My name is CS Smith and I lead a dual life as a strategy consultant and a global football sponge. I have followed the Beautiful Game passionately since my youth, and used my world travels in the past 20 years to see the sport, its culture and passionate fans in action face-to-face.

In my professional life, I have led technology research groups on two continents, following trends, tracking new technology developments, and measuring how actual people live their lives with, and around change and looking at cultures at play. I have managed research teams in Washington, New York, and London in the process and have visited over 20 countries, always trying to snag some manner of football-related clothing along the way.

As a fan, I use football as a petri dish in which to view collisions of culture, media, politics and sport, and scan the globe in my spare time looking for interesting bits of news and insight about the game. I share some of the insights via another blog, OleOle. The action of the game I share my views on here.

In my spare time I work with youth sides and enjoy the smell of the grass on a Saturday afternoon. If you want to talk footie, send gossip, or pose obscure questions about the game, e-mail me at oleole AT triad.rr.com.