"You are among the football hacks summoned to Downing Street by Margaret Thatcher. She has the eyes of a tawny owl and clearly terrifies her ministers, who dance attendance. She goes around the table, asking each visitor what they would do to solve football hooliganism. You might as well quote Afghani poetry, because her mind is made up before anyone opens their mouth. In her world, football fans are second-class citizens who have forfeited the right to trust and respect. They deserve to be caged, treated with contempt."

In Episode Sixty Nine of the Blizzard Podcast we look back at ‘But You Can’t Change…’ by Mike Calvin, first published in Issue Eight in March 2013. In it, he writes back to his teenaged self, setting out the life that would become his.

From his early roots as a ballboy at Watford to meeting the Prime Minister, and ultimately committing the cardinal football fan sin of changing his allegiances, Calvin looks at a boy’s world through a man’s eyes, and passes on some of life’s lessons.

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