On the pitch, the Spanish champions have won their second consecutive league title, and have an incredible six pieces of silverware from the last two seasons alone. To say that they are the best side in Europe today would be an understatement. Click here to read more

“The great fallacy is that the game is first and foremost about winning. It’s nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It’s about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom”

-Danny Blanchflower’s immortal sermon from 1972

Johan Cruyff believes England will pay the price at the World Cup for employing too many foreign players.

'Everyone knows how it is with England,' said the Dutch legend.

Liverpool youth coach Rodolfo Borrell has revealed how surprised he was by the poor quality of the club's academy when he arrived at the club in 2009.

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STREET FOOTBALL  by John Cartwright

 The glory days of Street Football in the UK ran, more or less, from the early 1900’s through to the late 1950’s. Small pockets may have survived in some of the more economically deprived areas of the country beyond the 50’s but generally, as economic prosperity increased, Street Football ‘died’.

A similar situation occurred in some Western European countries, although the demise of the street game has not happened so swiftly in some parts where economic progress has only moved forward slowly. In these deprived areas of Europe and in other parts of the football world, the street game is still played and enjoyed by millions on open spaces, beaches as well as in streets because of the simplicity to organize and play it.

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On a ferry in Belfast

The volcanic ash cloud has delayed my return from Ireland so a boat to Stranraer beckons. Then I am hitching a lift to London with a methodist minister called Mark and a primary school teacher from Cambridge called Heather.

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