Thom Gibbs

3 days ago | independent.ie | Thom Gibbs

It is always helpful to imagine how the actions of a footballer might be perceived in real life, away from the moral codes of the sport. After unpunished violent conduct in a pre-VAR age you would sometimes hear about “being arrested if you did that on the street”. Sometimes it pays to invert the equation. So how do you judge a decision to move to a new company, for more money, in a place with better weather, after 20 years of exemplary service to your current employer?

3 days ago | telegraph.co.uk | Thom Gibbs

There is a danger of painting a 60,000 crowd as a homogenous whole, of jumping to the conclusion that Liverpool fans are ingrates. That misses a fundamental truth of football fandom, that it is all part of one big pantomime. After the game, away from the codes and rituals of stadium behaviour, the vast majority of Alexander-Arnold's detractors would wish him well. Every club's fans believe they are different, paradoxically this is what unites them.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Thom Gibbs

Where were you on Arsenal’s most important night in a generation? Parc des Princes, the Tollington Arms or locked in a dark room in the company of James Corden? That was the fate for David Beckham on night two of his new Champions League watchalong show, Beckham and Friends, a deeply strange piece of television. It is an idea borrowed from the Manningcast, in which brothers Peyton and Eli watch the NFL’s Monday Night Football and viewers enjoy their analysis in split-screen format with the game.

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Thom Gibbs

So the big guns were cocked for the second semi-final, where Beckham was paired with Corden, making an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most anecdotes beginning with "I was lucky enough to..." The crew was completed by Joseph Fiennes, latterly Gareth Southgate in Dear England. The ominously gloomy wood-panelled set included a generous charcuterie board. Fiennes was tucking in at points, which is basically unheard of. Didn't he ever see the untouched croissants of Sunday Supplement?

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Thom Gibbs

Emmanuel Rowe scores for the 26ers with the first moment of quality, poses towards the VIP seats then 'shushes' the camera. The great innovation is the "game-changer" a rule selected, ostensibly at random - although every team seems well-prepared - and applied for the final two minutes of each half. These range from every foul leading to a red card to long-range shots counting double. All of this is watched with detached half-interest.