For the life of me, I thought I'd already written a post on Aldershot when I completed the National League teams, but I must have just done the research and then never actually got round to writing it. So I owe the club an apology, especially because, of all the clubs in England, this one can boast of representing one of the finest institutions in the land today – the British Army. Before we get to that, Aldershot as a football club is itself quite the tale of battle and come

Middlesbrough. I’ll be honest. I’ve delayed doing this badge because it just looked a bit too straightforward. A lion. It would come from the crest of some local lord – and that would be it. Aha – not quite. Well, sort of. But that’s only one tiny bit of it. This lion tells a tale that stretches from before the Norman invasion right up to the Industrial Revolution and makes it instantly one of my favourite badges – so, without further ado, let’s do Middlesbrough FC the honour

Nestled between the redwood forests and large vineyards of Northern California’s wine country sits an ice rink named for, and built by, Charles M. Schulz – the creator of a little cartoon known as Snoopy. Snoopy’s Home Ice houses Santa Rosa’s semi-professional Santa Rosa Growlers. Their badge tells a tale of the local area – a part of the state of California that has still retained much of its natural beauty and wildlife. As such, they can help us tell another part of the Cal

I came across the club via a social media post claiming faux outrage over an "ice cream" inspired away shirt. What I discovered is a community and volunteer-run club that is doing extraordinary things in the very heart of one of the USA's greatest cities. And one I have instantly fallen in love with. They claim to be the oldest community-run club in America and I'm simply going to quote, at length, their mission statement from their website - because it is genuinely inspiring

I went to university in Essex and have been fortunate enough (…) to have spent my formative years surrounded by Hammers fans. So it has been with some delight that I’ve been reminding them of the cost to the taxpayer that their recent relegation has cost us (they have an incredibly generous rental agreement with the local council on the Olympic Stadium, which means that upon relegation their rent goes down by roughly £2.5 million a year! – agreed to by Boris Johnson – so anot

Sassuolo – or Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, to be precise – has recently fallen onto my radar because, a) last season they won promotion back to Serie A and, despite the odds, have managed to survive another year (as an Ipswich fan, clubs that can make this jump hold a certain fascination for me), and b) it was also where Muric, Town's former goalkeeper, spent last season on loan and has just today announced he will be joining on a permanent deal. So... who exactly are Sas

One of the best games of football I've ever seen featured Hereford United (the precursor to today's Hereford FC). It was a cold, dark February evening in 2012 and I was at Priestfield in Gillingham. The score finished 5–4, with the Gills coming out on top, but at the 80-minute mark Hereford led 3–2. The next ten minutes, plus stoppage time, were absolute carnage. Unfortunately for United, their luck didn't improve much in the years that followed. Just two years later, they ha