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Since I read a cool article about how Dimitar Berbatov is cool, I thought it was necessary for there to be a thread where we can aggregate cool and good articles that don't really have a home in the monthly Premier League threads or Football Photos, or whatever. So here, start with these three: A SERIOUS MAN: Unravelling the persona of Dimitar Berbatov A Soccer Comeback for a Long-Struggling Country (it's about Albania, which is either good or bad, I dunno. Let the vile race myths fly!) Brazil's Finest Who Fade Away or Why Do Brazilians Turn Into Fatties So Quickly?
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Sep 14, 2015 16:41
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This was posted in a different thread a while back, but The prison where murderers play for Manchester United is a pretty great piece about football in a Ugandan prison and it's well worth reading.
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Sep 14, 2015 18:40
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Good thread idea. I read a lot of stuff, can't wait to contribute. 
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Sep 15, 2015 06:38
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http://mobile.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Soccer-t.html?referrer=
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Sep 15, 2015 17:26
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Waroduce posted:How a Soccer Star Is Made - New York Times Magazine piece about Ajax youth academy This is quality stuff
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Sep 15, 2015 19:03
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This article about the first ever live televised football match is cool. It was an Arsenal exhibition game in 1938 http://www.theguardian.com/football/tvandradioblog/2015/sep/16/how-arsenal-blazed-tv-trail-jostling-for-airtime-with-cartoons-and-smut quote:“The television demonstrations will show tactics on the field, shooting in goal, dribbling and goalkeeping,” began a preview in the Manchester Guardian. “Three cameras will be used, one being on the stands to give a comprehensive view of the ground, and two others near the goalmouth to give close-ups of the play and players and visual interviews. No film will be used, transmission being by radio direct to Alexandra Palace, which can actually be seen from the ground.” The video halfway down is essential viewing too
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Sep 16, 2015 17:28
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TheBigAristotle posted:This is quality stuff Truly. Especially knowing that the Ajax players coming through at that time were poo poo and the head of the academy, Jan Olde Riekerink, was sacked in 2011.
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Sep 17, 2015 06:51
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jyrka posted:Truly. Especially knowing that the Ajax players coming through at that time were poo poo and the head of the academy, Jan Olde Riekerink, was sacked in 2011. Also the 5 year old mentioned near the end now plays for Feyenoord's academy 
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Sep 17, 2015 09:52
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vyelkin posted:This was posted in a different thread a while back, but The prison where murderers play for Manchester United is a pretty great piece about football in a Ugandan prison and it's well worth reading.
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Sep 17, 2015 10:31
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In honour of the COC game between Manchester United and Ipswich, here's a fairly recent, extremely long-winded article about Craig Forrest, the keeper who somehow managed to concede sixteen goals in two games against United, nine of them from when he was an Ipswich player in 1995.quote:Forrest’s final boss at Ipswich was George Burley, a manager he thinks learnt a lot at the start of his time in charge as the Blues crashed out of the Premier League.
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Sep 23, 2015 20:35
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I can't get enough of are Dan
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HJB posted:In honour of the COC game between Manchester United and Ipswich, here's a fairly recent, extremely long-winded article about Craig Forrest, the keeper who somehow managed to concede sixteen goals in two games against United, nine of them from when he was an Ipswich player in 1995. Craig Forrest is a cool dude and one of Canada's best ever players so everybody should read this article imo.
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Sep 24, 2015 04:35
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Bleacher Report tried to track down Ali Dia http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2551248-the-search-for-ali-dia-legendary-football-hoaxster-turned-houdini Not an incredible bit of journalism or anything, but it is interesting to see how many clubs were conned along the way.
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Oct 15, 2015 18:41
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trem_two posted:Bleacher Report tried to track down Ali Dia That's a pretty good article, I didn't realise he kept going after playing a game for us. George Weahs cousin will always be in our hearts
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Oct 16, 2015 09:59
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I had always assumed that his Southampton appearance was a one-off thing he did as a kind of joke. Now I can't tell whether he actually thought he was good enough to be a professional footballer or if this was some elaborate scheme he cooked up to make a few bucks.
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Oct 16, 2015 14:01
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FourFourTwo did a great piece on him years ago. Amazing story
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Oct 16, 2015 21:08
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Can someone good at the internet find the full article that was located here: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...m-10513257.html It has been completely scrubbed from the internet including archive sites and google cache, which makes me wonder what was in it and want to read it.
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Oct 17, 2015 09:51
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I ready posted this link in the PL thread, but the Guardian posted an excerpt of a very good (and very long) Blizzard article about the contrasting fortunes of Liverpool and Manchester United in the mid-90s. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/oct/22/manchester-united-liverpool-class-of-92-spice-boys-eric-cantona I like the slightly different take it had on the Spice Boys era. Are all Blizzard articles this good?
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Oct 22, 2015 18:27
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Yeah, there's some duds in there occasionally but on the whole it's worth the money imo
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Oct 22, 2015 23:31
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That was a super cool article. Are there any books covering that period? Are the biographies of the players worth it?
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Oct 23, 2015 18:49
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Waroduce posted:That was a super cool article. Are there any books covering that period? Are the biographies of the players worth it? If you want the Liverpool perspective, I've heard good things about The Men in White Suits by Simon Hughes. Brony Car fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Oct 23, 2015 |
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Oct 23, 2015 19:29
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Howard Kendall and Athletic Bilbao (Apologies for the Sid Lowe, but it's not too bad really)
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Oct 23, 2015 22:41
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The Guardian's Joy Of Six has a recent piece celebrating unglamorous football clubs. I'm a tad biased but it's a good read nonetheless. Also:quote:Anything more than a glance at Colchester reveals that this is a club for which you could develop an affection. Or a healthy loathing, whichever feels right. Check the comments for plenty of the latter...
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Nov 6, 2015 11:39
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good interview with Vicente del bosque http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/10/vicente-del-bosque-spain-english-football-style-ronaldo-messi Sid Lowe should stick to interviews.
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Nov 10, 2015 20:25
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A long-winded puff piece about how Chris Smalling came up through the ranks and is now a good defender
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Nov 11, 2015 21:23
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Ex Fiorentina fans start up new club, name it after a character played by Jeff Bridges
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Nov 19, 2015 10:52
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Troy Queef posted:Good story about Alan Nicholls, who went from playing in goal for England at the Toulon Tournament to non-league football before he died at age 22 in a motorcycle crash The 100mph life in plymouth is a sad prospect. This puff isn't the best thing in the world, but it's about England's True #10 and blames Jose Mourinho. The Joe Cole Conundrum.
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Nov 20, 2015 03:01
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A profile of Paul McGrath. I'd imagine there are more extensive articles out there. I knew he was this great defender with a drinking problem, but had never heard of that story at the beginning of the article. Sad.
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Dec 10, 2015 02:15
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His autobiography is one of the best in football
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Dec 11, 2015 10:43
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Monday Bandele posted:His autobiography is one of the best in football It certainly is. Gives a good insight into both the separation between his personal life and his football life, and also the troubles he had without ever feeling like its asking for sympathy or excusing the things he had done, or even glorifying the hedonism.
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Dec 11, 2015 11:41
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I'm going to an evening with him tonight in Dublin, should offer a bit more than these type of things usually do.
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Dec 12, 2015 15:59
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Johnathan Wilson did a cool and good 2 part obituary for mourinho https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/articles/the-devils-party/ https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/articles/the-devils-party-part-2/
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Dec 18, 2015 17:51
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Broletariat posted:Johnathan Wilson did a cool and good 2 part obituary for mourinho lol: Mourinho left to make his fortune and succeeded, but when he wanted to return they denied him. He was a little bit different. He wasn’t a player but a translator-turned-coach. He wasn’t one of them. He didn’t think like them. He didn’t instantly revere Rinus Michels. He looked at the game and asked not how to win while playing well, but simply how to win. He had a pragmatic edge that meant he never quite fitted in. He came, in 2008, replete with honours, wanting to be coach and they preferred one of their own, whose coaching experience consisted of one season with the reserve team. He became the outcast, the rebel, the fallen angel. He began to define himself in opposition to Barcelona and thus to the prevailing footballing ethos of the age, determining, like Satan in Paradise Lost, that “glory never shall his wrath or might extort from me.” He would not play by their rules; he do things his way in self-conscious opposition and prove that he was right. He vowed, like Milton’s Satan “to wage by force of guile eternal war, irreconcilable to our grand Foe.”
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Dec 18, 2015 18:05
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As a supporter of Jose, I enjoyed it very much.
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Dec 18, 2015 18:28
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JFairfax posted:lol:
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Dec 18, 2015 18:46
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JFairfax posted:lol: the thread topic *is* long winded puff pieces
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Dec 18, 2015 19:40
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I know, that paragraph did make me chuckle though. I read both parts in their entirety, thanks for posting it, was a good read.
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Dec 18, 2015 19:43
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I recently read an article about Barcelona's youth system where near the end there was a table showing how many hours per week different age groups train. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Cheers!
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Dec 27, 2015 14:22
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This website is doing a retrospective "could have been" talents. I only read the Lentili one, who I barely remember if I'm honest. http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/01/14/they-could-have-been-one-of-footballs-greatest-gianluigi-lentini/ There's an Adu one in there, lol
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Jan 14, 2016 17:27
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Gigi Galli posted:This website is doing a retrospective "could have been" talents. I only read the Lentili one, who I barely remember if I'm honest. Nice articles, tho I find the Jason Koumas one much more lol worthy than the Adu one. Benfica did pay $2m for him at 18 after all.
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Jan 14, 2016 18:23
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