The night of May 21st 2008 was my most distressing as a football fan. I’m not trying to come over all‘Jamie Carragher’ here (excuse the semantics), but as much as I love the England national team, this time the pain eclipsed anything I had felt following the furor and ultimate disappointment of an international tournament.
Witness Manchester United and England defender, Rio Ferdinand, playing the role of ‘Fizzy’ in a school adaptation of Bugsy Malone.
Rio’s early thespian instincts pale in comparison to the hilarious ‘Mercs’ he carried out prior to the 2006 World Cup; but the ‘gangster’ role is somewhat fitting for a man who plans to pursue an R&B career once his playing days are over.
Like I imagine many a football fan did, I sat down to watch Channel 4's documentary on Paul Gascoigne on Monday evening titled 'Surviving Gazza'. What followed over the next hour and twenty minutes proved to be a depressingly up-to-date biopic of the one time footballing genius. The tale and career of Paul Gascoigne has seen him idolised many times over the years, and despite his shortcomings, controversy, and often self-destructive behaviour he was always a fan favourite wherever he ended up.
In spite of the fact that Liverpool FC are better placed than ever to lift their first Premier League title, there has been a cloud hanging over the club of late. Not because their talismanic captain punched a DJ who wouldn’t play Another Day in Paradise, but because of their unheralded financial woes.
As the Christmas holidays end the New Year begins in the footballing calendar with the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday. It is traditionally when firm interests begin in the World's oldest football knockout competition.