Glenn Moore: My Week
Find out what The Independent's Glenn Moore has been up to with the latest in our My Week series... Friday October 28
I'm normally in The Independent's Kensington office on Fridays, working on our Saturday sports supplement, but there's a change of schedule today. I'm up early to finish off a story about ‘The Four Year Plan’, a highly-revealing forthcoming film about QPR in the Briatore/Ecclestone era, then it's off to the fourth and final day taking the FA’s Youth Award, module 1, one of the new generation courses which focuses on coaching the crucial 5-11 age group. It's an excellent course, thought-provoking, eye-opening and full of practical advice. I'd recommend it to anyone involved in coaching young players. I'll be writing about it in the paper in due course.
Saturday October 29
A morning coaching my son’s U10s team which provides the chance to put into practice some of the exercises I picked up on the youth award. Having done a session, then watched them win 5-1, I rush off to cover an unexpectedly high-scoring game, Arsenal’s stunning 5-3 win at Chelsea. Write a piece about Arsenal's resurrection for The Independent on Sunday.
Sunday October 30
A stint in the middle, as referee for an U9s match. Fifa issue red and yellow cards at the ready, but no controversy in a 2-2 draw. Followed by watching Spurs v QPR game on TV.
Monday October 31
A day off, and time to catch up with calls and admin. Unusually in this industry I work a three-day week. In practice I am available seven-days-a-week and log the work I do based on quarter-days. So a story which takes me two or three hours will be a quarter-of-a-day’s work. A match is usually three-quarters of a day. The flexibility is obviously handy for the office, but without it I would be heavily restricted in the events I could cover.
Tuesday November 1
I’ve been away for the last three Champions League weeks, to Dortmund, Valencia and Marseille, so I’m happy to stay at home this time, play a 5-a-side match, then watch the matches unfold on TV.
Wednesday November 2
A quiet day as my wife is working overseas so I'm solely responsible for childcare. I make some calls to set up a feature or two next week and do some paperwork before channel-hopping the evening's Champions League games. The way Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are playing I'm not expecting an English Champions League winner this season.
Thursday November 3
To Cobham for a press conference with Andre Villas-Boas, Chelsea's manager. His English is very good but there is a sense he, and we, are still finding out about each other. He's obviously very good tactically, his man-management is modern and inclusive, and he has a lot of experience in coaching despite his youth. I do wonder, however, whether he has the maturity to cope with the media pressure when results go awry, as they have begun to do recently. This is one of the views I espouse on a stint with the Mirror's John Cross on Chelsea TV's Paperview programme which we record at Stamford Bridge in the afternoon. In the evening I call Neil Warnock, the QPR manager, who I assist in writing his weekly column for The Independent. He's been writing for us for about six years now, through Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, and now QPR, two promotions, one relegation and an administration, and is very good to work with.
Tags: football writing, Glenn Moore, journalism, my week
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