Football writer for the The Times of London, partial to a bit of South American football and Marcelo Bielsa.
by Rory Smith // 22 August 2012
MARK Lawrenson is SAD. Not elaborate train set in the cellar, meals for one, live with your mother until she dies and then refuse to move her body from the chair she loved so much, Alan Partridge sad. He’s not … Continue reading
by Rory Smith // 6 August 2012
Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, heartbroken and drained, somehow muster the strength to clamber from their lightweight double scull adrift on the still, dark pool at Eton Dorney and into the BBC’s interview area. John Inverdale, sparkling, feminine eyes set … Continue reading
by Rory Smith // 22 December 2011
Author’s note: This is not about Luis Suarez, or Liverpool, or the Football Association, or the rights and wrongs of the case which led to the striker being suspended for eight games and fined £40,000. Enough has been written on … Continue reading
by Rory Smith // 10 August 2011
ENGLAND is schizophrenic. There is one country on television, an End-of-Days-land, where swarms of black-hooded youths saunter from shop to shop, unchallenged, unabashed, looting, smashing, their destruction wanton and their authority absolute. This is England, broken glass and shattered delusion. … Continue reading
by Rory Smith // 8 August 2011
THERE is a mantra which swirls around English football these days, one of those phrases that has been repeated often enough to make itself a truth. It pays no heed to evidence, requires no proof. It simply is. It has … Continue reading