The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue 2

by Jonathan Wilson, Gabriele Marcotti, Philippe Auclair

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 Two contains 17 articles in 11 different sections:

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Le Blues
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* Font of all Knowledge?, by Matt Spiro—The Clairefontaine academy was once the envy of the world, but has it gone stale?
* What Makes a Nation?, by Philippe Auclair—The recent French race furore ignores the diversity of France's footballing culture
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Interview
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* Dragan Stojković—Andrew McKirdy talks to Dragan Stojković about his philosophical similarities to Arsène Wenger, his lost years and Japan's development
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In Argentina
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* Óscar Bravo, by Jonathan Wilson—How Óscar Washington Tabárez led Uruguay to Copa América glory as Argentina and Brazil misfired
* La Historia de los Piñeyros, by Rupert Fryer—A fictional account of one family's experience of the 1978 World Cup
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The Media
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* The Man who Said it was Magnificent, by Rob Smyth—Barry Davies relives some old memories and discusses the state of modern commentary
* The Man who Made Calcio, by James Horncastle—How Gianni Brera shaped the language and style of Italian football
* The Man who Ate his Hat, by Scott Murray—The story of Lieutenant Commander Tommy Woodrooffe, the BBC's first football commentator
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Back From The Brink
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* Football to Remember, by Uli Hesse—How Borussia Dortmund returned from the verge of extinction to win the Bundesliga title
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Theory
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* Wenger, l'Auteur, by Miguel Delaney—What Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Cimino and the Hollywood of the seventies tell us about Arsenal
* Brazil, and the Rise of the Back Four, by Rob Sweeney—How foreign influences led to the evolution of the back four in Brazil
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Italia 90
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* A Sentimental Journey, by Gabriele Marcotti—The 1990 World Cup as experienced by a teenage Italian
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Polemics
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* Is Football Still Sport?, by Rory Smith—It unfolds like a soap opera for the entertainment of millions and the profit of a few. What has football become?
* Too Fast, Too Furious?, by James Grossi—Why have so many creative players suffered such dreadful injuries in the MLS this season?
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Football Manager
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* The Ballad of Bobby Manager: My Autobiography, by Iain Macintosh—When somebody takes their game of Football Manager just a little too seriously...
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Greatest Games
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* St Étienne 3 Dynamo Kiev 0 (aet), by James Horncastle—European Cup quarter-final second-leg, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St Étienne, 17 March 1976
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Eight Bells
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* Finals Before the Final, by Jacob Steinberg—A selection of eight games that really shouldn't have been wasted on the earlier rounds

Genres: Sports, Football

269 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

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

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of the best football writing available. Indinspensible for the thinking football fan.

[Steven Pilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cracker , coupe of articles that didn't fly but really interesting and surprising

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best one so far. Wonderful from Marcotti on Italia 90