Football
After the initial shock of my cancer diagnosis, I’ve never been happier
On Sunday morning, I was kicking a football in the back garden with my grandson. I had bought him his…
Football’s elite deserve the foulness of Fifa
My favourite moment in the crisis engulfing football’s governing body, Fifa, came with the intervention of a man called Manuel…
Football in front, infibulation behind
I’m watching Manchester City being taken to the cleaners by Barcelona on the telly, while at the table behind me…
Like Arthur Daley playing Garry Kasparov: why I won’t miss Harry Redknapp
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008…
The changing meaning of 'prolific', from Orwell to the Premier League
I read somewhere recently of a Soho artist who was a ‘prolific drinker’. The meaning is clear, but hasn’t the…
The myth of Steven Gerrard
‘As a leader and a man, he is incomparable to anyone I have ever worked with.’ Obviously quite some guy,…
Five of the best celebrity biographies of 2014
Cilla Black has become a strange creature during her 50 years in showbiz. When her husband Bobby was in hospital…
What football can tell you about Jim Murphy (and what Jim Murphy can tell you about football)
The author of a rather brilliant little book about football could just hold the key to Labour’s otherwise negligible prospects…
London’s real Olympic legacy: paying to build the stadium twice
Giving London’s Olympic stadium a ‘legacy’ is proving to be a very costly business
‘Like Superman stopping a runaway train’: when Bobby Moore tackled Jairzinho
Nothing illustrates the transformation in the working lives of professional footballers since the end of the maximum wage better than…
Roy of the autobiographers
It has become a weary cliché to say that a book’s publication is eagerly awaited, but when an event is…
The biggest civil liberties outrage you've never heard of
‘Bubble matches’ sound like something quaint. In fact,they’re an outrage against civil liberties
Why squash deserves a place in the Olympics
Thank god for the Commonwealth Games: at least they gave us a brief respite from football transfer stories. Instead of…
Alastair Cook is world class. Steven Gerrard isn’t
This time last year, England’s cricketers were 2-0 up against Australia, two thirds of the way towards their third consecutive…
Joan Collins’s diary: Why I gave up on Ascot – and where I go instead
Can there be anything more perfect than early July in London, when the sun is shining, the sky a cloudless…
The bits of Magna Carta that David Cameron won’t want taught in schools
The not-so-great charter David Cameron wants every child to be taught about Magna Carta. Some bits he might want to…
If you thought this World Cup was weird, take a look at Brazil 1950
Old world Brazil has struggled to get ready for the World Cup, even though it hosted it before, in 1950.…
The true gods of football (hint: they don’t work for Fifa)
The World Cup has started, and the gods of football will be in their heaven for a whole month. Not…
Now even Fifa’s dinosaurs have learned to cry racism
Are all white women really prostitutes who should be avoided, as some children at those schools in Birmingham were apparently…
Did anyone really think that Qatar won the World Cup fairly?
I suppose the appalling shock to the soul that was occasioned by the allegation that Qatar bribed its way to…
What’s right with Saracens — and José Mourinho’s Chelsea
It’s hard to love Saracens rugby club — their centre is called Bosch, a word that also describes their bulldozing…
Five reasons to be cheerful about British sport (yes, even the cricket)
James Cook’s third voyage as an English captain ended in disaster, stabbed to death and disembowelled by a pack of…
The vengeance of Alex Ferguson
For a quarter of a century Sir Alex Ferguson bestrode football’s narrow world like a colossus. Like his predecessor knight-manager,…
If Carberry doesn't open for England, the world should split asunder
In sport, as in life, you just don’t know where you stand any more. Look at the Premier League: no…
The Speculator: Why I get so excited at goalless football matches
A successful gambler once told me: ‘Never bet on football, never bet on multipliers, and never ever bet on football…
