Paul’s Soccer Stories
Seeing a Game at Bristol City FC
Seems to me that seeing a game at Bristol City FC is like arriving at the intersection of small-town, community football and the modern age. This is meant as a compliment on both accounts, by the way. I love the family feel at these smaller clubs, especially on the level where I saw it across…
Me and Fulham: A Like Story
Like most Americans, when I started getting into watching English soccer, I basically knew four things: There is a thing called the Premier League, in which play Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and … some others. They sing at games, which is really cool. There is also a World Cup. I should pick a team…
My Latest English Soccer Tour – 8 games in 14 days – Was The Best One Yet
I suppose I’m getting pretty good at going to England to watch soccer games — which I should be, now that I’ve seen more than 100 of them at more than 60 different clubs. In fact, on this 2017 trip -- during which I turned 51 -- I hit my 50th different club, which now…
Seeing a Game at Forest Green Rovers FC
When I heard there was an English football club called Forest Green Rovers, I knew I had to go there. The way I discovered their existence made it even more pressing to get there: They made the Football League in 2017, for the first time in their 130-year history! And their home town, Nailsworth, thus…
Watching a Game at West Bromwich Albion
I have now had two great times watching games at West Bromwich Albion, and I think I am going to start encouraging more people to go there. It’s such a terrific stadium for one thing, and a tremendous set of fans. My first time there, I was taken in by some locals and turned into…
Me and the Blades: A Sheffield Sensation
There would now appear to be two English clubs where I have come to be known as the Yank with the camera and the blog. All I have ever wanted to do is go to interesting places, have interesting experiences, meet interesting people, and then tell the story. I could add to that, in the…
Lucky Boy: Seeing a Game at AFC Bournemouth
All I wanted for my 51st birthday in 2017 was a ticket to see a game at AFC Bournemouth. You might not think that’s a hard thing to get. In fact, assuming you're American, there’s a decent chance you only recently found out that Bournemouth exists; they spent several years in the Premier League before…
Agony and Ecstasy:
The 2017 Steel City Derby
Perhaps the reason we go to football games is because we just might have an experience people will talk about for generations. We sit through countless forgettable affairs because someday we’re going to see a world-class game-winner, or a stunning upset, or a penalty kick hit a season-saving post, or some seismic shift in the…
Pompey Plays Up:
Seeing a Game at Portsmouth FC
As much as I love seeing soccer games in England, and as much as I love travel, and visiting the old stadiums, what I really love is a club whose supporters stick with it, no matter what. For all these reasons, I confess to admiring the heck out of Portsmouth FC. They’ve played at Fratton…
Match Night in Oxford:
Two Points Dropped, Two Blokes Bantering
If my book accomplishes one thing, I hope it’s that Americans who have only heard of the top six clubs in the Premier League will read it and wind up in places like Oxford United. It isn’t that Oxford is a particularly special club -- you can get to know them a bit here --…
