On the sixth day of Christmas…the best blog

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…..three blogs that are simply just funny

We make a clear definition between a blog and a website.  To us a blog is a site that is updated regularly with time bound content such as match reports and more general around a wide range of subjects whilst a website will be normally about something very specific.  Take Budget Airline Football for instance.  A great website that provides specific information about travel to football in Europe, where as The Ball is Round takes the subject matter of football in Europe further by visits to games and what happens when  we are there.  Simple really.

The number of blogs created on the subject is quite frightening.  There doesn’t seem to be a day go by without a new one setting up.  One of beauties of programmes such as WordPress and Blogger is that they make it easy for even Bury fans (joke) to set up, and above all its free!  Some look good but the content is crap, some vice versa but our top three winners this year combine both to genuinely enhance the lives of us football fans online.

The Real FA Cup – We love football at the grass roots level and so do these guys.  They are a perfect example of my old saying “Get big, get niche or get out”.  Their niche is the Cup.  Not just the FA Cup, but also the Trophy, Vase and sometimes I have heard even the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.  They choose their prey carefully, analysing both teams in great detail before bring their readers all the important details about the game.  Oh and a match report as well.

“But first, and indeed last, there was the small matter of Bar Billiards, a fine pub, friendly locals and a mini beer festival. Having never been to Carshalton for either football or cultural delights, we didn’t really know what to expect. BeerInTheEvening for once came good, although the 7/10 their reviewers afforded The Hope must have meant there was a load of soulless Chelsea fans in recently expecting Stella, a fight and chicken in a basket”

European Football Weekends – OK so we may be a bit biased on this one, but we do believe that the MULTIPLE award winning EFW blog is one of the finest things on the internet.  A mixture of off beat match reports from around Europe both first hand (AS Trencin v MFC Petrzalka anyone?) as well as regular contributors such as the latest series following the fortunes of Turkish champions Bursaspor along with some first class interviews.  I would wager a few of our pennies that no one has interviewed such a list of football celebrities in the past year in such an irrelevant style.  Henry Winter, Clive Tyldesley, Sid Lowe, Oliver Kay and of course AC Jimbo have all appeared on the hallowed pages.

From his recent interview with Come Dine With Me voice man, Dave Lamb:-

“Do you ever commentate on the Lewes games in your head in the same bitingly sarcastic manner as on CDWM? No. Because Lewes are brilliant, unlike most of the people on CDWM”

Two Hundred Percent – Is there anything more fascinating that understanding why some clubs are essentially screwed financially?  And who better to give you the real facts than someone who spends his whole day looking at balance sheets and tutting under his breath.  Another multiple award winning site and one look at the home page and you can see why.  Clean, bold and full of hidden promise, the TWOTH team cover football at all levels willing to give their opinion on the issues that matter.  The cartoon strip, Mungo, following the fortunes of Heart of Clachmanishire is a work of genius in its own right.

The club’s outstanding tax bill was in the region of £90,000 and £30,000 was paid off by the club itself. After a plea for loans from supporters, however, the remaining amount owed under the winding up order has now been paid and the immediate threat to the club’s future has been staved off. This is a remarkable effort on the part of the supporters of the club. It is perhaps worth reflecting upon the fact that a club whose average home attendance of 579 can raise £64,900 in just a few weeks – the money was put in by the supporters in the form of loans ranging from £500 to £3,000 – as this is an exceptional achievement and shows, as if it needed to be shown, the depth of the bond between the club and its supporters.

The list could go on as we have come across so many decent blogs so please do not take offence if you haven’t made our list – it will be you haven’t bribed us enough!