Hamish Mackay @hamish-mackay ?

As we reflect upon the Premier League’s twentieth season, FootballFanCast caught up with Yorkshire’s perennial nomad of the Football Leagues, and everyone’s favourite TV pundit, Chris Kamara, to hear his views on a extraordinary season and the challenges that face England over the next month and a half. The last twelve months of Premier League football [...]

As we begin to reflect on another season, on the individuals and moments that shaped it, on whether it could have been different, it’s only natural for the vast majority of fans to be eyeing improvement for their team. That, though, is not up to the fans. No matter how much you might feel that [...]

Clubs around the world have casting their eyes and flashing their chequebooks at this season’s in form Premier League players. Real Madrid have, in no uncertain terms, indicated that they would like to sign Sergio Aguero whilst Robin van Persie and Gareth Bale have been attracting attention like moths to a flame. Yet the reality [...]

With economic prudence weighing heavily on the mind of most English clubs, the idea of prospering as a result of your academy system is as attractive as it has ever been. Clubs look back at Manchester United’s golden generation of Beckham, Giggs, Scholes and the Nevilles, or the success Arsenal have had under Arsene Wenger [...]

1996 called, they want their news back. ‘Shearer backs Hoddle for England’ proclaimed the headlines that greeted us in yesterday’s papers. Alan Shearer was championing his former national team manager after Glenn Hoddle himself explained that his life would forever be incomplete if he never got a second chance at managing England. Perhaps he’s worried [...]

So many authorities, so many agendas. Football today is at the whim of so many different authoritative bodies that the work they do is arguably conflicting. Just take England for example. The top clubs have to deal with rules from the Premier League, the FA, UEFA and FIFA. It isn’t possible for clubs to adhere with [...]

With so much pressure on managers and players to perform to the, often unrealistic, standards set for them by fans we should ask ourselves: are there other characters in the football pantomime who are often failed to be held to account? The people I’m talking about are of course the back room staff; the coaches, [...]

It’s fair to say that, of late, Arsenal’s all-round performances have been underwhelming. In particular, the last two games have highlighted not just the lack of cutting edge but the decline in the form of individuals who had previously been deified by Gooners. Take Thomas Vermaelen: an exceptional defender with a penchant for balancing no-nonsense tackling [...]

Sunday evening saw the final of the Sony Playstation Fifa Interactive World Cup UK qualifiers in London. The competition, which has over 850,000 competitors, saw the final 18 UK contestants battle it out for a place in the Grand Final in the US. The winner, Ty Walters, will now compete amongst the winners from the other [...]

On Sunday evening Football FanCast caught up with Fulham and Nigeria central midfielder Dickson Etuhu at the Sony Playstation Fifa 2012 Interactive World Cup UK qualifiers. The eventual winner of the UK qualifiers, Ty Walton, will now go on to the Grand Final to compete against the winners from countries around the globe to compete for [...]

Passion and football should never be mutually exclusive. Without passion football would just be American football. A game played in short bursts with excruciatingly frequent intervals between play, which, by the end of the game, leaves you in a state that can only be described as boredom. No, nobody wants that. Passion gives an ebb and [...]

For the vast majority of players a career isn’t a career unless you’re actively taking part in the playing side of your club’s exploits. However there are exceptions to every rule. There are not many, but a few players in the Premier League who have, for whatever reason, decided that the hunt for pastures new where [...]

Kevin De Bruyne’s January transfer from Belgian side Genk to Chelsea should be raising alarm bells for Chelsea fans. There is no doubt that the twenty-year-old midfielder is talented, but Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas’ admission that the transfer was nothing to do with him is indicative of the relationship between the board and manager. Villas-Boas said:

“You [...]

For many fans, the problem with the power structure at Arsenal is that, since the departure of David Dein, the club has been lacking individuals willing to contradict Arsene Wenger. From Pat Rice and Boro Primorac to Ivan Gazidis and Peter Hill-Wood the Arsenal manager appears to have all of them eating out of the [...]

Barcelona. The fluidity of their football and dominance of the football world have left many wondering whether they are first among equals in a hall of fame that consists of Real Madrid’s 1960 team, Holland’s 1974 team, Brazil’s 1970 team, Liverpool’s 1984 team and many others. As we look at the top teams in the [...]