The Run of Play is a blog about
the wonder and terror of soccer.

We left the window open during a match in October 2007 and a strange wind blew into the room.

Now we walk the forgotten byways of football with a lonely tread, searching for the beautiful, the bewildering, the haunting, and the absurd.

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Horror in Wigan as Manchester United Felled by Plague

Sir Alex Ferguson mortifies his flesh, but to no avail.

It was never supposed to be this way. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen in football. An exciting day—that’s what we thought we would see. A contest. A game! Now the sole remaining question—the final, terrifying, all-important question—is how can we go on? How can we placate the wrath of a God who may no longer be willing to forgive us? How can we purify ourselves? How can we ever be safe?

Van der Sar Agonistes