Pickles Magazine

In 1963 Don Howe led a squad of disgruntled West Bromwich Albion players to revolt against their then old-school no-nonsense manager Jimmy Hagan. It was December, it was freezing cold, and Hagan had refused to allow the players to wear tracksuit bottoms during training. The uprising took the form of counter-refusals to train and mass…

Pistoia, a medium-sized town in the heart of Tuscany. It is the summer of 1980 and after 50 years the local football team (Pistoiese) has just been promoted again to the top league, Serie A. For a 10-year old boy who fell in love with football a couple of years earlier this is potentially the…

The referee is the misunderstood man of football. He may love the game but will be accused of ruining it, and while the decisions he gets right are the least he can do, the ones he gets wrong are inexcusable. Abuse and scorn will rain upon him even when he has had a good day,…

A football club usually owes its popularity to regional factors and its sporting achievements. Benfica, known worldwide as the giant from Portugal, are no exception. In fact, one of the main reasons for Benfica’s incomparable popularity in their home country is their achievements since the club’s early years. The Reds have won the most championships…

There are moments in life when you just know you have over-stepped the boundaries of appropriate adult behavior. In my case it was shouting ‘For fuck’s sake, don’t make that fat twat look like Messi!’ during a tense under-10s league match in which my son was playing. For one second shame overcame me at the…

“The most chaotic, disorganised and ramshackle tournament in history” is how one publication described the World Cup in Brazil. Not the 2014 edition, with its concerns over stadiums, protests and transport – but the one in 1950, which was something else altogether. Blighted by teams withdrawing for dubious reasons, not technically having a final and…

After many months of arguments and disputes Tottenham Hotspur were given the go ahead to start work on their £750m spaceship stadium that will replace the historic, 116-year-old, White Hart Lane. The development is planned for opening at the start of the 2018-19 season and will include a 61,000 capacity stadium and a complete redevelopment of…

The phone rang and startled Ron Atkinson. Who on earth would be ringing at such an ungodly hour? Exhausted and agitated, following one of the worst days in his football life, Ron answered. ‘Big Ron’, as he was affectionately known, had just been sacked as manager of Manchester United – after five years at the…