Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från FourFourTwo UK

G’day! Lots of things have arrived on these shores from Australia and become a firm fixture in British culture: Kylie Minogue, weak lager and of course Neighbours. But there’s a new exciting export from Down Under making quite an impact here, too: Ange Postecoglou. The straight-talking Aussie has been embraced by fans and media alike since moving from Celtic to Tottenham this summer. Spurs supporters have taken to his style of play, which has got them off their seats more recently than at any time in the past few years, while fans of other clubs – even arch rivals Arsenal – seem to really like and admire Postecoglou’s straightforward approach to football and life in general, when he speaks during interviews. When FourFourTwo sat down with him towards the end…

NII LAMPTEY: THE CURSE OF PELE Joris Kaper pitch publishing £19.99 Having watched his stellar display for Ghana against Scotland at the 1989 Under-16 World Cup, Brazil legend Pele decreed that Nii Lamptey would be his worthy successor in the future. His early years with Anderlecht and PSV suggested that the talent may indeed develop into a superstar, but spells in England (with both Aston Villa and Coventry), South America and the Middle East fizzled out. The Curse of Pele paints an alarming picture of the pressures placed on Lamptey from a young age. Forced to travel to Nigeria incognito after the Ghanaian government confiscated his passport in a bid to keep the protégé in the country, Lamptey sought out Nigeria hero Stephen Keshi, who used his considerable influence to…

01 Sir Alex Ferguson (right) left Manchester United after the 2012-13 season – who was their top scorer in the league that term? 02 Six World Cup finals have taken place in the 21st Century – how many of them have gone to extra time? 03 A ball, tree, halo and scarf all feature on the badge of which Championship club? 04 Who holds the record as the oldest man to appear for Chelsea, Leicester and the Australian national side? 05 How many automatic promotion places are available from the National League to League Two? 06 In which European city are Estadio Jose Alvalade and Estadio Da Luz? 07 Which international team are known as ‘The Atlas Lions’? 08 Frenchmen Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry (both right) represented Arsenal and…

How did you end up becoming a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers? I’m Wolverhampton born and raised – everybody was a huge Wolves fan at school, so I didn’t want to be left out! My dad preferred cricket and boxing – football didn’t interest him – but my uncles loved it. One supported West Brom, another supported Liverpool, another Manchester United. It wasn’t until secondary school when I really started supporting Wanderers, even if the daughter of legendary Wolves midfielder Kenny Hibbitt went to my primary school, which was a big deal for our school. Who was your childhood football hero and have you met them? Steve Bull [below, left], a hero to us all. I loved watching him play on the television – I never saw him play live at…

How did being handed the job as Ukraine manager compare to your numerous other achievements in football? This is a huge responsibility and something special too, during a hard and different time compared to before the war. The people of Ukraine are looking to us in the national side to help create better emotions for them, so we need to produce positive performances. We’re constantly battling for good results, but it’s important that our performances go way beyond that. We want the world to see that we’re still here, alive, fighting for our freedom and showing our character. Given the ongoing war in Ukraine, what’s your biggest challenge as manager? Today, the whole world is aware of what has happened and is continuing to happen in Ukraine. We want to…

There was a moment at the end of Spurs’ fan forum last month, just as presenter Nihal Arthanayake went to wrap up, when Ange Postecoglou insisted on taking a question from a young fan with Down’s Syndrome. “Yeah, he’s got the best question,” said Postecoglou, with enthusiasm, with certainty. As that lad listened to the Australian’s reply, proudly hugging the people he’d attended the forum with, he felt special. That’s how I think we all feel right now. Postecoglou has made us all feel really, really special. When Richarlison spoke out about requiring therapy, his boss responded by discussing mental health and the fact that players don’t have the perfect lives they’re often painted as having. He approaches everything with humanity first, and that’s so refreshing. But he’s also a…

“BEFORE A WORLD CUP GAME, WE WENT TO A MALL AND TON I DUGGAN GOT STUCK ON THE WATER SLIDE! ” Lots of people will know you as England’s goalkeeper, but you actually grew up in the United States. How did the culture there influence you? The mentality in the States was completely different – it’s super competitive. It’s about being as physically fit as you can possibly be. When you’re not working, somebody else is working. It’s a tireless mentality and you’re always trying to get a leg up on somebody; you’re always trying to do something a bit better than somebody else. That was one of the first things I noticed when I went away with the England squad. Some of the players were probably better technically than…

Jude Bellingham has the world at his feet. It’s so easy to forget that he’s still only 20 years old. Since making his senior debut just four years ago for boyhood club Birmingham City, he has established himself as one of the best midfielders in the game, and his talent appears limitless. His journey to stardom has rocketed at an unprecedented rate, as he rapidly becomes one of the most talked-about and admired players around the planet. There’s good reason his signature was coveted by the biggest clubs. He combines natural ability with the personality that will see him sit among football’s elite for a long time to come. It’s for all of those reasons and more that he has made an effortless step up from Borussia Dortmund to Real…

Not a week goes by without analysis of ‘Ange Ball’ as a concept. Is it something that exists to you, or just something that people say? I think it’s there, definitely. I’d like to think there’s something there that we work on every week, and it’s not just random events. But at the same time, what I love about football is it has its own life. I often say to the players that what we do during the week and the information we give them is kind of preparing them for an exam. But like all exams, you don’t know what the questions are going to be, you know? A game of football throws up things, but yeah, there’s a structure. We try to allow players to then find solutions…

SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS: THE FIRST WINNER (AGED 41) In Sir Stanley Matthews’ pioneering pomp, the Wizard of the Dribble’s speed wowed as much as his supernatural footwork. During the 1930s and 1940s, as many as 10,000 extra fans would squeeze through turnstiles whenever the legendary winger was in town, desperate to see the sinuous genius shimmy past defenders. The secret to this incredible lightness of being? “Stan warmed up with weighted boots on, like a diver’s boots,” said former Spurs and Wales wideman Cliff Jones. Matthews’ unusual footwear helped to build strength in his lower legs, providing a sensation of weightlessness once removed for kick-off. It was one of many tricks employed by a man who played more than 800 senior matches for Stoke, Blackpool and England in a career…

XI BEST: Luke Steele, Nicky Eaden, Paul Futcher, Arjan de Zeeuw, Darren Barnard, Ronnie Glavin, Stuart Gray, Neil Redfearn [right], Adam Hammill, Ashley Ward, David Currie. WORST: Sam Sahin-Radlinger, Dimitri Cavare, Phil Gridelet, Jean-Yves Mvoto, Tom Kennedy, Emmanuel Frimpong, Kelvin Etuhu, Brek Shea, Christoph Knasmullner, Mido, Obbi Oulare. PLAYER B: Neil Redfearn: club captain, leader and goalscoring midfielder whose 17 goals in the 1996-97 season helped us to win promotion to the Premier League. And he was our top scorer in the one season we played in the top flight, getting double figures. Redfearn was a tough midfielder who you would always want on your side in a battle. W: Emmanuel Frimpong was absolute rubbish – sent off 30 minutes into his debut and lasting just four months. SEASON B:…

ALLY McCOIST CURTIS DAVIES KAREN BARDSLEY DANNY BLIND “GAZZA WOULDN’T SHUT UP, SO THE GAFFER PICKED HIM UP AND HUNG HIM FROM A PEG!” What are your feelings towards Sir Alex Ferguson? He didn’t think you were good enough as a teenager at St Mirren, then he didn’t select you for the 1986 World Cup… I remind Sir Alex every time I meet him, and he laughs. When I was a youngster, he’d pick me up from school and drive me over from East Kilbride to Paisley. I’d train with the kids at St Mirren, then wait for the first team to finish training and he’d drive me home. That was amazing. But he never signed me. I still tell him it’s the one thing that prevents him from being…

ROMA 1983-84 HOME SHIRT PATRICK REMAKE £40 patrickuk.com Roma’s 1983-84 home strip remains one of the most iconic in the Italian club’s long history. Four decades on, Patrick have saluted the partnership by making a reimagined version, which eschews Pasta brand Barilla for the designers’ logo as shirt sponsor. The classic maroon kit with orange collar remains the same, while a sweater and windbreaker complete the set. Molto bello, you’ll surely agree. LOTTO STADIO ICON BOOTS £250 lotto.it ‘Going Dutch’ involves splitting a bill, which is dull. ‘Going Italian’ is when one pairs the aforementioned Roma top with these gorgeous Lotto boots – a limited edition take on the footwear worn by the best footballers on the planet in the ’90s. During its heyday, Serie A hosted the likes of…

LIONEL MESSI @ketchell Not to be ‘that guy’, but over the last 12 months I’ve been lucky enough to see Lionel Messi play live twice – at the *cough* 2022 World Cup Final in Qatar and for PSG in the Champions League. He had contrasting games, but I expect to one day tell the story to the kids of my yet to be born children – you feel like you’re watching the greatest ever to play the sport. Mainly because you are. Even the modern era ‘walking football’ Messi has you mesmerised. His pace and acceleration are blunter, but the technique and IQ remain razor sharp. The Ballon d’Or is designed to honour the footballer deemed to have performed the best over the previous year. Erling Haaland’s achievements are remarkable…

When Farhad Moshiri strode into Goodison Park in 2016, he did so with one key ambition – to transform Everton’s fortunes. Announced as the Toffees’ new investor at 4.46pm on Saturday, February 27, the British-Iranian billionaire walked into a club that had gone 21 years without silverware and sat 12th in the Premier League table. For a club more used to qualifying for Europe, even finishing in the top four under David Moyes, that was a disappointment. Moshiri wasted little time in attempting to reawaken the perennial sleeping giants. Pledging to give “everything I have” to re-establish the nine-time English champions back among the elite, he told fans, “We don’t want to be a museum. We need to be competitive and win.” Over the course of the next seven-and-a-half years,…

Your brace at Wembley took Fulham into the Premier League in 2020 at Brentford’s expense, but you fell out of favour with Scott Parker following promotion. How did you take that? It’s the bittersweet nature of football – or should I say ‘sweetbitter’, as the sweetness came first. When you do anything great in life, you go onto this magnificent high and then it brings you crashing back down to Earth. You have to go, ‘Maybe this isn’t the worst thing ever’ when you’re not playing for six months. ‘Maybe I’ll try to stay on a more even keel’. When I’m chosen to play, I’ll play; when I’m not, I won’t worry too much. I’ll spend time with family and friends, do some hobbies, learn some stuff. We play football…

Many of us have dreamed of quitting the day job and talking about football for a living. Archie Macpherson, a schoolteacher and short-story writer prior to becoming one of the most iconic voices in football, actually did it. “I sent a story to the BBC and they invited me in to record a promo for the radio,” the 86-year-old tells FFT now. “While I waited for a response, someone came over and said they’d overheard me and liked my voice. They asked, ‘Do you want a job covering football matches for the BBC?’ The rest is history.” Some folk get all the luck. Still, you can’t claim the Beeb made an error of judgement with Macpherson, whose unmistakable tones carried football fans – particularly those north of the border –…

THE GAFFERS MARK HUGHES & SAM ALLARDYCE “I can’t split them. Mark modernised the way we trained and improved our standards. Sam is a big leader. He was into new technology and trying to reach the next level – he was a real trendsetter.” THE SUBS 01 PHIL JONES 02 GAEL GIVET 03 YAKUBU BRAD FRIEDEL “Brad was there when I joined Rovers in 2004. First of all, he was a very good friend. A nice guy that I could talk to. He was an awesome goalkeeper as well and rarely made mistakes. You always knew what you were going to get from him – he was never injured and played almost every game for us.” BRETT EMERTON “Brett was great as a winger, but I think he was great as…