The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue 11

by Jonathan Wilson (Editor), Ben Lyttleton, Igor Rabiner

Genres: Football, Sports, Nonfiction

281 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2013

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

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid issue of football writing.

Highlights include Jonathan Wilson's introduction in relation to the World Cup. I think his idea of having a Global Qualifying round after the continental qualifying is a superb idea. It will shorten the World Cup and improve the quality of the tournament whilst being much more inclusive to African, Asian and North American countries. It would also have more meaningful qualifying games. I thought this was a really innovative idea.

There is much about the African Champions League in this issue - the best article is the one covering Al-Ahly's Champions League win, including discussion on the murder of their fans in Port Said.

There is a good interview with Oscar Tabarez - it's funny reading this after the World Cup as I'm not sure Tabarez's ideas are congruent with how Urugauy performed at the World Cup.

I really enjoyed the article by Uli Hesse describing the transformation of German football - I've recently read his book 'Tor' so this is a nice update to that book. This was written prior to the World Cup win so was strangely prophetic. I think there are some really clear messages here for England (which won't be taken up!).

The articles and interviews with referees were really good - that's a side of the game I like to see explored.

Loved the Great Game of the Dundee derby in 1983. I remember watching the European Cup semi-final against AS Roma - those were the days when you'd watch any British teams in Europe (and pretty much support all British teams, unlike now where support is all at club level).

There are a few articles about the influence of Jewish coaches which were of varying quality but overall a good selection of articles.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent edition of The Blizzard which perhaps explores a greater level of specialism even than before, including as it does, sections on the African Cup of Nations and Israel's influence on football. Probably the best piece is Uli Hesse's on the rise of the new Germany, an impressive course but as yet unconsummated with a trophy while there is an excellent study of the horrific Port Said murders from James Montague and Andi Thomas provides the best prose in a study of back up goalkeepers.

[Elliott Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

These just keep getting better and better - not a weak article in the entire mag.

[Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of good interviews. Wasn't keen on the referee bits - I guess my interest in the game has its boundaries...

[Steven Pilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. usual balance of articles the ones on referees were excellent