“On the 2nd December 2013, with Wigan having lost four of their last five games and sitting 14th in the Championship, Owen Coyle was dismissed as manager after a mere six months in charge. Only five points separated them from 21st placed Millwall and the unbridled glory of their FA Cup triumph against Manchester City seemed decades ago. However, under the guidance of the young and relatively inexperienced Uwe Rösler, they have now rather unbelievably booked their place once again at Wembley for a semi final showdown with the odds on favourites Arsenal and sit in seventh place, level on points with Brighton and just three points behind Nottingham Forest – with two games in hand on both of them.” backpagefootball

“Fans of Felix Magath liken him to a demon headmaster. One of his former players claims he was more like Saddam Hussein. Another one dubbed him ‘the last dictator in Europe’. None of this sounds good. Perhaps Dimitar Berbatov, who left Craven Cottage in January, learned of the imminent arrival of Fulham’s new manager in a premonition and got spooked. ‘Pack your bags, Mrs Berbatov, we’re moving to Monaco.’ Certainly, the notoriously sedentary Bulgarian striker is better off out of it.” BBC

“Swansea’s decision to sack boss Michael Laudrup four days before facing rivals Cardiff has ensured this weekend’s south Wales derby is shaping up to be an even bigger game than normal. Under Brendan Rodgers and then Laudrup, Swansea have had two excellent seasons in the Premier League, capped by finishing ninth and winning the Capital One Cup last year. But since winning that trophy 12 months ago, Swansea have only won eight of 35 Premier League games, and lost 18. That is relegation form.” BBC

“I was about eight or nine and living in Holland when I began reading Voetbal International. It’s a weekly magazine (I think the best-selling weekly soccer magazine on Earth) that isn’t just for fans but is really a sort of trade magazine of Dutch soccer, read by players and coaches and club chairmen too. It’s the place where Dutch soccer discusses itself — and if you know the Dutch, you’ll know there’s always lots to discuss. Thirty-five years later, VI still drops into my mailbox in Paris every Thursday. The magazine connects me with my childhood: all the silly news about who Heracles Almelo is about to sign, or the FC Groningen full-back’s account of his rise and how he owes it all to his mom.” askmen – Simon Kuper

“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