Rory Smith

54.9K posts

Rory Smith banner
Rory Smith

Rory Smith

@RorySmith

Football Correspondent, The Observer. Also: @meninblazers @podcast_libero @bbc5live’s Monday Night Club. Author of Mister and Expected Goals.

UK Katılım Nisan 2010
2.4K Takip Edilen226.8K Takipçiler
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
The Justin Bieber interlude was beyond bizarre: quite a haunting song for...a World Cup final, and then he just sort of walked off on his own, half the length of the pitch, as though they'd completely forgotten about him. If FIFA want this stuff, at least do it well.
English
35
55
1.4K
123.9K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
There will be a lot of anger about this but to be honest I don't mind it for the players. I mean they have medals but fine, whatever, doesn't do any harm. But what's the point if you can just...buy one?
Fabrizio Romano@FabrizioRomano

🚨💍 OFFICIAL: FIFA to award the winners of the World Cup with championship rings. It’s the first time in history, following some of the American sports. 30 rings will be made available to the world champions, with a further 1,996 rings going on sale to fans.

English
37
6
202
100.8K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
Not quite sure these pictures prove the point but air quality in New York is abysmal. Smoke blowing in from the wildfires in Canada. Not sure you’d want to play a World Cup final in it. Or even watch Justin Bieber perform.
Rory Smith tweet mediaRory Smith tweet media
English
16
6
122
45.4K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
@CoachJimmyCN @stirling_j That is not what the article says, and it is not written by someone who is interested in the fact that England lost
English
0
0
0
80
CoachJimmy
CoachJimmy@CoachJimmyCN·
@stirling_j That is an awful article. ‘Can’t explain why we lost so blame it on magic. ‘ When the level of punditry and player feedback is: e.g, ‘you have to take your chances’ then there’s little hope.
English
2
0
12
680
Liam Tharme
Liam Tharme@LiamTharmeCoach·
@stirling_j A lot of words to over explain them packing the box, bringing on players for headers and capitalising on England sitting deep and not getting enough pressure on the ball out wide. Not even close to magic, beautifully simple coaching and decision-making by Scaloni
English
2
0
12
1.1K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
You can look at Argentina through strategy and tactics, fitness and conditioning, science and reason. But ultimately none of that really matters, because when it comes down to it what they do and what they have is a kind of magic. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…
English
20
53
290
43.4K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
All very peaceful in Atlanta last night and this morning. The real test will be in the stadium, I think, and that is because FIFA’s ticket strategy assumed football was entertainment, rather than sport. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…
English
6
5
51
26.4K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
Think the story of why Argentina sing about the Falklands/Malvinas so much is worth thinking about a bit more deeply than just feigning outrage about it. So I asked some people. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…
English
8
19
210
45.7K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
Me and @GeorgeRSimms will be going live here presently if you are struggling to concentrate at work (or maybe school, I suppose, though I think it's unlikely) ahead of whatever's happening later on today... youtube.com/live/Y7fKeOLwy…
YouTube video
YouTube
English
1
1
10
22.8K
Rory Smith retweetledi
Men in Blazers
Men in Blazers@MenInBlazers·
WE’VE PUT @RorySmith’s TASTE BUDS TO THE TEST THIS SUMMER 😂 Tune into Night Cup for ALL Rory’s American food ratings on The European Mind Cannot Comprehend. Every night of the tournament 🍔
English
1
1
20
20.7K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
They’re not going anywhere
English
5
6
54
20.4K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
@BentleyEdmonds I was also there and there were smatterings of empty seats. Like I say: the attendance was great. I suspect they sold all of the tickets. But they’re asking us to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes.
English
1
0
1
971
bentley edmonds
bentley edmonds@BentleyEdmonds·
@RorySmith I was there yesterday. Got my ticket through FIFA. Obviously more than I wanted to spend but better than scalper rates. There were scattered empty seats and some of the corporate sections filled in last minute but the place was pretty darn FULL. That 68,000 seems pretty legit.
English
3
0
0
1.2K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
To be honest, attendances have been better than I was expecting. Even Dallas yesterday was pretty full for Australia-Egypt. But this obvious…contortion actually makes me a bit more doubtful.
Rory Smith tweet mediaRory Smith tweet media
English
16
7
168
86K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
@EdBHXBsAS Most of Euro 96 didn’t sell out. Things have changed a lot since then but I’d be inclined to agree with you.
English
1
0
1
776
Ed
Ed@EdBHXBsAS·
@RorySmith I've debated this with friends,putting aside Bulgaria at Newcastle in 1996,if games were played in the UK would grounds be full on a Tuesday at 12pm for Jordan v Iraq,even at £20 would they fill Old Trafford,it's a no from me.
English
1
0
3
986
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
@mlonsdale2009 It is absolutely not a criticism. It was a great crowd, especially given all those factors. It’s just weird for them to call it a full house.
English
0
0
0
97
Mark Lonsdale
Mark Lonsdale@mlonsdale2009·
@RorySmith Not too surprising given July 4th weekend, average American corp hospitality guest with no ties to either team will have had other plans
English
1
0
0
155
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
The thing is: even if it's not full, this is a really impressive attendance. There'll be 60,000+ here, easy. At midday. On July 4. That's good! You could, if you wanted, even use it to justify the (offensive and exploitative) ticket prices. You don't need to exaggerate as well.
English
6
0
31
15.9K
Rory Smith
Rory Smith@RorySmith·
(The yellow t-shirts are volunteers. There’s a whole corporate section that’s half empty. As far as I can tell that’s where the bulk of the issue has been: corporate seats either not selling or being sold and people not showing)
English
9
2
30
21.4K

Keşfet

@CoachJimmyCN @stirling_j @LiamTharmeCoach @GeorgeRSimms @JohnBrewin_ @jonawils @DrJaiKan @MenInBlazers