Category Archives: Features

FWA Q&A: Sid Lowe

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The Q&A section is on a world tour, talking to football writers in different countries. This week: Spain.

SID LOWE on fascism in Barnsley…the Reina in Spain that caused him a lot of pain…and a romantic getaway for one eating cake

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
Yeah. When I was younger, I coached on kids’ sports camps during summer holidays. Like just about every Englishman who’s ever set foot in Spain, I’ve taught English. And I spent two years lecturing and giving seminars in Southern European Fascism at Barnsley College, as part of a University of Sheffield degree. Oh, and teaching some beginners’ Spanish there, too. And ‘facilitating’, which as far as I can make out meant sitting there in the library trying not to fall asleep.  Just in case anyone wanted any help. Like: “Can I borrow your pen?”

Most memorable match?
If you asked me tomorrow, I’d probably give a different answer and the day after a different one again … I honestly don’t know. Different games grab you for different reasons. I was at the 4-3 between Spain and Yugoslavia at Euro 2000. The Alfonsooooooooo-unbelievable one. The 1986 FA Cup final was incredible and all the more so because I was only 10.  Sadly, when you become a writer, you don’t entirely want a brilliant game, or at least not a dramatic one: lots of late goals kill you. But then afterwards you look back and think: wow. As incredible performances, perhaps Barcelona’s 5-0 win against Real Madrid and Spain’s 4-0 against Italy in Kiev. That 4-3 Liverpool-Newcastle, the first one, stands out of course but I wasn’t actually there. And Barcelona’s 6-2 at the Bernabéu, which was so unexpected. Madrid’s 4-3 over Espanyol was mental too, just bonkers.  And that 3-2 over Getafe when Pepe lost his head.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
It’s been done already: “Matt LeTissier: Unbelievable.” A whole collection of them. Genius.

Best stadium?
Again, it depends on what you’re gauging it by. There’s nowhere in Spain quite like San Mamés.

…and the worst?
Getafe’s stadium is near-ish to my house, which is probably its only advantage, although it’s also a great place to watch football in terms of just how good the press position is. And yet … and yet, it’s got little character, no history and few (but very loyal) fans. They call it the Coliseum, which is like calling my Skoda the Batmobile.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Yeah, thanks for that. I’d just about managed to overcome the pain. I lost a handful of interviews on a digital recorder. They were for my Madrid-Barca book and, well, they were pretty big names. Hours of work and people I was not convinced I could get back to. I phoned up my agent and ranted at him “F this f-ing book, I’m not f-ing writing it any more.” Actually, I did manage to get back to a couple of them, with my tail between my legs.

Biggest mistake?
Erm, don’t know. Must have made loads of them. I once wrote a match report in which Ronaldo had scored four. Just before I hit send, the person sitting next to me noted what a good goal someone else had scored (I forget who) … “You mean it wasn’t Ronaldo?!” I got lucky. A mate of mine once filed a match report with the wrong final score. He wondered why the manager was so upbeat afterwards despite having lost. It was because he’d won.  I turned up for an interview once thinking I was getting Pepe Reina and it was Claudio Reyna. Luckily I noticed before I went in … and in the end didn’t do it anyway.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Not anyone good.

Most media friendly manager?
I’m probably not the right person to answer that because within the labyrinthine dynamics of political relationships etc in Spain, there will be many who are good, bad and indifferent and I won’t even know about it. There have been players, for example, that other journalists have really slagged off but who have been consistently good to me. From personal experience: Vicente del Bosque is very, very nice indeed but that is not always an advantage in media terms. Writing this book, some people have been astonishingly generous with their time.  Michael Laudrup, Radi Antic, Míchel (ex-Sevilla now Olympiacos), Ángel Cappa (various teams in Argentina), for example. I have always enjoyed listening to Pep Guardiola, who is fascinating; Mourinho was interesting at first but has retreated almost entirely (understandably, I suppose). Javier Aguirre is entertaining and very engaging. And I loved talking to Unai Emery (Sevilla), who is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm. But there’s no one quite to compare to Juanma Lillo (ex-Almería).

Best ever player?
Because of my age no one will ever have the impact on me that Maradona did at the 86 World Cup. And the first year I lived in Spain was 1996, when Ronaldo was at Barcelona: I had never seen anything like it. Unreal. If he had kept doing that, maybe him. Right now, it’s hard to resist saying Messi. I think Maradona, still.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
This Spain team has to be right up there. I’m too young to say much about Brazil. At club level, again, historically I can’t make too much of a claim. Madrid in the 1950s, perhaps, although that was a different era and domestically they were not quite as dominant as their European success suggests. The recent Barcelona side make a pretty good case.

Best pre-match grub?
Aye, right. Spanish clubs don’t do food. It was one hell of an eye opener when I did my first games at Chelsea and Arsenal. No wonder you all turn up early for games. I was sitting at the Emirates eating a bloody ice cream, for Christ’s sake. Brilliant. And the wifi worked … ask any journalist and they’ll tell you the same thing: that’s what really matters.

Best meal had on your travels?
Beware of a menu that says “Fish: according to market price”. Found that out in Mallorca once, on a player’s recommendation. Ouch. Bugger me, it was good though. And the best paella restaurant is in Vila-Real. Pity it’s always shut.

…and the worst?
I’ve had countless dire meals. Games finish well after midnight, you end up in town, desperate for anything. Taxi drivers’ cafes, day-old sandwiches, cheese at the bar, a packet of crisps and some olives. You reach the point where go somewhere and someone says the next day: “what was it like?” … “open”.

Best hotel stayed in?
I went to an event in Munich once with Ronaldo (the original one) and he was so late that the whole event – which brilliantly included playing briefly on the Allianz Arena pitch – got put back and in the end our flights were cancelled and we had to stay. I got put on a 6am flight (or similar) the next morning. God, I was bitter.  The best hotel room I have ever stayed in, an amazing comfy bed, and I must have been in it for all of two hours.  Mind you, the best … well, not the best because the hotel is actually a bit rubbish, but …. It was in Barcelona when I accidentally booked the ‘pack romántico’.  Bottle of champagne, chocolate cake and petals on the bed in the shape of a heart. I got back after the clásico – alone, late – and ate the cake watching the repeat on telly. It wasn’t very good. I shudder to think that people might genuinely book that place for a romantic getaway.

…and the worst?
Again, there must be loads of bad ones. But ultimately, if you’re there briefly it doesn’t really matter. There were some horror stories about the Ukraine this summer, although I more or less got away with it … except the night when I didn’t have one and had to sleep on a mate’s sofa.  And even then the comedy value made it worth it.

Favourite football writer?
Are you trying to get me in trouble … ? Whoever you don’t say is going to moan. As Bielsa once said: the problem with picking a number one is that rather than a eulogy of him it looks like a criticism of the number two and that’s not the case. Graham Hunter and Pete Jenson. I always enjoy Roberto Palomar (Marca), even when I don’t agree. Juanma Trueba (AS), too. And while I feel like David Gistau (freelance) has got into a rut recently, I think he’s a genius.  Lu Martin (El País) and Santi Giménez (AS). Scott Murray (Guardian sports editor) always makes me laugh. Ian Macintosh (ESPN) as well. Jonathan Wilson knows everything. And Sean Ingle has recently started writing a column in the Guardian, which is, I think, a great addition. Barney Ronay has great vision and expression. I tweet a lot of articles that grab me – there are some brilliant people about.  I’m bound to have left some real geniuses out [No doubt they would agree – Ed].

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Wow. You are, aren’t you? Ok, Miguel-Ángel Roman on GolT in Spain. Gary Neville has been a revelation. And I really like Terry Gibson. Ah, and Graeme Sounness. When I have done Five Live it has been a real pleasure. Mark Pougatch is great.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Normalisation. And access. There isn’t necessarily a need for mutual suspicion (although at times I understand that they feel that way.) Also differentiate: not all clubs and players are the same … and not all journalists are either.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
I went to the Olympics in Athens and that was very special. Wrestling especially. Watching Luke Milligan at Wimbledon was great and watching my brother at Wembley once, playing basketball, was the business. I’d love to see an NBA finals or the Super Bowl.

Last book read?
Actual book? You mean, not football or history? Leaving the Atocha Station, which I read recently. It’s the first time I have read literature (well, it’s almost poetry) for a long time. I tend to read non-fiction more.

Favourite current TV programme?
I am a fan of Revista de la Liga, which is far better on Spanish football than most things in Spain. I don’t get much time for much else, sadly. But, and I realise this is the clichéd stock answer, but The Wire. If there’s a chance to watch something briefly, I’ll always choose comedy.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
I’ve got quite a bit. I’m a bit of a history/football but: match day posters, old stickers, that sort of thing. But … for many reasons, my Petr Dubovsky* shirt, which was bought in an auction in Oviedo recently and given to me. I actually cried when I found out.

*A Slovak footballer who played for Slovan Bratislava, Real; Madrid and Real Oviedo in the 90s.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Don’t. Only joking. Erm, I suppose to be aware that you’ll get knocked back a lot, to know that it won’t be easy. “Paid for watching football” is rubbish: it is, like anything else, a job. It’s amazing how much you enjoy a game when you’re NOT working. But, that said, let’s not go down the miserable, cynical route: it’s a great job, fascinating and different. Enjoy it.  And ask people questions whenever you get the chance. Don’t seek a certain answer; ask a question. If you’re interested, your readers may be too.

*You can read Sid Lowe in The Guardian and The Observer plus SI.com; he is also a regular contributor to talkSPORT and Five Live. Twitter: @sidlowe

NEXT WEEK: Kevin Baxter (Los Angeles Times)

THE FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR RACE IS ON – COULD IT BE A DEAD HEAT?

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By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

“The professional player who, by precept and example, is considered by a ballot of members to be the Footballer of the Year.” – from the Football Writers’ Association’s minutes, 1948.

THE DISCUSSIONS, some of the heated variety, are already in full flow. Who should be the recipient of the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year award on May 9?

In the past decade the winner has often been obvious from February or March as Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie joined the illustrious list of winners. This season three players are dominating the thoughts of those who will vote: Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez and van Persie. Others such as Juan Mata, Michu and Michael Carrick have their respective claims, but the Tottenham midfielder and the strikers of Liverpool and Manchester United are the current favourites.

The criteria laid down by Charlie Buchan, the writer-publisher of Football Monthly, in 1948 still applies today. The original founder members – Buchan, Roy Peskett, John Thompson and Clifford Webb – decided on a boat trip home from England’s 5-2 win in Brussels to form the Association. Buchan later proposed an award to “the professional player who, by precept and example, is considered by a ballot of members to be the Footballer of the Year.”

This asks that more than playing outstanding football is taken into account and Liverpool supporters, understandably defensive of one of two ignominious entries on Suarez’s cv which may preclude some FWA members giving him their vote, would point out Eric Cantona won the award in 1996 despite being banned until October 1 for his kung-fu kick at a Crystal Palace supporter, though the incident occurred the previous season.

In 2013 it is, perhaps, unrealistic to expect any top player not to have been involved in some controversy or other, be it simulation, a red card or an off-field indiscretion. It is a decision for FWA members where to draw the line. What has never been a yardstick is whether the footballer about to receive a member’s vote is part of a successful team. It is an individual award and many Footballers of the Year did not play for trophy-winning sides.

The award is decided on a one vote per member basis. The FWA have briefly discussed a top three voting system, but the view has always been that nothing is broke and doesn’t need fixing. Similarly, the FWA have never seriously considered a Young Footballer of the Year or a manager’s award. The FWA have one award and the belief is that adds to the prestige of the Footballer of the Year.

The FWA had 42 members when Sir Stanley Matthews was chosen as the first recipient in 1948. Around eight times that total will be involved in deciding who will receive the trophy from chairman Andy Dunn at the Lancaster London hotel two days before the FA Cup final with more than 700 guests present – a far cry from the first dinner which was held in the Hungaria Restaurant in Mayfair, though the restaurant at Waterloo Station was also discussed.

Maybe, just maybe, there will be a second dead-heat following the historic tie between Tony Book and Dave Mackay in 1969 when the votes were cast by post. Two votes arrived in the second post (those were the days) but missed the deadline. They were both cast for the same player yet it remains an FWA secret who might have won had the letters arrived earlier.

This season the vote will be all electronic, opening on April 25 and closing on May 2, the winner announced at 7am the following day. There have been suggestions of the voting being too early, but only three Barclays Premier League fixtures remain after the votes are counted.

Members take their vote seriously with some typically strong views held when the topic is brought up. While the FWA usually get the vote just about right, the list of winners has a few notable absentees, mainly those from Manchester United in the last 15 years when the club have been a victim of their own success. I was chairman in 1999 when United won the Treble and presented the trophy to David Ginola. “You were culpable,” Sir Alex Ferguson told me in a friendly hairdryer manner, bemused that none of his history-making side was chosen.

In fact, the United vote was, not for the first time, split between four or five players, enabling the Tottenham winger to win more votes than any individual Treble winner.

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Peter Schmeichel are among those with valid claims to have deserved to join Cantona, Roy Keane, Teddy Sheringham, Ronaldo and Rooney as United players to have been elected during the Premier League era and it will be little consolation that the league leaders have won the award more times than any other club in the last 20 years.

No South American has ever won the award; no one has ever won back-to-back awards with different clubs so perhaps history will be made this year.

Football writers I have spoken to in the past week have yet to make up their mind which way their vote will go and indications are it will be a photo-finish…unlike the Barclays Premier League title race.

STEVE STAMMERS OF THE SUNDAY MIRROR LOOKS AHEAD TO BAYERN MUNICH v ARSENAL

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Steve Stammers of The Sunday Mirror looks ahead to the second leg of Arsenal’s Champions League last 16 clash against Bayern Munich, examines the Gunners’ defensive problems and whether Arsene Wenger’s men can force their way back into the top four of the Barclays Premier League.



listen to ‘Steve Stammers of The Sunday Mirror looks ahead to Bayern Munich v Arsenal’ on Audioboo

DARRAGH’S DREAM IS THE PERFECT FOOTBALL MAGAZINE

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By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

DARRAGH MacAnthony loves football, so much that in 2007 he bought Peterborough United. Last year the Dubliner published a book about this called From Hobby To Obsession. Last week saw the first edition of Twentyfour7 Football, a monthly football magazine – chairman: Darragh MacAnthony.

If MacAnthony is not the editor in name, he has the final say on what goes in the magazine and on the evidence of issue number one the USA-based publisher and his staff did an excellent job.

Neil Gilby, the director of operations, oversees the day-to-day running of the magazine’s headquarters in – where else? – Peterborough and is clearly relishing the challenge of making Twentyfour7 the “perfect” football magazine.

The Dream Team, aka the list of contributors, include two long-standing member of the Football Writers’ Association, Oliver Holt (Daily Mirror) and Oliver Kay (The Times). The liner-up is wide and varied with talkSPORT’s Richard Keys and Andy Gray, Sky Sports’ Hayley McQueen, Charlotte Jackson, David Jones, Simon Thomas and Max Rushden plus Alan Curbishley, Matt Le Tissier, Fabrice Muamba, Didi Hamann, Justin Edinburgh, David Gold, Mark Bright, Paul Dalglish, Michael Owen, Kenny Miller and Peter Beagrie. Unsurprisingly so is Barry Fry, Posh’s director of football. To ensure no area of football is forgotten “renowned agent” Barry Silkman has written a column, even less surprisingly about one of his clients, Demba Ba who, he said, almost joined Spurs instead of the European Champions in January.

The idea for Twentyfour7, as it will no doubt be known, was hatched last summer between MacAnthony and Gilby who said: “We wanted it to be our perfect magazine. We looked at what was out there already, spoke about what we thought was good and what wasn’t so good…I think we came up with a good basis for a magazine which would focus heavily on English football.

“Not just the Barclays Premier League, but all aspects of the English game.”

The football publishing market is already saturated, FourFourTwo leading the way with a circulation of around 75,000. World Soccer, now in its 53rd year, has a loyal, specialised readership, there is UEFA’s Champions magazine, Shoot, When Saturday Comes while a number of clubs have their own monthly publications with many fanzines offering quality writing. There is also the blanket coverage by national and regional newspapers, so will supporters want more?

Gilby said: “It’s a competitive market, yes, but we believe there is a market out there for us with the focus on UK football. Darragh loves reading magazines on all the topics he’s into and is very involved in Twentyfour7. I’m on the phone to him every day and everything has Darragh’s final say. If we have an idea it goes through Darragh first.”

A full-time staff of 15 comprising editorial, production and design operates from the Peterborough HQ. “Many magazines have at least twice that number, so we’re not top heavy on staff. We needed a strong list of contributors and they were a team decision. We wanted people who knew about the game, we wanted a mix of journalists, pundits, players and ex-players.

“Some people may say it has a large Sky influence, but it didn’t worry us where people worked and there’s no tie-in with Sky. We just wanted the best and we were thrilled with Hayley McQueen’s Sir Alex Ferguson interview. She has a background in journalism and it’s a great interview.”

The budget of Twentyfour7 must be eye-watering, but MacAnthony has put his money where his idea is. “It’s Darragh’s money that we’re using for this,” said Gilby. “He’s put a hell a lot into it in every respect. We didn’t want it to be watered down, we could have tried to save money but we wanted to create the best football magazine in the market, one that any fan of club would want to read.

“Too many supporters don’t have their clubs written about [in national newspapers]. I know we can’t feature every club every month, but over the year we’ll do our best to include as many as possible.”

The first edition of every magazine is, in many respects, the easiest – the test is whether subsequent issues maintain the standard. Gilby said: “We started from scratch so it was an uphill task. In our eyes every magazine should be better than the previous one, that’s not just Darragh’s wish, it’s everyone’s. “

The dread, which comes with the territory, is a feature with a manager who has been sacked after the presses roll. “The difficulty with a monthly magazine is the time-sensitivity of it,” said Gilby. “With managers being sacked left, right and centre…if things have changed as we go to press it’s just the nature of the beast.”

But how can you beat an interview with Sir Alex Ferguson? “Sir Alex is the most successful manager in the world so you can never top him in terms of name,” said Gilby. “But we’re confident number two will be as good as, if not better than number one.”

FWA Q&A: PAUL JIGGINS

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PAUL JIGGINS of The Sun on the greatest gift from his dad…minky whale and reindeer in Reykjavik…and Dyson with death in Baltimore

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
Yep. Supermarket shelf-stacker, early morning office cleaner and trainee asphalter. I then joined The Sun as a messenger before going on to write, take photos for and eventually edit the company’s staff newspaper and newsmagazine. I later spent a year (six months of that on gardening leave) as officer of communications for the NHS in North London before John Wardle and Ian Whittell saved me from insanity by hiring me to cover football. Did I mention that while taking pics for NI’s staff paper, I moonlighted as a wedding photographer? Most nerve-racking job ever. I gave it up after accidentally standing in a piece of dog turd while taking pics of a happy couple. As they and all their guests laughed, I flicked my foot to get the mess off my shoe and could only watch in horror as it flew through the air, hitting the stunned bride’s mother on the lapel, leaving what can only be described as a blemish on her outfit and a stain on my character.

Most memorable match?
I’m getting to the age where they have all merged into one. It’s certainly not any match in the Champions League, the most overhyped and boring competition in the world, summed up by its blooming annoying operatic theme tune.

I would have to say Millwall 2 Norwich 3, Sunday January 22, 1989 (and I didn’t even have to check date). It was Millwall’s first season in the top flight and first ever game live on TV. Despite being a season ticket holder alongside me, my dad opted to watch the game from the comfort of his favourite armchair because he had never watched his beloved Lions on telly before and wanted to experience what it felt like. Millwall fought back from 2-0 down to make it 2-2 and absolutely battered the Canaries before Robert Fleck’s spectacular late scissor kick won the game for the visitors. Straight after the game I went to watch Big Country in concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. When I got home later that night, mum was still up and she disclosed that dad was so proud of the way Millwall had played that she had caught him wiping away tears from his eyes. An image and match made all the poignant by the fact that it was one of the last matches he ever witnessed as a few months later he died leaving me the greatest gift a son could ask for, a love of football.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Jamie Moralee’s goal for Millwall at West Ham after just 35 seconds in March 1993 in front of me and 6,499 fellow delirious fans sardined on Upton Park’s South Bank terrace.

Best stadium?
The original Den, but as it is now a housing estate, I’ll have to go for the Emirates, which sleeps even more.

…and the worst?
Selhurst Park. It’s at least three hours from everywhere, even Croydon, and they make that turnstile for journalists smaller every season.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Once sent a text that was rather uncomplimentary about a player I’d just interviewed to…er, the player I’d just interviewed. To my eternal shame and cowardice I even tried to claim at first that he shared the same name as a mate of mine and it was all a mix-up. He wasn’t happy. But he was crap anyway.

Biggest mistake?
Not jumping ship from the security of corporate communications to try my hand at football reporting on a full-time basis sooner. Also turning down a request from a cabbie mate a few years ago to help him out with some Press and PR for the new taxi iPhone app he was co-launching. He said he would pay me in shares, but I did not think I could commit the time. So I had to decline. The bad news is, he has now given up work having recently received £17 million investment to syndicate the app to other major cities around the world. The good news is, though, he has given me all of his old blankos! Shrewd, eh?

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
In my younger and slimmer years it was Paul Scholes. Three days after he scored for England against Tunisia at France 98 I went to Royal Ascot and was mobbed by punters who was convinced I was him, even though he was locked down in the squad’s hotel. These days it’s Basel boss Heiko Vogel. When his Swiss outfit played Manchester United in the Champions League I started getting loads of texts from mates and colleagues saying I was on the telly. I tuned in and have to admit I was surprised by how handsome he was. I said to my wife: “He’s even got the same coat as me.” To which she replied: “Yeah…but it looks better on him.”

Most media friendly manager?
Steve Evans. Ordered his Crawley players to come in at 7am so we could take a team pic of them in their Sun-sponsored shirts before their FA Cup tie at Manchester United. He even charmed Steven Howard.

Best ever player?
Dave Cusack. My all-time Millwall hero now occasional drinking partner. They say you should never meet your heroes and my liver would vouch for that. Would be a multi-millionaire if he played today. Legend.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Millwall 1984/85 and England 1990. With a bit more care, thought and luck, both could have conquered the world.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal takes some beating but Tottenham are getting there.

Best meal had on your travels?
A six-course tapas extravaganza in Reykjavik while covering the England Under-21’s in 2011, which included, puffin, minky whale, lobster, reindeer and lamb. And all for under £20.

…and the worst?
On the same trip I was not the only one to be left somewhat disappointed by the mixed grill at the only eatery in Drammen, Norway, that was still open at 8pm on a Sunday night. For starters, the grill must have been given the night off as there was not a pork chop or piece of steak in sight. Instead it was a selection of cold meats (more of a mixed chill, you might say) so delicately arranged on a saucer of a plate that not one of the ingredients was touching another and all for the princely sum of £60. The waiter should have worn a stocking over his head.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Hotel Villa Nabila in Reggiolo, Carlo Ancelotti’s home town in Italy. Stayed there when I went to do a backgrounder on him following his appointment at Chelsea. The restaurant had two Michelin stars.

…and the worst?
The Holiday Inn North Baltimore. A few of us were due to stay there for three nights during Tottenham’s tour of States last summer. What they did not tell us, though, was that it was 70 miles north of Baltimore and after an 100-dollar-plus taxi ride from airport, we checked in to find dozens of teenagers in hoodies hanging around in the corridors on each floor.

There were so many kids outside my door that getting into my room was like walking into my local off-licence, except I wasn’t offered a handful of change to buy one of them 10 B&H and a bottle of Thunderbirds. After I spent the first night sleeping with one eye open and a chair behind the door, I checked out the following morning after breakfast was evacuated due to reports that a guest had pulled a gun on a maid as she tried to clean his room. She was Dyson with death indeed.

Favourite football writer?
Whoever pens the on-screen info bar and breaking news ticker on Sky Sports News. Straight to the point with a lovely turn of phrase. I mean, why write “We have seen the story in a newspaper” when “Sky sources say…” reads so much better?

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
There will only ever be one Brian Moore. Every time I hear his commentary on a game I am nine again. As for radio, Sam Matterface reminds me of the Jonathan Pearce I spent most of my teenage years sitting in my bedroom listening to on Capital Gold. But my real radio hero is Danny Baker who, along with Danny Kelly, not only made me want to become a journalist, but made me believe I could become one, despite my accent and football team.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
All match reports to include ‘mixed zone reports’ chronicling the behaviour of players afterwards. It might give fans an idea of how rude some of their highly-paid ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ heroes really are. What kind of industry is it when a teenage div in a huge pair of headphones believes he is well within his rights to completely ignore a polite request from a professional journalist 20 years his senior just because he is fortunate enough to be able to run fast or kick a ball hard? Only in this industry is this kind of behaviour tolerated. Could you imagine an apprentice labourer behaving like that on a building site?

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
The Monaco GP from the deck of a nearby expensive yacht.

Last book read?
Family by Michael Calvin. A beautifully written book about some beautiful people.

Favourite current TV programme?
The Big Bang Theory.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
Two 2004 FA Cup Final programmes. They are in my pants drawer [Too much information – Ed]. I bought two in case I lose one. Programmes that is, not pants [Far too much information – Ed]. Have never read them fully but every so often I take them out to make sure Millwall actually got there and it wasn’t a dream. Shame the players never turned up.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Stay away you bastards, we don’t need any more competition, jobs are scarce as it is.

FWA Q&A: ANDY DILLON

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ANDY DILLON of The Sun on being Vince Champagne…his fear of Harry’s open car window…and a naked sauna with an unknown female…

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
I worked on a building site labouring as a teenager but got sacked after having a fight with the foreman. Construction’s loss is football’s gain I like to think. I have also had various jobs including filing the insides of the telescopic legs of fold up fishing chairs to make them fit and buttering bread at the Student Union while at University. I also made cash as a DJ back in the day when I lived in Bristol in the early 90s – playing under the name of ‘Vince Champagne’ with my pal ‘Dave The Rave’. All would probably pay more than journalism now I suspect.

Most memorable match?
Possibly Birmingham v West Ham, Carling Cup semi-final second leg two years ago. A fiesty old night at St Andrews when a mate popped downstairs for a number two just minutes into the game. He emerged from the traps just as a group of West Ham ruffians were brought into the away end by West Midlands’ finest. My innocent pal was corralle along with them and missed the entire first half of the match being held under the stands by the police. Great night but a rubbish game tho. West Ham were 12 minutes from Wembley and threw it all away – what a surprise.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Paolo Di Canio sticking it past Fabian Barthez in West Ham’s incredible FA Cup win at Manchester United some years back. It had everything about my club in a nutshell. And Di Canio’s facial expression to the TV cameras is immortal.

Best stadium?
Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion. 80,000 capacity in a tight, square, English style arena. Watched Germany v Poland there in the World Cup in 2006. Wow! Every English club should play in a ground like this.

And the worst?
No such thing as a bad football ground. I love them all – they are mesmerising.

Biggest mistake?
Moving to Surrey a year ago from Wimbledon. Even though I lived next to Plough Lane, which is now a housing estate, and an industrial estate I now miss the things I once hated about that place. I grew up in the suburbs and am now back to square one. I want my SW postcode back.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Where do we start? My colleague and kind of friend Charlie Wyett has calculated that my own newspaper has mis-spelt my byline 17 times. Dillion, Dillom, the list goes on. I’ve been referred to as Alan by one of The Sun’s own columnists, one manager thought I was called Anthony and recently a Barclays Premier League chairman thought I worked for the marketing department of Men & Motors magazine. Charismatic I ain’t.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
I Phone. I can play games, take pictures, listen to music and get emails from News International at two in the morning, but I can’t make a phone call on it [it’s an iPhone Alan, I mean Andy – Ed]

Most media friendly manager?
Harry Redknapp – and as his ghost writer at The Sun how I love seeing him leaning out of that car window telling Sky Sports all the stuff I had hoped to save for his weekly column. Top man though. Great love for football and always armed with a few anecdotes or jokes to keep the game in its rightful perspective as entertainment. Unless he’s just lost, of course.

Best ever player?
Frank Lampard. Amazing contribution to football and when have you ever seen him lose his rag? Phil Parkes is up there too, tho.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
Club: Barcelona in any of the recent seasons. (boring I know)
International: Brazil in the early 1980s. Maybe it’s my fuzzy memory but those guys didn’t even seem to need to run. Cool tops, too.

Best pre-match grub?
Chelsea. The choice is amazing. At least that’s what I’m told because I never go there.

Best meal had on your travels?
Not a big foodie. Will try anything but it’s a fuel stop for me. Nothing more.

And the worst?
As above. Don’t really bother with the taste. Down it goes.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Bio Hotel in Stanglwirt in Austria where the Klitschko brothers train. It’s The Sound of Music in real life. Everything is made of wood – including the telephones. The swimming pool has an outdoor lagoon where you can jump out and roll in the snow. I had a naked sauna with a complete stranger (female) and the girls at check in are breathtaking: As one colleague whispered to me on arrival: “Wow, if Carlsberg made reception desks…”

And the worst?
Can’t remember the name but it was in Armenia. I was covering Wales and this place had a tarpaulin for a roof. Everything was cold, damp and miserable. Just like Wales in fact.

Favourite football writer?
Des Kelly. His columns bounce along and his humour appeals to me greatly. He can treat serious subjects with a light touch to remind us that football is not a matter of life and death all the time.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
I guess it would be Brian Moore – only in that his voice takes me back to Sunday lunchtimes as a kid when I first started taking notice of football and the Big Match would also show highlights from lower league matches.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
Stop press officers sitting in on one-to-one interviews with players.
I’ve not seen a negative sit down yet. Chill.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
A night with BBC news reader Susanna Reid? Does that count? [Not really but we’ll make an exception for you Anthony, I mean Andy – Ed]

Last book read?
Am currently reading Bond classic: ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. Nothing like the film at all. I love all William Boyd’s novels.

Favourite current TV programme?
Have I Got News For You. Magical. I love satire.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
A picture of my then four-year-old son George standing on Wembley Way last summer in a West Ham jester’s hat before the play off final against Blackpool. All he wanted to do was meet Charlie Wyett. At least the match wasn’t a let down.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Become a DJ instead.

GIRLS ALLOWED – THE OFFSIDE RULE FLIES THE FOOTBALL FLAG FOR FEMALES

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By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

IT’S A MAN’S GAME and if you haven’t played football you don’t really know the sport. Just two of the neanderthal opinions still held by some, the situation not helped when you Google “female sports writers” and “The 50 Hottest Sports Broadcasters In the World” is the first entry. Written by a female.

According to a recent survey, less than 10 per cent of sports journalists in Britain – including writers, subs, photographers, radio and television – are women, but there is an increasing female presence in the reporting and broadcasting of English football.

While Clare Balding is the sports broadcasting doyenne, Gabby Logan and Hazel Irvine have been familiar faces with the BBC’s football coverage. Jacqui Oatley and Eleanor Oldroyd are respected Five Live reporters with Jo Tongue producing 606. Georgie Bingham is a regular talkSPORT presenter. Rebecca Lowe and Kelly Cates are valued members of ESPN’s football broadcasts.

Julie Welch became the first by-lined female football writer, though when her match report appeared in the Observer, the sports editor received letters wondering if there was a misprint and it was actually Julian. Sue Mott was part of the Daily Telegraph’s daily sports supplement, the first of its kind in England; more recently Laura Williamson (Daily Mail), Alyson Rudd (The Times), Louise Taylor (Guardian), Vikki Orvice (The Sun) and Ann Gripper (Daily Mirror) and freelances Janine Self and Samantha Lee have become regulars in Barclays Premier League press boxes.

Helen Chamberlain co-presents Soccer AM, Sarah-Jane Mee presents Football First for Sky Sports while Sky Sports News has many female presenters, including long-serving FWA member Clare Tomlinson.

Last year, a new development gave football its first all-female voice with the launch of The Offside Rule, a weekly podcast which goes out every Thursday. Footballwriters.co.uk caught up with Lynsey Hooper, Kait Borsay and Hayley McQueen as they recorded the latest episode.

Lynsey Hooper (left): “My grand-dad was a scout for Wolves and I inherited my love of football from him. I’ve played football since I was eight. I studied sports science and English, wanting to go into journalism. I was approached by student radio and ended up pursuing a career in radio for six years before starting with Central News at ITV and BBC East Midlands Today plus ITN as a sports journalist. I now work as a freelance mainly for BBC’s Final Score, Sky Sports, ESPN and talkSPORT.”

Kait Borsay (centre): “My great-great uncle, Wilf Woodcock, used to play for Manchester United [from 1912-1920] so football’s been in the family for a long time. I went to England v Holland at Euro 96 which made me fall in love with the game…it sparked the fire. I got into Sky, worked for talkSPORT and I feel very lucky to be doing a job I enjoy so much.”

Hayley McQueen (right) “My dad [Gordon] was a footballer, turned manager, turned ex-manager, turned coach, turned scout and lover of football. I was very much my dad’s girl. I grew up with the game and fell in love with football. I studied journalism at university, thought about fashion writing, but decided to do something I knew about, having become addicted to it from my days on the terraces of Ayresome Park. I now work for Sky Sports.”

Whose idea was The Offside Rule?
Lynsey: Mine, but it started as a very different tool. The first few podcasts last year I did on my own to trial the idea of women talking about football. I interviewed people such as Faye White [Arsenal Ladies and England], Chris Powell and Lawrie Sanchez. There was a round table with a couple of colleagues…Kait came in a couple of times where we chatted about football matters. The round table idea attracted the most interest, particularly within the industry and this season the concept has evolved. Myself and Kait asked Hayley to become involved and it’s become a wonderful labour of love.

So the idea was to give a female voice in football?
Hayley: Yes, as broadcast journalists we rarely have the chance to voice an opinion because, male or female, when you are live on a news channel that’s not possible. So The Offside Rule was born out of our frustration of not being able to speak feely plus our love for the game. There is a lack of opportunities for women to have an educated opinion.

Kait: It’s unique in that it’s an all-female production. We have a few men on board to help with social media, but it’s very much about giving women in football a supportive platform. There’s reaction to the latest football results and three weekly topics up for debate. We aim to be accessible and enjoyable to male and female listeners alike, informative yet good fun. The podcast has regular updates from non-league, La Liga, Serie A, the Russian Premier League and the Bundesliga featuring female journalists around the world, creating a wide network that allows women who love football to work together.

Do you chat to your co-presenter during commercial breaks?
Hayley: You are miked up at all times even if you aren’t live, so anything you say could potentially go out. But yes, when we throw to a VT we’ll often turn to each other to comment on a story, or just exchange a pointed look or shake our heads in disbelief. We’re sports fans so naturally some news lines are going to make us react. Away from the studio I have learned a lot from all my colleagues, especially those presenters who have been reporting for years pitchside. I’d like to think they value my opinion, too, even though some in the industry said I only got a job because of my dad. In fact I worked really hard to obtain a degree in journalism and media law.

American sports networks have a higher number of female reporters and presenters. Why has there been a general reluctance to give females more of a chance here?
Kait: Look how long it took Clare Balding to gain the recognition she deserves. She’s been at the top of her trade for many years. I think there’s an old school club which has existed at a high level in broadcasting who think other men find it hard to listen to women. We just have to keep plugging away.

But football is becoming more family orientated now…
Lynsey: The progress of the women’s game is helping while if you look around football stadiums now you cannot say it is so male dominated. More and more women are going to matches. The history of football, especially when hooliganism was rife, gave a mentality that it had to be macho.

How do you feel about those who say unless you have played the game you cannot really understand it?
Lynsey: Most respected football broadcasters haven’t played the game to a high level – and I don’t value their opinions any less..

Hayley: Being a presenter, you are hired more for your broadcasting skills than your opinions.

Kait: For the last five or six years, football has been the number one team sport for girls in schools. I never had that opportunity, for me it was netball, hockey or tennis. I’d have loved to have played football, but there was no local girls clubs either.

What is the attitude of male football writers to you?
Lynsey: When I first began reporting games five seasons ago I’d turn up in a press box and many of the elder gentlemen were lovely, but would ask: “Do you want the formation or any help with the teams?” Polite as they were it was a little insulting so I just smiled. I was at a game recently and a [male] journalist I know quite well said: “Do you know what the formation is?” I said they were playing 4-5-1 and he just took my word for it. Things have come a full circle in those five years.

Where would you like to see the programme in a year’s time?
Kait: At the moment it’s just the three of us, we use a flash mike which enables me to plug in into my computer and send it to an editor. My vision for the show is for it to be developed into a cross between Loose Women and Fighting Talk with a key big guest every week joining in the debate with us.

Lynsey: I’d love it to be a radio show including a big guest on Five Live or talkSPORT.

Hayley: I’ve found that people who listen to it for the first time go to the previous shows and listen to them, too.

Lynsey: I’m waiting for the Sian Massey moment when one of us gets a date wrong or makes a human error and some delight in telling us.

Can you see the day when football has a female pundit?
Hayley: The only ones I could think of right now are Hope Powell [coach of England women’s team] or Kelly Smith [Arsenal Ladies and England]. But I can’t see it happening for a long time.

Who are your three favourite broadcasters?
Lynsey: Definitely Clare Balding and Darren Fletcher [of Five Live] for his versatility. I respect people who have come up through radio because it’s a skill you can take onto television. He’s versatile and as much of an expert on boxing as he is on football. In terms of influence, Ray Stubbs was very big when I was coming through.

Hayley: Two of mine are Sky colleagues. Nick Collins, is the hardest working reporter I have ever known and a thoroughly nice man. Because of his experience he’s never flustered and comes out with information that makes me think ‘where has he pulled that from?’ He’ll be given a team sheet at the same time as everyone else and while others are trying to get their heads round the changes Nick will reel it off with stats and facts. And he doesn’t have autocue. He’s helped me tremendously, I think he’s brilliant and doesn’t get the recognition. Alex Crawford of Sky News is incredible. You see her at various war zones and is someone to look up to. She took time away from broadcasting to have a family, but has come back and is someone to respect. I admire Darren Fletcher, too. In many ways, it’s good when you don’t notice a presenter…he isn’t controversial, doesn’t try to be clever and is really easy to listen to.

Kait: I really enjoy listening to Tim Vickery [a Brazil-based sports journalist]. He sparks my interest in South American football and always take in what he says. He comes over so well and always leaves me thirsty for more. I always enjoy Danny Kelly [of talkSPORT] who is very natural while I like Clare Balding for the way she makes broadcasting look so easy after what will have been years of hard work and dedication.

You can follow @OffsideRulePod on Twitter. To listen to the show go to https://soundcloud.com/the-offside-rule or download via iTunes

“IT WAS A MIX OF ANGER, DEFIANCE AND CONFRONTATION” – Daniel Taylor of the Guardian

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footballwriters.co.uk looks at the media coverage of Arsene Wenger’s most amazing press conference

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

TWO THINGS took the assembled football writers attending Arsene Wenger’s press conference on the eve of Arsenal’s Champions League tie against Bayern Munich by surprise. Firstly, that a manager known for being so helpful to the media suddenly turned on the French equivalent of the hair-dryer and secondly, that a story about him being offered a new two-year deal upset him so much.

Whatever the validity of the story – Wenger, whose current contract has 15 months to run, denied it – managers usually go on the attack if their future at a club is questioned, not about to be extended. Wenger turned on Neil Ashton, football news correspondent of the Daily Mail, in what some papers called the Frenchman’s Travis Bickle moment. As the character played by Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver was a punk-haired former US marine suffering from insomnia and depression who tried to assassinate a senator the comparison is a little unflattering, if inevitable.

Sam Wallace of the Independent said: “For some managers, especially in the days before television cameras, a blow-out at a journalist would be nothing out of the ordinary. But this was Wenger, a man more likely to serve his players chips and lager than to get in a public row with the press. The same press whose efforts he usually treats with the good-humoured detachment of a charismatic schoolteacher presiding over a class of unremarkable students.

“This was a peculiar departure, for those who have watched Wenger over the years, especially on the occasions he has diffused difficult situations with humour, or ribbed the press – justifiably much of the time – for our readiness to proclaim a crisis. There is no wish to see a manager who has achieved as much as Wenger, and done it in such style, pushed into a corner but here he was fighting back like a man who has lost his patience.”

Bickle’s famous line was: “You talking to me?” Wenger looked at Ashton and asked: “Why do you look at me?”.Ashton replied: “Me? Because it is your press conference.”

Wenger: [ironically] “OK, oh, thank you. I just thought you had given this information out.”

Ashton: “No, I am looking at you because it is your press conference.”

Wenger: “Oh, OK, thank you very much [sarcastic].”

Ashton told talkSPORT’s Drivetime: “He’s always been polite, dignified and respectful, but I don’t think he was today. There was some mild embarrassment for him, but it makes no difference to me. Maybe managers should call out journalists a but more often, although perhaps in private, not in a live broadcast.” Speaking to footballwriters.co.uk Ashton added: “I’ve experienced this sort of thing with other managers. Sometimes it happens. He pulled me out over a story that was written in another newspaper. It wasn’t my story, maybe he just got the wrong person. He’s in a difficult position. It was more embarrassing for Wenger than for me.”

Those who have worked closely with Wenger have enjoyed his press conferences because he is a manager who will answer any question. Talk to him about the Greek economy, Russian meteors or unemployment figures and he’ll have a view. Football writers leave Wenger’s talk-ins with notepads full and back page leads aplenty.

David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror said Wenger’s “urbane exterior masks a tetchy side when under pressure.” Paul Hayward of the Daily Telegraph tweeted: “Wenger’s general media approach: no names, no 1-on-1s, humour to defuse questions, discusses any issue. But more curt and hurt these days.”

Wenger is right when he said “you will miss me when I’ve gone,” but John Cross of the Daily Mirror believes this was “dropping a huge hint about his future.” Cross said: “In dismissing the notion of staying longer he fuelled the prospect of his departure.”

Simon Yeend of the Daily Express took a different view and said: “The Arsenal manager is correct. [He’ll be] missed for the flair and elan he brought to the English game with his teams playing, at their height, some of the best football we have seen in this country. Missed for his willingness to face the media in victory and defeat. And missed for his passion.”

There was no shortage of that at London Colney and Oliver Kay of the Times said: “That exchange [with Ashton] seemed to be a sign of sad, confusing, turbulent times at Arsenal. Wenger usually exudes charm, serenity and wisdom in front of the TV cameras – at least pre-match. Yesterday he came across as tetchy and insecure.”

Steven Howard of the Sun called it “a mixture of anger, defiance, conspiracy theories and dripping with sarcasm that suggested here was a man at the end of his tether. He has lost the plot often enough out on the touchline. And there have been occasions when he has got the hump at press conferences. But never quite like this – and never in front of the TV cameras.”

Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph said on talkSPORT’s Keys and Gray show: “What surprised me was he did it in public. I’ve seen him lose it before, away to Celta Vigo when Edu had to take an anti-doping test and it was taking a long time. It was midnight local time and we had a plane at 01.15. Wenger is a stickler and he was screaming at staff in the tunnel, his language was just toxic because things weren’t going to plan. I texted one member of staff he had a go at and they expressed surprise that I should be surprised at Wenger losing it.”

Winter prefers to remember the funny side of Wenger than the fury. He said: “When he first arrived Arsenal sat him down with all the correspondents at Highbury and you knew then this was a new force, a new spirit with new ideas because he talked so intelligently. If it is the beginning of the end, and I’m not sure it is, let’s remember the good things. It’s sad to see him like this. He said you’ll miss me when I’ve gone. I think he’ll miss Arsenal, he’ll miss English football.

“Usually in press conferences he will crack some fantastic jokes. We were teasing him once that he was so obsessed with football…it was his birthday and we asked him if he was going out to the theatre or cinema. He said ‘no, I will stay at home and watch a Bundesliga game. But I will put some candles on top of the television.’”

Daniel Taylor of the Guardian hopes Wenger’s players show the same passion as their manager. He said: “Wenger was doubtless trying, through a show of strength, to demonstrate that Arsenal are not finished yet and that anyone who writes them off does so at their own peril. At times, he was deeply impressive, arguing his case coherently, pointing out that we ‘live in a democracy of experts and opinion’ and that, put bluntly, he is sick of misinformed opinion and lack of expertise.

“Unfortunately for him, there were also moments when he floundered badly and resorted to the default setting of going back through history to make his point. In doing so he ignored the fact this is the problem for his club’s supporters: everything is in the past tense. Wenger pointed out that Arsenal were still the only team to qualify for the Champions League final without having conceded a goal and, voice thick with sarcasm, that they had done it ‘despite the fact that we have never a good defensive record’. That is not a great consolation, however, when the team have just lost to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup, been eliminated from the Capital One Cup by Bradford City and are 21 points off the top of the Barclays Premier League, facing the possibility of an eighth year without a trophy.

“That was in the broadcast section but it was when the television cameras moved away that he properly let out all that pent-up frustration and we saw Wenger in a way that nobody in that room had witnessed before. It was a mix of anger, defiance and confrontation and it is just a shame, perhaps, that not all of his players can show the same passion. If he could bottle it and pass it to his team before their game against Bayern Munich, then maybe it will not be the ordeal that so many anticipate.”

“The truth might be that any hurt he feels right now stems more from the fact that he cares so deeply about Arsenal and takes it personally, as every once-successful manager does, when the old magic no longer seems to be there. His team need to do what Chelsea did last year and find something in adversity, but the question is whether they have the same mental fortitude.”

The pro-Wenger camp say that despite the eight-year trophy drought he has worked a minor footballing miracle to keep Arsenal competitive without the financial clout of a sheikh or oligarch Manchester City and Chelsea enjoy or the tradition and magic that give Manchester United an edge in the transfer market. On the other hand, it is impossible to think of any other top club in Europe who would keep faith with a manager after eight blank years.

Matt Law of the Sunday Mirror believes Arsenal have accepted complacency. He said: “No wonder so many Arsenal players think Wenger is the perfect manager. Not many people would dislike a boss who pays out big and turns a blind eye to so many errors.

“The coaches don’t have to worry, either. Despite having all the tools to become one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, Wojciech Szczesny is struggling badly. And yet coach Gerry Peyton is seemingly just allowed to get on with things, despite the fact a goalkeeper has yet to improve at Arsenal since Jens Lehmann left five years ago. [Chief executive Ivan] Gazidis cannot be feeling too much pressure, given the fact he has survived Arsenal losing Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Song and Robin van Persie under his watch.

“How anybody involved in the decision to allow Van Persie to join rivals Manchester United for £24m in the summer is still in a job is a mystery.”

The Sunday Times’ Jonathan Northcroft tweeted: “Wenger’s right: we will miss him when he’s gone. Personally I hope Wenger fights back and doesn’t end on this note – but he can only do that, not with talk, but a trophy. But surely ‘Arsene knows’ it’s also right he’s questioned – and the questions are coming from intelligent fans and reporters who know AFC.”

Arsenal seem unlikely to sack Wenger even if the trophy cabinet at the Emirates has no new addition this season. And as critics try to think of a better, realistic successor to Wenger, as other clubs have found out – be careful what you wish for.

Wenger has never broken a contract and the smart money would ne on the Frenchman at least seeing out his present contract. Yet how ironic a manager many would like to see leave Arsenal because of underachieving is being linked with Real Madrid, the most successful club in European history.

Philippe Auclair of France Football looks ahead to Arsenal v Bayern Munich

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Philippe Auclair of France Football on the chances of “schizophrenic” Arsenal producing their best to topple European giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

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JAMES OLLEY OF THE EVENING STANDARD PREVIEWS ARSENAL v BAYERN MUNICH

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James Olley, chief football writer of the London Evening Standard, examines Arsene Wenger’s claim that if his team are able to beat Bayern Munich, then Arsenal can go on and win the Champions League.


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