The football blog: new stories and reworked classics

Arsenal lead the market, Manchester City are close behind and the race for Europe is wide open. A look at the 2025/26 season through the betting markets.

Fantasy Premier League is an obsession for 11 million managers. While stats sites provide the data, podcasts offer the tactical nous, emotional release, and strategic foresight needed to gain a genuine edge. Here is a guide to the best.

In 2019, Bury FC was expelled from the Football League, a casualty of fantasy finance and regulatory failure. This is the story of how a town lost its club, and then fought to bring it back from the dead.

When Steve Cohen of World Soccer Daily made inflammatory remarks about the Hillsborough disaster, he triggered a supporter-led campaign that would ultimately bring his programme down amid claims of anti-Semitism, threats, and a very public collapse.

Ten years ago, Bradford City beat Liverpool to survive in the Premier League. Now, they sit near the foot of League Two, haunted by a decade of administrations, relegations and failed gambles.

In 1972, Barrow were voted out of the Football League, victims of geography and a rival's FA Cup glamour. Their half-century in the wilderness was defined by Wembley glory, financial ruin, and a stubborn refusal to disappear.

They were part-time players in amber and chocolate shirts, facing the FA Cup holders from two years prior. On a blustery afternoon at Gander Green Lane, Sutton United made history against Coventry City.

When Algeria stunned West Germany at the 1982 World Cup, their debut seemed destined for glory. Instead, they became victims of one of football's most notorious episodes: the Disgrace of Gijon.

The BBC’s Panorama broadcast “Stadiums of Hate” warned fans of rampant racism in Euro 2012 host nations Poland and Ukraine. But for many Poles, it was a piece of journalism that strayed into sensationalism and generalisation.

With debts mounting and relationships broken, the board's threat to quit historic Valley Parade is a desperate gamble. The club's identity is pitted against the brutal logic of its balance sheet.

In a season where just nine points separated third from eighteenth, Charlton Athletic’s 4-2 home defeat to Swindon Town exposed a fragility that suggested the promotion race was wide open for anyone with enough nerve to take it.

With debts mounting and relegation looming, Bradford City are locked in a battle over the future of Valley Parade, a ground they no longer own. The cost of staying could be greater than the cost of leaving.

AFC Wimbledon's seemingly unstoppable march to the Conference National title hit a snag on the south coast, held to a goalless draw by a resolute Havant & Waterlooville that belied their lowly league position.