What stood out when the transfer window closed was the paucity of eye-catching business and how action on the field took precedenceI finally finished the new series of Sherlock this week. It took longer than I anticipated. Maintaining focus on Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman proved difficult as time wore on, the plot became increasingly implausible and the show morphed into a Crystal Maze tribute. Professional critics were unimpressed. Sherlock was accused of turning in the worst James Bond impression since Jez slept with Mark’s future mother-in-law in Peep Show. There was inevitable and potentially fatal talk of jumping the shark.It happens to the best of them. The Wire rather lost its way with series five and Scott Templeton. Ricky Gervais...
Liverpool’s young goalkeeper is free and welcome to say what he wants, even if it does upset Sky Sports’ thin-skinned prefect of punditryAs someone who has never played the game of football to the highest level, I wonder if I dare even giggle at Gary Neville? The hierarchies of English football and the various industries that surround it – including Her Majesty’s sports press – frequently remind me of some failing post-war minor British public school, where bumptious members of the Remove are always being slapped down by the bigger boys, for reasons as bygone as the empire. Pointless rules, desiccated conventions, rigid systems of deference – what is any of it for, except propping up the establishment for the...
Leicester’s Thai owners have been a success but there are others who have suffered with owners who do not have a club’s best interests at heartOn the eve of the home match against Crystal Palace last weekend, the players and staff of Leicester City interrupted their final training session to stand in a circle and observe a minute’s silence in memory of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, whose 70-year reign had ended with his death a few days earlier. The following day, on the pitch at their stadium, they posed for a rather unusual pre-match team picture. Front and centre, held by their captain, Wes Morgan, was a large gold‑framed photograph of the monarch. The players were wearing black armbands....