United in Grief

By Shane Thomas

As the postmortems and retrospectives of David Moyes' compendiary spell as Manchester United are written, I had to join the punditocracy by penning my own thoughts.

The Politics of Sport - Be Our Guest

By Shane Thomas

It's seldom that I don't enjoy the Olympics and Paralympics (summer or winter). However, this year's Winter Games in Sochi came with an awful lot of baggage. While I thrilled at the exploits - not only of the British medal winners, but also the men's and women's Canadian hockey teams, and the historic achievements of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Roman Petushkov and Carina Vogt - this joy was offset by a maelstrom of problems.

Beware The Little Horse

By Shane Thomas

Not long ago, I threw some self-indulgent shade at Chelsea re-hiring Jose Mourinho last summer. However, after their accomplished 1-0 win over Manchester City on Monday, the media narrative appears to be showing the Portugese much favour.

The Last Laugh

By Shane Thomas

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson.

In the summer of 2013, Engand trounced Australia to win the 2nd Test by 347 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the 2013 Ashes series. In his post-match press conference at Lord's, Australia captain, Michael Clarke declared his belief that his Australia side could win the final three matches of the series to regain the Ashes. This statement elicited bouts of derisive laughter from the press, and likely many England cricket fans.

2013: A Sad Farewell

By Shane Thomas

As Jacques Kallis left the Kingsmead field for the final time as a batsman on Sunday, the home crowd acclaimed a man who will surely go down as one of the finest South African cricketers of all time[1]. Ending his career with another well-crafted century - his 45th Test hundred - it would be natural for one to resort to the warm blanket of reverie, and look back over an auspicious career.

The Politics Of Sport - The Face

By Shane Thomas

2012 was a memorable year in British sport. At the forefront of that was Jessica Ennis-Hill[1], who managed to deal with the intense pressure of being billed as the face of the 2012 London Olympics, to win gold in the heptathlon to the delight of a rapturous home crowd.

The Politics Of Sport: The Race Conversation

By Shane Thomas

Roy Hodgson, the England manager. A racist? Personally I don't think he is. My thoughts are much in simpatico with journalist, Natasha Henry, who tweeted more eloquently than anyone else that I've heard on this issue.