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10 70

UPFRONT FEATURES
10 One-On-One: Tony Cascarino 36 Man City: Inside a super club
14 Around the world in 12 stories FFT goes behind the scenes
17 Wolves’ arty programme covers with De Bruyne, Sterling, Bravo,
ENGLISH
18 Gheorghe Hagi’s biggest games Stones and Houghton to find
MANAGERS
20 What next for Donald Trump? out more about the Citizens’
22 Harry Redknapp on Harry Potter plan for global domination
23 Arsenal’s angrier namesakes 54 No girls allowed
24 One Question Quiz: retro kits For 50 years, the FA deemed
26 Premier League nationalities women’s football “unsuitable”
27 Scouted: Belgium’s next big thing but they found a way to play
30 Jaap Stam interview 60 Where’d the English gaffers go?
31 Great Goals Retold: Hulk ...and is there any way back? FFT
32 Rory Smith on... Super Leagues goes in search of a dying breed

54
CHARLIE AUSTIN
MASTERCLASS

WOMEN
BANNED
100
 66 78

BACK TO SCHOOL
AT ST MARY’S

FEATURES
66

70

78

84
Educating Southampton
The Saints’ academy shows how
work in the classroom is as key
as that done out on the pitch
Fergie: the untold stories
30 hair-raising tales from Alex
Ferguson’s Old Trafford reign
Plymouth Argyle reserves
Tearing it up in the 10th tier –
are they good for the game?
Long-serving club employees
ACTION REPLAY
91
92
95
96
98

100
103
104
Marilyn Monroe’s big kick-off
When the papers killed Puskas
England’s first floodlit match
’69: guns, massacres and a war
Seven of the best NASL strips

PERFORMANCE
Charlie Austin masterclass
Ronaldo’s abs-trainer tested
Free weights or machines?
INSIDE
MAN CITY 36
Celebrating five of the English 107 Louis van Gaal’s video games
game’s most loyal servants 108 Do train on an empty stomach

98 96

NASL
STRIPS
84
 E
GAM
FUL
UTI
BEa
THE

CROWD SEEMS FLAT TODAY

Southampton handed out Francis Benali face masks to
supporters at their recent home match against Burnley,
in honour of their former defender’s charity efforts. The
47-year-old ran and cycled to all 44 stadia in the Premier
League and Championship in just a fortnight – running
a marathon and cycling 75 miles every single day – to
help raise money for Cancer Research UK. He wrapped
up the 1,000-mile-plus feat by running into St Mary’s
at half-time against the Clarets. Francis, we salute you.
Picture Adam Davy/PA
 UPFROnT
UPFROnT JUST SICK Oktoberfest didn’t go well for Mats Hummels’

> < wife – standing beside a rollercoaster, something dropped

on her shoulder. “I believe someone puked,” she fumed

What Donald Tru s the South American, Fancy taking a spi

could do next p20 t-enticing Arsenal p23 on a Stagmobile?

OnE-On-OnE
help me as a footballer. I filled out and Did Crockenhill really sell you to
got these powerful legs, so when I went Gillingham for a set of shirts and
for a trial with Gillingham I managed to some sheets of corrugated iron?

TOnY CASCARInO
impress them, and I was on my way. Alfie Mitchellmore, via Twitter
It sort of happened, but not quite like
What made you decide to become that. I wasn’t contracted at Crockenhill
a women’s hairdresser, and would – they couldn’t command a fee for me –
your wife trust you to cut her hair? so Gillingham offered some equipment
Jimmy Crosby, Liverpool like cones, balls and tracksuits. I don’t
No, she wouldn’t let me anywhere near know about the corrugated iron, though.
Interview Sam Pilger Photography Leon Csernohlavek her! My mum had seen an advert for an
apprentice at a hairdresser’s in Bromley, Did the Old Den deserve its billing

DID MAn UnITED TRY TO SIGn HIM FOR £2 MILLIOn?

and I’d always been a bit flamboyant. as such an intimidating ground?
I did things on a whim, so I got the job Ian Barrett, Northampton

WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEInG In An ARMED ROBBERY?

and loved it. I worked with a girl called Absolutely. My dad was brought up
Michelle who looked just like Debbie in Elephant and Castle, so I used to

WHO WAS THE HARDEST PLAYER HE EVER FACED?

Harry from Blondie, and she took me watch Millwall growing up and knew
under her wing. She took me out to all what to expect. It was frightening and
these clubs in the West End that I had intimidating. I was lucky to play well
Tony Cascarino has always been a bit When you were working on a building never been to, including several gay during my time there, but I saw some
different. During a life where he has site as a labourer, had you given up clubs. I was resistant at first, but then team-mates wilt under the abuse. Your
experienced an armed robbery, fights hope of becoming a pro footballer? she said I would meet loads of girls only option was to chase everything like
with the police and aborted careers Kyle Wickham, Keston there, so I went and I loved it. When a headless chicken, because at least
as both a builder and a hairdresser, Yes, I had given up all hope, and I didn’t I first got to Gillingham, the manager, then they would think you were trying.
he was a classic football hard man actually play any real football for two Keith Peacock, told me I had to change
who was once asked by one of his years between 17 and 19. Every now what I wore as I was too outrageous How would you describe the feeling
managers to stop wearing mascara. and then, I would get a call to ask if for a footballer. To be honest, I looked when you scored Millwall’s first-ever
On the pitch, his rich and eventful I could play on Sundays, and I would like I was in Spandau Ballet. He banned top-flight goal in a 2-2 draw away
career spanned 20 years and more turn it down as I was so knackered me from wearing mascara, too! I have at Aston Villa in August 1988?
than 600 games, taking him from the from working on a building site all always had a bit of a camp side. At the Lloyd Stephens, London
grime of non-league to the South of week. I’d had trials at QPR, but they hairdressers’ I would shampoo the old That was the third-best moment of my
France. On the international stage, didn’t take me. The two other strikers ladies, do their perms, put in the rollers, career. The first one was scoring for
he doubted that he was qualified to I was trialling with were Clive Allen and do a bit of blow-drying. But after a year, Ireland against England at Lansdowne
Upfront editor Chris Flanagan

play for the Republic of Ireland but Paul Goddard, who became stars. I saw I realised hairdressing wasn’t for me, Road, and the second was scoring my
won 88 caps, playing at the European how good they were and thought to though I still liked working with Michelle penalty against Romania at the 1990
Championship and two World Cups. myself, “Bloody hell, if that’s the level, and going with her to all the weird and World Cup. I have to say it was pretty
Speaking to FFT in a south London I’m buggered.” I went to the building wonderful clubs in London. I actually amazing playing for Millwall in the top
restaurant, Cascarino is entertaining site and forgot all about football, but met Boy George in a club before he flight and scoring their first-ever goal.
and brutally honest as he answers working as a labourer I got bigger and became famous, and it wasn’t until We had a big night out afterwards in
your questions on his unique career. stronger, and eventually that would years later that I realised who he was. a club in Swanley. I got chucked out!

10 February
December2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
 CLUBS
1980-81 Crockenhill
1981-87 Gillingham
1987-90 Millwall
1990-91 Aston Villa
1991-92 Celtic
1992-94 Chelsea
1994-97 Marseille
1997-2000 Nancy
2000 Red Star 93
COUNTRY
1985-99 Rep of Ireland

“I’VE ALWAYS HAD A BIT OF A CAMP

SIDE. AT THE HAIRDRESSERS’ I’D
SHAMPOO THE OLD LADIES,
DO THEIR PERMS AND PUT
IN ALL THE ROLLERS ”
UPFROnT

Why did your partnership with Teddy How do you look back at being Celtic’s
Sheringham work so well at Millwall, record signing, and the intensity of
and, in contrast, how did he fall out playing in Glasgow against Rangers?
so spectacularly with Andy Cole Jake Roberts, via Twitter
when they played so well together? It was a dreadful time in my life, both
Josh Murphy, London personally and professionally. It should
Can you think of a player that has been have been the perfect scenario, an Irish
in so many good striking partnerships? No.9 going to play for Celtic, and I was
Teddy is the benchmark. He has done it going up there to play for my friend and
with me, Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand, idol Liam Brady, who was the manager.
Jurgen Klinsmann, Dwight Yorke and My heart just wasn’t in it, and I didn’t
Andy Cole. Sheringham was the ideal want to leave England. It was just so
player to work with. He appreciated intense up there, as you were always
your strengths, he had a sixth sense, being reminded about the football. The
and he was very clever – he knew just postman was a Celtic fan, and then the
what to do. He electrician would be
would give you a Rangers fan –

HIgHS & LOWS

the weapons to you just couldn’t
thrive. He liked to escape it. I lived
be the boss of the near the Bothwell
partnership, and golf course, but as
I didn’t mind too it was a Rangers
much as he made LOW: 1977 place I was told
me better. Him Has unsuccessful trial with QPR I shouldn’t play
and Andy? Well, HIGH: 1981 there. I mean,
it worked out on Moves from non-league really? I met up
the pitch, but Crockenhill to Gillingham with one of my
sometimes you LOW: 1984 former Millwall
don’t click with Misses great chance to secure team-mates, Terry
people. I was in Gills a shock cup win vs Everton Hurlock, who was
the Caribbean HIGH: 1988 with Rangers, but
playing golf with Wins the Second Division I was told not to quickly that you had no time to think. How close did you come to being sent
Teddy a few years with boyhood club Millwall do that either. He Yes, it was a bit scary, but I was with home by Charlton for having a girl in
ago and Andy LOW: 1992 was my friend. It mates and we had our suspicions who your room at the 1994 World Cup?
was at the next Leaves Celtic after scoring just just wasn’t for me, was behind it. But being charged with David Connolly, Dublin
table in the bar, four goals in 24 league games and I fell out of affray, and knowing it could mean an Very close! But Jack being Jack, he let
but they didn’t HIGH: 1994 love with how the 18-month prison sentence, was a lot me off. I brought a girl up to my room
speak to each Moves to France to enjoy game was seen up scarier. What happened was that one even though it was meant to be secure,
other. They didn’t successful spell with Marseille there. That’s why of my friends was seeing a black girl and no one but the team was allowed
have the time of I chose to leave and he was abused for that by a group on our floor. I managed to get her out
day for each other, after nine months. of men, and then it all kicked off. I got but some alarms went off, and so the
despite sharing so involved, supporting him, and the police next morning Jack got the whole team
much glory; I thought it was quite sad, What was it like to be managed turned up and were grabbing everyone. together and said, “OK, who had the
actually. I suppose I’m a bit biased, but by Glenn Hoddle at Chelsea? I knew I hadn’t done that much, but bird in their room last night?” He was
I don’t think that it was all Teddy’s fault. Rachel Speke, Sutton you never know what might happen. going nuts so I kept quiet at first, but
It was strange, because Glenn would be then I walked over to him and admitted
Is it true Manchester United offered quite patronising. We had fallouts. He What was the secret of Jack it was me. “You stupid big bastard,” he
£2 million to sign you from Millwall? was an amazing player – the best I’ve Charlton’s success, and how did shouts. His face gets redder, and I’m
Dominic Thanet, Altrincham seen in training – but sadly Glenn was he get the best from his teams? thinking I’m in real trouble. I kept saying
It was the week that I scored twice for just all about Glenn, and nothing else. Angus Roche, via Twitter sorry to him and then he dismisses me,
the Republic of Ireland against Northern He finds it very difficult to communicate Simplicity. Everything with Jack was and as I go to walk past him he grips
Ireland in Dublin, and I heard that Alex with players, and just thought he knew A, B, C. Simple, but effective. He saw my arms and says, “Did she have big
Ferguson had made an enquiry about everything about everything. I thought things very quickly. Jack would assess tits?” I laughed and told him that she
me. There was no bid, just an enquiry – that if I talked to him about my time teams and have all his notes on the did, actually. “I love big tits,” he said.
he liked strikers who attacked the ball. working as a hairdresser, he would have back of a cigarette packet. He taught
told me how to do a shampoo and set. me a lot about setting up a team. Look You have said that you felt Ireland
Why did it not work out at Villa after I didn’t dislike him, I just found him to at the Euros this summer – teams were underachieved in the Charlton era
you arrived as their record signing? be a bit shallow. I never believed him. simple, and Jack did that. He would say despite making three tournaments
John Wilmore, New York to you, “If you don’t do what I say, I will – do you really think that’s true?
I thought I did all right for Villa. I started Which was worse: being charged with sub you.” The first time I played for him Gary Walker, via Twitter
badly but played OK during the second assaulting a policeman, or when an for Ireland, I noticed I hadn’t been told Yes, I stand by that, and it’s for one
season, then Ron Atkinson came in and armed gang robbed your card game? who I was picking up from a corner, so simple reason: we had too many
said I could go. I’d signed for Graham Geoff Barnes, via Twitter I asked him. He just said, “A big one.” parties! I jokingly said one day we
Taylor, but he took the England job, so It had to be the assault of a policeman. I asked if he meant the centre-half, and would have won the World Cup if we
I played under Dr Jozef Venglos. I could Our poker game being held up by an he replied, “Big ones pick up big ones, hadn’t drunk so much. OK, it was a bit
have done a bit better, but for me Villa armed gang and us losing our money and little ones pick up little ones.” We tongue-in-cheek, but we were a bloody
wasn’t a failure. If you had said Celtic… was almost funny, as it happened so never conceded a goal from a corner. good side between 1988 and 1994.

12 February
December2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
 UPFROnT

Not many teams liked playing us. I liked

Jack, but maybe he gave us too much
freedom and allowed us to go out too
much. We once played an international
on a Sunday, and had another game on
the following Sunday, and Jack said we
“HE WAS AN AMAZING PLAYER – THE
could either return to England and then BEST I’VE SEEN IN TRAINING – BUT
come back on the Friday, or stay at the
hotel all week and just train Friday. Not
SADLY GLENN WAS ALL ABOUT
a single player went home – we partied GLENN, AND NOTHING ELSE”
all week. I remember our first training
session and Steve Staunton sitting by
the goalposts with his eyes completely
red. There were players on that Friday
begging Jack not to let us go out again. 10 minutes. Finally he arrives and gets and doesn’t say a single word to me. How was it playing for Marseille’s
on the coach. “Where the f**k have you I played with him for 10 years and he infamous president Bernard Tapie?
What was your reaction when your been?” Jack shouts. “I didn’t ask you to doesn’t speak to me – he just stares. Gareth Pointiss, London
mum said you might not be Irish? wait, did I?” replies Roy before walking When people were clapping me, he He was a former bodyguard, so he had
Julie McArthur, Cork past him and taking his seat. No one just sits there, but that’s Roy. He didn’t no trouble intimidating people. Once, at
It didn’t quite happen like that. I was in could believe it. I once told him: “Roy, speak to me at all, and when it ended half-time against Olympiacos, he came
Liechtenstein in 1996 and we were told I admire your honesty, but it will get he left. I didn’t take it personally, as storming into the dressing room, took
we needed documents to prove that we you into a lot of trouble.” Roy was he would be like that with everyone. off his coat and wanted to have a fight
could get an Irish passport. The reason fearless, and that was dangerous. with me, as he had seen me talking to
was that most of the British-born players Who was the hardest player you an English journalist and thought I had
were still playing under British passports Do you think that Roy Keane can came up against in your career? been bribed as I missed two chances.
back then. I went down to the passport still be a success in management? Adam Crouch, via Twitter We won 2-1. The next day, he drives to
office in London and discovered that Steve Chartwell, via Facebook Graham Roberts at Tottenham. He was training and says, “You have big balls.”
my mum’s Irish parents were not her The one thing that Roy has lacked is the built like a pit bull and nailed me once
parents after all. She was adopted. She ability to hold back what he really at Stamford Bridge. A funny one Do you think dyeing your hair really
maybe had an idea, but that confirmed thinks. Sometimes as a manager I always struggled against was helped to prolong your career?
it. At first I thought, ‘How can I play for you have to back down. From Arsenal’s Andy Linighan. I hardly Stephanie Taylor, Bournemouth
Ireland?’ However, under adoption laws, people I know at ever got a kick playing against him. It helps when you are sitting opposite
that still qualified me to play for them. Man United, a chairman and they think you are
My mum’s name was Theresa O’Malley, even Alex How much of a culture younger than you are, so maybe!
and she was adopted by an Irish family. Ferguson backed shock was it leaving
I feel 100 per cent Irish and always will. down against Roy during their Chelsea to sign for You ended your international career
time there. He let Roy have his Marseille (left)? with a bang. What do you remember
Do you remember when you first met way sometimes. If Roy wants Eddie Whiley, Wimbledon about those final minutes against
Roy Keane, and how did you get on to be a manager, he can’t be It was a massive culture Turkey in the Euro 2000 play-off?
with him while playing for Ireland? so brutally honest. He might shock, but it was the best Andy Weeks, via Twitter
Hannah, Isle of Man have to pretend that he likes thing that I ever did in club It was a really scrappy two-game affair.
You could never be close with Roy. He someone when he doesn’t. football. There were 50,000 The defender was spitting at me, and
was a one-off. One of the first times Overall, I quite liked Roy. I was fans at the first game and I promised myself that if we lost, I’d do
I met him was during Ireland’s US tour inducted into the Ireland hall it just felt amazing. I learned something. The final whistle went and
in 1991, when he was making his debut. of fame about three months the lessons about being a real when he ran past me I flicked his heel,
The morning after the game the whole ago and so was over there pro late on in my career, but and he turned around and punched me
squad was sitting on the coach, but Roy for a dinner. Two seats it was worth it. I trained harder in the face. Within seconds everyone is
was nowhere to be seen. Jack Charlton away from me at my than ever and was 10 pounds involved, it was mayhem. I was sent off
was absolutely fuming at this young table is Roy, who lighter than I ever was playing in and got a four-match ban, so if I come
player. We were all waiting for about arrives, sits down England, and enjoyed the benefits. out of retirement, I’m still suspended.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 13

UPFROnT
UPFROnT TON UP Russia planned a surprise half-time ceremony
after Vasili Berezutski hit 100 caps – but cancelled it
> < when he scored an own goal before the interval

AROUnD 5 9
“WE NEED RONALDO’S SPERM!” RUN, ENNER, RUN!
Norway Bodo Ecuador Quito

While Colo-Colo went for witchcraft Nothing said South American football
to aid their ailing team, the manager quite like the bizarre scenes surrounding

THE WORLD
of Norwegian side Nordstranda had Enner Valencia’s appearance in Ecuador’s
an entirely different idea. World Cup qualifier against Chile.
Ole Vidar Toftesund took to the Police wanted to have a word with
internet to brand many of his players the forward following a dispute over
“big and fat” before unveiling his plan child maintenance. So they turned up
– making their girlfriends pregnant on matchday, and sensed their chance

In 12 STORIES 6
by borrowing sperm from the world’s when he was subbed. The 26-year-old,
greatest players, including Ronaldo, though, was being carried away on
Zlatan and “Paul Gazza”. This, he said, a medical buggy, so police gave chase
would make Nordstranda the best – in the stadium, during the match.
team on the planet in 20 years’ time. Valencia says he’s done nowt wrong.

10
WHERE’S PYTHAGORAS WHAT ARE YOU UP TO, LADS?
WHEN YOU NEED HIM? Wales Cardiff
Argentina Buenos Aires
Sour times in Chile, some fishy-sounding business Either Wales got their team photo badly
Fifth-division club Liniers had been wrong ahead of their match against
at Derby and an unusual request for willing runners playing happily on the pitch at their Georgia, or they’re up to something.
in Norway – so just another run-of-the-mill month... Juan Antonio Arias ground for 30 It’s not difficult, lads – six of you
years, until league officials were stand at the back, five kneel in front –
directed towards Google Maps. but Wales went for some sort of weird
An aerial image of the stadium 3-8 formation instead. Then a series of
revealed one half was shorter than other weird Wales team squad photos

1 3
SUPERSTITIOUS BUSHES HORSE AT A FUNERAL the other, and why use 90-degree emerged, stretching back to 2002. Keep
CONFUSE MENTALIST Bulgaria Sofia angles when crazy ones are fun? an eye out when they play Serbia on
Chile Santiago The Argentinian FA have threatened November 12, that’s all we’re saying.
CSKA Sofia supporters may be furious the ground with closure if it isn’t fixed

11
Things haven’t been going so well on after their club was merged with Litex up by December 15. Spoilsports. ARSHAVIN SHAVING
the field for Colo-Colo, but the Chilean Lovech, but they’re certainly getting Kazakhstan Almaty

7
giants had a solution: witchcraft. no sympathy from their arch rivals. KLOPP REVOLUTIONISES BOWLS
Club officials decided to plant eight Levski Sofia fans staged a mock England Liverpool Remember Andrey Arshavin? So he’s
‘superstitious bushes’ and then smear funeral for CSKA featuring a priest playing in Kazakhstan now for Kairat
eight litres of vinegar over the dressing blessing a coffin, and a march through What to do if you’re a Premier League in Almaty, and he’s proving Kazakh
room. One problem: Colo-Colo celebrity the capital’s streets behind a pretend manager and you don’t have a game for journalists wrong everywhere.
fan Yolanda Sultana, who describes cortege. A man wearing a horse’s head two weeks? Jurgen Klopp headed down Blogger Peter Volikova said he would
herself on her Twitter account as an even turned up – maybe they’ve seen to a local park for a spot of crown green shave his head if the 35-year-old former
astrologer and “mentalist”, intervened The Godfather a few too many times. bowls, as part of his ‘sports bucket list’. Arsenal man scored seven goals for
to tell them they were doing it all wrong. “We killed a worm,” Klopp revealed, Kairat; Arshavin did so and then got to

4
“They needed garlic, too,” she said. And MACKEREL EATS MAN before starting a celebratory pile-on cut Volikova’s hair himself. It was never
maybe some good footballers as well? England Derby and breaking his glasses again. OK, like this with Henry Winter in England.
that last bit didn’t actually happen.

2 12
PIGS ON THE PITCH If you weren’t at Derby’s game with GRAN, THE WORLD CUP’S

8
England Charlton Blackburn recently, you may have COMEDIANS AMBUSH CARLO STILL TWO YEARS OFF…
missed out on the greatest display Germany Munich Russia Samara
Pigs stopped play at The Valley, where of half-time fun in football history.
Charlton Athletic’s match at home to The Championship fixture was livened Odd goings-on at Bayern Munich’s Everyone loves a World Cup song. The
Coventry was halted for five minutes right up when a giant mackerel mascot Saebener Strasse training ground, Buranovskiye Babushki finished second
when fans hurled 3,000 of the mini took to the field and attacked a man where boss Carlo Ancelotti looked at Eurovision in 2012 and now they
porcine creatures onto the pitch. purporting to be one of Derby’s coaching taken aback after being given a kiss have been having a kickabout at Krylia
Supporters of the two League One staff (trade secret: it was probably an on the chops by a couple of Italians. Sovetov Samara’s ground while filming
clubs united in a protest against their actor). Things got weirder when the TV celebrities Pio and Amedeo were the video for Football 2018 (Ole, Ola).
respective owners. “It was different,” mackerel swallowed the man, before handed licence to run amok among It may seem a bit odd releasing
admitted Charlton boss Russell Slade, spitting him out leaving him wearing the Bayern squad, bowing down before a World Cup song two years before
whose side won 3-0 – well, pigs did fly… only his underwear. Sensational stuff. Manuel Neuer before cajoling Arjen the actual tournament itself, but the
Robben into shouting “Forza Foggia”, grannies aren’t getting any younger

SIX OF THE BEST FIXTURES

in honour of the football team they so they thought they’d better get
support. What are they like, eh? it out there early. Just in case.

i i i
Arsenal vs Tottenham November 6 Brazil vs Argentina November 10 England vs Scotland November 11
North London rivals go head-to-head: will Spurs South American grudge match, as Argentina bid Last time Scotland visited Wembley, England’s
dominate and fail to secure victory again? to save flagging World Cup qualifying campaign winning goal was scored by, er, Rickie Lambert

14 February
December2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
 UPFROnT
2000
JUST A BOY Metz’s Vincent Thill has become
the first player born in the 21st century to
play in one of Europe’s five major leagues

01 02

03

04

05 06

09

07 08

10 11 12

i i i
Dortmund vs Bayern November 19 Milan vs Inter November 20 Barcelona vs Real Madrid December 3
The Bundesliga’s biggest battle as bullish BVB The Derby della Madonnina at the San Siro, as Zidane won his first Clasico as Real Madrid boss –
take on Bavaria’s best at Signal Iduna Park two Italian giants bid to return to former glories now he’s aiming for another Camp Nou victory

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 15

 BUM DEAL Strange goings-on in football: Germany’s Mario
Gomez was sidelined by a ‘hardened buttock’, while Gijon’s
UPFROnT
Douglas injured his bum sleeping awkwardly on a team bus

THE PROGRAMME
OF THE YEAR
AWARD GOES TO...
Wolverhampton Wanderers surely already have the
end-of-season honour sewn up – and this wolf will
fight any man, tractor or bee who says otherwise

W
olves decided to have
a bit of a think over
the summer, and
came up with an idea.
Why keep on putting the usual generic
shot of a player on the front cover of
the match programme, when you can
have a massive wolf staring down at
the opposition instead?
It’s bad news for Danny Batth, Dominic
Iorfa and David Edwards – their mugs
will not be gracing the front of the club’s
matchday magazine this season, as is
the traditional style. But even they will
surely agree that what Wolves came up
with looks pretty good.
The Championship club have ditched
the standard player pictures in favour
of specially commissioned illustrations.
“ASTON VILLA MAY BE THE
They don’t even feature football, instead
focusing on their own Wolves nickname weeks before each game. With clubs
VILLANS, BUT THEIR BADGE
as well as iconography associated with who don’t have an obvious icon, I tend FEATURES A LION – I LIKE THE
the opposition that day. to phone people at the club to pick their
For their opening home league fixture, brains. We’re keen for both clubs to be IDEA OF A WOLF VERSUS A LION”
the wolf squared up to a Reading royal represented equally, and not have one
that was equipped with a sword and overpowering the other. For example,
a shield. That was followed by a duel if we’d had the wolf eating the canary
with an Ipswich Town tractor, a battle on our Norwich programme, and then
with a Burton Albion brewer and then ended up losing 5-0, that would come
a head-to-head with a Barnsley tyke. back at us on social media.
It then faced off with a swarm of bees “We want the visiting supporters to
from Brentford and an opera of Norwich appreciate what we’re doing, too, and
canaries (that’s the collective noun for the feedback we’ve been getting from
canaries – who knew?). them as well as our fans, journalists
“I thought it’d be good to have these and officials from other clubs has all
match-specific illustrations done for been overwhelmingly good.”
every game,” explains Josh Power, the The covers are planned for league
West Midlands club’s press and social games only, and Josh already has his
media officer. “We thought they would eye on one January fixture.
just be for our social media channels, “Aston Villa’s nickname may be the
Words James Maw

but then we decided they’d make great Villans, but their badge features a lion,”
programme covers. he says. “I like the idea of the wolf facing
“We’ll have a conversation with the the lion – and it’s a big local derby, too,
illustrator, Alexander Wells, several so it should be a great one.”

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 17

 UPFROnT
UPFROnT
> <

GAMES
THAT
CHAnGED
MY LIFE Steaua Bucharest 1
Dynamo Kiev 0

GHEORGHE
February 24, 1987 European Super Cup

“The game that helped me to make my

name in Europe. I was 22 and scored the
winner in my first game for Steaua after

HAGI
arriving from Sportul Studentesc. Steaua
had just won the European Cup so it was
a dream come true to make my debut
with such an important performance.
After the goal I was included on a list of
the three most promising young players
in Europe. People now knew who I was.”

Brazil 1 Rest of the World 2

October 31, 1990 Exhibition game

“This was Pele’s testimonial at the San

Siro, when he was 50. I was invited to
play for the Rest of the World – we won
a free-kick and there were a lot of great
players stood over to the ball, but I had
the chance to shoot and the Romanian
guy scored! I love that goal – it’s still
one of the top memories in my career.”

Real Madrid 5 Osasuna 2

January 12, 1992 La Liga

“I put in a very good performance and

scored a screamer from the middle of
the pitch. Scoring from halfway was
something I also managed to do for
Barcelona and Galatasaray! Against
Osasuna I scored another goal, but it
wasn’t as spectacular, unfortunately.”

Romania 3 Colombia 1
June 18, 1994 World Cup

“I was part of a fantastic Romanian

team, and I had a really good game –
I scored a goal from near the touchline

“I WAS PART OF A FANTASTIC TEAM AT THE 1994 WORLD CUP.

Words Emanuel Rosu

and helped my colleagues to score two

more. I dreamed of that as a No.10. If
THE COLOMBIA GAME MADE ME KNOWN AROUND THE WORLD” the Super Cup win meant I was known
around Europe, that Colombia game
made me known around the world.”

18 February
December2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
 STAYING PUT A strange time for Jackie McNamara
at York City: he resigned as manager but bizarrely
UPFROnT
stayed on as caretaker, before being appointed CEO

EL XOLO
CAGLIARI’S
AMAZInG
COMEBACK
KInGS
When Cagliari duo
Fabio Pisacane and
MAYOR
No cuddly mascots at Tijuana –
theirs could rip your throat out
BIG SAM’S
MOnTH In MUSIC
Federico Melchiorri
stepped on to the

K
field for a Serie A nown as Los Xolos, in honour of the frankly “I like superheroes like Batman and Iron Man so I was
match recently, terrifying hairless dog that’s native to the inspired by them. I also tried to get some inspiration Don’t Go There
it signalled the region, Club Tijuana made the only natural from the way historical figures moved.” Giggs
completion of two choice when they were creating a mascot El Xolo Mayor has made a real name for himself
remarkable tales. shortly after their birth back in 2007. – even getting the chance to lift the trophy when
Thirty-year-old The Mexican top-flight side were not interested in Tijuana won the Apertura title in 2012. The kids have The Set-Up
defender Pisacane anything cute or cuddly; instead they came up with even warmed to him, too, rather than fleeing in terror
was struck down El Xolo Mayor, a gigantic two-metre-tall canine that as you would probably expect. “People really love it,
Nas
by Guillain-Barre can be described only as a badass. especially the children,” Ricardo adds. “Not long ago,
syndrome during “It’s a strong mascot with huge muscles, so I had someone told me that the club had three emblems:
his teenage years, to find similar role models,” says Ricardo, who has its colours, its crest and El Xolo Mayor.” Too Good to
unable to move donned the costume from day one. You’d have to be barking to disagree. Be True
a muscle and told Motorhead
hopes of becoming
a footballer were all
but over following The Greedy Ugly
a period in a coma. People
Striker Melchiorri,
29, played in Serie A
Hefner
for Siena aged 19,
but saw his career
come to a halt when
Too Much Wine
Cagliari words Emanuele Giulianelli; Mascot words Martin Langer; Month in music words Si Hawkins

he had to undergo The Fratellis

brain surgery, after
a tumour was found.
But both players Indiscreet
have recovered and Frank Sinatra
worked their way up
through the leagues
until finally getting to
Dirty Cash
play in Serie A this
(Money Talks)
season for Cagliari.
Pisacane wept as he Stevie V
spoke on TV after
his top-flight debut
in September, while He’ll Have to Go
Melchiorri celebrated Jim Reeves
his appearance by
finding the net.
“We are extremely Severance

SHALL WE
proud of these two BEAUTIFUL SOUTH AT THE VILLA
Dead Can Dance
guys,” a spokesman ASTON VILLA SUPPORTERS
for Cagliari tells FFT.
And no wonder. “WE’VE BEEN TO ROTTERDAM

SInG A SOnG
If I Had a
AND EVERYWHERE, LIVERPOOL Million Dollars
AND ROME, BUT NOW Barenaked Ladies
WE’RE PLAYING

FOR YOU?
ROTHERHAM, Permanent
ROTHERHAM AT HOME, Vacation
ROTHERHAM AT HOME.” Aerosmith

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 19

 UPFROnT
UPFROnT SLIGHT STEP DOWN Javier Saviola once played for Barça
and Argentina – now he’s in the second worst league in
> < Europe, becoming assistant at Andorran side FC Ordino

WHAT nOW FOR TRUMP?

As the prospect of presidential election defeat lo

Crewe Alexandra owner

ative career paths for The Donald

have been achieved with Katie Hopkins,

The Whitby Morrison Ice Cream Van Joey Essex or a pot plant at the helm
Stand at Gresty Road has never seen – Trump is fired by the FA after being
anything like it. Flanked by his children caught attempting to sell Wembley
Tiffany, Donald Junior, Thunce, Grebe, to Metallica. He bounces back, finding
Prancer and Cupid, wife Melania and employment in the wacky world of
her $5 million Miniature Schnauzer, talk radio – where ill-informed
Donald approaches a lectern that’s boneheads masquerading as
emblazoned with the slogan “MAKE “characters” roam free, and
EAST CHESHIRE – INCLUDING THE loudly guffing a reactionary,
NANTWICH AREA – REASONABLE AT half-chewed bolus of horses**t
FOOTBALL AGAIN” and addresses is in the job description. Alas, after
a grumpy-looking journalist from the he disagrees with Alan Brazil about
Staffordshire Sentinel. “I’m twice as rich whether James Milner is a workable
as Roman Abramovich, you know – he’s left-back, the Scot insults The Trump’s
a dead-badger-bearded basket case,” precious hairdo – “a thatch of Wotsits,
he fibs. “We, The Railwaymen, will a blow-dried vomit halo” – and both
win the Champions League this are sacked after the ensuing grapple.
year – that is my solemn
pledge,” he adds, before FIFA social media executive
being informed by one With a personal rating now even lower
of his minions that The than Josie Cunningham, ISIS hate cleric
Alex aren’t in the top Anjem Choudary, Robbie Savage and
flight. He quickly sells the Foxtons estate agency combined,
up for a massive loss. The Don is forced into Swiss exile and
naturally gravitates towards FIFA HQ –
England manager where you don’t have to be a white,
“That dope Southgate – septuagenarian, money-worshipping
as dumb as rocks,” the gob-on-legs to work here, but it sure
Trumper barks at FA chief helps. Put in charge of the Twitter feed,
executive Martin Glenn as they he labels Asian Football Confederation
shovel saffron-coated truffles, chief Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa a “Game
baby panda steaks and bluefin of Thrones-sounding goofball”, as the
Otoro Sashimi into their gobs social dirty bomb sends a custard pie
at the FA canteen. “A sad-sack of mixed metaphors all over his face.
rubberface of a loser and a feeble His last bridge now appears burned.
marionette. BAD judgement on penalty
kicks, a boring atheist and A LOSER. It’s Partick Thistle mascot
Trump time.” The tycoon is immediately Finally, rightfully, Donald is a penniless
installed as Three Lions head honcho on wretch – a smouldering, bankrupt relic
a £3 billion-a-game contract, and after reduced to the kind of desperation that
a stirring speech covering St George he once loved to mock. The fact that he
(“great guy, strong, a leader, a slayer”), still resembles an orangutan wired to
his assistant Glenn Hoddle (“a prophet”) a Van de Graaff generator does offer
and Big Sam (“not that big”), he drops one final career option, though: he is
Theo Walcott, selects Marcus Rashford just perfect for mascot work. After first
and delivers a 7-0 spanking of Lithuania. being knocked back by Bournemouth
as a dislikable “Cherry Bear”, Trump
Words Nick Moore

Shock jock is eventually embraced by Scottish

After a successful stint as England surrealists Partick Thistle as a chum
boss – securing 2018 World Cup for scary club ambassador Kingsley.
qualification, a feat that could also The Trump sees out his
days being repeatedly
“MY SOLEMN PLEDGE IS kicked up the backside
by naughty Glasgow
THAT CREWE WILL WIN schoolkids in hospital

THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE” wards and shopping

precincts. Karma.

20 Fe
December 2016 FourFourTwo.com
 WEIRD WIKI PICS Table for one, Des? Instead
of striding out to play for England, Des Walker
UPFROnT
is pictured looking lonesome at a restaurant

IT’S THE FOOTBALL GRID Pandas, dentists and Paul Scholes baffled by cheese:
the very best fly-on-the-wall football documentaries

THOMAS
VS THOMAS
VS THOMAS
Hartlepool United’s
goal of the month
award for September
was as inevitable
as a North Korean
election result. After
only winger Nathan ALBION IN AN IMPOSSIBLE OUT OF BIG RON CLUB FOR
Title
Thomas found the THE ORIENT JOB THEIR LEAGUE MANAGER A FIVER
net during Pools’
five games, it was
simply a matter of
Leyton Orient
deciding which of China invites Graham Taylor Gary Neville Peterborough
are in chaos,
his hits was the best. England on attempts to lead & Co. badger chairman Barry
and invite the
“I hadn’t realised What was tour in 1978; England to 1994 reluctant Salford Fry brings in Ron
cameras in.
that nobody else it about? FA send West World Cup. It up towards the Atkinson as
What could
had scored until our Brom instead doesn’t go well Football League “troubleshooter”
go wrong?
media guy put out
the nominations,” A circus visit Taylor helps to Moaning king Manager John
Thomas admits to where the smuggle a TV Striker/model Sean St Ledger Sitton’s epic
FFT. Bizarrely, the Weirdest squad watch crew into the Gareth Seddon making Mario dressing-room
22-year-old doesn’t moment a panda Holland match opens up his Balotelli look rants: some
entirely agree with playing in England cheese shop pretty low magnificent,
the goal that won. a trumpet tracksuits maintenance sweary fury
“The winner, where
I whipped the ball Seconds into the Swearing
into the far corner at Taylor’s tirade at A dressing-room
first game of the aplenty from
Yeovil, was decent,” fourth official/ brawl, as well as Somehow,
friendship tour, co-boss Anthony
he says. “But the first, Any renowned striker Danny Sitton’s rage
Derek Statham Johnson, not
a counter-attacking aggro? superdentist Crow telling his never results
is poleaxed by to be confused
goal against Yeovil, Markus boss: “Drop me, in a fracas
a chest-high with Antony and
was harder to score. Merk you pr**k”
tackle. Naughty the Johnsons
I’d vote for that one.”
He reckons he has Badly, but
got October’s award Four wins that
Two promotions Darragh Penniless Orient
sewn up, as well. How do the included a 6-0
and an FA Cup MacAnthony finish bottom of
“I chipped the keeper team do? thrashing of Miserable failure
victory over watches on TV the third tier
against Grimsby – it Kwantung
Notts County and soon buys
was better than any Province
the club
of the goals I got in
September,” he says. He resigns – Phil Power is Irked by Ron Sitton and joint
Everyone else has Does the
possibly the only dismissed early and upset when manager Chris
Thomas words Nick Moore; Grid words Chris Flanagan

to up their game… manager No, Big Ron’s

manager to do in the series, Fry picks the Turner go when
end up career is just
so after a 7-1 replaced by team, Steve Barry Hearn
losing getting started
win (against Johnson and Bleasdale quits arrives. Sitton is
his job?
San Marino) Bernard Morley before a match now a cab driver

John Trewick on “What sort “A chee Ron Atkinson

the Great Wall: of thing is shop?! s a legend in Sitton: “You can
“Once you’ve happening – Paul the world of pair up if you
Best seen one wall, here?” – Taylor Scholes goes all football,” says like... and you
quote you’ve loses the squeaky-voiced narrator Jeff can bring your
seen ability to form as he hears Stelling. Not so f**king dinner”
them all” basic sentences about Seddon much, now...

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 21

 UPFROnT

The former Spurs and QPR manager talks sandwiches, wizards and ‘mating off’ Prince Harry

Hi Harry… Have you ever needed the toilet

Hello mate! Can you hang on a second really badly during a match but
or two? I’m in a shop at the moment. just had to soldier through?
Of course. That hasn’t happened once. I always
[Minutes later] Sorry, sorry. I was over at, get that admin done before kick-off.
what do they call it… bloody hell… B&Q. Out of everyone you have met in
We had terrible weather down on the football, who is the best swearer?
south coast yesterday, and my patio Dave Bassett. God, he liked a good old
furniture blew away. All over the garden. Lord Mayor. He could eff and blind.
You’ve been buying new furniture? Let’s play a game of word association
No – something to tie it down with. The about some of the other great Harrys
wife sent me out. Now I’ve got to sort around today: Harry Styles from 1D.
out strapping down all this bloody stuff. Good music. Likes football. I’m a fan.
Do you enjoy shopping, generally? Harry Potter.
I hate shopping. I don’t go shopping Never seen it. I know it’s a film, but
ever, ever, ever. Apart from just then. that’s all I know. I genuinely don’t
Good attitude. You’ve just written know what Harry Potter is, or was.
a book called It Shouldn’t Happen to Prince Harry.
a Manager. If there was one thing Can I tell you a story?
you could go back in time and make Please do.
not happen, what would it be? I was in a physio’s in Soho once, and
I would probably just try to argue this lad wearing a baseball cap was
less with chairmen. I can’t suffer stretching. He said hello and I replied,
people talking complete cobblers “All right, mate.” Later on, I realised
about football, that’s the problem. that it was Prince Harry and I’d ‘mated’
I could be a bit... confrontational. him off. I felt terrible. We ended up
Have you ever got so furious with having a chat. He’s a fantastic boy.
a player that you’ve scared yourself? Cristiano Ronaldo has released an
You can get pretty angry sometimes. aftershave called Legacy. What
The worst was during a game against would a fragrance by Harry
Southampton, with Don Hutchison. He Redknapp be known as?
had let a runner go and it could have Old Spice! I do buy aftershave,
cost us the game. I booted a plate of and I like to stick on a bit of
sandwiches at him. He had egg and George Armani [sic], but I ain’t
little bits of cress hanging off his face. got a clue if it smells any good,
Why is it seen as a terrible sin for as I’ve lost my sense of smell.
a manager to use an umbrella? Finally, as a Redknapp – have
Steve McClaren spoiled that one, you ever actually gone red
didn’t he? It was raining heavily, after having a nap in the sun?
so it was a sensible move, but he Absolutely, yes. My manager at
got slaughtered for it. No manager Seattle told us not to sunbathe
will use an umbrella ever again. during an away game in Hawaii,
Do you ever use an umbrella but I did. I missed a few patches
in regular life, or do you see it with my suncream and I ended
more as a sign of weakness? up with hand-shaped sunburn
I never use one. I prefer to just all over my chest. It was agony.
get wet. I see it as a hassle. Eek! Cheers, Harry. And good
luck with the furniture.
I’m going to need it!
E “I MISSED A FEW PATCHES AND Harry Redknapp’s new book, ‘It
ENDED UP WITH HAND-SHAPED Shouldn’t Happen to a Manager’

SUNBURN ALL OVER MY CHEST” – published by Ebury Press –

is on sale from November 3
 QUOTE OF THE MONTH Hull’s Mike Phelan had to wait for
the manager’s car park spot: “There’s a builder’s van in it.
UPFROnT
He’s digging a trench – if I argue with him I could be in it”

FAn REQUIRED
VS READInG
PLAYER

DUnDEE UTD

The Bottom Corner

Nige Tassell
Scott Innes (Yellow Jersey, £14.99)
Lorry driver, 45 OOOOO
Lewis Toshney
Defender, 24 In an era when the
focus has increasingly

RAnDOM CLUB PROFILE

Q: Who scored the club’s turned towards the
second and decisive global game, it’s easy
goal against Barça at to forget that there
the Camp Nou in 1987? are still remarkable

ARSENAL
SI: Iain Ferguson! What tales to be told in
a match that was!  non-league. The key
LT: I don’t have a clue!  is knowing where
to look – and Nige
1-0 Fan Tassell does all the

DE SARANDI
groundwork expertly,
Q: Who is the club’s spending an entire
all-time record season away from
appearance maker? the Premier League.
SI: It’s Dave Narey.  The author talks to
LT: Paul Sturrock or Dave Who’s the last Arsenal to win a league title? It’s not Arsene a host of fascinating
Narey... I’ll go Narey.  interviewees such as
Wenger’s lot, it’s this riot-enticing mob from South America the manager of the

Fan vs Player interviews Richard Edwards; Arsenal words Rhese Marshall; Review Chris Flanagan
2-1 Fan worst team in the

T
aking note of the great traditions set responded by squaring up to the match officials, and FA Cup (19 defeats in
Q: Who scored an down by their north London namesakes, then to the armed police who’d attempted to calm the a row), the Philippines
injury-time equaliser Argentinian outfit Arsenal de Sarandi situation – prompting said police to threaten them with international playing
at home to Dundee delivered pretty much exactly what was guns. The players calmed down rather swiftly after that. at Ascot as well as
in March 2016? expected of them last season. They finished fourth. Arsenal had earned their qualification for the Copa the Gibraltar striker
SI: I’m pretty sure that Based on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Arsenal Futbol Libertadores that year after winning the Argentine with Shaw Lane
it was Billy Mckay.  Club are brilliantly nicknamed ‘El Arse’ but have no Clausura title 12 months earlier, a full eight years after Aquaforce. Other
LT: I should definitely connection with Arsene Wenger’s Gunners – they play Wenger & Co’s last league title in England. Perhaps it highlights include
know this one. I think in blue and their name stems from the fact that they is no wonder that they are putting the Gunners in the his conversations
it was Billy Mckay?  were founded in an area that housed a military arsenal. shade – the pundits are always complaining that the with Tranmere’s
Weaponry doesn’t scare them, then, which is just as London side lack fighting spirit and ex-FA chief, Mark
3-2 Fan well, as it was pointed squarely at them during an aggression. Kicking off with riot Palios, South Shields
infamous Copa Libertadores clash with Ronaldinho’s police probably wasn’t quite veteran Julio Arca
Q: In which year did Atletico Mineiro in 2013. Ronnie scored twice; Arsenal what they had in mind, though. and the Sutton man
the Tangerines last who once had to
win the Scottish title? rush away from his
SI: It was definitely job building an Asda
1983. Happy days. 
“THE PLAYERS SQUARED UP TO
as he’d been asked
LT: 1982? 1983? Er, to appear on Wogan.
I’ll go for 1983. 
ARMED POLICE, WHO PROCEEDED
Well written with
a superb turn of
4-3
Fan wins TO THREATEN THEM WITH GUNS” phrase, this is an
engaging read.

o.com December 2016 23

 UPFROnT
UPFROnT O 20
O 37
DEBUT NUMBER 37 Journeyman striker Jefferson
Louis completed the 37th move of a 20-year career
> < when he signed for Oxford City having left Staines

OnE QUESTIOn QUIZ

nOW
WHICH SEaSOn? We’ve chosen 20 of the best (and
worst) football strips. But can you
remember when they were worn?

10) 1986 (Argentina); 11) 1997-98 (Juventus); 12) 1994 (USA); 13) 1995-97 (England); 14) 2011-12 (Chelsea); 15) 1952-55 (Blackpool); 16) 1994-96 (Rangers); 17) 2006-07 (Celtic); 18) 1974-77 (Barcelona); 19) 2012-13 (Spurs); 20) 1978-81 (Coventry)
THAT’S

Answers 1) 1989-90 (Milan); 2) 2014-15 (Cultural Leonesa); 3) 1995-97 (Ajax); 4) 1995-96 (Manchester United); 5) 1992-94 (Norwich City); 6) 1888-1900 (Preston North End); 7) 1991-93 (Arsenal); 8) 1999-2001 (Real Madrid); 9) 2007-08 (Liverpool);
1 2 3 4
A DEBUT
Goalkeeper Deren
Ibrahim didn’t have
long to savour the
moment when he
took to the field for
his Gibraltar debut 5 6 7 8
against Belgium.
The Sidcup-born
25-year-old plays
his club football in
the National League
South with Dartford,
so was delighted to
be given the nod
between the sticks
ahead of the more
experienced Jordan
Perez and Jamie
9 10 11 12
Robba. That delight
was short-lived,
though – after
Christian Benteke
surged through the
defence and lofted
the ball over him to
put Belgium 1-0 up
after exactly 8.1
seconds, the fastest
goal ever scored 13 14 15 16
in a competitive
international. Oops.
“It all happened
so quickly,” Ibrahim
tells FFT. “Still, at
least I can always
say my international
debut was a record
breaker! Regardless
of that goal, it was
a massive honour to 17 18 19 20
represent my country
Words Emanuele Giulianelli

and a moment that

I will cherish for the
rest of my life.”
Here’s hoping that
he can hold out for
at least 10 seconds
if there’s a next time.

24 February
December2016
2016FourFou
FourFourTwo.com
UPFROnT

160
BRAZIL
BEWARE,
SEnEGAL
ARE COMInG
FOR YOU...
The count’s in – the Premier
League’s squad nationalities
don’t make good reading if
your name’s Nigel Farage

EnGLAnD
SPAIn
FRAnCE
BELGIUM, IRELAnD 36
SCOTLAnD
ARGEnTInA, nETHERLAnDS
26
WALES 20 4 Algeria, Australia, Ghana,
Poland, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland

GERMAnY 17 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt,

BRAZIL 16 Jamaica, South Korea, USA

13 2 Cameroon, Chile, Greece,

nIGERIA, SEnEGAL Democratic Republic of

the Congo, Iceland, Japan,

AUSTRIA, nORTHERn IRELAnD 12 Morocco, Norway, Romania

11 1 Armenia, Canada, Costa Rica,

ITALY, IVORY COAST

Croatia, Curacao, Gabon, Mali,
8 Gambia, Czech Republic, Libya,
7 Estonia, South Africa, Slovakia,

DEnMARK, SERBIA, URUGUAY 6 Tunisia, Kenya, New Zealand,

5 Turkey, Venezuela, Equatorial
Guinea

26 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 UPFROnT

KAnE THE
MALE MUSE SCOUTING REPORT
Harry Kane might
Youri Tielemans
CLUB Anderlecht
have slipped off the
POSITION Central midfield
top of the Premier
League goal charts,
but soon he could
be shooting to the VALUE
top of the music
charts instead.
OK, that might be
TECHNICAL MENTAL PHYSICAL
ambitious, but the £12.6m
Shetlands-based
Big Time Quell, who
describe themselves
as a comedy-rock- “He astonished me with Closely guided by a team Having emerged on the
jazz-folk-pop-synth- FOOT his splendid technique of psychologists since the scene as a lean teenager
reggae band, have and the way he always age of five at Anderlecht’s who mainly relied on his
been getting local seems to make the right youth academy, Tielemans technique, Tielemans has
airtime after penning decisions,” said Roberto has been nurtured to arrive spent a lot of time in the
a song dedicated to R Martinez when he added early at the highest level. gym and has grown into
the Spurs striker. Back the teenager to Belgium’s Making his debut at 16 – a muscular powerhouse –
of the Net includes senior squad. Tielemans he is still the youngest always ready to go the
such lyrics as “he’s excels at recovering the Belgian to play in the extra mile and never
the man of the game, HEIGHT ball from opponents and Champions League – he avoiding physical battles
no two goals are the swiftly moving through soon proved to be very on the pitch. He’s not shy
same” and “the odds the gears to set up an mature and emotionally of making a potent tackle
are stacked, you’re attack. Regarded as the balanced. He has since and regularly wins aerial
playing to win, you 1.76m hottest Belgian prospect played more than 140 duels with much larger
have got the ball, in years, his technique games for Anderlecht and adversaries. His stamina
now pass it to him”. allows him to direct the twice won the award for allows him to cover every
Vocalist and Spurs pace of the game, playing Belgium’s young player blade of grass, recovering
supporter Jamie one-touch and launching of the year, and is ready possession in front of his
Hatch says: “We NATION quick counter-attacks to take responsibility on back four and penetrating
really wanted to do or calmly keeping the ball the pitch among players the opposition’s defence
a tongue-in-cheek under pressure. Strong almost twice his age. He’s after setting up the attack
football song. I’d with both feet, Tielemans already captained his club himself. No wonder he is
love it to be played BEL has a powerful shot and is and Martinez says that “he already being compared
at White Hart Lane.” a danger from free-kicks. plays like a true skipper”. to a young Paul Scholes.
He has been trying
Kane words Josh McLoughlin; Scouting report Bart Cop

to contact Kane to
get him to give it AGE MANAGER’S NOTES
a listen, but no luck.
A pity – it may be the
finest Spurs-related
song since Chas and
Dave helped Ossie
19
Ardiles to win the
cup for Totting-ham.
And yes, we have
missed out Diamond
Lights for a reason.

WOULD M A N S F I E L D T O W N S TA G M O B I L E
If you’re a fan of League Two club Mansfield Town and you’ve got a spare

YOU BUY
£1,590 burning a hole in your pocket, we’ve got just the thing for you. Why
not splash out on a mobility scooter daubed in the yellow-and-blue colour
scheme of the Stags, that even sports the club crest? It has a 25-mile range

THIS?
and a top speed of 6mph – and, the club’s website says, you can call up for
a free demonstration. We’re thinking of getting down there ourselves and
taking it for a spin around Field Mill. We might pass on the price, though.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 27

 UPFROnT
UPFROnT
> <

WHO ARE YA?!

They’re drawings of some of the Premier League’s biggest names,
actually – not that you would be able to tell without the captions

D
o you dream of hitting the
town wearing the enormous
eyebrows of Diego Costa, the
suspicious glare of Tony Pulis
or the terrifying smile of Andy Carroll?
Well, now you can, thanks to Badly
Drawn Footballers – the dodgy soccer
sketches so unexpectedly popular that
they’ve branched out into leisurewear.
Wonky-faced Jack Cork T-shirt, anyone?
The man behind them is Liverpool fan
Sean Ryan, whose artistic credentials
extend as far as a C in art at GCSE.
It all began with a classic album: the
1994-95 Premier League sticker book his
folks were throwing away. “I was looking
through the old pictures, all the haircuts,
broken noses and bad teeth,” Ryan says.
“Then I got home and started drawing
the Arsenal team, for some reason. I put
them on Facebook and people started
posting about them. So I thought, ‘I’m
going to draw the rest of the album.’”
Ryan has a happy knack for capturing
a player’s quasi-likeness. Usually. “If
anyone says, ‘That looks nothing like
him,’ the beauty is that I say, ‘Well, it
shouldn’t.’” His T-shirts mainly feature
modern football characters, although
today’s players are “a bit clean-cut”,
Ryan reckons. Big strikers are better.
“Andy Carroll has that ’80s look,
Zlatan Ibrahimovic the long face,” he
says. Several players were shown their
caricatures on a BT Sport comedy show
last season, and Danny Welbeck was so
unimpressed that he asked for Ryan’s
address. It’s a good job he’s rarely off
crutches, really, but a now-infamous
manager seemed much keener.
“I think Big Sam quite liked his,” says
Ryan. “Although, at first, he didn’t have
a clue who it was supposed to be.”
Who wouldn’t want to wear a badly
drawn Sam Allardyce T-shirt? It really
Words Si Hawkins

is the gift that keeps on gurning.

The T-shirts are available to purchase at

badly-drawn-footballers.myshopify.com

28 February
December2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
NO LOVE LOST Inter ultras released a statement calling
Mauro Icardi a ‘clown’, after the captain threatened to
UPFROnT
bring ‘100 criminals from Argentina’ to take them all on

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 29

 UPFROnT

INTERVIEW

JAAP STAM
The former Man United defender
has taken the reins at Reading
– after snubbing Big Brother

When you retired as a player back in 2007, you

said that you had no interest in moving into
management. Why did you change your mind?
Yes, I admit I was completely wrong. At the time
I finished playing, I thought I didn’t want all that
pressure any more, but I had to do something –
I’m not the type of person to sit at home and
stare out of the window all day. I was offered
lots of television work, including being on the
Dutch version of Big Brother, but I didn’t want
that. The truth is when I retired from football,
I stopped being involved in the most beautiful
thing in my life, so I had to get back into it again.

It’s been nine years since you hung up your

boots – have you benefited from that time?
It’s a long time to wait, but I learned a lot. I think
I know how to be a manager. If you go straight
into coaching it doesn’t mean you are a good
coach. You need the time to educate yourself,
and I found out how to stand in front of a group
of players, hold their attention and communicate
my ideas. I started at my first professional club,
FC Zwolle. They asked me to help out and a few
days turned into a few years. We helped them to
win the league title and get promoted, and then
I moved on to Ajax as Frank de Boer’s assistant
and also managed the under-21 side, Jong Ajax.
“I WANT TO PLAY ATTRACTIVE
Did you have any conversations with the
FOOTBALL – IT IS THE DUTCH WAY.
great Johan Cruyff while you were at Ajax?
Yes, and it was an honour to speak with Johan. FORGET THAT I WAS A DEFENDER;
I WANT TO ATTACK AND WIN GAMES”
I already knew him through his son, Jordi, when
Interview Sam Pilger

we were at Manchester United together. But at

Ajax he shared with me what he expects from
the players and the coaches. He always just
wanted to attack, and he told me, “If you’re
attacking very well, you don’t need to defend.”

3 CAREER
HIGHLIGHTS
Player of the year
A shock 1-0 win over Ajax earns
Stam a move from Willem II to
PSV, where he wins the 1996-97
Eredivisie title and is named
Dutch Footballer of the Year.
Dutch master
A month after a £10.75 million
move to Man United made him
the most expensive defender in
history, he helps the Dutch reach
the semis of the 1998 World Cup.
Instant Treble
Wins the Treble in his first season
at Old Trafford, lifting the Premier
League trophy and FA Cup before
lining up in the famous Champions
League victory over Bayern Munich.

30 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 GOOD TO BE GREEN Vicenza’s Cristian Galano has been
shown Serie B’s first green card, as part of a scheme to
UPFROnT
reward fair play. Sadly the prize isn’t a job in the US

Why did you choose to start your

management career in England
rather than in the Netherlands?
I had some good offers in Holland,
but I always wanted my very first
manager’s job to be in England.
I asked Ronald Koeman and Guus
Hiddink for advice, and they agreed
I should come here first. I felt I was
ready to take the next step and the
best place to do that was England.

What appealed to you about going

to Reading in the Championship?
The club just felt right. I liked hearing
about how they wanted to play, plus
their ambitions and what they were
looking to achieve. The club want to
get promotion to the Premier League,
but all 24 teams want that. We are
still building and people want to do
it as quickly as possible, but maybe
that’s not possible in the first season.

How would you characterise your

style of play now you’re a manager?
I want to play attractive football – it
is the Dutch way. Forget that I was
a defender; I want to attack and win
football matches. Some might call it
Total Football, but my intention is to
try to dominate games and win them.

How have you been influenced

GREAT
GOALS
by the great managers you

Hulk
played under in your career?
I wasn’t the type who would write

RETOLD
down everything they said in a book,
but now I’ve thought a lot about the
managers I played under and taken
so many different things. From Alex
vs Benfica, Primeira Liga, 2012
Ferguson, I’ve hopefully learned how
to build a team. I watched how he
put together a winning squad – the
players he brought in for the style Hulk has scored many sensational goals during the assist, while Nolito was the Benfica player
he wanted to play, but also for the his career, but perhaps none have been quite who tried in vain to block Hulk’s vicious attempt.
characters he needed for the mental so impressive and bullet-like as this strike for “Fernando passed the ball to me and I tried to
side of the game. He didn’t look at Porto against their fiercest rivals, Benfica. dribble, but then I just decided to take a shot,”
just the big names – he concentrated The two clubs were level on points at the top says Hulk, who has been plying his trade in China
on the overall qualities he needed. of the Primeira Liga when Porto travelled to for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG this
the Estadio da Luz, close to t ch the video, when I first
You were always very confident 2011-12 season. Seven min art doing racist monkey
as a player. Do you believe you’ll received the ball on the right the moment the ball hit
succeed as a manager as well? a yard of space, and then bo mazing. All I could hear
I do. I’m very confident we’re going to the tight angle, the shot gav ce of the Benfica fans.
Interview Marcus Alves; Illustration German Aczel

do well. Hopefully we can get success, almost no chance, beating B a very good sensation.”
and we will see where that leads us. keeper at the near post. The would go on to claim a 3-2
guns measured it at 67mph. and then beat Benfica to
Would you ever be interested in “Goalkeepers don’t expect league title. “It was a crazy
becoming Manchester United’s you to shoot from that far me, almost insane,” Hulk
manager one day in the future? out – it’s a decision you ughs. “After I scored we
I’m not the type to say I want that have to take quickly, to ended up conceding twice,
one day, because first I want to do surprise them,” Hulk tells but we were able to turn it
well at Reading. But I’m ambitious, FFT. The build-up involved around and win 3-2. It was
I want to get as high as I possibly two current Manchester City a key game for the title, no
can as a manager, and I do want players – Fernando provided ne can disagree with that.”
to get to the top level eventually.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 31

 UPFROnT
UPFROnT PARK LEVEL Park Ji-sung has come out of retirement to
play for De Montfort University – the ex-Man United star
> < is in Leicester studying for a degree in sports management

WHAT DO THE BROADCASTERS

PAY FOR? REAL MADRID, BARÇA,
BAYERN, JUVE AND THE PREMIER
LEAGUE’S SUPER-POWERS

when the television rights would be even more

lucrative, and hinted at staging matches across
the world in a bid to reach new markets.
UEFA held firm on all of that, but in doing so
were forced to hand out four guaranteed places
in the group stage of the competition to each of
the continent’s dominant leagues: England, Spain,
Germany and Italy. From 2018, half the teams in
the group stage will be drawn from four countries.
Many of UEFA’s 55 member nations were
furious with the proposal, despite a change to
the revenue-sharing model that should mean
teams from mid-sized leagues make more from
money the competition. The organisation’s new
president, the Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin,
suggested as soon as he was elected that he
might like to review the agreement.
The reality, though, is that UEFA’s hands are

THE
tied. The Champions League is UEFA’s big earner:
according to figures for 2014-15, it accounted for
70 per cent of UEFA’s record-breaking €1.76 billion

TALKInG revenue, the vast majority of it from broadcasting

EUROPEAn SUPER LEAGUE

contracts and sponsorship deals. And what do the

POInT broadcasters and sponsors pay for? Real Madrid

and Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus, the
super-powers of the Premier League.
Therefore, every three years, UEFA must
ultimately cede a little ground to keep them
Rory Smith is a FourFourTwo happy, because they cannot countenance the idea of the clubs setting up their
own Super League. Every three years, they hope they have done enough to put an
columnist and chief football end to the threats once and for all. Every three years, they are disappointed. When
the time comes to negotiate again in 2019, the Super League’s shadow will be back.
correspondent at the New York And at some point, there will be nothing UEFA can do or say to stop it happening.
Times. This month: why the big Continental Europe’s elite see it as the only way that they can hope to match the
revenues enjoyed by the denizens of the Premier League. Should England’s next
clubs must learn the hard way television contract be an upgrade on the eye-watering £5.134 billion agreed last
time around, then they may feel like they have no longer got a choice.

E
Few would welcome it: it would make life harder, and much more expensive, for
very three years, the pattern repeats – three stages of destructive grief in the supporters; it would kill off rivalries that have endured for a century or more; it would
struggle for supremacy at the top of European football. Its twists and turns disenfranchise vast swathes of the football-watching public. It would leave wilderness
are familiar, an endless buzzing that forms part of football’s background noise. where once there was life, a process already amply demonstrated in Eastern Europe.
Stage One: the threats. As soon as discussions over the future of the lucrative And yet, perhaps, it is better simply to bow to the inevitable, to allow the clubs to
Champions League – how it will work, who will qualify, where the money will go indulge their insatiable greed. Every year, a little of the Champions League’s gloss
– loom on the horizon, noises start to emanate from Europe’s most powerful clubs. is chipped away: the tedious procession of the group stages, the predictability of
They grumble that change is necessary, murmur that the current format is not the semi-finals (a clue: three of the four will probably be from Barcelona, Bayern
working, growl that if their demands aren’t met, they will have no choice but to Munich, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid), the devaluing of the idea of “elite” that
break free of UEFA’s restrictive yoke and set up on their own. comes from guaranteeing a place for more and more also-rans. This is not the
Illustrations David Mahoney, Nate Kitch

Stage Two: the fight-back. UEFA, the competition’s organisers, remind the giant competition that Gabriel Hanot once devised. It is now a world away.
super-powers of the game that they will not be allowed to dictate and have it all What made that tournament special, too, is what would perhaps ultimately kill
their own way. They suggest that they will not back down. a Super League. It was the rarity of the European Cup that gave the event its sheen,
And Stage Three: the compromise. After intense negotiations, a brand new model and initially made the Champions League so attractive: the sense that these games
is agreed. Both sides present it as a victory – clubs highlighting what they have won, were one-offs, must-watch occasions, special in a very literal sense.
UEFA preferring to concentrate on what they have not lost. A Super League would not have that. Soon, Bayern Munich against Manchester
This year’s instalment was a classic of the genre. The clubs wanted UEFA to hand United would come to seem humdrum, just as the overexposure of the Clasico
out a number of wild cards to teams based on history, so if Manchester United or has normalised meetings between Real and Barça. Football’s wealth is its variety.
Milan could not qualify for the Champions League on merit, then they would be If clubs wish to eat themselves, then perhaps UEFA should let them. Perhaps that
present anyway. They raised the spectre of playing games at the weekend, too, is the only way to show them where their priorities should really lie.

32 February
December2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
 WIN Adidas X 16+ Purechaos FG boot
for Star Letter and Trusox for Spine Li
UPFROnT
courtesy of

@FOURFOURTWO
[email protected]
TWEETS
FourFourTwoUK @davidgold
Carlos Bacca wouldn’t come
for love nor money so the
FourFourTwo only other option was to
kidnap him which is of
course illegal. dg

STAR
4
@rwnicholls

LETTER Brilliant @ColinKazim article in

the last @FourFourTwo mag.
SAVE OUR ROVERS A British-born footballer doing
what many players refuse to
I once had a dream that do; challenging himself.
lasted for 15 years. It was
@VirginTrains
about a small-town team With Di Matteo leaving, the
who played at Ewood Park WHAT ABOUT OUR BOOZER? Three is created, including eight National next batch of potential #AVFC
You are undoubtedly a quality read, but League outfits. But apart from those managers have just left for
and won the league. how could your feature about Football’s teams being included in FIFA 20, would Birmingham New Street...
The dream turned sour, Best Boozers [FFT 268] omit the Three a fifth league make any difference? With
Lions near Bristol City’s Ashton Gate? so many similar teams, people would
but a man called Souness The place is a landmark, complete still look at it as the National League.
steered the club back into with enough memorabilia to hold the Tom Lloyd, Wrexham
roof up. There’s a mural in memory of
the top flight. Then came passed fans, and it’s been the home TORRES WAS A PREMIER STAR
eight more fantastic years, of an annual street event and flag day I enjoyed your alternative guide to the

including a League Cup and for more than 10 years. It’s a pub where
fans celebrate just being fans, in a city
Champions League [FFT 268], but El Nino
being classed as a Premier League flop?
several top-10 finishes. The that isn’t that much in love with football. Eh? Fernando Torres’s Chelsea stint was
Roger Taylor, via email far from memorable, but 65 goals from
club was family-friendly 102 matches for Liverpool wasn’t too @AVFCOfficial
and had one of the best LEAGUE THREE IS POINTLESS shabby at all, and he regularly had the Would our managerial
Despite having a weekly turn-out of league’s best defenders in his pocket. candidates actually get here
boards in the country. around 5,000, the only football I can It was sad to see his powers wane in for interview on time if they
If only such things really watch in my hometown of Wrexham is the Premier League and lovely to see arrived via @VirginTrains?
non-league football. For the past seven him sparkle again – especially when
happened in real life. We years, Wrexham have been setting out he gave Eric Bailly a torrid time last @VirginTrains
want our Rovers back. to win the National League. Fans are season at Villarreal, showing that he We’ve had more trains arrive
asking whether the club will ever return could inspire nightmares in future Man on time in the last week than
Nasser Hussain, to the Football League, although they United defenders as well as past ones! you’ve had wins in 12 months.
Blackburn could do so in 2019 if a new League Tony Barr, Teddington

WHAT’S
On YOUR
MInD THIS
MOnTH FREE-KICKS NOT RIGHT
There’s a fundamental
fault in the game. When
NO TO SOUTHGATE
Gareth Southgate isn’t
qualified for the England
FOURTH SUBSTITUTE
If you had a fourth sub
who could come on only
LEICESTER DEFENDING
Leicester’s title defence
hasn’t started well, but
TICKET PRICES
It’s ridiculous that there
is a £30 cap on away
a wall forms 10 yards job. Hiring him would be for injured players, there what did people expect? Premier League tickets,
from a free-kick, that an admission that the FA would be fewer injuries What they pulled off last yet lower-league clubs
wall should be curved. have run out of ideas. because of tiredness. season was a miracle. can charge £35 or £40.
Daniel Twist David Wills Tim Heberden Greg Rowan Sam Jones

LAST MONTH’S SPINE LINE: “‘In 2015-16, if we don’t go into the Premier League then I’ve failed. You can tell me I’ve failed’ is a quote from the controversial
Leeds United owner, Massimo Cellino,” says Matthew Talbot. You’re our winner, Matthew – have some Trusox. Entering Spine Line via Twitter? Include #FFTSpineLine
 Gift
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MAnCHESTER CITY

InSIDE THE MAKI

P
B
ting side is the tip of the iceberg at Manchester City. Investing
th and their women’s team, they’ve one goal: global domination

tudio
I
MAnCHESTER CITY

t’s an early autumn day on the outskirts of Manchester Right Pep shows FFT earlier, Raheem Sterling had been substituted at half-time in
city centre, and something rather unexpected has just how to pose properly. England’s Euro 2016 group-stage fixture against Wales, after an
happened. FourFourTwo has received a stinging whack to Well, that’s us told unconvincing 45 minutes. His performance in England’s opening
the ribs, and the man responsible is making a swift exit. game at the tournament against Russia had already been met
He’s just under six feet tall, slim of build and dressed in with criticism. The young winger’s confidence was fragile.
black from head to toe. He’s also seen by many as the “Don’t worry – keep your head up,” Guardiola advised Sterling
best football manager on the planet. He’s Pep Guardiola. that day. “I know that you’re a good player, and you’re a big part
We’re pretty sure the Manchester City boss didn’t actually of my plans. As long as you work for me, I’ll fight for you.”
intend to inflict pain on FFT. Perhaps he just wasn’t aware of Sterling recalls his memories of that conversation as he chats
his own strength, as he shook our hand warmly and dished with FFT inside one of the Manchester City training facility’s many
out a friendly slap to the chest on his way out of the room plush meeting rooms. “He phoned me and said that he’d watched
at the club’s training base, a few hundred metres from the me at Liverpool and thought I was a good player,” the £44 million
Etihad Stadium. He has spent the past few minutes posing wideman remembers. “He said he was looking forward to working
for pictures and he appears to be in a very good mood. with me, which was a massive boost. It was good that he did that:
It would have been understandable if he wasn’t. Guardiola it showed what a good person he is, and it made me look forward
is a busy man – he’s preparing to take training in an hour or to working with him. I went away over the summer thinking about
so – and two days earlier an impressive six-match winning that message from him, and then I came back fighting.”
start to the Premier League season had been brought to an Guardiola’s Pep talk was the tonic Sterling needed. Much maligned
end by Spurs. And yet, as FFT is granted exclusive behind-the-scenes in an England shirt, the 21-year-old started the new campaign with
access to the Catalan’s new home, this meeting offers a brief glimpse Manchester City in superb form. Those first 10 games brought five
into his world, and an insight into why footballers love to play for him. goals and six assists, a far better ratio on both counts than Sterling
Sometimes it’s all about the little details, such as the smile he offers had managed before, when his end product had been questioned.
as enters the room, then a greeting and a handshake for one and all. “I’m still the same player that I was before, but I’m a player full of
Guardiola understands how to get people onside from the start, and confidence now,” he says. “As an attacker, he wants you to express
from there he has the charm and charisma to command a room. yourself and be free, as long as you work for your team-mates when
Soon he’s exchanging quips as our photographer clicks away – but you lose the ball. He told me that every time I get the ball I should go
a request to appear thoughtful, stroking his chin, is politely declined. at defenders. He’s trying to get that into my head, and it’s good when
“No, I never pose like that – it’s fake, look,” he explains, briefly making you know your manager has faith that you can create something. It’s
the pose to demonstrate his point, adding a pout for comedic effect. stuff I’ve always been able to do – he has just helped me to showcase
“It doesn’t look natural, see? It’s fake!” He laughs. That’s the benefit it on a more regular basis. He’s a great guy and a fantastic coach.”
of establishing an instant rapport: it allows him to put his foot down
and do things how he believes they should be done, retaining his
own clear sense of authenticity without putting noses out of joint. It’s July 3. City’s chief executive, Ferran Soriano, and director of
That rapport the 45-year-old built with his playing squad upon football, Txiki Begiristain, are stood outside the club’s training base,
arriving at City quickly paid dividends in the same way. The first waiting for a black cab to arrive. They’re joined by club ambassador
10 matches of his tenure brought 10 victories, 30 goals scored, Mike Summerbee as the taxi pulls in. It contains Guardiola, arriving
and players swiftly adapting to the Guardiola way. No doubt that for his first day in his new job. There is a momentary delay as Pep
plenty of his charges have also been receiving friendly whacks to waits for the door to be unlocked. “The driver won’t open the door
the ribs, from a man who’s big on tactility as well as tactics. because he hasn’t paid his fare yet,” Summerbee quips.
At Manchester City there is real hope – real belief, in fact – that

GUARDIOLA’S FLYInG STARTS

Guardiola’s arrival could prove to be the final piece of the puzzle.
For eight years, since Sheikh Mansour completed his purchase of
the club from Thaksin Shinawatra, everything seemed to have been
building towards the moment when arguably the most respected Manchester City’s new boss tends to do well in his first season
and innovative coach of his generation walked through the doors
at the £150 million City Football Academy. “It’s so amazing – the
facilities… wow,” is how Pep sums it all up to FourFourTwo.
They have the facilities and they have the players, in a squad that BARCELONA BAYERN MUNICH
was the envy of most clubs even before this summer’s strengthening. 2008-09 2013-14
They have the requisite top-level experience, in two Premier League
titles and a first run to the Champions League semi-finals earlier 38
Played Played Played
34
this year. But now they also have the coach that they have always
wanted; the man they believe can take them to the next level. The 27
Won Won Won
29
Premier League bar may have just been raised. Watch out, world:
Manchester City could take some beating for years to come. 6
Drawn Drawn Drawn
3

5
Lost Lost Lost
2
Even when Guardiola was still a fortnight away from his official
unveiling as City’s new coach, he was wasting no time. He picked Goals105
scored Goals scored Goals94
scored
up the phone and spoke to the players he would soon be working
with. First, he introduced himself – not that a man who won the 35
Goals conceded Goals conceded Goals conceded
23
Champions League twice and La Liga three times when managing
Barcelona, then three Bundesliga titles while in charge of Bayern 87
Points Points Points
90
Munich, really needs much introduction. Then he explained to each
player exactly why he was looking forward to coaching them. It was League1st
position League position League1st
position
all about establishing that instant rapport and an understanding
that, together, Manchester City could achieve some great things. Winnerscup:
Domestic Domestic cup Domestic
Winnerscup:
For one particular player on the receiving end of that phone call,
the conversation was more important than most. A couple of days Winners
Champions League Champions League Champions League
Semi-finals

38 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 MAnCHESTER CITY

GUARDIOLA WAnTS TO
LEAVE A LEGACY, LIKE
CRUYFF AT BARCELOnA
FourFourTwo.com December 2016 39
 MAnCHESTER CITY

Soon, Guardiola is bounding towards Summerbee and greeting Below Omar Berrada but MLS side New York City FC and
him warmly, before doing the same with Soriano and Begiristain. and Brian Marwood A-League outfit Melbourne City, too.
“I know these guys!” he laughs, and indeed he does. Both were key are two of the men The group also holds a 20 per cent
figures behind the scenes at Barcelona during Guardiola’s incredible responsible for City’s stake in Yokohama F Marinos, winners
reign at the Camp Nou, and Begiristain was his team-mate when incredible growth of the J-League on three occasions.
the Blaugrana lifted their first European Cup in 1992. Achieving All three of the clubs that are fully
the same feat with Manchester City is undoubtedly in their sights. owned by the City Football Group
Pep is shown around his new workplace, a tour that includes share similar circular club crests, sky
a visit to watch a group of under-10s training. These children are blue and white colours, sponsorship
nearly a decade away from being in a position to challenge for the from Etihad and, of course, the City
first team, yet Guardiola’s interest in their progress is immediate. name. It has all helped to establish
“How is the training session going?” he asks them. “What are you a unified brand that they intend to
doing? Skills? Good. Using both [feet] or just the one? Control left, grow across the world to the benefit
pass right, and then control right, pass left? Yes? Very good.” of all of their clubs, not least Man City.
This is not a manager who arrives at a new club and interests “Most of the top European teams
himself in first-team results and nothing else. Guardiola is keen have got a global fanbase, and at
to instil a philosophy at all ages and leave a legacy at the club, Manchester City we have 400 million
in the same way his mentor Johan Cruyff did at Barcelona. followers around the world, of which
Manchester City’s under-10s look thrilled to have met the new 97 per cent are outside of the UK,”
manager, just like everyone else that day. His mere arrival lifted Berrada explains. “One of our brand
the whole club. Nowhere was that more obvious than when Pep pillars is to be truly global, and we
was led outside to a stage to be greeted by thousands of cheering were looking at ways to engage with
fans. He’d already given a rare one-on-one interview to famous fan our fans. You can do that by going on
Noel Gallagher, for release on the club’s YouTube channel at a later summer tours and by engaging with
date, but it would be on that stage in front of the supporters – not them on digital platforms – and then
in a closed-off press confe could be
as City boss for the first tim cally in
that day, it represented th US,
really here. Manchester Ci unique
the biggest managerial c how we
“That day really was am on.”
Omar Berrada tells FFT, lo help
“We created what we call even
days, 20,000 fans visited o inds of
we wanted the first conta d the world. Undoubtedly, many of
the club to be with the fan e headstart. There wasn’t much global
to everything that we do. th in the third tier at Christmas in 1998,
see them all connect with k, while the likes of Manchester United
Berrada also knew Guar inating at the summit of the Premier
having been the club’s he strides since then that are beyond
before joining City in 2011 even their most optimistic supporters
the arrival of Soriano and son of Twitter followers shows that
time with the Camp Nou g o. At the time FFT goes to press, City’s
with the Catalans having t million, compared to 6.32 million for
shirt sponsor: children’s ch n for Chelsea, 8.25 million for Arsenal
which preceded a lucrativ Manchester United. Barça boast 18.7
Qatar Foundation. “I was eal Madrid, 20.9 million. According to
that in my time at Barcelo th on football’s global rich list.
a period of success with F are ourselves to other clubs or view
well as Guardiola,” Berrad ve of catching up, because we are
I heard about the project n strategy, but we need to continue
trying to develop here, I w ays. “We don’t measure our success
In Manchester, Berrada want to continue growing so we are
City to continue the work sation and can deliver success.
in 2008. Revenue has grow ed in the community and we keep
the arrival of owner Mans erything we do as we to try to grow.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, wh are here in the UK, and in Manchester
in Abu Dhabi. The club rec them to be happy and we want them
a record revenue figure of team play beautiful football.”
2015-16; eight years ago,
A profit of £20.5m was als
latest figures; 12 months ig on and off the pitch since 2008.
£10.7m, the first profit of e exceptions – the £32.5m signing
Berrada’s role has been after Mansour agreed to purchase
than that, though. Until S t to be a success – but more often
focus turned back to solel have helped them to make progress.
heavily involved on the co y spent on the City Football Academy,
City Football Group – Man e which opened in 2014, is certainly
that now owns not just th m of money but it has produced an

40 December 2016 Four

 MAnCHESTER CITY

3
8

4
7

5
9

“WE’VE SPEnT MOnEY, BUT WE’RE CHAnGInG

THE FORTUnES OF A CITY, nOT JUST A CLUB”

1 Etihad Stadium incredible facility that could reap dividends for decades to come. It Michael Thomas’ late title-winning goal at Liverpool in 1989. Both
2 Nexen Tyres bridge is intended to pave the way for a conveyor belt of Manchester City goals still mean plenty to Brian Marwood, an Arsenal player then
3 Academy Stadium youth talent that could keep the club at the top for the long term. and a man who has helped to oversee the rise of Manchester City
4 Goalkeeping “We are building a structure for the future, and not just a team of since 2009, first as football administrator alongside Mark Hughes
half-sized pitch all-stars,” is the quote FFT reads on the wall just inside the facility’s and Mancini, before becoming academy director and now the
5 Junior academy entrance as we begin our tour. Mansour has never deviated from the managing director of football services across all of the City Football
pitches commitment he verbally laid out with his takeover in September 2008. Group. Asked to describe what was going through his head when
6 EDS pitches The tour takes some time. There are 16 and a half pitches – the half City faced QPR, Marwood can’t help but immediately burst into
7 The Performance is for goalkeeper training – and they’re looked after by no fewer than laughter. “I’d be severely understating the fact that it was an
Centre 16 groundstaff. One is an artificial pitch painted in Manchester City emotional rollercoaster,” he smiles. “To be losing the game with
8 Senior youth blue, besieged by birds that continually confuse it for a lake. Four minutes to go... I just remember thinking: ‘How have we lost this?’
pitches more are of different grass mixes, so the first-team manager can “I was injured at the time but I was there when Arsenal won at
9 First-team pitches train on the pitch most similar to the surface they’ll be playing their Anfield, which people still talk about now. I think people will talk
next away match on. Another is shielded from the wind by huge about Sergio’s goal in the same way. I actually feel sorry for Edin
walls, allowing Guardiola to work on set-pieces in a stadium-style Dzeko as his goal was the equaliser, and no one talks about that.
setting in the final training session before a game. All first-team “The fact that they were unwrapping the trophy at the Stadium
pitches have been blocked from prying eyes, mostly by trees. City of Light for Manchester United, only for us to win it in that fashion –
remember all too well how the open nature of their old Carrington I’ve never experienced such elation but also so much tiredness at
training ground allowed photographers to take embarrassing snaps the same time. I couldn’t celebrate, I was just so drained by it all.
of a scuffle between Roberto Mancini and Mario Balotelli, laying bare “Having won the league, the club gathered momentum, people
the issues within their camp midway through the 2012-13 season. gathered belief and we gathered credibility and respect for what we
By the following summer both men would be gone, having each were doing. I don’t think that was the case in the early days – people
played their part in a much happier moment 12 months earlier. said, ‘You’re just throwing money at it’, and, yes, none of us can deny
In one of the City Football Academy’s gyms, a wall is emblazoned that we’ve spent money. But we’ve done it for the right reasons. Our
with the words ‘Every Second Counts’. FFT wonders briefly if City’s owners have not only changed the fortunes of a football club; they’ve
designer was a fan of early-’90s game shows hosted by Paul Daniels, also changed the fortunes of a city, and that’s very rare these days.
but then we turn and see a gigantic picture of a celebrating Sergio “This is one of the most unique projects in world football; maybe
Aguero on the opposite wall, accompanied by the digits ‘93:20’. only Red Bull have a similar model as they own clubs, too [New York
That, of course, was the time on the clock when Sergio Aguero – Red Bulls, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Brasil and RB Leipzig]. But for us
or ‘Aguerooooooooo!’, as he was known at that moment – scored to have arguably the best manager in the world and everything that
against QPR to deliver Manchester City their first league title of the we have here in place, it’s been remarkable progress in eight years.”
Mansour era. That it denied Manchester United top spot was a nice Marwood credits Al Mubarak with much of the rapid progress. The
bonus for fans who hadn’t seen their club win the division since 1968. Englishman occasionally has direct contact with Mansour but liaises
It was City’s ‘Up For Grabs Now’ moment – a moment their fans will more closely with the chairman, whose other business commitments
always cherish, in the same way Arsenal supporters still celebrate include an involvement with Formula 1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 41

 MAnCHESTER CITY

THAnKS A BILLIOn “He’s had a huge passion for this project from the very first day,
and his knowledge of everything we’re doing is remarkable when
you think that he’s got lots of other things going on in his world,”
says Marwood, 56. “We’re extremely fortunate to have not only the
Manchester City’s owners that we have, but also a chairman who is probably the best
transfer spending has figurehead I’ve ever known – and I’ve been in football since I was 16.”
reached nine figures When FFT asks at what point Guardiola’s name was first mentioned
under Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City as a man they’d like to be their head coach one
day, Marwood’s response is instant. “It was 2008, I think – we would
2008-09 £82.5 million have loved to have him then!” he says with a smile. The answer is
2009-10 £125m only half-serious: Marwood wasn’t at the club at that point, and Pep
2010-11 £154.8m was barely a few games into his managerial career with Barcelona.
2011-12 £76m City’s realistic hopes of attracting their dream manager came with
2012-13 £54m the arrival of Begiristain in October 2012. Guardiola was a free agent
2013-14 £103.2m at that point, on a year’s sabbatical after leaving Barça, but Mancini
2014-15 £87.5m had just delivered City the title in dramatic fashion and Guardiola
2015-16 £152.1m had already started discussions about moving to Bayern Munich on
2016-17 £168.9m a three-year deal from the summer of 2013. City would have to bide
their time, but Guardiola had long since indicated to Begiristain that

TOTAL
when he was ready to move to England, it would be to link up with
his former Barcelona team-mate, who had once played a key role in
his promotion to first-team coach at the Camp Nou. When his deal
£1,004,000,000.00

at Bayern was running to a close, he decided that the time was right.
“Obviously we benefited from the relationship that Txiki and Ferran
had with Pep from his Barcelona days,” Marwood says. “But I think
Guardiola also needed to see and get an understanding of what felt some disappointment about the manner of defeat. “I don’t think
Manchester City was all about. It wasn’t just about working with we actually showed up for that game,” he said. “In both legs, there
two people he was close to; it was about being able to work in an was too much we could have done that we didn’t do.”
environment where he could see that everything was just right. De Bruyne is keen to stress it was not down to any lack of effort.
“Now he’s here, I think he’s very pleased with what he’s walked “Everybody gave what they had,” he says. “Everyone ran their socks
into. Now we need to reach another level. We’ve fallen short in the off, so it wasn’t that we could have gone for it more. But sometimes
Champions League and we’ve fallen a little bit short in the league in it just doesn’t work out the way that you want it to.”
the last year or two. We want to be successful. We want to win.” If there are any regrets, this season provides an opportunity to put
them right. For De Bruyne, his tale centres around two away matches
against Steaua Bucharest. He was a Chelsea player when the Blues
On February 1 this year, it was announced that Guardiola would be travelled there for a Champions League game in 2013. Struggling to
joining Manchester City and that Manuel Pellegrini would move on. win the affections of Jose Mourinho, having arrived from Belgium
From there, two campaigns after Pellegrini had guided them to their during Andre Villas-Boas’ reign, De Bruyne was left at home when
second championship under Mansour, City’s title challenge fell apart. the squad travelled to Romania. Quizzed about the decision before
Many put that down to ‘lame duck’ syndrome, but it overlooks City’s the game, Jose stormed out of a press conference.
failure to beat another top-five team all season. They took 16 points Four months later, De Bruyne asked to leave and join Wolfsburg.
from 18 games against sides in the top half of the table – a worse He never did win over Mourinho, and he’s still unable to explain why.
record than 13 of the league’s other teams. Worse than relegated “I’ve no idea and I don’t care,” he says, the tone of his voice briefly
Newcastle, in fact. And, in the same week Pellegrini’s departure was giving away his frustration about that period of his career. “I waited
announced, City’s star performer was ruled out for 10 weeks with for four months, then I said to myself that I wanted to play football
knee and ankle ligament damage. Without him, they soon lost 3-1 at every week. I couldn’t get the game time I wanted, so leaving was
home to Leicester, a result that set both clubs on very different paths. the obvious choice. I wanted to start a new chapter – not be loaned
That man was Kevin De Bruyne, who has now arrived to talk to FFT. out and come back to the exact same situation. It was a really smart
Despite missing a sizeable chunk of the campaign, De Bruyne was move on my part. But of all of the choices I have made in my career,
deservedly City’s player of the season. From the minute he arrived I don’t regret one of them – even going to Chelsea. It just didn’t work
from Wolfsburg for £55m, the Belgian midfielder has felt at home. out. I wanted to play football; I didn’t; so I left.”
“I think my form started at Wolfsburg, where it went really well,” Things were quite different when Manchester City travelled out to
De Bruyne says. “Then I came here and immediately felt welcome. Steaua Bucharest for a Champions League qualifier this season: the
There’s a family atmosphere, and for me that’s important as I am second match of Guardiola’s reign. The visitors romped to a 5-0 win,
an easy-going guy, and I prefer that people act like we’re all human. and the combination of De Bruyne, Aguero, Sterling and David Silva
Footballers are not robots getting orders; we have good days but we clicked in a way that it never had done last term, with Nolito thrown
have bad days as well, just like every normal person. But the people in for good measure. Nolito scored one and Silva another, while
here help you. It was a good choice to come here.” Aguero bagged three – the striker even able to miss two penalties.
De Bruyne insists this despite his first campaign with the Etihad De Bruyne says he realised then how special Pep’s Manchester City
Stadium side ultimately ending in disappointment. could be. “It was a tough game,” he says. “When you go there and
“It was a little bit hard last year: we started very well but we had win 5-0, everyone says it’s an easy game, but we did really well and
so many injuries,” the 25-year-old says. “In the Champions League it could have been a lot more. That, and winning 4-1 at Stoke just
we went as far as the semi-finals, so we did play some good stuff – afterwards, really helped. We were trying a new system, so if you
just not quite enough to win any titles. We did really well in Europe. start with a couple of wins you can see the coach’s ideas working.
To lose 1-0 over two legs in the semi-final with an own goal – that “My role is a little bit different now. We don’t play with a real No.10,
can happen. And it was against Real Madrid.” so I am maybe a little bit less attacking than I was last season, but
Yet for such a free-scoring side, there seemed a lack of verve about I have played in that position before at other clubs. Defensively we
City in each leg of that semi-final. While he is proud of the team for are playing at a different pace – we’re chasing the ball much quicker.
reaching the last four, chairman Al Mubarak has since admitted he It’s hard work, but in the end it does make life easier for everyone.

42 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 MAnCHESTER CITY

“I IMMEDIATELY FELT WELCOME AT THIS

CLUB. THERE’S A FAMILY ATMOSPHERE”
 MAnCHESTER CITY

“It’s not like he has changed a lot – With a former Barcelona manager,
football is still football – but it’s his eye a former Barcelona goalkeeper, several
for detail that counts. Not everybody ex-Barcelona backroom staff members
goes full length on every detail, but he and three former Barcelona men in
does. He’s trying to make everybody senior positions in the club hierarchy,
better. All the little things, like physical it’s inevitable that some will compare
work, injury prevention and diet, he Manchester City with the club where
does to get people fitter quicker. so many of their employees used to
“When he speaks to me, we speak work. For their part, City are keen to
about everything. It is not always point out that they are not trying to
football; he also speaks about family copy what Barça have done, but to
and life out of football. It’s not always forge their own identity. Bravo, too,
‘focus, focus’. He was a player himself is reluctant to compare the two clubs.
so he’s very good at knowing about the “From a footballing perspective there
balance of when to joke and when to are certainly similarities, but I don’t
be serious. Before a game he’ll be really
quiet: he does his meetings a couple of “AS An EX-PLAYER, HE KnOWS WHEn want to make comparisons between
the teams,” the keeper says. “Each

TO JOKE AnD WHEn TO BE SERIOUS”

hours before the match, and then we club has their way of preparing for
are doing stuff on our own. By then, a game; each team has different
everybody knows what we need to do.” players. We have confidence in what
Guardiola’s first big test at City came we’re doing and we think success will
against Mourinho’s Manchester United come. The whole world knows what
at Old Trafford. De Bruyne was superb Barcelona means – the players that
that day, scoring one and setting up have played there over the years are
another as City won 2-1. It was a performance that established
him as the bookmakers’ early favourite to win this season’s PFA CITY’S YOUTH incredible and I will be forever grateful to them. But this club is on
the up. You can see it in every game. We have great players in every
Player of the Year award – although he’s quick to play that down. TEAM TROPHY position and we can only grow and improve, especially with the
“I’m not thinking about being the best player in the league,” he
tells FFT. “I want to win titles for the club. That’s more important.” COUnT: 2015-16 incredible coach we have. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?”
Bravo speaks in such upbeat tones, despite the undoubted pressure
De Bruyne is also quick to play down suggestions that producing facing him in replacing Hart, a goalkeeper loved by City’s fans having
arguably his best display of the season so far against Manchester made nearly 350 appearance across a decade with the club. “At this
United, on the first occasion he had faced Mourinho since the UNDER-10S level you’ve got to live with pressure,” Bravo says. “If you don’t deal
Portuguese manager sanctioned De Bruyne’s sale from Chelsea, • Premier League well with pressure, it would impossible to play for either Barcelona
may not have been entirely coincidental. “Yes, but the team was National Futsal or Manchester City, to play for your country or to win titles. You just
great in that game,” he insists, refusing to take credit for his own • Wormerveer can’t think about who might have been playing in goal before you
performance in the derby victory. “A lot of people were talking Tournament – you just have to find a way of performing at the highest level.
about me because I scored a goal, but we played really well.” • PT Sports Cup “I just try to do the best I can in whatever way I can, playing out
• Raddatz from the back, constantly talking to my defence... modern football
Immobilien Cup now requires a goalkeeper who can give the ball to the feet of the
Making his debut for Manchester City in that all-important win UNDER 11S centre-backs, not clear it at the first sign of danger. I touch the ball
was Claudio Bravo, the man Guardiola had headhunted as his • Deichmann Cup with my feet about 40 times in each game – that begins the dynamic
new goalkeeper after choosing to demote stalwart Joe Hart. • Premier League of how we want to play. We don’t have the players upfront to play
The England No.1 probably didn’t know it at the time – like all National Finals long ball and nor did we at Barcelona, so you play to suit your style.
of those who had featured at Euro 2016, he was still on holiday – UNDER 12S We want the ball to go forwards in a clean way, from back to front.”
but the seeds of his demise were sown on the very first day of • Champions Cup, Things didn’t run smoothly for Bravo on his debut at Old Trafford.
pre-season. That day, Pep set up a session with his new squad. Frankfurt Though City triumphed, a dropped cross allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic
He stationed Willy Caballero in one goal and Republic of Ireland UNDER 13S to score. Guardiola’s reaction was telling. After the game, he called
Under-21 goalkeeper Ian Lawlor in the other. Then he passed the • Premier League Bravo’s display “one of the best performances I have ever seen”,
ball to one or the other, and instructed them to play the ball out International pointing out that the keeper had started the move for De Bruyne’s
from the back. It was an exercise for the outfield players as much Tournament goal by building out from the back. He was standing by his man.
as the keepers: this was how Guardiola intended to play, and he UNDER 14S “It’s very important when your coach talks positively about you
was showing his squad how to make it work. “Byline, Fernando! • Torneo Reino de like that,” says Bravo, who was once benched for a period by Chris
Byline!” he shouted, instructing the Brazilian to drop all the way Leon, Spain Coleman during the Welsh manager’s six-month stint in charge
back to the goal-line to make himself available for a pass. Caballero UNDER 15S of Real Sociedad. “It supports you, even though you know you’ve
clearly impressed more than Hart ever did in such sessions, because • Premier League made a mistake by colliding with a player and conceding a goal.
the veteran Argentine was chosen to start the new season in goal. Floodlit Cup “But that was a special game. We knew that it was a match of
Soon, Hart went to Torino on loan and Bravo joined from Barcelona. Northern Division enormous magnitude and we were very happy to win, but what
“Guardiola called me and said he believed in me, and it filled me • Premier League meant more was the way we did it. We want our identity to be
with excitement to be part of this project,” Bravo explains to FFT. Floodlit Cup publicly known – to dominate the ball for as many minutes as
The 33-year-old had never worked with the Manchester City boss Super-Final possible. That day was all about fully establishing our identity.”
before – he joined the Catalan club from Real Sociedad two years • Cayman Islands
after Pep had left – but the pull was strong enough to convince Airways Youth Cup
him to give up his role at the Camp Nou and move to England. UNDER 18S Equally important to that identity and that desire to play out from the
“When he shows such confidence in you that he is personally • Premier League back is John Stones. Signed from Everton for £47.5m, the 22-year-old
requesting your signing, it’s difficult to say no,” the Chile keeper North became the most expensive defender in British football history.
adds. “Logically, Manchester City is more attractive to players • Premier League Stones is the last of a quartet of first-team players, combined value
with Guardiola in charge, for the style and philosophy he brings. National £163.6m, to talk to FFT. Asked how quickly he made the decision to
He has changed the team’s dynamic. He gives this football club join Manchester City once he knew of their interest, a smile appears
something extra every day – something you can’t quite define.” on the centre-back’s face. “Instantly,” he says. “It was something

44 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

MAnCHESTER CITY
 MAnCHESTER CITY

I couldn’t turn down. For anyone in my position, when Pep wants you day for a new permanent training
to join the club, it’s a no-brainer. He’s the best manager in the world, facility in Orangeburg, a few miles
and to be given the opportunity to learn from him was massive. further north-west. The facility is
“I watched Pep when he was at Barcelona and Bayern, but now due to be opened in 2018 and is
that I’m here working with him it’s even better than I expected. He being designed by Rafael Vinoly,
gets us all on the same page, knowing our jobs and responsibilities the same Uruguayan architect who
when we’re on the pitch. For any manager, getting that across to the created the City Football Academy
players is one of the biggest things, and he does it well. We all go out in Manchester and Melbourne City’s
there knowing how we want to play and how we should play.” training base of the same name. It’s
The young Yorkshireman’s own role is to create what Guardiola calls been less than two years since New
el efecto mariposa – the butterfly effect. It’s an ethos the City boss York City FC played their first match
learned from Johan Cruyff. “For him, one good pass at the beginning but, as in Manchester and Melbourne,
could create absolutely everything,” Guardiola explained recently. the City Football Group are putting
Guardiola believes Stones can provide that pass at the beginning – plans in place for the long term.
the pass that starts City’s route towards goal. Renowned for his It was Soriano who played the key
qualities on the ball, the young defender is relishing the task. role in the early stages of New York
“It’s what I’ve done from 16 years old, when I was at Barnsley,” City FC. It was he who held talks with
Stones tells FFT. “I’ve always been encouraged to play out from the MLS head honchos back in 2008 about
back. I’ve learned the hard way sometimes – every player needs to the possibility of Barcelona becoming
go through those phases – but it’s really good to play in a passing involved in a new team in Miami. But
team. It’s something that we try to work on: to keep the ball and when the league announced plans for
be patient with it, but to be useful with it, too, and not just keep it a second soccer club in New York they
for nothing. When you have got the ball, you’re in control.” approached Soriano, who was by then
Stones has often been described as a player who would perhaps at Manchester City, and were met with
be most suited to playing in La Liga. He says that he is unaware
whether there was ever interest from Spanish clubs during his time
an extremely positive response.
So far, it’s working out rather well for “I’VE HAD TO LEARn THE
HARD WAY SOMETIMES, BUT
at Everton and accepts that, in joining a Manchester City side with all concerned. After ranking 17th out of
an inherently Spanish style, he may well have found the perfect 20 teams in MLS last season, this year
solution. “I would have to learn Spanish there!” he jokes. they have made the play-offs for the

IT’S REALLY GOOD TO PLAY

What he knows for certain is that there was substantial interest first time. That upturn in fortunes came
from Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2015, when Chelsea made after the decision to relieve Jason Kreis
a number of bids for his services, the last of them climbing as high of his duties at the end of last season
as £38m. Everton rejected each and every one, and while Stones
admits that he was disappointed at the time, he believes that his
move to Manchester City may have seen him end up at a club
and replace him with Vieira, who had
previously been working as manager
of Manchester City’s elite development
In A PASSInG TEAM nOW”
more befitting his style than Chelsea would ever have been. squad. The former Arsenal midfielder
“Coming here probably is more suited to my game,” he says. “At impressed in that role, and he is now
the time, the Chelsea situation was difficult. But some things aren’t continuing to impress after stepping
meant to happen. When it didn’t go through, that was it – I couldn’t into senior coaching in New York, where he works with director Above Stones is
do anything about it. You can’t dwell on it too much. I didn’t want to of football Claudio Reyna, another ex-Manchester City player. comfortable with
do that, either for myself or my team-mates at Everton; I wanted to “I’ve enjoyed it from the day I arrived,” Vieira tells FFT, speaking playing out from
keep playing on for them, for the fans and for the club. We weren’t as he prepares to jet off to Mexico with the squad for a friendly. the back, something
always winning matches at Everton, but that’s when you learn a lot “I wanted to stay part of the City family – that was really important he’s done since his
about yourself – when you’re going through those difficult times. I’m for me. When they proposed that I take charge of New York City FC, time with Barnsley
just really happy to be here now and enjoying my football.” I said yes because I would be working with the people that I know
Not that he expects everything to be plain sailing. Spurs overcame really well; people who will support me no matter what. That was
Manchester City at the start of October by employing an extremely a huge part of my decision to come over to America.
high-energy pressing game designed to prevent Stones & Co. from “I’m really close to Brian Marwood. He’s my mentor; the one who
starting moves from the back. Celtic had done the same thing a few really guides me. I’m also working with Ferran and Txiki – people
days previously in a 3-3 Champions League draw with City. But that I really like. That’s the human side of it. Making the play-offs is an
won’t deter Pep from his principles. “We take it as a compliment that achievement, especially after only two years. But it’s just a small
teams are trying to stop how we’ve been playing,” says Stones. “Even step towards what we want to achieve. We’re looking at the bigger
in those games, we wanted to stay true to ourselves and keep playing picture, and the bigger picture is to win something.”
how we have always played, because to compete against our sort of Vieira first joined Manchester City six years ago, when he was
football you have to run – you can’t press for 90 minutes. still a player. His final appearance before hanging up his boots
“Unfortunately against Spurs it didn’t come off, but you can’t win came in the 2011 FA Cup Final against Stoke, as the club claimed
every game. What’s important is that when things got tough, we did their first trophy under Sheikh Mansour. The former Arsenal warrior
not divert from what we know about how to play football. is ambitious to help New York City FC lift their first trophy, too, even
“We will keep trying to break the other team down. Teams are while being very aware that it may take some time.
coming at us and pressing us, but I’m sure we will find a way to “We know that we have to catch up to some other teams in MLS,
get through. Everyone here wants to win the Premier League. If but we’re on the right path,” Vieira says. “I’ve changed a few things,
we go about it the right way, hopefully we’ll achieve that.” bringing in some double sessions and a lot more video analysis of
our opponents. And something that was really important to me
was how we travel. Players were travelling in their own gear and
More than 3,000 miles away, the sun is shining at the State University I didn’t understand that. It’s important to be representing our club,
of New York, just to the north of Manhattan. Patrick Vieira is sat in so now when we travel we are all dressed the same.
his office at what is currently the training base of New York City FC. “We play our home games at Yankee Stadium, which is a fantastic
Head coach Vieira has spent the past couple of hours speaking to experience. When you talk about Yankee Stadium as a French boy,
the American media after the MLS club announced plans earlier that you know that it’s a symbolic place. When you look at what the

46 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

MAnCHESTER CITY
 MAnCHESTER CITY

THE CITY FOOTBALL ACADEMY IN nUMBERS

The key facts and figures behind Manchester City’s impressive £150m training facility

450
GEOGRAPHICAL SPLIT OF

80%
ACADEMY PLAYERS

Proportion of water needed to irrigate

Players training every week, from Under-6 the pitches that is provided by a water
level all the way up to the senior team
36%
Manchester
tank under the City Football Academy

80 ACRES
Of brownfield industrial site redeveloped 190m
to help create the City Football Academy
Span of the bridge that connects the

39% 25% Academy Stadium to Etihad Stadium

16.5
Pitches at the City
Football Academy Other Greater Manchester

19
Ground staff employed to
74%
7500
look after those pitches
and the playing surface
at the Etihad Stadium GCSE pass rate for City players at St Bede’s
College, seven points above national average

7000 2000
Full capacity of Number of people who worked on New mature
Academy Stadium the construction of the City Football trees brought
Academy and the surrounding area onto the site

City Group have put in place, the way they’re thinking is completely some time soon. If it does, don’t be
different to how other people and other football clubs think. To be surprised to see Vieira’s name linked
part of what they’re trying to do here is really exciting.” with a host of managerial jobs on this
Baseball icons the New York Yankees actually own 20 per cent of side of the Atlantic. City aren’t ruling
New York City FC, and playing at their stadium in the heart of the city out the possibility that the 40-year-old
has helped the football club to establish a fanbase in the Big Apple. will be manager at the Etihad one day.
Aided by the recruitment of David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea “We always talk about succession
Pirlo, average attendances are now nearing 30,000. They were clever planning, whether it’s in the academy
acquisitions: as well as being three players known around the globe, or with physios, doctors or performance
Villa appeals to New York’s sizeable Hispanic population, Pirlo to its analysts,” Marwood says, when asked
Italian community and Lampard to Premier League fans. about Vieira. “We’ve felt very strongly
“It’d be difficult to find better players to make people aware of the that we want to create really good
club’s existence,” Vieira says. “When you have those players, it helps coaches within the group. Obviously
you to be heard around the world. They are fantastic human beings, we’re very fortunate to have one of the best managers in the world Above Al Mubarak
too, and I’ve been pleased with how they are playing.” right now, but we have to look to the future. We all hope he’s going to and Vieira have high
Alongside them is a 19-year-old English winger in the shape of stay here for a long time, but at the same time we have to develop our hopes for teenage
Stoke-born Jack Harrison, who was a former youth team player at coaches from within. Whether any of those coaches will eventually star Jack Harrison
Manchester United. “He’s doing really well,” Vieira enthuses. “He’s become manager of Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City Top right The sun sets
a really talented young player with a very bright future.” or Yokohama F Marinos, we don’t know. But we feel we should take on the league and
Harrison’s debut was the one bright spot of a 7-0 defeat to New people on that journey to see whether they are capable of doing it.” cup double winners
York Red Bulls in May, but Vieira’s side hit back to claim a first victory
over their local rivals two months later. “Red Bulls are a few years
ahead of us but we’ve closed the gap,” Vieira says of his own club, On the opposite side of the world, Tim Cahill has been watching
the ambitious noisy neighbours in the same way Manchester City Vieira’s progress with interest. In August this year, the 36-year-old
were to United a few years ago. In Manchester the balance of power former Millwall, Everton and New York Red Bulls midfielder joined
has shifted, and perhaps the same thing will happen in New York Melbourne City, who were bought by the City Football Group in

48 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 MAnCHESTER CITY

January 2014. Previously known as Melbourne Heart, the club “That was one of the biggest reasons why I signed – for the
had joined the A-League in 2010 but never managed to finish future,” he says, speaking days before scoring a spectacular
more than halfway up the league standings. long-range goal on his debut for the club. “I spoke to Mikel
Aided by David Villa, on loan from New York City FC until the Arteta, one of my closest friends in football who is working as
start of the MLS season, and the effervescent Damien Duff, a coach under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City now, and it’s
they improved to finish fifth in their first full campaign under given him a strong platform to do what he loves.
new ownership. In 2015-16, they moved up another place to “When I played in Abu Dhabi with Australia, I got to meet
fourth thanks to some fine displays from Australian international Khaldoon [Al Mubarak] and talk about the City Football Group,
midfielder Aaron Mooy, who joined the club from Western Sydney and it’s amazing to see that someone so powerful has such
Wanderers on the understanding that the City Football Group could a desire to do well. These guys aren’t here for a short time –
help to fulfil his ambitions in the game. The 26-year-old has since they are here to stick around forever and change the face of
earned an unexpected move to Manchester City, and impressed the game. Their presentations blow you away.”
on loan with Huddersfield Town this season. Melbourne will strive for success using the exact same footballing
However, the City Football Group wanted a true figurehead for philosophy employed in New York and Manchester. “It’s fantastic –
Melbourne, as they had in New York with Pirlo, Villa, Lampard and I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Cahill, whose enthusiasm for
Vieira, and as they had in the early days at Manchester City with the whole project is abundantly clear throughout his conversation
Carlos Tevez. They wanted a man who could grab the attention; with FFT. “You hear from the main bosses about the setup over in
a man who would show that they were thinking big in Australia. Manchester and the way that Pep Guardiola wants football played,
So they turned to Cahill, one of the Socceroos’ greatest ever which you’ve seen already in the Premier League – it’s exceptional –
footballers, who was at that time playing in the Chinese Super and then you go to New York City FC and see training, watch Patrick,
League with Hangzhou Greentown. “To be someone who they see the tactics, see the videos, the formations and everything that
targeted to become part of their family makes me feel happy – happens, and it’s no different. It’s the same with us here in Australia,
it feels like a reward for such a great career,” Cahill tells FFT. and it’s fantastic to have an ethos like that.”
“I had my medical in New York and I met the marquee players,
and the best thing was spending some time with Patrick Vieira and
Claudio Reyna, asking questions and talking to Patrick about how he The City Football Group’s plan involves Asia, too – very much so,
started with City and then transitioned into coaching. I feel like I’m in fact. They already have their minority stake in Japanese side
in that position. I’m 36 and I want to do more on the pitch, but I also Yokohama F Marinos, who are owned by group sponsors Nissan
want to transition into what Patrick has done.” and are already benefiting from the expertise of Manchester City.
Melbourne City came up with a deal that suited Cahill down to the On the day FFT visits the City Football Academy, four officials from
ground. His three-year contract begins with two seasons as a player, Yokohama are there on a fact-finding mission.
taking him up to what he hopes will be his fourth World Cup finals The City Football Group aren’t ruling out further additions to their
with Australia, and then a third year that will see him take up a role list of clubs in the future, with China a likely destination. Manchester
working in City Football Group’s coaching setup. City went over to the Far East during pre-season and chief operating

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 49

 MAnCHESTER CITY

officer Omar Berrada pinpoints it as a very important doing it and we have a manager who believes in giving
market, saying they’re keeping “an open mind” about young lads an opportunity. Pep Guardiola watches the
how they can grow their presence in the country. That under-18 games on a Saturday morning when he can
has already involved them selling a 13 per cent stake – he always makes time to say hello – and when the
in the City Football Group to the China Media Capital youngsters go to train with the first team they’re used
consortium in late 2015 for a huge sum of £265m, to all of the drills, because we have been developing
giving the group a valuation of more than £2 billion. this style of football for quite a while now.”
That deal took place with the aim of boosting City’s City haven’t forgotten the importance of the parents,
presence in China; chairman Al Mubarak makes it very either. At the City Football Academy there’s an
clear that there are no plans for Mansour to relinquish impressive indoor area, complete with creche, from
any more of his stake. It came just over a month after where they can watch training when it rains (this is
Chinese president Xi Jinping made a personal visit to Manchester after all) or when temperatures drop, and
the City Football Academy in Manchester alongside even on-site hotel rooms reserved for them if they’re
then-Prime Minister David Cameron. It was a visit visiting their children from some distance away.
that produced a piece of marketing gold for the club. Some of City’s young talent is from further afield:
“That was initiated by Sergio Aguero – and it was all there’s optimism about Spaniards Brahim Diaz, Aleix
completely unplanned,” Berrada chuckles. “He wanted Garcia, Pablo Maffeo and Manu Garcia, as well as the
to take a selfie and luckily the Chinese left-back Angelino, whose progress
president accepted – David Cameron, was aided by a loan spell at New York
too. It was fantastic to see that picture
on the front page of major newspapers CITY SnAPPED UP EnGLAnD’S BEST City FC. But there are also potential
stars who were born in Manchester,

PLAYERS: TOnI DUGGAn, JILL SCOTT,

around the world, and every time we such as Tosin Adarabioyo, Cameron
go over to China, people reference it. Humphreys-Grant and Brandon Barker,
“We were honoured to receive the to name just three. The latter is one of

KAREn BARDSLEY AnD STEPH HOUGHTOn

Chinese president. It was all part of four players currently out on loan at
a state visit and he wanted to see NAC Breda in the Netherlands, due to
a good example of youth development a partnership agreement that will see
facilities, because there’s a big focus in the Dutch second-division side provide
China now on developing grassroots facilities. We want to be part Man City youngsters with experience of first-team football.
of the story in China, and help to continue developing football ome 61 per cent of the Blues’ academy players hail from Greater
there, as well as in Japan, south-east Asia and Asia in general. nchester; 36 per cent from the city itself. “People like to say that
“There are some fascinating markets that we think could have are not signing up local talent but, despite the perception, we
a role in football in the future – maybe India, Indonesia, Vietnam ve got a lot of good Manchester boys,” states Wilcox.
There are markets where football hasn’t traditionally been the We want the best local talent here with us. It would horrify me
number one sport but is now starting to grow very quickly.” he best Manchester boys were choosing to play for Liverpool or
eone else instead. There’s a lot of talent in this city.”
he biggest task will be to convert the talent that has flourished
President Xi isn’t alone in asking for a look around City’s youth youth level into players who can then establish themselves in
facilities. “The number of requests we get is ginormous,” says he first team. “The level of talent we have to find is somebody
the club’s head of academy coaching, former Blackburn Rovers who can come through and replace David Silva, Vincent Kompany
title-winning winger Jason Wilcox. “Clubs want to come, and r Sergio Aguero, and that’s really tough,” Brian Marwood admits.
so do other football associations, different sports, performance ut 20-year-old Kelechi Iheanacho is proof that the step up can be
and arts – everyone wants to see what we’re doing.” ade: the Nigerian striker has impressed so greatly since his debut
That’s not just because of the sheer scale of the facilities, but st season that he is now second only to Aguero in City’s pecking
because they’re already getting results. As well as paying sizeab der upfront, with Wilfried Bony joining Stoke on loan.
sums to recruit some of the finest young talents in world footba
– Leroy Sané, Marlos Moreno and Oleksandr Zinchenko signed fo
Manchester City in the summer, and Gabriel Jesus arrives in the re than 4,000 people turned up at the Academy Stadium in late
new year – the club’s own youth teams, led by academy directo ptember, first-team captain Vincent Kompany included, to watch
Mark Allen, are becoming increasingly successful. other of City’s sides achieve success. In front of a record crowd,
The under-18s were national league champions last season, nchester City Women overcame title-holders Chelsea to clinch
as well as being FA Youth Cup finalists for a second year running Women’s Super League crown and become national winners
while the under-16s and under-14s both claimed eye-opening the first time in their history. They followed that achievement
9-0 wins over Liverpool and Manchester United respectively. In winning the WSL Continental Cup a week later.
total, the club’s junior teams won 14 trophies last term, right do he team was only founded in 1988 and the FA’s decision to
to under-10 level. Understandably, Wilcox is excited. “We have ude them in the top tier of the new, expanded Super League
great players coming through,” he says. “We want a steady stre 014 was not without its controversy, with some questioning
of first-team players coming from our academy.” ether they had done enough on the field to merit their place.
It was the city of Manchester that produced the Class of ’92, t Marwood and City had persuaded the governing body that
group of players who’d help rivals United to dominate the Prem y had big plans. While Manchester United currently have no
League for years. City would love to do something similar one d men’s team at all, the City Football Group wanted to invest
“That’s the aim,” Wilcox says. “Barcelona did it; Man United di avily in the female game and succeed, too.
Whether we are going to produce six or seven star players in a s oon they began snapping up some of England’s best players:
period remains to be seen, but what we’ve got to try to do is pro ni Duggan, Karen Bardsley, Jill Scott, Izzy Christiansen, Lucy
multi-million-pound footballers who are Manchester City throug nze, and Steph Houghton, captain of the national team and
and through. This has always been a club of the community an r of the Team GB side at the 2012 Olympics.
fans are as excited about getting a young player through as the t was a risk,” Houghton admits of her decision to leave Arsenal,
about signing a player for £50m. What we’ve got to do is produ ere she had won two league titles. “But when I signed, I knew
a player of our own worth £50m – and why not? We’re capable club wanted to win trophies, even if it might not be possible

50 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

MAnCHESTER CITY
 MAnCHESTER CITY

“LAST YEAR WAS DIFFICULT, BUT THAT’S In

game I’ve got to be playing with the best, and that is why I came
here. When I was younger, I could always see this club growing
and achieving great things. When I found out that they were

THE PAST. WE WAnT TO WIn TITLES AT CITY” interested in signing me, there were no second thoughts. I want
to be fighting for trophies consistently for the next 10 years, and
there’s no better place to do that than here.”
Despite his £44m price tag, Sterling wasn’t a regular fixture in
City’s starting XI last season, and he admits he was not entirely
happy with his own form as he tried to put the Liverpool furore
in the first couple of years. It has been behind him and settle down at his new club.
a fantastic season. I won the league “It all came so thick and fast last year that I didn’t get much
with Arsenal and that was an amazing thinking time to myself,” he says. “When you sign, you’ve got to
feeling, but this one beats everything move house, adjust to the city – there was just a lot going on. But
because I’ve seen how this club has I’m not making excuses. This is the job I signed up for and it’s the
changed over three years and how job that I love the most. Maybe last year was a difficult time, but
hard everyone has worked to get here. that’s all in the past. Now I’m fully settled and fully concentrated.”
“It was a risk worth taking. I knew That’s despite Sterling’s teething troubles in Manchester during
I wanted to come here as a full-time the 2015-16 season being exacerbated by scathing criticism that
footballer and better myself. I’ve had came his way during England’s failure in France, from the stands,
very good coaching here and I have social media, television – from pretty much every direction, in fact.
developed as a player. I feel we are “It wasn’t so much Twitter or people in general that bothered me –
leading the way in this country now in everyone is entitled to their opinion,” he says. Sterling explains that
terms of women’s football. The facilities it was the words of the pundits – those who had played for England
are amazing – I have to pinch myself themselves, who understood the pressures involved and who had
sometimes. Sometimes in women’s always been friendly when he’d met them – that surprised him.
football, people say they can make it “That was a bit weird,” he admits. “But it doesn’t matter now.”
professional and they can provide this That’s because Sterling has learned to shut himself off from it
and that, but I believe anything that all, even as that criticism has turned to praise in the early months
anybody says at this club because if of this season. “I’ve been told that’s the case but I’m not reading
there’s a promise, then nine times out of 10 it will happen.” Above Sterling has any of it any more,” he says. “That’s what I have to do. I don’t know
They aren’t the only women’s team in the City Football Group to been restored to his if it’s the same for other players, but what I have to do is be myself
have enjoyed success, either – Melbourne City’s female side won exciting best form by and be happy around the training ground. That’s what matters.
every game last season. The two sides met for a friendly in Abu Guardiola’s Pep talk “This summer was my time to think, really. I said to myself that
Dhabi in February. Man City won 3-0. Below Moonchester if I come back, work hard and forget what everybody else thinks,
Should the men’s team win the Premier League title this season, the mascot says: “...” I know what I can do – and that’s exactly what I want to show.
Manchester City would hold both male and female national titles at “We want to be winning titles. The Champions League is the
the same time. “That would be unbelievable,” Houghton says, having dream for everyone, but we’ve got to take it step by step. We
spent her lunchtime at a Christmas photoshoot with Guardiola and want to be competing on all fronts, in every competition.”
De Bruyne – in early October. No one can say City don’t plan ahead.
Houghton believes that the progress of Cit
many England internationals will benefit Ma or trophies is apparent no matter who you speak to
team, and the club hope that the work they City Football Group. Despite the fierce competition,
will do the same for England men. r City and everyone involved with them ultimately
Guardiola’s presence could help, too, for J t they can become the biggest club in the world.
and Raheem Sterling at the very least. His a ?” Brian Marwood says, repeating that question
improve the players he manages has alread ee times as he pauses for thought, perhaps aware
indirect influence on national teams elsewh ance of those two words. “I genuinely believe we
was Barcelona manager when Spain won th I believe in the people that work here at every level.
2010 and Bayern Munich boss when Germa our owners, particularly our chairman, have got
years later – both sides spearheaded by sta vision and a long-term strategy. I think we have the
him at club level at the time. England for glo t to the level that we all hope and want to be at.
“Hopefully!” Sterling laughs, tongue slight at the great teams that have gone on to achieve
FFT presents those facts to him. “He’s not th ague success – they have all had stability both on
manager so we can’t expect him to win the ch. This is something that was put in place here
but yes, we’ll see how that goes!” go, and we’re still on that journey.
In a strange way, Sterling’s struggles for E t ashamed to tell people we want to be successful.
might be a big part of the reason why he ha everybody strives for, right? You want to wake up
part of the current campaign. It’s obvious fr and be the best that you can possibly be, and you
he is a shy, sensitive soul; during the first few ve a passion for that. If you don’t, then this probably
photoshoot he says little more than the clu club or right group to be a part of.”
who’s contractually mute. It’s also obvious f hoot with Pep Guardiola nears its inevitable end,
that he was deeply hurt by the criticism he r me for one more request from our snapper: “Can
Criticism is something he knows all too we cture of you looking up, Pep? Look to the future.”
decision in 2015 not to extend his Liverpool esponds by turning his head upwards and breaking
join Manchester City, which didn’t go down w he future...” he wonders aloud.
“It was just about the players that were h ’t the only person at Manchester City smiling about
asked why he gave up so much to move to t come – everyone at the Etihad is radiating that same
name 10 or 11 who have played at the high t the months and years ahead. And given everything
Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Yaya Toure. F in place, it isn’t hard to see why.

52 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

MAnCHESTER CITY
Words Carrie Dunn

In 1921 the FA declared football “quite unsuitable for females”

and outlawed the sport. The ban lasted until 1971. For 50 years
women found a way to play – but the game never recovered...
WOMEn
BAnnED
 12-year-old girl sat on a bus, flanked by her parents,
en route from Prescot to Manchester for a football
match. She wasn’t going to watch; she was going
to play. Unremarkable? Today, certainly. But it was
the 1950s, and girls and women were under strict
edicts not to play – from none other than the FA.
That 12-year-old girl was Sylvia Gore. She had
always loved football, and as a child would kick
a ball around with her father and uncle, learning the techniques like
millions of other children the world over. “The local football team,
Prescot Cables, used to look for me at half-time so I could come on
and kick a ball in the goal – they accepted it,” Gore said in May 2016.
“A lot of men up and down the country didn’t.”
The FA’s ban on women’s football began in 1921 – a kneejerk reaction
to its popularity. The world-famous Dick, Kerr’s Ladies – plus a handful
of other outfits – had helped to fill the gap left by the Football League’s
hiatus during the First World War, and attracted huge attendances to
their games as they raised money for charity.
Up to this point, women’s football had been running almost parallel
to the men’s game. A trailblazing player using the pseudonym Nettie
Honeyball had formed the British Ladies’ Football Club at the end of
the 19th century, and her team toured the country to play exhibition
games. Although spectators may have originally turned up to delight
in the undignified spectacle, reports from the time suggest they found
themselves enthralled by the quality of play.
These games were intermittent, though, and didn’t detract or distract
from the important business of men’s football. Dick, Kerr’s Ladies and
their contemporaries were the real threat. The FA lost patience with the
women after Dick, Kerr’s and St Helens brought 53,000 fans through the
Goodison Park turnstiles on Boxing Day 1920, believed at the time to be
the largest gate at any football match in England since records began.
One year later, English football’s governing body passed a resolution
declaring the sport “quite unsuitable for females” and informing men’s
clubs that they should refuse to let women play at their grounds. The
achievements of Dick, Kerr’s Ladies were pushed into the shadows by
a footballing establishment that was embarrassed by women’s success.
Gail Newsham, a footballer herself in the 1970s, became the historian
of Dick, Kerr’s Ladies. Her labour of love was to chronicle a half-century
of clandestine sporting history that had been ignored as best as possible Clockwise from left
by the football authorities. Growing up in Preston, she’d heard her father The trailblazer Nettie
talk about watching women play. A local celebration in 1992 gave her Honeyball; Sylvia Gore
the chance to bring Dick, Kerr’s alumni together. (centre) & Co. train for
“I advertised in the local press for anybody who knew anybody to get in England’s first official
touch, and the appeal worked,” says Newsham. match, 55 years after
“I could not believe it. Hardly anybody knew anything about them Dick, Kerr’s toured the
in those days, until I did all that research and found out about them.” globe; in 1921 women
As Newsham talked to the players who’d been part of the Dick, Kerr’s would play anywhere
phenomenon, she saw photos that made her realise just how popular – even Swansea; Dick,
women’s football had been, contrasting starkly with her own experience Kerr’s Ladies under the
of playing during a later era when female footballers were completely electric lights in 1924
ignored. She sighs: “The first lady I saw showed me a picture of the team
in the ’50s, and I couldn’t believe the number of people on the touchline.
We had the manager and his dog – but nobody else came to watch us.”
Newsham realised that if the history was to be preserved, then she
would need to do it herself – and quickly. She first published her book
In A League Of Their Own! in 1994 and updated it in several subsequent
editions as she continued to gather information. She has a particular
fondness for the Dick, Kerr’s striker Lily Parr, a chainsmoking tearaway
who found the back of the net more than 1,000 times in her career,
and whom Newsham wishes got wider recognition.
“When I see statistics and [mention of] the best players ever, nobody
ever thinks of the Dick, Kerr’s Ladies and what they achieved,” explains
Newsham. “They should be included. Without them, we wouldn’t have
this history. Nobody else in the world has got this history except us.”
Even though governing bodies tried to pretend otherwise, there were
newspaper archives for Newsham to explore, chronicling the history
of Dick, Kerr’s into the 1960s. Much to the dismay of the chauvinists
and suits, these female footballers refused to be put off by something
as petty as a national ban. Independent organisations governed the

56 December
February 2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
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 WOMEn
BAnnED

game, with the Women’s FA taking control

in 1969. Essentially, women’s football was
“We used to play at Southampton Common
and it had a pub called The Cowherds,” Lopez “THEY DIDn’T WAnT TO HELP,
OR DO AnYTHInG, BUT An FA
English sport’s best-kept secret. continues. “That tells you what it was back in
Yet the ban did hamper them: they were Victorian times: people’s cattle probably did
forbidden to use football facilities, were feed on this bit of ground. The football pitches
shunted onto rugby pitches, scrubland,
schoolfields – whatever they could find.
were really rough, with no nets, and we used
to play at places like that most of the time. BOD WOULD TURn UP FOR An
InTERnATIOnAL OR CUP FInAL”
“We played on park pitches in Frog Lane Even when we got another ground – a men’s
and had nothing,” Sylvia Gore recalled of her ground – some of those weren’t that brilliant.”
time representing Manchester Corinthians. It’s perhaps not too surprising, then, that
“We just had an old hut and we used to get talented footballers such as Lopez became
washed in buckets of water that the manager frustrated with all the obstacles put in their much as a county FA would do, and left them in control, essentially
brought across. We had no heating, nothing.” path. In 1971 she decided to move to Italy, as a network of volunteers with precious little resources. The clubs
Sue Lopez, who spent all but one season of where she played for Roma, albeit not as continued to run themselves as best they could.
her 20-year playing career with Southampton, a professional – just receiving her expenses. “It was difficult to find someone to run the team,” says Lopez.
tells FFT that in the 1950s and ’60s she and She shared a flat with one of her Giallorossi “We never had anyone top-notch, but they were nice people and
many of her Saints team-mates began by team-mates and enjoyed a year playing on they did their best. Training was so basic: our warm-up was in
joining in with their male friends. “I used better pitches in front of bigger crowds. a school. We’d just run around the netball court.”
to play football with two boys – neighbours Lopez reluctantly headed back to England Whenever the weather was bad or if their usual facilities were
of mine,” she recalls. “Whenever they were when the Women’s FA expressed a concern unavailable, the female players had to take a more innovative
about, we would all have a kickaround.” that players abroad might compromise their approach to training. One of the volunteers worked at a local post
“The girls would grow up in these great big amateur status – which would in turn lose office and came up with a bright idea when the team couldn’t even
tower flats with a bit of green in the middle the WFA funding from the Sports Council. find a school gym to use. Lopez remembers: “He said, ‘Oh: I’ll open
for a kickaround. That’s why it is good now “I didn’t really want to come back,” she up the post office where all the post goes in.’ There were all these
that the FA have woken up to allowing decent admits. “They kept on threatening that they bags and we’d have a run around them. At least we were in the
mixed football up to a certain age – because would ban people who went to play in Italy. warm. Those are the lengths we would go to.”
that’s how you learn, by playing with other I still had my mum and family and friends The lack of structure in the women’s game meant the young
good people. If it’s just a bunch of girls and here, and I thought: ‘Do I want to stay in players were immediately being thrown into the first team, with
only two or three are any good while the rest Italy forever?’ So I had to make a decision. very little chance to develop their skills first.
are hopeless, you’re not going to learn a lot.” I thought that I could come back to England “We would get some good, young, promising players, but we had
Without girls’ football teams in schools, to shut them up and then maybe go back out no youth teams,” remembers Lopez. “Sometimes we’d take them
many of Lopez’s friends and team-mates there again later, but unfortunately I didn’t.” on if we thought they could manage against us, at least in training,
came to the game late. Often they were Lopez returned to Southampton the same and then we’d give them a match when we played a weak team.
excellent in other sports, representing their year she left – 1971 – and helped to shape the It was difficult to accommodate the need.”
county or their country, and simply fancied team into one of the most impressive forces Lopez thinks that the FA’s failure to embrace the female game has
a change. “They were sportswomen, which in women’s football. It coincided with the created the serious problems that it still faces today. England are still
was good because that gave them a feeling official lifting of the ban on women playing, playing catch-up with some of the countries that were early adopters
of how to be a sportsperson, whether it be but that didn’t mean they were immediately of women’s football. The reluctance to acknowledge the obstacles
football, netball or whatever, and not to go given all the support they required. The FA faced by previous generations suggests that at some point the errors
out drinking on a Friday night,” she laughs. invited the Women’s FA to affiliate to them, of the past may well be repeated. An over-reliance on the goodwill of

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 57

 WOMEn
BAnnED

Lopez even managed Southampton in the

mid-2000s. Then she was made redundant
when the men, relegated from the Premier
League, stopped funding the women’s team.
Gail Newsham’s own footballing career was
equally short of funding. She remembers one
particular ground where the changing rooms
were chicken huts with an oil drum to use as

“ In 1993 THE FA TOOK COnTROL a toilet. “[The grounds] weren’t a lot to write
home about – I don’t recall there being any

OF THE WOMEn’S GAME, THEn

hot water or anything like that,” she says.
“It was pretty shocking, really. That really is
playing for the love of the game.”

In 2013 THEY CELEBRATED THE A love of the game was something Sylvia
Gore never lost. She volunteered across the

SPORT’S 20TH AnnIVERSARY”

north-west, providing girls and young women
with better opportunities to play than she’d
ever had, and sat on countless committees
governing local football. Manchester City
volunteers, and a subtle condescension to the players that they Women invited her to become their club
are even permitted to compete at all, may lead to a breaking point. ambassador, acknowledging her work, and
“They didn’t want to help; they didn’t want to do anything,” says she had plans to be reunited with her old
Lopez of the FA’s presence in her playing days. “It was just negative.” Manchester Corinthians team-mates. She
That was different, however, when there was a showpiece occasion. organised the reunion for the end of the
Lopez and her Southampton team dominated the FA Cup for a decade 2016 Women’s Super League season, in full
after its creation in 1970-71, appearing in 10 of the first 11 finals and expectation that City would be parading the
winning eight of them. Wherever the final was held – Bedford, Dulwich, Top left England line championship trophy by then.
Burton – there would be an interloper in attendance to shake hands up against Scotland Gore did not live to see the Blues’ maiden
and present the trophy. “We’d go to the cup final,” says Lopez, “and for their 1972 debut WSL title win. After a short illness, she died in
this top-notch bloke, whoever he was, would come along and present Top right Elbows fly September 2016, aged 71. Her life and career
the trophy. We’d think, ‘Well, who are you?’” in 1930s Dagenham: were acknowledged with media attention and
The same thing happened at international level as well. Even though “quite unsuitable” marked with a minute’s silence at matches.
representative England teams had been competing for years, it was Above Gail Newsham, “I would love the girls today to realise the
not until the FA lifted their ban that caps and goalscorers began to be like everyone else in effort involved,” reflects Lopez, who, like Gore,
acknowledged. Still, the England team did get to play on slightly better women’s football, did was awarded an MBE and inducted into the
pitches, so as not to outrage the visiting dignitaries. As Lopez explains, the hard yards herself National Football Museum Hall of Fame for
“For an international match, some FA bod would turn up wearing his services to women’s football. “It’s not saying,
blazer, so it would have to look half-decent.” ‘You’re lucky so-and-sos and we’re jealous’;
After paying her way through a series of trials, Sylvia Gore was picked it’s that there are loads of Sylvias who worked
for the first official England squad, and scored their first goal. Her strike hard, and men – fathers, brothers, local people
helped England come from 2-0 down to beat Scotland in November – who backed women’s football.”
1972 – more than 50 years since the FA banned women from playing Similarly, Newsham issues a stark warning of
football; 55 years since Dick, Kerr’s Ladies began to tour the UK and the dangers of forgetting history; sooner rather
the world as representatives of England; and nearly 80 years since than later, the pioneers who kept the women’s
the British Ladies’ Football Club was formed. game alive in the face of the FA’s instructions
Lopez won 22 caps during her career, in a time when international will all be gone. In 1993, the FA formally took
matches were infrequent. They were difficult to arrange, there were control of the female game. Two decades later,
few opponents and players were having to take time off work, before during the Women’s European Championship,
finding themselves out of pocket. “We were all very proud,” she says. they celebrated “20 years of women’s football”
“We thought we were getting a bit of acclaim for all our efforts.” – effectively erasing the century of history that
After Lopez retired from playing, she compiled a history of the game. they’d tried so hard to suppress.
Women on the Ball is still the most accessible and authoritative account This could well be the dawning of a second
of the way female footballers kept their own sport running for decades. golden age for women’s football. All the more
“I was proud of what we did, and also of the Women’s FA,” she says. reason to be sure to remember the struggles
“This was my way with dealing with my anger about how women had of everyone involved in shaping the game –
been treated in football. It was a hidden story, and it made me sick.” including that 12-year old girl from Prescot.

58 December
February 2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
 EnGLISH
MAnAGERS

WHERE Once, they were at the forefront of the

world game. Now, only four Englishmen

HAVE
are coaching a team in their own nation’s
top flight. FFT asks if there’s any way back

W
hat now? When Sam Allardyce and the FA “mutually agreed”

ALL THE
to end his reign as England manager prematurely at the end
of September, two months into a two-year deal, that was the
only question that the national team’s supporters could ask.
As soon as footage emerged of the former Bolton, West Ham and
Sunderland manager telling undercover Telegraph reporters that it was
possible to circumvent third-party ownership rules – rules imposed by
his employers – Big Sam’s departure seemed imminent.
Just 67 days earlier, Allardyce had headed a shortlist of just one

EnGLISH
to succeed Roy Hodgson following his and England’s Euro 2016 exit.
Gareth Southgate’s interim spell in charge of the team comes to an
end in November, yet he seems the only viable native candidate to
be given the gig full-time. At the time of going to press, there are only
four English managers in the Premier League: Alan Pardew at Crystal
Palace, Mike Phelan at Hull (his first top-flight campaign as a gaffer),
Eddie Howe at Bournemouth and Sean Dyche at Burnley.

MAnAGERS
The situation has been brewing for two decades now. Between 1946
and 1996, only Walter Winterbottom – an FA man who had no previous
experience as a manager – and Graham Taylor took on the England job
without having won major honours. Since then, however, Glenn Hoddle,
Kevin Keegan, Steve McClaren, Roy Hodgson and, briefly, Sam Allardyce
have all tried out the Three Lions hot seat with relatively modest CVs.
So how did it come to this? Have football’s inventors forgotten how
to coach? Where have all the English managers gone?

GOnE?
“Sixteen?!” It’s impossible not to hear the shock in Frank Wormuth’s
voice when FFT tells the German FA’s head of coach education how
many Premier League clubs are being run by a non-English manager.
English coaches were once at the vanguard. William Garbutt all but
introduced football to the Italians. Such was Fred Pentland’s popularity
at Athletic Bilbao, the Spanish for ‘gaffer’ is ‘Mister’. And Vic Buckingham
is credited with crystallising Total Football at Ajax in the late 1950s.
The success stories continued. From 1977 to 1982, Bob Paisley,
Words Andrew Murray
Brian Clough and Tony Barton ensured that the European Cup was
Additional reporting Nick Moore
lifted by an English manager in six consecutive seasons. Shortly
Illustrations Gary Neil
afterwards, Terry Venables became Barcelona’s manager and
Howard Kendall took over at Athletic. Yet no English coach has
won the European Cup since Liverpool’s Joe Fagan in 1984.
Too much of English management became about pure
motivation or dressing-room provocation. At elite level,
modern players need the carrot as opposed to the stick,
and that arguably comes more naturally to tactile
foreign coaches than their domestic counterparts.
“First you must respect the human being, then
the professional,” said the Argentine Mauricio
Pochettino shortly after taking charge
at Spurs in 2014. “A good relationship
comes naturally when they know how
we behave and how we want to work.”
 EnGLISH
MAnAGERS

It’s only logical that as the Premier League attracts more foreign
players, managerial appointments from abroad increase in tandem.
“Foreign coaches definitely add to the Premier League’s evolution,”
Burnley boss Sean Dyche tells FFT. “Fans and owners have a thirst for
a foreign coach. That does, though, restrict opportunities for English
and British managers. That’s the crux of the argument: how can you
show you’re a good English manager if the opportunities aren’t there?”
Dyche believes there’s a big distinction between perception and fact.
“The biggest head-scratcher for English managers,” he says, “is seeing
a fan outside the training ground on Sky Sports News talking about
the new boss and saying, ‘I’ve heard he’s a very good tactician.’ When
I was 16 most people played 3-5-2. Then it was 4-2-3-1, which is five
yards away from a 4-4-1-1, which is five yards away from a 4-4-2. It’s
like the fashion industry: there are so many things packaged differently.”
To get ahead, it’s vital that those in the next generation of English
coaches start early. Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was forced

“ COACH EDUCATIOn In EnGLAnD IS GREAT.

into coaching a lot earlier than most, his playing career cut short at
29 due to injury. Does that instil a greater hunger to achieve?
“That’s invaluable experience,” Liverpool defender-turned-Sky Sports

nEW COACHES WILL COME TO THE FORE.

pundit Jamie Carragher tells FFT. “People go on about getting 10,000
hours of practice to become skilled in whatever field – well, Eddie and

IT’S IMPORTAnT nOT TO LOSE FAITH”

others are getting that in early. The likes of Arsene Wenger and Jose
Mourinho, who didn’t have big playing careers, get all that in the bank.
If you finish playing at 35, they have got 10 years’ experience on you.
“Maybe they also have a hunger that top players lack. They’ve got
the brain. I did my B Licence but, to be honest, the longer I’m out of it,
the less chance I’ll use it. I love doing what I’m doing. Why stick your “Those in charge can see that there are young coaches who can
neck out and take the risk of getting sacked six months down the line?” be successful at the highest level, and are worth taking a risk on.
A media career will appeal to some, but many feel they are squeezed We have 29-year-old Julian Nagelsmann at Hoffenheim, while
out by the natural progression of foreign club owners seeking a foreign Thomas Tuchel [now at Dortmund] was 35 at Mainz.”
coach to manage squads that predominantly feature foreign players. Does it help, FFT wonders, that the vast majority of German clubs
“You have some jealous foreign owners who like to be the kingpin are primarily fan-owned? Or that Spanish clubs elect their presidents,
riding over the hill on their white horse,” one English manager with who are usually Spanish? “It could be that,” muses Wormuth, “but
decades of experience in the top flight and Football League tells FFT. Hoffenheim’s owner, Dietmar Hopp, was responsible for bringing in
“Once, I was sacked over budgetary issues, only for the owner to then Nagelsmann, while Mainz now have a Swiss coach in the form of
go and blow millions on one player just a few months later. Martin Schmidt, so it doesn’t necessarily follow suit.
“There’s no reason why someone who hasn’t managed in the top “Academies from under-15s upwards require the Pro Licence,
flight isn’t good enough to do so. If Eddie Howe, for example, had so young players who are struggling with injuries at 25 or so
Manchester City’s budget, scouting network and recruitment setup, can start preparing for a life after football. It’s a springboard.”
I’m pretty sure he would be up there at the top of the table.” Dyche is testament to that, having begun his coaching career
The Premier League’s astronomical wealth could be another barrier with Watford’s academy before working his way up to the Hornets’
to English coaches getting top jobs. “The Premier League has so much hot seat, and then moving to Burnley. “My pathway is, on paper,
money,” says Wormuth, head of the DFB’s coach education programme, a good way into it,” he says. “It’s tough if you do it via the lower
“so the expectations are way higher there than in Germany.” leagues, as if you’re not winning then the development soon stops
The Germans don’t share England’s problem. Of the Bundesliga’s – fans at every level want to win. But that pathway isn’t always
18 managers, 11 are homegrown – 12 if you’re including Eintracht there, because of the clamour for jobs at all levels.”
Frankfurt’s Croatian boss, Niko Kovac, who has lived his whole life in There’s also a clamour for managers who had a famous playing
Germany, where he was born, but chose to play for his parents’ country. career in England. Ryan Giggs isn’t short of cheerleaders for any
It’s the same situation in La Liga, where Barcelona’s Luis Enrique heads top-flight job going – up to and including Manchester United – yet
a list of 13 Spanish coaches. Why are they both so different to England? Gary Rowett, who has performed minor miracles at Burton and
“There’s confidence in our coach education system, but that took cash-strapped Birmingham, is rarely in the running. It seems
time,” says Wormuth. “I started here in 2007, and before that our impossible that Hoffenheim’s Nagelsmann could’ve been given an
reputation within Germany wasn’t very good, no matter what people equivalent Premier League job, having never made it as a player.
thought abroad. So we restructured the programme and now we
have a more modern model that others can then replicate.
A change of perception, then, is needed. The FA’s coach education
programme should provide exactly that. Germany has more than
1,500 coaches with the UEFA Pro Licence – football’s most advanced
qualification – around 500 of whom are currently in jobs. Spain has
more than 2,000. England, from a decade less and having started
from scratch – Germany and Spain automatically upgraded their
already-qualified coaches – has 203, at an individual cost of £8,000.
“I’m really confident about the future of English coaching,” says
Jamie Robinson, the FA’s head of elite delivery and lead UEFA Pro
Licence instructor. “We wanted to research models from around the
world, plus other sports and even higher education, to work out how
we can stretch, challenge and support UEFA Pro Licence candidates.
“We see this as a leadership award. We want technical directors,
academy managers, because it’s just as important to have a coach
 EnGLISH
MAnAGERS

And it’s not just the FA. The League Managers Association offers its
‘Institute of Leadership and High Performance’ for already-qualified
coaches to continue their education, through a series of vocational
workshops and diplomas from the University of Liverpool.
“Coach education in England is great,” says Wormuth. “They’ve taken
the best models to go their own way, as every country is different, and
I’m 100 per cent sure that if the plan continues, English coaches will
come to the fore in the future. It’s vital you don’t lose faith.”

With hundreds more expected to qualify over the next five years, will
there come a time when English coaches go abroad in search of work?
“I think they should,” says Carragher, despite his Sky Sports colleague
Gary Neville struggling in a brief stint in charge of Valencia. “Why not?
However well or badly it goes, it’s experience on the CV.
“With Gary, the language was a problem – not necessarily before
a game, but at half-time, when you have to react. He normally thinks
long and hard about things, but with Valencia he decided to go there
in a couple of days. He regrets that, but it’s part of the learning curve.”
Right now, though, there’s scepticism that foreign clubs would be
interested. One Football League manager tells FFT that a parallel of
Bob Bradley’s move from Ligue 2 to the Premier League – a top-flight
club abroad appointing an English lower-league boss – is “laughable”.
Germany has a similar problem, in fact. “A big advantage is that you
speak English – effectively the world’s language,” Wormuth says. “We
need to educate with the language more and hope Jurgen Klopp and
who is fantastic at developing five- to 11-year-olds as it is to get a top Clockwise from David Wagner at Huddersfield open the door to Europe’s top leagues.
manager. We want a conveyor belt of talent coming through. The reality top left Southgate, “Going abroad depends on the quality of the national team. If the
at the moment is underwhelming, but that is only because the Premier Dyche and Howe are national team wins a World Cup or a European Championship, a lot
League is the best in the world and home to the top managerial talent.” at the top of a very of countries and clubs around the world will want English coaches.
Carragher is in the FA’s corner, telling FFT: “Some players complain short shortlist for the We saw this in Germany. That’s how you get noticed.” In the short
that it’s too difficult, but if you want to be a manager, that’s what you England job following term, then, glory in Russia in 2018 would lift English coaching stock.
have to do. In any other employment, you need that apprenticeship.” Allardyce’s departure “After the Sam incident, why wouldn’t you at least look at Gareth
Dyche agrees. “There’s a depth to those courses,” the Clarets boss Southgate?” asks Dyche. “He has been around the FA for some time,
explains, “because you speak to different managers and get new ideas. knows the system and is very articulate. People need opportunities.
I am not saying you can make someone a great coach just by getting “English or foreign, every manager has to win games. You can moan
them on courses, because a hands-on job is different, but having more about not getting a chance, but when you do, grip it and be successful.”
education before you get there can only help. My football education has Crucially, however, plans are in place for English coaches to succeed
cost £25,000-£30,000. That could be applied to a Master’s degree. Most beyond Russia and into a better, brighter coaching future.
people would agree that someone with that degree is pretty bright. “We want our education to embody English football,” says Robinson
So with that, plus 25 years as a player, it’s fair to say you’re educated.” of the FA. “We have coaches who do the courses and come back to help
The FA don’t stop once a graduate has received their certificate. “We educate the next generation. There’s no better confirmation than that.
want to establish a culture of lifelong learning,” says Robinson, whose “But we have to stick to our principles. With the flexibility to equip
team of 26 coaches helps alumni across England’s top four divisions to coaches for the modern game, understanding what Pep Guardiola is
implement new strategies. “We have to make our coaches equipped doing at Manchester City and learning from the very best while they
for the realities of modern football. This is a unique programme in world are here, we’ll be on course to be leading the game again in 10 years.”
football: club coaches getting help after qualifying to continue learning.” What now? A long-overdue revival for English coaching, that’s what.

E nGL An D’S EU R O PEAn n IGHTMA RE Six men have coached in the Champions
League since 1992, with limited success

GORDON MILNE HOWARD WILKINSON RAY HARFORD BOBBY ROBSON HARRY REDKNAPP GARY NEVILLE
Besiktas 1992-93 Leeds 1992-93 Blackburn 1995-96 Porto ’95-96; PSV ’98-99; Spurs 2010-11 Valencia 2015-16
Newcastle 2002-03
The former Liverpool A replayed victory over King Kenny’s successor His Bale-fuelled side beat Sky Sports’ poster boy
midfielder had won three Stuttgart (who illegally brought no success: only The only Englishman to both Milan and Inter to lost his only Champions
successive Turkish titles, fielded a fourth foreign last place in a group with manage in the European make the last eight, but League match, against
but his men bowed out to player) brought Rangers Spartak Moscow, Legia Cup more than once did a 4-0 loss at the Bernabeu Lyon, before getting the
Gothenburg in the last 32. in the last 16. Leeds lost. Warsaw and Rosenborg. not reach the last eight. brought a humbling end. sack four months later.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 63


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QUESTIOn

WHO HAS THE SMARTEST YOUnG

SOUTHAMPTOn AnSWER
 EDUCATInG
SOUTHAMPTOn

AYERS In THE COUnTRY?

Words Alec Fenn Photography Richard Cannon

The perception is that young footballers

don’t even know what a school is. In fact,
a visit to Saints’ academy quickly teaches
FFT that some clubs value progress in the
classroom as highly as effort on the pitch
 AMY SPENCE
EDUCATInG ACADEMY PSYCHOLOGIST
SOUTHAMPTOn
KEVIN BATCHELOR MARK GARDNER

A
JOE SAY PRIMARY CO-ORDINATOR ACADEMY EDUCATION
ACADEMY EDUCATION TEACHER
classroom inside a dull, grey TOBY REDWOOD TEACHER
Portakabin at Southampton’s EDUCATION MANAGER
Staplewood training ground
offers a glimpse of the future
and a window into the past.
Luke Shaw, Calum Chambers
and James Ward-Prowse all
studied for their GCSEs inside these four
walls, while daydreaming of becoming
a Saints star. They were educated the
‘Southampton Way’ – a motto coined
by the club to sum up their commitment
to football and academic education.
It’s more than empty rhetoric. Chambers
left school with nine GCSEs, yet the poster
boy of Saints’ philosophy is Ward-Prowse.
He made his first-team debut aged 16
and achieved a distinction in a BTEC
qualification two years later which could
have seen him go on to a top university.
He’s a prototype of the intelligent player
Southampton are trying to produce with
their own brand of football schooling.
“We want bright and intelligent players Most players enter the academy at the
coming through our system,” Matt Hale, foundation phase – between the age of
Saints’ academy director, tells FFT. “Football nine and 12 – and train with the club once
requires players to solve problems quickly. a week on day release from their schools.
And if a boy is studying maths, he has to Training means they miss an afternoon
problem-solve. If he gets better at doing of study, but they make up for it with two
that in the classroom, then we believe he hours of lessons with Saints’ academy
will be better at doing it on the pitch, too.” teachers to make sure they do not fall
The club’s philosophy is underpinned too far behind with their coursework.
by 10 commandments, written in white “Everything we teach them is related to
lettering on red signs pinned to various football,” says Kevin Batchelor, the club’s
walls in corridors, offices and classrooms primary co-ordinator. “All of their subjects
around the complex. They all serve as have a football emphasis to help them see
a constant reminder to academy players the link between school and football from
of the conduct demanded by the club a young age. The under-9s write a player
once they’ve enrolled at the Eton of profile about themselves with information
football academies. FFT has already about their families, friends and schools.
broken the first rule, which states that We pass it on to their coach so that he has
players should have their shirts tucked more information about each individual.”
in and socks pulled up at all times. As a Category One Premier League Top Meet the men Not all of the boys are gifted students.
“As a group of staff we wanted to put academy, the St Mary’s outfit have to and women making Shaw, who was nicknamed ‘the dopey
the ‘Southampton Way’ down on paper,” monitor the trajectory of their young bright sparks at Saints one’ by classmates Ward-Prowse and
says Hale. “What do we expect of players? players’ school grades once they begin Above “Psst, what did Chambers, was a particularly testing
What’s our coaching and teaching style? to undergo schooling at the club. you put for Question 4 case. Joe Say, another of Saints’ on-site
When a player joins the academy, we “The demands are pretty rigorous,” in Penalty Shootouts?” teachers, laughs as she recalls working
sit down with him and his parents and says Hale. “We have to upload all their with the left-back when he was a teen.
we go through the 10 commandments. grades to a software programme so the “Luke was a lovely lad but he wasn’t
This way, everyone can see what our Premier League can audit that at any time, very academic,” she explains. “He was
expectations are, on and off the pitch. and if a player comes to us and his grades the type of boy who just wanted to play
“One of the rules that we brought in this start dropping off, you have to show them football and do P.E. We had to work hard
season is that they’re not allowed to wear that you are addressing it straight away with Luke to show him that school was
coloured boots until they get a professional before it escalates into something major.” important so he had something to fall
contract. That’s just part of our culture.” If a player isn’t working hard enough, back on it if he didn’t quite make it.”
Education plays a role in the recruitment Southampton have a simple equivalent to This dose of realism also justifies the
of young players too, as the club requests a detention that ensures unruly schoolboys club’s emphasis on education. Academy
character references from their schools to fall back into line. “Some think education players are often reminded that few of
pinpoint any behavioural concerns. Hale is optional,” says academy education them will go on to become professionals.
elaborates: “If we bring a young lad in as teacher Mark Gardner. “We say, ‘If you “It’s a very tough industry and a tough
a teenager, we need to know if he’s got don’t do your work, you don’t play’ and business,” Hale acknowledges. “We work
the right mindset to train several times the coaches reinforce that. It works.” hard to make sure that the boys who don’t
a week and balance that with his studies. Education manager Toby Redwood make it have alternative career paths. We
A bad reference would not stop us from adds: “The only problems I’ve ever had feel that’s our duty. We’ve great links with
bringing someone in, but it would give us were with lads who came in from other several US universities and we invite them
an idea of a player’s weaknesses and clubs at an older age. They have not over to do a presentation to our boys once
where we need to work with them.” been brought up with our standards.” a year. Many go on to study over there.”

68 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 EDUCATInG
SOUTHAMPTOn

Southampton’s curriculum has a unique It’s a relevant point as footballers capable of looking after themselves while
twist. The club’s psychology department enter their teenage years. Those who they live away from family and friends.
is using neuroscience to help improve the live some distance from Southampton Cookery classes teach the boys how to
performance of their young players’ brains. are encouraged to stay over with a host make meals, in preparation for moving
“We’re looking at different areas of the family once a week between the ages into their own apartment – something
brain we can tap into that will have an of 13 and 15. During their final year of the club strongly encourages if they sign
impact on the pitch,” explains academy school, this can increase to three nights. professional terms at 16. A booklet is also
psychologist Amy Spence. “One of these Although most of the academy players given to every player between the ages
areas is about decision-making. This is are recruited from the surrounding area, of nine and 23, telling them how to iron
controlled by one specific part of the five players have been brought in from a shirt and even where to find a fuse box
brain and we tell the boys we can train London and currently live full-time with at home. Meanwhile, mechanics will visit
it like they do their muscles in the gym.” host families while studying at Saints’ the club to teach basic car maintenance
Players from the age of nine use a piece partner school, Applemore College. skills and orienteering sessions around
of technology called the Neurotracker. It “As a Category One academy, we are the local area are designed to help the
requires them to track four balls among allowed to recruit players from any area players enhance their communication.
a moving pack of eight for 10 seconds. of the country from the age of 12,” Hale Say sympathises with the challenges
Heart rate variability training teaches explains. “However, we have to move them teenage boys face. “They’re more tired
youngsters how to control their breathing to a partner school and also house them than other boys their age,” she explains.
and deal with stressful situations, by using within travelling distance of the academy. “They have to juggle schoolwork, training,
a monitor which measures the amount of “We have 46 host families in the area,” moving out and the pressure of wanting
time that passes between each heartbeat. he says, “and they are visited by one of to succeed, particularly in the GCSE year.
The FitLight reaction-training device is our two welfare officers every six weeks. “Some of the lads from London or the
another tool used regularly, testing young They will address any problems that arise, Below Saints have 10 West Country do not see their parents,
players’ ability to react to a sequence of such as a boy’s diet or whether the player commandments for friends or girlfriends very often and they
discs that light up at random. It has even is socialising with the family enough.” their young players to can get lonely. They have a lot more on
become popular with the first team. Fraser The Saints’ teaching staff provide a life follow, but FFT falls at their plate than other boys their age.”
Forster often used FitLights as well as the skills programme so that the players are the very first hurdle Like many boys at secondary schools
Neurotracker to hone his cognitive skills right across the country, not all of the
while he recovered from a broken kneecap. academy players will graduate with flying
The gadgets are fun, but they do serve colours and win a professional contract –
a purpose. They’re used as part of a batch but the club are confident they already

“ WE TELL THEM, ‘IF YOU

of in-house psychological tests carried out have their next batch of smart footballers.
three times a year to provide a baseline “We have a lot of boys above average,”
measurement of a player’s mental skills. beams Say. “They’ve seen how successful
Psychological reviews are also carried
out every 12 weeks with players from the DOn’T DO YOUR WORK, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Shaw have
been in football and academically, and

YOU DOn’T PLAY’, AnD

under-nine age group and up, focusing that’s set the tone because they have
on leadership, confidence and behaviour. become role models for younger boys.
Parents are even invited to come along. Goalkeeper Alex Coles earned seven
The continuous raft of tests and daily
monitoring places intense pressure on THE COACHES BACK US A*s and two As at GCSE while playing
for England Under-16s. This year he’ll

UP. IT ALWAYS WORKS”

academy players as they balance their begin a BTEC qualification. Oliver Cook,
football and academic education. a centre-back who plays for the club’s
“We had a player come and visit us under-21s, is keen to begin studying
about anxiety,” reveals Spence. “He was an English A-Level at the academy
really struggling to deal with pressure, alongside full-time football training.
and it was showing out on the pitch. So For the teachers at Southampton, the
we monitored his mood at certain times hard work continues. They’re hoping to
every day for several weeks to see if there introduce a mentor programme soon,
was a trend. We met up with the player which would see age groups assigned
and his coach twice a week for six weeks a first-team player who will watch their
to help him and to track his progression. games and offer advice and guidance.
During week one, his body language on A young captain’s leadership programme
the pitch was visibly not good – he drifted is also in the works. Coaches and teachers
out of the game after making a mistake. will work with the youngsters to develop
By week six he had learned to forget about personalities who’ll assume responsibility
mistakes and get back into the game.” on the pitch from a much earlier age.
The individual nature of Southampton’s For now, though, Ward-Prowse remains
education programme is made to develop Saints’ star pupil. The 22-year-old recently
well-rounded characters with the personal delivered a talk to the academy players
qualities to deal with the many challenges about his journey with the South Coast
that life will inevitably throw at them. club and the importance of his education.
Hale explains how self-discipline is drilled His story is helping to battle a culture
into players from a young age: “If one of embedded in football. As Say tells FFT:
our boys is going to be late in for training “There’s a stereotype that footballers
then, even if he’s 11 or 12, he has to make aren’t academic, but we’ve proven that
the call to the coach. His mum or dad can’t isn’t the case. You can be successful in
do it, because they won’t always be there.” the classroom and on the pitch.”

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 69

3
 FERGIE

YEARS
OF
FERGIE
THE
UNTOLD
STORIES
Everyone knows Alex Ferguson’s
26 years with Manchester United
brought trophies, racehorses and
squeaky bums – but what else?
Three decades after arriving at Old
Trafford, we reveal 30 insider tales
Interviews
Alec Fenn, Chris Flanagan, Leo Moynihan,
Will Robinson, Johnny Sharp, Ben Welch
 FERGIE

1 FERGIE: ARSENAL’S SAVIOUR? 3 ALEX

Charlie Nicholas Friend
FERGUSON
vs PAUL McGRATH
I remember the moment Alex told me he’d been Viv Anderson Manchester United defender, 1987-91
5 DON’T QUESTION HIS CONTROL
Patrick Barclay Journalist
I was at the 1990 FA Cup semi-final replay between
offered the Manchester United job. I was gutted – It didn’t take me long to work out that Alex would be Manchester United and Oldham Athletic at Maine
I thought he was going to manage me at Arsenal! a hard taskmaster. During my first full pre-season with Road, and at half-time the press corps, club directors
I developed a really close relationship with him United we played at Hartlepool on a cold, wet night in and other officials were mingling in the Blue Room.
when he took the Scotland job [in 1985]. If there’s August – yes, August, but this is Hartlepool, remember Alex walked through and, it being half-time, didn’t
one manager who could have got me on the straight – and we were losing 5-0 at half-time. stop for small talk. But then he saw me. We’d always
and narrow, it was him. He once told me, while we It was an explosive thing to witness. Kit bags went had an all right relationship, but at this moment his
were together with Scotland, that he’d been made flying, anything that wasn’t nailed down was hurled eyes widened and he just said, “You c**t.”
an offer by Arsenal to take over there. I was sworn across the room and he’d go right in your face, his “Excuse me?” I asked.
to secrecy, but my heart was pounding at that point veins in his forehead throbbing, and say, “You think “You f**king c**t.” And with that he was gone.
as I was getting on well with him and things hadn’t you’re a United player? You’re a disgrace!” I couldn’t believe it. A few weeks later I saw him
been going so well for me at Arsenal up to that point. He went over towards to Paul McGrath and did it again in the foyer at Elland Road. I decided to march
When he later said, “I’ve had an offer from Manchester an inch away from his face. Paul, in his soft, Irish up to him – my temper had me brave – and laid into
United and I’m going there”, I thought, ‘Aw, bugger!’ accent, said gently, “There’s no need to shout, him, asking how he dared talk to me like that. I drove
because I’m sitting right in front of you.” home later thinking, ‘Oh heck, what have I done?’ but

2 INTRODUCING
HAIRDRYER
THE
Chris Turner Manchester United goalkeeper, 1985-88
We were all wincing, cowering, and inwardly
thinking, ‘Noooo! Just sit there and take it, Paul
– it’s not worth it!’ And of course Alex carried on
feeling I had at least stood up for myself.
The following season I went to Hungary to see United
play in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Worryingly, all the press
The first time Fergie dished out his infamous hairdryer even louder. We went on to lose 6-0. Perhaps not were staying in the same hotel as the club. I was in the
treatment at United was after we’d been beaten 1-0 coincidentally, Paul was sold the following summer. bar, having a beer with some of the press guys, when
at Wimbledon [on November 29, 1986, three weeks in walks Ferguson. I thought, ‘Here we go’ – but he was
into the new manager’s reign]. Fergie really ripped
into us. He felt we had to get out of our comfort zone
and be a side with a more ruthless streak. I think he
4 DOING BUSINESS QUICKLY
Lee Sharpe Manchester United winger, 1988-96
I was playing for Torquay as a 16-year-old apprentice.
all smiles and bought everyone a drink, including me.
It was only later on that I discovered he had taken
exception to an article I’d written prior to the Oldham
also felt that we were a bit of a soft touch and were A scout came to watch one of our matches and then game, in which I’d wondered if Fergie might have lost
not competing physically – and of course Wimbledon called up Alex Ferguson, saying, “There’s a young kid his grip at Old Trafford and if matters were getting out
at that time were well known for doing exactly that. here that you need to see.” Fergie came down with of his control. The thing is, calling someone a c**t and
The player who got it that day was John Sivebaek, his assistant manager, Archie Knox, and watched then swearing back at them is fine, but the minute you
our right-back. I think it was probably just because he our game on the Friday evening. By the Saturday question a control freak’s control, then you’re in trouble.
was sitting in the wrong place at that moment. Alex morning he’d agreed to take me up to Manchester.
was right in his face, yelling, giving him both barrels.
John was one of the quietest, nicest lads you could
meet, so I did feel a bit sorry for him. But Alex felt
It was all pretty quick; I had no idea he had even
been watching the game until 2am on the Saturday,
when the manager and club secretary knocked on
6 ALWAYS GOOD TO MEET A FAN
Andy Mitten Fanzine editor
I wrote to Alex as a 16-year-old in the summer
he needed a reaction from his team, to wake us up my door and told me United wanted to sign me. of 1991, saying that I was editing a fanzine called
out of our complacency. And that approach was all I joined the club not long after my 17th birthday United We Stand and I’d love to interview him. He
part of what made him the great coach that he was. and started playing in the first team straight away. replied on club-headed notepaper, saying he’d be
 FERGIE

happy to help. I went to the team hotel with this big

red ghetto blaster with a tape-to-tape, and I pressed
record. He started laughing. He was used to hardened
the local area. The club hired a load more scouts and
became far more active in that department. Alex was
very supportive but he would let you get on with your
10 THE CLASS OF ’92 EMERGES
Paul Parker United defender, 1991-96
Fergie didn’t really speak to most of us about all the
journalists – but I was just a young fan. He was calling job. Then, when you told him, “You need to have a look young players coming through. He just kept coming up
players over and saying, “Here, come and look at this.” at this player”, he would take you at your word and let to the likes of me, Paul Ince and Denis Irwin to say that
He spoke to me for an hour, then asked if there was that player train with the first team. these players – Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville,
anything else I needed. I said, “I’ve got to go now.” To That re-focussing on youth players, and the core David Beckham and so on – would be taking our places
get his undivided attention for that long and then end of homegrown players that followed, helped bring soon. He kept repeating that. He believed in what was
the interview, I look back and think what an idiot I was! back the spirit of Manchester United. coming through and it turned out that he was right.

7 TAGGART NEARLY INVOLVED

IN ANOTHER MURDER
Paul Parker Manchester United defender, 1991-96
11 HOUSE OF CARDS
Gary Pallister United defender, 1989-99
The gaffer loved cards. We’d have a card school at
The first rollocking I can remember was during training the back of the bus for away games – me, him, Steve
not long after I’d arrived at the club. The gaffer got Bruce, Bryan Robson, Denis Irwin and Brian McClair.
nutmegged, and, being a fan of TV sleuths, I turned He was a really bad loser. I often thought he hated
round and called him Taggart. I’d been led into it by to lose more than he loved to win. We’d play Hearts,
Steve Bruce. Suddenly everything seemed to go quiet and I made a point of trying to pass on my bad cards
and everyone stood completely still. I can’t remember to the gaffer. He’d call me every name under the sun.
exactly what he said, but at that moment I thought Then whenever he lost, the table would be upended
my time at the club had ended just after it had started. with the cards going across the bus. The players
sitting in the rows in front would get showered

8 THE TIME HE MADE LEE

SHARPE SELL HIS DOG
Lee Sharpe Manchester United winger, 1988-96
with cards and say,
“The gaffer has
lost again,
My worst hairdryer was at half-time in a game against has he?”
Liverpool. He said he was kicking me out of my house
and that I had to stay in digs. My girlfriend had moved
up from Birmingham, so she had to go back home.
We split up. I also had to sell my car, and my dog!

9 SCOUTING FOR SUCCESS

Paul McGuinness Academy director, 1992-2016
The key change he made early on at
Manchester United was putting Brian
Kidd in charge of all the scouting in
 FERGIE

12 HANDLING THE PRESSURE 13 NURSE FERGIE

Paul McGuinness Academy director, ’92-16
One of the big things about Alex was that he could
Dion Dublin United striker, 1992-94
When I broke my leg in 1992 the gaffer said, “If you still
16 MORE TEA, ALEX?
Dion Dublin United striker, 1992-94
I remember one game from early on in my time at
be in a pressure situation with the first team but box want to come on European trips, I’ll book two seats on Old Trafford, when I left the ground with Ryan Giggs.
that off and switch his attention to another matter – the plane for you – no problem.” I had a cast all the way There were fans everywhere, and Giggsy was the top
something with the youth team, say. For example, the up to my groin; I was pretty much immobilised. He also man at the time. I didn’t know which way to get out
season United won their first title in 26 years [1992-93] drove from his house to mine and came into my living of the stadium and Giggsy had to try to avoid being
the team started badly: after drawing the third game, room to give me a Christmas present by hand, which mobbed, so we weaved through the back corridors,
they were in the bottom three. Yet 10 minutes after the was a really nice gesture. It was towels, since you ask… the kitchens, through all these doors, and we ended
game he came to me and said, “Get me Paul Gibson’s up going through the laundry room. I did a double
number.” Paul was an under-16s keeper who’d broken
his nose earlier that day. Alex phoned up his parents.
Afterwards they said, “With everything that’s going on
14 PLEASE TURN OFF
YOUR MOBILE PHONES
Paul Parker United defender, 1991-96
take when I spotted, sat behind one of the washing
machines, Alex Ferguson, who was having a cup of
tea with the laundry ladies before he went home.
with the first team, we can’t believe he’s phoned us.” Once, Steve Bruce’s wife was in hospital having a back Whether it was Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona, some lad
operation, so he left his phone on in the dressing room who had just signed from Cambridge United or the
during a match. The first half didn’t go well, and while laundry ladies, he always had the personal touch.
we were all sat in the dressing room during half-time,
the phone started ringing. Everything went quiet and
you could see Brucie’s face drop. “It was me,” he said.
The gaffer ran across to him, grabbed the phone and
17 REMEMBER THE NAME
David May United defender, 1994-2003
The one thing that always sticks out about the gaffer
then threw it against the wall, smashing it to pieces. is that he knew absolutely everybody – whether it was
the tea lady, the laundry girls or the players’ wives, he

15 GRACIOUS IN DEFEAT
(SOMETIMES, ANYWAY)
Peter Reid Rival manager
knew all of their names. I bumped into him in Malta
10 years after I had retired, and I couldn’t believe that
he still remembered my wife’s name. He was asking
He made so many brave decisions as a manager. At about each of my children by name. He has got an
times I’d think, ‘What’s he doing?’ but he’d be proven unbelievable memory for people and their names.
right. We had quite a few games against each other,
starting when I came in as boss of [Manchester] City
in 1990, and we were always both desperate to win.
We’d exchange a few harsh words on the touchline,
18 IFYOU’RE
YOU’RE STANDING STILL,
GOING BACKWARDS
Paul McGuinness Academy director, 1992-2016
and when we’d have a glass of wine after the game I remember being in the car with him, driving from
then whoever had lost – usually me! – wouldn’t be in The Cliff [training ground] to Old Trafford the day
a great mood at first, but he isn’t after the club had won the league – and he was on
as terrible a loser as he’s made the phone, talking about a transfer. I was thinking,
out to be. I was the Sunderland ‘This guy’s not stopping for a minute.’ As soon as the
manager when we were fighting final whistle went and the league title had been won,
relegation and beat them 2-1 then he was straight onto thinking about the next one.
at Roker Park [in March 1997]. He was incessant – he wouldn’t stop. He would keep
The first thing he said to me changing things, adding new players, new staff or new
was, “It’ll keep you up, that.” ideas. They won the league, then he added two or three
And we f**king went down! top players. Everyone was on their toes. Everything had
So he’s not always right... to keep moving – no part of the club could stagnate.
 FERGIE

19 THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Luke Chadwick United winger, 1999-2004 “WHEn I BROKE MY LEG HE CAME TO MY HOUSE TO GIVE
ME A CHRISTMAS PRESEnT BY HAnD. IT WAS TOWELS”
A massive thing for the gaffer was making you feel
important. As a 14-year-old I took part in a trial game
for United against Nottingham Forest. I got home by
train, and by the time I got back he’d already phoned
my mum to say they wanted to sign me. When you get
home and hear that, it makes you feel incredible. Even
at Under-9 or Under-10 level he knew your name and
asked about your family. He made you feel amazing.
That gives you huge confidence to express yourself.
before throwing the lot in the bin. “That was last
season, boys,” he said to the players. “That’s all
done now. This is this season.” He would always
23 NOBODY IS SAFE
Paul Scholes United midfielder, 1992-2013
Once, I was a substitute for a game away at Newcastle.
stamp out deviation from the focus on winning. We were 3-1 down when I came on after an hour, and

20 BETWEEN THE SHEETS

WITH ALEX FERGUSON
Nick Littlehales Consultant sleep coach, 1998- 22 ADIPLOMACY
SPOT OF INTERNATIONAL
IN BELGIUM
we quickly got it back to 3-3. We’d created a couple of
chances and I think I missed one myself. Then I gave
the ball away and they hit us on the break, scored and
Alex came to visit the Slumberland factory over in Danny Higginbotham United defender, 1997-2000 won 4-3. After the match, that is all he remembered:
Oldham towards the end of the 1998-99 season. The abiding memory I have of Alex is how he stood me giving the ball away. I got a real roasting for that.
United were about to win the Treble, and there by me and Ronnie Wallwork when we were in trouble
was a sense that it was like royalty was coming.
There were no airs and graces. Even when we
asked to take some pictures of him lying on a bed,
with the Belgian FA in 1999 during a loan spell with
Royal Antwerp. There was an incident at the end of
a play-off match: Ronnie was accused of holding the
24 DELEGATION KEPT HIM
TWO GAMES AHEAD
Bill Beswick Consultant sports psychologist, 1999-01
outside, with his head on a football, he was open referee by the throat; I was accused of headbutting Of all the coaches I’ve worked with, he was the clearest
to it. You could sense that he wouldn’t ask you to him. It was all a load of nonsense, but I was initially about his own role. Most hover between coaching and
do anything he wasn’t prepared to do himself. given a year-long ban and Ronnie was banned for life. management, never quite sure what they are, labelled
Alex chose to fly over to Belgium to be our character ‘managers’ but far more comfortable on the training

21 WINNING THE TREBLE IS

SO LAST SEASON
Bill Beswick Consultant sports psychologist, 1999-01
references at our appeal hearing, and he spoke about
us in glowing terms. He didn’t have to do that for us –
he could have stayed in Manchester and focused on
pitch. Alex was a good delegator: he’d let the coaches
and other staff get on with their own jobs as he trusted
them. He believed that you were an expert in your field
I remember the first day of pre-season in the summer defending the Treble – but he did. You could say he put and he was an expert in his, and so as long as you had
of 1999, just a few weeks after the team had won the his reputation on the line for us, but he didn’t see it that a positive influence on the team, you were on board.
Treble. One of the players showed up carrying a sack way. He trusted us – we might not have played much It created an environment focused on winning, and
full of baseball bats that had ‘Treble Winners’ written for the first team, but we’d been at the club for about he could focus on the next match and how to win it.
on them, and then began handing them nine years and he knew everything about us. He knew his team for the next game and the
out to the rest of the United players. Both of our bans were massively game after that. He’d have three teams
Alex marched over and started reduced, and when we got up on his board at any one time.
to collect up the bats and put back to Manchester
them back in
the sack,
he gave us both
new four-year
contracts.
25 PEOPLE
WATCHER
Mick Clegg United
power development
coach, 2000-11
To me, he was the
ultimate observer of
human character.
He used to get to
Carrington at 7am
– his office would
overlook the car
park. He’d watch
every player turn
up and get out
of their car, and
he would see
what kind
of mood
 FERGIE

they were in. Some would almost be dancing down the

path, others would be arguing with the wife on their
phone, some would look depressed, and some would
I decided it would be a bit of fun to fill his room with
loads of kit – so much that you couldn’t actually get
in through the door. We also put cellophane over the
29 KING OF THE
RING ON TOUR
Mick Clegg United power development coach, 2000-11
have their chests puffed out as if to say, ‘I can’t wait toilet seat, unscrewed the bed – all the classic gags. Fergie’s approach to his own personal fitness was that
to start training.’ Once they had all come in and gone We expected there to be an inquest the following he knew he needed to do it, but he didn’t like to do it
through the warm-ups, had their massages and so on, day, but there was none. I always suspected he knew because he was always so busy. He was always the
he’d observe them all as they walked onto the pitch. it was us, but he didn’t say anything until I went to first in at the club – apart from the cat and the guy
He watched his players all of the time. He didn’t take Old Trafford to watch a United game years and years who opened the gates – and he always had stacks
the training sessions – he’d just walk around the edge later. Afterwards, I went back to his office for a drink. of paperwork on his desk to get through. So, many
of the pitch and observe. He could see who was up for He turned to me and said out of nowhere, “I know it a morning I’d bang at his door, shouting, “Come on,
it and who looked tired. He could tell when his players was you.” I said, “What was me?” And he replied, “The get down the gym – you know it’s good for you.” He
were on top and also when they were at rock bottom. hampers. The cellophane. Don’t think I didn’t know.” would always say, “I don’t have time” and I would
Then he just giggled. That was how I always found just reply, “You have time to die, though!”

26 WE’RE SENDING YOU

DOWN, SON (SORRY)
Danny Higginbotham United defender, 1997-2000
him – a really warm, funny man. Sure, I also saw
a determined bugger, but mostly I didn’t see this
great anger in him – just a warmth and love of life.
I introduced boxing to our gym sessions as Roy
Keane had tried it and enjoyed it, so it became part
of our training methodology to do boxing-related
In 2005, I was at Southampton and we played United exercises that were applicable to football. When we
on the last day of the season, needing a win to stay up.
United were playing in the FA Cup final against Arsenal
a week later, so there was a lot of talk of them playing
28 THE BIRTH OF A
FOOTBALL MONSTER
Tony Pulis Rival manager
were on tour, [Fergie] would have a little more time,
and he came to me once and said, “Come on then,
let’s have a go at this boxing” – and he enjoyed it.
a weakened team against us. They didn’t. I had just got Stoke promoted and I wanted to call
Every time I played against United, Alex would come
over to me and have a little chat. On this occasion, we
lost 2-1. We were relegated. I was devastated, and the
a couple of Premier League managers to have a chat
about what to expect. I remember chatting with Alex.
He said, “You’ve got to find a way of winning home
30 DON’T CALL HIM
GAFFER (ANY MORE)
David May United defender, 1994-2003
last one back down the tunnel. When I got there, Alex games. Play to your strengths. Forget what everybody At his golf day three years ago, just after he’d retired,
was waiting for me. He put his arm around me and else says – don’t let them affect your way of playing.” he walked over to me and I said, “How are you doing,
said, “Sorry, Danny, we’ve been under lots of pressure That really stuck with me, and we did all sorts of gaffer?” He replied, “No, no, it’s not gaffer any more.
so I just couldn’t play a weakened team.” things to make sure we were strong and powerful, Just call me Alex.” I couldn’t call him Alex – it wasn’t
He was apologising for playing a full-strength team and to make it more difficult for opponents to play in my nature to call him that. He still gets called the
and winning. He didn’t have to do that – but it showed at the Britannia. We used to have [Arsene] Wenger gaffer now because all of the players have so much
the respect he had for his former players. complaining about the size of the pitch, and other respect for him – and rightly so. The ability to get
the maximum out of his players, not to mention his

27 FERGIE COULD TAKE

A JOKE... EVENTUAL
Charlie Nicholas Friend
man-management skills, were second to none. He
knew how to give you a good rollicking, but he also
knew when to put his arm around you as well.
A few days before the start of the 1986 Wo
Scotland management team – Fergie, Arch
Walter Smith – went out for the night. Stev
 PrESEnTS

FERGIE
THE UNTOLD STORIES
In the first of a new documentary series, FourFourTwo talks to the
people who spent years working alongside one of football’s greatest
managers, and discovers the most amazing Alex Ferguson tales ever

OUT On nOVEMBER 6 / YOUTUBE.COM/FOURFOURTWO

“I T ’ S A n U n FA I R
DA MI OSCGK ERR YAOCF EA ,
C O C K -U P ! ”
 PLYMOUTH’S
RESERVES

After an aggressive response to the decision allowing Premier League Under-23

sides to face Football League teams, FFT asks how Plymouth Reserves are being
treated as the only professional second-string in the pyramid. Hint: not that well

Words Chris Evans Photography Matt Gilley/Pinnacle

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 79

“ IT’S COMPLETE DOUBLE
STAnDARDS,” BLURTS PHIL South Western League – in 2006-07, but pulled out after just the one
season. After a nine-year hiatus, the reserves were welcomed into the
South West Peninsula League Division One West at the beginning of

LAFFERTY, WITH PASSIOn.

the 2015-16 season. Their first campaign was a success: the Pilgrims
racked up 26 wins from a possible 32 to finish second in the standings
and secure promotion to the Premier Division. Champions Mousehole
saw their ground fail to meet the FA’s grading criteria.

“FOR ALL OF THE HARD

Although eyebrows were raised at the initial notion of Plymouth’s
reserves being given entry into the non-league pyramid, the debate
has stepped up a level since their promotion, with the reserve side
now being used not only to blood the club’s most promising young

WORK THAT VOLUnTEERS,

players, but to give first-teamers some action as well.
St Austell haven’t been the only victims of this approach: nine senior
pros lined up for Plymouth’s 5-1 trouncing of Helston Athletic in late
September. It was a result greeted by irate posts on social media and

CHAIRMEn AnD COACHES

league forums, as supporters questioned whether a professional club’s
reserve team should be allowed to compete in non-league football.

THE SOUTH WEST LACKS TOP-LEVEL TEAMS THAT THE RESERVES CAN FACE

PUT InTO OUR LEAGUE,

Despite the heavy beatings that have been dished out in the season’s
early months, not all quarters see Argyle’s involvement as a problem.
“We see it as a big positive that Plymouth Argyle have got a team in

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE ARE

our league,” says Helston’s chairman, Paul Hendy. “They brought nine
first-team players and completely outplayed us, but it was a great
occasion and a really good experience for our players.
“What annoys me more than having a team with professionals in it

MAKInG A MOCKERY OF IT”

is when I hear about non-league clubs who are spending thousands
of pounds trying to win this league. That’s ruining the game at this
level, because there isn’t any longevity in doing that.
“I know some clubs aren’t happy that Plymouth are in the league,
and post on forums disagreeing with it, but to me that’s sour grapes.”
It isn’t hard to find diverse opinions across the division; most clubs
sit quite clearly in camps for or against Plymouth’s reserve team. One
man who is familiar with hearing about the fallout, as he canvasses
These aren’t the paranoid ramblings of a bitter fan who has supped the region for monthly magazine Cornish Soccer, is journalist Dave
one too many post-match pints after a humbling loss to the Pilgrims. Deacon. It seems the great reserve debate isn’t so clear-cut after all.
Far from it. Phil Lafferty is one of the South West Peninsula League’s “It has caused quite a stir down here – people are firmly on one side
most highly-respected managers – and he may have a point. or the other,” says Deacon. “You tend to hear more from the clubs who
When, on September 9 this year, Plymouth Argyle’s official website have lost out against Plymouth, but there are clubs who have benefited
posted a statement condemning the Football League’s plans to bring that keep quiet. For example, the clubs who have hosted games against
Premier League B teams into its competitions, the League Two club Argyle have enjoyed increased attendances, so that’s a plus for them.
were lauded, even by rival supporters, on social media because they “I have mixed feelings. It’s a great way for people to see Plymouth
were seen to be making a stand for what the majority of fans wanted. play their teams, but it makes a cock-up of the league.”
But just 17 days earlier, that same club upset non-league followers However, the South West Peninsula League isn’t the only place to
across Cornwall and Devon by fielding eight senior players in a South see reserve teams competing. A couple of hundred miles from Devon,
West Peninsula League Premier Division game with St Austell. six reserve sides are plying their trade in the Eastern Counties Football
How, you ask? Because some six divisions below the Football League League Division One, while both Chesham United and Arlesey Town
and their first team’s place within it, Plymouth Argyle’s reserves play in have reserve teams in the Spartans South Midlands Football League.
the 10th tier of English football, where they compete against a host of But even though Plymouth’s reserves aren’t the only second string
traditional non-league outfits. And all of it is within the rules. operating in non-league, the Pilgrims are the only professional club
So, when the Pilgrims’ team-sheet for a league encounter against in the English league with a B team in a senior division.
St Austell was revealed to include a flurry of first-teamers – including It’s partly down to their dual status as the country’s most southern
Jordan Slew and Scotland international David Goodwillie, who had and most western representatives in the top four divisions. With only
both been recruited by Blackburn Rovers for a combined £3 million Exeter City and Torquay United playing within an 80-mile radius of
only a few years ago – it was deemed to be above board. Plymouth, the south-west of England has a shortage of top-level
Unsurprisingly, the match didn’t end well for Plymouth’s opponents. competition for the reserves to face. So, presented with no other
St Austell finished second in the league last season – scoring 104 goals viable option locally to bridge the gap between youth football and
– and are among the favourites to win the title this time around, so the the Football League, the club was welcomed into non-league by
6-0 scoreline didn’t sit well with many on the south coast. South West Peninsula League secretary Phil Hiscox.
“A lot of St Austell fans who went to the game came away thinking, “Anywhere else in the country, Plymouth would be in a Premier
‘What a farce,’” continues Lafferty, who became one of the Lillywhites’ League reserve division, but there isn’t one here,” Hiscox tells FFT.
most successful managers before choosing to step down this summer. “There’s a gap for players too old for the youth team and not quite
“It could be the difference between finishing first or second at the end ready for the first team. There aren’t always enough clubs to play in
of the season. Plymouth can have an effect on the likes of St Austell or the West Peninsula leagues – it works for both of us.
whoever might have title ambitions, or a team at the bottom who get “The FA’s reserve-team rules say they can play at step six [the 10th
relegated because they concede a lot more goals against a team of tier of English football, and the team’s current location] and no higher.
professionals. Plymouth could potentially stunt the growth of a club.” It’s perfectly legal. Nobody has batted an eyelid about Tiverton Reserves.”
This isn’t the first time that Argyle’s second string have entered the That’s right: Plymouth aren’t even the only reserve team playing in
non-league ranks. They appeared in the division’s previous guise – the their division. While the Football League side have dominated the

80 December
February 2016
2016FourFourTwo.com
FourFourTwo.com
PLYMOUTH’S
RESERVES
 PLYMOUTH’S
RESERVES

headlines, Tiverton Town, whose first team are challenging towards the against the best players I could,” says Nancekivell, as his players
top of the Southern League Division One South & West – two levels do their final preparations before kick-off. “The first-team manager
higher – also have a pair of sides in the football pyramid. [Derek Adams] uses the reserves as he sees fit. Whenever he wants
Unashamedly used as a feeder team for the senior XI, the Yellows’ to give players some game time – whether they haven’t been getting
reserve team are also playing in their maiden campaign in the South many minutes in the first team or they’re coming back from injury –
West Peninsula League Premier Division, having plundered 101 goals they play. It’s great for our younger lads to play with senior players.”
and suffered just one defeat on their way to the title last time out. So, what’s the difference between what Plymouth are currently
And yet there’s very little objection to their progression. doing in non-league and the Football League’s plans to introduce
So, with Tivvy Reserves gearing up to host Plymouth Reserves in under-23 teams into senior league competition?
an all-important league encounter, FFT made the trip over to the “All I can say is that we’re trying do is what is right for our players
beautiful south-west of England to see what all the fuss is about. at Plymouth Argyle,” says Nancekivell, elusively.
“Going back 20 years or so, there used to be B teams at Liverpool,
RIVALS ARE AGGRIEVED BY THE INCONSISTENCY OF PLYMOUTH’S LINE-UPS Manchester United and Everton that would go and play the likes of
Tucked away behind an innocuous-looking garage, Tiverton Town’s Marine on a Tuesday night, but we have gone away from that now.
Ladysmead ground is the quintessential non-league setting. With Personally, I think it’s great for under-23 teams to be able to play
rows of high fencing surrounding the four stands in order to keep competitive football against Football League clubs.”
out prying eyes – and, even more importantly, to help prevent any It’s quite clear Nancekivell is unconcerned that his views would
wayward shots escaping – the 3,500-capacity ground almost has almost certainly be unpopular among the purists.
its own climate, set apart from the rest of the town.
While visitors can’t help but see the hoardings announcing the first A RESERVE-TEAM MATCH IN A FIRST-TEAM LEAGUE
team’s forthcoming home games against Totton and Mangotsfield, This rare contest kicks off and the different backgrounds of the two
only a solitary poster advertises that the reserves are playing today. teams are obvious from the get-go. Plymouth, familiar with top coaches
Even the friendly turnstile operator is quick to point out that Tiverton’s and plush training grounds, look assured in possession, while Tiverton
first team are away at Paulton Rovers in the FA Trophy. are well-drilled but more physical. Time and time again, the Pilgrims’
forwards are thwarted by more seasoned opponents in their attempts
to carve out a scoring opportunity.

“THE COMBInaTIOn OF PLAYInG AT ACADEMY

“Reserve games are normally much better for my blood pressure than
when the first team are playing,” quips an elderly Tiverton fan from his
regular seat in the yellow-and-black main stand. But when he bellows

LEVEL AnD In nOn-LEAGUE GIVES OUR YOUnG at the referee for giving a free-kick against the hosts, it’s hard to see how.
Moments later, he’s animated once again. Plymouth’s Connor McAuley

FOOTBALLERS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS”

plays an inch-perfect pass to set Alex Battle clear on the Tiverton goal,
but the young forward can only fire at goalkeeper John Wannell’s legs.
It’s the best moment of the half – at Ladysmead at least. Every fan is
keeping an eye on their phone to see how their respective first team
are doing and there’s widespread joy as a Tivvy supporter reveals that
But despite the feeling that there might be something bigger and their boys are already winning 5-0.
better going on elsewhere, the mood begins to change as the teams It’s still goalless between the reserves as the game moves into the
start warming up and the ground starts to fill. There are three points second half. The visitors remain composed on the ball but are outdone
at stake, after all, and that’s never to be taken lightly. by the hosts’ battle-hardened non-leaguers, who draw Nancekivell up
“Our reserve side is run just like a normal non-league team,” insists off the bench with a number of meaty challenges. Development pro
Tiverton’s reserve team manager, Warren Patmore, who is revered at Steer is getting increasingly frustrated by the treatment and flies into
Yeovil Town for his goalscoring exploits in the 1990s and early 2000s. a sliding tackle himself. But as no yellow card is given to Steer, Tivvy
“The idea is to get a second team’s level as close to the first team as players accuse the ref of favouritism because “he knows his name”.
possible. Our squad is made up of players who were with the first team It’s all a part of the learning curve.
last year, some younger players and a few guys from last season. We “Playing at this level toughens the lads up – it’s a good experience
are our own team and we provide backup to the firsts if they need it. for them,” explains spectator Jeff Cooper, father of Plymouth keeper
“In that way we’re a bit different to Plymouth, but I still think that Mike. “The combination of playing at academy level and in non-league
it is a great idea for them to get their reserves playing as high as they gives them the best of both worlds.”
can. It’s good for their under-18s to have another step before the first It’s Cooper’s goal that comes under threat more often during the
team. You can coach academy players technical things, but you can’t latter stages, as Ethan Phillips and Tom Tricker go close to landing
teach them what they pick up from men’s football. a late blow on their more illustrious adversaries. But with neither side
“If Plymouth did play their first-teamers against us, we’d just have able to break the deadlock, the reserve-team derby ends all square.
to deal with it. As long as we do the best we can, I don’t mind losing As both sets of fans head for the exit, there’s none of the animosity
to a better team. Our lads are buzzing because they will be taking on that has been aimed at Plymouth Reserves. One Home Park regular
Plymouth Argyle. There’s a much different atmosphere to the game.” even admits that he agrees with some of the disparaging comments
Patmore’s mood is sure to be helped by the revelation that his side about his club’s reserve-team policy.
won’t be going up against the same calibre of opposition that Argyle “I enjoyed it today, but that’s because it’s good to see the youngsters
have sent to other reserve-team fixtures this season. The first team get the chance to play,” admits Nigel Chick. “It’s unfair for Plymouth to
are away at Stevenage in League Two, so a number of the senior pros play first-teamers in this league, though. I like the way things are now
who have graced the South West Peninsula League are in Hertfordshire. and, similarly to the idea of introducing Premier League B teams in the
Instead, their starting XI is made up mostly of apprentices. With Billy Football League, it spoils the tradition of the competitions by doing it.”
Palfrey loaned to neighbours Torquay in the week and others sidelined But FFT has found there’s always an alternative view just yards away.
by injury, highly-rated youngster Ben Steer is the only professional on “I quite like reserve teams being in the league,” chips in a departing
show. It’s easy to see why rival fans are aggrieved by the inconsistency Tiverton season ticket-holder. “If they weren’t in it, most of these lads
of the line-ups under the Plymouth Reserves moniker. wouldn’t be able to play football on a Saturday – isn’t that why we set
Naturally, Argyle’s reserve-team manager, Kevin Nancekivell, takes up these clubs in the first place?”
issue with their disgruntlement. “I can’t speak about other clubs and Well, when you put it like that, it’s difficult to say who, if anyone, has
their views but if I was in their shoes, I’d be wanting to test myself got the double standards here.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 83

 UnSUnG HEROES

nOT ALL
LEGEnDS
KICK
GORDOn LAWTOn 62
Oldham Athletic Media manager

AT THE CLUB SInCE 1986

“My job title at the moment is media manager. It’s

basically a glorified name for programme editor.

A BALL
I first arrived 30 years ago to launch a lottery in the
commercial department. At the time, club lotteries did
not really exist in football, but we managed to build it
up to 14,000 members. Shops, old people’s homes,
hospitals – everybody got on board with it. I know the
on-pitch success came at that sort of time, but to get
14,000 people to stump up a pound every single week,
in a place like Oldham, was absolutely phenomenal.
When the National Lottery came into force [in 1994]
it sort of killed every football club’s lottery, so I moved
on to become the programme editor. But if you work
at a football club that’s not Manchester United, you
end up mucking in and getting involved with all sorts
of jobs. I was booking hotels and looking after team
travel while at the same time doing the programme.
I’m a lifelong Rochdale fan, but after 30 years working
here, your allegiances start to turn. I go to every match
without fail – I do the commentary, that’s why! In 1994
the hospital radio was broadcasting across a 10-mile
radius, and one time the commentators couldn’t do it,
Star players draw the big salaries, but a club is nothing without so they asked if anyone else could. Nobody was going to
its behind-the-scenes staff. FFT meets five of the English game’s do it, so I stepped in. From that day to this, I’ve been on
Portrait Jill Jennings

most loyal servants, boasting 230 years of service between them virtually every game. ‘The voice of Oldham,’ they call me.
How would I describe my place at the club? Well, just
this weekend a fan came up to me, pointed and said,
‘Do you know something? Not all legends kick a ball’,
Interviews Sam Rowe and then walked off. I thought that was quite apt.”

84 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 UnSUnG HEROES

“I STEPPED In TO DO
COMMEnTARY In ’94;
nOW I’M CALLED ‘THE
VOICE OF OLDHAM!’”
UnSUnG HEROES

JIM THOMPSOn 88
Burnley Turnstile supervisor

AT THE CLUB SInCE 1946

“I started working on the turnstiles from 1946, and

then from 1960 up to last year I was in charge of
all the stewards and the turnstiles at Turf Moor.
My wife worked here for 25 years, doing all the laundry;
my daughter then worked here after my wife retired; now
she’s retired as well and my granddaughter’s working here,
too. How about that? Me, my wife, my daughter and even
my granddaughter. Burnley is such a family club.
My wife and I get tickets to every match here. I still love
watching the game. From 1946 up to May last year, when
I broke my hip in a car accident, I’d missed two and a half
matches. First team, colts – whatever match it was, I didn’t
like to miss a thing. One season we had a game every night,
Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Crazy, isn’t it?
The first game I missed was back in 1946-47. I worked
in the Co-op, and one Monday, this manager wasn’t letting
anybody out to the match. Another time, I’d got a job at
the building society as a chauffeur, and I broke down on
the motorway coming back from Heathrow. Missed the
match, obviously. And the half was when one of my sons
got married. I stopped at the reception, then came here.
I went to Buckingham Palace [in 2013] for the FA’s 125th
anniversary. Some got a medal and some got a certificate
– I got both. I told Prince William how long I’d worked here
for and he said, ‘fantastic, fantastic’. He couldn’t believe it.

Portrait Jon Shard

What does Burnley mean to me? I was born and bred
here, and I have worked here for 70 years – it must be
pretty close to my heart, mustn’t it? I wouldn’t like to
miss a match. Would it hurt? I think it probably would.”
 UnSUnG HEROES

“BOBBY ROBSOn COULD

nEvEr SAY nO TO an
InVITE – SO I wOULD
HAvE TO DO IT FOR HIM”

PAT GODBOLD 81
Ipswich Town Archivist

AT THE CLUB SInCE 1954

“In 1954, I’d spent four years working at an engineering

company a stone’s throw from Portman Road. I didn’t
know a lot about engineering, but I’d always been a football
supporter. And after we’d won the Third Division South title
in 1953-54, manager Scott Duncan – a lovely Scotsman –
decided that he needed a secretary. That’s when I arrived.
The team didn’t do very well, though, and the directors
thought it was time we got a new manager: Alf Ramsey.
Mr Ramsey knew football from A to Z. He didn’t make
too many friends but he was a very considerate man:
immaculate, articulate and a good man to work for.
If he gave me a letter at quarter to five, knowing that
I was leaving at five o’clock, he was very apologetic.
I also worked with Bobby Robson. I remember the first
time I met Mr R. He came scouting for [Chelsea manager]
Dave Sexton and I saw him in the directors’ lounge. We
were without a manager at the time. I said, ‘I don’t think
Mr Robson is doing anything at the moment’. That was
around November; he was appointed the next January.
He was a player’s manager. He had so much time for
people and couldn’t say no to an invitation. He would even
open fetes! Sometimes I had to say, ‘No, you’re busy that
night’. If I didn’t, he’d have been busy every day and night. 
Over the years I’ve done everything from selling tickets
to making the tea. Now I just work on Thursday mornings.
I say I’m the archivist because I’m the oldest thing here!
It’s been a fantastic career, but I have given up a lot of
my time. I was never married. I’m married to the club.”
UnSUnG HEROES

ROB LAnE 44
West Bromwich Albion Head groundsman

AT THE CLUB SInCE 1988

“I came here for a week’s work on trial – it was in the

Easter holiday from school, I think – and at the end of it
they offered me a position. I joined as the YT groundsman,
which meant day release from college, £29 per week and
a bus pass to get to and from the ground. Twenty-eight
years and 29 seasons later, I’ve not yet found the exit.
I took over as head groundsman in 1996. I was 23,
so I was one of the youngest in the country. Since then,
unsurprisingly, the technology has come on massively.
There is rivalry among groundsmen. You get marked out
of 10 for every game in the Premier League by the match
delegate, and if it falls below a certain standard you get
a letter. But generally it’s wafer-thin between the clubs.
In terms of [pitch] design, we’re quite tight for time here
so it’s mainly bog-standard up and across, giving a normal
box effect. Sometimes the manager likes it with more of
a short-cut finish, as the defence can push to a band on
the pitch for offsides, and the officials prefer it because
a linesman has a mowing line to judge the offsides by.
The ‘great escape’ back in 2004-05 was particularly
memorable. Thousands of supporters ran onto the pitch
at full-time, but I could hardly tell people to get off as
I th lf Th t h ld

“I BEGAn In THE SCHOOL

HOLIDAYS 28 YEARS AGO
AnD I CAn’T FInD THE EXIT”
 UnSUnG HEROES

KEITH BERnERS 63
Stevenage Matchday DJ

AT THE CLUB SInCE 1976

“When I was a schoolkid I would often go with my

father to watch Stevenage Town, as it was then.
It’s well documented, the story behind the club. Even
though he had taken the club and closed it, for some
reason the previous owner [of Stevenage Athletic, which
was dissolved in 1976] didn’t want anybody playing on
the pitch. So we got together – “a band of enthusiasts,”
they called us – and the idea was to get the Stevenage
Athletic youth team and arrange a game with Hitchin.
We got together and everybody picked a role – I don’t
think it was any more technical than that. I got chairman.
I was only 23 at the time, but as all of these groups are
run by committee, everybody throws themselves into it
wholeheartedly. So a title doesn’t really matter, does it?
My duties were all about raising profile. Stevenage Town
had gone bust in ’68, and it wasn’t long afterwards that
Athletic went as well. There was real doom and gloom,
and as much as we were all fans, none of us had any
experience of running a football club. I’m still in the
supporters’ association, but as far as the football club
goes, we got a phone call from Phil Wallace and he’s
now been the chairman here for the last 17 years.
Portraits Leon Csernohlavek

The matchday DJ job was a case of ‘right place, right

time’. Don’t ask me when I started – I don’t even know
myself – but I seem to have been doing it for quite some
time. I’ve got a box full of CDs, so I just dig into that and
have a good flip through. We have not quite moved on
to modern technology yet; there is just a twin CD set
that has always been in the booth and it works fine!”
 
  

       

 

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Wha Letchkov
an
Yord

THE STORY
BEHIND
THE SHOT

To celebrate Israeli Independence Day in May 1957, 45,000 fans

flocked to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, to watch a touring
Hapoel Tel Aviv side overcome an American Soccer League XI 6-4.
But the real fireworks came beforehand, as Hollywood queen bee
Marilyn Monroe kicked off proceedings before leaving in a suitably
glamorous Cadillac limousine. Some like it hot, they say, and she
certainly raised temperatures among the Big Apple’s football fans.
 THE
DAY THE
PAPERS
KILLED
PUSKAS
Real Madrid’s trophy
cabinet might have
looked a little emptier
had reports of Ferenc
Puskas’ death in 1956
turned out to be true

F
erenc Puskas was 29 when
he died for the first time. On
October 27, 1956, French news
agency AFP announced that
the greatest striker of his age
had been killed in Budapest during the
Hungarian Uprising. It seemed credible:
Words Paul Simpson Pictures Puskas.com, Gyorgy Szollosi

more than 2,500 Hungarians would die

– with a further 13,000 being wounded
– in a doomed revolution against Soviet
tyranny, and the country was in chaos.
As exaggerated reports of Puskas’
demise spread, the Galloping Major
was actually 40 miles north-west, at
a training camp in Tata with the rest of
the national team before an upcoming
friendly against Sweden. With violence
escalating, the game was eventually
called off and the players headed home.
 Among the consequences of the 700 Soviet troops, some of them With security in Budapest an issue, defected a week later at the Melbourne
Hungarian bid for freedom was the executed for refusing to fight. the second leg ‘at home’ to Athletic Olympics) and so the Hungary coach
destruction of a great, innovative Honved’s first-leg preparations for was switched to Brussels’ Heysel urged the players to return home.
football team. The Mighty Magyars the Athletic tie were also disturbed Stadium on December 20. Despite Some of his younger charges, such
were using sweeper-keepers, false by the bustle of commission-hungry going a goal down in the first minute, as 21-year-old Tichy, did just that.
nines, attacking full-backs and Total agents. Every player received an offer Honved drew level at 3-3 on the night, The outlawed tour was enjoyable and
Football at a time when Johan Cruyff to join a western club. Striker Sandor having trailed 3-1 with Czibor replacing lucrative but when the squad regrouped
was barely out of his nappies. Kocsis and winger Zoltan Czibor were injured keeper Lajos Farago – but that in Vienna in February 1957, they were
Between 1950 and the start of the promised $120,000 each. Honved did disallowed first-leg goal in Bilbao made faced with the same dilemma: head
1956 revolution, Hungary won gold well at San Mames and were beaten all the difference. It would be this great back to Hungary or live in exile?
at the ’52 Olympics in Finland, beat by Spain’s 1955-56 Double winners Honved team’s last match together. Martin Nagy, the new hard man
England 6-3 at Wembley (and then only by a narrow 3-2 margin, having The club still had a long-standing running Hungarian sport, ordered the
7-1 in Budapest, just to rub it in) and had a late leveller disallowed. invitation to tour South America but players to return and face punishment.
lost only one match: the 1954 World As the players steadily realised how the Hungarian FA wrote to the players, Puskas, almost 30, feared his impending
Cup Final against West Germany on dangerous the conflict in Hungary had demanding their immediate return. 18-month suspension would effectively
a bog in the Miracle of Bern. become, they began to smuggle their Osterreicher, Puskas and Czibor were, end his career. His offer to return if the
What followed was a slow, agonising families out. Puskas’s wife Elizabeth however, very keen to accept Brazil’s ban was rescinded was spurned. He
decline, as successive crises posed new and daughter Aniko walked to the $10,000-a-match proposal. Others flew to Italy with his family, never to
dilemmas for players and officials who, Austrian frontier. A series of friendlies procrastinated. Some – notably striker play for Hungary nor Honved again.
with their options dwindling, had to were arranged to help prepare for the Lajos Tichy and winger Laszlo Budai – Kocsis and Czibor also chose exile and
improvise with increasing desperation. European Cup and raise some money wanted to go home, as did Grosics, became heroes at Barcelona, their joint
When Puskas and midfielder Jozsef for the team and 200,000 refugees who told Puskas he hadn’t left Hungary move having been facilitated by another
Bozsik got off the train in Budapest who had fled Hungary. With plans “to travel illegally around the world”. great Hungarian émigré, Laszlo Kubala.
on October 28, they heard shooting. changing daily, the players carried FIFA and the Hungarian FA declared For Czibor, who had joined in anti-Soviet
“It was eerie – no traffic anywhere,” money around in paper bags. the tour illegal, warning players of fines, demonstrations, exile was a no-brainer.
Puskas said later. “I had to make it One game was key. On November suspensions and worse: as Honved were Osterreicher offered Bozsik a coaching
home on foot, carrying two kilos of 29, Honved drew 5-5 with a Real the army club, players could be tried for position with Atletico Madrid. However,
bread.” Once he got back home, he Madrid/Atletico Madrid side at the desertion, which warranted a death the midfielder’s father had just passed
phoned a Hungarian newspaper to Bernabeu. A number of non-Honved sentence. Gusztav Sebes, the Mighty away and his mother and four brothers
confirm he was still alive, saying how players, including goalkeeper Grosics, Magyars’ managerial mastermind, was still lived in Hungary. As a Communist
happy he was about the revolution. were called in to help form a virtual sent to Brussels to resolve the impasse. Party member as well as a deputy in
Upon his own return to Budapest, Hungarian national XI, and watching “Uncle Guszti, come with us,” begged the Hungarian Parliament, he went
goalkeeper Gyula Grosics discovered on was Emil Osterreicher. Honved’s Puskas. “Lead the team and I swear back home, driven by a sense of duty.
a surreal city. “All of the streets were financial secretary had been working that we will all come home with you It would be more than two decades
grotesque,” he recalled. “In one place with Real to engineer Puskas’ 1958 afterwards.” Sebes couldn’t get the tour before he and Puskas, his childhood
people were cheering and celebrating, move to Madrid, where he’d win five authorised (Marcell Nagy, the sports friend, saw each other again.
but in another they were wounded and league titles and three European Cups. minister who rejected the request, Remarkably, Grosics also returned to
dying.” Fired on during an anti-Soviet Hungary. The authorities had made him
protest, Grosics allowed the rebels to the scapegoat for their shock World Cup
use his own house as an arsenal. final defeat and the country’s secret
The national team were almost as police investigated him for espionage
disconcerted by the uprising as Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev, as they lived
THE PLAYERS WERE TOLD THEY COULD for the rest of his life. Luckily, they never
knew he had helped to arm the rebels.
in a bubble – lionised, pampered and
given considerable leeway. The nation’s
BE FINED, SUSPENDED OR EVEN TRIED But losing Puskas, Kocsis and Czibor
was akin to taking Pele, Jairzinho and
prestige rested on them. Puskas, as
the captain and presiding genius, was
FOR DESERTION, PUNISHABLE BY DEATH Rivelino out of the wondrous Brazil 1970
team, or Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and
probably the only free man in Hungary. Marco van Basten out of Arrigo Sacchi’s
The immediate complication facing Milan. The game never really recovered.
the majority of the Hungary team, who Nandor Hidegkuti, the first false nine,
played for the army outfit Honved, was tried to fill the void but admitted that he
a European Cup first-round tie against lacked Puskas’ leadership. The Cold War
Athletic. Honved agreed to play the had torn asunder a magical Hungary
first leg in Bilbao and complete the team that had started, as Alex Ferguson
tie back in Budapest after UEFA, with once put it, a “revolution in our minds”.
characteristic political deftness, had In the 1960s, in a letter written to his
warned the club that failure to fulfil Budapest barber Bercsi, Puskas wrote:
the fixture would result in a two-year “I never cared about politics. It’s not
ban from European competition. my job. I have only one politic: football.”
The away leg was set for November Behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950s,
22. Three weeks before it, Honved went however, politics and football were
on tour, the uprising seemingly having tragically, inextricably linked. Puskas
triumphed. But on November 4, Soviet began to learn that after reading his
tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the own obituary, 50 years before his actual
revolution in six days. More than 5,000 death. He passed away in November
Hungarians had been killed along with 2006, aged 79, a true football legend.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 93

 The word ‘soccer’ is an American invention
In fact, in the mid-19th century it was more common
than ‘football’ – the Yanks wanted to remain faithful

Children playing ‘foot-ball’ | 1860s Football scene at school | 1860s il s oo all ug |

THE ARCHIVE

PORCELAIN
How do you like your football
mugs? Hand-drawn? Embossed?
With bears on? Whatever your
preference, there’s a jug for you
Staffordshire mug | 1880s Bear playing football | 1900s

Cartoon sprites playing football | 1920s Wedgwood ceramic beer jug | 1880 Royal Doulton jug | 1910

Items supplied by the National Football Museum

– visit nationalfootballmuseum.com for more info
94 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com
 WHAT
HAPPENED
TO

Yordan
Letchkov
Who?

BELLE VUE
You know him. The
balding midfielder’s
majestic header for
minnows Bulgaria
sent Germany home
from the 1994 World
Cup. Things started DONCASTER, ENGLAND
to go south, though,
after he’d helped to

W
recreate the goal for hether in life or death, few football While it wasn’t exactly dripping in stars, paid a former SAS soldier £10,000 to set
Baddiel and Skinner’s grounds have enjoyed quite as a fine playing surface and wooden stands fire to the Main Stand in June 1995, and
Phoenix from the colourful a history as Belle Vue, hosted its fair share of household names. then went about claiming the insurance.

Belle Vue words Ben Clark Letchkov words Delyan Yanev

Flames a year later. where Doncaster Rovers called “Paul Gascoigne once played there in Richardson got four years in the slammer.
home for 84 years from 1922. a testimonial in his pre-Italia 90 pomp,” “That was incredibly bizarre,” says Alan.
Oh dear… “Some fans believe it was on a par with says Alan. “He simply oozed class.” “But maybe if we hadn’t sunk so low that
In 1997 he signed for Anfield’s Kop,” Alan Roberts from Doncaster The richest memories lie with Billy our owner needed to set the ground on
Besiktas, but had quit Rovers Supporters’ Trust tells FFT. “Clearly Bremner’s ’80s side underpinned by fire, we wouldn’t have enjoyed the rebirth.”
the game six months it wasn’t, but there were several occasions the Snodin brothers, Ian and Glynn, It wasn’t even Belle Vue’s only fire. After
later after refusing to where the old girl really rocked.” but financial problems soon bit after the club moved to the Keepmoat Stadium
pay a fine for turning Never more so than a December 1938 tie subsidence beneath the Popular Stand in 2007, the old ground blew up after gas
up late from holidays, against Hull in Division Three (North), which reduced the capacity to less than 5,000 leaked from some exposed pipes.
and FIFA banned him recorded the stadium’s largest crowd of in May 1987. Unhappy that the local Residents of the housing estate that
when he then played 37,099, with plenty more squeezed inside council had rejected plans for a new now sits on the site will no doubt be
for Bulgaria without after jumping fences to get in for nowt. stadium, chairman Ken Richardson thankful they’ve since been fixed.
permission. He went
back to CSKA Sofia in
2001, before retiring
with his hometown
team Sliven in 2004. B I Z A R R E H I S T O R Y O F. . . S T P A U L I
And after football?
MEATY STUFF GREENER GRASS BUILDING BIG HOOKERS’ DELIGHT CLASS WAR
Letchkov ran a hotel
chain in Sliven, then St Pauli have won an Cool, edgy, punky Football’s foremost Prostitutes from the When big, corporate
became the mayor. award for their vegan St Pauli moved to the anti-fascists, St Pauli nearby Reeperbahn Bayern Munich visited
He was voted out food, but meat was Millerntor (below) in built the Millerntor have formed a key in 1989, the St Pauli
in 2011, accused of key to their history 1960 as their home next to a Nazi ‘flak part of the club’s programme cover
abusing his power to amid rationing after got taken over by the tower’, designed as anti-establishment featured a guy raising
improve his hotels. In the war. Defender International Garden an air-raid shelter support since the his fist (the socialist
2013, he was found and butchers’ son Festival. Rock on! and anti-aircraft gun mid-’80s. The official salute) beneath the
guilty of signing an Karl Miller lured stars blockhouse during website still refers headline ‘Class War’.
Words Si Hawkins

unprofitable water to the club by offering the war. It now hosts to the players as Bayern got
and sewerage deal, free cuts. Anyone for friendlier gatherings, the ‘Heroes of the it banned.
and sentenced to a sausage party? such as music gigs. Red Light District’. Meanies.
two years in prison.
Pretty quiet, all told.

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 95

 S A LD A N H A F I R E S
A WA R N I N G S H O T
With a World Cup on the
horizon and the Brazilian
team in a mess, journalist
Joao Saldanha becomes
boss in February. Despite
wins in his first 13 games,
he claims Pele can’t see
properly, refuses to play
striker Dario – Brazilian
president-cum-dictator
Emilio Medici’s favourite
player – and hunts down
one critic while armed
with a pistol. As you do.

LE E D S ! L EEDS! L EEDS!
Needing a win to break the top-flight record points haul (67), Leeds United beat Nottingham
Forest 1-0 in May thanks to John Giles’ excellent turn and shot. It’s Don Revie’s first Division
One title for Leeds, and losing only two games is another first for 22-club divisions. Not bad.
Words Jon Spurling Bustillo picture Segui/FC Barcelona

T H IS MEANS WAR
Political tensions boil over in late June
as El Salvador snatch an extra-time
winner in neutral Mexico to beat bitter
rivals Honduras in a World Cup qualifying T H E REA L M A C K AY
play-off. It takes 5,000 armed police to Having left White Hart Lane the previous
separate both sets of fans. A fortnight year, Spurs legend Dave Mackay skippers
later, the former invades the latter to Brian Clough’s Derby to the Division Two title
spark a four-day ‘Football War’ between in May, jointly winning the FWA Footballer
the two countries, with 3,000 casualties of the Year award with Manchester City’s
recorded. Leave it to the footballers, lads. Tony Book. “I don’t like sharing,” he huffs.

96 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

 M C G U I N N E S S TA K ES O V ER FRO M B U SB Y
Eight months after leading Manchester United to European Cup
WHAT ELSE
glory, Matt Busby hands the reins over to young protégé Wilf
McGuinness in January. United have plummeted to 16th in the
league but McGuinness can’t arrest the decline, losing in the
HAPPENED
last four of the European Cup and finishing 11th in Division One.
IN ’69?

The Beatles’ last public performance

in black and white

George Lazenby is James Bond

Final Doctor Who

New seven-sided 50p piece

Kray twins sentenced
TREMORS

to life in prison
JAN 30 MAR 5 JUN 21 OCT 14 DEC 18

T H E RI C H T ER SCALE O F NE WS

T HE CHOCOLATE Weeks Led Zeppelin II spends in the

British album charts from October,
BOX MAS S ACRE 10 months after the band release
Trailing 3-0 from the first their eponymous debut album
leg, Libertadores champs
Estudiantes unload their
Gets his first real six-string
antifutbol arsenal on Milan, Best days
European Cup holders, in of his life Plays ’til his
fingers bleed
October’s Intercontinental
Cup final. The Massacre of
the Bombonera sees Gianni BRYAN Starts
Rivera punched and Nestor ADAMS’ band
Combin’s nose messed up S U MM E R
(below) by Ramon Aguirre Jimmy
Suarez’s elbow. Milan win quits
on aggregate but Combin Jody gets
is arrested on a spurious married

charge while still lying on Knows that it’s

Stands on your
mama’s porch
a stretcher. Rough day. now or never

BU S TE D BUS TI LLO
An hour into his Barcelona debut, Miguel Angel Bustillo’s
Monty
career is effectively ended in September after a horror Python’s
tackle from Real Madrid’s Pedro de Felipe. The Catalan Flying
Circus
press demand that De Felipe is banned while Bustillo is
out, but he gets only a warning. Unable to fully recover,
TOP 3
Bustillo plays just two more games for Barça. “De Felipe TV SHOWS Up Pompeii!

never said sorry and that hurts him,” his wife laments. On The
Buses

FourFourTwo.com December 2016 97

 ?
? ?
DID YOU KNOW? Neil Armstrong travelled to the
moon in November 1969 with an Independiente
banner for good luck. One giant leap for Argentina...

MATCH
THE REPORT
CLASSICS
Sensible Football by
Soccer 1 Electric
Where would FIFA Light
or Pro Evo be now
without Amiga’s
Sheffield
top-down angles
and luminous pitch?
Independent
October 15, 1878
They’d be nowhere.
Pure ’90s brilliance.

NASL STRIPS
“The Sheffield public
were introduced to
a decided novelty in
football last evening
2 – a match with the
assistance of the
electric light. The
contest at Bramall
Lane, between two
teams selected by
the Sheffield Football
Adidas Copa
Association, was the
Mundials first ever played in
First introduced in this country – or
1979 ahead of the anywhere else,
1982 World Cup in we believe – with
Spain, and barely 3 4 the assistance of
altered at all since, artificial illumination.
boots don’t come The match was to
much comfier. And commence at half
just look at them. past seven, and
considerably before
that hour the roads
to Bramall Lane
were completely
besieged. The lights
were conducted
from temporary
5 6 7 wooden stands
fixed to each goal,

1 4
DETROIT EXPRESS 1978, HOME PHILADELPHIA FURY 1978, AWAY elevated 30ft high.
Kes Co-owner Jimmy Hill clearly believed the future With the club founded by a motley crew of ’70s Everybody seemed
Sure, it’s only one to be orange, kitting out sharpshooting Trevor rock stars and music biz folk, Fury’s kit – burgundy highly pleased with
scene in a film about Francis in this hard-to-miss strip that accentuated with mustard yellow trim – was suitably psychedelic. the result, the light
a schoolboy and his the flame-coloured curls of team-mate Alan Brazil. being most brilliant

5
kestrel (that’s not COLORADO CARIBOUS 1978, HOME and effective. The

2
a euphemism), but NEW YORK COSMOS 1975, HOME The one-season wonders didn’t cut it on the pitch red and blue colours
director Ken Loach’s When Pele arrived in Manhattan from Santos in but they raised eyebrows with football history’s of the two sides were
harsh depiction of 1975, the Cosmos’ strip was an undeniably simple most outrageous kit, featuring a strip of suede fringe. visible, though it was
the caustic ruling PE affair: a white shirt with modest green trim. But it was difficult to discern

6
teacher Mr Sugden is the distinctive club badge that gave the kit its iconic LOS ANGELES AZTECS 1976, AWAY movements at the
right on the money. status, as well as the footballing royalty wearing it. This tangerine dream might not have matched top of the ground.
the audacious outfits of co-owner Elton John, The Blues were

3
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS 1979, AWAY but marquee signing George Best gave it star quality. the victors by two
Adding maple leafs to the sleeves brought an goals to nothing.”

7
immediate on-field impact for the Canadian TAMPA BAY ROWDIES 1975-80, HOME
outfit. Journeymen such as Trevor Whymark and An instant success, the Rowdies’ white shirt – A genuine report
Roger Kenyon became instant style icons and the enhanced by yellow-and-green striped sleeves – of football’s first
Whitecaps romped to that year’s Soccer Bowl title. changed little over time. Rodney Marsh wore it best. floodlit match.

98 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com

FITNESS / NUTRITION / SKILLS / PSYCHOLOGY / GEAR / TACTICS
 PERFORMANCE

MASTERCLASS
THE

CHARLIE AUSTIN
DETAILS

Eight facts
The Southampton striker talks tricking on the brickie
who became
defenders and finishing with aplomb a top-flight
marksman
Hi Charlie. What advice can you give doesn’t come off, then I think another Van Nistelrooy scored goals for fun
us to help improve our finishing? one will come along soon. If I’m on the and yet I think he only scored about
Hi. It’s all about composure. When bench and I feel like I’m going to come five from outside the box in his whole
you’re in front of goal, don’t panic. on, I always think of that one chance career. That just shows what a clinical
I think a lot of people get into that and make sure I’m ready for it. It might finisher he was. I remember asking
position and then freeze and take be a half-chance or a quarter-chance Rio [Ferdinand] about him at QPR.
too long. If you’re one-on-one with but you have to be ready to put the ball He said if people weren’t crossing
the keeper, it’s important that you away. OK, when you’re one-on-one with the ball in, Ruud would tell them he
don’t change your mind. If you feel the goalkeeper and your team-mate is needed it in the box, because they
like you’re going to go round him, go right there, you slide him in – it’s a team had someone strong in there.
round him. If you feel like you’re going game – but for a striker it’s all about If you look at Alan Shearer, he was
to take an early shot, then go and do goals. Strikers are judged on goals. an old-fashioned No.9 and was just
it. If you want to chip him, do that. All superb. He wore the armband for his
of my finishing is about committing to Have you got to be willing to take country and was a player that I looked
it – relax, pick your spot and commit. a bit of flak from your team-mates up to, as he was the top scorer almost
for shooting instead of passing? every season. He scored 260 Premier
What’s your favourite way to score? Definitely. When you don’t pass and League goals, and I don’t think that Age
They all count, so for me it’s probably you don’t score, then it’s possible that number will ever be beaten. 27
a nice first-time finish in the box. It’s you’ve ignored the better option. But as Then you take Ronaldo: he played
easy to say it’s beating three men and a centre-forward, if you run through for Brazil, Milan, Inter, Real Madrid, Height
putting the ball in the top corner from Barcelona – you have to wonder how 6ft 2in
30 yards, but it doesn’t really happen. good he would have been if he didn’t
But a nice cross in and a header, or “You can trick have the injuries. He was special and First Football
a good first touch and a controlled an expert when he was one-on-one League goal
finish, is what I do most often. a defender by with the keeper. Whether it was with For Swindon at

How important is movement when

pretending to a double step-over, a single step-over,
the flip-flap – he had so much variety.
Carlisle in 2009

you’re trying to lose a defender? switch off. For me, he was the ultimate finisher. Favourite goal
Movement is massive and I think it’s An extra-time
something many players neglect. You You’re playing Who is the toughest centre-back tap-in for QPR to
have to make a movement towards a game of cat you’ve ever come up against? beat Wigan in the
or away from a defender to create Phil Jagielka. When I played against him 2014 Championship
space for yourself. You need to be on and mouse” for QPR at home to Everton he was very play-off semi-final
the move at all times. You can trick ood I thought ‘Wow I really n ed to
a defender by pretending to switch Pre-match playlist
off, and as much as a defender thinks “Oasis, Drake and
you’re switching off, you’re not. You Bastille are three
can walk around looking uninterested of my favourites”
and then bang – you’re away. You’re
playing a game of cat and mouse with Favourite tune
the defender, and that’s how I work. “I like Champagne
Interview Ben Welch; Performance editor Ben Welch

Supernova by Oasis –
Do you have to be selfish hearing it means it’s
to succeed as a striker? time to get to work”
Of course. Every time
I go on the pitch, I think Pre-match meal
I am going to score. If “Pasta, chicken
you don’t think like that and a bit of pesto.
then you doubt yourself. It’s boring, really”
Every time I play, I think
I’m going to score a goal Treat food
or that a chance is going to Katsu curry
come my way. If that chance

FourFourTwo.com/Performance December 2016 101

 PERFORMANCE

LIKE A
1 2

PRO 3 4

EXOS performance head

Brock Christopher checks
out Instagram to review
players’ training routines

1
Ruben Loftus-Cheek @rubey_lcheek
“The one-armed side plank stabilises
the spine and loosens the hips,”
explains Christopher. “This is great
before training – do it twice a week.”

2
Aleksandar Mitrovic
@aleksandar_mitrovic45
“The prowler push is great for
developing acceleration. Use it over
5-10 metres or increase the distance
if you’re using it for a cardio workout.”

3
Fabian Delph @fabian_delph
“The cable fly’s a good way to target
the chest and hit more pectoral
muscles than a standard bench press.”

4
Jackson Martinez @j.martinezofficial
“I would use a single-leg reach as
a warm-up exercise to help develop
balance. It uses 360 degrees of the hip
and it’s good preparation for sprinting.”

5
Antonio Valencia @antoniovalencia25
“Not many footballers throw, so I’m
not a big fan of the clean and press.
I prefer exercises specific to the sport.”
5 6

6
Fernando Torres @atleticodemadrid
“Single-leg hurdles help to develop 7 8
hip mobility, but be careful not to
exaggerate the movement over a small
hurdle – use a bigger hurdle instead.”

7
Keylor Navas @realmadrid
“The single-leg quadriceps extension
is good for building up a base level
of strength during injury rehabilitation.”

8
Vincent Kompany @vincentkompany
“Landmines really target the core, so
they require a strong t-spine. Make
sure the movement’s clean throughout.”

102
0 FFebruary
r ar 2016
2 16 F
FourFourTwo.com
rF u Tw m
102 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com
 PERFORMANCE

T R I E D AND T E S T E D

VJuan Mata
He held up the team
THE SIXPAD
FFT trials an ab-training device used by Cristiano Ronaldo. Who needs the gym?
bus to pose for a pic
with disabled fan Alex What is it?
Nield. Top man, Juan. The SIXPAD Abs Fit is designed to help
give you a washboard stomach while
VVitamin D tablets you’re at work, carrying out household
Studies suggest that chores or just lazing about on the sofa.
one a day will protect
you from diseases How does it work?
that include cancer Six pads stick to your abdominals and
and type 1 diabetes. pump out electric waves, making your
muscles contract. For best results, the
VNick Cushing user should undergo one 23-minute
The Man City Women session every day for eight weeks.
manager lifted the
Continental Cup, then Who uses it?
sped away to see his None other than Real Madrid star,
daughter being born. Euro 2016 winner and owner of
football’s most famous set of abs,
Cristiano Ronaldo. The 31-year-old
says the tech is an indispensable

HERO part of his daily training regime.

TO Why is he using it?

ZERO Possibly to earn a large sum of money
from an endorsement deal. Even so,
the technology does allow its user to
directly target the abdominals and
strengthen their muscles if they are
WeSports pushed for time, which is pretty handy.
If you spend your
Saturday evenings How much does it cost?
watching grown men The SIXPAD costs £149.99, so we
playing video games don’t advise waiting six weeks for

Words Alec Fenn

online, it’s time you somebody to make it your Christmas
got a new hobby. present. If you’re keen though, save
up, splash out and get your abs in
WEngland Ronaldo-ripped shape for 2017.
The Three Lions were
lucky to come away
from Slovenia with
a 0-0 draw thanks
to Joe Hart’s efforts.
THE PERFORMANCE TRACKER
Where can we watch Which sport sees its athletes cover the most distance per game?
some paint drying?

WRoberto Di Matteo Baseball 0.375 miles

Four years ago he
won the Champions American football 1.25 miles
League with Chelsea;
now he’s in the dole Basketball 2.55 miles
queue, having been
sacked by Aston Villa
Tennis 3 miles
after only 12 games.

Field hockey 5.6 miles

Football 7.5 miles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

FourFourTwo.com/Performance December 2016 103

 PERFORMANCE

FREE WEIGHTS Research noted improvements in

acceleration, peak sprinting velocity
We can’t quite put our finger on why, and 40-metre sprint time in a group
but there’s something manly about taking part in strength training twice
holding a pair of rusty old dumbbells a week for seven weeks. A further
in your hands. Plus, strength training study published in February of this
using free weights won’t just satisfy year showed that a group of young
the alpha male in you – it’ll also help footballers who underwent a weights
to improve your physical performance training programme suffered far
out on the pitch. A 2008 study in the fewer injuries during a season than
Journal of Strength and Conditioning a group who did no resistance work.

1 “Free weights’ greater

range of movement
means you’ll use more
2 “When you use
multiple muscle
groups you burn more
3 “Also, compound
exercises – squats,
deadlifts – strengthen
muscles,” says strength calories, so you will get your core. Machines
and conditioning expert a tougher workout with won’t, as they’re in
Mathew Monte-Colombo. dumbbells or barbells.” a fixed position.”

VS
Two types of resistance training go
under the microscope this month, as
we discover which method works best
for improving a footballer’s strength

MACHINES just weights machines and found that

knee extensor thickness increased by
Resistance machines are the lifeblood 4.9 per cent. Strength also improved
of the modern super-gym, but can by an average of 13.9 per cent across
big, flashy pieces of technology really the major muscle groups that were
help you to hold your own on a bog of trained. The study even showed that
a Sunday League pitch during a bleak levels of testosterone – the hormone
midwinter? Well, actually, it turns out you need to build muscle mass – were
they can. In 2008, the University of boosted by an average of 21 per cent
Saskatchewan in Canada decided to during resistance machine workouts.
put a controlled group through an Give them a go and you’ll be bursting
eight-week training schedule using out of your jersey in no time at all.

1 “Machines are great

when a player begins
resistance training and
2 “Some players will
struggle to lunge
and squat with correct
3 “In injury rehab,
machines are
good for pinpointing
needs to build a good technique, but it’s easy a specific muscle
base level of strength,” to teach a young player group and slowly
says Monte-Colombo. how to use a machine.” adding resistance.”

AND OUR WINNER IS... FREE WEIGHTS

104 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com/Performance








 
   

 PERFORMANCE

VAN GAAL’S
YOU ASK
“Who is fitter:
a full-back or
a midfielder?”
Harry Wright

VIDEO GAMES
via Twitter

HE
ANSWERS
The Dutchman considered virtual reality at Old Trafford to show tactical plans in 3D
The thought of going back in time goggles that are able to create
and watching our worst display simulations of football matches.
on a football pitch is enough to “Young players today use iPads and
bring FFT out in a cold sweat. play FIFA – they don’t watch TV the
But this harrowing prospect way that we used to,” said Reckers.
was nearly a (virtual) reality “No player will watch a game back
for Manchester United’s for 90 minutes any more, so we have
under-performing players to adapt accordingly. My generation
Alessandro throughout last season. is the last one that will use video.”
Florenzi Former Red Devils supremo Dutch giants Ajax and PSV have
Roma and Italy’s Louis van Gaal came close to both announced partnerships with
Mr Versatile using headsets at the club’s Beyond Sports and started using
Carrington training ground virtual reality headsets at training.
“As a full-back you to walk his charges through “‘This is a valuable addition to the
have to run at top various tactical scenarios in 3D. current programme,” said performance
speed to get up and “Louis is open to new forms of analyst Wim Rip, who has worked with
down the pitch, but technology – he’s a forward-thinking PSV as well as the Dutch national team.
you get more time manager,” said United’s performance “Match scenarios can now be imitated
to recover when analyst, Max Reckers, at the Soccerex in detail. The acceleration of learning
the ball is over on Global Convention in Manchester. is amazing. It’s a very promising tool.’’
the other side. The Virtual reality experts Beyond Sports And relive all our gaffes and glaring
fitness demands of have developed cutting-edge video misses in front of goal? No, thanks.
a central midfielder technology built into black We’ll be leaving this one to the pros.
differ a lot. Full-backs
run in straight lines,
but in midfield your
Interview Emanuele Giulianelli

running is quite
jerky: you have to
run left and right
and also stop and

Words Alec Fenn

start very quickly.
Midfielders rarely get
a chance to rest.”

THE
ESSENTIALS
LEGGINGS
Keep your muscles warm
in winter with the help of
some ultra-snug legwear

ADIDAS SEQUENCIALS UNDER ARMOUR NEW BALANCE

RUNNING TIGHTS NO BREAKS LEGGINGS ACCELERATE TIGHT
Climacool ventilation will keep you cool Stretch-fit fabric means these are comfy Ankle zip openings ensure an adjustable
and dry, while the smooth material enough to wear all day. They even have fit, while the reflective logo makes you
helps to prevent any chafing. Ace. pockets to store your phone and keys. more visible if you’re running at night.
Cost £32.95 Buy www.adidas.co.uk Cost £40 Buy www.underarmour.co.uk Cost £30 Buy www.newbalance.co.uk

FourFourTwo.com/Performance December 2016 107

 PERFORMANCE

IF YOU'RE
GOING TO
DO ONE
THING…

Train on
an empty
stomach
If you’re anything like FFT, you
grew up with your mum and dad
warning you not to skip breakfast
or exercise on an empty stomach.
In recent years, however, athletes
from a number of sports have opted
to ignore those cries and use fasted
training to help them lose weight.
That list includes three-time Tour
de France winner Chris Froome.
“Chris rides in the morning and
then has breakfast,” former Team
Sky nutritionist Nigel Mitchell tells
FFT. “Leading up to a race, this gets
him down to his optimum weight.
“When you wake up, your body’s
glycogen stores are depleted, so
when you train you’ll use fat as
a fuel and start to lose pounds.”
Sounds simple – but could it work
for pro footballers who play all year
round? And what about amateurs?
“A performance diet and a weight
Words Alec Fenn; Illustration Alex Williamson

loss diet are very different things,”

says Science in Sport nutritionist
Ted Munson. “If you’ve got a game
in the morning, you will need about
350g of carbohydrates just to fuel
yourself for the first half alone.
“But fasted training can be really
effective if you go for a morning
jog to stay in shape during the
week, before your weekend game.”
It’s time to get running on empty.

108 December 2016 FourFourTwo.com/Performance


   
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 JOHn TERRY
Four Blues legends feature in the Chelsea skipper’s dream team,
but there’s no room for the former England international himself
PAOLO MALDINI
“I’ve got to have Maldini
in my team – so much so,
I’m going to have to leave
myself out! He was a legend at Milan
and a hero of mine when I was growing
up. Since then I have come across him
a few times in my career and he’s a real
gentleman. He has got to be in my side.”

RIO FERDINAND
“Playing alongside him for
England, I could see how
he was one of the world’s
best centre-backs on the ball. He was
always so comfortable. As a defender,
I think Rio had everything: composure,
speed and he read the game well, too.
He scored the odd goal as well. It was
a real pleasure to play alongside him.”

STEVEN GERRARD
“People often spoke about
how Lampard and Gerrard
couldn’t play together for
England but, for me, Stevie could win
a game on his own. He had that about
him. When the chips were down, you
looked around the dressing room, and
if he was in your team then you knew
you had a chance. Look no further than
the 2005 Champions League Final. He
was the man who could do something
special – even in Liverpool’s final group
game against Olympiacos, he took the
game by the scruff of the neck to make
sure they qualified. He’s a phenomenal
passer of the ball, a great athlete and
Gregor MacGregor

a great motivator – so with him and

Lampard, it’s the complete midfield.”

John Terry was speaking at the launch

of the FootiEmoji app, available on the
App Store. Visit www.footiemoji.com

HE GAFFER THE SUBS

SE MOURINHO
e’s the best. He is the best manager I have ever
rked with, so yeah, it has to be him. I’m going
upset a few people [with my choices], aren’t I?”
01 GIANFRANCO
ZOLA
02 RONALDINHO
03 ZINEDINE
ZIDANE

YOUR nEXT FOURFOURTWO IS On SALE DECEMBER 7