I am a football nut. There. I admit it. And I am not talking about the various football codes that people have invented in modern times like the NFL (US), AFL (Australia), Rugby League, Rugby Union etc. I am talking about the one and only true football game - which is mostly played using the appendage of our body we amazingly call a foot! Americans fondly refer to this game as soccer.

I most likely run the risk of upsetting a lot of people reading this post with the above statement, but what the heck. Football runs in my blood, so I can take the abuse.

My love of football probably explains why I spend a lot of my daily web surfing time reading football news. I suppose it’s an addiction of mine. Some smoke, others drink, I consume football.

There are a couple of landmark sites which I do not miss in my daily reading, but I do tend to wander off and try and find new sources of information from time to time. During one of such information gathering binges, I ran into the EPL Talk blog.

This being a blog about football, what could I do? Once an addict gets within touching distance of the material they crave, there is no turning back.

As can be seen once the blog loads, it is run by The Gaffer. An interesting nickname. For those of you in the dark, gaffer is a common term used to describe a football manager or boss.

The Gaffer, born in Wales and currently residing in Florida, USA has been following football for over 30 years. He is a journalist by trade and “spends his time analyzing the influence of the Premier League worldwide”. The Premier League - of course - is the top flight football league in England.

I spent a bit of time reading the various posts, as one would, and I was struck by the sheer quality of his writing. The guy is obviously a pro. The posts are a pleasure to read, informative yet to the point. The ease with which this guy conveys his thoughts is absolutely amazing. At times I felt I was present at the football games he was describing.

In addition, I really like the fact that The Gaffer takes the time to regularly update his blog. Daily updates are the best way to keep both Google and your readers happy, not to mention that content is king in every respect.

The EPL Talk blog is a part of the EPL Talk network which provides news, chat and other features which I won’t go into at this time.

Having praised The Gaffer and his blog this far, I would feel guilty to walk away now without pointing out some of the deficiencies I noticed while reading the EPL Talk blog.

I feel that such wonderful content deserves a bit of support on the visual side. I would recommend a cool banner with attractive fan/stadium/game shots to add a bit of colour to the place. The blog theme could also use a bit of work. The left hand column has no left padding making the text there look messy. The social bookmarks for each post are of different sizes and could be made to look a lot neater. There are many plugins that could be used for this purpose.

In all fairness I also have to point out that there are positives on the visual side as well. I love the fact that the text is of a solid size and easy to read. The posts are spaced out and most posts are accompanied with an image making the content more appealing.

Overall, I had a fun time reading The Gaffer’s blog. If you love football or if you want to marvel at some really good writing, head on over to the EPL Talk blog and pay The Gaffer a visit. I am sure he will appreciate it.

PS. To The Gaffer - if you are reading this, I hope you take my visual suggestions into consideration.

Categories: Reviews, Sports