Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 13 June 2016 Oh Clive, what were you thinking? Justice for the England Eleven? Really? I had to wind back to check that really was the venerable ITV commentator’s reaction to Eric Dier’s free-kick goal for […]
Melting pot
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Euro 2016 squads: cost £2.2bn but worth more than double
By Nick Harris 10 June 2016 Two interesting and credible studies published this week have attempted to quantify the cost (and separately, the value) of the 24 squads that will contest Euro 2016, which begins this evening in Paris when hosts France face Romania at the Stade de France. The first was conducted by Profit […]
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‘Never again will the authentic voice of a hero like Ali be heard’
Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 6 June 2016 There will never be another. Everybody said so, on the death of Muhammad Ali; especially on BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning where, in true house style, no cliché was left unturned, […]
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Infantino’s 100-day report card: a farcical FIFA fail
By James Corbett 4 June 2016 CLICK HERE: FULL GUIDE TO THE ELECTION In September 1997, when Britain was still intoxicated by the biggest general election landslide in the country’s history, the Labour Party spin doctor Derek Draper published a book, entitled ‘Blair’s 100 Days.’ A self-styled […]
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‘Football’s contribution to popular culture? Puny’
Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 30 May 2016 Television remains a world of wonder. Who would think to switch on the set to hear Graeme Le Saux’s views on period pains and transgender toilet arrangements? This joy came to us […]
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‘Jimmy Hill changed Coventry from monochrome to colour’
Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 23 May 2016 You’ll forgive me if I lose focus a little this week, but I was playing a drinking game on Cup Final day, treating myself to a small glass of red […]
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‘Mushy peas and rugby league – a product that’s found its audience’
By Martin Kelner Brought to you in association with concrete! 16 May 2016 The BBC breathed a sigh of relief when the White Paper on its future was published the other day, and instead of the threatened sanctions – Strictly Come Dancing to be scheduled at […]
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‘Villa and Newcastle, once bright lights, now Dim and Dimmer’
By Martin Kelner 9 May 2016 The final few shirt-sleeved weeks of the season are tough for the teams at the foot of the Premier League, but there was no call for what Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce did when Matic put Chelsea 2-1 ahead just before half time at the Stadium of […]
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‘Even Emily Maitlis on Newsnight went Leicester City gaga’
Screen Break By Martin Kelner To sponsor this column, see foot of page 2 May 2016 I’m a very bad person. All week long, as the anti-Semitism debate rumbled on, relentlessly ploughing the same field, just with a shifting cast of politicos and lobbyists and as a (very lapsed) Jew I […]
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Bob Latchford and me: a boy’s own tale
. Norwegian sports writer Andreas Selliaas grew up in a village south of Oslo in the 1970s, watching English football from afar and playing make believe in the street. His friends would quarrel over who would be Kevin Keegan and who would be Kenny Dalglish. Selliaas wanted to be neither. He wanted to be Bob […]
