Sport

After I'd been back in full-time work for about a year, my writing career fell by the wayside. I still did a little bit now and then but my confidence was more or less completely destroyed by it not happening for me. I guess there were two big moments for me when I could have change my stars: firstly, I was offered work experience by Q magazine; secondly, I was being mentored in writing by a guy called Simon Fletcher. The first opportunity I spurned, the second I didn't really make the most of. I used my experiences with Simon to plan a book (The Sad Club) but practically, I didn't write enough when the bit was between my teeth.

However, I did try my hand at sports writing, chiefly football, since it consumed me. My team was doing well and so I was obsessed enough to make it work. Below is a selection of the fruits of those labours, with a small description of why I wrote these pieces:

Football Fans United - I came across an advert for writers who were interested in covering Euro 2008 and possibly beyond. Although there were no wages, I was caught in the 'exposure' trap. I submitted dozens of articles, from match previews, reports, gossip I'd got from an aggregate site called NewsNow and then opinion pieces. As writers drifted away when the season started there was only really me writing for it, because I was doing a job at the time I was incredibly bored at and could spend most of the morning writing. God knows why I didn't work on my novel. I think you can see the sense of rebelliousness coming through in some of these pieces and there are some imaginative ideas. I was reading the Guardian's sports pages a lot and particularly admired the work of Barney Ronay. Eventually, Simon stressed I should stop writing for free, and I just did. You can't even find the site on Webarchive now.

The Rain Of The Neutral Has Begun
Why Bad Football Is Better Than Good Football
I'm Going To Sue West Ham United - They Ruined My Life!
Premier League Transfer News 29th July 2008
Premier League Transfer News 3rd August 2008
I Want To Play Champions League Football - Let's Build A Team!
How to Make Sure The Footballer's Christmas Party Goes With A Bang
Manchester City Could Kill Off Competitive Football As We Know It
Premier League Psychology? Don't Make Me Laugh
Ramos and Kinnear Are The Funniest Double Act Since The Two Ronnies
Socialist Football Is Our Future
Urgent Message To Spurs Fans - Don't Panic!
The FA Cup Has About As Much Real Magic As The Harry Potter Omnibus
Why Can't All Transfer Deals Go As Smoothly As This?

90Minutes - Not the magazine, but another of those advertising vehicles with a little bit of content. They wanted somebody to write about French football, which I know absolutely nothing about, but neither did anybody else before BT Sport snapped it up. I wrote for this in 2010, because I'd moved back home after a split, and it gave me something to do. At least until I found another job, so what you see here is the entire archive.

Ligue 1 week ending 12th September 2010
Ligue 1 week ending 19th September 2010
Ligue 1 week ending 26th September 2010
Ligue 1 week ending 3rd October 2010

Pick Our Team - This one was the big one. A site run by proper journalists (Ben Lyttleton & Iain MacIntosh), webinars on SEO and a professional attitude. Me and my co-writer Sean alternated match reports and opinion pieces on Aston Villa for a season and a bit, for what was a new concept in sports reporting - readers were encouraged to pick their own team for a match and see if they could beat the editors, so part Fantasy Football and part spread betting, I suppose. I wrote for this for the 2012-13 season and a little beyond, submitting pieces on mobile phones on journeys between Walsall and Worcester. Unfortunately, it coincided with Villa being terrible and suffering humiliation after humiliation, so the pieces gradually became darker and more depressed. After a season or so, Ben contacted us and offered somebody the chance to buy the website because it wasn't getting enough hits. None of us did, and the site disappeared overnight.

Aston Villa May Regret Savage Attack On Their Future
Aston Villa's Future Running Out Of Time
Aston Villa's Di Canio Demolition Sets Up Norwich Test
How Satisfying Is It To Be An Aston Villa Fan At The Moment?
Lambert Needs To Make Own Luck In Villa Fight
Petrov's Low-Key Exit A Sign Of The New Villa
Paul Lambert Seeks January Epiphany
Paul Lambert - Genius Or Just Lucky?
Villa Need To Cut The Purse Strings, Not The Budget
Villa Need To Make Gandalf Their Next Signing

Heroes and Villains - Something I don't mind getting nothing for. The Aston Villa fanzine, sold outside Villa Park every week I ever went there with my Granddad, alone, or with a girlfriend, and I adore being a part of it. Eventually I stopped submitting because I couldn't bring myself to be objective when the team was doing badly. These pieces appeared in various issues from 2010 to about 2014.

Oh, To Be In England: Is European Football A Bad Thing?
The True Cross: Faith And The Aston Villa Fan
The King Is Dead, Long Live The Villa: Martin O'Neill's Cult Of Personality
Kicked By A Donkey: What's The Point Of Aston Villa?
Making Plans For Darren: The Last Days Of Our Record Signing
I Will Follow: The Travels And Travails Of Being A Villa Fan
Full Speed Ahead: Gabby Agbonlahor And The Race To Break A Record
Season's Greetings: Getting To Know Aston Villa's Opponents 2012-13
All The Way: Aston Villa v England
Going Back To My Roots: Football Before Technology

Material Offered to National Press - What they are is described on the actual page. None were published.

Major League Shocker
An Olympic Disaster
A Very British Olympics
Lessons London Can Learn

Notes from the Fleapit - An attempt at comedy. I liked it, anyway.

Notes from the Fleapit