Written by Football NerdFebruary 1, 2019

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings: Agent Benitez does Liverpool a significant championship favour but Klopp’s men fail to capitalise. While Chelsea’s bizarre implosion opens the door for Arsenal’s return to the Top Four.

Once again with almost Nostradamus-like powers of prediction, yours truly’s proclamation last week that the title race “looks very much like it is going to go right down to the wire” and “it feels very much a case of waiting to see which one of the protagonists will blink first“ (https://football-nerd.org/2019/01/25/football-nerd-weekly-ramblings-the-title-race-mexican-standoff-continues/), proved as prescient as […]

Written by Football NerdJanuary 31, 2019

After the ‘Winter Wobbles’, Orient offer us renewed hope.

Such was Orient’s start to the season: losing only two league games and sitting comfortably top of the table on the last Saturday before Christmas after the 3-1 home victory over Chesterfield, that contrary to any notion of self-preservation a feeling of cautious optimism was starting to grow amongst the O’s faithful. Then came the […]

Written by Football NerdJanuary 25, 2019

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings – The title race Mexican standoff continues.

The problem with a title race that looks very much like it is going to go right down to the wire is that we find ourselves very much waiting for something determinant to happen. Many sage commenters and analysts are suggesting that both Liverpool and Manchester City are capable of breaking the ninety point threshold […]

Written by Football NerdJanuary 18, 2019

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings – Just what is going on at Arsenal?

With an impeccably prescient sense of timing, I wrote on these pages a month and a half ago that Arsenal’s “results and performances to date provide enough encouragement for us long-suffering Gooners to not only believe the future is bright but also that we might just be ahead of schedule in getting back to where […]

Written by Football NerdJanuary 11, 2019

What Mrs Football Nerd and I did over the Festive Period.

Part 1: We all follow the Orient…to Dagenham. Those who have followed Mrs Football Nerd and my spectacular descent into bona fide Leyton Orient obsession will know that there was no way that we could have even contemplated missing a Boxing Day trip to near(ish) neighbours Dagenham & Redbridge in the latest chapter of our […]

Written by Football NerdDecember 21, 2018December 22, 2018

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings – Fútbol Sevilla style: a visit to Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

Back a few years ago when I was ‘celebrating’ the big ‘Four-O’ and contemplating the all-too-swift progression towards middle age, Mrs Football Nerd asked me what I wanted to do to mark the occasion. Never one that was likely to settle into a more sedate and relaxed way of life but definitely someone who could […]

Written by Football NerdDecember 7, 2018

Football Nerd Weekly Ramblings – Taking stock of Arsenal’s progress under Unai Emery.

While we all wanted change, any change, in response to the stale, dreary atmosphere around the club in Arsène’s final season, I am not sure any of us really anticipated just how much of a breath of fresh air our new Basque Head Coach would prove to be. Now with fifteen league games played including […]

Written by Football NerdNovember 28, 2018January 1, 2019

From the Krestovsky Stadium, St Petersburg to Marsh Lane, Oxford.

Perhaps one of the more disturbing facets of being a football obsessive is the inability to be able to say no to going to a match, any match. So it was to prove for me once again last week. While the missus and I were on our recent holiday in Istanbul, my Tranmere Rovers diehard […]

Written by Football NerdNovember 26, 2018November 26, 2018

Orient pay an emotional and fitting tribute to World War 1 heroes.

After getting back from Istanbul, it didn’t take long for the missus and me to re-immerse ourselves in football and most specifically all things Leyton Orient, with some highly moving and emotional remembrance commemorations linked to the First World War. For those unaware, Clapton Orient, as they were back then, were the first club whose […]

Written by Football NerdNovember 23, 2018November 23, 2018

How to not watch football in Istanbul.

Mrs Football Nerd and I consider ourselves to be seasoned football travellers having been to a significant number of the most iconic European football grounds, to the last two World Cups and a European Championships. Those trips are pre-planned in infinite detail to ensure that fixture dates and kick-off times have been confirmed, tickets secured […]