Innehållsförteckning för July 2023 från FourFourTwo UK

Back in July, with the season set to kick off, I wrote on these pages that I hoped you would all enjoy 2022-23. Of course, the beauty of football means that won’t have been possible for everyone, and if you did suffer heartache this year, remember that the next bit of success will feel even sweeter. And for those of you still partying, enjoy it! With awards season in full flow, we get in on the act and celebrate the players who have made this Premier League campaign one of the most enthralling – our list of the top 50 players this term features a plethora of familiar faces, and a few new ones too. This issue hits the shelves on the eve of the EFL play-off finals, so with…

Calum Jacobs penguin, £10.99 The handful of black players in the 1970s were often left with little option but to ‘turn the other cheek’ towards the terraces’ white noise. Almost half a century later, English football is increasingly inclusive. This essay collection explores the myriad ways in which black players have helped to forge the modern game, and – in some cases – carve out successful careers for themselves once their playing days are finished, despite cultural and racial barriers. Keen to pursue a media career, Ian Wright was encouraged by Sir Trevor McDonald. “Just be yourself,” urged the veteran broadcaster when the late ’90s Friday Night’s All Wright chat show first aired to mixed reviews. For ex-England Women manager Hope Powell, following a career in the game meant ignoring…

01 Which La Liga side did David Moyes (right) manage directly after leaving Manchester United? 02 Which England player would you most associate with tears in Turin and the dentist chair celebration? 03 Who was Manchester City’s first club captain from overseas? 04 Who is the longest-serving manager of Chelsea since 2000? 05 Stern des Sudens, FC Hollywood and Die Roten are all nicknames of which Bundesliga giant? 06 Who were the only English team to play in the inaugural 1992-93 Champions League competition? 07 In what year did a teenage Zlatan Ibrahimovic (right) make his senior debut for Malmo, in his native Sweden? 08 Former Premier League defender Paul Konchesky now manages which Women’s Super League club? 09 What three letters would you find on the Borussia Dortmund badge?…

After spells with Chelsea and Arsenal, you returned to England with Fulham aged 34. How did the move come about? When I quit Corinthians in August, I had no idea where I’d head next – I didn’t have any concrete offer. I just left and returned to London, hoping that something would come up eventually. It was then that I found out Marco Silva had been speaking to my agent. I’d been back in town for only a couple of days when I talked to Marco. It was a great conversation, and he asked if we could meet up the following day. He explained how the team played, the goals for the season, and what he wanted from me. It felt like two things had come together, you know? I…

27 OLLIE WATKINS ASTON VILLA What a difference a manager makes. Before Steven Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa in late October, Watkins had managed just one goal in 11 league appearances. In his next 19 outings after Gerrard was given the boot, the Englishman scored 13 times. And the astonishing turnaround has much to do with Gerrard’s replacement: Unai Emery. The Spaniard left these shores in 2019, labelled a flop for failing to turn a floundering Arsenal into world-beaters. Another Europa League crown at Villarreal later, and he was back. Keen to put a dreadful start to the season behind him, Watkins spent his World Cup break studying alongside Emery’s coaching staff, analysing the movement of strikers with whom his new boss had previously worked. “I had a very…

04 HARRY KANE TOTTENHAM You know you’re a Spurs player when you break the all-time scoring records for club and country, hit your best league tally for six years, and still endure one of the most miserable seasons of your career to date. This was meant to be the year Tottenham competed at the top with Manchester City and Liverpool. Instead, it’s been a season of refunding fans, watching rivals Arsenal push hard for the title, and wondering if Kane will ever have his great service to Spurs repaid. Once again, he’s put the club on his back. Kane showed unwavering loyalty to Jose Mourinho and to Antonio Conte, even scoring the final goal of Cristian Stellini’s reign before rolling up his sleeves once again to help Ryan Mason. This…

“When I won the World Cup, there was a feeling of serenity. I had fulfilled the promise I made to myself. I’d reached the target.” For any footballer, lifting the World Cup is the pinnacle – a life-changing moment. For Emmanuel Petit, there was a deeper, more personal meaning when Les Bleus beat Brazil at the Stade de France in 1998. “I was interviewed by French TV straight after the match,” Petit tells FourFourTwo. “I remember saying how proud I was to win the World Cup in front of our own fans. Then I said, ‘I just want to say to my family: this is it! I did it. I did it!’ I got very emotional – I was almost ready to cry on camera. The people in France knew…

INTERVIEW STEVEN SCHUMACHER You captained the Everton side that reached the 2002 FA Youth Cup Final, including a teenage Wayne Rooney. How good was he at that age? We had a really strong run, right the way through all of the earlier rounds, with Wayne scoring eight goals in as many games. In the semis, he scored two unbelievable goals away at Spurs, one of them a long-range screamer. Unfortunately we managed to lose the final against Aston Villa by going 4-1 down in the first leg, winning only 1-0 in the second leg. But it was very clear that Wayne was something special. Why weren’t you able to break into the Everton first team? I wasn’t far away. I had one full season in the first team, in David…

Calogero Scannella was 19 years old when he first texted his mates about buying a football club. It took a bit of convincing, but now Walton & Hersham – who will play in the English pyramid’s seventh tier next season – have the youngest owners in the world and are creating a media buzz unlike anything else in the game. They have amassed more than a million TikTok followers and established a fanbase touching every corner of the globe, with thousands tuning in each matchday. “We deluded ourselves into thinking we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but we actually had no clue,” Scannella tells FFT. “Luckily it’s going pretty well, but every six months we’ll have a chat and say, ‘How the hell have we managed this?’” It’s…

Working full-time in a factory in your teens, did you view football as a viable career? I was earning a little bit of cash on the side, playing at a reasonable level for a young lad, and then I went to work. I more or less felt my chance had gone. My dream was still to become a professional footballer, but it was seeming less possible as each day passed by. You’ve said you lacked faith in yourself in your early days. Where did that originate? A lack of confidence, right up until I finished. I always felt like the underdog. Nothing was ever given to me; I had to work really hard for everything. Even when I was scoring goals at Crystal Palace, I knew that realistically, at 28…

When Euro 2024 qualification began in March, England were in the spotlight for the first time since their heartbreak in Qatar. Despite World Cup agony, Gareth Southgate decided to continue as England’s head coach and, after the opening two qualifiers, it’s looking like a good decision. hen Euro 2024 qualification A win in Italy followed by a home victory against Ukraine has the Three Lions topping Group C following two of the toughest fixtures they’ll play on the road to Germany, as they now prepare for meetings with Malta and North Macedonia in June. That 2-1 win against Italy felt significant. It was England’s first competitive success against the Italians in 45 years, and their first time beating the Azzurri in Italy since 1961. Harry Kane also made history by…

SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW TO TAKE PART IN OUR READER SURVEY One lucky participant will be selected at random to win a pair of Premier League tickets to a game of their choice in the 2023-24 campaign, thanks to our friends at EA SPORTS Terms and conditions: The prize is one pair of tickets to a Premier League fixture in the 2023-24 season • Prize will not be extended beyond 2023-24 season • Home end only • No away fans • Tickets are not transferable – they cannot be sold, raffled or given away • Winner must attend the game in person • EA SPORTS is not the promotor, only the prize giver • EA will not offer alternative dates if the winner cannot attend the chosen fixture •…

“I feel like the mayor of Newcastle,” Bruno Guimaraes told FFT early this season, mere months after joining the Magpies – then relegation threatened – from Lyon. Other Premier League clubs had made enquiries, but Newcastle secured his services for £40m on deadline day in what represented quite a coup. Having inspired Eddie Howe’s side to a mid-table finish by the end of 2021-22, the midfielder couldn’t nip out for a steak bake without being mobbed by adoring fans. His stature has only grown this season, during which Newcastle have been a fixture in the Premier League top four – something Guimaraes attributes to his manager’s ability to “turn water into wine”. While it’s true that Howe has performed miracles with some of his squad, Guimaraes arrived in the North…

01 ERLING HAALAND MANCHESTER CITY I played for the Norwegian national team with Alf Inge Haaland, and the first of his kids that I saw play football was Astor, Erling’s older brother. He was on the same team as my son at a reunion game for their dads and he was one of the standout talents, so it came as no surprise when I later heard that his little brother could play a bit, too. That turned out to be quite the understatement. When he was coming through the ranks at his hometown club, Bryne, people were saying this lad was quick, physical and could score goals. Alfie soon realised what an incredible prospect Erling was and began carefully plotting his path. That’s something so many young football players don’t…

MARTIN KEOWN The youth-team product made 27 appearances before being flogged to Aston Villa, unable to secure the extra £50 per week he wanted on his Gunners contract. “It was a matter of principle,” he said. Brought back from Everton in 1993, he won three top-flight titles over the next 11 years. SOL CAMPBELL An ‘Invincible’ in his first spell, the centre-half came up from League Two for a second go with Arsenal in 2010, after just one game for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Notts County. He contributed 14 outings and even a goal in the Champions League – better than losing away at Morecambe, all told. JENS LEHMANN The German goalkeeper, also a member of the 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’, decided to retire after a shift at Stuttgart and, aged 41, was due…

When the NWSL launched as the US women’s league in 2013, just one team was led by an English coach. A decade on, as the 2023 campaign began in March, that number had risen to eight. Only two of the division’s 12 coaches were American. It’s an intriguing statistic. However, the number of English bosses in the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) has been rising steadily for several years, during a period when the reputation of England’s own WSL and women’s national team has grown significantly. Over the past 10 years, coaches have opted to cross the Atlantic for a variety of reasons. Some entered the college system; others moved there initially to play. Former Middlesbrough defender Seb Hines joined Orlando City in 2015 and last year became the head…

What was it like having to move to England so young, leaving Bayern Munich for Aston Villa aged 18, in 2000? It was a fantastic experience. I hadn’t heard of many of the Villa first-team players when I arrived, although I instantly realised that they were household names. Of course, Paul Merson and Gareth Southgate were already known to me back then, but several other players such as Dion Dublin and Ugo Ehiogu were great personalities also. I was a young German lad living in England, so there were those prejudices; they were still there at the time, but in a nice way. I quickly learned the expression ‘banter’. I had to get used to that. How was your relationship with your first manager, John Gregory? He had a number…

THE GAFFER CESARE PRANDELLI “At Parma, he showed me how to treat everyone from kit staff to players to the president; how to build a family in the dressing room; how to train a team. He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever met.” THE SUBS 01 GARETH SOUTHGATE 02 FREDDY RINCON 03 ALEN BOKSIC GIANLUCA PAGLIUCA “It was between him and David James, who often asked me to do shooting practice with him after training, but I’d say Pagliuca was a bit better. He joined Inter to replace Walter Zenga, a Nerazzurri hero, and quickly helped the fans to forget about him leaving.” JAVIER ZANETTI “Zanetti was perfect. He could be a defender, midfielder, striker – also the goalkeeper! He could do anything. If you gave the ball to…

PREDATOR ACCURACY BOOTS £200 adidas.co.uk From a gaffer-taped prototype in Craig Johnston’s garage to the feet of the future of English football (Jude Bellingham, right), the Predator has come quite a way in 30 years. This is the 26th iteration of the iconic boot. FFT would love to know what the Pred’s older brother, the Copa Mundial, makes of their sibling’s new paint job as part of the Adidas ‘Heatspawn’ pack… BALOTELLI SWEATSHIRT £30 itsafunnyoldgame.com Ah, Mario. He came, he saw, he burned down his bathroom with a firework and then Manchester United fans’ hearts with a brace in the derby the next day. The Why Always Me celebration is now folklore and therefore ripe for @Sid_Lambert (renowned hawker of retro social media content) to merch up. Sid’s stuff covers…

What’s the first game you attended? It was actually a pre-season game at Bramall Lane in the late 1980s. Carlton Palmer had just signed for Wednesday and we had guys like David Hirst, Dave Bennett and Chris Turner playing for us. I remember it being boiling hot. My first game at Hillsborough would have been pretty soon after – I’ve now had a season ticket for 30 years. Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them? Chris Waddle was my hero growing up – yes I’ve met him and I would consider him a pal. He’s a lovely man and his family are very nice people. But I would say all of that ’90s team are great fellas: Hirst, John Sheridan and I absolutely adore Palmer. He’s…

Subscribe and receive a Mystery Football Shirt from any club, in any league, in any country – in your desired size! The jerseys inside the Mystery Shirt Boxes vary from season to season as part of the mystique, although there’s a chance you could get a kit from the recent 2022-23 campaign. You’ll also receive an Information Card featuring details about your shirt or club WORTH £35.99 You will be sent a redemption code for use at mysteryfootball.co.uk to claim your football shirt. The most exciting way to build a football shirt collection – head to mysteryfootball.co.uk now! BENEFITS OF SUBSCRIBING • ‘ACCESS ALL AREAS’ pass to exclusive interviews with biggest names in the game!• Delivery direct to your door• Never miss another issue• Save money on the shop price…

Wilfried Zaha has seemed like the Atlas of Croydon for too long, carrying Selhurst Park on his shoulders with a world-weary frown. Crystal Palace’s modernisation was always going to see the 30-year-old pass the weight of the world on to someone else, however, and Olise has stood tallest of any Eagle this season. The 21-year-old winger began in fits and bursts from the bench this term, but his role has crystallised; now he’s the reliable spark of energy when Palace need it most. Olise has been deft and daring – the lightning to Eberechi Eze’s thunder. The bulk of his highlights reel has been built since last August: he scooped a free-kick past David de Gea for a point, netted a stoppage-time winner to sink West Ham, and in April’s…

Is there a footballer who sums up Brighton & Hove Albion’s identity better than Mac Allister? Plucked for pesos from his native Argentina four years ago, sent back on loan twice, then bedded into the squad, he’s making it increasingly hard to identify something he can’t do on a football pitch. Perhaps that’s what made him so valuable to Lionel Scaloni’s World Cup-winning squad in Qatar – and to both Graham Potter and Roberto De Zerbi this season, too. Either side of Argentina’s third world title, Mac Allister has played both deeper in midfield and as a focal point; used both as a battering ram in the final third and as a ball carrier to evade the first press alongside Moises Caicedo. His hunger and intensity have helped to drive…

05 BUKAYO SAKA ARSENAL It feels like Saka downloads new software patches to his game every few weeks. There’s simply no other explanation of how this season, he can unleash rockets into the top corner, dictate play from out wide and playmake like a veteran. The makeshift left-back of Mikel Arteta’s first match in management is now the spell-bending right-winger who unlocks defences on the regular. He’s added so much to his game in just three years: still only 21, he’s arguably the most captivating player Gareth Southgate has right now. At the heart of Saka’s game – and Arsenal’s title challenge – has been one key attribute. His decision-making is truly special. He sees the game in four dimensions and knows exactly where to put himself and the ball.…

XI BEST: Andy Goram, David Gray, Rob Jones, Lewis Stevenson, Franck Sauzee [right], Scott Brown, Russell Latapy, Pat Stanton, John McGinn, Martin Boyle, Derek Riordan. WORST: Zibi Malkowski, Michael Hart, Daniel Boateng, Pa Kujabi, Colin Murdock, Phil Airey, Edwin de Graaf, Joe Keenan, Alan O’Brien, Islam Feruz, Eduardo Hurtado. PLAYER B: There’s plenty of competition but, for my generation, it’s ‘Le God’ Franck Sauzee: an absolute master of football. W: There’s plenty of competition for this too, but the worst was Eduardo ‘The Tank’ Hurtado. Actual tanks have a smaller turning circle and a better turn of pace. MOMENT B: Sir David Gray’s glorious baldy napper connecting with a Liam Henderson corner to win the Scottish Cup in 2016 [right], ending a 114-year hoodoo. W: Hamilton Academical turning around a…