Blogger’s Digest

It’s August and that means that the supposed greatest show on earth is only weeks away again. The Olympics will have barely ended and the Premiership will return. But of course, the Premiership or the Olympics are far from the only games in town, as well any of our readers know. There’s been plenty to talk about this last while. Here’s the best of what I’ve been reading the past few days and I think you’ll enjoy this stuff too:

Olympic Football: Chris Bolmann turns his eye to the ‘branding and unbranding of the beautiful game at the Olympics where he notes “Football at the Olympics is different from the World Cup. The kits are different as the German manufacturer is not permitted to advertise their stripes. Football federation logos are replaced by national Olympic associations”.

Andy Carroll: One of the most interesting characters in the English game these days, both Backpage Football and Two Banks of Four consider the Andy Carroll dilemma.

Women’s Football at Old Trafford: From A Left Wing took a look at the women’s game at the Theatre of Dreams and turned up some surprising results.

Refereeing in the US of A: Pitch Invasion’s latest podcast considers refereeing in the US as well as Michael Hitchcock talking about the business of selling the beautiful game in the NASL.

Twitter and Footballers, Part I: Check out this piece from the New Statesman on Rio Ferdinand and Twitter.

Twitter and Footballers, Part II: Michel Morganela was unceremoniously sent packing after revealing to the world he was in fact an odious cretin.

League of Ireland Transfer Window: With the window now closed, Extratime.ie continues its incredible service to League of Ireland fans with this handy guide to the ins and outs of the transfer window.