The Blizzard

"By the ashtray lay a single sheet of paper and an unopened bottle of Scotch. Joao Rocha turning to his interlocutor without as much as a smile, said 'I'm afraid it's one or the other, Malcolm'. His time leading Portugal's famous green and white hoops, brief and glamourously successful, was over in one simple, dramatic Dartford Gunslinger moment."In episode Thirty Three we look back to 'The Whisky Option' by Simon Curtis from Issue Seventeen, which details the often unmentioned Portuguese successes of the larger-than-life boss Malcolm Allison. His brief and successful stay at Sporting, and subsequent mixed spells at Vitoria de Setubal and Farense mirrors the domestic career of one of football's great coaching innovators, and his legacy lasts to this day thanks to the impact he made on the son of Vitoria's goalkeeping coach. Simon Curtis is a freelance football writer based in Lisbon. He contributes regularly to ESPN and Champions, and has written for FourFourTwo, Reuters, Worldsoccer.com, Portugoal.net and a variety of official Uefa publications. He is currently co-writing a book on the history and influence of Portuguese football. Twitter: @Bifana_bifanaIf you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Seventeen, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

"There are pictures of the weeping comeback captain and Divine Ponytail consoling each other while Brazilian players dance in the background. No one did more on the pitch to drag Italy to the final than Baggio. No one did more off the pitch than Baresi."In Episode Thirty Two we look at 'In Appreciation of Franco Baresi' by Sheridan Bird, first published in Issue Eight in 2013. The article touches on the Italian captain's unusual journey to the finals - from his orphaned upbringing and rejection by Inter, through to an abortive international retirement - and his remarkable recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery to play the full 120 minutes in the blazing Pasadena Rosebowl sunshine.Sheridan Bird writes for Champions, World Soccer, Creative Review, Sporting iD, FourFourTwo and the Manchester United and England match programmes. He has written for Gazzetta della Sport online and appeared on Italian state radio RAI 1 during Euro 2012. Twitter: @SheridanBirdIf you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Eight, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

"There's something spectacularly silly about fans policing other fans for their adherence to the laws of fandom, as if not having one favourite club or preferring to watch from a seated position, is a VERY SERIOUS INFRACTION that should be SWIFTLY AND MERCILESSLY DEALT WITH. Because, you know, the economic recovery can't gather steam if Kyle in Ohio thinks it's fun to watch Chelsea on television."In Episode Thirty One we look at Brian Phillips's 'The Real Problem' from Issue Five, which tackles the thorny subject of 'the real fan'. Aren't they just a rhetorical device deployed by someone to strengthen their particular argument? The culture of sport is changing, and with it the way we access and support our favourite sides. Is there such a thing as a 'real fan' anymore?Brian Phillips was a staff writer for Grantland and the editor of the football blog The Run of Play. His writing has appeared in Slate, Deadspin, Poetry, and The Hudson Review, among other publications. Twitter: @runofplayIf you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Five, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

“What is noticeable, immediately, is how little everyone is paying attention. They talk among themselves, rarely about the football, or they look at their phones. Midway through the first half, on the big screen behind the goal at the south end, there is an advertisement, broadcast over the PA system, for a lease-to-own furniture retailer. It is hard to decide what is more troubling: the advert itself or the fact that such an unrecognisable brand was able to buy it.”In Episode Thirty, we look at Jake Walerius’s 'Fading Embers' from the recently released Issue Twenty. While the rest of MLS booming, what’s gone wrong for the Chicago Fire? Is it all down to meddling owner Andrew Hauptman? The article also assesses how the MLS boom plays into the cultural landscape of American sports in general. The overall success of the league will have much to do with how MLS confronts the tensions between a burgeoning family-led audience and the influence of global football culture and a more knowledgeable fanbase.Jake Walerius is a football writer based in Chicago. He writes a weekly column for the Sports Quotient and is working on a book about football culture in the US. Twitter: @JakeWalerius. If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Twenty, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

The second half of the Blizzard's live Q&A event held at Dublin's Sugar Club on 3rd March 2016. Featuring a panel of Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair and James Horncastle, hosted by Second Captains' Eoin McDevitt, the discussion centred around Euro 2016 and Qatar 2022, whether matches can change the course of human history, some chat about Klopp and Liverpool, Mourinho, timewasting, the panel's most memorable moments covering football and much more.If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.All issues of The Blizzard are available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

The first half of the Blizzard's live Q&A event held at Dublin's Sugar Club on 3rd March 2016. Featuring a panel of Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair and James Horncastle, hosted by Second Captains' Eoin McDevitt, the discussion centred around this year's Premier League title race and Leicester's extraordinary performance, what's going on at Arsenal and who will replace Arsene Wenger, whether Antonio Conte will be a good fit at Chelsea, some chat about the Champions League and much more. We also have a brief chat with Jonathan Wilson about the newly released/soon to be released (delete according to your status as a subscriber) Issue Twenty, where he picks out some highlights including the days before Zenit had any money, a Moldovan photo essay, and our first crossword. If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.All issues of The Blizzard are available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

"A heavy cloud of tear gas hung over a Tahrir Square in revolt. Buckling under the pressure of thousands of protestors, the epicentre of the Egyptian revolution was unleashing a roar of resistance into the Cairo night. Against this backdrop of chaos and the sonic onslaught of revolution, one of my companions and I conducted a halting conversation about local football."In Episode Twenty Eight, we look back at David Lynch's 'Ultra Violence' from Issue Four. Ultras have put aside their differences and united for the greater good in Cairo, but to what extent are they generals or just foot soldiers of the revolution?After the horrors of the Port Said stadium disaster, in which 70 Al-Ahly fans died at the hands of Al-Masry fans (or instruments of the state - it's disputed), the role that the Cairene clubs' ultras played in the downfall of the Mubarak regime, and the 'second revolution' is much analysed. David Lynch is an award winning journalist and author currently based in Cairo. His second book is 'A Divided Paradise: An Irishman in the Holy Land' (New Island). www.davidlynchwriter.com

If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Four, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

"Italia 90 was indeed the greatest excuse ever to go drinking in the history of Ireland... There is hardly a man alive in Ireland who does not have some blissful memory of being terribly, terribly drunk during Italia 90." It would be tempting to add, that was just the squad. In Episode Twenty Seven of the Blizzard Podcast we look back to Dion Fanning's 'Booze Boys' from Issue Eleven, which looks at Ireland's 'complicated' relationship with alcohol - from the euphemistic 'Paul McGrath's knees' through to Giovanni Trapattoni bopping Andy Reid over the head with a copy of Gazzetto della Sport, via the meltdown in Saipan, Ireland and its footballers have a long relationship with the demon drink. Dion Fanning is the football correspondent of the Irish Sunday Independent. He was nominated as Irish Sports Columnist of the Year and Irish Sports Journalist of the Year in 2012 and 2013. He lives in London.For more information on our Q&A event in Dublin on 3rd March, mentioned at the beginning of the episode, featuring a panel of Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair and James Horncastle, head to www.theblizzard.co.uk/events. Podcast listeners can save 10% on ticket prices by using the code 'blizzarddub' at the checkout.If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Eleven, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

"Anderson chased back, but Nicol dropped a shoulder as he entered the box from the side. Anderson skittered away on the seat of his pants, foot down as he drove the engine of the Puskas-Wright Fire Service. Nicol, now in space, 12 yards out, floated an exquisitely placed effort over Kelly. It was one of the great goals". In Episode Twenty Five we look back to Scott Murray's 'The Forgotten Full-Back', which examines how it was really Steve Nicol, and not John Barnes, Peter Beardsley or John Aldridge that was the key behind Liverpool's title-winning side of 1987-88. His fearless foraging from full-back (both left and right), and a number of early goals and outstanding performances, gave the new Liverpool side the momentum to sweep all before them and take their seventeenth title. Scott Murray writes for the Guardian. He is co-author of And Gazza Misses The Final, a history of the World Cup through the medium of minute-by-minute match reports. He also co-wrote The Anatomy of Liverpool and Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, the World's Worst Golfer.For more information on our Q&A event in Dublin on 3rd March, mentioned at the beginning of the episode, featuring a panel of Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair and James Horncastle, head to www.theblizzard.co.uk/events. Podcast listeners can save 10% on ticket prices by using the code 'blizzarddub' at the checkout.If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Eighteen, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

"When van Basten was visiting galeries, eating steamed vegetables and discussing the boundaries of freedom, Boydy was downing pints and going to grab-a-granny nights in clubs with two-for-one offers on blue Bacardi Breezers and fights in the car-park."In Episode Twenty Five we feature Harry Pearson's tale of Hartlepool United great Adam Boyd, 'The Van Basten of Hartlepool' from Issue Fifteen. Boyd, like all cult heroes, had his share of ups and downs at the north-east club as the local child prodigy-turned-disappointment-turned-redeemed hero. His role in Hartlepool's near promotion in the 2004/05 season is fondly remembered. For more information on our Q&A event in Dublin on 3rd March, mentioned at the beginning of the episode, featuring a panel of Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair and James Horncastle, head to www.theblizzard.co.uk/events. Podcast listeners can save 10% on ticket prices by using the code 'blizzarddub' at the checkout. Harry Pearson is the author of The Far Corner. His blog about north-east football, The First Thirty Years Are The Worst, is unaccountably popular in Switzerland. Twitter: @camsell59If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email [email protected] or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.Issue Fifteen, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.