The Archive

Ian Plenderleith uses websites like YouTube to discover a metaphorical gold mine of bad punditry from around the world

Who is the game’s worst broadcaster? The debate has embraced a wider cast of dubious characters now that we can head to YouTube to hear the gibbering vacuity and perverse analysis of commentators and pundits from around the world. And, thanks to the internet, British viewers were well warned ahead of the arrival on their screens this year of the lead candidate for football’s most nonsensical TV goon, ESPN’s diminutive, smooth-topped Irish export, Tommy Smyth.

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In the first part of a feature on the financial turmoil that has enveloped football, Ashley Shaw looks at the fury caused by the Glazers' attempt to load even more debt on to Manchester United

There have been few more important documents in the history of Manchester United than the bond prospectus published last month. The admission that the Glazers have already taken out £22.9 million in loans and fees, and could suck a further £500m out of the club over the next seven years, means there can no longer be any pretence about the motivation for the 2005 takeover. The age of the football asset-stripper is at hand.

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A Hamburg club is rising quickly through the regional divisions thanks to a highly professional outlook. Matt Nation feels the need to defend his choice of Saturday afternoon entertainment

A classmate of mine once turned up to school on a Monday morning sporting a pair of sideburns. Although not quite in the family-butcher class, they were bushy enough to attract the attention of the PE teacher, who immediately went up to Mutton Chops, grabbed the offending whiskers, said “You’re too young to have sideburns” and lifted the owner six inches off the ground.

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In a game between fellow Championship strugglers, Simon Hart watches the away side continue their poor travelling form, while a debut for the home manager and a hard-fought win sees optimism bloom in Yorkshire 

“Normally you’d get 18 to 19,000 here for a Peterborough game but we’re expecting 24 today – a couple of wins on the bounce, a new manager, there’s a feelgood effect.”

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Harry Pearson delves into a book containing allegations of football bribery on an international level

Declan Hill is an award-winning Canadian investigative journalist. The Fix – Soccer and Organized Crime was published in Toronto in 2008. So far no UK publisher has taken on this detailed account of match-fixing across the globe. There is good reason for this.

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