“St.James’ Park Sunday 12th January, Newcastle United had just equalised against Manchester City in a keenly contested battle, and suddenly joy turns to uproar, the goal has been chalked off for offside. The crowd turn on the referee in disbelief. This is football, and this is football that belongs to the public. The City fans brief a sigh of relief and resume their vocal support and the Newcastle fans boo and jeer at the referee until he blows for half time. It was a decision no money could buy, it was a decision not based on financial background or profitability but perhaps a case of human error. Perhaps it was the right decision. It was a decision made in boiling pot and central to our culture, and more importantly the key to the beloved sport that is football. It gives the fans something they can all be involved in, something neither team can do about it. It is fate and it is football.” Outside of the Boot

“In this article, I want to look reasonably briefly at the writing of football, largely as a point of departure for other articles I hope to write at some point. Writing about any facet of football is essentially constructing a history of football. This has inherent problems, and it is perhaps best to look at these problems by treating the writing of football as you might treat the writing of any historical account, by looking at it through the lens of historiography. The first issue is with the primary material, football itself. No one can cover everything. There are too many games, too many levels, too many tournaments. Even in one single game, the multiplicity of events makes holistic reading impossible. Much of what happened in the past was poorly recorded, and we are left with fragments.” Put Niels In Goal