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pieces of hate

Pieces of Hate: Net Spend

If I could go back in time and change one thing, I…

Pieces of Hate: ‘Bottling It’

The accusations started before Tottenham had even conceded the first goal. West…

Pieces of Hate: Fantasy Football

As the dust settles on an underwhelming January transfer window, several million…

Pieces of Hate: The England Band

The greatest football song of all time is Three Lions by Baddiel…

Pieces of Hate: Football kit unveilings

It’s that time of the season when minds are weary and bodies…

Pieces of Hate: Fixture scheduling that fails to consider the fans

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that taking…

Pieces of Hate: Charlie Stillitano

Hope is everything in football. You hope for a late equaliser. You…

Pieces of Hate: Tarnished Heroes

As was ably pointed out recently, Paul Scholes is held in preposterous…

Pieces of Hate: Injury Vines

“Watch this, Lisa. You can actually pinpoint the second when his leg…

Pieces of Hate: Poppy Fascists

It’s that time of year again. Remembrance Day is coming and with…

Pieces of Hate: Rebranding the Football League

It’s not much fun supporting a Football League team. You’re not big…

Pieces of Hate: Champions League Draw

And so it begins again. This Thursday, the great and the greedy…

Pieces of Hate: Twitter Threats

You can hate Raheem Sterling if you like. If it makes you…

Pieces of Hate: Timewasting

There’s a time and place for time wasting, it’s called work. We…

Pieces of Hate: Marquee Signings

Marquee. mar-quee n. 1. A large tent, often with open sides, used…

Pieces of Hate: Intimidating Refs

It was never meant to be this way. Me, hunched over a…

Pieces of Hate: Slow Motion Replays

Chariots of Fire has a lot to answer for, if you ask…

Pieces of Hate: Ruined Goals

In his song ‘Little by Little’, Noel Gallagher claims that “True perfection…

Pieces of Hate: The Wembley Experience

Wembley Stadium. England’s iconic arena. The pinnacle of footballing opportunity. A pitch…

Pieces of Hate: Getting Skrtelled

Is diving really the worst thing about modern football? I’m not so…

Pieces of Hate: Babies Doing Laps of Honour

Footballers’ kids should be like the owners of football clubs: in the…

Pieces of Hate: Geordie Bashers

It was no surprise that Newcastle United made so many people laugh…

Pieces of Hate: Youth Cup Finals

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, otherwise known as…

Pieces of Hate: Turning On Your Own

We are all the same. I am you. You are me. We…

Pieces of Hate: AMF

“£5bn and what do we get? £64 a ticket” huffed a banner…

Pieces of Hate: Taking On Liquid

The male Bactrian camel is a singular beast. His method of attracting…

Pieces of Hate: Heat Maps

I don’t have a problem with statistics in football. I quite like…

Pieces of Hate: Video Tech Deniers

Dig, if you will, a picture… of two cavemen and one pair…

Pieces of Hate: Saturday 3

The gilded impression of the Saturday 3pm kick off is absolute nonsense…

Pieces of Hate: Early Leavers

When you first take your seat in a football stadium, you will have already made…

Pieces of Hate: Armchair Scouts

April 8, 2010. A watershed date for football. Not because Roy Hodgson’s Fulham battered…

Pieces of Hate: Black Armbands, Silences and Applause

Whether it was a policy passed down from on high or a…

Pieces of Hate: Blind Loyalty

There is a particular kind of parent for whom primary school teachers…

Pieces of Hate: Hand Crafted Banners

One-eyed thinking has existed for as long as football itself and will…

Pieces of Hate: iPads and Smartphones at Football Matches

You know, I consider myself a gentle sort of soul. This is…

Pieces of Hate: Deadline Day

If you’re an obsessive viewer of Sky Sports News, today is your…

Pieces of Hate: Non-Celebrations

Something has wound David Preece up: Footballers who don’t celebrate goals. What’s…

The Set Pieces: Outgoing Editor’s Choice

And so my tenure as editor of The Set Pieces draws to…

The Set Pieces Live in Manchester

On September 5, 2015, as part of the Manchester Football Writing Festival…

The A-Z of Football Hates

Forget Shankly’s ‘life and death’ and forget Fergie’s ‘bloody hell,’ if you…

Welcome to The Set Pieces

e’re an odd kind of website. We are small and we are…

The Briefing: Everything happening in football this week

What a strange weekend. We’re not sure whether it was the sun,…

Best New Football Blog Award

We Won! The Set Pieces was crowned Best New Blog by…

Letters (14/09/15)

For the first time in weeks, we’ve got a full postbag! Remember,…

Editor’s Note and Letters: (19/06/15)

Exciting times here at The Set Pieces. After impressing on his week…

Letters And Editor’s Note: 07/05/15

From having too few letters to run a letters page, we’ve jumped…

Letters and Editor’s Note: 29/04/15

April has been a big month for The Set Pieces. We’ve seen…

Letters (16/04/15)

It’s taken over three months, but we’ve finally had our first complaint…

Editor’s Note and Letters 07/04/15

We’re delighted with the number of letters we’re getting now. It’s just…

Brazil 1970: Who was Tostao?

The lesser-vaunted of the deadly Brazilian frontline looks back at his role in the Selecao’s celebrated 1970 vintage

The Final Whistle: Why referees are leaving grassroots football

The final whistle: Why grassroots referees are calling it quits

The grassroots referee shortage is only worsening, but is too late to stop the men in black leaving officiating behind?

Bilal Zafar Theatre of Memes, journeying through Football Twitter

Inside Football Twitter: How comedian Bilal Zafar infiltrated social media’s footie underworld

Entering a world of ratios, non-stop bants and more than a few suspect tweets, Zafar recounts his voyage to the depths of an online craze

She Wore a Sky Blue Ribbon: Manchester United v Coventry City, 1987

Coventry City 1987: How the Sky Blues played Manchester United on the way to FA Cup glory

There was romance in the air as Coventry City travelled to play Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the FA Cup Fourth Round of 1987, but the Sky Blues fans making the trip didn’t realise quite how loved-up that season’s competition was going to get them

Andy Hessenthaler: Gillingham legend's career memories

Andy Hessenthaler: The Gillingham legend on managing Dover and his inspirations

After making the jump into professional football relatively late in his career, the tenacious midfielder enjoyed a long career – on the pitch and in the dugout

Rickie Lambert: How to take the perfect penalty

After netting 54 of 57 penalties he took as a professional, what former Liverpool and England striker Rickie Lambert doesn’t know about spot kicks isn’t worth knowing

Hannes Halldorsson Icelandic football turned film maker

Hannes Halldorsson: The Icelandic film director who saved a Lionel Messi penalty

The multi-talented goalkeeper discusses his rise to the top, beating England and thwarting the world’s greatest player – and why he’s now got his eyes set on Hollywood

CM01/02: The Golden Generation Project (Episode 6)

Three wins are all that separate Mike Paul’s golden generation with England’s first Euros success. But will it be songs in the street or another round of glorious failure for the Three Lions?

Bolo Zenden: The Netherlands brush with home glory at Euro 2000

After losing on penalties in the World Cup semi-final two years earlier, the Oranje were out for redemption as they hosted Euro 2000. Only to be met with more spot-kick anguish…

Championship Manager 01/02: Golden Generation Project

CM01/02: The Golden Generation project (Episode 5)

As Mike Paul’s England prepare to jet off to Portugal for Euro 2004, the Three Lions are dealt with an injury crisis that threatens to derail Paul’s hopes

CM01/02 Golden Generation Project, Episode 3

CM01/02: The Golden Generation Project (Episode 3)

World Cup heartbreak hasn’t put Mike Paul off in his quest for England glory, but can he crack the Golden Generation’s code by bringing in some CM01/02 specialists instead?

The Golden Generation Project: CM01/02, England

CM01/02: The Golden Generation Project (Episode 2)

Armed with a can of Deep Heat, a tactics board and a whole load of enthusiasm, England manager Mike Paul takes his Golden Generation to South Korea and Japan for the 2002 World Cup. Could success be on the cards?

CM01/02: The Return (April ’03)

With safety all but secured, Iain starts planning for a third season as Everton manager. Time for the scrap paper and post-it notes to come out

CM01/02: The Return (February ’03)

As Everton gear themselves up for a relegation scrap, Iain’s got a few hundred thousand pounds to spend to uncover a retro gem

CM01/02: The Return (September ’02)

After a challenging start to the new season, Iain Macintosh’s Everton are already in crisis and as he says, “it’s alarming how swiftly euphoria can melt away into despair”

The New Saints: Is this Welsh football’s most unpopular club?

A world record, big European nights and trolley loads of silverware haven’t seen TNS appeal to the hearts of the Welsh football public – but are they flat-track bullies or simply misunderstood?

CM01/02: Iain Macintosh at Everton, September 01

CM01/02: The Return – September ’01

Everton boss Iain Macintosh might be pining after Championship Manager legends Cherno Samba, Mark Kerr and Ryan Williams, but as his skint Toffees side warms up, Kevin Campbell’s time to be a hero is nigh

Football quiz: Can you name the 20 goalkeepers with the most Premier League clean sheets?

Football quiz: Can you name the goalkeepers with the most Premier League clean sheets?

These shot-stoppers just hated conceding, but they’re loved to be named in the top 20 for our latest quiz

Football and conflict: The story of FC Pristina and the Kosovo War

Out of the tatters of the war-torn state of Kosovo, a football club with a long history maintained its position at the heart of a community

Steve Kean: Ex-Blackburn boss’s clucking nightmare as Sam Allardyce replacement

Installed as Rovers’ boss only weeks after Venky’s rocked up in Lancashire, Kean’s tenure isn’t remembered very fondly by the Ewood Park faithful. We have no idea why…

Derby County: The Premier League’s worst-ever team

The promotion party was soon pooped at Pride Park after promotion to the top flight in 2007 and as Derby legend Darren Moore explains, the entire campaign was littered with issues

Vox in the Box: James Andrew, FourFourTwo editor

An eclectic background has seen Andrew climb to the top of the career ladder with some varied stops along the way – not to mention two redundancies in six months

Fredi Bobic: Battling relegation with Sam Allardyce’s Bolton

While Big Sam’s star might not burn so brightly nowadays, the former German international still recalls his season under “old-fashioned” Allardyce with great fondness

Magnus Hedman: Former Chelsea and Celtic goalkeeper opens up about his battle with addiction

The former Celtic and Sweden goalkeeper reveals his struggle with drugs and how he managed to pull through the bleakest time of his life

FM20 Project, You Call The Shots: Episode 2

After voting on our assistant manager last time out, we’re getting into the juicy stuff, as we delve into the tactics that will (hopefully) bring us success this season

Vox in the Box: The Athletic’s Alex Kay-Jelski

The Athletic’s editor-in-chief opens up about the year since the subscription-based sports website launched in the UK and how he managed to land one of the most-coveted jobs in journalism

Souleymane Coulibaly: “I could still be playing with Kane at Spurs”

Top scorer at the under-17 World Cup, compared to Didier Drogba and coveted by Europe’s elite, the Ivorian striker opens up about the fine margins between success and failure

Kevin Phillips: The former Sunderland striker talks goalscoring

Super Kev couldn’t keep off the scoresheet during his playing days, the former England marksman reveals his secret for seeking out the net

Match vs Shoot: The battle for supremacy in the mid-90s teenage magazine market

While Oasis v Blur dominated Britpop’s nineties heyday, there was a bitter battle waging between two football magazines vying for an adolescent audience

FM20 Project, The Coaches: The finalists

The four finalists have been decided, but who do you think will take the title in next week’s final? We run down the contenders to give you the inside track

FM20 Project: The Coaches, Episode 14

With only one fixture left to get the points needed to qualify for the finals, Tromsgodset Pieces face rivals Killie FC in a winner-takes-all clash. But after three straight defeats, they’ll need some motivation…

FM20 Project, The Coaches: Episode 8 – How to win on Football Manager

With an empty game week due to the coaches playing each other, our gaffer chats to a self-proclaimed Football Manager expert in an attempt to turn his fortunes around