A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

While the 1994 World Cup was the first major tournament I remember and Euro ’96 dominated all aspects of life due to being held in England and the host nation’s penalty shootout heartache it was not until 1998 that I truly tapped into the build up to the forthcoming festivities in France. We gathered at my uncle’s to watch the pivotal qualifier between the Three Lions and Italy to witness Paul Ince do his best Terry Butcher impression and the 0-0 draw meant it was time to squirrel away the pocket money for yet another sticker album. It’s probably a good time to personally apologise for the climate crisis, and to my old man, due to the regular visits to the Sainsbury’s petrol station deemed essential for the good of the family motor which were actually to add to the supermarket’s questionable tie-in medal collection . The speculation over who would make Glenn Hoddle’s squad was endless and the England manager was spoilt for choice in a variety of positions. The joint top scorers in ...

Mat Jolin-Beech takes us back to the ongoing psychodrama that is Manchester United with this post on a solid midfielder who followed up his 342 appearances for the Red Devils by entering the Byzantine world of the club’s backroom staff. Unlike his hard work and efficiency on the pitch it’s less obvious what he’s up to these days. Perhaps Mat has solved the riddle. One lunch break at work, scrolling though YouTube to pass the time, coupled to my pesto pasta salad, a theme cropped up from the INEOS revolution hopefully taking place at Old Trafford. The role of the imminent director of football , and how the club can conform to, and thrive within, the FFP (or whatever they will be called with the shakeup and alignment to European regulations – Brexit, what Brexit?) was something kept coming up. One key theme within this was the role of the academy to produce players for the team, but also players that can be sold for, under FFP rules, pure profit. Players like John O’Shea , Phil Neville, ...