Innehållsförteckning för July 2021 från FourFourTwo UK

It was June 1990 when I went from being a six-year-old boy who played football in the playground, to becoming an actual fan. And there was one man responsible for that: Paul John Gascoigne. Watching Italia 90 back then, I wasn’t aware about the negative feelings towards Bobby Robson and his England team – I just watched the games in awe. It was Gazza who lit them up. His Cruyff turn against the Dutch; the two free-kick assists against Belgium and Egypt; sticking out his tongue during the anthems; and of course, those tears. I was a fan of Gazza before I was a fan of a club, and as the years rolled on, the aura around him only grew. From north London to Glasgow, via some often-hilarious high jinks…

Italy 4 Estonia 1 March 25, 1995 European Championship qualifier “Every footballer who works hard wants to wear the national shirt. I scored on my debut against Estonia, which was really important for me – when you play for your country, it’s a huge responsibility and I didn’t want to lose my chance. Arrigo Sacchi was one of the finest managers I ever had. He always tried to help, showing me good movements to help the midfield and defence. He demanded so much from forwards – if you wouldn’t run, it was impossible to play for him. Sacchi wanted you to pressure teams, and that was one of my greatest qualities. He loved that about me.” Juventus 4 Parma 0 May 21, 1995 Serie A “Juventus hadn’t won the Serie…

So… why Colchester United? I grew up in a family where no one followed football, so there was no pressure on me. When I was seven, I fell into supporting Arsenal because I liked Charlie George. But then punk rock happened and I fell out of love with the game for a while – the former took over all my spare time and changed everything. When I turned 17, though, I came back to football. Colchester was a short bus ride away and the nearest Football League club to where I was from. What was the first match that you ever attended? The first one I have memory of was a Friday night game against Mansfield in late 1982; Roy McDonough – Red Card Roy – was upfront for us.…

You moved to Africa in March, with Al-Merrikh near Khartoum. What’s it been like so far? As a youngster, my house backed on to the Tyne – I never thought in those days that I’d be living in a hotel looking out on the River Nile. I looked into the club, the country and the potential of what could happen, in terms of taking the club forward. It was a big decision and I’ve been away from my family, but I’ve been loving it. I’ve been living in a hotel, occupying myself planning for the next day and the games ahead, or watching footage of teams we’ll be coming up against. You took over Sudan’s champions, but some said it was a step down. What did you make of that?…

1 ELTON, MEET GAZZA Paul Gascoigne was destined for stardom from the very beginning. At the age of 17, he helped Newcastle to win the FA Youth Cup in 1985 – a feat they haven’t repeated since. “I played alongside Gazza at every age level from the age of 10 to the first team,” Joe Allon tells FFT. “When we won the Youth Cup, I swear he must have laid on every goal for me. He was an ugly duckling of a player at times – he carried a bit of puppy fat, and Jack Charlton had threatened to sack him a few days earlier, saying he was overweight. “But in the final, he turned into the most beautiful swan I’ve ever seen. We won 4-1 at Vicarage Road and…

1893 WILLIE GROVES £100 West Brom ▼ Aston Villa 1903 BEN GREEN £500 Barnsley ▼ Small Heath 1904 ALF COMMON £520 Sheff United ▼ Sunderland 1904 ANDY McCOMBIE £700 Sunderland ▼ Newcastle 1905 ALF COMMON £1,000 Sunderland ▼ Middlesbrough 1913 DANIEL SHEA £2,000 West Ham ▼ Blackburn 1913 TOMMY BARBER £2,000 Bolton ▼ Aston Villa 1914 PERCY DAWSON £2,500 Hearts ▼ Blackburn 1920 DAVID JACK £3,500 Plymouth ▼ Bolton 1921 TOM HAMILTON £4,600 Kilmarnock ▼ Preston 1922 SYD PUDDEFOOT £5,000 West Ham ▼ Falkirk 1922 MICHAEL GILHOOLEY £5,250 Hull ▼ Sunderland 1922 WARNEY CRESSWELL £5,500 South Shields ▼ Sunderland 1925 BOB KELLY £6,500 Burnley ▼ Sunderland 1928 DAVID JACK £10,890 Bolton ▼ Arsenal 1932 BERNABE FERREYRA £23,000 Tigre ▼ River Plate 1949 JOHNNY MORRIS £24,000 Man United ▼ Derby 1949…

This will be your first Olympics – how are you feeling about it? I’ve been playing for England for a long time [since 2013], but it’s funny thinking about the Olympics – I’ve heard so much about London 2012 from my team-mates who bang on about it... especially Jill Scott! Jill, Steph Houghton and Ellen White describe the Olympics as an experience like no other – that being an Olympian can’t be replicated, as you’re part of something that transcends our game. They say the Olympics are so much bigger than anything you could imagine, so I’ve got huge expectations because they’ve sold us the experience of a lifetime. I’ve been told that only when you take part will you understand what it means to be an Olympian. What are…

You worked as a binman and a hod-carrier before turning professional aged 21. How much did those experiences shape you? I told my careers officer at school that I wanted to be a footballer or a postman. She ended up getting me a job knocking down Llandudno gun sites, which had been built to prevent German invasion during the war. There were all sorts of nasty injuries – people getting hit by sledgehammers and stuff. Afterwards, I worked on the bins which was great banter. I’d get up at 4am, finish early and then go and work for my uncle in the afternoon for some extra cash. Football’s not a real job, it’s a hobby you get paid for! As a teenager, you were approached by German outfit Fortuna Dusseldorf…

Your eldest son Geoffroy, 16, has signed his first deal at Swansea. Will we see a new Bony dancing at the Liberty Stadium? [Laughs] Yes, let’s hope so. Geoffroy is very talented. He has my physical strength, but is much faster than me. My other son Orphee is also in the Swansea academy. They feel at home there. I became a dad at a young age, just before heading over to Europe. It was a difficult time back then. I had no work and no money. I didn’t finish school because of football. My father was a teacher and used to say, “Wilfried, there is much more to life than football. Educate yourself.” I told him it was my destiny to become a footballer. He later accepted my life as…

Clermont Foot have reached France’s top flight for the first time, and their historic season began appropriately – with a knight in shorts, riding a horse into the city. The club are nicknamed the Lancers – they’re based in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in the Massif Central mountain range, famous for the Battle of Gergovia when Julius Caesar was defeated by Vercingetorix and his rowdy locals in 52 BC. Vercingetorix may have later been imprisoned in Rome and beheaded, but he’s a folk hero in Clermont-Ferrand. As well as being one of the inspirations for comic book icon Asterix, he was the man Clermont Foot had in mind when they unveiled a new mascot for 2020-21, named Torix. The club had been in Ligue 2 since 2007 but struggled to…

A DYING ART What makes a captain in today’s game? Being the best player? Or being the oldest? Maybe it’s the length of time a player has been at a club. Long gone are the days of the galvanising captain who would grab a game by the scruff of the neck or bark orders at his team-mates, a la Roy Keane. Unai Emery once had five captains at Arsenal, which is funny – because if there was one team who has lacked leadership over the last few years, it’s Arsenal. It’s possible that the decline of the captain goes hand in hand with the rise of head coaches in the game, meaning that players are never unsure what to do or where to be, as they’ll be constantly receiving orders…

“He was one of my favourite players as I was growing up, because of the way he played. I’d watch Gazzetta Football Italia every week, just to watch him and his segment. I even got a Lazio shirt. I spent some time with the England squad during Euro 96 and he’d play table tennis with two hands – his forehand was two-handed, which was weird, but good. The night before the Scotland or Netherlands game, I went into the computer room and Gazza was playing golf on a simulator thing, with a bottle of red wine empty next to him. This was the night before a big game – I thought, ‘Wow, is this how superstars live?’ Then he went and played how he did. When I later broke into…

Thomas Tuchel’s first European match as a manager came in 2011, when he faced Romanian minnows Gaz Metan Medias with Mainz in the Europa’s League third qualifying round. It didn’t go well, either – Gaz Metan triumphed on penalties after a pair of 1-1 draws. Tuchel might have recovered from the disappointment pretty quickly, but his managerial rival of 10 years ago didn’t quite use that match to launch his own career. Cristi Pustai has just left his job at Romanian second-tier side Dunarea Calarasi following their failure to get promoted. The 53-year-old went unpaid for several months, as were his players. But he won’t be unemployed for long. If Pustai ever decides to give up football, sick of the various problems in Romanian football, he could simply turn to…

There was a time, back in the early ’80s, when footballers and the sport they played were widely seen as fantastically naff. If you were into music – the good, alternative kind – then a love of the game was an unlikely bedfellow. Things would change later in the decade with the fanzine movement – whose typewriter-and-Tippex publications were frequently sold in independent record stores – Italia 90 and World In Motion. They then hit overdrive in the Britpop-drenched ’90s, but in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain 40 years ago, you tended to keep quiet even about watching Match of the Day. The main problem was a lack of visible, like-minded souls on the pitch. Footballers had the worst taste in music. Certainly, you never expected to find one in the pages…

“I’D THINK, ‘IF I DRIVE MY CAR IN A DITCH AND TAKE A PHOTO, I WON’T HAVE TO GO IN TODAY’” You’ll be a Spalding United player for 2021-22. What’s the story there? I came away from football at Bolton in April thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this any more’. I didn’t want to be part of the game I’d lost all of my love for. The politics just got to me. I enjoyed playing but not the other stuff that comes with it, so I was like, ‘No, I’m done with this’. But then Gaby [Zakuani, his former Peterborough team-mate who is now Spalding’s manager] called me up and explained that I could play part-time. It’s been like a new lease of life for me. When was the…

LOWDOWN Son of Romania’s finest footballer, Gheorghe, Ianis debuted with his dad’s Viitorul Constanta side in 2014 – and skippered them at 16 – before spells at Fiorentina and Genk. Rangers made his January 2020 loan permanent for £3m, however, after some ace showings and a couple of late winners. Hagi became a regular in their title-winning season, playing on either wing under Steven Gerrard. HIGHLIGHT Aside from voicing a role in the Romanian version of Disney film Frankenweenie? In only his sixth outing, Hagi’s brace rescued Rangers in a Europa League win over Braga. Exactly the kind of storyline any good starlet needs – with his acting ability, he could play himself in the movie. THEY SAID... “Sometimes Hagi isn’t in the XI and I don’t understand why –…

“THE WORST PLACE? I WON’T BE RUSHING BACK TO UKRAINE. BUT LET’S SAY SUNDERLAND!” Hi Warren. You’re living in California these days – how’s it going? I’m all right thanks, although I’ve just got a puncture, which isn’t ideal. Are you on your bike? No chance of that! I’m driving around LA. I think I’ve gone over a razor blade. Bad luck. Now, on Wikipedia it states that “during his time at Newcastle, John Beresford formed a formidable partnership with his doppelganger, Warren Barton.” Would you say you are John Beresford’s doppelganger? Reluctantly! All I’ll say is I’m a natural blond and there’s about six inches in it, too. If he’s dying his hair, isn’t he my doppelganger? He’s older than me and has an MBE, though. So who knows?…

Steve Menary, James Montague (Pitch, £12.99) With varied locations from the spartan stadia of Georgia to the chaotic Libertadores final between Boca and River Plate, The Away Leg does a fine job of showcasing the bewildering diversity and edginess of global football during the pre-pandemic era. Its travelogue chapters, with 11 tales from around the world, are often poignant, amusing or downright alarming. Played in an almost-deserted arena that once hosted 70,000 during the Cold War era, the Tbilisi derby is a world away from the glamour of the Premier League. France 98’s infamous Iran vs USA clash crackled with political tension, but TV coverage failed to reflect the anti-Khamenei Cup fiests bas sanians t – perhapser an attempt by western channels o toasions. Justsimmeringctension between both countries. There’s also…

› France went to the 2002 World Cup with that campaign’s top scorer in the Premier League (Thierry Henry), Serie A (David Trezeguet) and Ligue 1 (Djibril Cissé), but were knocked out at the group stage without netting a goal. › Unai Emery’s grandad, goalkeeper Antonio Emery, conceded the first goal in La Liga history, back in 1928. › Between them, Gianluigi Buffon, Peter Shilton and Stanley Matthews have made at least one appearance in every season since 1931-32. › New Zealand were the only unbeaten team at the 2010 World Cup after drawing all three group matches, while Scotland were the solitary outfit to go undefeated at the 1974 tournament. › The 1980 Copa del Rey Final was between Real Madrid and Real Madrid Castilla, held at Real Madrid’s…

“Gazza can be so kind. He shares a birthday with my son, and before the 1990 World Cup, Bobby Robson invited wives and families to our base on Sardinia. It was Gazza’s birthday, so we had a party for him and a huge chocolate cake shaped as a brush, because Bobby had labelled him ‘daft as a brush’. It had ‘Happy Birthday Gazza’ written on it – everyone knew he loved chocolate cake, but he quickly sent it back and had a quiet word with one of the hotel staff. No one had any idea what was happening. A few minutes later, the cake came back and written on it was ‘Happy Birthday Gazza and Drew’. He hadn’t forgotten that my son was celebrating his first birthday. That was a…

1998 DENILSON £21.5M > SAO PAULO > REAL BETIS “I love my family,” was the heart-warming – or possibly stomach-churning? – slogan on Denilson’s T-shirt in September 2001. The spaghetti-legged Brazilian wideman must have believed that his £21.5 million move to Real Betis was finally working out. His 1998 transfer had been problematic: tax issues foiled a switch to Barcelona, so he joined Betis. His destination didn’t matter to selling club Sao Paulo, who used the cash to renovate their stadium. As Denilson said, “The whole ‘most expensive player ever’ thing got out of hand. People suddenly thought I was going to arrive in Spain and become the top scorer in La Liga.” Despite Betis’ relegation in 1999-2000 – and the news his agent had siphoned off the fee owed…

CREDENTIALS Yuran was a league winner at both Benfica and Bobby Robson’s Porto prior to signing for Spartak Moscow. British fans might have caught him at the 1994 World Cup for Russia – before he was sent home – or as a confused onlooker when David Batty fought Graeme Le Saux in Spartak’s Champions League win over Blackburn in 1995. HOW’D IT GO? Newcastle tried to snare Yuran, who apparently said no over the choice of car on offer. Instead he arrived at second-tier Millwall in 1996 with fellow Russia international Vasili Kulkov, insisting the loan deal represented a “career pinnacle” after quadrupling his pay packet. The Lions were in a sticky patch, but fell off a cliff after gaffer Mick McCarthy exited. Yuran often missed training after “wild nights…

1 BIG IN TIBET Despite their ailing fortunes, Bradford boast some A-list fans – not least former One Direction heart-throb Zayn Malik and… er, the Dalai Lama. Malik is a local lad, but His Holiness was reportedly seduced by the club’s home strip, redolent of the robes worn by Buddhist monks. The Tibetan spiritual leader even blessed the Bantams ahead of their 2013 League Cup Final. It didn’t work, mind – they lost 5-0 to Swansea. 2 COLOUR MAGIC No other professional English team shares Bradford’s claret and amber mash-up. Bradford cashed in early on the Harry Potter movie boom as a result, flogging some 10,000 scarves akin to the wizard’s Gryffindor gear. Curiously, another Harry Potter – this one not dreamt up by JK Rowling – played for the…

You were a ball girl at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. How did that happen? A goalkeeper coach called Mick Payne, who I’d met at a Bob Wilson camp, asked me to go to a camp he does every year in Alabama. So, at 15, I flew out there on my own to stay with a random family, while the 1996 Games were in Atlanta. One of the Olympic football matches was in Birmingham, Alabama, and the family I was living with were soccer-mad. Both their sons were ball boys and somehow I got accreditation, went down to the ball boy practices at the stadium and got roped into it. Even though I was playing for Liverpool at the time, there I was, all kitted out as a ball girl! It…

VICTOR VALDES “When Pep Guardiola took charge of Barça before the 2008-09 campaign, Victor wasn’t a goalkeeper who could play with his feet. But he was forced to use them in training – the centre-backs would be positioned wider, so they gave him some options. Guardiola encouraged him to take risks and made the difference in his career.” DANI ALVES “This boy had dynamite in his boots. He was the full package: very aggressive defensively, took free-kicks, shot on goal, provided precise crosses, pushed forward and overlapped. He used to stay a little longer after training to work on his weaknesses, but above all else, he was really competitive.” CARLOS GAMARRA “Gamarra played behind me at Corinthians – even though he wasn’t the tallest, he never missed an aerial ball.…