With his usual degree of effortless nonchalance, Andrea Pirlo cut out a desperate Steven Gerrard through-ball and quickly played a snappy one-two with legendary Milan ‘full back’ Cafu, before sliding a forward pass into the feet of Kaka. The Brazilian number 10, compounding Gerrard’s embarrassment, and with little more than a vague annoyance, spun past the recovering Liverpool Captain as if swatting a fly and with his second touch unleashed an utterly astounding, defence murdering pass perfectly into the path of the onrushing Hernan Crespo. The ball was so sublime that the Argentine barely had to break his stride in applying the cutest of clipped finishes over the shoulder of a no doubt bewildered Jerzy Dudek. 3-0.

Ever since early childhood, my love for football has been all consuming, I vividly remember the joy of sitting watching the vidi-printer tick along on Saturday afternoons with my dad, staying out long past dark (and even longer past my parent’s curfew) for just one more game of World Cup Doubles and harbouring an unabashed excitement for the next international tournament as soon as the previous one had finished. This passion has remained unerringly constant through to the present day, while the depth and breadth of my desire and thrust for knowledge has only grown and gathered pace over the last twenty years. This is, in no small part, down to that 2005 Milan team and that Crespo goal in particular. As a proud supporter of English football at the time, I celebrated Gerrard’s towering header, Vladimir Smicer’s skimming drive and Dudek’s Grobbealaar-esque antics as much as many Liverpool fans did, but it was the likes of Pirlo and Reno Gattuso that really caught my attention and accelerated my burgeoning interest in continental football.

Today, I follow the major European leagues (and a number of minor ones) with as much excitement and passion as I do the Premier League. I play football as often as I can, traditionally doing so as a striker and I’ve also instigated the organisation a long running football tournament. The Tony Yeboah Trophy, as it’s now known, has been running for 4 years. We’re currently planning our tenth competition and it continues to grow with friends and friends of friends who share a love of playing football and doing so in a competitive but friendly atmosphere. Sportsmanship and enjoyment are central, it’s something I stress at the start of every edition as we play without referees so fairness and camaraderie between teams and players is pivotal and, to everyone’s credit, the spirit has been utterly impeccable right from the start.

I’m a compulsive (some would say unhealthily so) collector of football shirts. My haul is now threatening the 150 mark and shows no signs of letting up. I take every opportunity to read and write about football. My bedside table is creaking under the weight of World Soccer back-issues and copies of The Blizzard, which are stacked next to a tower of books, predominantly by Jonathan Wilson, who, along with Tim Vickery, Sid Lowe and Graham Hunter, is my most admired footballing voice.

Originally training as a primary school teacher, I completed my BA in Education Studies at Winchester University, where I am proud to say I achieved a first class honours degree, before moving onto Southampton to undertake my teacher training course. I’ve been a full time class teacher in Year 4, and then Year 5, over the last two years, while also working in sports coaching both at school and for outside companies since leaving college. However, despite my love for teaching, football has always been my real passion.

Having joined Football Radar in 2014, where I’m now French Ligue 1 Analyst, I’ve been exposed to a wide range of world football while also travelling, when my duties will allow, to attend lives matches around the continent. As well as hosting the Football Radar Podcast (for which I have been fortunate enough to interview the likes of Peter Shilton and Jonathan Wilson) and contributing to the Football Radar blog, I have also been involved in producing our Euro 2016 Preview magazine and a forthcoming African Nations Cup edition. I also appear every Thursday evening on the GFFN Preview Show for Get French Football News while writing regularly for the site via both a Tuesday Ligue 1 talking points column and feature articles.

With all this in mind I started this blog, I hope you find my ramblings to be of some vague interest or mild amusement.

Cheers, Adam White.

Ligue 1 analyst, obsessive football geek and Andrea Pirlo wannabe.