Innehållsförteckning för July 2025 från FourFourTwo UK

X @JamesAndrew_ E james.andrew@futurenet.com Growing up as a teenager in the ’90s, my two obsessions were football and music – more specifically Fulham and Oasis. Back then, Fulham were a lower-league team beginning to rise and Oasis quickly became the biggest band on the planet. In August 1998, my two worlds collided when Manchester City came to Craven Cottage on a balmy Friday night – sat behind me in the boxes at the back of the old Hammersmith Terrace were Liam and Noel Gallagher, behaving like true rock stars and trading insults with the home fans. I found myself in an odd position that my teenage brain struggled to deal with. In front of me were 11 men that I idolised, behind me were two men that I worshipped –…

01 PSG won the Champions League in 2024-25 (right). Who are the only other French outfit to win it, in 1993? 02 Which Leeds marksman finished as the Championship’s top scorer last term, on 19 goals? 03 Which Premier League Dutchman, now in the Bundesliga, made the most saves (153) in Europe’s top five leagues last season? 04 New Liverpool right-back Jeremie Frimpong came through which rival Premier League club’s academy? 05 Which former England goalkeeper holds the record for the most PFA Team of the Year outings, with 10? 06 Mohamed Salah’s 47 top-flight goal contributions across 2024-25 is a joint record also held alongside two ex-England strikers. Name them both. 07 Pundit Gary Neville was banned from which ground on the last day of the 2024-25 Premier League…

SOUTHAMPTON 1 NEWCASTLE 0 First Division, 1989 “I joined mid-season from Millwall – when we played Newcastle, we hadn’t won for more than 20 games and were staring at relegation. In the last minute, their left-back Kenny Sansom brought down Rodney Wallace. I was the youngest, just 20, but with everyone chucking the ball around like a hot potato, no one wanted to take the penalty. Silly centre-half me, I said, ‘I’ll take it!’ I scored, did a silly dance that they named the ‘Razor Stomp’, we ended up staying up and Newcastle went down. That was the first massive game that changed my life – it turned me into a Southampton superhero.” ARSENAL 1 TOTTENHAM 0 FA Cup semi-final, 1993 “Tony Adams scored. We lost 1-0 in a North…

Leaf through the vinyl or CD collection of your average ’90s indie lover and, next to Cigarettes & Alcohol and Parklife, you may find former Reading and Cardiff City striker Robin Friday flicking a nonchalant V in your direction. The photograph of Friday telling Luton Town goalkeeper Milija Aleksic what he thought of him, after scoring in a 1977 Second Division clash for Cardiff, graced Super Furry Animals’ 1996 hit, The Man Don’t Give a F**k. “It’s such an iconic picture,” the Welsh rockers’ frontman, Gruff Rhys, tells FFT. “We’re big football fans and, despite mainly supporting Bangor, we were aware of Robin from his days playing for Cardiff. The song isn’t really about him, but he represented the spirit of it. We had to use that photo.” It’s apt…

FROM THE VAULT Looking back, it’s funny to think we might have picked berries from the same bush. In the summer of ’59, those blackberries proliferated to the rear of The Bend, the most unlovely corner of an unfashionable ground – Vicarage Road, home of the equally forgotten Watford FC. Then, I was 18 and one of the Boys on The Bend, a disparate cluster of 20 fans who used the low bank as a vantage point to see over the greyhound track and watch the newly-named Hornets. I was only aware of my own group, yet I might have noticed a podgy 13-year-old Pinner County Grammar School boy appearing equally pleased. Perhaps, had we talked, he might have volunteered that he’d inherited his love of Watford from his father,…

Eighteen years ago, when Arsenal’s women’s team conquered Europe for the first time, more continental success seemed almost inevitable. Victory in the 2007 UEFA Women’s Cup Final, over Umea, a Swedish side boasting Brazilian star Marta, was the defining moment of a season in which the Gunners completed a historic quadruple that also included the Women’s Premier League, FA Cup and Premier League Cup trophies. Despite claiming 11 of the 12 domestic league titles between 2000 and 2012 – winning 51 consecutive matches at one stage, during a 108-game unbeaten run – that Umea glory proved their sole European final. In recent times, Chelsea have been England’s dominant force, yet while the Blues have fallen short in Europe, the Gunners became continental champions again. Here’s how… THE RISE OF THE…

Football fans have long become familiar with one club borrowing another’s stadium for a season or two. Far more unusual, however, is two clubs swapping grounds entirely. But that’s precisely what is set to happen in Scotland in 2025-26, as League One outfit Hamilton Academical prepare to play their home matches at Broadwood Stadium (inset below), home of League Two Clyde until three years ago. The latter, meanwhile, will continue their residency of Accies’ New Douglas Park (bottom), which they also borrowed last term. It’s the latest farce surrounding Hamilton, relegated from the Championship this year after a 15-point deduction for various breaches, including the non-payment of players and falsely claiming to own their stadium. In May, they announced plans to leave New Douglas Park, their ground of the past…

A few months after his 50th birthday, Gary Neville is in no danger of slowing down. Player, coach, manager, pundit, co-commentator, club owner, hotel and cafe owner, independent regulator backer, Labour supporter, even part-time Dragon, the former Manchester United defender hasn’t been short of jobs over the decades. Every single thing he does, he approaches with the same passion. “That’s my whole life, I only do things I’m really passionate about,” he tells FourFourTwo with typical verve. “I haven’t got time to be doing things that I don’t feel a thrill from, that great enthusiasm to wake up in the morning.” “YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MORE INDEPENDENT THAN EVER. THEY’RE MUCH TOUGHER THAN WE EVER WERE” As he speaks to us about another of his projects, it comes as no surprise…

HOD OF ROCK LONDON, ENGLAND Glenn Hoddle doesn’t exude rock star vibes, but he plays a mean guitar. Chas & Dave penned Ossie’s Dream before Spurs’ 1981 FA Cup win, then joined up with Ray Clemence and Hoddle for Tottenham, Tottenham. Glenn probably preferred Diamond Lights… Pic Monte Fresco/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images STARR PLAYER NEWQUAY, ENGLAND Why was The Beatles’ Ringo Starr doing keepie-uppies in a suit in a field in Cornwall? Er, just because. Ringo was said to follow Arsenal thanks to his stepdad, although his sons became Liverpool fans. Pic Chapman/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images INDUSTRY PLANT WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND Robert Plant has toured the world with Led Zeppelin, yet often the long-haired rocker would rather have been at Molineux. But sometimes, all it took was 45 minutes of watching Roger Johnson to…

Dimitar Berbatov seemed to be running harmlessly towards the Old Trafford corner flag, when he unleashed the skill he’d been working on in his living room. Sprinting to prevent Anderson’s pass from going out for a goal-kick, Berbatov stopped the ball with his right foot, spun 180 degrees, then flicked it over James Collins’ outstretched leg, all in a split second. The West Ham defender didn’t know what had just happened, but Berbatov was suddenly sauntering into the penalty area unattended, before squaring the ball for Cristiano Ronaldo to tap home. The Bulgarian had been a Manchester United player for merely a month, and already he had delivered a moment that fans would remember. He also performed his spin on near enough the same blade of grass where Fernando Redondo…

JOHN TERRY WAS A PUNDIT ON IN-HOUSE PYRAMIDS TV FOR THEIR FIRST EVER GAME UNDER A NEW NAME The expanded men’s Club World Cup may be ongoing, but the first four qualifiers for the 2029 tournament have already been confirmed. Hurrah! Paris Saint-Germain bagged their spot thanks to their record 5-0 Champions League final triumph over Inter, while Mexican side Cruz Azul have qualified thanks to their own 5-0 victory, over Vancouver Whitecaps in the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Ivan Toney’s Al Ahli also made it by winning the Asian Champions League – Franck Kessie was a goalscorer in the final as the Saudi Arabian side beat Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale, aided by Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, Edouard Mendy and Ezgjan Alioski. Al Ahli only finished fifth in…

XI BEST: Darryl Flahavan, Simon Francis, Alan Moody, Adam Barrett, Chris Powell, Mark Gower, Kevin Maher, Ryan Leonard, Roy Hollis, Freddy Eastwood, Stan Collymore. WORST: Nathan Bishop, Elvis Bwomono, Joe Shaughnessy, Nathan Ralph, Tim Dieng, Ethan Hamilton, Isaac Hutchinson, Mark Milligan, Stephen McLaughlin, Simon Cox, Tom Hopper. PLAYER B: Freddy Eastwood produced edge-of-the-seat stuff for three brilliant years. W: Mark Milligan joined as a marquee signing in 2019. Played 30 games in his only season – with about as much influence as a training cone. MOMENT B: We brought Chelsea back for a cup replay in January 2009 and hometown hero Adam Barrett gave us the lead from a corner. Seeing World Cup-winning manager ‘Big Phil’ Scolari s**tting it in the dugout for a while was good fun. W: Recency…

The ex-Liverpool and Republic of Ireland midfielder recalls a potty-mouthed Ken Bates, disagreeing with Graeme Souness and a visit to the Vatican City… You started your career at West Ham but hardly played. What happened? In my last season in West Ham’s youth team, I scored 19 goals from midfield. In today’s football, I’d probably have got a five-year contract on £100,000 a week. But the manager decided to let me go – work that out if you can. It’s still tough to take now. You joined Fulham in 1982 and would have won promotion, only to lose at Derby on the final day when some of the crowd ran onto the pitch and the game ended prematurely… Their supporters were making threats all game, doing knife-throat gestures and the…

The shaggy-haired striker remembers fixing Clough’s drinks, scoring Forest’s last European winner and playing sold-out rock shows all around the world You’re known as a footballer and as a musician. Which was your first love? Oh, football. I was crazy about it from as early as I can remember – both playing and watching. Like most people, it wasn’t until I got into my teenage years that I started forming my own music tastes, getting into rock and punk and all that sort of thing. It’s funny, as I kind of lived a split personality from that point. I was a bit of a jock at school, because I was a talented footballer and got noticed by some big clubs, but I also hung out with the cool indie kids…

How about a little pub quiz question to kick us off? Which club was the first to have a betting shirt sponsor in the Premier League? Bonus point if you can guess the season. The answer is Fulham, who teamed up with Betfair for the 2002-03 campaign. It’s hard to recall a time when footballers weren’t covered in logos and slogans of gambling establishments, and we have the Cottagers to blame for opening the floodgates, enabling 42 betting behemoths to appear on Premier League jerseys. There have been few shifts more seismic in the sponsorship game than the arrival of the betting company, and a sample of what Premier League (then ‘FA Barclaycard Premiership’) kits looked like in the season before the Betfair deal offers a glimpse into a bygone…

Everywhere Christian Vieri went, he scored goals. Only two players have ever won both Serie A’s Capocannoniere award and La Liga’s Pichichi Trophy, as top scorer: Vieri, then Cristiano Ronaldo. Born in Italy but raised in Australia, Vieri returned home to become the Azzurri’s joint-record goalscorer at World Cups. In 1999 he became the world’s most expensive player by joining Inter for £32 million – his eighth transfer in eight dizzying years. At San Siro, the left-footed striker formed a legendary partnership with the great Ronaldo Nazario, so it’s little wonder that he is still viewed as one of the most iconic players of his generation. Today he’s an ambassador for Serie A, and he even released his own music in 2020 alongside former Inter team-mates Nicola Ventola and Daniele…

“I WATCHED CHELSEA BEAT SPURS SAT NEXT TO ROBBIE KEANE IN A SPANISH BAR. THAT WAS F**KING SPECIAL” What was the first game you ever attended? Chelsea against Blackpool in 1971 when I was five. I went with my friend Phil and his older brother, who was about 15 or 16 and was looking after us for the day – when we got back, our parents went mad because we’d gone to Chelsea. I don’t remember seeing any football, but I do remember seeing the pitch. He took us to The Shed End and I remember the feeling of just being surrounded by so many people and so much noise. Do you have a matchday routine? I used to link results with my happiness and it affects your mood for…

November 1989: inside a Manchester warehouse, guitarist John Squire is busy pouring cans of paint over himself and the rest of his band, The Stone Roses. Suddenly, he stops. “We’ve been stitched up here,” he said. Squire was right – and not just because the aforementioned warehouse had no shower. The Roses were Manchester United fans – as they looked around at each other and their surroundings, all they could see was a Jackson Pollock-inspired mess of sky blue and white paint covering them, Manchester City colours. Later that month, the photograph in question was on the cover of music weekly the NME and became an iconic portrait of the band. It was also a victory for the man taking the pictures – legendary music photographer Kevin Cummins, a lifelong…

“I KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT FROM GEORGE BEST.” Some statements are just destined to make their speaker look foolish from the moment they leave their lips. On September 4, 1976, it was the turn of Lindsay Parsons to find that out. Bristol Rovers’ stalwart full-back was speaking to the press ahead of his side’s Second Division game against Fulham at a sold-out Craven Cottage – more than 21,000 fans, double the average gate, would cram in to witness the former Ballon d’Or winner’s debut. “I’ve played against him before against Manchester United,” Parsons went on. “I’ve never had a complex about him and I’m not going to start now. I’ll mark him out of the game. “There will be no dream debut for George Best.” It took just 71 seconds…

If the Premier League’s foundation provided the gunpowder for English football’s foreign revolution, the summer of 1995 was when the keg exploded. The year in which I Believe by Robson & Jerome unfathomably kept Oasis’ Wonderwall from topping the UK charts also heralded the arrivals of David Ginola, Dennis Bergkamp, Juninho, Georgi Kinkladze, Tony Yeboah and countless others – each collected like exotic plants and brought to bloom in English soil. Yet it was Chelsea that appeared to have captured the most implausible of them all – Dutch master Ruud Gullit. The 1987 Ballon d’Or winner, a three-time Serie A king and twice European champion with Milan, had been the most expensive player in the world when moving from PSV to the Italian giants eight years earlier. One third of…

After previous promotions from the National League and National League North as a manager, you’ve just led Truro City out of National League South against all odds. How? It was taking things one game at a time. The National League South was new to me and I didn’t know most of the players. We lost our opening game against Dorking, and I felt it was going to be a hard season. But we grew into it and everything started to go for us. The players impressed with their technical level and there was a togetherness, brought about by the fact that the club had a home again. After a few years in the wilderness, we were back in Truro, playing in front of the home support. That had a big…

Next term, Wrexham aim for a fourth promotion in a row to reach the Premier League, and secure arguably the greatest rise up the divisions. Yet this coming campaign marks the 60th anniversary of Northampton Town’s rise from the depths of the fourth tier to the top flight in the space of just five seasons. Few are the underdog stories that can top such Cobblers. The man behind the miracle was manager Dave Bowen, a former Arsenal and Wales captain, who led his country out at the 1958 World Cup. When Bowen took the Northampton reins in 1959, the club languished in the Fourth Division but they soon began to climb the Football League. First, came promotion from the Fourth Division in 1961. Two seasons later, they won the Third…

The Kiezkicker’s Aussie skipper discusses breaking through at Celtic, mixing it with Lionel Messi and why pink hair and moustaches are normal at St Pauli Born and raised in Melbourne, you joined Celtic’s academy as a teenager. How did that move happen? A youth scout in Australia spotted me and arranged a trial that, to my surprise, ended in an offer for Celtic Under-19s. The move to Scotland was a big shock, and not just from a weather perspective. Back in Australia, as a kid, football wasn’t as huge as some sports. So to go from that to the melting pot of Glasgow and one of the Old Firm was pretty crazy. The passion, the rivalry, the fact that it’s like a religion to everybody there. I’d never experienced anything…