• Then I realised there is no central being, no person in a back room with an Akashic list or metaphysical clipboard in Hammersmith. Ultimately, ‘Fulham’ does not exist. No single person can validate your support; will loyalty points cross our final threshold, rowed over unsettled water by a ferryman courier for passage to a packed […]
  • How did you get me twice? Back on the field I thought I had escaped your clutches, comments, your dismissive shaking of the head. The frustrated Biology teacher helping with games, telling us we were useless with a glance: You got me then – now you’ve got me again. As a colleague, what’s your motivational […]
  • All angles of approach were wrong; James said ‘One of these days, you’ll play on the floor’, but I was in the far corner: it was two on one. All angles of approach were wrong. The midfield was cross I was clipping it long; I tried to look up and play what I saw. We […]
  • The arboretum’s real; I told you at the time. We never get the people through the checkpoints and the river police; I told you at the time. The inland lakes are real; I told you at the time. A garden by John Tradescant, bunkers and a driving range: helmets are advised. The rolling pasture’s real; […]
  • If I can’t find words or if they are halted by a synaptic lock keeper, tyrannical yet wise, holding up a hand to delay the latest craft, whatever its design, I return to a trusted question, my favourite formula: Have you ever heard of Vincenzo Montella? If I can’t find truth or it’s out there […]