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…
Tag: long read
Quiz time. How many players can you name that have played in consecutive World Cup finals? Ten? Come on now. Twenty? Now you’re trying. Any more? In fairness, to play in successive…
This feature is part of The Football Italia Years To succeed in Italian football, three qualities are said to be required: Fantasi: surprise, imagination and flair. Furbizia: cunning trickery and gamesmanship. Tecnica: technique, skill…
“YOU, PLAYERS, who in less than a few hours will be hailed as champions by millions of compatriots,” the mayor of Rio de Janeiro proclaimed with boundless pride as he passionately addressed…
IN THE LONG ANNALS OF FOOTBALL, two Ronaldos stand out. The first – the original to many – was O Fenômeno, the Brazilian striker capable of the most audacious burst of pace at his…
When 24 April arrived in 2018, it marked a date that should be recognised and celebrated by the footballing community. It heralded the 90th birthday of a true legend of the game…
TREAD A PATH through every football-obsessed city on earth and seldom would you find the home of a retired professional footballer without the walls or spare rooms of their home habitually decorated…
ONE AFTERNOON IN LEEDS CITY CENTRE in the early 1990s, George Best thought he recognised someone shuffling past the window of the restaurant where he was waiting for lunch. The figure was…
Antônio De Oliveira Filho was born in the city of Araquara in the Brazilian state of São Paulo on 5 October 1960. His nickname, Careca – which roughly translates as ‘bald’ – came…
AGED JUST 35, to say Adam Crozier was a surprise choice to step into the role of Chief Executive at the FA would be understating the case more than a little. The…
TO SOME, HE’S ONE OF THE BEST MANAGERS OF THE PAST TWO DECADES, willing to sacrifice style for substance and flair for formality. To others, he’s an unnerving disciplinarian, an expert at…
After the murder of Julius Caeser, Shakespeare has Mark Antony deliver a soliloquy wherein he selects this particular phrase to inflame the wrath of the masses against the assassins of the dead…
WHEN AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME in the 1950s, to many, Jimmy Scoular was the type of hard-bitten Scottish footballer hewn from the toughest of rock north of the border that…
Now here’s a question for all you football trivia buffs out there; which club holds the world record for the most consecutive games won? Chelsea achieved 13 last year in winning the…
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…
GORE VIDAL ONCE WROTE: “Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.” If this is the case, then Jimmy Hogan could be said to be the most divine, patriotic…
This feature is part of The Masterminds When one thinks of the Mighty Magyars, thoughts often run to The Galloping Major Ferenc Puskás, the powerful army side Honvéd and England’s first defeat…
Illustration by Alex Noriega WHEN I LEAVE my flat to go to work later on today, a number of events may occur. That number is, in fact, infinite. Some of these events…