Brian Glanville

“Brian Lester Glanville (24 September 1931 – 16 May 2025) was an English footballwriter and novelist. He was described by The Times as ‘the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation’, and by American journalist Paul Zimmerman as ‘the greatest football writer of all time.’ … In the 1960s and 1970s, Glanville was a member of the jury which awards the yearly Ballon d’Or France Football (or European Footballer of the Year award). In addition he wrote for The People and since 1999 contributed numerous obituaries of prominent players to The Guardian. … After covering England for many years, Glanville developed relationships with a few of the managers. He stated that Alf Ramseycould be “very spiky, but in the final analysis I didn’t get on badly with him and he gave people access.” Glanville also mentioned how he thought Bobby Robson was ‘grotesquely overrated’, that he was ‘a very inadequate manager and he failed so badly in Europe’ (a reference to the failure to qualify for UEFA Euro 1984 and England’s group stage exit from UEFA Euro 1988), and that nearly reaching the 1990 World Cup final was ‘down to luck more than judgement’. However, he was effusive in his praise of Paul Gascoigne in the latter, saying he had displayed ‘a flair, a superlative technique, a tactical sophistication, seldom matched by an England player since the war’. …”
Wikipedia
Guardian: Brian Glanville was fearless, witty and hovered in the press box like Banquo’s ghost
Brian Glanville on Arsenal’s greatest goalscorers