I heard a podcast discussion recently that included the topic of music in films. One of the presenters offered the view that when songs accompany key scenes on the screen, it creates an opportunity for listening in a more emotionally focused way than any other. We may connect with a song on the radi...

Q is for Quotations

James’ habit of working literary quotations into this team-talks in Foul and Fair started as a bit of fun for me while writing the book, and a way to make the footballing part of the narrative more enjoyable for any readers who aren’t necessarily that interested in ma...

P is for Parents.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the worst thing about being a grassroots football coach is the parents. For the most part, I was very lucky with the parents of my West Moors boys, but that isn’t always the case. The character of Rob in Foul and Fair isn’t bas...

Towards the end of my first season as a youth football coach, I sent out the following email message to all the parents of the team's players. The message went out in the early hours of the morning on April 1st and the boys were all aged 10 or 11.

Despite the recent disappointing run of results, Ed ...