The following article first appeared in Issue 27, released in December 2017. Fans are vital to the modern game but tribalism too often means they fail fully to realise their power The signs are reasonably unambiguous: “MODERN FOOTBALL IS RUBBISH”. Thumbing through an increasingly thick catalogue of examples, past Manchester City’s boutique fan-experience innovation, the Tunnel […]
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The Lost Kingdom
The Hakeem al-Araibi affair has confirmed the end of the unifying dream of Bahraini football
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Building The Dream, James Corbett
The following article first appeared in Issue 16, released in March 2016. As the political wrangling continues over Qatar’s World Cup, what’s the reality on the ground? At the edge of an empty man-made lagoon near to the shore of the Arabian Gulf, I count skyscrapers looming from the dust. The road, lined on one […]
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Manchester Football Writing Festival, National Football Museum (1st September 2015)
The Blizzard Q&A recorded live at the National Football Museum as part of the Manchester Football Writing Festival, on the evening of 1st September. With a panel of Blizzard contributors – David Conn, Andy Brassell and editor Jonathan Wilson – hosted by the Football Ramble’s Marcus Speller. A heavyweight first half features discussion on the […]
Turkish Delight
Below is an extract of John Toshack’s autobiography Toshack’s Way, published by deCoubertin, which looks at his time in Turkey, as manager of Besiktas, between 1997 and 1999. Turkey is a unique country. If you go to Turkey to work, in any line of business, then you’ve got to have your sensors on. You’ve got […]
Workers Rights, Tony Richardson
The following article first appeared in Issue 39, released in December 2020. The story of the Nepalese labourers building Qatar’s World Cup stadiums. Tribhuvan Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal. November 2018. Football is the icebreaker. It always is. Within seconds of sitting down in departures my neighbour and I have exchanged the basics; who we love, who we […]