Just in

Articles by Rex Mitchell

Avatar photo
About Rex Mitchell

Rex Mitchell is a Brentford supporter from childhood. This has not prevented him having a distinguished Fleet Street career as a sports reporter and later deputy football editor. A widower, Rex is a bit of a bandit golfer off his official handicap of 20 and is currently chairman of his local bowls club. More Posts

Post-round round-up

The qualifying round in the World Cup is a bit like losing your virginity; you want to get over it with the minimum of embarrassment. It’s not that accurate an indicator of who will win. This tends to be the team that gathers momentum. Italy, for example, only got 3 points in 1982 in the [...]

June 27, 2014 // 0 Comments

Who’s to blame?

In the media coverage of English national football, post defeat and debacle, it’s vital to have someone to blame. In the first 48 hours it was unclear who this would be: Roy Hodgson is affable, good with the press; it was not the younger players but the experienced ones, notably Gerrard, that [...]

June 24, 2014 // 0 Comments

Another debacle but not another debate

The main reason for England’s defeat last night will not be debated – it never is – namely, a press campaign revolving around Wayne Rooney. This was good for Rooney but bad for the camp. No other national media is so obsessed with individuals.We were once with Gascoigne and now [...]

June 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Rooney debate

For years Wayne Rooney has been the dominating story of English football: some might say distracting even destructive are more accurate adjectives. Whether its  his metatarsal fracture or contract negotiations with threats of leaving somehow this takes precedence over all. The football press is [...]

June 16, 2014 // 0 Comments

Once more into the shoot out

Although there seems to be a change of attitude by not going into the World Cup gung-ho with the familiar war metaphors, there is still a feeling that England may surprise a few. Get real. We have only won one tournament in history, when we played every game on a sapping Wembley pitch and we [...]

June 11, 2014 // 0 Comments

Two finals

Football, as the cliché goes, is a funny old game. Both finals were characterised by very late goals. Atletico Madrid seemed to have consummated an unbelievable season by winning the league and Champions League, only for Real Madrid to equalise. Their manager Diego Simeone must have been thinking [...]

May 25, 2014 // 1 Comment

Meeting a legend

Yesterday I attended a football symposium at the Argentine embassy. It was moderated by Jimmy Burns, who wrote a biography of Diego Maradona, and attended by panelists journalist Jim White, Victor Morales, the doyen of football commentating in the Argentine, Ossie Ardiles, Ricky Villa and Angelo [...]

May 22, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Cup Final

On the National Rust we know the editor will only publish two offerings a day and, if you write on a conventional topic covered in the media, you have little chance. I was initally going to defend Richard Scudamore – who has done so much to take the Premier global – in the face of [...]

May 18, 2014 // 0 Comments

The play offs

Most supporters and Sky Sports love the play offs but that does not deny their intrinsic injustice. So when Derby, who finished 11 points ahead of Brighton and beat them twice, won at the Amex last night justice was done – but not totally the job. The Amex is a rousing place and whilst the [...]

May 9, 2014 // 1 Comment

Thoughts on the Champions League

For once I found myself in agreement with a Mourinho post-match comment. He said games turn on incidents as much as tactical systems. Courtois made a brilliant save for Atletico Madrid and then they scored. Much has been said of Bayern Munich being less effective with the possession game of Pep [...]

May 2, 2014 // 0 Comments

1 … 11 12 13 14 15

Copyright © 2026 The National Rust | Design by Premonition