League providing a … Continue reading Bank Holiday Black and White Tales
In May when St Johnstone stunningly went up to lift the Scottish Cup to complete an unprecedented cup double, it was thankfully the last game played here without a crowd. The entire competition (and the semis/final from the year before) had been played without fans, and some of the “newer” SFA approved smaller clubs debuted … Continue reading The Scottish Cup goes South
I guess by virtue of my articles on Italy for Football Weekends, a lot of my Calcio tales of partite e citta (games and cities) have already been published, squeezed to within an inch of their lives in some cases as I try to find new stories to tide us over until I can head … Continue reading Argentine Futbol Recollections, Part 1
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