Footballers’ finely toned torsos have dashed a generation’s dreams | Harry Pearson
If only players still sank a six-pack rather than owning one"It's a clear case of ageism," my friend Tim complained this week. "As far as they're concerned, all my experience and four decades of dedicated and faithful service count for nothing. It's ju...
Teets ensure footballers’ messages are only a T-shirt away | Harry Pearson
Tittering allows users to broadcast short messages and is not to be confused with tattering when players communicate via tattoosGiven the torment footballers suffer with the media, it was not wholly surprising to learn that from today the apocryphal ga...
How Chelsea’s managerial hunt turned into a bonkbusting US mini-series
Wealth, love triangles and silly names – Chelsea's search for André Villas-Boas's successor is due a cameo from Joan CollinsGlancing down a list of boardroom personnel at Chelsea – Bruce Buck, Ron Gourlay, Eugene Tenenbaum – it's hard to avoid t...
Technically not a technical area but definitely not a dugout | Harry Pearson
The pitchside structure could be renamed 'the manager's conservatory' to reflect football's upwardly mobile image"Why do they keep saying Stuart Pearce is going to be in the England dugout?" a friend's seven-year-old son asked me accusingly before Engl...
André Villas-Boas discovers Roman’s vision cannot be built in a day | Harry Pearson
Trying to second-guess what will please Chelsea's enigmatic owner Roman Abramovich is nigh on impossibleAndré Villas-Boas was criticised in the media this week for constantly using the word "project" to describe his task at Chelsea, the opinion among ...
For Steve Claridge, setting the team upright is a vertical challenge
Some of the BBC football pundit's thinking may have been lost in translationAccording to BBC football expert Steve Claridge, the key to the football manager's job is "setting his team up right". That at least is how most people interpret what the forme...
Footballers’ Spring launched by revolting players | Harry Pearson
The use of the phrase common sense in the context of Joey Barton has created a paradigm shiftThis week the attorney general appeared on BBC radio and used the term "common sense" in the context of Joey Barton. To many listeners this preposterous event ...
Consign the handshake to history – or risk a sporting palmdemic | Harry Pearson
Handshakes have brought nothing but trouble for sport stars around the world and it's time to do something about itOver the past few decades many irritating, dangerous and life-threatening things have been eradicated from football. The pass back to the...
Down go the fairy lights and down go Middlesbrough’s promotion hopes | Harry Pearson
The post-Christmas slump on Teesside is as traditional as turkey curry – and everyone knows it must be arrestedThere is no one smugger than a vindicated cynic, which is why a certain amount of self-satisfied smirking is going on around Teesside at th...
The Auteur proves his value in offhand dismissals of class acts | Harry Pearson
The Auteur was a Dutch journalist with white hair that sprouted from his head like the stuffing from an abandoned teddy bear – and who was a master of the putdownThis week the Germany striker, Miroslav Klose, explained why moving to Lazio had been th...
Managers must swap a seat in the dugout for time in barber’s chair | Harry Pearson