Monthly Archives: February 2011
Qatar’s football card
Nooone really knows for sure how far and in what way the current upheavals among Arab nations are going, but I suspect the fate of Qatar is beginning to put some nerves in the football world on edge. Qatar was not only recently picked by FIFA as the host nation for the 2022 World Cup, it has also in recent months signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona after pouring money into a far less successful SpanishPrimera Liga club Malaga and reportedly showing an interest in Manchester United. Ever since …
Qatar’s football card
Nooone really knows for sure how far and in what way the current upheavals among Arab nations are going, but I suspect the fate of Qatar is beginning to put some nerves in the football world on edge. Qatar was not only recently picked by FIFA as the host nation for the 2022 World Cup, it has also in recent months signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona after pouring money into a far less successful Spanish Primera Liga club Malaga and reportedly showing an interest in Manchester United. …
A tale of goalkeepers
Let me admit it – yesterday I spent a long afternoon of mixed emotion, glued to sport on TV, switching effortlessly from BBC rugby at Twickenham to La Liga on Sky TV. After cheering on England’s inspired second half performance against France, I nearly fell asleep towards the end of the first half of yesterday’s Mallorca- Barca tie, took a short meal break, and then lay awake until the early hours recovering from the nail-biting excitement of the last minutes of the Deportivo-Real Madrid game that kept me, tensed, on …
Barca have a fight on their hands
Barca did not find it easy beating Athletic Bilbao last night. The Basques played their rocks off, playing a hard physical game not bereft of skill which forced Barca to up their game so as to fight as well as entertain. After the lacklustre draw with Sporting Gijon and the defeat at the Emirates stadium , the omens were not good. February we were told was always a bad month for Barca. And yet this was just the kind of hard earned victory that Barca needed to restore its confidence. …
Barca is down but not out
Ok , from the perspective of a cule, let’s be honest: it was not one of those magical nights we’ve got used to with Barca. Sure, we paid tribute to that Victor Valdes block, celebrated Villa’s goal, and forgot how many oles we cried- so many passes did Barca make, for long periods, without interruption. But Valdes later let in a howler, Messi threatened but was incapable of delivering, Pedro was non existant., and Pique got another yellow card which means he will miss the second leg. In the …
My team is back in town- Visca Barca!
Great evening last night aboard Bar & Co, the superb Latino bar on the Thames were Barca’s UK based fans –British, Catalans, other Spaniards and even an American from Washington DC-gathered to share a meal, a few beers, and a large cake emblazoned with the club colours between singing, exchanging old campaign stories- from Valencia to Rome via Manchester-, and celebrating a video showing the historic 5-0 victory over Real Madrid at the Nou Camp earlier in the season. Among the new members of our UK fan club , and …
POLICE FOR HIRE?
Writing in today’s Guardian, the minister for policing and criminal justice Nick Herbert jumps to the defence of the street-level crime mapping initiative, as a key element of the government’s reform agenda aimed at holding the police to account. “We live in an age of accountability and transparency. The public have a right to know what is happening on their streets. By opening up this information we are giving people real power-and strengthening the fight against crime.” Quite right Mr Herbert. The only problem is that such accountability stops short …
An evening with ‘Rocky’
As one gets older, I find some school memories sweeter than others and worth cherishing as part of that enduring, if precious, collection of good times. Let me share this one about my old school mate ‘Rocky’, and his revival. I remember Francis Rockliff- or ‘Rocky’ – as one of the more colourful seniors, two year older, born with radical instincts and music in his head. He was destined to walk on the wild side and thus never became a prefect but instead ended being beaten by one. My early …
New book on Spain research: Bilbao Revisited
My recent stay in Bilbao is the subject of a blog elsewhere on this site. It was alsoeported in Althetic Club of Bilbao’s magazine. An no, I haven’t been recruited by ETA. I just love Basque food and wine, the company of friends, andd local football’s deep cultural roots and enduring belief in home-grown talent.
Bilbao Revisited
Just back from a visit to Bilbao as part of my latest wonderings through Spanish football (theme of a new book I am working on). This City is much altered since I first visited it on a ferry from England some thirty years ago. The air is much cleaner, it’s got one of the best public transport systems in the world, and its river is a joy to walk along now the Guggenheim gleams nears its banks and there’s a Calatrava bridge joining one side of the city with the …
