That’s how you’re gonna beat em, Craig. They keep underestimating you.
In my mind, Craig Bellamy’s career has been very cyclical. It seems that he is being repeatedly underappreciated when playing for larger clubs. After signing for Coventry in the summer of 2000, his career has panned out something like this: 1. Performs well at a “small” club (one that is neither in the Champions League nor … Read more
Real v Barça v Ronaldo v Messi
La Liga is, has been and, for the foreseeable future, will be a two-horse race between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The contest to win the league’s golden boot is also dominated by one pair: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Why not combine the four parties into a four-horse face? Ronaldo and Messi are entered into … Read more
Not so bad once you’re up? The fortunes of teams promoted to the English top flight
There was once a time when a club could make an impression on the upper reaches of the top flight soon, or even immediately, after being promoted. The below graphic charts the fortunes of teams in their first, second and third seasons after promotion from the English second tier over the last forty years. You … Read more
City Six Tee
Umbro have put the above design of mine on a T-shirt. It recalls Manchester City’s 6-1 win over Manchester United in anticipation for their upcoming meeting in the third round of the FA Cup. It makes up the eleventh entry in the “12 Tees of Christmas” of their excellent Tee Shop, but has tragically sold … Read more
Football Faces 1: What is a bubble coat?
I’m very happy to present the first post on On Goals Scored by a guest contributor. This is the work of Kay; a Newcastle United and Júbilo Iwata supporter who likes to draw (among other things) the intriguing faces of those blokes that tell footballers what to do. As an avid but unlearned watcher of … Read more
Iberian Oligopolies
The following diagrams represent novelty in the winners of the Spanish and Portuguese leagues dating back to their inceptions. For each champion an arc links the season back to the last time that club won the title. The arcs are all semi-circular so the size of leaps are represented by their width as well as … Read more
What does a football look like?
One hundred pictures of footballs from crests of clubs and national teams or associations. On Goals Scored: failing to answer questions that no one asked. See also: The graphical vocabulary of the 2011-2012 Premier League crests, Cresty bits quiz
NUFC 5 – 0 MUFC: Five goals, fifteen years, two dimensions
Fifteen years ago today, Newcastle United beat Manchester United by five goals to nil. It was class. My tribute comes in the form of five still images, each showing one of the five goals. Since my days doodling as a schoolboy I have tried to draw goals. By “goals” I mean acts of scoring in … Read more
One Too Many Managers
I recently posted a series of graphs showing the effects of changing manager on the battle against relegation among newly promoted teams. As a Newcastle fan and punishment glutton, I had no choice but to apply the same to the masterpiece in the field of managerial mess that was the Magpies’ 2008-09 season. The aim … Read more
I’m Sticking With You / After Promotion
It’s only the start of October and newly promoted teams QPR, Norwich and Swansea have already dropped thirteen points each. The directors of those clubs must surely be thinking about jettisoning their managers and bringing in new faces. Sure, Neil Warnock, Paul Lambert and Brendan Rodgers won promotion last season – but what have they … Read more
