My Story

My name is Olly Gower, I’m 21 from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. My passion for football media started during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 while all football had been suspended across the globe. To entertain myself I would search through YouTube to find any football matches and make commentary notes on them. That year I wrote about the remaining Premier league games including the night Liverpool beat Chelsea 5-3 and won their first title in 30 years, I also wrote about that years UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint Germain and FC Bayern Munich and the Europa League Final between Sevilla FC and Internazionale Milano.

Growing up I was the biggest Liverpool fan you could imagine. I knew all the players, where they’d come from, where they were going and which players had come through the academy. I was lucky enough to go to Wembley Stadium to watch Manchester City VS Liverpool in the 2020 FA Community Shield and I was at Anfield for the EFL Cup tie Vs Arsenal which finished 5-5. However, during 2021 when the ‘Big 6’ announced their plans to join the ‘European Super League’ I completely fell out of love with Liverpool and the Premier League and with how difficult it is to get tickets to a game. After a long thought, decided to change my allegiance to (newly promoted) EFL Championship side Hull City. A decision that has since got me quite a lot of stick from friends and some family members.

One memorable away day following Hull City was my first visit to Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough on January 1st 2024. Hull City came into this game chasing the playoff places in the EFL Championship, with Sheffield Wednesday coming into the game towards the bottom of the table. Hillsborough was bouncing before the game, the Wednesday fans made sure to remind their players what was expected of them. The atmosphere clearly had the desired impact on the Hull City players, 35 minutes into the first half Liverpool loanee Tyler Morton was sent off after a ‘late challenge’. Soon after, Marvin Johnson made the extra man count with a low driven shot from range into the bottom corner, the half time whistle was met with another huge roar from the home fans.

The second half started very much like the first, it took Sheffield 10 minuets after the restart to double their lead, Djeidi Gassama headed home from a corner. During this horror show the heavens had opened which added to the scenery and to the drama. The next 17 minutes saw Hull City finally have a good spell of possession and began to look like they might get a goal back, but one poor cross into the box allowed Wednesday to go straight up the other end and Josh Windass killed any chance of a marvellous come back. Straight from the fifth restart of the evening Hull had another good spell of possession; fifteen minutes to go, substitute ‍Allahyar Sayyadmanesh won the visitors a penalty which Burnley Loanee Scott Twine dispatched.

The goal was met with a, somewhat, frustrated roar from the Tigers faithful as was the fulltime whistle. It was results similar to that nights that probably cost Hull a place in that seasons playoffs, they would host promotion chasing Ipswich Town in a thrilling 3-3 draw with a 90th minute equaliser thanks to Standard Liege loanee Noah Ohio. That meant they had to go to Plymouth Argyle needing to win and for West Brom to drop points to Preston North End. Hull lost 1-0 and West Brom won 3-0, playoff hopes shattered.

I have been lucky enough to have made multiple trips to Wembley Stadium, mostly for the Vurtu Trophy Final (formally the Papa Johns, Bristol Street Motor & Johnstone Paint). The Picture to the left is of the 2025 final of Birmingham City Vs Peterborough United, who were the current holders at the time after beating Wycombe Wanderers in the previous final. In this particular final, the Peterborough fans were vastly out-numbered by the Birmingham City fans. Birmingham came into this game overwhelming favourites after their run-away form in EFL League One. The game started how many expected, with the league leaders having the majority of the possession. However, it was Peterborough who took the lead on 16 minutes with an unbelievable freekick from academy product Harley Mills. After that Peterborough did well to keep their opponents at bay, and in added time at end of the first half Hector Kyprianou slotted home a second from a quick break. A second goal which proved to be enough to seal the win.

My first taste of football outside the UK was a trip to Paris to watch PSG Vs Auxerre in Ligue 1. It was PSG’s final home game of the season and the game they would lift the Ligue 1 trophy (as they so often do). The atmosphere during the build up to kick off was like a carnival. PSG had had a brilliant season, they’d lost just 1 league game all season, they were in the final of the Coupe de France (which they would beat Reims 3-0) and they had the UEFA Champions League Final Vs Internazionale in Munich, which they would also go onto win 5-0 and completing the clubs first ever treble.

The game began like most that season for PSG, they had all the ball with their opponents pinned in their own box. However, with 15 minutes until halftime, a quickly taken freekick put Lassine Sinayoko 1v1 with Donnarumma and beat the Italian giant. PSG go into half time 0-1 down. The second half started like the first, PSG having all the ball. On the hour mark Khvicha Kvaratskhelia equalised which sparked the party atmosphere back to max volume, a few minutes later Marquinhos headed home from a corner to give the champions the lead and then 2 minutes from full time, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added another to seal the points for the hosts.