OUR THINKING / OPINION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD0okWLz9zk Martyn Potts grew up in Blackpool in the 1950s. His dad was at the Matthews Cup Final in 1953. In 1959, aged nine, he and his mates on a cinder-surfaced cul-de-sac in Lancaster had no football. So they went round collecting empty pop bottles, claimed […]

OUR THINKING / OPINION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut3eKWhXT7A Anthony Parker’s first ever football match was a Matt Busby testimonial. George Best was on the pitch. They moved the goalposts to the 18-yard line because Best was carrying a few extra years and a few extra pounds by then, and nobody wanted to see […]

OUR THINKING / OPINION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PprHh_NBxY Harry Davies’s dad sang him You’ll Never Walk Alone as a lullaby. Every single night. Instead of anything else. Harry is 21. He’s about to graduate in mechanical engineering. He’s a musician. And he found his dad’s Istanbul 2005 tracksuit top in a wardrobe one […]

OUR THINKING / OPINION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIK2qkzuMtw Abdul Malik Ahad arrived in England on Christmas Day 1979. He was seven years old. He hid under his auntie’s poncho at Heathrow because he had never felt cold like it. A few years later, aged ten, he found himself surrounded by football fans near […]