Month: January 2007

Is the FA Cup in decline? The media seems to think so. And declining crowds for Cup games, combined with the second boring draw in succession, would indicate that they’re right. And they are, aren’t they? So, what’s happened, and what can be done about it? Until as recently as 1956, the FA Cup was…

Today, 30th January, is the anniversary of the execution of Charles I of England. Partly from my aversion to the death penalty, and partly out of a habit born in my pretentious early 20s, I’ll be marking the occasion with some solemnity. Nothing whatsoever to do with sport, but everything to do with these guys.

In a conversation yesterday with BBC Sport’s Charlie Henderson, I predicted better days around the corner for Paul Jewell’s men. You can read the rest of my thoughts, and Charlie’s take on the whole “losing cycle” experience, here.

Whilst assembling the previous post, I came across this marvellous 1973 film – warning: it’s long – and wanted to bring it to your collective attention. On-camera interviews probe the ambition and motivation of sports greats including Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Weiskopf, Jack Nicklaus, Malcolm Gregson, Dave Hill, and Graham Marsh. I…

It’s tax return day, so this is merely a reflection in video on some of the sporting events of the year I was born: 1968. It was an Olympic year – Mexico’s: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aodCkVOzj8g] It was a good year for Manchester United, too: Jackie Stewart beat Graham Hill in the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring…

Both at the same time, from the country that treats opera as country, if you see what I mean, in 1945. The football at the end is Roma v Torino, and is rather worth the wait. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0-3_APWA_Y]

From our correspondent, George Orwell: Now that the brief visit of the Dynamo football team has come to an end, it is possible to say publicly what many were thinking privately before the Dynamos ever arrived. That is, that sport is an unfailing cause of ill-will, and that if such a visit as this had…

My candidate won: Platini has said he will limit the number of automatic Champions League places to three clubs per country, a worry to England who presently have four, while also saying he will try to cap the amount of money a club can spend, a threat to Chelsea’s financial muscle. He said: “We must…

That’s the title of the paper to which this summary refers: Pain MA, Harwood CG. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, UK. m.a.pain@lboro.ac.uk The aim of the present study was to examine knowledge and perceptions of applied sport psychology within English soccer. National coaches (n = 8), youth academy directors (n = 21)…

Purely for it’s own sake. Although there was that phrase “steely and determined” a few posts ago, and there was always plenty of that about Revie’s fantastic, unlucky Leeds side of the 60s and 70s. This clip is as much about Leicester as Leeds, though: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2pn9FBehfo] And some sober analysis – no, really, and you…