After last night’s disappointing game against Ghana, I allowed myself a small, private moment of smugness. Not a full lap of honour around the living room, but certainly a knowing nod into my glass of Peroni.
In my first Chez Lounge post, I suggested we might want to put the bunting away after the win over Croatia. Yes, England had looked good, but Ghana, I warned, might be a very different sort of evening. Less champagne football, more ...
A Rarely Enjoyable England Opening Act
When I woke up this morning, I was trying to remember the last time I enjoyed the opening game of an England World Cup campaign quite so much.
Okay, the 6-2 hiding we handed out to Iran in 2022 was pretty entertaining, but Iran are no Croatia. Beating them felt a bit like beating my four-year-old granddaughter in a spelling test. Technically a victory, but not one that tells you very much about your ...
I’ve reached a slightly worrying point as a football fan. I now find managers more intriguing than the games themselves. The touchline, the interviews, the small details of behaviour and language have started to hold more interest than the actual ninety minutes.
Not all managers are the same, of course. Some can spark a short-term bounce that lifts a struggling side almost overnight. Some build something lasting with a clear identity that ...
I’ve just finished watching Waiting for the Out on BBC One and it’s one of those series that quietly sneaks up on you rather than making a big song and dance about itself.
It’s a six-part drama set mainly inside a British prison. The main character is Dan Stewer, played by Josh Finan, who teaches philosophy to inmates. That might sound a bit right on and worthy, but it really isn’t. It turns out philosophy is a pretty good way of ...
I should know better than to get up early on a winter morning to watch England get thrashed by Australia. But I can’t help myself. Some deluded part of my brain insists I must endure every abject performance, just in case I miss the once-in-a-generation moment England accidentally do something worth celebrating.
In this latest cricketing catastrophe, England have added an extra layer of torment by occasionally looking like they’re on top ...
