Suminder Sandhu @suminder-sandhu ?

On a surface level loyalty can be seen everywhere; from the shirt a person wears to the badge a player kisses. But football is not generally conducive to the one-club player nor is it a field where loyalty exists as an absolute. Even a cursory look highlights Italy as a country where the most prominent embodiments [...]

Sky Sports estimated that more than 3,000 11-a-side teams have folded since 2007. This plays in stark contrast to Trevor Brooking’s desire, voiced back in 2005, for a better grassroots system. His logic was simple: ‘ if you want quality at the top, you have to have a broad base at the pyramid .’ Whilst this is true, [...]

It’s not a new debate nor is it one to do strictly with football, or money, but just why is it that English players, in large, refuse to travel abroad and make their home in other countries? I thought about this whilst reading Ruud van Nistelrooy’s response to David Winner’s fascinating book about Dutch football, Brilliant Orange . [...]

Stoke City have emerged from the Championship under Tony Pulis and established themselves as a decent Premier League outfit. Their style is dependent on hold up play from the front men and an unusual specialist; throw in taker Rory Delap . Stoke’s no-frills approach has led to many detractors but their determination to bypass midfield passing play has [...]

Robin Van Persie insists that an attacking quartet of himself, Rafael van der Vaart , Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben is a viable option for Holland coach Bert Van Marwijk as the group stages of the World Cup finally arrives.

“I heard their opinions and it pleases me that we appreciate each other’s qualities,” Van Persie said, “It is a party [...]

Once upon a time Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott were trainees at Southampton. This weekend Bale completed negotiations for a lucrative contract on the back of consecutive scoring appearances against none other than Arsenal and Chelsea. Conversely Walcott’s transient flashes of potential are fading in memory faster than the time it takes him to clock 100metres. The unorthodox [...]