20 Years of Blogging: 20 Players and 20 Places

On June 13th, 2024 this Blog celebrates its 20th birthday, for which I have a binary sense of immense pride as well as complete amazement.

I was 30 something when I started penning these pages in June 2004, living on my own in an apartment in Chicago, and England were about to have another ignominious exit from a major championship on penalties. 

10 years ago on my 10th Blogging anniversary I researched and wrote about the 1974 World Cup, a body of work that I still like to read over.

The reason I chose that 1974 tournament was that it was the prelude to me becoming a Charlton Athletic fan, which still sounds absurd, but was true. It was also one of the best ever World Cup’s and opened up my young eyes to the beautiful game. Yet, then I did become a Charlton Athletic supporter, but as I always say – teams chose you, you do not choose them!

To commemorate 20 years of writing these pages, I am going to keep it simple. Over the next few weeks and months I will compile a couple of lists that usher together two elements that fuelled the genesis of this Blog. Travel and those damn Addicks.

I will choose 20 places and 20 players that mean the most to me. Not necessary the best, just the most important to me, and I’ll attempt to add some reasonings behind the pick.

20 Players

1. Colin Powell
2. Chris Powell
3. Alan Simonsen
4. Mark Kinsella
5. Peter Shirtliff
6. Yann Kermorgant
7. Robert Lee
8. Clive Mendonca
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20 Places

1. Saint Barthélemy (St. Barts)
2. Los Cabos, Mexico
3. Magaluf, Mallorca
4. Brussels
5. Buenos Aires
6. Napa Valley
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