Innehållsförteckning för November 2017 från FourFourTwo UK

The last time Zinedine Zidane was on the cover was a little over two years ago when he was still in charge of Real Madrid’s second team Castilla. He’d endured a torrid first season in management: not only did his young side underperform, he was also slapped with a three-month ban for failing to obtain the relevant coaching badges. That he wasn’t shown the door by Los Blancos owed everything to the club’s desire – bordering on desperation – for Zidane to eventually take charge of Madrid’s first team. So when he finally got the call to take over from then-boss Rafael Benitez, it was a decision based more on hope than expectation. Everyone hoped he’d do well. No-one expected him to win back-to-back Champions Leagues, let alone start his…

“AL-FAYED WAS AN ECCENTRIC MAN. HE ‘D WALK ON THE PITCH WAVING A SCARF, AND AFTER A GOOD RUN OF RESULTS THE PLAYERS WOULD GET GIVEN HARRODS HAMPERS” CLUBS 1990-99 Ajax 1999-2001 Juventus 2001-05 Fulham 2005-11 Manchester United 2016 VV Noordwijk COUNTRY 1995-2008 Netherlands It’s not often a club CEO is the subject of One-on-One – but it’s not often that a CEO also happens to have won eight league titles and two European Cups. “The way I try to make the club more successful, in terms of raising revenue and winning trophies, is similar to how I captained teams as a keeper,” Ajax’s Edwin van der Sar says, before outlining the similarities between dominating an 18-yard box and a boardroom. Van der Sar believes that, although he may not…

Syria vs Australia October 5 Play-off first leg in Malaysia – winners of the tie face CONCACAF opposition for a World Cup spot Argentina vs Peru October 5 Peru are on course for Russia; Argentina only for a play-off berth – unless Messi & Co. seal victory Wales vs Rep of Ireland October 9 A British Isles head-to-head in Cardiff – in what could be a crucial final Group D clash Liverpool vs Man United October 14 Jurgen Klopp is yet to secure a league win over the Reds’ rivals: will this be the German’s day? Derby vs Nott’m Forest October 15 Old pals reunite in the biannual East Midlands friendship match – not really, this will be feisty Real Madrid vs Tottenham October 17 Spurs lost 4-0 on their…

When fans turned up to watch Stevenage take on Lincoln in League Two, there was a very obvious question: why is that bloke in the away end wearing a bra? That bloke was one Simon Chanter, who is popularly known as Sid and decided to make a show of himself in a bid to show up the hosts’ stewards, on behalf of Lincoln’s rivals. Around 10 female Grimsby supporters had complained of oddly being forced to show their bras upon entry to the Lamex Stadium a couple of weeks previous, so Chanter opted to go for a rather revealing display of solidarity for the Mariners fans. “I may have looked a bit stupid but I was trying to make a very serious point to the Stevenage stewards,” he tells FFT.…

It’s not every month a Japanese raccoon dog gets in contact with FourFourTwo to thank us for an article on him, but this has been one of those months. Tokyo Dorompa had been picked as FFT’s mascot of the month in September’s issue, and was swiftly made aware of his sudden worldwide fame. “He was super delighted to see the feature in the magazine,” says supporter Reiko Sakai, who gave Dorompa an issue. So super delighted, in fact, that he went round signing several copies, as a number of supporters turned up brandishing them ahead of FC Tokyo’s J-League encounter at home to Kawasaki Frontale last month. Dorompa even went as far as to scribble a thank you message to FFT and then hold it up…

“IN GERMANY THEY BELIEVE IN YOUNGER COACHES. MAYBE A YOUNG COACH CAN UNDERSTAND THE PLAYERS BETTER THAN ONE WHO COULD BE THEIR GRANDFATHER” When I first started as a coach, my aim was to work in the Bundesliga. Coaching wasn’t too easy at first. As a player I worked with Franz Beckenbauer and he expected that we would be as good as he’d been as a player. Maybe sometimes he expected too much. At the beginning of my coaching career, maybe it was the same. I was thinking: ‘For me everything was easy, why can’t my players do it as well?’ You realise that you have to help them get to that level. That’s your job. In the end I never had the chance to coach at a big club…

@GalacticKeegan Palace sacking De Boer after four games was awful. I said: “I’m gutted for you, Frank.” He said: “I’m Ronald.” I said: “Well, pass it on then.” @afcMozart Cologne supporters wearing Arsenal shirts to sneak into Emirates. Something Theo Walcott has now been doing successfully for over a decade @Pirlo_official Nice meetings in NY! @DavidHasselhoff Congrats to Wales! What a game! And Ben Woodburn! Nice goal! @DanLevene Qarabag manager Gurban Gurbanov taking ‘steely’ to a new level. Asked to tell us about his club, he just told us to ‘do more research’. Ha @MaxPollard92 Great write-up on AC London in FourFourTwo. What a story…

Eddie Howe’s managerial career has led him from League Two to the top flight – and the Bournemouth chief’s noticed a big change in media interest down on the south coast Have you ever had to take part in any press conference training? No. I have been quite lucky because when I first became a manager, Bournemouth were a club in League Two so press conferences were basically one-on-one chats with the local journalist. I think that was a good grounding for me before being exposed to bigger groups and the different types of questioning as we rose up through the leagues. How have you managed to adapt to the increase in media scrutiny? The jump from the Championship to Premier League was huge. We’d never had any attention nationally…

1 “Juventus bought referee, of that there is no shadow of a doubt” 2 It’s true, I underwent a hair transplant. I think the results are pretty cool, don’t you?” 3 “We have to show , hunger and a lot of times I used the word ‘horny’ to my players” [We play] a kind of orgy football. The other team know they’re going to get it. But they don’t know from who or where” 5 “Some eggs are more expensive than others and some will give you better omelettes. When the class one eggs are not available you have a problem” 6 Jose Mourinho] can do or say whatever he wants. In this room he is the f**king chief, the f**king boss” 7 “Even if I built a 50,000-seater stadium and bought Ronaldinho, there’d still be complaints…

It’s no coincidence that you’ll never find a picture of Bobby Moore with even a single hair out of place. “The jumpers in his wardrobe were hung in sequence from dark colours to light,” his first wife Tina once said. Teaming up with namesake Graham of Chelsea (left) and Charlton’s Eddie Firmani (right) for a 1963 photo shoot, the World Cup-winning captain – whose keen following of fashion extended to owning a leather coats business – cut quite the dash.…

Side By Side “We’ve had a few battles together,” says Peter Shilton to Ray Clemence in a Euro 80 keeper duet. “Singing our song, side by side,” they croon in the chorus, fooling no one whatsoever. Naranjito What says ‘Spain’ more than a football kit-wearing smiley, plump orange? Er, nothing, and that’s why Naranjito was the mascot for the ’82 World Cup. Olé! Sock tie-ups In the modern era of tape and elasticated sock top, the humble tie-up has fallen by the wayside. Never better designed than the ‘numbered’ ones worn by Chelsea and Leeds during the ’70s.…

If you could play with one player past or present... Dennis Bergkamp Last movie you watched? Moana Which actor would play you in a film? Will Smith – even though he is quite a bit taller than me! Favourite music artist? Usher Selfie or autograph? Autograph Favourite holiday destination? Anywhere nice with the family Best defender you have faced? Patrice Evra If you weren’t a footballer... I’d be a 100m or 200m runner Favourite meal? My wife’s lasagne the day before a big game. It’s beautiful…

v Ben Woodburn After belting in Wales’ winning goal at home to Austria, the starlet was praised by David Hasselhoff on Twitter. v Frickley Athletic The use of Pokemon Go-style tech in their programme enables fans to watch match highlights via an app. v Nike The Vapor Flyknit Ultra boots are a throwback to FFT’s youth. If only we had a spare £210. Wayne Rooney A drink-driving charge following a night out ruined the forward’s fresh start at Everton. FIFA They wouldn’t agree to ratify Adrien Silva’s switch from Sporting to Leicester after the transfer deadline was missed by 14 seconds. David Silva’s hair FFT can’t get used to the Man City man’s new ‘Pep Guardiola’ haircut this season – bring back the lovely flowing locks, David.…

Kevin Phillips Derby County coach “As a player you’re selfish and think just about yourself. You will come in and go home and then turn up for matches. But as a coach, the big thing I’ve found is you’ve got to think about everyone. The organisation side of it is incredible – as a player everything is organised, but you don’t see the hours that go into it. I used to train from 10am until 12pm. Now it is an 8am start and some days you may not leave until 5pm.”…

Whatever your game and wherever you play, Pro:Direct has all the best boots from the biggest brands including an exclusive new Copa Gloro inspired by the rare blue Predator Mania.…

Paul Brown: The historian and FFT regular has shared some of his research into the evolution of football fans. “Being a supporter has altered hugely over the game’s long history – however, I discovered we have still got plenty in common with our football-loving ancestors.” Jon Shard: The snapper headed to Huddersfield to capture the Terriers’ miracle-working gaffer. “David Wagner was a pleasure to work with, easy-going and full of positive energy. He even supplied some tea and toast to finish off the morning’s photo shoot. Lovely fella.” James Maw: Our features editor has spent the past month trying to get his head round analytical model, Expected Goals. “I’d often noticed xG mentioned online but thought deciphering it would be like cracking the enigma code – maybe unsurprisingly, it wasn’t.”…

HIGH: 1995 Wins first Champions League title at the age of just 24, as Ajax see off Milan 1-0 in the Vienna final LOW: 2001 Is forced to leave Juventus after being displaced by 23-year-old Parma keeper Gianluigi Buffon HIGH: 2002 Lifts Intertoto Cup with Fulham after overcoming Bologna – the Cottagers’ first European trophy LOW: 2004 Denied his best opportunity to win an international honour as the Dutch lose 2-1 to Portugal in the semi-finals of Euro 2004 HIGH: 2007 Wins first of four Premier League titles with Manchester United, in an era that features Champions League glory in Moscow in 2008 LOW: 2009 Loses the first of two Champions League finals to Barcelona in the space of three years, with Rome loss followed by Wembley woe HIGH: 2016…

An increasing tally of teams are missing a rock at the heart of the defence these days – so an Argentinian artist has helped out by giving them some rock at the heart of their club badges instead. Juan Lopez Moses has been able to mix football crests with rock logos in a series of artworks that unite his two great passions. “I’ve always been a massive fan of football and rock,” he tells FFT. “This idea came from something small. As a fan of Black Sabbath, for a while I’d been toying with finding some way to merge the badge of Aston Villa, who Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler both support, with the band’s flying devil mascot, Henry. “I found a picture of Ozzy Osbourne online where he was…

Whenever Atletico Nacional Under-18 coach Hernan Dario Herrera summons one of his players, he doesn’t call out the name, he picks a random month of the year instead. And that’s because the Colombian club’s highly-rated teenage star is Efmamjjasond Gonzalez. Nope, he’s not named after an Icelandic volcano. It’s actually because his first name features the opening letter of each month of the year in Spanish. We all know how it goes, right? Enero, Febrero, Marzo, Abril, Mayo, Junio, Julio, Agosto, Septiembre, Octubure, Noviembre, Diciembre. “Dad wanted to call me ‘Efmamjjasond Jhonathan’, but my mum said I wouldn’t ever be able to write such a long name, so they just left it at Efmamjjasond,” says Jason, as he’s known to his friends – although he has also been dubbed ‘Calendario’.…

Edge Ben Lyttleton Harper Collins, £14.99 ooooo The beautiful game is still overly reliant on conventional wisdom and half-baked truths but, as Lyttleton says in this excellent book, creative thinking is bearing fruit at clubs who are prepared to be more innovative. “I’m not looking for change, I’m looking for an edge,” reveals the former Borussia Dortmund manager, Thomas Tuchel. The first leader in sport to address the Rulebreaker Society (a group of visionary business trailblazers), Tuchel is a believer in the speedy alteration of tactical formations in matches, and that eye contact between players is essential to team cohesion. Lyttleton also looks at the Basque values of Athletic Bilbao, and Edge helps the reader to assess the game in a left-field way with findings about Visual Exploratory Frequency –…

“VIEIRA HAS A GREAT KNOWLEDGE OF THE GAME AND IS AT THE CLUB SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. HE’LL BE A VERY SUCCESSFUL MANAGER” You have been in great form and have a good chance of winning this season’s Golden Boot in MLS. How much different is scoring on the other side of the Atlantic compared to Spain? It is pretty much the same whoever you play for – I always do what I’m asked, which is scoring goals. It’s my job. I’m happy with life at New York City FC. With the help from my team-mates and the coach, Patrick Vieira, I can continue to play at a high level. What’s it been like playing for Vieira at NYCFC? He’s got a great knowledge and understanding of the game and…

Sausage and mash, fish and chips or a pint of John Smith’s. Local retirees are mulling over their options as they drift into the bar area and peruse the menu, having shrugged off the light drizzle to complete an afternoon contest of crown green bowls. On initial glance, this could be any working men’s club across the north of England, were it not for the smart ‘Huddersfield Town’ signage outside and the bloke wandering around reception bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Premier League Manager of the Month for August. This is the most unlikely location from which David Wagner has masterminded one of English football’s more remarkable success stories of recent seasons. After the German has nipped into the team’s private dining area for a spot of lunch –…

THE JOKER’S LAUGH Some managers will project this image of being super-happy all of the time – but obviously that isn’t possible. It could well be a coping mechanism to disguise any negative emotions. It’s very difficult not to reciprocate a laugh or smile so it can change atmospheres. Chimps will bare their teeth to signal a lack of fear – perhaps that is what the managers are doing as well. STANDING ROOM ONLY Standing up is often an attempt to gain control of the situation. There is a link between height and power, so when someone us, can give them a certain air of authority. In the case of a manager, he will be looking over journalists like a teacher, which will then give him a strategic advantage. If…

Can you remember your first ever press conference with Ferguson? It was at the Cliff – United’s former training ground – and it was very nerve-wracking. It was an intimidating environment, because Fergie was so unpredictable. You never knew how he was going to respond to a certain question. His mood could completely change in an instant. Do you think he would deliberately try to intimidate journalists? Definitely. If you phrased a question wrong in a press conference he would belittle you, which would dent your confidence. He could deter journalists from asking certain questions by responding in a particular way. But there were times when you were convinced you were about to get the hairdryer and then he’d be normal. He kept you on your toes. Can you remember…

Bayern Munich probably had good reason to rue their luck after bowing out in the semi-finals of the 2015-16 Champions League against Atletico Madrid – they had lost by the finest of margins. Pep Guardiola’s side, having been beaten 1-0 in the first leg, knew they had to win the return clash in Bavaria by two clear goals. The hosts unleashed an almighty siege on the Rojiblancos’ goal – 33 shots to Atleti’s seven, 11 of which hit the target to the visitors’ four. Yet, most tellingly, they scored two goals to their opponents’ one and were unceremoniously dumped out on the away goals rule. The above statistics alone hinted Diego Simeone’s men might have been a touch fortunate, but a more qualitative measure suggested that their progression actually bordered…

Vegard Heggem Who? Buccaneering former Liverpool right-back – a regular pick for two terms in the late-90s and the man brought off so Steven Gerrard could make his debut in 1998. Prior to that, Heggem headed the winner at the San Siro for Rosenborg in the Champions League. Injured while playing with Norway at Euro 2000, he retired in ’03 at the age of just 28. Well that’s no age. So what did he do? He became a salmon fisherman, obviously. Heggem has helmed Aunan Lodge, on the River Orkla’s banks in Sor-Trondelag, since persistent hamstring problems ended his playing days. “I can’t imagine a better job than being a host for fishermen from all over the world that come here to hunt for Atlantic salmon,” he said last October.…

IMAGINE A GAME-CHANGER LIKE JIMMY HILL WITH CRUYFF’S TALENT AND YOU GET AN IDEA OF FRANCE’S SPORTING MAVERICK Raymond Kopa learned early on that he was an outsider. Born in 1931 to Polish immigrant parents drawn from Krakow to France’s industrial north to work down the mines, as a teen he discovered his name made him a second-class citizen. “I visited five or six electricians and introduced myself the same way every time,” he remembered of his attempts to earn an apprenticeship in the 1940s. “I would say, ‘Good day, I’d like to be an electrician.’ They’d reply, ‘Great, what’s your name?’ ‘Raymond Kopaszewski...’ “Immediately, the smile disappeared and the countenance hardened. ‘I am sorry, we don’t have anything.’ So I had to give up on my dreams.” In post-war…

“There were 10,000 people at Deepdale yesterday afternoon at the ladies football match between two teams representing the munition workers from Dick, Kerr’s and Coulthard’s. The players all wore orthodox tops, shorts and boots. Coulthard’s were in red and white stripes and Dick, Kerr’s in black and white – with the addition of natty hats to match. Corsets were barred. There was a tendency amongst the players at the start to giggle, but they soon settled down to the game in earnest. Dick, Kerr’s weren’t long in showing that they had the better all-round idea of the game and a number of their shots would not have disgraced a regular professional. Within five minutes Dick, Kerr’s had scored through Miss Whittle, and added goals by Miss Birkens – a shot…

Tree pose Are you no stranger to feeling a decade older when crawling out of bed the day after a game? Make this move a part of your pre-match warm-up. “Footballers will often suffer from stiff hips after years of jumping, kicking and turning on the dominant side,” explains Heidaripour. “Hold this position for around 15-20 seconds, then repeat it with your opposite leg to open up your groin and hip.” Single-leg side plank pose We have had enough of you making excuses for getting bullied off the ball. This exercise will boost your ability to retain possession and then make a pass. “I used this move a lot with Mesut Özil. It replicated him pushing away an opponent, while lifting his leg in a football-specific fashion helped to strengthen…

TONY ADAMS “I’ll never forget when Tony was named the captain of Arsenal, succeeding Kenny Sansom. He was only 21 at the time and we all thought, ‘Blimey, that is one hell of a call from the gaffer.’ But he’d acted like a captain from the age of about 12 and he took it on without any problems whatsoever. Plus, you only had to play against him for five minutes in training to realise what a great player Tony was.” DAVID ROCASTLE “He had the heart of a lion, the skills of a Brazilian and tackled like a rhino: he was the complete package. Rocky was never quite the same after his knee operation, but in the early days he was a wonderful player and everybody loved him. He was…

1 BANKS WOULD HAVE SAVED IT Mexico Guadalajara The Estadio Jalisco played host to one of the greatest saves in football history – Gordon Banks’ denial of Pele during the 1970 World Cup – and now it’s also seen one of the oddest postponements. Ravel Morrison was all set for his Atlas debut against Tigres UANL, only for the game to get called off as a big TV screen newly installed above the centre circle was hanging dangerously low. The Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman posed for pictures pretending to hold up the screen, though he couldn’t save the day: it needed Banks to turn up and improbably tip it over the stadium roof. 2 LION, HART England Ashford If Paul Gascoigne’s taught us anything, it’s that nothing can possibly go…

“FLYING WOULD BE MY POWER SO I COULD WHIZZ AROUND - FIRST STOP DISNEYLAND!” Hi Jason. Bolton apparently bought you from Marine for a nominal fee “plus a large bag of footballs”. So how many balls were in that bag? Hi mate. I’ve no idea, but I know that the nominal fee of £500 managed to cover the price of a new roof for the club, after the old one had got blown off by a storm in Crosby. I wasn’t just a big bag of balls, I was a roof as well. Although they didn’t call it the ‘Jason McAteer Roof’, which is a great shame. How many footballs have you got? I’ve got six in the garden and a few spongy ones in the house, which are my…

“WE HAD TO BEAT SPAIN TO QUALIFY AND WE DID OUR JOB. THE COUNTRY HAD WAITED A LONG TIME FOR A MOMENT LIKE THAT” Porto 6 Braga 0 1996 Youth team match “My career could have taken a really different path without this game. The president was watching and I scored a hat-trick. Not bad for a defender, eh? I was 17 and people from a second-tier side were there wanting to sign me on loan, but the president said that I was going nowhere, or out on loan to a first division outfit. Who knows what may have happened if I hadn’t played well.” Spain 0 Portugal 1 June 20, 2004 European Championship “This will always be one of my favourite football memories. It was my first ever Euros,…

THEY SAID: “For those who don’t know Jadon Sancho, you need to know him – he’s that good,” said former Newcastle, Manchester City and Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy. COMPARED TO: Neymar: he usually operates from the left wing and uses his dribbling skills to cause mayhem. THE STORY SO FAR: Hailing out of Kennington, south London, Sancho joined Watford aged seven before being snapped up my Manchester City two years ago. He was named player of the tournament as England reached the finals of the U17 Euros in the summer – previous winners of that honour include Toni Kroos, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas and, er, Connor Wickham. Sancho also helped Man City to last season’s FA Youth Cup final but has now joined Dortmund and been handed Ousmane Dembele’s No.7…

WITH THE PROGRAMME I’m a second I loved the feature reader on old of Man City programmes it’s taken in the Action Replay figure section out of the previous line magazine . [FFT 280]. Great issue. that Dave Wallace be a top-six -generation VERLOOKED US  FourFourTwo Why was , there so no Celtic 262 match issues in the to 25 finally greatest games answer in to the the Champions spine League? The 4-3 win over Juventus was ey a should thriller. team Neil . They McCole ’re not. They’re REDUCE BADGE FEES I am going through my FA coaching badges and the fees are ridiculous – no wonder there aren’t enough English coaches. Reece Oxland A WASTE OF INK Contracts don’t mean anything now: Philippe Coutinho and Virgil van Dijk…

HRISTO STOICHKOV The Barça icon has managed Bulgaria, Celta Vigo and Litex Lovech, amongst others, but hasn’t enjoyed much success in the dugout. The two most likely factors are Stoichkov’s hot-headedness (he’s fallen out with several of his players), and his insistence that “I don’t believe in tactics”. His Bulgaria side once lined up in a 2-4-4... MARCO VAN BASTEN The Dutch media were baffled when the inexperienced Van Basten became national team coach in 2004. His side shone brightly during the Euro 2008 group stage, before a surprise quarter-final defeat to Russia. Spells at Ajax and Heerenveen followed, before his tenure at AZ Alkmaar was cut short by a stress-related heart problem. RUUD GULLIT For a while it seemed like the master of ‘sexy football’ could be joining the…

VITOR GETS VICIOUS Things were going swimmingly for Vitor Pereira at Saudi side Al-Ahli, until the former Porto manager decided to criticise one of his players in front of journalists. It prompted a swift on-mic interjection from the club’s press officer, insisting he shouldn’t criticise individuals in public. But Pereira then lost it. “It’s the first time in my life someone has told me what I can say,” he cried, before storming out of the press room. THE RETURN OF J‘F’K Subtle may not be a word that features very highly in Joe Kinnear’s vocabulary – but c*** evidently is. The ex-Wimbledon and Luton boss singled out Daily Mirror writer Simon Bird for some very choice words in his opening presser following his surprise appointment at Newcastle United in 2008.…

GAWPING VILLAGERS As footballing spectacles go, traditional village matches would have taken some beating. These chaotic and often violent folk (or “mob”) encounters brought havoc to the streets of competing towns and villages across Britain for hundreds of years, from medieval times through to the Victorian era. Matches involved hundreds of players and lasted for several hours, and there were numerous accounts of broken legs, fatalities and full-scale rioting. No wonder all of those straw-chewing yokels were enthralled. Villagers would line the streets, hang from windows and clamber onto roofs to gain decent vantage points. They inevitably supported friends and neighbours from their own villages and the atmosphere was fiercely partisan, creating some tasty rivalries. Fans would hurl flowers at their favourite players and chuck mud at their adversaries. The…

I was sat at home when the telephone rang – I can still remember it clearly. It was my father and he seemed nervously excited. Then he told me a team in England, Manchester City, had made Milan a huge offer for me. Before I could even react, he added that Milan were prepared to accept the bid. I’d had absolutely no idea that Manchester City were interested in signing me until they’d actually made their official offer to Milan. The process had been really different to how these things often work. City did not talk to my father – who also acted as my agent – first. They had gone straight to Milan and made their intention clear. Very clear in fact. They made Milan an offer for me,…

PASSING GROOVE Queen’s Park invented passing football. “They dribble little, conveying the ball by a series of long kicks combined with a judicious plan of passing,” The Field wrote after the 1872 FA Cup semi-final draw with Wanderers. AT THE DOUBLE In 1884 the club came very close to securing a unique double, after Queen’s Park became the only Scottish side to reach the FA Cup final. They won the Scottish Cup but then lost 2-1 to Blackburn in Kennington. Goalkeeper Mustafa Mansour – ‘The Flying Egyptian’ – rejected Celtic for the Spiders in 1936. He’d starred at the World Cup two years earlier for Egypt (led by a Scot in James McRea) and went on to become a cabinet minister in the ’60s. BITTEN BY THE BUG Alex Ferguson’s…

 Hi Theo. How vital is extra training to staying fit and fast for a full season? “Last season, I tried to pick on Harry Maguire who is about twice my size, so I don’t mind getting stuck in” I think it’s important to always stay one step ahead of everyone else. If you can find a way to improve your game by one per cent, then you are going to have an advantage over your opponent. As you get older you need to take care of your body, as you can feel the intensity of the Premier League improving after every season. The younger players are all physically able to compete and that makes it even more competitive for a place in the team. You have to make sure you’re…

BENJAMIN MENDY Footballer banter The Man City man is establishing a big following with his witty one-liners and wisecracks at his Blues team-mates. Twitter: @benmendy23 CLASSIC FOOTBALL CFS Vintage shirts Relive your cul-de-sac kickabouts as a kid by getting your hands on some iconic replica kit from years gone by. Twitter: @classicshirts JOHNNY WILSON Fitness insight The head of sports medicine at Notts County posts videos of cutting-edge methods that get players match fit. Twitter: @notts_physio…