The Football Writing Festival is warming up for its fifth year of football discussion in Manchester.
From Thursday August 30-Thursday September 6, a selection of the sport’s finest writers will be lining up for a week of football chat at the National Football Museum, Hotel Football Old Trafford and Waterstones Deansgate.
Five festival fixtures have been added to the calendar, with a sixth still to be announced.
The festival kicks off in customary fashion with The Blizzard, featuring the quarterly’s editor Jonathan Wilson alongside the Sunday Times’ Jonathan Northcroft and Independent chief football writer Miguel Delaney.
Michael Calvin follows up last year’s hugely successful No Hunger in Paradise talk with a discussion around his magnum opus, State of Play, exploring the very fabric of the beautiful game with Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt, ex-Football League forward Drewe Broughton and former player and manager Michael Appleton.
And then it was 3! Just 3 weeks until our old friends @blzzrd are back again @mcrfwf for their 5th visit. Join @jonawils @MiguelDelaney @JNorthcroft and host @RorySmith at @FootballMuseum 30 Aug. Tickets for @blzzrd Live available now. https://t.co/20VSVdWYGn pic.twitter.com/aL68ZoXJ5D
— mcrfootballwriting (@mcrfwf) August 9, 2018
Opta also return for another spell as Duncan Alexander will be joined by tactical expert Michael Cox, Goal.com chief correspondent Peter Staunton and Do You Speak Football? author Tom Williams as they pore over the changing language of the game, with Football365’s Daniel Storey steering the discussion.
For those looking to break into the football media industry, BBC Sport’s event is a must-watch. Writer Suzy Wrack, journalist Emma Sanders and commentator Josh Adu-Donkor share their experiences of what it’s like to work within the game, offering useful insight and advice to up-and-coming prospects.
The big guns come off the bench for the festival finale at the European Union talk. Philippe Auclair, Rafa Honigstein, Gabriele Marcotti and Sid Lowe share their thoughts on Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga respectively, with BBC Sport presenter Reshmin Chowdhury.
Tickets for individual events range from £6 to £12. Alternatively, football chat aficionados can pick up a Season Ticket for £40, guaranteeing reserved seats at all six Football Writing Festival events, as well as £1 discount on selected books and 25% off The Guardian Football Weekly tickets, held at the Royal Northern College of Music on Wednesday September 5.
See the full fixture list and buy your tickets at bit.ly/fwf2018, and get the breaking festival news on Twitter via @mcrfwf.
For more information about the National Football Museum, please visit: http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/
Image courtesy of National Football Museum via Twitter, with thanks.
