Gretna’s rise was a romantic fairy-tale; their collapse provides grimly real lessons for all of Scottish football. In Episode One Hundred and Sixteen, we take a look back to "End of the Road" by Richard Winton, first published in Issue 7, in December 2012. You can buy our latest magazine, Issue 32, here: www.theblizzard.co.uk/shop/product/i…sue-thirty-two And […]
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Is Football Still Sport?
“What you see is 90 minutes of action treated almost as a distraction from the real business of sport: the narrative of news… Reality is not enough, so it is expanded, meaning is extrapolated, significance is assumed. And all of it around a structure to ensure maximum exposure, maximum interest.” In Episode Fourteen we bring […]
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The Duellists
An edited extract from Paolo Conde’s new book, looking at the relationship between Pep and Jose as played out in 2011’s 4 clásico’s in 18 days.
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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 […]
The Sacred Eyeball, Scott Oliver
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 […]
How Money Affects Title Odds in La Liga
Football these days is one big industry. And like in every industry, money takes pretty much the central place.