PREVIEW

I’m not huge on using stats when writing about football matches because [*cliché klaxon*] “there’s only one stat that really counts”, especially when looking back over a game, but they do occasionally make for interesting reading when trying to forecast what could happen in an upcoming game or when looking further down the track. And […]

Well if ever an MFW preview was made for me this is the one. Which is probably why I volunteered for it in the first place. Now how does a singer in a half-decent rock ‘n’ roll covers band who plays [apparently – I couldn’t confirm it at time of writing] a bit of rhythm […]

A Tuesday night under the Carrow Road lights sounds perfect doesn’t it? That glare of the floodlights in the night sky as you approach the stadium, then shining like a million spotlights as you walk up the steps from the concourse into our Carrow Road amphitheatre. Magnificent, right? At least, it would be if we […]

Damien Francis’ late leveller and a helter-skelter 4-4 draw at Millmoor will forever hold a place in Norwich City’s storied 2003/04 promotion almanack. In simpler times – and a season that first ignited my 17-year love affair with City – the travelling fans swayed like daffodils under the Yorkshire lights as Francis, a key cog […]

I’m not usually a fan of previews. They all seem a bit formulaic. You take the one main talking point of the moment and bang on about it, whilst giving a cursory nod to the opposition and their form. Not much to write about. Not usually much fun to read. But this one might be […]

Let me open with a disclaimer.  I find it difficult to take a balanced view of AFC Bournemouth. The problem stems, of course, from its portrayal on the BBC and elsewhere as “plucky little Bournemouth”, “Cinderella team Bournemouth” and so on. Not to put too fine a point on it, that’s irritating garbage which makes […]

We’re facing a club with some genuine history on Saturday but I’m pretty sure we’ll have the upper hand and come away with all three points. One win doesn’t make a season but I’m convinced we’ll be too good for them. Preston North End. The original Lilywhites although some Spurs fans might [wrongly] make a […]

So… here we go again. The closest we’ll ever get to two seasons overlapping, which is a bit unfortunate considering the last one was really sh.it. I was determined to avoid using the word beginning with h, ending in r and which alludes to that feeling of nausea and a thumping head that follows a […]

It’s to an old mate of mine I turned for this one – Mike Smith, a fellow son of the late Waveney District Council. Once a Lowestoftian, this Gooner has long since departed the sunny climes and headed instead to that London to answer the call of Stan Kroenke and co. *** Before we get […]

So… here we go again… finally … whether we like it or not. With Southampton the visitors, it was to my old Metro mucker, Chris Rann that I turned for his thoughts on what may, or may not happen… First things first… should we be playing? In your view, is the PL’s unseemly scramble to […]

When Blades and Canaries collide my go-to guy is Pete Turner. In his own words, “the Brixton arm of the Brighton, Brixton and Belgravia Blades” – aka the BBB Blades. So, ahead of the latest in a very long line of must-wins for City, I returned to the calm of chez Turner for what we describe as […]

Ahead of this week’s last 16 FA Cup tie at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, I’ve been chatting again with talkSPORT’s Paul Hawksbee – the Spurs-supporting half of Hawksbee & Jacobs – who described us, after the league game in north London, as the best bottom-of-the-league team he’d ever seen. So, can we justify this dubious […]

Ahead of tomorrow night’s game with Leicester, I’ve been chatting with Phil Holloway from Leicester Fan TV who gave us chapter and verse on all the goings-on at the King Power, including Vardy’s drought, a ‘confident’ Madders and honouring the wishes of their late chairman… First up, before we get stuck into tomorrow night’s game, care […]

Ahead of our visit to the Black Country, I’ve been chatting again to Lynsey Hooper – broadcaster, Wolves fan, co-founder of the magnificent Offside Rule podcast and MFW interviewee prior to Wolves’ 2-1 win at Carrow Road in December. Before we look at Sunday’s game, was sad to hear of the near demise of the Offside Rule’s Women’s […]

Here it comes. Our biggest home match of the season, or at least it is for me anyway. Can David and his slingshots wielded by Teemu Pukki, Emi Buendia and Todd Cantwell bring down the Goliath that is Liverpool? A big match deserves a big MFW preview, so we turned to Liverpudlian extraordinaire Tony Evans […]

For the latest in our very long line of must-wins, we head north to Newcastle and so it’s to Paul Mannion I turn – my old mucker from the Metro Sport days – who’ll give us chapter and verse on what’s happening in the Land of Ashley and Bruce… So… if, before the season started, […]

Ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup fourth round trek to Turf Moor I’ve been chatting again with Joe Redmond from the excellent Burnley podcast TurfCast. Off the back of their 2-0 win at Old Trafford, he was understandably cock-a-hoop. Have you come down to Earth yet? Or you still drifting over Old Trafford on cloud number 9? Did you see […]

Those of us of a certain age know Danny Kelly as editor of NME in its heyday and also Q Magazine but more recently, of course, he’s headed off into the world of sports broadcasting and, even more recently, podcasting.  But it’s with his Spurs hat on that I chatted with him this week ahead […]

When crunch time arrives while City are still in the FA Cup, you know the brown stuff and the fan are in close proximity. Despite spending far too long telling folk to refrain from using ‘must-win’, it’s difficult to see this as anything but. Joe Hinchliffe wrote a fine piece on this site yesterday, offering […]

MFW regulars [we love you all] may recall that our previous Manchester United preview featured my Norwich neighbour, the admirable Sean Tilsley – who happens to be married to Debbie who is a rabid Citeh fan. But there’s been plenty of water under the bridge since then so it was obviously time for a catch-up […]