Michael Calvin
@mcalvinbook.bsky.social
Award winning sportswriter. Internationally best selling author of 19 books, including a football trilogy that led to three TV documentaries. The scope of my collaborations has widened recently to include a Holocaust survivor & special forces soldier.
Reposted by Michael Calvin
What happens when you let AI write match reports? You end up with reports for games that never happened. Levante v Villarreal was postponed due to bad weather but according to this site it was played, finished 0-0 and was very dull. They even awarded a man of the match! www.bwin.com/en/news/post...
Levante 0-0 Villarreal: Post-match review, Stats, Key moments
Bwin’s post-match review of Levante 0-0 Villarreal in the La Liga on Sunday, 14 December 2025, with stats, key moments and our take on the match.
www.bwin.com
January 15, 2026 at 6:11 PM
What happens when you let AI write match reports? You end up with reports for games that never happened. Levante v Villarreal was postponed due to bad weather but according to this site it was played, finished 0-0 and was very dull. They even awarded a man of the match! www.bwin.com/en/news/post...
Reposted by Michael Calvin
From the Footlights to the Baltic, the Declaration of Independence to Suleiman the Magnificent, here’s our new year picks for 2026. With books from @murrayp.bsky.social,
@mcalvinbook.bsky.social, @alwynturner.bsky.social and many more👇
@mcalvinbook.bsky.social, @alwynturner.bsky.social and many more👇
New History Books for January 2026 - Unseen Histories
Our picks of a range of vibrant new history books that will be released over the month ahead.
www.unseenhistories.com
January 6, 2026 at 6:39 AM
From the Footlights to the Baltic, the Declaration of Independence to Suleiman the Magnificent, here’s our new year picks for 2026. With books from @murrayp.bsky.social,
@mcalvinbook.bsky.social, @alwynturner.bsky.social and many more👇
@mcalvinbook.bsky.social, @alwynturner.bsky.social and many more👇
An early Christmas present, direct from the printers. Miracle, my next book, a collaboration with Naftali Schiff for @TransworldBooks, is an amazing story of survival. Out Jan 22….
December 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
An early Christmas present, direct from the printers. Miracle, my next book, a collaboration with Naftali Schiff for @TransworldBooks, is an amazing story of survival. Out Jan 22….
Reposted by Michael Calvin
A playlist for curry lovers…
🎵 It’s My Chapati (and I’ll Cry If I Want To)
🎵 Jalfrezi Little Thing Called Love
🎵 Paneer There and Everywhere
🎵 Knockin on Heaven’s Tandoor
🎵 Don’t Peschwari, Be Happy
🎵 Naan, I Feel Like a Woman
🎵 Poppadom Preach
🎵 Tears On My Pilau
🎵 Paperback Raita
🎵 Nessun Korma
🎵 It’s My Chapati (and I’ll Cry If I Want To)
🎵 Jalfrezi Little Thing Called Love
🎵 Paneer There and Everywhere
🎵 Knockin on Heaven’s Tandoor
🎵 Don’t Peschwari, Be Happy
🎵 Naan, I Feel Like a Woman
🎵 Poppadom Preach
🎵 Tears On My Pilau
🎵 Paperback Raita
🎵 Nessun Korma
December 1, 2025 at 6:59 PM
A playlist for curry lovers…
🎵 It’s My Chapati (and I’ll Cry If I Want To)
🎵 Jalfrezi Little Thing Called Love
🎵 Paneer There and Everywhere
🎵 Knockin on Heaven’s Tandoor
🎵 Don’t Peschwari, Be Happy
🎵 Naan, I Feel Like a Woman
🎵 Poppadom Preach
🎵 Tears On My Pilau
🎵 Paperback Raita
🎵 Nessun Korma
🎵 It’s My Chapati (and I’ll Cry If I Want To)
🎵 Jalfrezi Little Thing Called Love
🎵 Paneer There and Everywhere
🎵 Knockin on Heaven’s Tandoor
🎵 Don’t Peschwari, Be Happy
🎵 Naan, I Feel Like a Woman
🎵 Poppadom Preach
🎵 Tears On My Pilau
🎵 Paperback Raita
🎵 Nessun Korma
Reposted by Michael Calvin
Having Johnson & Cummings in Downing Street when Covid struck was, just like Brexit, an entirely avoidable disaster caused largely by utterly appalling journalism. And now exactly the same clowns, arses & bigots with bylines are rolling out the red carpet for Farage.
www.thetimes.com/article/1b15...
www.thetimes.com/article/1b15...
Covid inquiry live: ‘Inexcusable’ delays under Johnson led to 23,000 deaths
Lockdowns may have been avoided if Boris Johnson’s government had acted faster, damning report finds
www.thetimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Having Johnson & Cummings in Downing Street when Covid struck was, just like Brexit, an entirely avoidable disaster caused largely by utterly appalling journalism. And now exactly the same clowns, arses & bigots with bylines are rolling out the red carpet for Farage.
www.thetimes.com/article/1b15...
www.thetimes.com/article/1b15...
If The Proclaimers are not already in the studio recording “We’re on the march with Clarkey’s army” someone is losing their job.
November 18, 2025 at 10:10 PM
If The Proclaimers are not already in the studio recording “We’re on the march with Clarkey’s army” someone is losing their job.
Reposted by Michael Calvin
Of course she has. The small matter of owing £122 million to UK taxpayers for her disgusting profiteering in a global pandemic means nothing to Michelle Mone.
NHS staff died in my hospital from the Covid they caught there - her dodgy PPE racket was vile.
NHS staff died in my hospital from the Covid they caught there - her dodgy PPE racket was vile.
October 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Of course she has. The small matter of owing £122 million to UK taxpayers for her disgusting profiteering in a global pandemic means nothing to Michelle Mone.
NHS staff died in my hospital from the Covid they caught there - her dodgy PPE racket was vile.
NHS staff died in my hospital from the Covid they caught there - her dodgy PPE racket was vile.
Miracle, my next book, is now available on special offer
@Waterstones
this week. I hope we've done justice to a stunning story. Pre-order here, to get 25% off when it comes out in January. waterstones.com/book/miracle... Promotional Code: OCTOBER25. #WPreorder Thanks!
@Waterstones
this week. I hope we've done justice to a stunning story. Pre-order here, to get 25% off when it comes out in January. waterstones.com/book/miracle... Promotional Code: OCTOBER25. #WPreorder Thanks!
Miracle by Michael Calvin, Naftali Schiff | Waterstones
Buy Miracle by Michael Calvin, Naftali Schiff from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.
waterstones.com
October 14, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Miracle, my next book, is now available on special offer
@Waterstones
this week. I hope we've done justice to a stunning story. Pre-order here, to get 25% off when it comes out in January. waterstones.com/book/miracle... Promotional Code: OCTOBER25. #WPreorder Thanks!
@Waterstones
this week. I hope we've done justice to a stunning story. Pre-order here, to get 25% off when it comes out in January. waterstones.com/book/miracle... Promotional Code: OCTOBER25. #WPreorder Thanks!
Bravo, Barney.
I liked Gary Neville’s speech even though he fucked up part of it
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Flag alert! Gary Neville may not be Orwell but he is a very English type of patriot | Barney Ronay
An easy target for accusations of luxury hypocrisy, Neville has at least tried to address an issue that has everything to do with aggressively flag-draped and militarised modern sport
www.theguardian.com
October 10, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Bravo, Barney.
That was stressful. #GoCubsGo
The Cubs beat the Padres, 3-1, to advance to the NLDS against the Brewers.
This is the 1st time in franchise history Cubs won a winner-takes-all playoff game at Wrigley and their 1st postseason series win since 2017.
This is the 1st time in franchise history Cubs won a winner-takes-all playoff game at Wrigley and their 1st postseason series win since 2017.
October 3, 2025 at 12:20 AM
That was stressful. #GoCubsGo
Seeing (or more accurately hearing) the brain dead home fans at the Ryder Cup reminds me of a conversation with a senior member of the US team earlier in the year. “With two Michelobs inside them they’re going to be wild” he predicted. He wasn’t wrong.
September 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Seeing (or more accurately hearing) the brain dead home fans at the Ryder Cup reminds me of a conversation with a senior member of the US team earlier in the year. “With two Michelobs inside them they’re going to be wild” he predicted. He wasn’t wrong.
Beautiful, Grimsby. If only Ruben Amorim had the guts to watch that 18 minute shoot out he would have discovered the meaning and value of character.
August 27, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Beautiful, Grimsby. If only Ruben Amorim had the guts to watch that 18 minute shoot out he would have discovered the meaning and value of character.
One more Premier League match to go on an inevitably extended opening weekend. At the moment it exudes the joy of a Speed Awareness Course.
August 17, 2025 at 6:14 PM
One more Premier League match to go on an inevitably extended opening weekend. At the moment it exudes the joy of a Speed Awareness Course.
Love how England and India are confirming a new form of cricket : Test 20.
July 4, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Love how England and India are confirming a new form of cricket : Test 20.
Calling all old gits....I'm writing a social history of 1966 for a book due to be published next year, and would love to hear your childhood memories of watching the World Cup. If you've got tales to tell I'd love to hear from you. Reply to this, please, and I'll follow you. Ta.
June 16, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Calling all old gits....I'm writing a social history of 1966 for a book due to be published next year, and would love to hear your childhood memories of watching the World Cup. If you've got tales to tell I'd love to hear from you. Reply to this, please, and I'll follow you. Ta.
Narrator: He did, ridiculously. Levy’s Game is not About Glory.
Sack Big Ange if you dare, Levy.
June 8, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Narrator: He did, ridiculously. Levy’s Game is not About Glory.
Sack Big Ange if you dare, Levy.
May 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Sack Big Ange if you dare, Levy.
Brian might have overstated his abilities as a left back, but he was the greatest football writer of his, and subsequent generations. Acutely observant, instinctively kind, wonderfully articulate. Ciao, Maestro
Brian Glanville, journalist lauded as ‘the greatest football writer’, dies aged 93
Brian Glanville, journalist lauded as ‘the greatest football writer’, dies aged 93
Brian Glanville, who was the Sunday Times’ football correspondent for 30 years and the influential author of The Story of the World Cup, has died aged 93
www.theguardian.com
May 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Brian might have overstated his abilities as a left back, but he was the greatest football writer of his, and subsequent generations. Acutely observant, instinctively kind, wonderfully articulate. Ciao, Maestro
OK. Referee is terrible. But PSG, who were lesser than the sum of their parts in their Harlem Globetrotters era, now have the potential to become a Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls dynasty. #ARSPS
April 29, 2025 at 7:58 PM
OK. Referee is terrible. But PSG, who were lesser than the sum of their parts in their Harlem Globetrotters era, now have the potential to become a Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls dynasty. #ARSPS
Cyborg “sport”.
Just came across the Saudi F1 GP on TV. Thrilling stuff. Steel barriers all around the track, advertising boards for oil and crypto companies everywhere, not a human in sight. Absolute shite.
April 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Cyborg “sport”.
I’ve been privileged to observe many great sporting occasions individuals and achievements but that is right up there. Rory McIlroy, a career fulfilled.
April 13, 2025 at 11:22 PM
I’ve been privileged to observe many great sporting occasions individuals and achievements but that is right up there. Rory McIlroy, a career fulfilled.
After one hole, this Rory McIlroy final round at Augusta has the air of an Andy Murray physcodrama at Wimbledon.
April 13, 2025 at 6:47 PM
After one hole, this Rory McIlroy final round at Augusta has the air of an Andy Murray physcodrama at Wimbledon.
The Manchester derby, neutered by corporate incompetence and nation state cynicism, is what happens when football is secondary to the big sell. The PL, VAR and all, has lost its soul.
April 6, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The Manchester derby, neutered by corporate incompetence and nation state cynicism, is what happens when football is secondary to the big sell. The PL, VAR and all, has lost its soul.
Ah, here they are, the bleeding experts.” Those of us who piggy-backed on boxing’s human drama in the Tyson era deserved Colin’s playful pisstaking. A giant of a journalist, an astute tutor with a generous spirit. He’d hate eulogies but deserves them. Well said, Paul.
Impossible to picture boxing or sports journalism without Colin Hart.
What a guide and mentor he was.
Tried to call him yesterday to say hello. Couldn't reach him.
Instead it's goodbye.
www.boxingscene.com/articles/col...
What a guide and mentor he was.
Tried to call him yesterday to say hello. Couldn't reach him.
Instead it's goodbye.
www.boxingscene.com/articles/col...
Colin Hart, Hall of Fame boxing writer, dies at age 89
Colin Hart, who was the first British writer to win the Nat Fleischer Award for Exellence in Boxing Journalism, has passed.
www.boxingscene.com
March 22, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Ah, here they are, the bleeding experts.” Those of us who piggy-backed on boxing’s human drama in the Tyson era deserved Colin’s playful pisstaking. A giant of a journalist, an astute tutor with a generous spirit. He’d hate eulogies but deserves them. Well said, Paul.
VAR. The monster that is devouring football from the Champions League downwards.
At the same time, incredible that Atletico somehow experience a new way to be eliminated by Madrid.
March 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
VAR. The monster that is devouring football from the Champions League downwards.