Daily Archives: August 15, 2023

A Premier League Love Story Has Heartbreak Ahead

Luton Town’s home, Kenilworth Road, is not your usual Premier League stadium.
“Within a few days of Luton Town’s promotion to the Premier League in May, the construction crews were moving in and the scaffolding was going up at its stadium, Kenilworth Road. The club’s first home game in English soccer’s top flight since its money-spinning, supercharged rebrand into the richest, most popular league in the world was not quite three months away. There was an alarming amount of work to do, and not nearly enough time to do it. …”
NY Times

Will Spursiness stop Harry Kane winning at Bayern Munich?

“There is a profound force that has shaped German soccer for decades. Even before economic factors elevated Bayern to a position of unhealthy dominance over German soccer, they had ‘Bayern-dusel’ – Bayern-luck. Again and again things would go their way just when they needed them to, a sense that manifested most obviously in the number of last-minute winners they always seemed to score. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

David Silva – The Sorcerer in Plain Clothes

“On a December evening in 2010, Andy Gray was in a studio, possibly somewhere in London, discussing Manchester City’s recent defeat against Everton at home. It was brought to Gray’s notice that Lionel Messi had, as was usual then, turned on the magic for Barcelona. His response is now part of football folklore. It is a genius statement – irreverent, filled with equal amounts of comic intent and pure English hubris. …”
Football Paradise