14 comments

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  Kyle

  1 year ago

  Left off of your books list is David Goldblatt's The Ball is Round. I'm halfway through the 900+ page paperback and am very impressed so far.
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  NC

  1 year ago

  I hate world soccer magazine. Glanville et al always seem to be trying *too* hard to be controversial and slag off players and management. This detracts from any, if any at all, good football analysis.
  
  Sunday supplement is OK for english football, but for scottish and other european football it is rubbish. jimmy hill and his middle-class mates sitting around drinking orange juice and eating pastries and croissants. What a load of trash.
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  Pork Romeo

  1 year ago

  Gaffer, thanks for the list. From time to time you post such blogs, please continue to do so.
  
  The World Football Phone In I can vouch for as well. Always informative and V ickery, Wheelock and others are very generous with their time.
  
  Shoulders with Kyle, The Ball is Round is a goodin..
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  Phil McThomas

  1 year ago

  Can I add David Pleat to the list? He can be found on the Guardian website and as a co-commentator on one of the weekend's games (for international fans). Good tactical analysis.
  
  I find Alan Smith to be the opposide of Pleat - too often the "if you see it, say it" approach. E.G. “Well, the winger crossed the ball in…and the striker jumps above everyone else…gets his head to the ball…and it’s in the back of the net”.
  
  That's why I panned the Champions League 3D a bit on my blog the other week:
  
  http://soccershout.com/2008/04/04/champions-lea...
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  John Turnbull

  1 year ago

  Thanks very much for the overly kind mention. It should be clear that the interesting article on watercolors and football that you cite is by Jennifer Doyle, who writes a literary football blog - From a Left Wing (http://fromaleftwing.blogspot.com/) - that is well worth reading, as are the other sources you include. I think that Alan Green's World Football program can be quite good, although listening to Green's pontifications can be grating.
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  Fsquid

  1 year ago

  I enjoy the FourFourTwo magazine. Mainly for their historical articles and then their monthly feature on a soccer rivalry (The Israeli one was eyeopening).
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  eplnfl

  1 year ago

  The World Football Phone In, is a classic. Good to see it up there at the top of the list.
  
  So, I guess the thing we should be pushing for is to have Booby McMahon on the World Football Phone In and then everyone can be well informed!
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  NC

  1 year ago

  David Pleat?
  
  Is that David "i can't pronounce or remember most player's names" Pleat?
  
  The only analysis that he should be doing is of his pension book. His commentary is cringeworthy.
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  eplnfl

  1 year ago

  Thats Bobby not Booby, but it may work for him!
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  Fsquid

  1 year ago

  David Pleat started the demise of Sheffield Wednesday
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  Alex Hleb

  1 year ago

  gaffer, what about the guardian? what about four four two?
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  The Gaffer

  1 year ago

  Alex,
  
  The Guardian is one of my favorite newspapers to read, but in the list I created, I'm trying to identify specific writers. It's too easy to say just "The Guardian," but it's a lot harder to pick someone who regularly writes intelligent articles that help soccer fans learn something.
  
  442 is a good magazine, but it's more commercialized than World Soccer.
  
  Phil,
  
  I considered David Pleat, but his TV commentary is awful at times which makes me question his analysis that he writes in his newspaper column for The Guardian.
  
  Cheers,
  The Gaffer
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  Ryan

  1 year ago

  I'm looking for others opinions on Fever Pitch, I just finished it and I thought it was good and mildly humorous but not fantastic and hilarious like a lot of reviewers say.
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  Ivan

  1 year ago

  Guardian podcast is my personal favourite entertaining and informative...sid lowe's column is how footballer writers should do it. Big fan of SA expert Tim Vickery. Got issues with The game podcast..balangue can blow his own trumpet and at times the liverpool fan club makes me sick . Balangue on other topics is very good but on liverpool inherent bias but he does offer some good insight into rafa. Marcotti has always been very good.
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