May 2021

FourFourTwo UK

The Ultimate Football Magazine

FourFourTwo UK1 min read
5 Things You’ll Learn Inside
1 Which EFL star bought his dad some sheep to celebrate a big transfer 2 Which legend burst into tears after seeing Frank Sinatra sing 3 Which club brought two kangaroos back from a world tour 4 Who Alan Pardew wanted to sign instead of Tevez and
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
FourFourTwo UK
Editor James Andrew Art Director Anthony Moore Chief Sub Editor Gregg Davies Staff Writer Mark White Editor at Large Andy Mitten Deputy Editor Joe Brewin Senior Staff Writer Chris Flanagan Online Editor Conor Pope Staff Writer Ed McCambridge Huw Dav
FourFourTwo UK17 min read
Alan Pardew
1980-81 Whyteleafe 1981-83 Epsom & Ewell 1983-84 Corinthian-Casuals 1984-86 Dulwich Hamlet 1986-87 Yeovil 1987-91 Crystal Palace 1991-95 Charlton 1995 Tottenham (loan) 1995-97 Barnet 1997-98 Reading 1999-2003 Reading 2003-06 West Ham 2006
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
HIGHS & LOWS
Scores winner as Crystal Palace beat Liverpool in FA Cup semis Plays in Spurs’ biggest ever loss, 8-0 at Köln in Intertoto Cup After promotion with West Ham, guides Hammers to FA Cup final Surprisingly gets the sack by Southampton in League One Named
FourFourTwo UK4 min read
Meanwhile In…
There are few more daunting opponents than the man-eating crocodile – when that crocodile is also wielding a crossbow, you’ve got no chance. Thankfully, Tondela’s new mascot doesn’t actually devour humans – positive news for midfielder Joao Pedro, wh
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
The Weirdest Final Ever
It’s often said that the road to Wembley is long, but it’s rarely as much of a schlep as it has been for the 2020 FA Trophy finalists. Last year’s non-league showpiece has finally been booked for May 3, a full 20 months after the competition began i
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
The Ultimate Quiz
01 Brazil icon Ronaldo is the current president and majority owner of which Spanish outfit? 02 Before 2021, Zlatan Ibrahimovic last played for Sweden at which major tournament? 03 Rangers clinched a first league title in 10 years last month – in whic
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
Bohemians 1905
You know when you reach the end of a holiday, and you get an overwhelming urge to take some kangaroos home with you? For Bohemians, the temptation was too great. Formed in 1905 as AFK Vrsovice, the club were originally named after their local distri
FourFourTwo UK4 min read
Suggs
What was the first game you ever saw live? I think it was Fulham against Aston Villa when I was about five or six. My clearest memories of it are the smell of hot dogs and cigars, but also the sound of those huge wooden rattles. The atmosphere was g
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
England’s Worst County
Legend has it that if you kick a football into the county of Rutland, it will immediately disappear. Sure, that might be a legend we’ve just made up, but it would help to explain the mysterious goings-on in a county that has long been football’s ver
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Required Reading
Marco van Basten (Cassell, £20) ●●●●● Italian newspapers competed to conjure up superlatives for Marco van Basten at the peak of his Milan powers in the late 1980s and early-90s. One moniker was Il Cigno di Utrecht (the Swan of Utrecht). Another wa
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
The View From The Stands
Is there an issue you feel strongly about? Contact us: fourfourtwo@futurenet.com FourFourTwoUK FourFourTwo I know this has been discussed a lot, but football’s gone a bit soft, right? If there was ever any proof, it was your ‘This Means War’ p
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Star Letter
I’m finding talk about Jose Mourinho being finished absurd. May I remind everyone that this is the man who won the Champions League with Porto, took the Premier League by storm (twice) with Chelsea, won the Treble at Inter and broke Pep Guardiola’s d
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Win!
Ice Pred T-shirt for Star Letter and an A4 print of choice for Spine Line, courtesy of Art of Football 324 SPINE LINE: “‘65 days, 67 days’ are how long Michael Appleton spent as manager of Blackpool and Blackburn respectively,” says an on-the-money
FourFourTwo UK16 min read
Bruno Fernandes “I Went To Games And Sang The Songs. Today, I Only Think Of Winning Trophies”
“I was a mini ultra,” Bruno Fernandes tells FourFourTwo, as a grin flashes across his face. “I used to go and watch Boavista games when I was a boy. I was the ball boy, and then a mini ultra behind the goal. I like the atmosphere of the ultras when i
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Bruno Pen-andes?
The Red Devils’ marksman is already good enough without giving him free shots from 12 yards. When will they learn? MAN UNITED 13 BRUNO FERNANDES 12 CHELSEA 10 LEICESTER 9 MAN CITY 8 ARSENAL 7 LIVERPOOL 6 BRIGHTON 5 SOUTHAMPTON 5 WOLVES 5 P
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
More On Fourfourtwo.com
• Bruno Fernandes’ remarkable story – the Manchester United star’s rise, told by those who know him (by Marcus Alves) • Dominant, volatile, hijacked by cliché: why we love Eric Cantona (by Seb Stafford-Bloor) • FFT meets Denis Irwin: “Nothing can top
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
And The (easy) Winner Is...
Fernandes is comfortably the best signing at Old Trafford in a post-Fergie world. See if you agree with the rest below… 20 Angel Di Maria 19 Nemanja Matic 18 Eric Bailly 17 Juan Mata 16 Marouane Fellaini 15 Daley Blind 14 Amad Diallo 13 Romel
FourFourTwo UK31 min read
The Top 50 Football League Players As Voted By The Fans
POSITION FORWARD AGE 34 Few players can boast a career like Kazim-Richards. Beginning with Bury, the forward has spent spells in Turkey at Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Bursaspor, also rocking up in France, Greece, the Netherlands, Scotland, Brazil and
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
How Did We Do It?
If you’re a regular reader of FFT, you’ll probably know by now that we compile our list of the best players in the Football League at this time every year – and we always do it by asking you. We polled fans of every Football League club, from Accrin
FourFourTwo UK5 min read
“But What About Chuks Aneke...?”
FORWARD AGE 25 Signed in 2019 from National League North side Southport, Charles scored nine goals last season but had 18 by mid-March in 2020-21, resulting in a call-up for Northern Ireland. FORWARD AGE 28 After injuries affected the start of hi
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
Games That Changed My Life Edmilson
“My debut for Sao Paulo had actually come a few days earlier against Parana, but this particular afternoon at Mineirao stadium was remarkable for another reason. I came on as a substitute at the start of the second half, replacing none other than Ton
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Poppy Season
Bloody Sunday is the reason James McClean won’t wear a Remembrance poppy. The Stoke midfielder grew up on the Creggan estate home to six of the men shot dead, and he sticks to his principles despite the abuse sent his way without fail every autumn.
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
More On Fourfourtwo.com
• Norman Whiteside, the record breaker, on Spain 82: “I walked into a media storm” • Finding Jack Charlton: “Dementia did not define him as a person” • FFT’s 50 biggest derbies in world football, featuring Glentoran vs Linfield ■
FourFourTwo UK12 min read
“I Had 20 Minutes To Decide Whether Or Not To Join Leeds – But It Was The Chance To Fulfil My Dream”
Leeds United, the great entertainers. Leeds United, the neutrals’ favourite? Both sound like clichés of the current season by now, but confused Whites fans are still getting to grips with the admiration for their team in 2020-21. Whether you think Ma
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
More On Fourfourtwo.com
• Nine reasons why Leeds loves Marcelo Bielsa (by Daniel Chapman) • When Leeds’ Class of ’92 punished Stuttgart on a big night at Barça (by Chris Flanagan) • Quiz: Can you name every Brazilian scorer in Premier League history? • Pain, poverty, briber
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Welcome
Several players have graced the front of FFT on multiple occasions, but it’s always nice to have a brand new star. Bruno Fernandes gets his own cover for the first time this month, and there’s no doubt about the huge impact he has made – both at Man
FourFourTwo UK10 min read
31-0 The Loneliest Game In History
For more than 10 years, Nicky Salapu shouldered the biggest burden of his life in a world that didn’t truly understand. For 10 years, he woke up with the same sense of frustrated yearning that ate away at his thoughts. He’d never forget what it felt
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
“When You Said ‘Football’...”
Those who had to reach for the tissues watching Next Goal Wins will remember the tear-jerking moments that led to American Samoa’s ultimate moment of redemption in November 2011. When Shalom Luani raced onto a through-ball and let his instincts kick
FourFourTwo UK10 min read
“We’d Lose A Game And I’d Two-foot The ‘F**k It’ Button. My Thinking Was Catastrophic… I Was All Over The Place”
I woke up in a hospital bed with absolutely no idea how I’d got there. My family were standing around me, totally distraught. All I felt was confusion before falling back to sleep. I woke up a second time and felt drunk. ‘What’s the time?’ I asked. ‘
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
More On Fourfourtwo.com
• Ryan Mason: “I’ve got 14 metal plates in my skull, with 28 screws to hold them in place, and 45 staples. And I was lucky” • FFT investigates why so many players end up broke (by Alec Fenn) • George Green: Everton’s ‘next Gazza’ discusses drugs, dep
FourFourTwo UK12 min read
Football Vs The Troubles
Early March brought Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealing plans for a bid to host the 2030 World Cup. Predictably, the press coverage was full of tiresome headlines about football coming home, just as it was before England’s pitch for hosting rights
FourFourTwo UK4 min read
Gary Johnson
How would you describe where the Gulls are as a club right now? They were 14th in the National League South when I took over in September 2018. People said I was mad, but I’ve always liked the club. I often loaned players out to them in previous job
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Boy’s A Bit Special
LOWDOWN While his team-mates have been ripped to shreds by angry Bhoys watching the disaster unfold from home, Turnbull – a £3 million arrival from Motherwell last August – has emerged as a late contender for Scotland’s Euro 2020 squad. At 21, the mi
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
BEST & WORST BLACKBURN ROVERS
BEST: Brad Friedel, Ronnie Clayton, Colin Hendry, Ryan Nelsen, Graeme Le Saux, David Dunn, Tugay, Damien Duff, Bryan Douglas, Alan Shearer, Matt Jansen. WORST: Alan Fettis, Bradley Orr, Shane Duffy, Scott Dann, Christian Dailly, Danny Murphy, Dino B
FourFourTwo UK3 min read
Ian Holloway
Usually, I didn’t really do any homework on future bosses before meeting them, but I did with Karl Oyston. Before I became Blackpool manager, I wanted to interview him. He arrived late, wasn’t wearing a suit and I bought the coffees: I told him I was
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
The Unlikely Lads
CREDENTIALS Best’s life may now be pored over with a sigh, but in 1968 he was the world’s greatest player – a European Cup champion and Ballon d’Or winner at the peak of his powers. He scored 32 goals in 53 games as Manchester United conquered Europe
FourFourTwo UK4 min read
Jamie Carragher “After We Won In Istanbul, I Spent All Night In A Lift. Fans Kept Saying I Was Their Cousin”
What were your best memories growing up as an Everton fan? I was very fortunate that Everton won loads of trophies when I was a kid. I was at Anfield when Graeme Sharp scored a great winner at Anfield in 1984. We got to the FA Cup final three years
FourFourTwo UK5 min read
Luis Boa Morte “It Was Cool To Be In Grange Hill. I’m No Actor, But My Agent Asked If I’d Do It – I Was Like, ‘Why Not?’”
How did your transfer to Arsenal in 1997 come about? At the time I was playing for Lourinhanense on loan from Sporting, where I never had the chance to play an official game. I did well at the Toulon Tournament that summer [helping Portugal reach th
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Claims To Fame Peterborough
Peterborough only played their first Football League campaign in 1960-61, but immediately set an English league record when they plundered 134 goals in 46 Fourth Division matches. Summer signing Terry Bly dropped down a division to smash home 52 of t
FourFourTwo UK5 min read
Elano “Robinho Said To Mark Hughes, ‘I Won’t Track Back – I Track Back, No Goal’. I Laughed A Lot”
You joined Manchester City from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2007. How did the deal happen? I’d been in great form at Shakhtar and ended up returning to the Brazil national team. Back then, we were playing some of our friendlies in London, including a 3-0 wi
FourFourTwo UK4 min read
Johan Djourou
You left Sion last March after the club terminated the contracts of nine players, for refusing to take a pay cut. What happened? That came out of the sad situation of the pandemic. We were still together in the dressing room and playing on the pitch
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Did You Know?
With capacity for around 10,000 spectators, Alexandra Palace is the host venue for the PDC World Darts Championship these days – but it could have been home to both Arsenal and Tottenham. The Grade II building opened in the 19th century and was the
FourFourTwo UK3 min read
My Perfect Xi Arthur Numan
“I worked with him for many years, for club and country. He’s a winner who always gave 110 per cent. At Feyenoord now, I see the same man as 30 years ago: always hands-on, always focused.” 01 WIM JONK 02 CLARENCE SEEDORF 03 DENNIS BERGKAMP “Edwin
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
Who Are Ya? | Keith
COULD BE That bloke in accounts. No one knows what he does at weekends. ACTUALLY Jeff Stelling’s favourite club, found in the fifth-tier Scottish Highland League, who were once battered 10-1 by Rangers in the 1995-96 Scottish Cup. The ‘one’ came via
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
BATISTUTA vs SOUTHEND?!
One of Batigol’s most iconic goals came against Arsenal in 1999, but his first competitive meeting with English opposition was actually against Southend United. Fiorentina’s unexpected foray into Serie B in 1993-94 meant they entered into the Anglo-
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
More On Fourfourtwo.com
• Serie A in the ’90s: when Baggio, Batistuta and Italian football ruled (by Chris Flanagan) • “You and the horse need to be at one with each other” – Batigol on his love of polo • Quiz: Name Argentina’s top 10 goalscorers and appearance-makers ■
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
Sorry Everyone, Brb
Every club is unique. Each has its individual DNA within football’s unifying organism. To be different is divine… unless it destroys you. Merthyr Town are different. They’re in a) England’s seventh tier, and b) Merthyr Tydfil, not England. When 82 o
FourFourTwo UK14 min read
Batigol Big Game Hunter
“Jorge, what exactly have you seen in this kid?” When Marcelo Bielsa was introduced to Gabriel Batistuta, he couldn’t have been more suspicious. Jorge Griffa, the eminent scout, had invited the young striker to join Newell’s Old Boys. For Bielsa, he
FourFourTwo UK5 min read
Michael Bridges “Because Of My Injury Issues, I Had Depression And Drank Far Too Much. I Was In A Bad Place”
You were tipped to earn an England call-up when you suffered a horrendous injury in 2000, playing for Leeds against Besiktas in the Champions League. Are you bitter that it denied you a glittering career? No, not really. When I snapped my leg out in
FourFourTwo UK2 min read
Kayden Jackson Ipswich
If I wasn’t a footballer, I’d probably be a personal trainer. I didn’t come through the conventional academy route, so I’ve had some time to think about this. I did a course, and it’s the only thing other than football I know a little bit about! I’m
FourFourTwo UK1 min read
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