Liam Brady’s Italian sojourn at Juventus

CATANZARO IS A SMALL CITY located in the Calabria region of Italy. Known as the ‘City of Two Seas’, it is occasionally dampened by the sea and is subjected to snow-capped winters…

Why Paul Pogba is the 21st century prototype footballer

Illustration by Luigi Coari Platini, Brady, Baggio, Del Piero, Tevez; all footballers blessed with authenticity and unique personality. Legendary, iconic names, bound together by one common denominator – they were all bestowed with…

Günter Netzer: the rebellious loner who became a hero

It was a warm summers day in Düsseldorf on June 23, 1973. The DFB-Pokal final had entered extra time as old adversaries Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Köln refused to be separated. Gladbach supporters…

What Irish football can learn from Iceland

Here’s a revelation that should come as little surprise to most people: Ireland and Iceland are two countries with quite a lot in common. Small island nations on the periphery of mainland Europe,…

The lineage of British managers abroad

IN EARLY JANUARY, David Moyes strolled through the city of San Sebastián, breathing in the air of a mild and bright Basque day. In an engaging interview filmed for Sky Sports with Geoff…

The redemption of Ronaldo

It’s a moment most dream of but few ever come close to attaining. For a sport with the global pull of football, only a select number are deemed good enough to play it…

Sampdoria and the glory years of the 1990s

AS THE PREVIOUS SEASON FADES INTO THE DISTANCE and we embark on a new one, memories of the previous 12 months will intensify. In recent times many of the year-end football high points…