Sports Books Blog

I am not a Luddite, far from it. I have a Blackberry (whatever did I do before?), a shiny new iPod (although after loading my entire CD collection I still have 145GB of memory left), a MacBook pro, two other big Macs, various back up devices, a digital camera, a Humax FreeSat box – the sort of modern paraphernalia that a chap cannot do without. Read the rest of this entry »

Forgive me Father for it is a long time since my last blog. In fact this is the first since November so if there are any readers left, my apologies. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh dear this blog has to be another obituary. First David Burnside, now Margaret Potts, wife of the legendary manager who took Burnley to the League title in 1960. It should be less of a surprise. David was only 69 and Margaret was 86. But it isn’t. Margaret seemed indefatigable. Read the rest of this entry »

I went to a big football match yesterday – Everton v Aston Villa – and I found all sorts of strange emotions returning. I don’t go to football much these days; that was only the second time in a year, partly because I’m not so much in love with the game any more. Once I was obsessed with it. I knew every little last and lost fact. Read the rest of this entry »

Back from Frankfurt, knackered as usual. For SportsBooks it was a great fair but brought back down to earth on the Sunday morning when I had a phone call to tell me David Burnside was dead.

I met David only the once although I saw him play many times. For those of you without my anorak tendencies when it comes to sport I will tell you that he was an inside forward with West Brom, Wolves, Plymouth and Southampton. Read the rest of this entry »

Off to Frankfurt early on Tuesday October 13. I catch a flight from Birmingham at 7.05am which is well before the time I normally drag myself out of bed. But it’s worth it. I get into Frankfurt at 11am, park myself in the flat I rent with two other publishers and then meander off to the fair to set up our stand. Read the rest of this entry »

I took Monday off from piloting the good ship SportsBooks to take in a Sports Journalists’ Association-organised trip around the 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford.

Very interesting and very informative and I can’t wait until 2012, although wishing away time at my age is foolish. Read the rest of this entry »

I see that News International is to start charging for web content from the next fiscal year. It will be interesting to see if it works.

I’ve always thought that information from news gathering organisations like New International or the Guardian group ought to be paid for. As newspapers circulations decrease so hits on their website increase. And the information ought to be paid for.

Read the rest of this entry »

Even in these credit crunch times you can have a laugh and that’s just what we did when we checked on Amazon to see if ‘Chapped Legs and Punctured Balls’ our hilarious and nostalgic look at football in the playground and parks of the 1960s was on the site yet.

It’s not due out until November but you have to keep checking because Amazon’s process is not foolproof and you can get all sorts of glitches.

It was fine except…

If you have been onto Amazon you will find they invite you to be interested in other things and people who browsed the ‘Chapped Legs and Punctured Balls’ page were invited to be interested in:

Dry Feet

www.HealthspanNurture.co.uk

New Specialist Skin Care For More Mature Skin. Free P&P On All Orders

or

Gehwol Foot Skin Care

www.gehwol.co.uk

Cracked Heels, Dry Skin, Flaky Legs Products Online – Free UK Delivery.

The book, written by Paul Cooper, has a BIC code (that’s to tell the booktrade what category it is) showing it’s about football and the cover shows a dog chewing a football!

To be fair to Amazon we wanted to call it ‘Jumpers for Goalposts’ but were astonished to find that Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, of the Fast Show, had been allowed to patent the phrase even though we are certain it was in use before the Fast Show was even thought of.

So we changed it to its present title. 

But if you are feeling a bit itchy and flaky what use is Paul’s book even though it is one of the funniest we have read.

Peter Doherty has apparently made a comeback. He’s got a new album and he was on the front page of the Observer magazine, emerging from red velvet curtains. It brought back the time I sat on his sofa and he sang to me!

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve messed with rock stars before. Wynder K Frogg (Google him if you don’t believe me) once used my flat mate’s bed to satisfy a groupie. Wynder’s real name is Mick Weaver and these days he’s a respected session musician but when he came back to mine it was the mid-sixties, which explains the name. Read the rest of this entry »