The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue 5

by Jonathan Wilson (Editor), David Ashton (Contributor), Sergio Levinsky (Contributor)

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them.

Issue Five contains 19 articles in 10 different sections:
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World Cup Bidding
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* The Fall-Out, by James Corbett—Significant questions remain unanswered about the World Cup bid process
* Russia's Victory, by Igor Rabiner—Russia's success in the 2018 bid was a triumph over internal as well as external opponents
* Qatar Hero, by Philippe Auclair- Michel Platini is often seen as the ex-pro coming to save Fifa. But why did he vote for Qatar?
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Interview
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* Sócrates — The former Brazil captain talks to David Tryhorn about why footballers have a political responsibility
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Theory
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* Roy of the Rover, by Philippe Auclair—Roy Hodgson explains how his travels have shaped his coaching philosophy
* Like a Shooting Star, by Luca Ferrato—How Ternana soared and then crashed with Corrado Viciani's high-tempo style
* The Skilling Fields, by Steve Bartram—Manchester United are just one of the clubs influenced by the coaching model of Wiel Coerver
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The Asian Market
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* The 'Gaijin' of Gamba, by Ben Mabley—Fan culture has begun to challenge Japanese hierarchies. The only European Gamba ultra explains how
* Sing when you're Winning, by Ian Griffiths—How the need to appear successful turns fans in Singapore from the S.League to the Premier League
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Photo Essay
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* The Hard Core, by Misha Domozhilov—Images of the fans who followed Zenit St Petersburg as they won the Russian championship in 2010
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Fall
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* The Centre-Back and the Kitchen Knife, by Lars Sivertsen—Claus Lundekvam opens up on his battle against the addiction that overwhelmed him after retirement
* My Name is Ally MacLeod and I am a Winner, by Dominic Sandbrook—How Scotland's humiliation at the 1978 World Cup knocked nationalism off course
* The Lions Sleep Tonight, by Jonathan Wilson- Ten years after retaining the Cup of Nations, Cameroon failed to qualify. What went wrong?
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Polemics
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* The Real Problem, by Brian Phillips—Is the 'real fan' being marginalised or is he just a rhetorical tool?
* Where's Darth Vader Gone?, by Simon Kuper—Is the age of football as a substitute for war coming to an end?
* The Culture of Violence, by Sergio Levinsky—The absence of leadership means there is little hope of Argentina's hooligan problem being solved
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Fiction
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* The Glasses, by David Ashton—A gift from a mysterious visitor changes life for a man on a Scottish estate...
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Greatest Games
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* Romania 4-6 Yugoslavia, by Vladimir Novak—World Cup qualifier, Ghencea Stadium, Bucharest, 13 November 1977
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Five Rings
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* Olympic Stories, by Marcus Christenson, Steve Menary, Jonathan Wilson, Colin Udoh and Joel Richards—Five tales from the rich history of Olympic football

Genres: Sports, Football

190 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Jonathan Wilson is a British sports journalist and author who writes for a number of publications including the Guardian, the Independent and Sports Illustrated. He also appears on the Guardian football podcast, Football Weekly.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another superb edition of The Blizzard that makes its mark early with three pinch hitting posts articles that expose the corruption surrounding World Cup bidding - that Nicolas Sarkozy pressurized Michel Platini into backing Qatar's bid for the 2022 tournament is particularly expertly highlighted by regular contributor Philippe Auclair.

Elsewhere, Ben Mabley is excellent on the Gamba Osaka ultras and their disdain for typically Japanese modes of behaviour while there are illuminating interviews with the late Socrates (the footballer, not the philosopher) and Roy Hodgson - I've been critical about the worth of the interviews in The Blizzard in the past but these provide new insights.

A recall of five Olympic football stories in the final chapter provides topicality and perhaps my only query surrounds Simon Kuper's contribution - it's enjoyably provocative but only partially convincing. Soccernomics suffered from the economist's tendency to take one variable in order to prove everything and Kuper's last couple of pieces for The Blizzard are perhaps guilty of the same.

[Simon Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, a fantastic range of articles.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable for football fans who want more than "the boy done good" from their football writing.

[Steven Pilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

well you could do no better than read this if the fifa scandal interests you, usual mix of very strong writing

[Travis Timmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite issue so far - improved writing quality per article, ambitious pieces, very nice selection. A sort of Platonic ideal for the Blizzard, I think.