The English Football Post

This week, Everton beat Manchester United, got knocked out of Europe, and announced their season ticket prices for next season.
And, the couple downstairs had another almighty, seemingly final row.
Meanwhile, a man refused to shake another’s hand and we had a celebrity marriage split.
Seeing similarities between football support and a relationship between strangers is tricky to [...]

 
I’m sitting here, it’s half time between Algeria and Egypt during the Cup of African Nations semi-final.
Our esteemed editor wrote recently about Black stars and elephants and why it could be African football’s year. There are a few other reasons why I’ve got so into the CAF as I affectionately call it. The kits, for [...]

As Christmas for many meant hangovers, left-over turkey and the obligatory tweaking of fantasy football (ff) teams, over-indulgence must now resonate. Early 2010, a time synonymous with resolutions, however, has so far been hijacked by the worst winter snap in decades.

(Apologies to N.Sedaka/H.Greenfield)
I love, I love, I love my calendar game

With the 2010 World Cup draw just made, I thought there was no better time for some bold predictions. It was Pelé who once said – in that conceited manner of his – that an African nation would win the World Cup before Y2K. Then again he once infamously predicted Columbia would win USA ‘94, [...]

2010-11 Uruguay Puma World Cup Home Shirt £49.99	2010-11 Uruguay Puma World Cup Away Shirt £49.99	2010-11 Switzerland Puma World Cup Home Shirt £44.99
2010-11 Switzerland Puma World Cup Away Shirt £44.99	2010-11 Slovakia Adidas World Cup Home Shirt £65.00	2010-11 England World Cup Long Sleeve Away Shirt (Beckham 7) £65.00

After the success of previous writing competitions we have decided to run another for our readers, with the prize of your choice again being generously supplied by SoccerPro. This time SoccerPro have offered a Soccer Jacket or a Soccer Tee-Shirt of the winner’s choice. The post with the most hits and highest rating within the set time-frame will receive [...]

Wolves v Arsenal
Arsenal look like the best side in Europe when on their game, which at home, they have been all season. However they have been sloppy on the road this season, guilty of overplaying and taking their foot of the pedal. The recent games at AZ Alkmarr and West Ham were seemingly won, with [...]

 
I was lost for ideas. I hadn’t written for efp for over a month, other things had got in the way, and as well as that, football had been rather underwhelming for me. Everton have improved in that time, Louis Saha has become one of the greatest players in the world (a private joke, sorry), [...]

09-10 Everton home (Donovan 9) £59.99	09-10 Everton home (Cahill 17) £59.99	09-10 Everton home (Arteta 10) £59.99
09-10 Everton home (Fellaini 25) £59.99	09-10 Everton home (Yakubu 22) £59.99	09-10 Everton home shirt £49.99

It has come to light that there’s a new found confidence at Vale Park this season.  Ok, a 1-0 loss at home to Bury on Saturday – that being the 1st home loss and only the 2nd loss of the season – is a massive improvement on last season already.
With the appointment of Micky Adams [...]

5.20pm
 
This is another attempt at freewriting, and for the next ten minutes I will just be typing non-stop whilst listening to the Sky Sports Soccer Saturday post-match post-mortems. It’s a really hard thing to explain, you just write whatever comes in to your head regardless of the subject, within a time limit, and normally you [...]

For those of you didn’t know, the Ukraine have just won the sixth Homeless World Cup 2009 taking place in Milan.
To mark this momentous occasion, SoccerPro has brought out a limited edition of Homeless World Cup Tee-Shirts – which can be found at SoccerPro Homeless World Cup Tee-Shirt and seen below – with all the proceeds going [...]

Events have fortunately conspired since we last spoke, making the last fortnight as significant, as poignant, and as revealing as any that I care to remember.
Significant, because the powers that be have finally sought to be proactive in the fight against inequality; poignant, because, just as English football scales great heights on the pitch, we’ve [...]

(Or, a response to this website’s editor’s excellent earlier piece Game Getting Greedier)
 
A week into the new season and my interest is, as predicted, beginning to wane.
 
Not wholly due to Everton’s poor performances in their first two games, that’s reality, but because normal service has resumed.
 
Yes, my great start in the fantasy football league is [...]

The Premier League’s London based clubs have enjoyed a uniformly bright start to the season, having collectively won each of the eight games in which they have featured.
 
This 100% record will come to an end later today, as the first of twenty London derbies takes place at Upton Park this afternoon.  
 
West Ham enjoyed a comfortable [...]

Arsenal v Portsmouth
Arsenal have started extremely well, and have played great football in their two games so far.  Portsmouth on the other hand have sold their best players, have a drawn out saga off the field affecting the players, and have yet to score a goal.  Arsenal struggled with some similar games to this last season and they [...]

Well the season finally got underway, dishing up some exciting, if unexpected, opening day results. None more so than Everton’s uncharacteristic collapse against an inspired Arsenal side: whom might I add, looked, every inch, genuine contenders, despite offloading both Toure and Adebeyor.
 
My pre-match premonitions back-fired spectacularly as Man City, equipped with their entourage of mercenaries, proved, in patches, they’ll be [...]

Just when we were all enjoying a summer free from the fickle world of football, like low budget reality television – it’s back, in our faces, and sucking us all in. And, though there is something so intrinsically sickening about the modern game, I cannot hide my exuberance as the big kick-off draws ever closer.

As ever, the excitement has been building and with the absence of a major international tournament to distract us during the summer months it is with relief that a new season is finally upon us.
 
Drowning in pre-season predictions (three guesses where this blog is heading …), the final week is always the most agonizing.  Even [...]

Sad news reached me this morning about a Tommy Leeffe from Newcastle. Within the last month he has lost the only two father figures he’d ever had – two father figures he never actually met – and now he is barred from his favourite place indefinitely.
 
You might remember Tommy. He was on TV show ‘You [...]

Myself, Tim Killeen, started The EFP back in 2007. I am, of course, a soccer enthusiast, who not only loves to vent my passionate opinions about the game, but one who also loves to write; and I’m predominantly interested in developing better skills in this area. Creating a site therefore, that fulfilled both these objectives, seemed like [...]

What is scalping?
By Will Webb
 
Scalping is short term trading. In this case, trading of sports bets. A unique opportunity exists to trade sports bets due to the advent of sports betting exchanges.
 
A ‘scalper’ looks to make lots of small profits, which in time add up. This method of trading needs lots of people involved in [...]

Following an unfortunate accident at the weekend, United’s famous kit man John Kitt has died. He is renowned the world over as the longest serving kit man in modern day football, having served the club since his apprenticeship which started at the age of 14.
 
John was born to do his job, many have said. And [...]

His alarm goes off early. The time is now… by Moloko. When he was a student, that song meant a girl he fleetingly fell for. Now it means much more than she ever did.
 
He gets up and turns on the TV. Sweaty fingers fumble for the only buttons that matter.
 

By Will Webb.
 
How can the Confederations Cup help our FIFA World Cup Betting?
 
That’s right the Confederation Cup. First held in Saudi Arabia, of all places, the Confederation Cup has now been taken over by FIFA. Held every four years and one year before the most widely viewed sporting event in the world it is a [...]

Otherwise known as my obligatory season review, naturally featuring reference to reality TV ‘stars’, over-complicated narrative, and at times ridiculous bathos.
 

Now that the somewhat anticlimactic summer internationals have passed, it feels somewhat appropriate to take an annual look back over past few months. I have decided to begin it by paraphrasing your favourite Slaughterhouse [...]

Carlos Alberto, the famous World Cup winning Brazilian has slammed Manchester United over recent transfers. However, one has to argue, is he right to target the Red Devils alone?

Chelsea v Everton

As much as we all want an entertaining game to finish the season off in style, I don’t think we’ll get one here. I expect this to play out in a similar fashion the two league games did, which were both goalless. Playing the under 2.5 market is probably the safest way to go, but it’s [...]

So here it is, the much anticipated match of the season: Manchester United v Barcelona; touted by many as the dream European final.
 
Spanish against English, the Counts of Catalonia against the Mancs of Lancashire, effervescent exuberance versus tireless industry, free-flowing attack against resolute defence, Messi and Ronaldo; and more duels besides.
 

The first FA Cup Final I can remember is the 1986 one. The day I started supporting Everton. Sometimes, I question that decision – at the final whistle that day, for example. Years later I bought a VHS recording of the game but never watched it, instead ‘lending’ it to a class mate. Paul Harris, [...]

Wolfsburg vWerder Bremen

The hosts enter the game knowing a win will guarantee them their first ever Budesliga title. Felix McGath’s men have a 15-1-0 record at home this season and have won 13 from 15 since the new year break in Germany. They have the top 2 goalscorers in the Brazilian Grafite and the Bosnian [...]

Given the news story that is currently on many people’s minds, especially when they blow their nose, look in their handkerchief and wonder, it is perhaps not a surprise that the following article should focus on a Central American country that is only known to many for its spicy food, long moustaches and earthquakes.
 
However, I [...]

Vindication at last for Steven Gerrard; whose gargantuan performances this season have been rightfully rewarded, as he is named, Football Association Writers’ Footballer of the Year for 2009.
 
 
Gerrard has again been Liverpool’s star player this term with his Liverpool side pushing Manchester United every inch of the way -  the first time they have been genuine title contenders since way [...]

 
Tonight’s Premier League match between Newcastle United and Middlesbrough is possibly the biggest in both clubs’ histories; it really is that crucial.
 
A loss, at this stage of the campaign, will surely spell the end for either of these giants of North-East football, and whoever goes, it will surely be a great loss to the Premier League.

Valencia v Real Madrid
Ramos’s side will still be licking their wounds going into this weekends fixture in the Mestailla after last weekends mauling. It now would require a ‘Devon Loch’ from Barcelona for Madrid to win La Liga, so its pride that’s most at stake now, and quite possibly the manager’s job.
 
Valencia on the other hand [...]

The last few days have been truly captivating viewing for the world of soccer.
 
The two semi-finals have been top drawer entertainment and a credit to our game, especially last night’s epic battle between the brawn of Chelsea and silky-skilled F.C. Barcelona.
 
Manchester United again asserted their authority and were dominant against a lacklustre Arsenal side; and [...]

Here are the Chelsea star players in some rare and exclusive shots, getting ready for the arrival of the mighty Barcelona. This one promises to be a screamer and possibly this group of Chelsea players’ last chance of European glory. 
 
 
 

Congratulations to Jon Greenbank; he gets a soccer shirt of his choice (courtesy of SoccerPro), after winning The EFP Win a Shirt Competition for his entry: Sweet FA, which was adjudged the best post in the time frame.
 
 
 

Barcelona v Real Madrid
 
El Classico comes at the wrong time for Barcelona in the midst of  the CL semi final. Madrid are closer to them than they have been all season, thanks to Barca’s draw last weekend and their own incredible form. After losing his first game to Barcelona 2-0, Ramos has guided his side [...]

- It’s not you, it’s me.
 
- Come on! That’s what they always say!
 
- I… I just need a break from you for a while. I need some space. It’s just something I’ve got to do.
 
- But… don’t I make you smile? Fill your heart with joy?
 
- Most of the time you do. Of course – but [...]

The Premier League PFA Awards took place last night as voted for by the players, with Ryan Giggs scooping the top prize.
With Ryan Giggs’s award – more of a life-time achievement award I thought - not causing too much shock (although Steven Gerrard may feel justifiably hard done by), Ashley Young, of Aston Villa, was the surprise choice for Young PFA Player of the Year; beating [...]

What is it about the underdog I admire so much?
 
When we started The English Football Post, Stoke City were an outside bet for the play-offs – in the Championship, and Everton had all but relinquished any hope of ever dislodging England’s untouchable ‘Big Four’.
 
Fast forward eighteen months and Stoke City have all but secured Premier [...]

My recommendation for this week is never to get gastroenteritis.
 
Not only did this violent affliction completely obliterate my Easter weekend, and rid me of half a stone I can’t really afford to lose, but I’ve honestly never before felt some of the pains and discomfort it managed to inflict. 
 
In scenes reminiscent of the cold turkey [...]

Portsmouth v West Brom
 
West Brom had their final chance last week at home to Stoke…and blew it. Once again the defending from the centre halves was abysmal, and it’s this crippling weakness that has cost them their place in the premiership.
 
Pompey have picked up under Paul Hart, winning 2 of their 3 home games [...]

Before last night, many of us had written off Chelsea as a dominant force in English and European football. Their performance against Liverpool however, means they are right back in football’s psyche; and Hiddink seems to have rekindled what Mourinho started  in those heady heights of a few years ago.
 
 
Here are some pictures – never before released – [...]