Argentina Go Out in Style in an American Jolly Jamboree of Old Bollocks
Yesterday felt strangely flat.
For six weeks the chaise longue had become my office, my press box and, occasionally, my therapist. There had been moments of breathtaking football, moments of utter tedium and enough time during VAR delays to complete a small home extension, but overall it had been a tournament that provided plenty of entertainment, at least until the ...
Firstly, thank you to everyone who has read, liked, commented on and shared my ramblings from the Chaise Lounge over the last few weeks. They were never meant to be anything more than the thoughts of a middle-aged bloke shouting at a television and occasionally frightening the dog, but so many of you came along for the ride. It made the World Cup feel like something we all experienced together and I genuinely appreciated every bit of it.
T...
After days of hype, endless previews and enough dramatic music to invade a small country, game day finally arrived. It started exactly as expected, with Argentina demonstrating that football is as much about psychology and gamesmanship as it is about passing the ball. There were niggling tackles, theatrical tumbles, mysterious injuries that disappeared the instant possession changed and constant conversations with the referee. Actual football ...
One of the oddest traditions we seem to cling to is the idea that the moment someone dies, they instantly become a wonderful human being.
Apparently, death is the greatest image consultant ever invented.
People who spent decades being rude, divisive, unpleasant or downright nasty suddenly become "colourful characters", "straight talkers" and "larger than life". It's as though St Peter hands them a complimentary PR team on the way through ...
The Pub Was My First Mistake
After some pressure from my stepson, it was off the chaise longue and down to the pub for last night’s game, a decision I would later come to regret. One side of the pub was watching a television around two seconds ahead of the side I was sitting on, which meant cheers, groans and anguished cries were erupting before I had any idea what had happened. There is nothing quite like watching a dangerous attack ...
