IF football doesn’t quite explain the world, it features enough individual elements that have genuinely allowed exploration of some of life’s bigger questions.

Greg Lalas wrote a powerful piece a few years back in Soccer America about how he took the decision at the age of 24 to leave professional soccer.

The managerial merry-go-round has stopped spinning, at least for now, but experience tells us that it won’t be long before it’s cranked up to full speed again.

When his back was against the wall scrambling for reasons to insist he was the right man for the job, Giovanni Trapattoni, pointed towards the convoluted rankings table.

When you are the favourites, you play with pressure.

I used to buy a lot of my clobber from former Cork City players Joe Gamble and Neale Fenn when they had a nice little shop called Indigo on Leeside’s Washington Street.

AUTHOR of cerebral soccer books like Football Against The Enemy and Why England Lose, Simon Kuper is one of those rare sportswriters whose work never fails to fascinate.

LET’s think back a moment, before we look forward. You’ve just had your dinner. A warm mug of milky tea is perched on the arm of the sofa as you sit back in short trousers on another yawning summer evening.