Author, The Fable Guy on Substack - home of Football Fables & my other subscription content. Book: The Dilly Dong Bell. Analyst sport & ethics. Ex Sky, BBC, ITN
The story so far✍🏼
I’ve released my first 3 Football Fables (keeping FREE to read/subscribe on
@SubstackInc
for now)
The Football Who Kicked A Tortoise:
Lazy Susan:
The Check:
ℹ️
I know it isn’t quite over yet, but let us please give thanks to
@coldwarsteve
for helping us maintain sanity and retain some humour over these past few years.
An incredible historic record of dark times. A gentleman and a genius.👊🏼❤️
We now see why the promised ‘recovery’ figures never materialised.
@ProfKarolSikora
persisted with this, and t-cell theory that is gathering traction and the disproportionate effect on mental health. And non-stop shade has been thrown at him.
He was right on all three and more.
Interesting but beware. It’s a great headline but nothing should distract today from extraordinary
#PHE
stats issue. I’ve said for months that info provided to UK public has been selective, untrustworthy and unclear. The public have been misled and wrongfooted. It’s disgraceful.
Just watched
@MartinSLewis
on
#Marr
talking about those still excluded from UK Goverment’s financial help during pandemic.
Sharp, informative, compassionate, thorough, acutely aware of what others in media have missed. Very high quality (public service) broadcasting. Good on him
Sorry to repeat myself but it feels important we never take this man’s work for granted. What a quietly devastating piece this is.
Yet again he has captured how so many of us feel about this omnishambles and the people at the centre of it. Thank you
@coldwarsteve
🙏🏼👊🏼X
@ProfKarolSikora
May I thank you Professor. Because during this crisis overall you are using the powerful weapon of positive thinking, backed up by fact, science and experience. You’ve been a great comfort and help to many thousands.
Keep up the good work, stay well and best wishes.
Almost unbearable to look at.
@Coldwar_Steve
has been so dark in recent days it’s been stomach-wrenching. But he’s gone there because he needed to. Quietly heroic, and one day will be studied as an important interpretation of what’s been going in UK before/during this crisis. 👊🏽
Breathtaking.
Extraordinary piece of art, genius, protest, dripping with anger and despair.
May future generations look back on the incredible and important contribution of
@Coldwar_Steve
in capturing the horror that unfolded in 2020, from within the UK.
Making a Sunday by Sunday comparison rather than ‘day before’, is the kind of common sense that has made the tweets of
@ProfKarolSikora
invaluable over the past month. Alongside his considered positivity. Do not underestimate the importance of such careful reassurance to public.
Fewest number of deaths reported for this month today at 413 vs the last 3 Sundays - 596, 737, 621.
Don't focus on the daily figures (good or bad), look to the trends.
The peak is behind us.
Work to do, but we are finally seeing significant progress on the mortality trend.
Every time you think
@Coldwar_Steve
has captured the devastation of what’s been going in the UK so perfectly that it can’t be bettered, he somehow finds a new level.
This is absolutely gut wrenching. I can only hope the message is loud and clear enough for the public🙏🏼🥺
Did anyone capture the political missteps that made a devastating pandemic worse as accurately/cleverly as
@Coldwar_Steve
?
Conveying dismay, anger, despair with inspired satire. This work will be studied by future generations - some of it so moving it was like a physical jolt 👊🏽
Book 3 Announcement!! JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR - the definitive historical account is here!
Over 100 artworks with a personal commentary from me on every page. Out 14 Oct - ON PRESALE NOW!
@thamesandhudson
#PlagueYear
See link 👇👇
#OnThisDay
in 2016, Hibs fans belted out the finest rendition of 'Sunshine On Leith' we've ever heard as their team went on to win the Scottish Cup. Goosebumps.
So our famous draw at
@BarnsleyFC
wouldn’t have led to the replay that brought vital funds to
@HorshamFC
,
as well as glory.
They continue to vandalize world’s best domestic cup.
I’ve been warning you for years about the misplaced priorities of football’s bosses. Shame on them.
Not everyone will understand this , particularly those outside UK,
but seriously this is stunning art and satire, really it is. It’s clever, arch, daft, frightening, painfully funny and the work of a genius.
Don’t underestimate it.
And that speedboat has made me laugh a lot.
This is art of an ingenuity and individuality that is continuously jaw dropping. What a talent
@Coldwar_Steve
is - we are lucky to have his work In our lives. 😍
When the
#Glazers
took over - and I remember highlighting this in a
@bbc5live
programme with
@david_conn
-
#ManchesterUnitedFC
became a business first and a football club second.
Therefore finding the right manager doesn’t come as easily to the bosses as finding a new sponsor.
The word bottleneck here sends a shiver down the spine. Are they ever going to get things right and protect fans?
This has to be the last time. And it’s one time too many. Football administration and its main governing bodies needs an overhaul.
#LFC
Dreadful reports of organisational chaos, bottlenecks, locked gates at the Stade de France, and people being tear gassed. Appalling to publicly blame ‘late arrival of fans’ while it’s still going on.
Something about a Friday night in
#Barnsley
.😉
We’ll be rooting for you in the
@EFL
play-offs
@BarnsleyFC
.
Hope to have a few moments like this - from your friends at
@HorshamFC
:)
And
@imVkohli
is allowed to challenge umpire on
#drs
why? Because he’s above the rules? the rules that showed categorically it was not out.
His fan boys in the commentary box chuckling about King Kohli publicly challenging an official while in the wrong.
#getoveryourself
#cwc19
Obviously we are thrilled in Horsham the
#FACup
adventure continues but it would be wrong not to have sympathy for
@BarnsleyFC
fans.
The way they looked after
#Horsham
fans in Yorkshire and stood with us against FA/police won’t be forgotten. Genuine bond between clubs now. 👊🏼
The exceptions, mainly
@ProfKarolSikora
and
@cricketwyvern
, are greeted with scorn and scepticism by some, who relentlessly pedal gloom.
But both of these men have simply tried to reach out to public and offer some reassurance using common sense and an understanding of trends.
The casualty numbers from covid in UK are complicated. In UK, It is job of Government, chief medical officers, scientists, statisticians and media to uncomplicate them and make them clear to public, who are fed many confusing, misleading, contradictory numbers. Been an
#epicfail
.
With all due respect to the nominees (etc) how can
@Coldwar_Steve
- whose subversive, unique and innovative art has done more that anybody to capture the uneasy feeling in modern Britain - not receive
#TurnerPrize2019
?!
(fair play he missed out on
#BallonDor
tho)
Last day at Al Jazeera after decade covering stories/events across globe.
International sports correspondent would have been a challenging role in current climate. The world has changed.
Excited to be developing my own content, and plans underway to deliver it in due course :)
This twelve year
#Suarez
/
#Ghana
karma is actually one of the great
#WorldCup
stories.
It’s Shakespeare updated - tragedy, triumph, pain, revenge, irony, even comedy.
With one of the great little villains getting his comeuppance. Lovely stuff.
🪶
The Karma police, via
#SouthKorea
, have indeed apprehended
#Suarez
&
#Uruguay
after 12 years on the loose following his ‘crime’ against
#Ghana
.
🟨card for mouthy Suarez v Ghana, Korea’s winning goal v Portugal, and Ghana’s late defence eliminate 🇺🇾 on ‘fair play’
Oh the irony!😂
The
#TurnerPrize
should be handed to
@Coldwar_Steve
.
He deserves proper recognition for his extraordinary work on the pandemic, which will be studied long into future.
On the other hand, maybe the quality of someone’s body of work doesn’t need approval of any awards panel :)
Turner Prize often divides opinion. No doubt the 'is it art?' trope will raise its head again in some quarters. But anything that illuminates what artists are creating and what that tells us about the UK is good for me.
So he’s already raised nearly 30 million pounds for
#NHS
, 100th birthday today, Queen makes him honorary colonel, then a spitfire and hurricane flypast for a man who fought in a world war when he was 17.
Wonderful.
@captaintommoore
#flypast
👏🏽
Geoff Capes?! Don Estelle?! Gobsmackingly clever.
to see yet another
@Coldwar_Steve
of such intelligence, genius and historical/hysterical references warms the heart while nailing Brexit.
When this man decided to take action & create this world he enhanced thousands of lives. 👏🏽
I’ve just watched
@MartinSLewis
talking about the reality of
#Sunak
’s measures announced today.
The shrewdness of his analysis and advice, his relatable use of examples and explanations, his empathy, his controlled dismay. It’s communicating at peak effectiveness. It’s heroic.👊🏼
Excited to share news I’ve agreed a book deal with Projectis Publishing. Will write about sport & life. What 30 years looking for the humanity taught me. Not just for sports fans, I try to reach beyond that with my work. Want you to laugh, cry, see sport differently.
#projectis
🛎
pure unadulterated genius, operating on an level of intellect light years above his targets.
There’s
#Banksy
....and there’s
@Coldwar_Steve
and we are lucky to have them both simultaneously documenting, challenging, educating and creating.
😍👊🏽
Were you aware that
@MillwallFC
are very active in local community, with fans who support others whose grounds are threatened , like
@dulwichhamletfc
?
Never believe everything you read and hear about Millwall fans. I grew up around them. It's a good club.
Today a football club’s fans poured out so much love to a fan who passed away, that his name was trending in UK.
What a heartwarming special club
@DulwichHamletFC
is, and an example of what a football club should be to its community.
Sincere condolences,
rest in peace Mishi 🙏🏼
No wonder Alex Ferguson was so keen on signing Jamie
#Cureton
for his famous ‘class of (19)92.
he’s still got it, at the age of 44.
If this goal was on
@BBCMOTD
tonight the panel would wet themselves.
What a finish
@JamieCuro
@BSFCTheBlues
⭐️
Don’t turn your back, it could be your club next.
Moving and uplifting to see fans of other clubs had brought scarves to Gigg Lane in support of
@buryfc
When filming finished, there was only one thing to do, on behalf of
@HorshamFC
- top of
@IsthmianLeague
#Bury
#solidarity
The way
@Wimbledon
have opportunistically marketed the
#Kyrgios
circus in the past two days should be beneath them.
They shouldn’t be happy about the unnecessary stress he puts on people around him in their workplace. Officials, ballgirls and boys, his opponents etc.
#dutyofcare
Do you know who these two are? They are about to contest the world chess championship in London.
@MagnusCarlsen
is the champion.
@FabianoCaruana
the challenger.
“Are you making chess cool?’ I just asked them.
“Chess has always been cool to me” said Carlsen :)
Meanwhile fans of 135 year-old
@buryfc
don’t know if/when they’ll see their club play again.
They used to be better than
@ManCity
- mega-rich club kicked out of money-obsessed
@ChampionsLeague
Is one story more important than other? Depends on whether you see the bigger picture.
Wonder if
@realDonaldTrump
has a view on any cricket stories - we haven’t heard enough about the end of
@KP24
(Koovin Paterson) England career for instance
What a dignified email from
@Moodyhornet
sticking up for our club
@HorshamFC
, who are being treated with disdain.
We have the right to be outraged by South Yorkshire police - yes them - and the FA, switching a non-league Sussex club to play up in Barnsley on a Friday night.
1/6
I doubt this will do anything but here is the personal email I sent to the South Yorkshire Police Commissioner regarding their insistence of
@BarnsleyFC
v
@HorshamFC
being played on the Friday night!
On a brighter note after that demoralising
#PMQs
what a brilliant presenter
@skysarahjane
of
@SkyNews
is and always has been. There are many little (often unnoticed) little things she says/does to help viewers and contributors, mixing natural warmth with high professionalism👏🏽 :)
One of many joys of
@Coldwar_Steve
is pondering which character is most important to each piece.
While Phillip Green is inspired (yet again Coldwar Steve somehow captures the feel of a news story without words) and Souness a big Iol, this is surely perfect use of Hucknall 👏🏽😂👊🏽
(You may have to be of my generation to understand just how glorious the giant ‘Benny from Crossroads’ is but that
@coldwarsteve
even thought to do this makes the heart sing 😂😍👏🏼)
#art
#genius
On the eve of the most controversial football tournament of them all,
#FIFA
&
#Qatar
are given the treatment by
@coldwarsteve
.
And as always, he nails it. Not only is this a powerful, chilling piece of dark satire but artistically it’s extraordinary, even by his standards🙏🏼👊🏼👏🏼
I’ve followed the
@SussexCCC
🦈
@RoyalLondonCup
games where possible and they have been absolutely superb. Well marshalled by master batsman
@cheteshwar1
.
Hope they go on and win a competition that’s proven the appetite for 50-over cricket (don’t forget England are world champs!)
Introducing the third film from the
@kalleyedo
collaboration of
@RichACam
and me :)
On the day covid rules eased, beautiful
@FACCC_Cricket
was good for the soul. Dedicated to those who have suffered losses, and to celebrate the return of a simple pleasure:
'A Day At The Cricket'
It feels like the best word is embarrassing. The 12 years of negativity, the tsunami of brilliant journalism exposing their human rights shame, the late opening game switch, the late beer removal, the poor opening performance, the fans leaving early. Yep, embarrassing.
#Qatar
🥴
The day arrives.
Whether or not you agree with my views, I’m really proud of this piece and the honesty in my ✍🏼. Tho I can’t wait to tackle lighter subjects.
Thanks to all subscribing (keeping it free
@SubstackInc
.)
#Qatar
#WorldCup
#Football2022
Our beautiful little girls became teenagers today 😢
Luckily they are incredible young ladies, so proud of them and their emotional intelligence and empathy that will continue to help others throughout their lives ❤️❤️
Did you get to watch your football team today? These people didn't. Their club
@dulwichhamletfc
has been kicked out of its own ground by American owners - threatening their (125 year-old) existence.
But they are a pink & blue army who are fighting back.
Good morning and happy Wednesday you lovely people! We are half way through the week and even I didn’t feel like getting up this morning. But still pushed myself an got in the gym. I’m now in Dinos cafe having eggs Monte Carl! Have a great day, don’t give up. Bosh❤️
Interesting but beware. It’s a great headline but nothing should distract today from extraordinary
#PHE
stats issue. I’ve said for months that info provided to UK public has been selective, untrustworthy and unclear. The public have been misled and wrongfooted. It’s disgraceful.
The return of fans at games
Boris Johnson just now in Downing St: "From October we intend to bring back audiences in stadia ... in a Covid secure way subject to the successful outcome of pilots"
@FIFAWorldCup
Let's not use 'Group of death' but Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia is tough one. Switzerland continualy underrated.
#worldcupdraw
Shocking news to wake up to. Strength to his wife and family and to his fellow journalists out in
#Qatar
who’ll be hit hard by this. Stuck up for migrant workers and
#LGBTQ
rights at the
#WorldCup
. Socially conscious and powerful sports journalism to the end.
Rest in peace 🙏🏼X
Grant Wahl, a sports journalist for CBS Sports and author of the GrantWahl Substack column, had covered seven men's World Cup tournaments. He was at the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal match, when he fell ill during extra time. Read more here -->
Rishi Sunak’s face and demeanour in this piece is beyond genius.
It’s these little details that often help take
@Coldwar_Steve
’s extraordinary, unique and important objections to the disgraceful ‘governance’ of the UK into uplifting territory. His eye is majestic. 😍
no football fan should accept this ground standing empty.
neither should the
@EFL
and
@FA
think it is ok and that we should all move on.
@buryfcofficial
#doafc
It’s over 36 hours since Barry White’s appearance at Leicester Forest East Services M1 Northbound was unveiled by
@Coldwar_Steve
and it’s still making me laugh.
Has anyone found the praise that does justice to this man’s art?
Even by the standards of
#Nadal
that was extraordinary.
#DavisCup
.
Spain beat GB on the doubles with Nadal inspired in second set tie-break, to reach final v Canada in Madrid.
The day arrives.
Whether or not you agree with my views, I’m really proud of this piece and the honesty in my ✍🏼. Tho I can’t wait to tackle lighter subjects.
Thanks to all subscribing (keeping it free
@SubstackInc
.)
#Qatar
#WorldCup
#Football2022
Shame it was last
@TheTerraceTV
of season, the most entertaining TV sports prog. Beautiful Scottish football films and brilliantly presented by
@CraigGTelfer
& team, demonstrating difference between genuinely funny and toe curling ‘banter’ of most English football pundits 👊🏽👍🏽⚽️
A 3-0 defeat but what an
#FACup
adventure
@HorshamFC
gave us,
six rounds worth.
💛💚👏🏼
The many HFC fans sang defiantly louder as the goals went in.
Good luck to
@suttonunited
in the third round draw, we’ll have to look elsewhere for our silverware this season😘
Safe journey, the town is proud of not only the
@HorshamFC
players and management, but also the tireless work of the committee/volunteers.
You have taken this club higher than in 142 years, and made Hop Oast a special place for a community.
Good luck and thank you. 💛💚
We’re on our way!!
Players and committee members have set out for tonight’s long journey to South Yorkshire.
Safe travels to them and to all our fabulous supporters making the trip north over the next 24hrs
(Thanks to John Lines for the photos)
#HorshamFC
pleased for Sussex team
#Chichester
getting that bye into
@EmiratesFACup
round 2 and they’ve acted with class.
But
@buryfcofficial
not being in draw is a disgrace and a genuine tragedy and not enough is being made of it.
English football must not look away.
#Bury
#whosnext
What interests me here is the introduction from the maestro
#DesLynam
.
As always he captures the sense of occasion perfectly, without over-enunciating, over-hyping, over-selling or raising his voice.
There is such calm gravitas. How we miss him on screen.
For some time now I have felt there is a reluctance to be honest about Serena Williams’ behaviour.
She is a superstar, an all-time great, a trailblazer, and has overcome big hurdles.
But she needs to show more respect to her fellow pros. Simple as that.
I know what will make this piece of art and satire perfect....
Big Ron limbering up in full kit 😂
The way the mind of
@Coldwar_Steve
works is a truly wonderful thing.
Proper ‘dictionary definition’ genius.
So grateful that Joy Hart made special effort to meet us today before we leave Bury. When club were kicked out of league, Joy handcuffed herself to front of Gigg Lane. Her father Les was a player, physio, coach and manager of
@buryfcofficial
Very moving talking to her💙
#doafc
A beautiful thing to see evicted football fans return to their glorious home. Because they wouldn’t give it up, because the club is part of their community, history and identity.
I’ve done my best to tell
#BuryFC
’s story in my book and in my broadcasting, because it matters🙏🏼👊🏼💙
James Bentley was taken to his first Bury game aged 7 by his Dad. His great grandfather, a war hero, took his Dad. He considered gate 23 lucky. Always entered here.
Says the club has defined his life, now it’s gone.
@jamesisaburyfan
#doafc
What a night, what a season. What an unforgettable adventure for
@HorshamFC
and the proud fans.
The sun sets with a long-awaited trophy in Brighton on top of best-ever runs in league & cups.
Peru? Love it. But If we’re honest, tonight, it was just like watching Brazil💛💚
“Where do you think we would be now if this Committee hadn’t intervened?”. The
#DCMS
has done a good job here but steady on. They are following up.
The ‘intervention’ effectively came from brilliant journalism by
@GeorgeDobell1
and bravery of
@AzeemRafiq30
. What if it hadn’t?
Listening to the sheer level of noise from the hundreds of
@HorshamFC
fans at
@BarnsleyFC
who somehow beat the FA/police stitch up is a moving experience🥺
They won’t stop chanting for 90+ minutes. They are priceless. Thank you
@benjiw12
and HFC media team for commentary 🎙️🙏🏼💛💚
Just watched those penalties on delay- the
#Morocco
players just looked so confident. They know how good they are, how well organised they are, and that this is their time. Good on them, they’ve been very impressive in all four games.👏🏼🇲🇦
#WorldCup