Analysis & Insights

Is Home Advantage Real: Can Home Fans Help Their Team Win?
Everyone has heard of the home advantage. A game played away from home is thought to be a tougher prospect than the same game played at your own ground. It’s something we learn early on […]

Set-Piece Coach Role on the Rise as Clubs Seek Match Winning Plays
On average, between 20% and 30% of goals scored come from set-pieces. Despite this, it wasn’t until the 2010s that the dedicated set-piece coach role started becoming more common. The exact numbers of goals scored […]

Do Football Agents Really Have As Much Power As People Say?
In football, most of the attention is on the players themselves or the manager. Yet these aren’t necessarily the people with the most power. They are answerable to the likes of the sporting director and […]
Opinion & Debate

Referees Are Biased Against Manchester United, But Standards Are Slipping League Wide
Refereeing has always been a contentious topic in football, but recent seasons have seen an uptick in debate around officiating, particularly when it comes to Manchester United. High-profile games often leave fans questioning whether the […]

The Best Football YouTube Channels: YouTubers You Should Watch
I remember watching Match of the Day with my Dad of a Saturday evening back in the 1990s. It was the quickest way to get a round up of the day’s football and hear some […]

Changing the Offside Rule Can’t Come Quickly Enough
I read with relief that Arsene Wenger, long-time Arsenal manager and now Chief of International Football Development at FIFA, had proposed changing the offside rule. He is a man who understands the game better than […]
Clubs & Management

Jobs at Football Clubs That Anyone Can Do
If you are like me, you will be a big football fan but not someone with any skills the football industry would want. In other words, you are 100% unemployable at a football club. Or […]

Every Football Pub: Where Supporters Drink Before The Game
Football pubs are public houses that open all week, but on matchdays, they become supporters clubs. Places where fans feel they belong, where they can walk in alone and instantly have company. Every club has […]

Sporting Director, Technical Director, Chief Executive – What Do These People Actually Do?
For a football club to operate effectively and be successful, they need to get their management structure right. I’m not talking about the manager of the team and his assistants and coaches, but the management […]
Football History

The Evolution of Football Boots: From 1526 to Now
The average professional football boot weighs between 200-250 grams – about 40% lighter than boots from the 1990s. That represents about 30 years’ worth of progress, but people have been playing organised football since the […]

Evolution of the Goalkeeper: From Shot Stoppers to Playmakers
Football is always evolving. If you could watch a game back in 1900 it would be unrecognisable from a game today. I’m not talking about how the ball has changed or the lack of sponsorship […]

Why Do Football Songs and Chants Exist and How Did They Start?
There have been some absolute belters over the years haven’t there? Football songs and chants have provided some brilliantly funny moments, and some not so funny ones, too, but then, football fans aren’t known for […]