Jul 7, 2024 | The Main Blog
A month ago, I predicted that Annelise Midgeley would be the next MP for Knowsley whilst observing that Ms Midgely’s election was going to happen regardless of how I marked my ballot paper. On June 8, I noted that: We can be confident that Labour will hold the seat...
Jun 19, 2024 | Football Writing, The Main Blog
A short tweet, reproduced on the Non-League Matters Forum, suggests that Clapton FC has closed it’s doors. The casual football fan might be forgiven for shrugging their shoulders. So what if a club in the tenth tier of English football has thrown in the towel? Well,...
Jun 8, 2024 | The Main Blog
It doesn’t really matter where I cast my vote in the forthcoming General Election; I already know who my next Member of Parliament is going to be. In fact, in most of the General Elections where I have been eligible to vote, my cross on the ballot paper has been...
May 7, 2024 | Football Writing, The Main Blog
The final match of the season, is upon us; Cables’ 50th in all competitions during the campaign. And what a way to bring up the half-century; a local derby which is a winner-takes-all showdown with promotion at stake. Everywhere you look, there is a story, just...
May 2, 2024 | Football Writing, The Main Blog
So, a season’s work comes down to this. A local derby. A Cup tie against a local rival who have recorded their best-ever Step 4 season to reach this point. Horrible, isn’t it? It is, of course, the best kind of ‘horrible’. As stomach-churning as the pre-match nerves...
Apr 21, 2024 | Football Writing, The Main Blog
Tuesday’s Liverpool Senior Cup tie against Marine might have seen Prescot Cables bow out of the tournament, but the fantastic attendance of 1,051 will have been as morale-boosting for the club as the valiant performance from a patched-up team. The midweek match was...
Apr 7, 2024 | Football Writing, The Main Blog
In February, I wrote about the rash of clubs which had withdrawn from non-League football over the course of this season. In that piece, I observed that “I’ve never known so many clubs to be struggling so publicly as is the case right now”. Just before Easter, two...
Mar 25, 2024 | The Main Blog
I wrote the piece below at about 4:30am one morning in October 2023, with no plans to do anything with it. I was ‘venting’ and trying to regulate my emotions whilst staying awake. But then my wife and I met with our son’s Social Worker and SENCO; I...
Mar 3, 2024 | The Main Blog
I’m currently in the second year of a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing with the Open University. In addition to helping writers working in several genres to hone their craft, the course has a section called ‘Writer in the World, which is designed to encourage...
Feb 16, 2024 | Football Writing, The Main Blog
A fortnight ago, I wrote about the unusually high number of non-League clubs which have already withdrawn from the Trident Leagues. Rather cheekily, I tagged Kieran Maguire when tweeting about the piece and the UK’s leading football finance expert told his 110,000...
