Ken Early

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Ken Early

Declan Rice ran on to Martin Ødegaard’s through ball, rounded Kepa Arrizabalaga and clipped the ball over the lunging Illia Zabarnyi into the net. He ran to the crowd and bowed in delight, a picture of perfect happiness. The glorious double against Real Madrid has given him the bug − a confirmed case of goal fever. The only prescription? More goals.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Ken Early

Frustrated by your rival clubs’ apparent efforts to drain your victory of emotion and spectacle? No problem: just bring it yourself. Liverpool sealed their 20th Premier League title with a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham, crowning a triumphant campaign with the flourish a raucous Anfield had demanded. Seldom can a match have begun amid such riotous pre-celebrations, the Liverpool bus emerging through thick clouds of red smoke as though Hell had elected a new Pope.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Ken Early

A few weeks ago Aurelién Tchouaméni gave an interview where he recalled the reaction of his Real Madrid team-mates to winning the 2024 Champions League final at Wembley. “You mentioned people at Madrid are used to winning. All of a sudden we’ve won the Champions League and I’m in the locker room, and I thought,” – and here Tchouaméni looked around with wide eyes and a bewildered shrug – “what’s happening? And that’s when you realise a lot of the guys had already won it three, four, five times.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Ken Early

Mohamed Salah’s first game after his new contract was confirmed was the season in miniature. It started exceptionally well. He bullied West Ham’s 19-year old wing back Oliver Scarles. He set up the opening goal for Luis Diaz with a beautifully-weighted outside-of-the-foot pass. In doing so he set a new record of 45 goal contributions in a 38-game Premier League season – with six matches still to play. After that: not so much. Salah had 43 touches in the first half, only five in the second.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Ken Early

A recommendation for all the Manchester United fans out there. For an analysis of where it’s all gone wrong for your club over the last 20 years, you should check out The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies. The book addresses the question of why so many contemporary systems and institutions are generating bad outcomes that nobody wants. It does not mention football at all, yet the spectre of Manchester United haunts every page. The book introduced me to the ideas of management cybernetics.