The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them.
Issue Six Contents
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Portugal
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* The Curse of the Golden Whistle, by Ben Shave—How corruption and inefficiency have squandered the legacy of Euro 2004
* The Flight of the Eagles, by Luis Catarino—In the early sixties Benfica rose to topple Real Madrid, only to be cursed by Béla Guttmann
* The Pretenders, by Andy Brassell—Only two sides outside 'Os Tres Grandes' have won the Portuguese title. For both a repeat seems unlikely
* The Dragons' Cap, by Vitor Sobral—Porto's rise in the late seventies was inspired by the innovative coaching of José Maria Pedroto
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Interview
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* Antonin Panenka — The Czechoslovakia great discusses how his famous dinked penalty came about and the impact it's had
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Euro 2012
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* The Essential Backdrop, by Jonathan Wilson—Euro 2012 raised major questions about the nature of fandom and what comprises a tournament
* The First Twitter Tournament, by Barney Ronay—In Euro 2012, newspapers were very rarely the first with the news as social media came into its own
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Theory
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* Directing the Pianists, by Philippe Auclair—Brendan Rodgers discusses the importance of possession football and what he's learned from José Mourinho
* Ivan the Reasonable, by Antonis Oikonomidis—Ivan Jovanovic explains his philosophy and how he hopes to build on Apoel's success last season
* The Rise of the Technocrats, by Tim Vickery—How attitudes to the dictatorship shape Brazil's change of approach in the seventies
* The Second Coming, by Federico Farcomeni—Zdenek Zeman talks about attacking, romance and his challenge after returning to Roma this season
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Photo Essay
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* River's Return, by Anibal Greco—Images of River Plate's battle to win promotion from the purgatory of Nacional B
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The Lost
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* The Paper Tiger, by David Bartram—How politics and society have stood in the way of a Chinese boom
* The Coach on the Couch, by Iain Macintosh—Is being addicted to Football Manager a medical condition?
* The Far Corner, by James Young—How football in the north-east of Brazil struggles to keep up with the giants of the south
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Polemics
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* Care for the Community, by Gabriele Marcotti—Could a radical rejig of television schedules help create a greater bond between clubs and their fans?
* Location, Location, Location, by Tom Dart—Which is more important? How it looks or where a stadium is?
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Fiction
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* The Limping God, by David Ashton—His football career ended by injury, John Brodie's life is going nowhere until he is sucked into the world of crime
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Greatest Games
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* Spain 1-0 Ireland, by Dermot Corrigan—World Cup qualifying play-off, Parc des Princes, Paris, 10 November 1965
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Eight Balls
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* Classic Footballs, by Sheridan Bird—A selection of the best footballs through the ages
