“Andorra versus England was always going to be one of those games that was destined to be a disaster. From the moment the two teams were drawn in teh same qualifying group, 99.9% of the population of the tiny principality (or is it a country?) sandwiched in the mountains between Spain and France, wanted nothing to do with the game, and couldn’t wait to see the game moved elsewhere. That other 0.1%, the Andorran FA only saw cash. Cash that the traveling English fans would bring to the country. Sod the fact their national stadium was in worse shape than Welling United’s (no disrespect Welling) but with a capacity of less than 2,000 it was never going to be played there.” The Ball Is Round

“After a couple of weeks off, we’re bringing back our weekly round-up of non-league videos. Yesterday saw the Third Round of the FA Trophy, and our first two matches come from that competition, kicking off with AFC Wimbledon’s match against Woking. Wimbledon dropped two points against Luton Town during the week and were looking to regain a little momentum. Woking may be a division below Wimbledon, but they have won the FA Trophy three times and took Brighton & Hove Albion to a penalty-shoot-out in the First Round of the FA Cup. The second match, meanwhile, is the match between Ashford Town (Middlesex) of the Zamaretto League Division One Central and Dartford of the Blue Square South, a match which saw one of the biggest crowds in recent years at Ashford’s Short Lane.” twohundredpercent

“Few people would know that there are actually two teams in Leyton, London E10. Or there was until Friday 14th January 2010. That day could be long etched on the history books for non league football as the day a nail was put in the coffin of Leyton FC.” The Ball Is Round

“Prestatyn Town 1-1 Port Talbot Town – Welsh Premier League – 15th January 2011. Often associated with the seaside, Prestatyn Town welcomed the worst elements of the beach to Bastion Road for this Principality Welsh Premier League match against Port Talbot Town. A strong wind and sand covered playing surface did little to inspire any football purist in attendance and their concerns were proved correct as both sides struggled against the conditions in this scrappy yet surprisingly entertaining match.” The Ball Is Round

“The January transfer window has been a bit of a damp squib to date, with the exception of Manchester City’s big money purchase of prolific Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, but rumours of possible signings abound. Perhaps surprisingly, one club that has featured prominently in the feverish press speculation is Birmingham City, who have been linked with a series of attacking players in an attempt to resolve their goal scoring problems, including Kenny Miller and Robbie Keane, and have signed David Bentley on loan.” The Swiss Ramble

“Sometimes the slow death of a movement means that it is difficult to define when something is definitely gone, and some kind of crystallising moment is necessary, writes guest author Jamie Cutteridge. For example, the freshness of New Labour seemed to disappear somewhere around the beginning of this century, but the death of the movement was confirmed when Ed Miliband of the old left was elected leader last year.” twofootedtackle

“The brand new Unofficial Football World Champions book, released this month, is now in stock at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. It’s starting to pick up some really great reviews. And if you’ve already bought the book, today you can access some exclusive bonus content.” UFWC

“You would own a collection of bruised fingers if you clapped every quality article that appeared on the pages of the delightfully named football blog In Bed With Maradona. Not many days go by with some form of mutual backslapping and high fiving between European Football Weekends (EFW) and In bed with Maradona (IBWM). This is a mutual appreciation society (MAS) that borders on the lunacy (BOTL).” European Football Weekends

“The word Thamesmead normally drives fear into the heart of South East Londoners. The town was seen as innovative when it was constructed in the late Sixties on the old Royal Arsenal site by the GLC. Flooding had been an issue in the area so the initial developments were built so that the flats were on the first floor and linked by a series of walkways and bridges. Sounds idyllic right? Well not quite. Mismanagement of the whole project that initially was planned for 100,000 was rife from the start. Promised transport links never materialised (even today with 50,000 residents there is not train station), instead replaces by a dual carriageway that dissects the development, a sewage works and of course Belmarsh high security prison.” The Ball Is Round

“The year of the blog? Very possibly, especially with the current batch of outstanding sites out there which have grown, improved, developed and cross-pollinated in recent time. Aided by social media, an increasingly specialised selection is out there, waiting for you to wade through and bolster your knowledge of the game, and I thoroughly recommend losing yourself in as many of the following as possible.” Guardian

“Soccerlens interviewed the nominees for the 2010 Soccerlens Awards – you can read all the interviews (and vote for your favourite sites and writers) by following the links below…” Soccer Lens Awards

“Start talking about legislation and most people will more than likely switch off. I realise it’s not the sexiest of subjects, or even a particularly interesting word. But it’s one that football fans should take a good deal more interest in, or at least the bits that refer to them specifically. You see, football supporters in the UK are amongst the most heavily legislated-against groups in our society.” In Bed With Maradona

“This week’s non-league matches of the week come from a variety different competitions. As the weather started to return to something approaching normal, the a near-full schedule of matches was played, including matches in both the FA Trophy and postponed matches from the FA Vase. Our first match is the FA Trophy match between Wimbledon and Braintree Town.” twohundredpercent

“You might remember this map – showing the walking routes of the Apollo 11 astronauts superimposed onto a standard-sized football pitch. On MTMG previously… The original map is actually taken from one of NASA’s own excellent sites – here – but still everyone treated it as something of a joke.” More Than Mind Games

“While football may have been initially organised and codified on English soil, the tactical and theoretical development of the game has historically been cultivated in other pockets of Europe, most notably the inter-war bourgeois societies of the Danubian region. From Vienna, to Budapest, to Prague and beyond, football was met with a deeply philosophical and sophisticated approach to the game which resulted in a distinctive style of play emerging from Central Europe. The social driving force behind this development was, of course, the coffee house.” The Equaliser

Odysseus on the island of the Phaiakians, Peter Paul Reubens
“From what I can tell, it’s awards season in the football blogging fraternity. The Soccerlens awards, the WSC Web Awards and the NOPAs, to name just three. I’m not going to lie to you – GhostGoal didn’t get a single nomination from any of them. Did they not hear about my piece in November’s When Saturday Comes that one reader in the letters page described as ‘not letting the facts get in the way of a good story’? Actually maybe they did and that’s the problem..” Ghost Goal

Web watch: 2010 Web awards
WSC

“The last two weeks have been ones of significant travel delays for The Ball is Round team. Not only did we travel to the arctic wastelands of Northern Denmark to bring you all the action from Randers v FC Copenhagen, but we then had to endure Easyjet at its worst with a 5 hour delay long into the middle of the night, and finally closer to home we have had to suffer the ineptness of SouthEastern railways. But all of this time spent waiting gave us a chance to catch up on some long overdue reading and some new games on our iPhone.” The Ball Is Round

“If the kids are united, they will never be divided. Not the kids or the fans this time, a retrospective look at unity from professional players. Here’s Andrew Thomas.” In Bed With Maradona

“We try and avoid the mainstream games as much as we can here at TBIR. You can pick up any newspaper and read a million different views on Carlos Tevez’s strop with Mancini, or that Arsene simply “didn’t see it”, but it is a bit harder to find the real details about the games that count. And that is why we have moved heaven and earth to sign up Mark Pitman to TBIR who will be bringing us the inside view on Port Talbot Town in the Welsh Premier League.” The Ball Is Round

“With December looming, an array of reading matter will be flooding the shelves of your local bookshop. But what to pick? We had hoped to attract Richard & Judy to IBWM but they didn’t answer the phone. Iain Macintosh did though, so we gave him a book. Look what happened.” (In Bed With Maradona)

“Today’s football had been planned for week and was due to coincide with a nice family lunch as a starting point. CMF wanted to spend some of my money on Christmas presents and I had no intention of venturing into any of the 21st century cathedrals we have built in the South East of England. So I agreed to drop her off at Lakeside and pick her up afterwards, leaving me with a 3 1/2 hour window. I hate to say that I was turning my back on Lewes, who were playing at Ship Lane against Lakeside but there is only so many cars you can count on the M25 there. Instead I had two options. Billericay Town and Concord Rangers. So I went to the God of all decisions. Twitter. I asked which one I should go to, and within minutes I had my answer.” (The Ball Is Round)

“Zenit St Petersburg have emerged as one of Europe’s most recognisable clubs, but it has taking a while to get here. Domm Norris charts the rise of a Russian powerhouse.” (In Bed With Maradona)

Earlsmead
“For what I am about to write may the Lord forgive me. Every so often I make bold statements. ‘I will not use my Blackberry after 7pm at night’, ‘I wont use my laptop in bed’, ‘I will have a weekend without watching any football’. What, can you repeat that last one again? I WILL NOT WATCH ANY FOOTBALL FOR A WEEKEND. Yes, in a mad moment some months ago I agreed that I would not go to any games for one weekend in a year.” (The Ball Is Round)

“In March 1947 in the small Kent village of Langton Green a game was invented that literally changed the past times of millions of children around the world. A chap there called Peter Adolph created a set of plastic footballers that he wanted to market in a game called ‘Hobby’. Unfortunately he could not get a trademark on such a generic name so he settled for the slightly similar Falco Subbuteo which was a bird of prey also known as the Eurasian Hobby (see what he did there…).” (The Ball Is Round)

“European Football Weekends is an absolute treasure trove of away days around Europe, from the San Siro to the Dripping Pan. The man behind it all, Danny Last, speaks to Dave Hartrick…” (In Bed With Maradona)

“At 1.30pm on Saturday afternoon I was handed my ‘Get out of jail free’ card. This was supposed to be a treat for Lolly, but my little battle hardened football daughter finally admitted defeat on her heavy cold and declared herself unfit to go to West Ham versus Blackpool. I had a five minute window to decide. Go to Upton Park and undoubtably come home as depressed as Avram Grant on a good day, head down the M23 to watch Lewes amongst the Lewes Lunatic Fringe as they played St Albans City or even pop down the road to Thamesmead Town for a new adventure.” (The Ball Is Round)

“For over a hundred years football programmes have been the vital accompaniment to any match. Even the smallest, most insignificant game is normally commemorated by the issue of a matchday programme. I know some people who will not count that they have been to see a game unless they can get a programme or at least a team sheet.” (The Ball Is Round)

“Yesterday everybody screamed the praises of one Gareth Bale, one week after a certain disreputable website sang his praises by comparison to the Garbage Pale kids. That disreputable website was this one. And I admit my mistake. Gareth Bale is a shining example of athleticism, a white knight, the hero at the end of the fairy tale who smooches the princess, slays the dragon, and lives happily every after. But Pippo Inzaghi is not. Which is why I love him.” (futfanatico)

“We’ve got something a little different for our Video Of The Week this week. Match Of The Eighties will be back later on in the week, but for now it seems like as good an idea as any to ease ourselves into Monday morning with some highlights from this weekend’s FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round matches from the weekend just passed. We’re starting off with FC United of Manchester, who were at home yesterday afternoon against Blue Square Premier side Barrow. With the draw for the First Round Proper already having been made, United already knew that their reward for winning this match would be a local derby against Rochdale if they could get past a team two divisions above them.” (twohundredpercent)

“So today, the meat and potatoes as it were of this series: what might more cooperation between independent blogs and on-line newspaper football sites actually look like? Before I dive in, I think it’s important to point out that I’m not going to lay out concrete models with specific revenue streams and publishing formats, but rather point out general features that would make a union more desirable than the current situation, where the only mutual connection between newspapers and blogs comes in the form of hyperlinks. I should also mention that discussion of the obstacles to this kind of union will be examined at length in a future post, but feel free to start shredding in the comments.” (Pitch Invasion)

“This is brilliant. You can check out more laugh out loud football comics on the excellent Things Fall Apart by C. Anderson.” (Footysphere)