The meaning of Zlatan – ‘the golden one’ – has always revealed a lot about him, at least to those that admire the striker. If football numbers are any sort of indicator…
Tag: premier league
In August 2004, Shelbourne played Deportivo La Coruña in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, with a place in the group stage at stake. Joan Capdevila, a future World Cup…
Picture the scene: an apprentice footballer walks into his manager’s office to learn his fate. It’s decision time, a contract or no contract, a yes or a no. It’s a lifetime of…
Few players have split opinion amongst football fans as much as Craig Bellamy. The former Welsh international striker was the epitome of a Marmite footballer. Born and raised in a working-class area…
You get the impression that José Mourinho has always quite fancied Manchester United. Even when he was being unpleasant towards them in his Chelsea heyday, he never hated them as much as he…
If you’ll forgive me for veering momentarily towards the preposterously pretentious, we must briefly visit the school of aesthetics. The philosophy of art and its borderless study of beauty and taste may…
For more than half a century, a few managers from the West of Scotland had a huge influence on British and European football. From Matt Busby in the 1950s to Sir Alex Ferguson,…
This feature is part of The Masterminds GOOD FOOTBALL TEAMS require direction and leadership. The captain functions as the on-field general, rallying the troops in the heat of competition. The manager is…
Many believe that the last great Battle of Britain took place between Rangers and Leeds in 1992. This is the story of an epic two ties
After a resurgent Liverpool’s victory over Bournemouth, Jürgen Klopp was antagonised by one tabloid journalist who was keen to peddle the line that Daniel Sturridge won the match. “We have a football…
IT’S A RARE THING in football that a player who only appeared 30 times for a club becomes an unquestioned legend. But then again, Stuart Holden is rare and special altogether. He…
DATELINE: 20 MARCH 1984. Fernando Torres, the youngest of three siblings, was born in the municipality of Fuenlabrada, some 22 kilometres from the Spanish capital. Joining his local side, Parque 84, at…
In the long and illustrious history of Scottish football, few wingers were better than John Robertson. We celebrate the unheralded genius who won two European Cups at Nottingham Forest and who Brian Clough jokingly dubbed “the fat bloke on the wing”.
At his best, Damien Duff was an outstanding player, a shining light for Blackburn, Chelsea, Fulham and Ireland. We celebrate the dazzling winger’s career by looking back at what made him so special and the memorable memories he gave us.
The Baltic nation of Latvia is generally known for three things: being part of the Soviet Union, potato jokes and, more recently, NBA phenom Kristaps Porzingis. It is not a footballing nation by…
SOME PLAYERS HAVE what is referred to as “it” – the gusto, the stuff, the goods, the flair, the swagger – whatever you want to call it, when you see it, you know…
THERE IS AN old Norwegian proverb that goes something along the lines of ‘A friend is known in need, like gold is known in fire’, and it’s hard not to imagine that it…
Paul Scholes is arguably the most naturally gifted English midfielder since Paul Gascoigne, but his time at the top was marred by the circumstances surrounding his early international retirement, as well as his…