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‘If it makes you mad, it’s Out of Order’ – when David Elleray was mic’d up

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · 8d

On the blog: I'm buried in various work projects at present, so the blog is taking a back seat - but to keep it ticking over, here's a repurposed version of a post about the David Elleray wiring up controversy that ran briefly on the site last year: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/i...

It’s hard to tell if ref cams will catch on in the Premier League. At the start of the season, it was announced that they would be tested out in selected games, with the official in the middle wear…

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Sep 9

Brilliant. La Plante is not very complimentary about Linda Agran.

Two Maggies, one Limahl, and a disappearing Juanita

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Sep 9

On the blog: The tale of how Lynda La Plante once caused a character's first name to disappear completely from a script - yet it stayed in the end credits. Oh, and her story about refusing to let Freddie Mercury into her flat to play the piano: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/t...

“Who in their right mind would call a character Juanita Shervington?” Lynda La Plante, Getting Away With Murder, p.82 Lynda La Plante’s memoir, published last autumn, is definitely worth a read. I’…

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 26

Yeah - I think, really, you need recommendations from friends/people in the know, as it's just needle-haystack stuff otherwise.

Funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe 2025

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 26

On the blog: My first visit to the Edinburgh Fringe. Christ, it really is unsustainable at that size, isn't it? mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/26/f...

For the first time, I went to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. (Not to perform: just to watch. Although it’s possible a TV producer witnessed me edging through the crowds along the Royal Mile on the…

Premier League: Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth - highlights

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 25

My favourite story on these lines is that in the 1990-91 season, Crystal Palace had a home kit that was red and blue stripes, an away kit that was all blue with red trim and a third kit that was all red with blue trim, and somehow got through the whole season with only those kits.

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 24

As I wrote the most recent online piece referencing this incident, I feel responsible for this snatch of Google AI batshittery. All I can say is: If only...

Google AI claims chat show king Michael Parkinson uttered the famous rugby league "I can't spake" commentary. It was, of course, Rod Hull and Emu.

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 15

Have just sent the BBC Sport push alert to flag the first Premier League highlights edit under its new deal, and can't tell you how terrified I was of spelling Liverpool or Bournemouth wrong. Anyway, it's here: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Liverpool begin their Premier League title defence with a win but needed late goals to beat Bournemouth on a night dedicated to former player Diogo Jota.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 3

On the blog: Morecambe aren't my team, and it isn't my home town, but I've memories tied up with both, and not just because the local paper used to be edited by a man called Mike Whalley: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/03/n...

Not the Morecambe Visitor’s editor

The last time I was in Morecambe, nine months ago, my walk from the station to the football ground took me along the West End promenade, past the Alhambra. It’s a tidy venue now, by all accounts; t…

A new beginning: St Johnstone 5 Partick Thistle 1

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Aug 2

On the blog: St Johnstone won't recover from a difficult 12 months in one day, but the signs at least look positive for them: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/02/a...

St Johnstone must feel as if they’re starting all over again. In today’s match programme, owner Adam Webb mentioned in passing that “the footballing journey brought its share of challenges over the…

The last time I visited Levenshulme Old Library, I spent two hours sketching a naked woman. I’d never attended a life drawing class before, and had approached the evening with apprehension. But the…

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Jul 20

On the blog: What it's like watching a live broadcast of Radio 4's Any Questions in a venue where you once attended a life drawing class: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/20/b...

Bouncers in a library

A history of Match Night in seven Beatles lyrics

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Jul 4

On the blog: How the man who brought brass band music to the Proms couldn't quite bring it to Saturday night football, and how that wasn't really his fault: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/04/a...

I. Roll up for the mystery tour Saturday, August 3, 1974. History was about to be made at the Royal Albert Hall, and not everyone was happy about it. For the first time in its 80-year history, the …

How to pick a 51-year-old for international duty

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · Jun 5

On the blog: Accidentally taking my front door off its hinges, accidentally picking a 51-year-old for international football duty, accidentally assigning the wrong job title to the person who made the error. Everyone's having accidents this week: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/05/h...

On Monday, by accident, I managed to remove my front door from its hinges. I didn’t realise at first that I’d done it. One moment, I was trying to tighten the top hinge; the next, I looked down to …

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 17

Was wondering if Liverpool v Crystal Palace next Sunday will be the first English league game where the new league champions face the new FA Cup winners within the season. And technically, it's not, because of Michael Thomas and 1989 and all that. (Also, there may be other examples.)

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 16

Thanks Stu. I've long said that I think League One is the highest level we can run at sustainably - which is one of many reasons I'm not the owner! But I'd like to think we'll have another good season next year, and we'll see where that takes us.

A Wednesday night in Stockport

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 16

On the blog: A new way of experiencing defeat, and the need to remain professional as it played out: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/a...

Richie Wellens caught us all by surprise when he said it. None of the small group of reporters interviewing him at the side of the Edgeley Park pitch had known to ask him. And I suspect had his tea…

Alan Shearer: no todas las leyendas se escriben con títulos - Panenka

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 14

Thrilled to make my debut in Panenka magazine, writing about Alan Shearer, and the day/night in Huddersfield with Kevin Keegan and Bryan Adams that helped him become the world's most expensive footballer. Yet to hear if this means I'm now hip enough to sip cappuccinos with James Richardson.

Revista Panenka @revistapanenka.bsky.social · May 13

Ningún futbolista valía más que Alan Shearer en 1996, aun con su vitrina de trofeos desangelada. Y a base de goles, la supo llenar de recuerdos, de las caras alegres de su gente, a la que nunca falló.

Así empieza el #Panenka148 www.panenka.org/miradas/alan...

Ningún futbolista valía más que Alan Shearer en 1996, aun con su vitrina de trofeos desangelada. Y a base de goles, la llenó de recuerdos.

www.panenka.org

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 12

Well, seeing as BBC Sport won a Bafta for its Paris Olympics coverage, and I snuck on to the end credits for my online contribution, that now makes me a Bafta winner, and I am putting that on my CV from now on and you can't stop me.

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Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 9

On the blog: A long one, this. The curious story of the only Screen One drama that went out without a writing credit. And no, it wasn't Ghostwatch: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/09/e...

Even Ghostwatch had a writing credit – the curious story of Truth or Dare

I’ve been watching The Change: Bridget Christie’s comedy-drama about a woman who learns she is starting the menopause, has an existential crisis, leaves behind her useless husband and goes off to f…

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 4

Anything's possible. Leyton Orient finished the season really strongly, so that might be a tougher semi-final than Wycombe or Charlton would have been. But the club's in a very good place overall, whatever happens.

A day on the brink: Derby 0 Stoke 0

Mike Whalley @mikewhalley.bsky.social · May 4

On the blog: Watching the conclusion of the Championship relegation scrap, which produced an outcome to surprise much of Radio Humberside's audience: mikewhalleyblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/04/a...

Seven days ago, I’d have told you Hull City were doomed. Penultimate game of the Championship season, at home to relegation rivals Derby County, they had fallen 1-0 down inside the final six minute…