Poland is a proud country with a rich and compelling history, especially when it comes to football, and the 1970s and 80s were its golden period. The names behind it are well known…
Month: March 2017
This feature is part of Diego Maradona: the World Cup diaries And so to the end of this story, which has intertwined the experiences and narrative of four World Cups, a footballing…
Disbelief, despair and hopelessness: all were sentiments felt by anyone affiliated with Welsh football on the morning of November 21, 2011. Gary Speed had been found dead in the garage of his…
Werder Bremen were in trouble. Viktor Skrypnyk’s side was only one point above the relegation zone entering the winter break during the 2015/16 Bundesliga season. Thankfully, Bremen managed to pick up a…
Often forgotten about within the English game, Paul Mariner – though not first pick in a park game – was a complete goalscorer for over a decade at the top
SINCE 1990, Ukraine has often been a politically volatile nation. From becoming an independent nation in 1991 to the current ongoing territorial battle with pro-Russian separatists over the Donbass region, you cannot…
Ranked with Henrik Larsson as the greatest import in Scottish football history, Brian Laudrup was a consistent show of mazy dribbles and world-class skills
HELD IN THE FELICITOUS WARMTH that blessed the afternoon of 15 May 2004, as Arsenal came from behind to defeat Leicester City 2-1 at Highbury, many thousands lined the stands of the…
When Englishman Paul Wandless moved to Norway a few years ago, the only work he could get was in a local supermarket, but after a lot of perseverance and hard work he…
After Luis Enrique announced his seemingly inevitable resignation as Barcelona coach, he made a poignant statement: “The reason clearly had to do with the way of life I need to have in this…
This feature is part of Diego Maradona: the World Cup diaries BEFORE THIS NARRATIVE skips to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, there is a day that needs to be commented upon…
AS WE WALKED into the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia on 29 July 2007, expectations were not high, but at least we had an exit strategy in place. Having taken…
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 In 560 BC, the mathematician Pythagoras lived in a small village in what is now known as Calabria, the southern part of…
BENEDIKT TASCHEN’S BOOK ON 1970s FOOTBALL PHOTOGRAPHY is titled The Age of Innocence. An apt title, perhaps – it was the final time when footballers were still at some level “our lads”, clubs…
This feature is part of Diego Maradona: the World Cup diaries FOUR YEARS CAN feel like a lifetime when you are a child. Since Spain 82 I had busied myself with playing…
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 Vincenzo Montella is not entirely dissimilar to Roberto Mancini. Like the former Inter and Manchester City manager, Montella exudes effortless charisma and…
CARLOS TEVEZ, CLAD IN A DEEP BLUE KIT, stepped out onto the pitch and soaked in the adulation of thousands of impassioned fans. It’s a scenario that the Argentine has encountered hundreds…