Melting pot

* Jamie Carragher and Phil Brown have taken up arms for those countless young hopefuls who are told they will be football stars, promised the earth, encouraged to dream – and then cut adrift. Ian Herbert asks why no-one is likely to listen to them. . By Ian Herbert 11 February 2013 Tell me why […]

* The Africa Cup of Nations has placed the footballing brilliance of the ‘forsaken continent’ back in the spotlight for a few weeks.  But Ian Herbert says there is a more significant question about football in Africa than whether Ghana, Mali, Nigeria or Burkina Faso will win Saturday’s final. . By Ian Herbert 4 February […]

* Pep Guardiola was a serial winner as the coach of Barcelona, making him the most sought-after manager in global football when he took he took a sabbatical from his career at the end of the 2011-12 season. Chelsea were desperate to lure him to Stamford Bridge. Both Manchester clubs and others were reported to […]

* During the Capital One Cup match between Swansea and Chelsea last week, the achievement of the Welsh side in beating the reigning European champions was significantly overlooked the next morning by the incident in which a 17-year-old ballboy, Charlie Morgan, smothered the ball, and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard retrieved it. Ian Herbert asks why we are […]

* After the week in which we learned that Michael Johnson, the player hailed as the next Colin Bell, has been released by Manchester City, Ian Herbert asks why we don’t appreciate the mental challenge that football presents to some individuals who are lauded and loaded when they’re barely into their teens. . By Ian […]

* CHRISTOPHER DAVIES is a veteran football writer who paid 17 shillings and sixpence to be at Wembley for the 1966 World Cup final. A former chairman of the Football Writers’ Association, he is the current editor of FootballWriters.co.uk and the author of  ‘Behind the Back Page: The Adventures of a Sports Writer.‘ Here he argues that […]

  After the week in which Mario Balotelli moved a step nearer the Manchester City exit, Ian Herbert asks why his club haven’t matched their vast investment in him with a heavy layout on those who can put him on the straight and narrow . By Ian Herbert 14 January 2013 Ridiculous, you’ll probably say […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 8 January 2013   So Lionel Messi yesterday won the Ballon D’Or for the fourth time in a row, having had a stellar year in which he won the Copa del Rey. And scored 91 goals. The brilliant Argentinean, 25, collected the award – deservedly […]

* In his first Monday column of 2013, Ian Herbert, The Independent’s man in the north-west, asks why we only remember Ronnie Radford when 21st century giant killers are far more up against it; why ITV’s Splash! was a car crash; and why the Premier League chairmen won’t take Fergie on. . By Ian Herbert […]

By Sportingintelligence 31 December 2012 From everyone at Sportingintelligence to every who has taken time to visit the site and read any single piece we’ve produced in 2012, thank you. Wishing you all a healthy and prosperous, and robustly opinionated new year, here are the stories on this website most read in the past 12 […]