Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från FourFourTwo UK

What is it that elevates a player to cult hero status? That’s the big question we’ve tried to answer at FFT Towers this month – not the easiest it must be said, when we don’t even agree among ourselves. The definition is hardly set in stone, but we all knew one thing at least: they needed to have nailed the romantic side of the game; not necessarily through what they did on the pitch, but as a packaged-up personality. They’re not usually a team’s best player – but that doesn’t mean they’re not allowed to be. Most of all, they’re simply… fun. In this issue, we talk to a number of greats who’ve lit up British football, featuring terrace titans from Newcastle, Rangers, Arsenal, Swansea and beyond. Our staff writer…

Keane vs Juventus away, in the ’99 Champions League semi-finals. Man United were 2-0 down and out of it, Keano drags us back into it with his desire, example and domination of Davids, Deschamps and Zidane. Gets booked, meaning he would miss the final, then seems to go up another level. His performance raised that of every other player. @Sargy7 Better performances than that for United: ’96 FA Cup Final was his best – and he also effectively played CB and CM at the same time against Newcastle in the league that same season. He also had some cracking games for Ireland: against Portugal and Holland in 2001 during World Cup qualifying. @gdh_1999 Shilton in goal for England against Scotland in 1974 – Scotland won 2-0 but without Shilton’s many…

XI BEST: Kasper Schmeichel, Steve Finnan, David Needham, Dean Yates, Ray O’Brien, Don Masson, Mark Draper, Phil Turner, Jack Grealish, Tommy Johnson, Les Bradd. WORST: Pegguy Arphexad, Andy White, Guy Branston, Civard Sprockel, Scott Bennett, Ali Gibb, David Vaughan, Tony Hackworth, Jeremy Balmy, Tony Agana, Declan Edge. PLAYER B: Masson [right]. The Scottish maestro dominated midfield during the club’s greatest era of the early-70s. W: Branston lasted just a half in 2008, having joined with a reputation to sort out our leaky defence. Instead, he cost us two goals, rowed with team-mates, got booked and then hooked. MOMENT B: Our FA Cup victory was too long ago (er, 1894), so it has to be either of our top-flight promotions a decade apart: 1981, then again in 1991. W: Dropping out…

1 BALLS TO THAT In 1924, a Birkenhead prodigy called William Ralph Dean made his Tranmere debut. ‘Dixie’ would soon be gobbled up by Everton and obliterate British records – but not before losing a testicle courtesy of a horror tackle in a reserve game against Altrincham. Years later, he spotted his perpetrator socialising in a bar. “I thumped him,” revealed Dean. “They took him to hospital.” 2 TAKING THE BISCUIT Comi-rockers Half Man Half Biscuit once snubbed Channel 4 show The Tube because it clashed with a Rovers match. The network offered to fly them by helicopter, “but that would have just been criminally ostentatious,” said lead singer Nigel Blackman, mastermind of classics including All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit and Swerving the Checkatrade. 3…

FOOTBALL, SHE WROTE (Floodlit Dreams, £14.99) It took until 1971 to overturn a 50-year ban that deemed football to be “quite unsuitable for females”. It may have been lifted, but women aspiring to play or work in the game have since faced huge challenges. Determined to get a game in a boys’ team, future England forward Rachel Yankey shaved her head and called herself Ray. In this anthology of women’s football writing, Fleet Street’s first female football reporter Julie Welch explains how the determination of early-70s pioneers Elsie Cook and Patricia Gregory finally led to England facing Scotland in 1972. When asked if she was disappointed that Scotland lost, Cook replied, “It Thewas Europeanactually Cupnae Winners’ problem. CupWe finaljust waswanted spectateda game.” Jane Purdon also recounts her fascinating path from…

Before Klinsmann, only two foreigners had ever won the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year gong… BERT TRAUTMANN An ex-prisoner of war, the German keeper remained on English shores and signed for Manchester City after impressing at non-league St Helens. In an outstanding 1955-56, the 33-year-old was named player of the year as City came fourth and won the FA Cup, Trautmann completing the final despite the fact he broke his neck mid-game. FRANS THIJSSEN The Netherlands international joined Ipswich from Twente in 1979 – two years later, he and compatriot Arnold Muhren steered the Tractor Boys to second in the First Division, the semi-finals of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup triumph under Bobby Robson. The midfielder bagged in both legs of the final, as Town beat AZ…

ERIC CANTONA MAN UNITED CREDENTIALS The king proved you can be a team’s greatest star and its most beloved cult hero. United fans adored Cantona the man as much as the player, mesmerised as they were by his collar-popping swagger and transformative effects on the pitch. Retiring shortly before his 31st birthday to do “other things” – beach football and a bit of acting, of course – was perfectly on-brand. LEGACY Mentoring Fergie’s fledglings across four title victories was one thing; impromptu martial arts and confusing seagull chat quite another. All of it made him Eric. TONY YEBOAH LEEDS CREDENTIALS If there was a support group for crossbars, Yeboah would be to blame. The Ghanaian striker swapped Eintracht Frankfurt for Leeds in 1994 as the Bundesliga’s leading marksman – and…

ABERDEEN HICHAM ZEROUALI CREDENTIALS A maverick Moroccan with an infectious smile, a knack for wonder goals and somersault celebrations. Granted special permission to wear No.0 by league chiefs. LEGACY Tinged with sadness after his tragic passing in a 2004 car accident, just a day after scoring twice for his club, Royal Armed Forces. ‘Zero’ was only 27. Thousands of Dons supporters attended his Pittodrie memorial. CELTIC HENRIK LARSSON CREDENTIALS The lines are blurred between cult hero and, simply, hero. The Swede was a low-key £650,000 signing from Feyenoord who went on to score 242 goals in 315 games over a trophy-laden seven-year spell. LEGACY “I got letters from parents, upset their kids were running around with their tongues out,” he told FFT of his celebration which soon seeped into playground…

“I DIDN’T FOLLOW THE FIRST TEAM MUCH. BUT, IN THE DAYS AFTER, I REALISED THAT IT WAS A VERY IMPORTANT GOAL” What was life like as a young player at Manchester United? Were you always confident that you would make it into the first team? It was difficult, and very complicated. I didn’t speak the language and everything was new for me. I was only 16, and alone, especially at the beginning. There wasn’t any certainty of carving out a major first-team role alongside so many champions. But I went there with a dream to be realised and was willing to try a new experience. In the end, I succeeded. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was your manager in the reserves. What was he like? The year of my first-team debut, he…

How did you find the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow? It was good, although I did get stopped by the police as I was leaving one day. I’m not sure what they thought I might have done, but I must have looked a bit dodgy! They weren’t Forest Green fans, that’s for sure… Did your heart sink when you heard that Manchester United had flown to their game at Leicester this season? Yes, I was shocked. They talk about the environment and how they’ve got big plans – then they go and do that. It’s a great example of the disconnect at clubs between environment schemes and football matters. The latter says, ‘We’re flying to Leicester because it’s going to shave an hour off the trip and we don’t…

SCOTT TWINE MK DONS THE LOWDOWN By early December, nobody in Europe’s top five leagues could match Lionel Messi’s nine goals from outside the box since the start of last season. For 22-year-old Twine, though? How about 15. League One’s standout young player has dazzled since joining Milton Keynes on a free transfer from Swindon last summer, carving open third-tier backlines with his superb range of passing, technical class and, of course, that outrageous penchant for spectacular strikes. The midfielder spent much of last term on loan at Newport before returning to a doomed Swindon in January. The mood was pretty glum, but Twine lit up the place in his first match back by thumping home a 35-yard goal of the season contender at Ipswich. Got any other tricks? HIGHLIGHT…

“GERARD HOULLIER PHONED MY DAD TO ASK IF I’D PLAY FOR FRANCE – I’M NOT EVEN A BIT FRENCH!” Many will be familiar with your stupendous goals – are there any lesser-known corkers we should look up on YouTube? A long-range strike in 1997, at Barnsley in the League Cup. You can watch it on YouTube, but it’s grainy footage. I could feel the defender’s presence right behind me, so without looking I flicked the ball over my head and his, then ran the other side of him and caught the ball on the volley. It dipped in off the underside of the crossbar – it always looks better when it goes in off the bar. Dave Watson was in goal that day. He’s a coach at Southampton now and…

“FOR A FEW WEEKS, SOME SPURS BOYS SAID, ‘I’M NOT SURE ABOUT THIS MODRIC’” How does it feel to be known by your fans as ‘the Scottish Cafu’? [Laughs] What a place to start. It was always good fun. I appreciated the crowd massively and felt their love. It’s one of those things you look back on and watch some of the games you played in, hearing the fans chanting that. It makes you smile. You started out at Rangers. As a boy born and raised in Glasgow, what were the Old Firm derbies like? To grow up a Rangers fan and then break into the first team was unbelievable. Rangers had a lot of spending power at the time and could bring in big names, so to be able…

“NONE OF US SO-CALLED MAVERICK PLAYERS EARN ED THE ENGLAND CAPS WE SHOULD HAVE” Fans of a certain age will remember you as a flair player, a showman and a guy who loved to connect with supporters. Should we talk about kissing? [Laughs] I did kiss my team-mates now and again, but it wasn’t a regular thing. What was far more common was me blowing kisses to the crowd after creating or scoring a goal. The opposition fans would give me stick but, let’s face it, they always target the star man of the other team. It wasn’t just down to the kissing. Who was your childhood hero? Jimmy Greaves was the one for me. I used to watch Chelsea and Greavsie was my absolute hero, the greatest in the…

25 LEONARDO SPINAZZOLA 24 ANGELOS CHARISTEAS 23 ANDREY ARSHAVIN 22 LUCA TONI 21 PAPE BOUBA DIOP 20 IVAN ZAMORANO 19 MARCELO SALAS 18 JAMES RODRIGUEZ 17 JAN KOLLER 16 FABIO GROSSO 15 SIPHIWE TSHABALALA 14 DAVOR SUKER 13 GHEORGHE HAGI 12 MARIO KEMPES 11 AHN JUNG-HWAN 10 ANTONIN PANENKA 9 HRISTO STOICHKOV 8 MARCO TARDELLI 7 KAREL POBORSKY 6 BEBETO 5 JOSE LUIS CHILAVERT 4 TOTO SCHILLACI 3 RENE HIGUITA 2 JORGE CAMPOS 1 ROGER MILLA Roger Milla didn’t start a single match at the tournament which thrust him to stardom – and his name isn’t even Roger Milla. Born Albert Roger Miller, he made his Cameroon debut in 1973 and was African Footballer of the Year three years later, before heading for the French league with Valenciennes and Monaco.…

PLAYING FOR PENALTIES Real Salt Lake had zero shots to Seattle’s 21 during 120 minutes of action – but then won the play-off clash after a shootout What was the first match that you ever saw live? Tranmere Rovers vs Accrington Stanley in the Fourth Division – it would have been about the early ’60s. I was taken by a neighbour of my grandmother on my father’s side – he was a Tranmere fan like my grandfather, Pat McManus. Rovers used to play in blue then – they didn’t really become the Whites until a bit later, so they looked like Everton, which is against my religion. I used to go and see Rovers a lot. Tranmere had a good run in the late ’60s when I was a teenager…

You’ve been playing for third-tier Alta, in the far north of Norway. Did you ever plan to play this long? I always said I’d play until I was 40. The main thing is the body coping with it – I spent many hours doing injury prevention work, and it’s nice that it’s been paying off. I’m more of a No.10 now, not so much a winger. In 2021, you even gained headlines for scoring direct from corners. How often were you trying to score? Every game! [Laughs] I scored three goals from corners. What was it like growing up in the Finnmark region of the Arctic Circle? You get six months when it’s daylight all day long, then darkness in winter. It toughens you up a bit. I’ve played in…

Few players ever told Sir Alex Ferguson to “f**k off” and got away with it. But when the Manchester United manager calls you up on Christmas Day out of the blue, what’s a guy supposed to do? With Paolo Di Canio, though, there’s usually a simple explanation. The Italian required plenty of them in a career littered with hot-headed outbursts and tittersome flashpoints. Yet there was one common thread which ran throughout: the infectious passion which made him a terrace hero no matter where he went in British football, having joined Celtic from Milan for £1 million in July 1996. These days, Di Canio works as a pundit and commentator on Premier League matches for Sky Italia, and lives a quieter life in the Olgiata district of Rome’s countryside. Not…

01 SUPER TED GOES MAD Former Margate goalkeeper Chic Brodie profession. Once, he recalled picking up his flat cap for a game and finding a grenade in it (we’ve all been there). Another time, a Jack Russell almost broke his leg on the pitch. And in November 1971, he was the unlucky bloke who conceded nine goals to Bournemouth’s Ted MacDougall – an individual scoring record for the FA Cup proper. “I was disappointed as I thought I should have got 11,” the future Manchester United marksman later sighed. No pleasing some. 02 “FANCY A REMATCH?” A couple of days after MacDougall’s demolition act, the longest ever tie in FA Cup history finally ended. Alvechurch and Oxford City duked it out for six games over 17 days to decide who’d…

DALEY THOMPSON VARIOUS (1990s) CREDENTIALS No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. We are talking about the two-time Olympic-gold winning British decathlete here. Thompson’s sporting achievements peaked in Moscow (1980) and LA (’84), before he was forced to retire in 1992 due to a persistent hamstring injury. He was already nearing his mid-30s by then, but found a new lease of life in both motor racing… and football. “I had two dreams as a boy: to win Olympic gold and be a professional footballer,” revealed Daley in 1994. HOW’D IT GO? Not that bad. While he didn’t get a pro deal, Thompson bobbed around in (and even scored for) various reserve sides: Reading, Wimbledon, Mansfield, Stevenage and even Leicester. “Initially, I was sceptical,” said Royals gaffer Mark McGhee, as Daley was also…

THE GAFFER MARCELLO LIPPI “He’s one of the best managers ever because he won everything, and helped us to build a strong mentality. Marcello always believed in me, even in tough moments. We had a great relationship.” THE SUBS 01 JURGEN KOHLER 02 ROBERT 03 JUNINHO GIANLUIGI BUFFON “The guy is incredible – I think Buffon is the greatest goalkeeper in football history. He’s always in the right places at the right times. He was really young when I played with him in the Italian national team, but had lots of personality. I also played alongside Gianluca Pagliuca and Angelo Peruzzi for the Azzurri, but Buffon was number one.” CIRO FERRARA “He was strong, fast and just a quality player. Ciro scored some important goals, too – and not only…