By Brian Sears  19 August 2016 It was this time a year ago that we wrote that Chelsea’s title hopes were as good as gone after two games – purely from a statistical history point of view. Jose Mourinho’s team (as they were then) had lost both their opening games, and in the piece linked here we […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 8 February 2012   Overseas and over here Landmark dates in the history of overseas players in English football 1892 Walter Bowman, born and raised in Canada, of Swiss heritage, becomes the first foreign player in Football League history, for Accrington. He later plays for Ardwick […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 24 October 2011 Manchester City’s evisceration of Manchester United on Sunday was orchestrated by foreign stars, with the six goals split between imports Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Edin Dzeko. It’s not unusual these days for Premier League sides to be full of […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 March 2011 . While I was researching and writing my first book, ‘England, Their England’, a history of foreign players in the English game since 1888 (published in 2003), I’d amuse myself in times of writer’s block by toying with the idea of an […]

* JOHN ROBERTS wrote for the Daily Express, The Guardian, the Daily Mail and The Independent, where he was the tennis correspondent for 20 years. He collaborated with Bill Shankly on the Liverpool manager’s autobiography, ghosted Kevin Keegan’s first book, and has written books on George Best, Manchester United’s Busby Babes (The Team That Wouldn’t Die) and Everton (The Official […]

. Got a must-see DVD or YouTube clip to recommend, or any other piece of visual footage for that matter? Then email us and tell us, and put “I recommend . . .” in the title. . British Pathe This archive of newsreel footage allows you search and watch for nothing. It’s a treasure trove. […]