“Can you really blame them? Technological advances meant that the most casual hobbyist could put up a blog that looked roughly as reputable as a specialist site and skim information from around the world. Distribution channels — social media, podcasts, and Fan TV-type video — multiplied. It’s a fun hustle for those who can make it work. This development hardly troubled traditional football media, which has always internalized the bare minimum from its challengers whilst fending them off. It did, however, change the language of football fandom. Your average fan now speaks in the sweeping, definitive language of a talking head, interpreting everything — who did what now; who should be signed; who should be fired, because someone should always be fired — through the prism of whether it helps a team. …” StatsBomb

“These are all the transfers/seasons that post-date May 2009 when Ellis Short assumed full control of Sunderland. Short did take a controlling interest in the club in September 2008 but we have not included recruitment between then and summer 2009 as, at that time, he delegated transfer business to Niall Quinn and the Drumaville consortium also still had a limited say.” Guardian

“The football season is coming to a close, which can only mean one thing: agents gearing up for business over the summer. The Premier League transfer window doesn’t officially open until 17 May but there are many out-of-contract players ready to pack their bags. Among them could include Jack Wilshere, who has been offered a new deal at Arsenal, serial Bayern Munich winners Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery and Liverpool midfielder Emre Can. But how much do you know about others who have performed well this season, according to the CIES Football Observatory? The research group has compiled a top-50 list based on six different areas for outfield players, including recovery, distribution, chance creation and shooting. …” BBC

“‘Don’t come within five feet of me during a match,’ Swansea City’s co-owner Steve Kaplan warns me. ‘And if we lose, which unfortunately has occurred so far this season quite a bit, it ruins my entire weekend. I’m not a pleasant person to be around.’ Long-suffering football fans will relate. But a few years ago, the softly spoken American, 59, barely watched the game, let alone allowed his mood to be dictated by it. …” FT

“As always, we’ve stuck with the format that served Don Balon so successfully for decades; 100 names and details of where each player is from. We’ll revisit the list next December to assess how 2018 has panned out for each of the players concerned. The process we use for selection remains exactly the same: We identify players born on or after 1/1/1996 and talk to scouts, coaches, players, journalists, fans and bloggers from around the world to get a clear a picture of exactly who we should be watching and why. This information forms our long list. …” In Bed With Maradona

“The opening line of The Men Who Stare At Goal instantly resonates with every single Football Manager fan, lover or former player. Why do we love Football Manager? I, like many I’m sure, have spent countless hours of rage at the simulation game. Why aren’t my tactics working? Why does my star player want to a transfer? Does he not know we’ll build something special here? …” In Bed With Maradona, amazon

“… Football is the only sport on earth that can be considered truly global. Simple and inexpensive, it is equally likely to be found in a tight Marseille banlieue, an obscure corner of a Lagos slum, and the heart of a Buenos Aires barrio. Marley’s music is similarly universal. It is the embodiment of the ghetto sufferah, the dispossessed street urchin whose never-ending battle for survival transcends continent and race. …” In Bed With Maradona

“When it comes to impossibly handsome multimillionaire athletes, the natural feeling towards them tends not to be sympathy. Despite that, even the most cold-hearted onlooker might have harboured some pity for Fernando Llorente as Tottenham played Bournemouth last weekend. The Spaniard has endured a wretched season and barely kicked a ball in recent weeks, but when Harry Kane limped off after half an hour it looked like a rare chance to drum up some confidence. …” FourFourTwo

“In 1946, Peter Adolph applied for a patent for a table football game that would go on to become the most recognisable across the world. We’re talking about Subbuteo of course; the game that could be found in most football fanatics’ households and which today is going through another renaissance, with fathers passing down their much loved sets to their children. There is, however, room in the market for a new type of bespoke table top soccer that draws its inspiration from Adolph’s original creation. The company is called FlickForKicks and is the birth child of Gareth Christie, a self-confessed Subbuteo fanatic who has drawn inspiration from his love of the game to produce his highly acclaimed bespoke tables for both young and old. …” Football Pink

“Not many footballers get the chance to play in three different countries, win multiple league titles and line up alongside World Cup and Champions League medalists before the age of 25, but Barnet’s Ruben Bover is one of them. The Spanish midfielder has already played in his native country, England and the US, where he won several trophies and was able to call Raul and Thierry Henry his friends and teammates. Bover was born in the Balearics and came through Real Mallorca’s academy when the club were knocking on the door of the UEFA Cup places in La Liga. Yet even as a teenager he was drawn to the English game and tantalised by the prospect of playing abroad. …” The Set Pieces