Set Piece: Introducing World Football Lead Writer, Will Tidey

It's football. It's soccer. Whatever you want to call it, it's the biggest, most watched, most far-reaching sport on the planet. And I'm lucky enough to call a small corner of it home.

My name is Will Tidey. The size 5 has been a focus of my life since Duran Duran ruled the earth, and I'm every bit as obsessed by its progress around a green field now as I was as a six-year-old.

I should tell you I'm English, but I don't think it matters. Nationality alone certainly doesn't qualify me to write about a sport that belongs to the world.

I was bred on football and have been immersed in it through every stage of my life, but that's hardly a unique experience; 33-year-old people on every continent will tell you an identical story. Some of them kicked balls to school every day and slept with an Adidas Tango until they were 21.

I certainly won't come at the Americans amongst you with a colonial air of superiority. My wife is a Carolina girl and I've spent enough time in the U.S. to know you people know your football.

Go to Nevada Smiths in New York City and you'll find a crowd as knowledgeable as any I've spilled beer with. Speak to the many soccerphiles in the Bleacher Report office and you'll get a similar story. It's a tired, outdated notion that Americans don't get it. They get it just fine, and in some cases, better than we do.

I like to think I get it a bit myself. I've been fortunate enough to make a career out of writing about it, and I must have done something right to be offered the plum role as Bleacher Report's first Lead Writer on the subject. This “Set Piece” blog is my soapbox from here until the B/R gods decide otherwise, and I only hope I can live up to both their expectations and the lofty standards set by my esteemed fellow Lead Writers.

The aim is to entertain you, inform you and provoke you. I'm going to tackle the game's biggest issues with studs-up, outspoken opinion, and hopefully you'll come along for the ride. Throw into the mix a few exclusive interviews and plenty of colourful video content, and let's see if we can't make "Set Piece" as vital as any football blog out there. To make it happen, of course, I'll need your outspoken opinions in return. I'm there to be shot at, so don't hold back. Be sure to tell me what works and what doesn't.

This is Bleacher Report after all. Your opinion is currency here.

I'm a Manchester United fan, but don't let that put you off. I was raised on tales of Best, Charlton and Law, and have lived every moment of United's second coming under Ferguson. I was there in 1999, in Barcelona, when United reached "the Promised Land." I saw Eric Cantona in his pomp. My allegiance is strong, but it won't stop me from attacking United with a pitchfork if they deserve it. The same is true of the England national team, who've been breaking my heart at regular intervals since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

The players I most admire are those with intelligence, flair and personality. Pele was football's trailblazing Elvis. Maradona was its Jimi Hendrix—a virtuoso prodigy who won a World Cup on his own and could make an orange dance with more rhythm than his contemporaries could a football. Best was the Beatle who played like a Rolling Stone. Cruyff and Platini were variations on his theme. Zidane's maverick talent made football an art-form. Messi's beguiling grace is equally astounding.

These are the types of players we live for. They arrive once or twice in a generation and sprinkle genius wherever they go. As a writer, I cherish their every contribution—for the application of genius can be notoriously fleeting.

Everybody talks about "journeys" these days, so here's mine. In no particular order I've written mostly for Eurosport-Yahoo!, CNN, the Times Online, a start-up I'd rather forget, ESPN.co.uk and ESPN Soccernet—those and every publication with a budget to pay me, and plenty who never paid me a dime.

And I've had a book published. It's called Life with Sir Alex: A Fan's Story of Ferguson's 25 Years at Manchester United, and it's out in the U.S. in mid-March. I've heard it's brilliant. (At least my dad loves it.) I also write about golf a bit.

Since the summer of 2010, Bleacher Report has been my home, albeit one I access remotely from my house in Sussex, England, which I share with my wife and our two boys, aged 10 months and three.

From here, who knows? But when you're working for the most dynamic, forward-thinking company in the market, and writing for a website that attracts 20-plus million readers a month, it's not something you really need to worry about.

Here's hoping you enjoy reading what I have to write nearly as much as I'll enjoy writing it.