People of Shepherds Bush, rejoice! Flavio Briatore waddles away from Loftus Road for the final time as chairman, and I can once again come out as a QPR fan without blushing. Signore Briatore fitted my club as comfortably as I fit my wife’s jeans. His awkward tenure summed up much of the ills of modern football ownership: a rich foreigner with no appreciation of the soul of British football, and particularly not at a level below the summit, lumbers in to conjure a revolution in the fortunes of the team, promising to heal a variety of ailments we didn’t know we were suffering from. … READ MORE.... …
Month: February 2010
Welcome to the new WordPress home. The minimalism isn’t intentional. All efforts so far have been directed at importing the content from the old, hand-coded, HTML site, and only now can I think about addressing the decor and spartan furnishing. What’s really needed on this red letter day is a sustained, sonorous note of optimism. Ah. Instead, I offer up the absolute opposite: the thought that I’m staring at the possibility that my running days may be over.… READ MORE.... …
Almeria 2010 begins with the customary pain of a 4 a.m. alarm. Barely 40 minutes later, it’s terminal chaos: part of the submissive throng oozing through Gatwick security. Flying used to be part of the pleasure of an overseas break, but no longer. It’s now a penance; a punishment for trying to escape from the prison of daily routine. We queue.… READ MORE.... …