No manager on English shores did more to advance the game in the early part of the 20th century than Huddersfield and Arsenal legend Herbert Chapman
Peter Schmeichel often produced not only brilliant reactions with his saves but brilliant reactions to goals he could not save. He was a great animator between the sticks for Manchester United, and perhaps…
This feature is part of Virtuoso Before becoming the poster club for cataclysmic financial mismanagement, Leeds United were good. Very good. Just after the turn of the millennium, David O’Leary’s band of…
At the end of the sublime, cinematically perfect 2008/09 season, Barcelona stood apart from their rivals. LaLiga champions, Copa del Rey winners and Champions League conquerors, this was a team not often…
On a clear autumn’s evening in Manchester, a young midfielder trembles on the Old Trafford touchline. Hearing the rousing din of 50,000 supporters inside English club football’s biggest stadium was an immense…
It was a goal that was impossible to ignore, the kind of high-level showboatery that’s worth the price of admission alone. On a misty January evening inside the Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux,…
When Roy Hodgson took charge as manager of Fulham in December 2007, the outlook for the Cottagers was bleak. The west London side languished in 18th, two points from safety, having only managed…
Sometimes, watching football leaves an indelible mark on a young boy’s imagination. In 1999, I was seven years old and my obsession with Manchester United was reaching new heights after watching them win…
Growing up as a Manchester United fan in the era of the Arsenal Invincibles, I perhaps would have been excused for disliking Thierry Henry. The Frenchman was the archetypal player to strike fear…
WE ALL HAVE OUR FOOTBALL MEMORIES. As fans, we cherish them. We need them, whether they’re good or bad. They have shaped our journey. For those of a certain vintage, the apex…
THE POWER OF ONE FOOTBALLER can often have an immeasurable impact on a club. Although the collective efforts of 11 players ultimately trump the effect of a single player, teams can easily…
Illustration by Federico Manasse There may never be another footballer as supreme as Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé. The argument of who truly deserves the title of ‘Greatest Footballer’…
ON 6 JUNE 2014, Marco Reus’s professional life plunged into darkness. Darkness often touches professional footballers, but for this exceptionally blessed German playmaker, it was a darkness that would come to plague…
This feature is part of The Fleeting Fraternity Imagine being billed as the next superstar of German football. Imagine the sheer immensity of the pressure, the constant spotlight on your every move. Imagine…
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…
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 On 25 February 2015, Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim arrived at the Emirates Stadium with a plan. That plan – executed immaculately by…
As featured on Guardian Sport SOME FOOTBALLERS HAVE the privilege of working under gifted tacticians and thoroughbred winners during their careers, but it’s the intuitive ones who take it upon themselves to…
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 When Eddie Howe announced his retirement from football at the age of 29, he wasn’t certain what fate had in store for…