The Rest is Football should be sent off
Gary Lineker’s new podcast offers a stale standard of analysis that barely hovers above that offered by the drunkest bar-propper…
ByFootball
Dive into the world of football with our collection of columns, articles and longer-read features.
How I fell for women’s football
It was banned by the FA for 50 years, but the football my team plays has opened up a more…
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Lindi Ngwenya: “Women football agents are as cut-throat as the men”
The trailblazing agent is dedicated to nurturing talent from across the world – and supporting her rising stars in the…
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How Dele Alli exposed the trauma that accompanies success in elite sport
We are increasingly discovering the mental cost of the pressure the sports industry places on its stars.
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How sport explains Thatcher’s Britain
The commerce, scandal and violence of sport in the 1980s was a reflection of a ruthlessly individualist society.
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Dear England and the English Question
In his new play about Gareth Southgate, James Graham uses football to explore a contested national identity.
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James Graham’s Dear England is a tiresome ode to St Gareth Southgate
The National Theatre production presents the manager’s path to national saviour but fails to add anything of note to our…
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David Baddiel: “I am not ashamed to be a heterosexual male”
The comedian on becoming a public intellectual, and wanting to be more than “the voice for Britain’s Jews”.
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Guardiola’s idealism is evaporating amid Man City’s dogged pursuit of victory
The manager’s legacy in the world of football is unrivalled but, one by one, the aspects that made him easy…
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It’s been a dramatic season, but its high point is still to come: Carlisle vs Stockport at Wembley
Man City’s Ederson kicks off the long-awaited, much coveted 27th annual The Fan Awards…
By In football even the lowliest clubs have their time in the sun, however brief
In August 1974, Carlisle United were top of the First Division. Fans still reminisce over when their lads stuffed one…
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Whether sodden bomb or swerving orb, the football has always been a dangerous item
This is a world where “concussion sports law” is already a discipline and a trade.
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Mesut Özil was a stylist who lost his way in the new era of measurement and numbers
The 34-year-old football player’s retirement feels both premature and long overdue.
By Football was never a truly amateur game, but now even the supporting cast are raking it in
Tottenham Hotspur’s Daniel Levy currently tops the lot with a salary of £3.3m. Well done Daniel, and without kicking a…
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Gary Lineker’s tweet, the BBC’s panic, and why I was left to “sort it out”
As the Match of the Day host’s agent, I had a busy week at the centre of the impartiality storm.
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Gary Lineker: “The BBC can’t stop me talking about politics”
The Match of the Day presenter on impartiality, disapproval over his pay, and the freedom of podcasting.
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John Motson channelled the exhilaration of football, but commentary has moved on
For many fans the veteran commentator’s death has been the focal point for a wider sense of loss.
By Stuck at home ill, thank goodness I have football’s follies to keep me entertained
Singing to mock a record signing, a mighty Wolves victory, and sympathy for Antonio Conte over the pain of gallstones.
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Football remains spectacular, but the trust between clubs and the public is broken
The game’s richest teams have disfigured the economic terrain of the sport – but a reckoning is on the horizon.
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The unstoppable rise of football’s nepo babies
Even the game’s players are becoming an oligarchy.
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