I have been an avid sports fan since the 1950s. Prior to the ’60s, I played in high school and two years of college basketball and was on the college golf team. Today I am a life member of the PGA of America. So I can say that I have had a love affair with sports. I truly believe that true, honest, and fair competition in sports build character. To compete in any sporting event and to win fair and square is something to be proud of. If you did not win fairly, then there is nothing to be proud of. If you did not win fairly, you did not win; you lost. You should never accept first place if you know it belongs to another. RAY G. CLAVERAN

Do you remember the Battle of Old Trafford? Shearer's dream debut hat trick? Or how many goals Haaland scored in his first Premier League season? Hope, heartbreak and victory, over the past 60 years Match of the Day has shown it all. From bombastic debuts in August to May’s nail-biting end-of-season title races, the football calendar is filled with legendary moments. Packed full of stories from 60 years of football history, The official Match of the Day Football Almanac is your ultimate guide to the highs and lows of the football season. With a foreword from Gary Lineker and featuring the most legendary footballing stories from the last 60 years of Match of the Day, this month-by-month guide includes giant-killing FA Cup battles, the birth of the Premier League and the dawn of VAR, all culminating in legendary World Cup and Euros tournaments – with stats and insights from the experts at Match of the Day along the way. This is the perfect gift for any football fan, and a fitting tribute to our favourite football programme.

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Issue Seven Contents ---------------- El Dorado ---------------- * The Ball and the Gun, by Carl Worswick—After a political rival was murdered, the Colombian government set up the world's richest league * The Blond Giant, by Stany Sirutis—Among the influx of foreign players to El Dorado was the Lithuanian goalkeeper Vytausas Krisciunas ---------------- Interview ---------------- * Ivica Osim — The great Bosnian coach reflects on the war, Japan and Alan Mullery's lack of fair play ----------------------------- The Victorian Age ----------------------------- * The First Columnist, by Paul Brown—How an early journalist for the Northern Echo helped shape the modern game * Stiffy the Goalkeeper, by John Harding—Lazy, drunken and corruptible, the first footballing hero of the stage could hardly have been less heroic * Out with a League Team, by Henry Leach—A journalist, writing in 1900, describes his experiences travelling the country reporting on Notts County ------------ Theory ------------ * Don Leo's Odyssey, by Joachim Barbier—From Amsterdam to Madrid to Gaudalajara to Budapest, Leo Beenhakker has never stopped learning * The English Spaniard, by Philippe Auclair—Roberto Martínez discusses his conception of football and the difficulties of addapting to the dark nights of Lancashire ------------------------ The Vanishing ------------------------ * The Strange Disappearing of Leslie Goldberg, by Anthony Clavane—How the right back who became Les Gaunt encapsulated the experiences of many 1930s Jewish footballers * Ten Past Ten and Ten Pastis, by Gunnar Persson—Gunnar Andersson's journey from Marseille legend to homeless alcoholic * End of the Road, by Richard Winton—Gretna's rise was a romantic fairy tale, their collapse provides grimly real lessons for all of Scottish football * Safe as Houses, by Paolo Bandini—Espen Baardsen was a Norway international but at 25 he gave up football to work in finance ---------------- Polemics ---------------- * Breaking the Mould, by Zac Lee Rigg—Last year Johnny Saelua became the first transgender person to play in World Cup qualifying * In Arsene We Trust, by Zach Slaton—However frustrating this season, the numbers suggest Arsenal would be worse off without Arsene Wenger * Dictionary of Received Ideas, by Brian Phillips—A guide to what pundits really mean when they use certain terms * Follow the Money, by Elliot Turner—How Nicaragua's national stadium highlights the problems with Fifa's Goal project * The Third Party, by Sergio Levinsky—A tax avoidance scandal in Argentina could have ramifications across the globe ------------- Fiction ------------- * The Limping God, part 2, by David Ashton—His football career ended by injury, John Brodie's life is going nowhere until he is sucked into the world of crime --------------------------- Greatest Games --------------------------- * Lazio 4-2 Ipswich Town", by Dominic Bliss—Uefa Cup, second round, second leg, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 7 November 1973 --------------------- Seven Bells --------------------- * Fouls and Fisticuffs, by Scott Murray—A selection of unsavoury incidents we're supposed to condemn

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Issue Eight Contents ------------ Cyprus ------------ * The Wrong Side of the Border, by Jacob Steinberg—After decades of stalemate, Northern Cypriot football may be about to come in from the cold * The Hangover of War, by Cyrus Philbrick—Almost four decades after the Turkish invasion, the shadow of conflict hangs over the Nicosia derby -------------- Interview -------------- * Sepp Blatter, by Philippe Auclair—The president of fifa admits he may stand for re-election in 2015 and reveals his concerns over the Qatar World Cup ------------ Theory ------------ * Mourinho's Cult of Personality, by Roy Henderson—How the Real Madrid manager's charismatic authority fosters loyalty * The Lawnmower and the Teapot, by Iain Macintosh—Barry Fry discusses how to motivate players and how the world of management has changed * The Bicycle Thief, by Lars Sivertsen—Zlatan Ibrahimovic has always been an individual—it's how he fits in ------------ Fans ------------ * But You Can't Change..., by Mike Calvin—How a Watford supporter ended up being converted into a Millwall fan * In the Shadow of the Goldfish, by Gary Hartley—Having lived the dream, Leeds have slowly drifted into a protracted doze * Paying the Price, by Craig Anderson—Rangers' administration and relegation were about far more than a club that couldn't pay its debts ---------------------------------- In Appreciation of... ---------------------------------- * Franco Baresi, by Sheridan Bird—How the great libero staged a remarkable recovery from a knee injury to play in the 1994 World Cup final * Brian Glanville, by Philippe Auclair—The doyen of English football writing discusses the forefathers of modern sports journalism * Ireland's Pioneers, by David Owen—This year marks the centenary of Ireland's first victory over England ------------ Africa ------------ * Eat Them Like Bread, by Jonathan Wilson—Nigeria ended their 19-year wait for a third Cup of Nations but a familiar sense of chaos remains * After the Circus, by Luke Alfred—What was the legacy of the World Cup for South Africa * The Great Administrator, by Tom Dunmore—How Ydnekatchew Tessema led the fight to have African football taken seriously * Bamako Twilight, by Stuart Roy Clarke—Away from the war, football goes on in the Malian capital ---------------- Polemics ---------------- * In Praise of Football, by Alex Keble—For all the commercialisation and scandal, football remains the purest and most demotic of cultural modes * Financial Fair Play?, by Steve Menary—How Champions League revenues can devastate competition in Europe's smaller leagues ------------ Fiction ------------ * The Limping God, part 3, by David Ashton—His football career ended by injury, John Brodie's life is going nowhere until he is sucked into the world of crime -------------------------- Greatest Games -------------------------- * Boca Juniors 2 Real Madrid 1, by Rupert Fryer—Toyota Intercontinental Cup final, National Stadium, Tokyo, 28 November 2000 -------------------- Eight Bells -------------------- * Football on TV, by Scott Murray—Key moments in the history of televising the game

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Issue Two Contents ---------------- Le Blues ---------------- * Font of all Knowledge?, by Matt Spiro—The Clairefontaine academy was once the envy of the world, but has it gone stale? * What Makes a Nation?, by Philippe Auclair—The recent French race furore ignores the diversity of France's footballing culture ---------------- Interview ---------------- * Dragan Stojković—Andrew McKirdy talks to Dragan Stojković about his philosophical similarities to Arsène Wenger, his lost years and Japan's development -------------------- In Argentina -------------------- * Óscar Bravo, by Jonathan Wilson—How Óscar Washington Tabárez led Uruguay to Copa América glory as Argentina and Brazil misfired * La Historia de los Piñeyros, by Rupert Fryer—A fictional account of one family's experience of the 1978 World Cup ------------------ The Media ------------------ * The Man who Said it was Magnificent, by Rob Smyth—Barry Davies relives some old memories and discusses the state of modern commentary * The Man who Made Calcio, by James Horncastle—How Gianni Brera shaped the language and style of Italian football * The Man who Ate his Hat, by Scott Murray—The story of Lieutenant Commander Tommy Woodrooffe, the BBC's first football commentator --------------------------------- Back From The Brink --------------------------------- * Football to Remember, by Uli Hesse—How Borussia Dortmund returned from the verge of extinction to win the Bundesliga title ------------- Theory ------------- * Wenger, l'Auteur, by Miguel Delaney—What Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Cimino and the Hollywood of the seventies tell us about Arsenal * Brazil, and the Rise of the Back Four, by Rob Sweeney—How foreign influences led to the evolution of the back four in Brazil -------------- Italia 90 -------------- * A Sentimental Journey, by Gabriele Marcotti—The 1990 World Cup as experienced by a teenage Italian ---------------- Polemics ---------------- * Is Football Still Sport?, by Rory Smith—It unfolds like a soap opera for the entertainment of millions and the profit of a few. What has football become? * Too Fast, Too Furious?, by James Grossi—Why have so many creative players suffered such dreadful injuries in the MLS this season? ----------------------------- Football Manager ----------------------------- * The Ballad of Bobby Manager: My Autobiography, by Iain Macintosh—When somebody takes their game of Football Manager just a little too seriously... -------------------------- Greatest Games -------------------------- * St Étienne 3 Dynamo Kiev 0 (aet), by James Horncastle—European Cup quarter-final second-leg, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St Étienne, 17 March 1976 ------------------- Eight Bells ------------------- * Finals Before the Final, by Jacob Steinberg—A selection of eight games that really shouldn't have been wasted on the earlier rounds