Just in

Britain

The Tanner Report: Fulham 0 Crystal Palace 2

Once again Fulham followed a superb win – over high-flying Nottingham Forest – with a home defeat to a team below us. Palace got off to a bad start this season and Fulham were easy victors at Selhurst Park in the autumn. Since then they have rallied, garnering 27 points and winning [...]

February 23, 2025 // 0 Comments

Does Sir Jim Ratcliffe get a fair press?

Our sporting press like nothing better than to criticise. Two weeks ago, in rugby’s Six Nations tournament, England were predicted to lose to France and head coach Steve Borthwick was under the cosh. England then proved the critics wrong. Underlying this critique is the patronising assumption [...]

February 22, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Boys Book of Soccer (1957)

At a garden fête last year I bought the above slightly fixed volume and interesting reading it made too. Of most interest were the league tables for 1955/56. In those days you  had a Third Division – north and south – from which only one team was promoted. Brighton, Ipswich Town, [...]

February 21, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 2 Nottingham Forest 1

We maintained the form that achieved a draw at Liverpool and wins at Chelsea and Newcastle with a well-deserved victory over Forest who won 7 games consecutively in December and had put 7 past Brighton. In terms of performance it might just be our best this season with Forest having no answer to [...]

February 17, 2025 // 0 Comments

Ala Colthard/Signor Sassi & Jones Family Kitchen

Signor Sassi is one of those once fashionable Knightsbridge restaurants – you know, the sort where they have pictures of film stars and footballers on the wall? Situated in an alleyway off Knightsbridge it’s not the most accessible location but its signature dish of spaghetti all’ [...]

February 13, 2025 // 0 Comments

England 26 France 25 (Six Nations)

England confounded the negativity of the Press in the build-up by not collapsing in the final quarter but by winning in the dying embers. In truth it was not a great game of rugby. France dominated the first half but made some dreadful errors. Marcus Smith’s kicking was not reliable off the [...]

February 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Newcastle 1 Fulham 2

The mystery continues as to why Fulham can get satisfactory results against teams above us and play poorly against those below. We have beaten Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and now Newcastle away – drawn at Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal – but lost crushingly to Wolves and drawn with [...]

February 3, 2025 // 0 Comments

Brighton 0 Everton 1

Brighton’s run of poor home form continued – our last home win was in November. David Moyes, who has 700 managerial games under his belt, did a number over the considerably less experienced Fabian Hürzeler. Surprisingly Minteh was overlooked for Grouda, but the latter was ineffectual [...]

January 28, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 0 Manchester Utd 1

The less said about this dreadful match the better. Fulham’s performance was dire: once again they sat back in the second half and, the longer it stayed 0-0, the more I thought the away team would score. Tactics tend to be impressionable and many sides – Fulham included – adopt [...]

January 27, 2025 // 0 Comments

HARLEQUINS 24 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 19

Quins are quite often given the Friday evening slot as a televised apéritif for the weekend’s rugby and this match proved an excellent taster even though both teams were bereft of key players called up for international duty. Quins have depth – whether it is the evergreen Danny Care, the [...]

January 25, 2025 // 0 Comments

1 6 7 8 9 10 251