Innehållsförteckning för October 2021 från FourFourTwo UK

There aren’t many life mottos I try to live by, but one rule I’ve always believed in is ‘never go back’. Once something is over, it’s over: move on and look forward. But as with all rules, there are exceptions – and the last transfer window showed us in two cases where going back could potentially be exactly the right thing to do. After seven years, Romelu Lukaku’s return to Chelsea might end up being a perfect fit for player and club. And then there’s the small matter of Cristiano Ronaldo back at Manchester United after his incredibly successful 12-year spell away from Old Trafford with Real Madrid and Juventus. We look at both and their grand returns for what promises to be a thrilling season. As someone without a…

Newcastle 4 Ipswich 1 November 27, 2001 League Cup “I’d made my professional debut in the UEFA Cup as a sub against Helsingborg earlier in the month, but hadn’t scored in either of my two appearances before we went to Newcastle in the League Cup. The match itself wasn’t memorable, but you always have a soft spot for your first goal. Alan Shearer scored twice, and Laurent Robert and Shola Ameobi also notched, which tells you the kind of team we were up against. I grabbed a consolation, but I was away.” Ipswich 3 Sheffield United 2 February 8, 2003 First Division “We were playing Sheffield United at Portman Road and 2-0 down just after half-time. To make things harder, we’d also been playing with 10 men for most of…

What was the first match that you ever saw live? In my mind, it’s Newport-Colchester in the FA Cup in January 1979. There was an organised coach from our street – in our town [Pontypool] you either supported Newport or Cardiff – because Newport were on a little cup run and beat West Ham 2-1 in the previous round. They played Colchester at the old Somerton Park and it finished 0-0. The glamour caught me right there! Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them? Because my mum was quite a fierce Welsh woman, if there was a writer or a sportsman, she’d go, “He’s Welsh.” If I saw some Welshness in somebody’s name, I’d pick up on it. At that point, Liverpool were massive, A Question…

What has it been like since you came back to Everton for a second spell? It’s been so nice to be back home. Everton’s ambitions were great and matched mine, so it was the perfect move. I just felt it was time to come home – I’d had four years in Spain and it was such a great experience, but the past year affected a lot of things. It was really difficult not seeing my family – for the first three years, there was always someone at the home games, but for the past year it was impossible for them to fly over. It’s the home comforts you miss, even the English food. I know it’s not the best and everyone prefers tapas, but it’s the simple things, like a…

“RONALDO IS OBSESSED WITH WINNING AND IS STILL ONE OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD – THERE IS ONE OUTCOME HERE” Cristiano Ronaldo took a deep breath, steadied himself, then fired the free-kick towards goal. He was 25 yards out, but his low effort arrowed past Shay Given into the net. His 118th and final goal for Manchester United had arrived at home to Manchester City, to all but seal a third straight Premier League title for the Red Devils. The reigning European champions had also just reached a second successive Champions League final, courtesy of Ronaldo’s blistering Emirates brace against Arsenal five days earlier. City were trudging to 10th place in the top flight – they’d not finished above their rivals for 18 years, going back to 1991. They’d…

Romelu Lukaku was nine years old when the Brazilian Ronaldo left Inter in 2002 – but the sight of Il Fenomeno bearing down on hapless defenders remained with the Belgian in his formative years. So, when newly installed Nerazzurri coach Antonio Conte came calling in the summer of 2019, the forward immediately wanted in. It felt like destiny. Conte had tried to sign Lukaku at Juventus five years earlier, and the Turin giants were in direct competition with Inter for a second time: offering Paulo Dybala as part of a swap deal and keen to see how the talisman would team up with Cristiano Ronaldo. Inter’s first bid had been turned down, but Manchester United encouraged them to give it another go. Eventually, an €80 million fee was agreed. Lukaku…

Without playmakers, there is no modern football” was the last of 10 commandments that Ferenc Puskas jotted down in his sumptuous Madrid apartment. Football theory wasn’t really his thing but, recognising that a professional lifestyle was essential if he was to resurrect his playing career in Spain, he cut down on smoking, drinking and sausages, and had time on his hands. Reflecting on the game that defined his life – and making several false starts at penning an autobiography – gave him something constructive to do if he wasn’t playing or training. His many notebooks, letters, journals and memorabilia now live in the Puskas Academy in Felcsut, not far from Budapest, curated by his biographer, Gyorgy Szollosi. The posters and pennants Puskas collected resemble the pageantry of a bygone age,…

CREDENTIALS The hot-headed attacker shot to prominence at the 2002 World Cup, where he starred in Senegal’s historic run to the last eight. Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier had already snapped him up beforehand – but just as quickly wished he hadn’t. Diouf netted only three league goals in a bleak debut campaign overshadowed by a police investigation, after he spat at a Celtic fan in a UEFA Cup clash. English football’s new villain later turned out for Bolton, Sunderland, Blackburn and Rangers, where his misdemeanours included spitting at an 11-year-old Middlesbrough fan, spitting at Portsmouth’s Arjan de Zeeuw, abusing a ball boy at Everton and taunting QPR’s Jamie Mackie after a leg break. Classy… HOW’D IT GO? Willing to turn the other cheek (and not just shelter from spittle), Donny…

1 NAMING FIGHTS Plymouth are the only team in Britain with ‘Argyle’ in their name – and no one knows why. The most popular theory is that the Pilgrims took their moniker from a street (Argyle Terrace), but others include a pub (the Argyle Tavern) and army regiment (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). Either way, it’s unique and has been in use since Argyle Football Club were formed in 1886. 2 HOME COMFORTS Home Park was the smallest venue picked as part of England’s unsuccessful 2018 World Cup bid. The 18,600-capacity stadium was selected alongside Wembley, Old Trafford and St James’ Park in the doomed offering. Had Russia not prevailed, Pilgrims could have seen the ground’s size hiked to 46,000 – a bit much for League One, maybe? 3 BIG IN…

How did your move from Porto to Chelsea in 2008 come about? It happened so quickly. Back then, I worked with [agent] Jorge Mendes and was about to move to another English club. But then, out of nowhere, Jorge said Chelsea had asked about me and would come to Porto to meet us. The following day, I signed a pre-agreement with them and was packing my things to undergo a medical in London. Everything was more or less sorted in 48 hours. I was very happy with the negotiations, as I was joining a club who had players I knew from Porto. That made the adaptation process much easier. Why did you decide to leave Portugal? I felt that my cycle at Porto had come to an end – I’d…

Footballers lived differently in the 1980s. Training was tough, pub crawls were even tougher and the only grooming products were Brut and Old Spice. No wonder they often looked like your grandad. But which players aged worst? Winston Gallagher has been on a quest to find out. “The diet, booze and fags didn’t help,” says Gallagher, who runs popular Twitter account 80s Footballers Ageing Badly. “In the ’80s, they’d probably just started to live the football lifestyle more, all of that free time. And the ’taches – they instantly put 10 years on you.” Gallagher’s life is now awash with retro ‘stars’. He started the account in 2019 after thumbing nostalgically through old sticker albums – “Scottish players particularly, I was aghast” – then launched a tournament while locked down.…

Is there an issue you feel strongly about? Contact us: fourfourtwo@futurenet.com FourFourTwoUK FourFourTwo RESULTS RULE Hi FourFourTwo, greetings from Havana. I’m writing to say how astonished I am about the way many onlookers are anointing Paris Saint-Germain as the best team in the world. The truth is that they’ve never won Europe’s top competition and aren’t even French champions at the moment. Star signings don’t automatically make you the best – or at least they shouldn’t, if there’s anything left to be saved in the upper reaches of football. Those superlatives must be earned on the pitch, not through hype. Kind regards and thanks for your work! Emilio Martinez, via email THE BLUEPRINT For years, I thought Chelsea’s academy was a joke – they won the Youth Cup every year…

How we did it… The perfect ground does not exist. Pubs and good patter can be traded off against handy road access or proximity to a station, while one fan’s trash is another’s beloved treasure (it’s called ‘charm’ – Ed.). But some things grab us all: that feeling as you stroll towards a historical behemoth; the sense of calm in a unique beauty spot; a special atmosphere unmatched elsewhere. It’s all subjective, of course – but we’ve had a go at running down our favourites anyway. Bicker afterwards… BEAUTY ATMOSPHERE LOCATION HISTORY AWAY END 100 PLOUGH LANE AFC WIMBLEDON Capacity 9,215 Opened 2020 Wimbledon’s new ground may have opened less than 12 months ago, but there’s more than 100 years of history at Plough Lane, the club’s spiritual home since…

Hi Fran. You once part-owned Kuti’s Brasserie, a fine Southampton curry house – and we had the enormous pleasure of dining there circa 1999. It remains the best meal we’ve ever eaten, so can we start off by simply saying thank you? Hello. Of course! That’s great. I’m not involved in the business any more, but I was a massive fan of it myself. They kindly put the ‘Benali Biryani’ on their menu, which had a bit of everything in it. Chicken, seafood, the works – it was an all-singing, all-dancing curry. If FFT ever part-owned a curry house, we’d need a winch to get out of bed. How did you resist the temptation to devour a lamb bhuna every night? I had to restrain myself, to be honest. When I was…

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Ronaldo has been linked with a United return so many times during the past 12 years that it’s hard to believe he’s actually back. His best years are behind him, but at 36 he still outscored everyone in Serie A last season, so he offers United plenty over the next couple of campaigns. The lift he brings is huge, both in the dressing room and in the stands. One of the best players ever is in red once more. The 2007-08 campaign was his standout season – it was rare for a game to go by without Ronaldo grabbing a goal, the last of his 42 coming in the Champions League final against Chelsea. But one of my best memories is from his final year. United were 2-0 down at…

Sol Campbell isn’t the only ex-England captain to have endured a miserable time at Southend – Bobby Moore never managed again after an unhappy spell in charge of the Shrimpers. The 1966 World Cup winner began his managerial career with non-league Oxford City, then in Hong Kong at Eastern AA, before heading for Roots Hall in February 1984. Moore sadly couldn’t stop Southend suffering relegation from the third tier at the end of that campaign, and then A things almost got even worse. Like with Campbell, financial worries were an issue as the Shrimpers came 20th in the Fourth Division in 1984-85, narrowly avoiding one of the spots that meant applying for Football League re-election. takeover stabilised their fortunes the following season, but Moore fell out with the owner and…

On Christmas Day this year, you’ll have reached 20 years in charge of Accrington Stanley, over two spells. How proud will you be? Christmas Day? Ah, I didn’t know that! It is an achievement, not just for me but for my assistant Jimmy Bell. It’s been a match made in heaven – we left once [to join Rochdale in 2012] and I have my regrets about that, but if I hadn’t done, I wouldn’t be the manager I am now. It gave me a new perspective. I spent a year out of football after Rochdale, which made me realise how much I needed it. You joined Accrington in 1999, after they’d fallen to the seventh tier. Could you have imagined you’d take the club as far as League One? No,…

TAHITH CHONG BIRMINGHAM CITY LOWDOWN Ex-Feyenoord prodigy Chong joined Manchester United as a 17-year-old, before collecting the English club’s Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award in 2017-18. The slender and skilful winger made a handful of outings for the senior team prior to being sent out on loan to Werder Bremen, Club Brugge and now Championship side Birmingham. HIGHLIGHT An impressive cameo in United’s win at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16 in March 2019. Chong replaced Andreas Pereira late on, showcasing finesse and balance in a famous 3-1 victory. THEY SAID “We’re pleased with the progress he’s made since stepping up from the academy,” said gaffer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the Dutchman signed a new two-year deal in 2020. “Tahith has great potential. Given his…

FFT GRABS A WORD WITH… MARIANS PAHARS • IAN HARTE • QUINTON FORTUNE • JOSE BOSINGWA You signed for Southampton in 1999. How proud were you to become the first Latvian to play in the Premier League? I understood what it meant when I went to the Latvian embassy in London to collect my visa. The counsel thanked me for introducing our country to the English people. I felt like an ambassador for Latvia. When I arrived from Skonto I couldn’t speak English, but I’d watch Match of the Day every week, see the league table and knew we had to start picking up points. I needed to be at my best and results needed to be positive, otherwise, I could not eat or sleep. It took Saints several months to…

You were in Tottenham’s youth system as a teenager. How did the move come about? I came over at 14, in 1991. South Africa was changing and I’d played for Western Province, in one of the first multi-racial teams – it was amazing. That’s how it should always have been, but because of the law in our country, we hadn’t been able to play with each other before. We played in a provincial tournament and won – I had my first white coach and he asked if I’d like to go to England. My parents said yes, Terry Venables gave me a trial and then Spurs said, “Yeah, we want to sign you.” What was it like adapting to a new nation? It was the most incredible adventure that any…

EDWIN VAN DER SAR “You won’t find many goalkeepers with his talent – it was a pleasure playing alongside him at Fulham. Besides his great technique to stop goals, Edwin was brilliant at organising the team from his privileged position on the pitch. He was calm – which is a vital attribute, especially for a keeper – and had a fabulous ability to play with both feet.” MIGUEL “My old Portugal team-mate made fantastic contributions from wide positions. Miguel was a dedicated player with mobility, speed and offensive skills. He had the quality to deliver passes to the right places at the right times.” JORGE ANDRADE “There are so many things to highlight here. Andrade was really comfortable on the ball and capable of building play from the back. But…