A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

This week Mat Jolin-Beech proves that age is but a number with a look at one of the Premier League’s oldest goalscorers. Our more regular readers may have noticed we love a cheeky bit of self-referencing but it is merely coincidental that we have already covered six of the top ten list in previous posts. It’s almost as if a collection of ageing football fans with increasingly dodgy knees like to big up those who defied such inevitabilities. Over to Mat. Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter as the BBC loves to say) throws. up some good stats. Usually with a clickbait title, you’ll never recognise this Manchester United treble winner for example, or some nice infographic as the media types love to say. In the wake of Chelsea’s epic draw with Manchester City where Thiago Silva, the grand old man of the Blues’ defence/grizzled centre half/veteran centre back, depending on your favoured cliché, grabbed one of the goals Transfermarkt, via a suggested for you Facebook post, threw up the...

In October 2021 England men’s team manager Gareth Southgate was back where his footballing career started to open the refurbished Crystal Palace Academy. Southgate stated “Crystal Palace have always had a philosophy of producing home-grown players and have a hotbed of talent to choose from in south London. As a young player, they instilled in me a toughness, adaptability and resilience that was important throughout my career.” He wasn’t quite so effusive about the Eagles’ role in developing his penalty technique but no doubt that toughness and resilience proved useful when he was forced to eat multiple slices of smoky Pizza Hut produce . Palace being “the training ground for the stars” to quote my Gran is hardly news and the club has prided itself on the high number of impressive Academy graduates who have forged careers both at Selhurst Park and beyond. The Eagles’ side that went down 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur recently featured Tyrick Mitchell, Nathaniel Clyne and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi ...

This week Richard Allinson takes on a longstanding request post from Dan Barker Gray on a man who can only be described as a Grimsby Town legend. With three Player of the Year awards, a record number of appearances and a key part in the Mariners’ Auto Windscreens Shield glory at Wembley it is no surprise he was awarded the club’s Special Achievement Award at the end of his playing career. Over to Rich. “We can confirm that Manager Paul Hurst and Assistant Manager Chris Doig have left their roles at Grimsby Town Football Club.” And with that, the search for the next Grimsby Town manager began. Hurst, and Doig, over two spells with the Mariners had achieved success that might fly under the radar for a lot of football fans. There were two promotions from non-league back to the Football League (one of which was achieved under an ownership regime which at times seemed set up more to hinder than help); two FA Trophy Final appearances; an FA Cup Quarter Final place; and the club’s highest l...