³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

When I think of my favourite players from the Football League must come out on top.

There is something about Gregan on a football pitch that I have always found inspiring.

It is not his pace - he never had much - or the deftness of his touch. It is not his dribbling skills or a feint that leaves opponents foundering. He can certainly pick a pass and is a decent header of the ball but it is not these either.

No, it is his swagger. He moves across a football pitch, home or away, like he owns it. It breeds confidence. It makes people believe.

Read the rest of this entry

Heard the one about the Liechtenstein international signing for Darlington?

His last five fixtures read as follows:

Macclesfield (away),
Germany (home), lose 6-0
Azerbaijan (away), draw 0-0
Port Vale (home),
Accrington (home),

In case he has not reached your radar yet, his name is , his preferred position is the left wing and he must rate as one of the most unusual signings of recent times.

Read the rest of this entry

I interviewed Paul Sculthorpe once when he was promoting his autobiography, .

When shaking hands with Scully, as he is known throughout the game, I thought I had lost mine forever as it disappeared inside the shovel that he had extended.

I bought Scully a tea and wondered how he would be able to hold it without crushing the polystyrene cup into a million pieces. But for all his physical prowess it was his body that, in the end, succumbed to the rigours of such a demanding sport.

His retirement had become increasingly inevitable but somehow it still rated as a shock when it came.

Perhaps it was just the timing. Scully announced his decision live on television minutes before to seal a place in the Grand Final.

Sculthorpe, appropriately enough with his arm in a protective sling following , talked about how difficult the last few years have been. It doesn't take a genius to work out why.

Read the rest of this entry

What can be read into a manager's post-match reaction?

The comments are often made in the heat of the moment. They are sometimes rash, frequently emotional and normally lacking the sense of perspective that thorough analysis warrants.

Occasionally as a reporter you are confronted by a furious manager who nonetheless reels off a quote that leaves you struggling to suppress a smirk.

An absolutely raging springs to mind during his time in charge of Burnley. After presiding over a 3-0 defeat at Reading, Ternent opined: "We were woeful, everything went wrong, a blind man on a galloping horse could see that."

I thought it was poetic, almost Shakespearean and, coming from a manager stood on the touchline in the middle of winter, very amusing. However, it was obvious to everyone gathered around him that Ternent was not playing for laughs.

With this in mind I sifted through Tuesday's post-match quotes following a busy night of Championship football to see whether there were any pearls of wisdom that stood out among the usual raft of clichés.

Read the rest of this entry

As discussed in a previous blog, I'm not so sure that the transfer deadline is a concept that benefits clubs in the Football League but there is no doubt Monday was rich in high drama.

When news of Manchester City's audacious swoop for Dimitar Berbatov broke in mid-afternoon I could scarcely belief what I was hearing. I imagine Sir Alex Ferguson felt a similar emotion, expressed in terms that left little scope for misinterpretation.

City, of course, had to in the end - hardly a tardy second option. The excitement enveloped everyone - Mark Hughes, television reporters, fans, no one could escape the buzz of a fast-emerging and truly remarkable story. Supporters were filmed during the day driving past Eastlands sporting white cloths attached their heads with black tape, doubtless in homage to their extraordinarily wealthy prospective new Arab owners. It is all a far cry from the time when their idea of ecstasy was late drama against Gillingham.

Now that the dust has settled on the transfer window and we've had time to collect our thoughts I want to know what you thought was the best piece of deadline day business was in the Football League.

Read the rest of this entry