Scott Samain

Author of THE FOOTBALL GAME novel out now on Amazon on Paperback, Hardback & eBook on Kindle. Link below 👇

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

The Football Game is available on Amazon as Paperback, Hardback & ebook on Kindle for digital download. Be nice if you could read it & give it some constructive and positive reviews please as it’s my first time writing a novel & I’m self publishing!

https://t.co/lu8FV0sL6c

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

This is really poor by @FA. The governing body is supposed to protect players. It should be disputing this regulatory commission verdict by members drawn from the FA judicial panel. Max Dowman could have suffered a bad injury to his standing leg from a dangerous challenge which went unpunished. Arsenal 16-year-old shouldn’t have reacted but his frustration was understandable. Some other players might have rolled around and ensured a bad challenge was punished. Dowman didn’t. He doesn’t stay down. The FA should have shown some understanding towards Dowman. Instead, it has suspended him for three games. FA priorities all wrong: tolerating a poor challenge and some weak refereeing but punishing a kid who objected to a bad challenge that could have dealt him a serious injury. Protect players. #AFC

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Max Dowman: some thoughts. A little bit of understanding and support would not go amiss for a targeted teenager who wants to play the game the right way, who doesn’t roll around on the ground when struck by a bad challenge, and he gets hit by a few. Officials take note. Coaches take note. There’s a balance with young talents of toughening them up physically and mentally while protecting them. There's a balance between admonishment for a mistake and encouragement to learn.

Everyone wants to see Dowman fulfil his huge potential and develop into a major player for Arsenal and, eventually, England. Dowman is a special young talent, still only 16, still with the ink drying on his GCSE papers. He's still a kid, still learning. There have been (premature) calls for Dowman to be fast-tracked into England Under-21s, even the seniors. A month ago Thomas Tuchel and Lee Carsley conferred on Dowman and sensibly agreed his development would best be served by games with the Under-19s. “Max is always in the conversation because of his talent,” Carsley said.

That talent has seen Dowman become the Premier League’s youngest ever goalscorer, become the youngest player in the Champions League, and also get targeted. He gets a kicking, nine times in an Under-19s international against Spain last year. On returning to Arsenal, Dowman was encouraged by his manager Mikel Arteta to learn from Bukayo Saka about the art of dealing with such aggression. It was all about avoiding contact and “to learn when to release the ball”. Arteta also praised Dowman’s “football IQ” with the “super smart” way he makes decisions, praise indeed. It’s impressive in one so young.

His two red cards this month, one for England Under-19s against the USA behind closed doors in Marbella and now for Arsenal against Fleetwood Town, need placing in context. Trend or blip? Dowman, who usually has a composed temperament, suffered a number of robust challenges from the USA when he snapped and put in a strong challenge of his own. Some of those present in the game felt it was only a yellow. Dowman's not a petulant player, but his frustration spilled over at the aggression put in on him.

Similar to last night. There were some robust League Two challenges going in from Fleetwood players on the English champions' winger, testing his temperament, and after 85 minutes he reacted. The focus was on his silly kick out towards Harrison Neal, a soft red but still a red under the Laws, when the focus should also have been on Neal’s challenge which could have injured Dowman. No card was issued against Neal.

Michael Salisbury is an experienced referee, 16 years on the list, including now five years in the Premier League. Like all officials, Salisbury has a duty of care to all players to ensure they are not put at risk by bad challenges. Neal got the ball but the force and pace of his follow-through endangered Dowman, whose standing foot was momentarily trapped. Dowman, any player, deserved some protection from challenges like that.

He also deserved some compassion from Arteta. It’s one thing having strong words in passing if a senior player was trooping off, red-carded, down the tunnel. But Dowman is 16, probably still fuming with the tackle on him, and frustration at dismissal and inevitable feeling of letting the team down. Dowman didn’t need the most important person in his professional life, Arteta, to compound his misery with a frosty few words as he headed towards the tunnel. He's 16. He wasn't being petulant. He was reacting to a bad challenge.

Maybe Arteta was trying to make the point again about Dowman having to withstand such tackles, and not reacting. Arteta told reporters after the game that he had spoken pre-match to Dowman and the other players of the need for emotional control in such an intense occasion.

Fair enough, Dowman will learn. Whatever Arteta's frustration, it felt harsh and small-minded by such a successful, established manager. Officials take note too. It’s worth recalling that Arteta’s club contacted the authorities when they felt Saka was being targeted with bad challenges. Talents - all players - deserve protection. #AFC

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@henrywinter Thank you Henry ❤️🤍

[₷₳®∀ℏ @s4hvm]

Saw this a few days ago and it’s put a worm in my brain. Can’t stop thinking about it.

[edgarwright @edgarwright]

With the late, great Oliver Reed currently wowing 2026 audiences all over again with his incredible performance in the restored version of Ken Russell’s ‘The Devils’, I wanted to share this amazing clip of him from 1985.

The rather low-res clip comes from ‘In at the Deep End’, a BBC series in which presenter Paul Heiney tries his hands at a profession he had zero experience in. For this episode, Heiney was preparing for an acting role opposite Michael Caine in ‘Water’ and went to Oliver Reed for some pointers on how to play a villain.

Please enjoy what happens next.

[Warner Bros. @warnerbros]

10.6.28. Only In Theaters.

[Tom Holland @RealTomHolland]

One of the good ones ☹️ Rest easy my friend

[Prof. Frank McDonough @FXMC1957]

22 August 1962. The Beatles were filmed for the 1st time by Granada TV at the original Cavern Club in Liverpool. The filming occurred just a week after Pete Best was sacked from the group. This is the only film of The Beatles at the Cavern Club.

[Fesshole🧻 @fesshole]

I was well into my 40s, having raised three kids, before I realised that the first little piggy that went to market, wasn't going shopping.

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@fi_redress @fesshole 🤣🤣🤣👏👏

[Gooner Chris @ArsenalN7]

Meh, I’ve seen it done better 🦂

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@Sjopinion10 🤣🤣🤣

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@Rmcfmjay Ajax

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@Matt_Pinner 17

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@liamgallagher You rocked it too Bredrin! You nailed it! Whatever you had to do to get there for this tour, you deserve ultimate Reespeck Bredda! X ❤️

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@petercrouch 🤣🤣🤣

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@bushontheradio 🤣🤣🤣

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@bushontheradio I bought some barber scissors during Covid and cut my hair with them and my beard trimmer using a strategically placed mirror. Came out well and got lots of compliments. ✂️

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@DonnaLouise1212 @Matt_Pinner @Scott7507064635 🤣🤣🤣

[Scott Samain @ScottSamain]

@bushontheradio 🤣🤣🤣👏👏