Now glance at the name “Europa League”. What information does it convey? It’s a league for… the abstract concept of Europe? For women who ride off on divine white bulls? Uefa can’t call the competition what it is, since “The Second-Tier Distribution of Teams as Apportioned by Mathematical Coefficients Cup” lacks a certain Heineken Factor." […]
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The Other Cup – The Blizzard Podcast Episode Eighty
How do you solve a problem like the Europa League?
Ninth Year Collection
All four hard copy issues from The Blizzard’s ninth year (Issues Thirty Three to Thirty Six inclusive) in one bundle.
England 1 Poland 1, 1973 – Maciej Iwański
Back to Wembley for this week’s Greatest Games as Maciej Iwański joins Jonathan Wilson and Marcus Speller to discuss a famous draw between England and Poland in October 1973. After suffering defeat in Chorzow in June, Alf Ramsey’s side needed to win in order to avoid missing the World Cup finals for the first time […]
Bring Your Dinner, Ewan Flynn
John Sitton, the Rwandan genocide and the fabled Leyton Orient documentary Tuesday, 7 February 1995, half-time: Leyton Orient 0 Blackpool 1. Home Dressing Room. “What did I say to you about good players wanting to be good players all the time? Do you not know how profound that is? Have you not examined the fucking […]
Blizzard-41 Sampler
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 […]
Issue Forty One
Introduction Issue 41: Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson’s Editor’s Note from Issue Forty One Ownership The President Ultra – Aleks Eror Aleksandar Vučić and the uneasy relationship between football and politics in Serbia Out of the Frying Pan – Heather McKinlay How escaping Roland Duchâtelet took Charlton to the edge of extinction The Forgotten Founder – Reiss […]
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 […]
The Beeches – Following Tividale
Nestled in the West Midlands, just off the A4123 between Dudley and West Bromwich, is Tividale Football Club of the Midland League Premier Division. In recent times, Tivi’ have experienced the highs of promotion but also endured the lows of financial difficulty and the consequent relegations that come with that. During their 2018-19 campaign for […]