Ned Boulting, bestselling author and former football commentator and presenter (now best known for his cycling commentary) reminisces about a life in football.From time to time, as I lurched from training ground to player's tunnel, I'd be glared at by Alex Ferguson, clapped on the back by Arsène Wenger, taken out the back by Alan Pardew or banned by José Mourinho. In the time it took for the Golden Generation to come of age, dominate, disappoint and retire, I fell in – and ultimately out – of love with the game, as I was granted a uniquely privileged insight into the back-stage comings and goings of the professional football circus.Although best known as ITV’s commentator on the Tour de France, Ned Boulting has spent most of his professional life covering football.Follow Ned’s journey from football supporter to reporter―from criss-crossing the country in a banger of a car hoping for a word or two from the latest big signing, to the glamour of the Champions League. Ned really has been t