Innehållsförteckning för May 2025 från FourFourTwo UK

X @JamesAndrew_ E james.andrew@futurenet.com Monday, June 11, 1990 was the first time I remember watching Gary Lineker play. His goal gave England the lead against the Republic of Ireland at Italia 90, in a 1-1 draw. I was six at the time and don’t remember much else about the game, but his further strikes against Cameroon and West Germany made him a hero in my fledgling years as a football fan. Saturday, August 14, 2004 was the first time Lineker presented Match of the Day with my team Fulham as a top-flight club. A draw at Manchester City was the first time I’d seen our highlights preceded by the iconic theme music and Lineker’s links. It felt like we’d made it (we had been promoted three years earlier, but ITV…

01 Bayer Leverkusen lost just one match in all competitions last season – who finally got the better of them in the Europa League final? 02 Which player has scored the most goals in Champions League finals (1992-present), with four strikes? 03 New England manager Thomas Tuchel began his coaching career with which Bundesliga outfit? 04 Former Blackburn and Aston Villa defender Alan Wright holds which ‘physical’ Premier League record? 05 Southampton, Leicester and West Ham are among Premier League clubs to have changed manager this term. Which men were at the helm when the season began in August? 06 Newcastle’s 2025 League Cup Final win against Liverpool ended how long a wait for domestic trophy success? 07 Which Dutch playmaker, once of Tottenham, scooped the very first Golden Boy…

ARSENAL 3 BIRMINGHAM 0 League Cup, 2006 “My senior debut for Arsenal as a 15-year-old, coming on in the League Cup against Birmingham. I remember thinking, ‘Whatever you do, don’t give the ball away’. This was my introduction to senior football and it holds a lot of special memories – my family was there to watch. Most people would expect me to choose the game in which I scored the first WSL goal, but I haven’t. This is the game where it all started for me. Without it, I couldn’t have gone on to experience the things I did later in my career. It will always be a very special day for me. It seems like a whole lifetime ago now.” ARSENAL 2 SUNDERLAND 1 FA Cup Final, 2009 “Beating…

Before Italia 90, how did you end up playing on the Reunion islands in the Indian Ocean? It wasn’t really a choice. I’d had enough of the professional game in France and went there to stay at a friend’s place on holiday. I ended up staying nine months and playing for one of the local teams. How did you go from that to playing for Cameroon at the World Cup finals? About six months before the start of the tournament, I was back in Cameroon at a testimonial for Theophile Abega [Milla’s team-mate from the 1982 World Cup]. People started to ask me why I’d retired so early. The president insisted that I should be part of the team again. Did you think your legs were up to it? Not…

My association with Inter is now 30 years old, and everything started in Mar del Plata. It was March 1995 and I was with Argentina, playing the final of the Pan American Games against Mexico. Inter scouts began following me that day. Back then, VHS tapes were still common, and they showed videos of me to club president Massimo Moratti. He liked how I played, and they decided to sign me. I was surprised Inter took an interest in a relatively unknown 21-year-old Argentine. I was just finishing my second season at Banfield and never imagined an opportunity like that could arise. In my mind, I expected to make the leap to a more successful club in Argentina first, then move to Europe. But everything happened so fast. I never…

In February, you returned to Falkirk 15 years after first leaving. Why, when you had offers at a higher level? When I departed Rangers in 2023, I had a change of scenery with Charlotte FC in MLS, then returned to the UK at Bolton, which didn’t really work out. I spoke to Falkirk manager John McGlynn and told him I wanted to play for the club again. We got the deal done on deadline day and I knew straight away I’d made the right call. It’s home. There’s a nostalgia to seeing all of the old faces on the walls. I might not be able to run like a headless chicken anymore, but I understand the game a lot better. I’m determined to get this club back to the Premiership.…

ST MINVER VS WADEBRIDGE TOWN: BADGERS Any survivors of ’90s kids TV will surely remember how much chaos even one badger can cause. So you can imagine how much mayhem a whole cete (every day’s a school day) managed ahead of Cornish club St Minver’s reserve match against Wadebridge earlier this season. An overnight attack from a badger clan badly cut up the Brake Park surface, with a series of craters appearing across one side of the pitch and forcing the St Piran League clash to be scrapped. LOXWOOD VS HASSOCKS: BEES After a promising start to the current Southern Combination Premier Division campaign, there had been a real buzz around Hassocks – only for their trip to Loxwood to get called off due to a swarm of bees. The…

The 52-time Republic of Ireland midfielder looks back on the Saipan Spat, the Spice Boys and going from non-league football to starring at Anfield… You got your big break at 20 when you signed for Division Three Bolton from sixth-tier Marine. How did it happen? Back in the late 1980s, there weren’t any youth academies. I got to 15 and was having trials at Manchester United and Tranmere, but they didn’t see enough to offer me an apprenticeship. I went to art school and studied graphic design while I carried on playing local football. To fund college and give my mum some keep, I worked in a bar near Tranmere’s ground. Someone came in who played for Marine. He said, “I heard you’re doing really well – do you fancy…

HISTORY, AT LAST LONDON, ENGLAND Fittingly, television coverage was still in black and white when Newcastle won the Fairs Cup in 1969. The red of Liverpool has shone brightly in the age of colour, but last month’s League Cup final went retro with celebrations in monochrome. Finally, the Toon’s glory day had arrived. Pic Liverpool FC/Getty “WHICH PLAYER DO I MARK, GAFFER?!” PARIS, FRANCE Fixtures between PSG and Marseille are usually bedlam, such is the rivalry, although chaos was manufactured this time thanks to a clever composite image of various moments from the match. It’s added-time multi-ball! Pic Hector Vivas/PSG/Getty A LEAP OF FAITH LONDON, ENGLAND Forget the Rumbelows Sprint Challenge, when ’90s players raced each other in 100m dashes up and down the land. Now, it’s time for the Ryan Sessegnon…

On Sunday, May 18, you’ll struggle to find a dry eye at Goodison Park. It’ll be the final goodbye; the last league game to be played at The Grand Old Lady. There’s sadness among Evertonians as Goodison opens its gates for the final few times, after 120 years hosting Everton FC. Supporters, players and legends of the club are all savouring the last memories they’ll get to share at the ground. It’s one of the Premier League’s charming old stadiums. The super-tight tunnel emerging from underground to pitchside; the concrete walls and tiny gangways that get crowded at half-time as fans queue for a pie and a pint. Its blue and white seats set so close to the pitch that the front row can almost touch it. The Gwladys Street…

@CFlanaganFFT YES Recently, I went to a lower-league fixture in which a goalkeeper went down injured five times in one game, seemingly to break up the momentum of the match. Such things happen all of the time in British football now. Sure, gamesmanship has always existed to some extent – teams will do what they can get away with. It doesn’t benefit the spectacle, though, when any time a team get attacking momentum, the opposition are struck by a mysterious injury to force a two-minute time-out, as the entire team jog over to the dugout for some tactical instructions. If I wanted to watch a staccato sport with tedious time-outs, I’d move to America. Wisely, a new rule was introduced in 2023, forcing any player who requires treatment to remain…

People often say 2002 was the World Cup of Ronaldo and 1986 was the World Cup of Diego Maradona. I’m proud when people say that 1990 was the World Cup of Lothar Matthaus – it’s a nice compliment, but I didn’t win it alone. We had a great side, not only in terms of quality, but mentality and team spirit. I was West Germany captain, but I don’t see myself as a hero. I didn’t dominate like Maradona in 1986. The first match was very important. It was one of the best games I had for Germany. We beat Yugoslavia 4-1 and showed that, hey, if somebody wants to win the World Cup, first they have to beat us. It also gave us peace from the journalists, as they couldn’t…

What are your favourite memories of becoming an unexpected star of the 1990 World Cup? The most important memory I have about that World Cup is the fact that we played in our own nation, and the atmosphere in our group. We could smell a big enthusiasm around us. Personally, I was shy, but that mood and that atmosphere got me involved very much. You won the Golden Boot at that tournament. Did you expect to? First of all, I was the last player to be called into the national team for that World Cup. I’d never been part of the Italian squad before – I was so lucky to be part of an extraordinary group. To me, it was a very important chance that I wanted to take advantage…

At first glance, there aren’t many things that Manchester City and Walsall appear to have in common. Apart from winning promotion from the third tier together in 1999, that is. Yet both sides are at the forefront of multi-club ownership groups, albeit the Saddlers are enjoying the merits further down the football pyramid than City’s superstar-laden outfit. The League Two promotion chasers are one of four teams owned by the Alabama-based Trivela Group, alongside League of Ireland’s Drogheda United, Silkeborg of Denmark’s top tier and the eponymous Trivela in Togo, Africa. The Midlanders were the first of the quartet to be acquired in 2022, with the group, fronted by co-chairmen Ben Boycott and Leigh Pomlett (below), growing around them. After years in the doldrums, they are reaping the rewards, having…

Aged 33, Xherdan Shaqiri is back where it all began, transformed by what he achieved while he was away. Having left Basel as a hot prospect in 2012, he returned in 2024 as an all-time Swiss great. It was an emotional reunion, as the forward was greeted by thousands of fans outside St Jakob-Park. Basel were Shaqiri’s boyhood club, and the launchpad for a hugely varied career which has seen him play in six different countries. The Kosovan refugee has lifted multiple trophies, including the Champions League with Bayern Munich and Liverpool, and earned 125 international caps before retiring from Switzerland duty last year, having scored at six major tournaments. Yet he has faced adversity, too. He has toiled on the sidelines at super-clubs or as the star man in…

Gary Lineker is wincing slightly as he leans back in his chair, remembering the unfortunate moment when his relationship with Match of the Day began. All these years later, perhaps he can still hear the disdain in Barry Davies’ voice – and no one did disdain quite like Barry Davies. FourFourTwo have just asked Lineker if he has a first memory of watching MOTD as a child. “God, that’s a tough question… do you know how long ago it is since I was a kid?” chuckles the 64-year-old in typical self-deprecating fashion. The first memories are hazy. “But I’d be allowed to stay up and watch it,” he declares. “For me, Saturday nights were Parky, then Match of the Day when David Coleman was presenting.” Quickly, a rather more embarrassing…

At what point in your law degree did they teach you to dress up as a bird? I didn’t actually finish my degree. I’m from Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast, which has one of the world’s best carnivals. There’s a culture of dressing up and my mother taught it to me. So, I dressed up as a shark to support Junior and as a tiger to support Sporting [both local teams]. When Colombia qualified for the 1990 World Cup, I’d been studying for five years and had to balance up the options: whether I wanted to be Colombia’s No.1 fan or be a lawyer. I made the choice, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. Where did the idea for the huge bird costume come from?…

“It wasn’t money that built these domes, these minarets,” goes the legendary Turkish poet Arif Nihat Asya’s ode to his beloved Istanbul, “but love.” Domes remains a cherished work of Turkish literature long after the 1975 death of Asya, whose fabled writings capture the chaos, beauty and warmth of a city founded more than 2,500 years ago. It’s much to FFT’s chagrin, therefore, that we arrive to find Istanbul in the grip of a cold snap. It’s been snowing heavily for weeks, and it’s grey clouds and minus temperatures that greet us as we step onto the airport tarmac. Thankfully, we’ve not come to Turkey for its bustling bazaars or sandy beaches, but for a football match of explosive reputation: Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce. Forming two-thirds of Turkey’s ‘Big Three’ –…

@AdamClery During the first eight weeks of David Moyes’ return to Everton, his side amassed 15 points from just eight games – only Liverpool collected more. Given where they were prior to that – one point above the relegation zone, with 17 points from their first 19 games – you’d have forgiven the Goodison Park faithful for not seeing that coming. The term ‘Moyesiah’ has been thrown around in both jest and irony in some of his previous jobs; a sign that things at a club had got so bad that their only recourse was to abandon their dreams of progressive play and entertainment, and get a weather-beaten Glaswegian in to sort it out. This used to be Sam Allardyce’s gimmick, except he didn’t have a catastrophic run at a…

XI BEST: Dean Kiely, Luke Young, Richard Rufus, Jorge Costa, Chris Powell, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Mark Kinsella, Claus Jensen, Ademola Lookman, Darren Bent, Clive Mendonca. WORST: Yohann Thuram-Ulien, Simon Francis, Tahar El-Khalej, Roger Johnson, Djimi Traore, Keith Gillespie, Amdy Faye, Christophe Lepoint, Jesper Blomqvist, Izale McLeod, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. PLAYER B: We’re really proud of our academy, so Ademola Lookman. The huge strides he and Joe Gomez have made in football, after we gave them their breakthroughs in SE7, have been phenomenal. W: How long have you got? If I can only have one: Djimi Traore. More of a liability than Barcelona’s current balance sheet. MOMENT B: Patrick Bauer’s stoppage-time winner in the 2019 League One Play-off Final. Absolute limbs. W: Watching former owners ESI unravel into a true bunch…

The former Crystal Palace and Birmingham goal-getter discusses mixing it with Brazil’s best, his life as a pundit and waiting on his Selhurst Park statue Are you enjoying retired life, working with the Soccer Saturday team? Oh, it’s a lot of fun. I’m pretty sure that comes across on the television. We have a fantastic team and each show flies by. It can be chaotic at times. Merse [Paul Merson] ran to the toilet in the ad break the other Saturday and he clearly didn’t realise how short the break was – I had to cover his match! We’re also caught with food in our mouths plenty of times, but I think the viewers enjoy seeing that side of it all. You scored on your debut for Crystal Palace back…

Growing up in the UK, I was frequently fascinated by the shirts of sides from further afield. My initial exposure to foreign interpretations would often come through video games like FIFA or Football Manager, and a handful of Google searches and Wikipedia pages later, I’d find myself deep in the kit archives of clubs from MLS or the Bundesliga (German and Austrian). A division I repeatedly returned to was the J.League. Few competitions could challenge the combination of colour, flair and sponsorship prowess, and its early seasons were especially exciting. The Japanese top tier enjoyed a boom from the outset as the inaugural campaign, in 1993, was illuminated by a frankly unbelievable assortment of jerseys. Many of these patterns are ones you’ll be intimately familiar with, such is the impact…