The iconic Estadio Azteca at night, during the rain.This will be a relatively shorter piece to what I’m used to producing.Those close to me will know I’m steadily falling out of love with the beautiful game. It’s been a long, gradual process, but when each new threshold is broken, there is no coming back. What has happened to football? Our game, the people’s game, from its working class roots? We’re never going to get it back, but for people like me, it has become our entire lives. How do we move on?Once an inspiration to many, Pep may now be…
Author: Ivan Petrov
Picture the scene. You’re a young boy who loves football. If you’re not playing for one of your two grassroots teams, or your school team, you’re out in the park or the streets with your mates, playing any kind of variant of the beautiful game, from headers and volleys to crossbar challenge. When you’re confined to the house, the screens are occupied by matches, highlights, or intense FIFA campaigns.Things have gone very well recently, and you’ve been informed that PSV would like to have a look at you. You’re from the area, so you’re already familiar with the excellent De…
If we all do the same drills, what is the magic? What is the secret sauce over in Eindhoven?As you may be aware, BFCN recently took a trip to PSV Eindhoven to have a look inside this world famous, incredibly successful academy. It’s likely you will have seen previously how bewildered we were at just how open and candid PSV were. They showed us everything, and kept nothing off limits. This wasn’t a token trip with a few shallow presentations and a tour of the facilities. This was an immersion into one of the top talent factories in world football,…
Lots of clubs, coaches, and federations have a game model. This influences how you view the pitch, and therefore the areas that are prioritised in attack and defence. Let’s look at why this came about, potential limitations, different ways the pitch is viewed, and a more modern, adaptable approach.A lot of football observers, even casual fans with limited understanding, will talk about the pitch in thirds. And there is a growing understanding, even from armchair managers, that teams sometimes have to behave differently in different areas of the pitch. But if you view the pitch in thirds, what do you…
March Madness is here again! You may remember, last year’s women’s college basketball final between undefeated South Carolina and Caitlin Clark’s Iowa had higher TV ratings than the men’s championship game – the first time that had ever happened. An average of 18.7 million viewers tuned in for the game on ABC and ESPN. The men’s title game, between UConn and Purdue, drew 14.8 million on TBS and TNT. That game made some investors think about women’s sports in a different light. The money gap between men’s and women’s sports is still massive. The WNBA increased its media rights revenue sixfold in its…
Asylum accommodation whistleblowers have claimed three teenage Iranian asylum seekers went on holiday to their home country to visit family and enjoy watersports despite claiming to have fled because of persecution. Three Kurdish-Iranian asylum seekers returned on holiday to their country of origin on separate occassions funded by another migrant, two housing workers told the Express. After a spate of trips last year by teenagers from accommodation in Derbyshire, East Midlands, the two former employees of housing provider Framework claimed their concerns about the young men, who’d all arrived in Britain by small boat, were “brushed aside.” Housing officer Darren…
Ahead of the rise in employer national insurance (NI) contributions coming into effect this Sunday, the British Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey for Q1, shows business sentiment remains very weak as taxation continues to be the top concern. Toxic mix as businesses prepare for tax rise Ahead of the rise in employer national insurance (NI) contributions coming into effect this Sunday, the British Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey for Q1, shows business sentiment remains very weak as taxation continues to be the top concern. 59% of surveyed firms cite it as a worry (compared with 63% in Q4…
London, UK – Ewan Venters, a name synonymous with British elegance and entrepreneurial flair, has spent the last two decades quietly redefining the world of luxury retail and hospitality. From helming iconic brands like Fortnum & Mason to spearheading artistic hospitality ventures at Artfarm, Venters has proven himself to be both a traditionalist and a trailblazer. A Legacy of Taste at Fortnum & Mason Venters’ tenure as CEO of Fortnum & Mason (2012–2020) marked a golden era for the centuries-old luxury department store. Under his leadership, the brand not only shattered records in sales and profitability but also expanded its…
A fractured axle caused a passenger plane’s wheel to fall off during take off from a Scottish airport, an investigation has found. The right nose wheel separated from the front landing gear of the Emerald Airlines flight – operated by Aer Lingus – between Edinburgh and Belfast City Airport on 31 October, 2023. Airport and flight crew failed to notice the detachment until the plane was being taxied to the terminal in the Northern Irish capital. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the fractured axle was probably caused by an overheated bearing, but it could not determine what caused it to…
Office lights in some corners of Westminster were on much later than usual last night. Why? Because ministers and officials, just like so many others, were watching the telly to see what US President Donald Trump would have to say, the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds among them. The president, brandishing a giant rectangular piece of card packed with the new tariff increases, unleashing waves of anxiety across factory floors, boardrooms and government ministries the world over. Folk in government in the UK had picked up a sense of the mood music – a sense that the UK was “in the…
