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How Luton Town Defied The Odds with a Moneyball Approach
Luton Town, a team often written off by opposing fans, teams and even the bookies. According to an article from YorskhireLive on 31 May 2021, the Hatters were fourth in the bookies’ favourites to be relegated to League One at 3/1. A prediction that they blew out of the water, finishing in the playoff places to…
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Four Things We Learned From The AFC Champions League Group Stage (West)
One of the most exciting, fascinating and vibrant club competitions in world football has just reached the knockout stages. The Asian Champions League has a great habit of producing shock results, showcasing fascinating storylines and exhibits no shortage of quality, stand-out footballers. Within the 60 games in the West zone of the ACL, some…
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The Sleeping Giant of Lancashire: How Preston North End Can Take the Next Step Under Ryan Lowe
Preston North End: one of the founding members of the footballing league. A club that is richly covered in past glory and memories. The invincible season of 1888-89 in which Preston North End completed the double of the league and cup whilst unbeaten, leaving them to be called ‘The Original Invincibles’ due to Arsenal’s invincible…
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Years of Pain, Anguish and Missed Opportunities Finally Put To Bed as Nottingham Forest Clinch Promotion Back to the Premier League
Sunday 29th of May 2022 – a day that will live long in the memory of any Nottingham Forest supporter, a day that washed away all the pain and hurt of too many failed opportunities to break through into the Premier League once again. A lot of agony along the way was rendered irrelevant,…
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Jagoba Arrasate’s Osasuna: A Club Determined to Go In Their Direction
Health, strength and vigour all describe Osasuna perfectly. The last word is open to interpretation, it could just as easily be translated as robust or rugged and that slots into the description of Los Rojillo quite aptly too. Literally, that is what Osasuna means in Basque. Fans of nominative determinism are in their element in…
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West Bromwich Albion’s 2021/22 – A Lesson in Footballing Philosophy
West Bromwich Albion’s 4-0 victory over Sheffield United in August sent a rippling statement to the rest of the EFL Championship. As two recently relegated sides did battle at The Hawthorns, Albion prevailed convincingly in a physical and overpowering performance. Valerien Ismael looked odds-on to go one better than his playoff campaign at Barnsley…
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After Suffering a Record Sixth Relegation, How Can Norwich City Pull Themselves Back Into the Premier League?
Learning from mistakes is not something Norwich City have always been able to do in recent years. The evidence for this is clear – last season the club only managed to better their 2019/20 Premier League campaign by just a single point. Many factors were the cause for such a poor return but what…
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Red Bull Bragantino: A Franchise in Brazil
Unlike other articles I’ve published, today’s story won’t be revolving around a team from Brazil that is in the “class of G-12”. Far from it. Today’s story revolves around a club that was founded in Braganca Paulista, a small city on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. With just 150,000 inhabitants you can see why…
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Everton Football Club: More Top-Flight Games Than Anyone Else
As Everton trailed Bayern Munich by a goal to nil in a European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final, Howard Kendall famously told his players, “get the ball into the box and the Gwladys Street will suck the ball into the net”. The boss spoke the truth. Second-half goals from Graeme Sharp. Andy Gray and Trevor…
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Feyenoord: A Club Saved by Its Youth Academy
Tonight, Rotterdam, and a large chunk of the Netherlands, will be glued to their television screens. After just over twenty years, fans of Feyenoord, the Dutch sleeping giant, will be able to watch their club take on AS Roma in a European Cup final. Sure, it’s the Europa Conference League, which doesn’t quite roll…
