Ahmed Bilal
Sports Editor
Polish fans blame Howard Webb for Euro 08 exit
Ahmed Bilal • Apr 6 2023English referees tend to be in the spotlight in international tournaments for the wrong reasons – Graham Poll with his 3 yellow cards in Germany 06 and now Howard Webb…
The 7 Most Popular Players going to Euro 2008
Ahmed Bilal • Jan 9 2022Looking at the world of football through the eyes of the press can give you a perverted and totally false view of what’s actually happening and on a broader scale…
England 2-0 USA – 28 May 2008 – Friendly
Ahmed Bilal • Dec 21 2021This article refers to a previous USA-England matchup. Follow the latest England v USA match here. England were off the pace but managed to overwhelm and beat an even worse…
Euro 2008 Stadiums
Ahmed Bilal • Dec 21 2021Euro 2008 kicks off in 2 weeks with Switzerland taking on the Czech Republic at St Jakob Park on Saturday 7 June 2008. It promises to be a cracking event,…
Manchester United* 1-1 Chelsea – United win Champions League on penalties
Ahmed Bilal • Jan 6 2022Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea (Manchester United win 6-5 on penalties) UEFA Champions League Final 21 May 2008 – Luzhniki Stadium – Moscow Time: 20:45 (CET), 19:45 (UK), 23:45 (PK), 14:45…
Chelsea FC’s financial accounts and understanding Roman Abramovich
Ahmed Bilal • Feb 23 2012Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich is a man who polarises opinions. Most accept that a) he’s a smart businessman and b) he loves football and Chelsea, but beyond that there…
Who is the best Goalkeeper in the Premier League?
Ahmed Bilal • Feb 23 2012John Stevanja (Keeper Skool) conducted a fan survey on ‘the best keepers in the Premier League’. While some of the voting patterns were quite predictable (no prizes for guessing #1)…
Arsenal 2nd, Chelsea 3rd, Everton 4th, Liverpool 5th – How much of a difference did bad refereeing make this season?
Ahmed Bilal • Feb 22 2012All year long we’ve been bitching about refereeing decisions going against our clubs. Sometimes we resort to bitching about how refereeing decisions unfairly help other clubs (witness SAF’s comment on…
Arsenal board choose Kroenke as lesser of two evils
Ahmed Bilal • Jul 10 2009When Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood spoke about Kroenke last year, he played on the fans’ sentiments and stoked the fires of independence by claiming ‘we don’t want his sort’. Never…
Wigan Athletic Crest – New Wigan Crest
Ahmed Bilal • Nov 15 2011Wigan Athletic have announced their new crest – and following the trend in recent years of going retro, Wigan have decided to create a ‘modern’ retro crest, and the cleaner,…
Respect for the FA’s Vision
Ahmed Bilal • Feb 23 2012When I first read it – and before I had read what the mainstream media thought about it – it sounded like an over-ambitious plan that had no chance of…
MLS 2008 Player Salaries
Ahmed Bilal • Feb 23 2012A bit late, but nevertheless: Here’s the link (pdf) to the full list of salaries paid to MLS players for the 2008 season. Beckham earns the most, but the gap…
Soccerlens Fantasy Football 07/08 – Wrap-up, Winners and Prizes
Ahmed Bilal • Apr 10 2023Congratulations to Ilango for winning the inaugural Soccerlens Fantasy Football league. He overtook Spiral Architect (one of the earlier SL readers and a leader in the final months of the…
Goalkeeper scores 80-yard goal
Ahmed Bilal • Dec 15 2008Montgomery Town FC goalie Steve Goodwin scores a wonder-goal from the edge of his own penalty area. Fabulous, one in a billion strike (and goes straight in unlike Paul Robinson’s…
Chelsea 08/10 Home Kit out now
Ahmed Bilal • Dec 12 2021The Chelsea 08/10 home kit is now available for pre-order. The launch date for the the 08/10 Chelsea home kit is 8th May but you know how these things go…