Vernon Boothe

If Fabio Capello is in the mood to talk players out of international retirement as seems to be the case with Jamie Carragher, perhaps the Italian could go around to Paul Scholes house for a cappuccino and one of those nice little almond biscuits and make him an offer he can't refuse. Ask him to […]

Remember Steve McClaren? The wally with the brolly? The man who was torn apart by the British press after his England tenure ended in defeat? This weekend he won the Dutch Eredivisie League with FC Twente. This is a big achievement. It’d be like winning the Premier League with Birmingham. The vicious nature of the […]

Some people don't get football. They think we're mad to follow this mercurial sport that gives at least as much pain as it does pleasure. Well the next time someone asks why you're so mad about football tell them about Fulham this year. Tell them about how a club who, 15 years ago, was at […]

Football is all about goals. That’s the cliché anyway, and it’s obviously true. Goals win games. But while this remains true, football is also about the art of defending. Defending is the less glamorous brother of attacking; the more dour, less flash relation. Some fans don’t really appreciate defending, but last night, Inter Milan gave […]

Any club in the world that currently employees a top class player and wants to keep hold of him will for the next couple of weeks be avid Spurs supporters. Currently the north Londoners hold a two point lead over Manchester City with four games to play. Should that be the case at the end […]

So it looks as though that’s it for another year for Arsenal. Another trophy-less season. Wenger’s admirable faith in his side may have been slightly misplaced after all. They’re not far away from being winners but not close enough. But does it really matter? You’ll read and hear a lot about how many years it’s […]

In the coming days there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth about the fact that the Premier League, for the first time in seven years, has no teams in the semi-final of the Champions League. Boo Hoo. Does anyone outside of the media really care? There’s a staggering degree of hubris amongst the […]

The pleasures of playing football are easy enough to understand. It's a great sport and if you're any good you get a shed load of cash, the sexual attentions of fake blonde women, and a mock Tudor house full of 132" plasma TVs. There’s nothing not to like about being a footballer. It's a part-time […]

You’ve got to hand it Sven Goran Eriksson. He gets some good gigs. His latest as boss of Ivory Coast for the World Cup will see him once again perform on the highest stage of all and, whisper it quietly, he might do really, really well. Ivory Coast is possibly Africa’s best side and any […]

If you are the CEO of a company, you expect to have most if not all the power to make decisions. It’s down to you to drive the business, to solve problems and delegate where necessary. You’re in charge and you have the power to hire and fire. However, the Chief Executive of the FA, […]

Proponents of the notion that the Premier League is the best in the world – an oft repeated mantra – might want to shut up for once and take a look at the Champions League this year. For the past few years, English clubs have dominated the latter stages, now they’re down to two already. […]

After a Champions League week in which both Arsenal and United cruised through, the media in UK goes overboard. There are rarely any shades of grey in press coverage here. You’re a hero or a zero and that’s pretty much it. At the moment you’d think Rooney had actually invented heading the ball, so extreme […]

Having watched virtually every England game for over 40 years now its odd how little changes. We rarely put on a virtuoso display and we usually come away feeling as though we really should play better. Even when we do play well, many fans will be quick to point out that the opposition was weak. […]

Jose. What a man. He patrols the touchline, immaculately dressed part drama queen, part coach. Watching Inter Milan on TV is essential viewing, less for the football than for the Jose show. Love or loath him, he is compulsive viewing. It’s a no-holds barred exercise in facial expressions and physical theater. He goes through a […]

Watching European football has always had an exotic element for us in Britain. In the 60s and 70s, abroad was a long way away. The world seemed much bigger and the visit of a team from Italy, Germany or Albania was like a visit from another football planet. We hadn’t heard of most of the […]