Rory Smith
@RorySmith
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Football Correspondent, The Observer. Also: @meninblazers @podcast_libero @bbc5live’s Monday Night Club. Author of Mister and Expected Goals.
UK
Joined April 2010
Six months to go (minus one day) until the World Cup. Some people are calling it the biggest. They’re saying it’s the best. It’s maybe the hottest World Cup in the world. Me, @MiguelDelaney, @JackPittBrooke on @podcast_libero
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With six months to go until the newly-expanded greatest show on Earth, today’s Libero considers what a World Cup designed by FIFA, Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump will look like. Jack Pitt-Broo...
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'Infantino burnishes Trump’s ego, Trump allows Infantino to cosplay as a statesman' ⚽ When Donny met Gianni: @RorySmith and @ada_barume
https://t.co/ZfjGSnf2D9
observer.co.uk
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In the lull before you’re swamped by World Cup content, why not have a palate cleanser: today’s Libero looks at why football just can’t get over the 1990s. With @JohnBrewin_ and @JamesHorncastle. Also me. https://t.co/zj5vpK98rw
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Rory Smith is joined by John Brewin and James Horncastle, who – like the anxious middle-aged men they are – are seeking refuge in the past. But a past that informs our present in a way that is ...
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Even after deciding to follow Jesus, the pull of chasing worldly approval still lingers. But what if there’s something better? Something lasting. Join us in Lasting Glory – living not for the spotlight, but for the Kingdom. Find your purpose that outlasts the moment.
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Photographing football and fans. New pics and process from the story published in yesterday’s new-look Observer. https://t.co/RqlKuWK1yj
https://t.co/luXMF1tpEr
@RorySmith @ObserverUK @panospictures @FalkirkFC
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The phenomenon of Scotland’s growing bands of ultras, and what they say about fandom, connection and friendship in a digital era. Photos amazing because they’re by @kierandodds. https://t.co/w990dhacXt
observer.co.uk
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‘It is an identity’: The march of the Scottish ultras. Phenomenon beloved in Europe and South America has met buzz and resistance as fans look for deeper bonds, writes Rory Smith. https://t.co/PqcJb93C07
observer.co.uk
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The phenomenon of Scotland’s growing bands of ultras, and what they say about fandom, connection and friendship in a digital era. Photos amazing because they’re by @kierandodds. https://t.co/w990dhacXt
observer.co.uk
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We think of the success of the Premier League as being the result of sporting excellence. And that is true. But what if it is more the result of how technology has changed over the last 30 years: first satellites, then broadband, now streaming. https://t.co/bVcfeKoMHo
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Football is ultimately a TV show, however much we might want to see it differently. The story of the rise of football over the last 40 or so years inseparable from the changes in technology, not le...
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New Libero Is football on TV about to change forever? @RorySmith
@JackPittBrooke
@JohnBrewin_
https://t.co/Hn3KHmIqxo
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Football is ultimately a TV show, however much we might want to see it differently. The story of the rise of football over the last 40 or so years inseparable from the changes in technology, not le...
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Is Cristiano Ronaldo’s Diary of a CEO energy now so strong that it’s starting to affect his legacy? Today’s @podcast_libero with @JohnBrewin_ and @JamesHorncastle is a good one, I think. Listen, like, review etc
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Cristiano Ronaldo might not have done it exactly how he would have wanted — getting sent off while losing to Ireland — but the 40-year-old Al Nassr frontman is now on his way to a sixth World C...
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And if you aren’t in a position to consume audio but do want to wallow/exult in Liverpool’s shortcomings, here’s some thoughts on why Florian Wirtz’s struggles are more interesting than “he cost a lot of money.” For @MenInBlazers
https://t.co/AXb6Ag2To4
the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com
Rory Smith on Liverpool's newest Main Character and the Premier League's happiest clubs.
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You know what people don’t talk about enough? How rubbish Liverpool have been this season. Here’s a Libero dedicated to the particular sadness of watching this Mo Salah. https://t.co/nZxBQGbsFz
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Liverpool fans rejoiced when the club signed Mo Salah to a new contract. With Liverpool’s title defence in tatters, the team in chaos, have Liverpool got a Mo Salah problem? The Egyptian has lit ...
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Thoroughly enjoyed today's Libero, brought to you by @MiguelDelaney, @jonawils and @JamesHorncastle, on why this really should be the best football week of the year, but isn't, because FIFA https://t.co/yrgfHoknrD
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The international break can often seem a chore, but this time around there are bountiful reasons for optimism. Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson discuss why this week - and speci...
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Thoroughly enjoyed today's Libero, brought to you by @MiguelDelaney, @jonawils and @JamesHorncastle, on why this really should be the best football week of the year, but isn't, because FIFA https://t.co/yrgfHoknrD
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The international break can often seem a chore, but this time around there are bountiful reasons for optimism. Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson discuss why this week - and speci...
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The Observer Sport – Sunday 10 November 2025 Why so serious? Erling Harland plays the joker, by @RorySmith Pick up your copy tomorrow. https://t.co/T53U92vsWX
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This week’s second helping of @podcast_libero has decided that size doesn’t matter, and in fact sometimes when you think about it smaller is better. Also implicated in this are @jonawils and @JohnBrewin_
https://t.co/F0TWTq1c48
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There is one big question that today's Libero is seeking to answer and that is: is it fundamentally easier to change the fortunes of a club with less historical baggage? Are the likes of Bournemout...
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This week’s second helping of @podcast_libero has decided that size doesn’t matter, and in fact sometimes when you think about it smaller is better. Also implicated in this are @jonawils and @JohnBrewin_
https://t.co/F0TWTq1c48
podfollow.com
There is one big question that today's Libero is seeking to answer and that is: is it fundamentally easier to change the fortunes of a club with less historical baggage? Are the likes of Bournemout...
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Man City-Liverpool felt like the rivalry of the future. I’m not sure it’s quite worked out like that. Real animosity, rather than circumstantial, needs time to curdle. For @MenInBlazers
the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com
Rory Smith on Liverpool vs. City and Bayern's increasing dominance.
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At last, an audio space safe enough for me to air my longstanding theory on Scottish football: that the primary victims of Glasgow’s all-consuming rivalry are now Rangers and Celtic themselves. Today’s @podcast_libero goes north of the border at last https://t.co/tHmmHvikW7
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The rule of thumb in Scottish football is that if one Old Firm club is doing badly, then the other is doing well. So what happens when both Celtic and Rangers are both in troubled times concurrentl...
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