Steed Malbranque – One of Tony Blair’s ‘favourite’ footballers.
For reasons surpassing normal logic, former prime minister Tony Blair was invited onto the BBC’s Football Focus programme in 2005 to discuss his supposed love of the beautiful game. When asked to name his favourite players, the politician apparently went with Teddy Sheringham, Arjan de Zeeuw, and Steed Malbranque. Continue reading →
Ivor Broadis – Football’s youngest ever Player/Manager who sold himself to save his club.
Ivan Broadis was born in London in December 1922. It meant that, by the time the Second World War broke out, he would be enlisted in the armed forces, joining the RAF. During wartime, he flew in Wellingtons and Lancasters, and as a talented young footballer, guested for Tottenham Hotspur in the Friendlies that we played at the time. It was during this period that someone mispelt his name, and although born as Ivan, he became widely known as Ivor Broadis, and it was in this guise that, after the war, he became a professional footballer. Continue reading →
Making a Stand – The Jimmy Seed Stand – Charlton Athletic – The Valley.
Whenever you start writing an article about a fairly timeless issue, there’s always a chance of a little added piquancy if something brings what would otherwise be a bit of a retrospective, into the current arena. The Jimmy Seed Stand at Charlton’s The Valley ground had always struck me as a bit of a strange name. Who was – or is – Jimmy Seed? Despite having a passion about football for over fifty years now, I have to confess that I knew nothing of the eponymous Mr Seed. To be honest, that alone was enough to tweak my interest, so I set to work on a bit of research.
It was whilst combing through the internet and a number of reference books that I found out that the Jimmy Seed Stand was currently making the news around the SE7 area just south of the Thames in London. When researching clubs, fan blogs are often a useful source of information and, when looking at the popular and passionate ‘Voice of The Valley’ site, I noticed an article dated 24th January saying that the stand in question was under threat from a proposed redevelopment. Continue reading →
Fabio Borini plays a waiting game for the right move
Whilst big money transfers kept the hyper-excitable Jim White fed with drama on Sky, there was one deal that even Harry Redknapp could not get over the line. The QPR boss is renowned for his transfer dealings but, although the Hoops had agreed a fee with Liverpool, signing Fabio Borini for the proved beyond even ‘Arry’s negotiating skills. All of this seems very strange on the surface as not only had the clubs come to an agreement, but Reds’ manager Brendan Rodgers had reportedly also made it abundantly clear to the Italian that his chances of playing this season would be severely limited as he was considered fourth choice, at best, for a striker’s position, behind Sturridge, Balotelli and Lambert. Such information however, appeared to do little to persuade the Italian to join the west London club.
Borini was not keen to be rushed into a move to QPR.
Gary Thacker 