Coventry City fan and Warwickshire ccc fan. Member of thee https://xitter.cf/t.co/BLI2Xu3JdQ team writing articles on Coventry City and supporter of Her Game Too
Joined March 2026
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I'm pleased to announce that I will be writing articles on Coventry City this season on @VAVEL. My thanks to @ESjourno05 for the opportunity!
Harry Kane is a shining example of how dedication and hard work pays off. Comes across as really humble. A great example to us all and well deserved win
Mark Smith 🐘 retweeted
Marcelo Bielsa on modern football:
“I am sure that football is in a process of decline.
“It is becoming less and less attractive because what made it the best game in the world is not there anymore.
“If you let a lot of people watch football, but you don't protect the pleasure of what they watch, that favours business, because the business is that a lot of people watch football.
“For me, the introduction of technology like VAR does a lot of harm to football.
“This sport has a particularity: when it becomes completely predictable, it loses its appeal.
“As time passes, as fewer and fewer footballers are worth watching and as the game produced is less and less enjoyable, this artificial increase in the number of spectators will be interrupted.”
Good to see people like him calling it out 👏
Well, the one positive is that we aren’t bottom this weekend. Every cloud and all that…. #PUSB
My article for @VAVEL reviewing what Lampard will have learned from yesterday’s disappointing defeat. Thanks to @ESjourno05 for your help vavel.com/en/football/2026/1… #PUSB
Poor weather, poor result and performance. Too slow and predictable in possession, no end product. Feel changes need to be made next match, especially midfield. On the positive side, I thought Pinnock was outstanding today and Tats our best player going forward #PUSB
You do a fantastic job Richard and as an ameteur journalist, I admire the dedication and effort you put in to produce great Cov content
When I launched The Phoenix, I knew there would be people who wouldn't see the value in paying for online content.
I get that. We've become so accustomed to getting everything for free that, for some, a website overrun with adverts will always be preferable to an ad-free site that costs a few quid a month.
That's absolutely fine.
What I perhaps underestimated was the anger that some people would feel simply because someone was offering them the choice of paying for their work.
Since launching on 20 July, I've added 140 stories to The Phoenix, totalling more than 200,000 words.
That includes in-depth interviews with people like Adi Viveash, Darren Huckerby and Leo Østigård, with at least one new 3,000-plus-word interview every week. There's also tactical analysis, opinion pieces, matchday coverage and plenty more.
Despite that, I've seen people describe charging £5 a month for this work as 'shameful', 'embarrassing' and 'a con'.
I've even been accused of contributing to the 'commercial exploitation of information'.
It's an odd thing. Nobody ever told me it was shameful to charge £16.99 for one of my books about Coventry City. Yet put that same level of research, writing and effort onto a website and suddenly asking people to pay for it becomes controversial.
Nobody has to subscribe. Nobody has to read it. And I'm absolutely fine with that.
But I don't think there's anything shameful about trying to make a living from producing original, independent journalism about a football club I've supported for more than 30 years.
Still, it's sometimes hard not to take the criticism personally.
Anyway, chin up and all that.
I'm interviewing a key member of our League One title-winning team tomorrow, and I can't wait.
You know where you'll be able to read that one...
#PUSB
Missed opportunity tonight. Rushworth will be disappointed with the goals conceded. Feeling frustrated but opportunity to bounce back on Saturday #PUSB
Maddison aside, this Spurs side look fragile and nervous. We’ve given them too much respect so far, as per their goal. Still in this game, but more belief we can get back into this match #PUSB
Expecting a tough match tonight but it’s definitely winnable for us if we play with the same belief as last week! #PUSB
Mark Smith 🐘 retweeted
Two more of our December fixtures have been moved due to TV broadcast selection. 🗓️
ALT Fixture updates: Ipswich Town (H), Tuesday 1st December, 8pm kick-off. Aston Villa (H), Sunday 13th December, 4:30pm kick-off.
Mark Smith 🐘 retweeted
Cov are now officially the highest placed premier league club in the midlands so why not join the south warwickshire and north cotswolds sky blues. It’s free and simple to join #pusb sites.google.com/view/swncsb…
Frank speaks very well. Need to keep working hard and play as we have been last couple of matches! #PUSB
He did! #PUSB
My @VAVEL article piece on the things Frank Lampard will have leaned ahead of yesterday’s win! Thanks to @ESjourno05 for your help vavel.com/en/football/2026/1… #PUSB
