A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

The growing trend in education for providing students with opportunities to reflect on their work and respond to marking is one that I have struggled to get my head round. Gone are the days of a few ticks here and there and some “good work”/”see me” comments with an expectation that students are set targets to respond to or sections of assessed work to redraft. Needless to say there is a questionable acronym involved. When I first came across the concept of ‘DIRT lessons’ I was hoping this would be an opportunity for my classes to discuss why Mick Mars has always been the best member of Motley Crue but apparently it stood for ‘Directed Improvement and Reflection Time’. Despite my cynicism towards anything remotely new and exciting in teaching there are some benefits to this for exam classes where there is a clear mark scheme outlining expectations. When it comes to the lower years though it can be a bit of an exercise in futility especially in the last week of the summer term with a Ye...

Today Richard Allinson takes a look back at some of the beautiful game’s finest expressions of post-goal excitement. There are plenty of options he could have chosen for this post but, in light of Cristiano Ronaldo’s aversion to Coca Cola’s product placement in the recent European Championships, his choice of a Georgian striker who clearly had a bone to pick with Adidas is suitably fitting. Over to Rich. In the shadow of Bukayo Saka whipping his shirt off to celebrate over hitting a cross/to take off his Under Armour, it is time for us to take a look at the (not so humble) goal celebration.  Now, I have to admit that I am a big fan of the 1930s handshake and trot back to the halfway line. Strong, understated, gentlemanly. But then I’m also a fan of Paul Gascoigne having Lucozade spaffed in his face to commemorate getting twatted in Hong Kong. It was about as far from being strong, understated and gentlemanly as you can get, but it was bloody brilliant. In fact, the only goal celebr...

When an artist or band has been around for a number of years it has to be a tough balance between playing the tracks that earned you a legion of fans and treating said adoring public to some deep cuts from your new album. One of the many highlights of seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band back in 2016 was the part of the set where The Boss wandered out into the crowd to select from the array of signs requesting songs. By no means am I comparing us here at A Sticker’s Worth 500 Words to New Jersey’s finest but we’re always happy to deviate from the experimental new tracks to bang out some old favourites for those patient enough to read these posts. James Lasowski , this one’s for you. Ahead of the recent European Championships all of the nations involved unveiled a range of snazzy new kits in the hope they would both encourage those donning them to tournament glory and swell the coffers of their football associations. Some, like debutants Finland and North Macedonia’s efforts...

Today Richard Allinson looks at a national hero who currently isn’t allowed in the particular nation in which he was once so heroic. Whereas Marcus Rashford ended up with an MBE after taking the government to task and Theo Zagorakis found himself with a nice role as head of Greek football after resigning his position as an MEP today’s subject found himself in a much stickier situation. Maybe he should have just written his complaints on a big bed sheet . Over to Rich. The latter stages of major tournaments throughout the 1990s and 2000s always seemed to throw up a number of countries and their talismanic leaders that disappeared from the upper echelons of the world scene almost as quickly as they arrived: Romania with Hagi and Dumitrescu; Bulgaria with Stoichkov and Letchkov; Norway with Øyvind Leonhardsen and erm… Steffen Iversen; Turkey with Rüstü Reçber and Colin Kazim-Richards Hakan Sükür. I’m sure each of these players have gone on to have happy and successful lives but I can’t...

Today Mat Jolin-Beech takes a look at the summer following a major international tournament when almost anyone can appear to be the answer to the prayers of a Premier League manager. A special mention must go here to Milan Baros who managed to eke out a Champions League winner’s medal with Liverpool by hitting a purple patch during Euro 2004 hitherto unseen at Anfield. It’s also fair to say that Sir Alex Ferguson did have the odd off day in the transfer market unless we are “all f***ing idiots” and Juan Sebastion Veron was actually “a f***ing great player”. Over to Mat. Every two years at a major tournament, or three as Euro 2020 takes place in 2021, players are in the shop window. There are the big names we all know, showing off their talents and reinforcing their status as the world’s best. Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Kane, Mbappe and Pogba to name but a few. However, for the rising stars, unheard of at least to armchair fans without the full Champ Manager database to trawl through, it ...

It might be a bit too early to be consigning the events of the recently completed European Championships into pub quiz rounds but I’d wager that there will be a few question setters smugly adding in “Who scored the first goal of Euro 2020?” You might remember that Italy ran out 3-0 winners in Rome against Turkey. You might remember that, despite playing at home, the Azzurri were technically the away side and therefore forced to endure the awful Puma change kit template inflicted upon the tournament. You might have been more moved by Andrea Bocelli evoking memories of Italia 90 with a rousing rendition of Puccini’s Nessun Dorma and/or the bizarre little car that delivered the match ball. But did you remember that Turkey’s Merih Demiral’s botched attempt to cut out Domenico Berardi’s cross provided the tournament with its opening goal? Sadly for Turkey it provided something of a metaphor for their performance in the competition. Despite his nation’s disappointing performances at Euro 20...

Today Mat Jolin-Beech brings us yet another first for the blog (no, not another algorithm ) with a trip beyond the pitch, past the dugout and into the boardroom. The European Super League debacle brought the issues of club chairmen to the forefront in the closing weeks of the 2020/21 football season but, outside of the top flight, many fine clubs like Bury, Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient have been at the mercy of some genuinely reprehensible owners. Over to Mat for more. Many fans have a hate/hate relationship with their owners. Very few are lucky to be endowed with cash rich, supportive custodians such as Chelsea with Roman Abramovich or Manchester City with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan. Both of those have invested heavily into the playing squad, training facilities, the stadiums and, in City’s case, have created an unrivalled campus of facilities for the youth and women’s teams. There are those who are less lucky. Yes, as a Manchester United fan, the Glazers are on this...

The advent of streaming services has paved the way for a whole host of sporting documentaries of varying quality. Netflix’s ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’ confirmed that Jonny Williams was a very nice bloke and that the Black Cats were in such a mess that their misery warranted a second series. Amazon Prime veered more towards the hagiographical with their ‘All or Nothing’ spotlights on such endearing underdogs as the All Blacks, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. The latter at least gave us the comedy stylings of Jose Mourinho at the very peak of his shithousing powers but was on the receiving end of some sharp reviews who variously described it as “boringly sanitised”, “a lot of hype, little delivery” and a “glorified puff piece”. For similar viewing the Spurs’ 2020/21 Season Review should suffice. However, everyone’s favourite tax-evading online shop for everything did strike a more insightful chord with the recently released ‘When Eagles Dare’ which took a look at the trials and tri...

Once again we are in the hands of statistical head of selectors Mat Jolin-Beech as he attempts to piece together an alternative England squad of players yet to represent the Three Lions. As a caveat Mat put this team together way back in early May so if any of the players listed below have subsequently helped bring football home/crashed out in the group stages we can only apologise. Over to Mat. Following on from the blog dedicated to Kevin Campbell , I am dusting off the unique ASW500 ranking algorithm to work out who is the current best uncapped England XI. As a jumping off point, a quick Google threw up Mark Noble, Mr West Ham himself, as one of the best uncapped players. Others included Kevin Campbell, Steve Bruce , and Kevin Nolan. Is Mark Noble a surprise? Yes. He probably should have got at least one cap bearing in mind jay Bothroyd did. Some ground rules: Formation will be 4-3-3, as favoured by Gareth Southgate in recent games. They must be current active players, and eligible...