It’s the FA People’s Cup, but who can understand this affliction in the sun? Fair weather to me is a bitter breeze, high winds and a heavy squall, ice patches on fourth generation artificial surfaces, capillaries beaten red in the air of a floodlit winter. But here, under the deepest of azures, unmitigated sun inflames […]

Watching the sky change from Petticoat Tower, on the top floor a widower scans the gold of morning, hassle of twilight, glimpses the holy land as old animosities settle over gin and lemonade with the old boy from the ground floor with the frame. Past rivalries fade as we look down on the metropolis, running […]

A trophy haul to rival Ferguson’s, but new seasons don’t feel so new any more. An imaginary game in the village of Solva, a training camp in the Austrian Alps, immaculate pitches, mountains and thunderclouds. A refurbished Meadow Park. A dwindling summer, birds leaving these isles, longer shadows in the parks at dusk. Careful writing […]

A tea cosy hat – the strange shape of loyalty. The Hammersmith and Fulham crest says ‘I stood among terrace weeds.’ Long distance coaches crawled north for bitter days on broken trajectories. The tracksuits and apparel of desert eras are prized much higher than a club merchandiser retro clothing range. Authentic bleached synthetic shirts go […]

Clouds were grey and yellow above waves below verandahs where Magpies thronged en route to Thursday in Bordeaux from south coast weather, a Portsmouth low, to a liner’s isolated corners, transitory bars, sea mists, beans and sausages. Simple food and butterflies on the afterdeck are Springtime hopes Europa promises.