What (if anything) are we to make of the Community Shield?

By Tony Attwood This is Arsenal’s 20th appearance in the Charity / Community Shield, and Man City’s 10th.  Here’s a list of the clubs that have won the shield the most time – in descending order by wins. Club Appearances Wins Last match won Manchester United 29 20 2013 Liverpool 21 15 2006 Arsenal 19 …

Howard Webb, gone from the pitch but not gone in terms of influence

By Walter Broeckx I must admit that when I saw the first mention on twitter about Howard Webb retiring I thought it was a joke. It actually was a joke.  Something in the style of erecting a statue outside Old Trafford. And something about the bookmakers changing the odds for the worse for MU becoming …

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? The power of the referee.

The beautiful game is one of the easiest competitions to manipulate because of the absolute power the referee and his assistants enjoy. It is also one of the hardest games to police because of the difficulty in interpreting an official’s decision, except when it is obviously wrong according to the Laws. So we might ask: …