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CHAMPIOnS LEAGUE •

• THE KEEPER AT WAR THE DEATH OF LA LIGA

KINKLADZE “I delayed an Oasis

Barça in chaos, Real dethroned.

But how?!

GREALISH gig by two hours!”

KEEGAN King Kev the

Anfield hero, 50 years on

EnGLAnD’S nEW ICOn

He’s Britain’s first £100m player – now Jack’s ready to conquer the world

ROnALDO! ZOLA! WADDLE! DRIBBLE KInGS RAnKED

Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Phone 01225 442244 Email fourfourtwo@futurenet.com To contact an individual, email firstname.surname@futurenet.com Editorial Editor James Andrew Deputy Editor Joe Brewin Art Director Anthony Moore Senior Staff Writer Chris Flanagan Chief Sub Editor Gregg Davies Online Editor Conor Pope Staff Writer Mark White Staff Writer Ed McCambridge Editor at Large Andy Mitten Thanks to Huw Davies, Andrew Murray, Alex Rowen, Matt McNulty, Ignacio Borrego López, Abdulazez Ketaz, Mark Lynch Contributors Marcus Alves, Paul Brown, Caio Carrieri, Ian Murtagh, Sean Cole, Richard Edwards, Chris Evans, Emanuele Giulianelli, Andy Greeves, Martin Harasimowicz, Si Hawkins, Steve Hill, Louis Massarella, Martin Mazur, Nick Moore, Leo Moynihan, Andrew Murray, Gary Parkinson, Sam Pilger, Felipe Rocha, Paul Simpson, Jon Spurling, Tim Stillman, Ivan Tomic Photography PA, Getty, Offside, iStock, Reuters.

All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected Advertising Media packs are available on request Account Director Richard Hemmings richard.hemmings@futurenet.com Head of Sport Matthew Johnston matthew.johnston@futurenet.com Senior Account Manager Ed Rochester ed.rochester@futurenet.com International Licensing FourFourTwo is available for licensing. Contact the licensing team to discuss partnership opportunities Head of Print Licensing Rachel Shaw International Account Manager Brendon Bester International Licensing Executive Georgina Flores-Laird licensing@futurenet.com Subscriptions Email enquiries help@magazinesdirect.com Order line and enquiries 0330 333 1113 Online orders and enquiries www.magazinesdirect.com Group Marketing Director, Magazines & Memberships Sharon Todd Senior Marketing Manager Faith Wardle Senior Direct Marketing Executive Sally Sebesta Circulation Head of Trade Marketing Ben Oakden Production Head of Production Mark Constance Production Project Manager Clare Scott Ad Production Manager Nick Williams Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson Production Manager Vivienne Calvert Group Management Chief Content Officer Angie O’Farrell Managing Director: Sports Dave Clutterbuck Group Sports Editor Michael Harris Design Director Brett Lewis Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham Printed by William Gibbons Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9060 ISSN 1355027X

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WELCOME Regardless of which football team you support, you’ll always remember the sport’s seismic events and where you were when you heard them.

I wasn’t born when Trevor Francis became the first million pound player in 1979, so the first major move that really registered was Andy Cole’s shock £7m transfer from Newcastle to Manchester United in January 1996. It felt like such a big deal – not just because of the fee, but that it was also shocking to see a player switch between rivals.

Then there was Alan Shearer’s hefty £15m transfer from Blackburn to Newcastle. Since then, fees have risen lazily – and then quite spectacularly. Now, we’re at a place where the most exciting player in British football is worth £100m.

But while there’s no doubt that the numbers behind Jack Grealish’s move from Aston Villa to Man City are staggering, the best players don’t let their price tags drag them down.

In this issue, we take a look at how the 25-year-old became a history-maker, chatting to several of those who helped him reach this landmark in a journey that’s been far from plain sailing. We all remember the raucous reactions to him at Wembley – but that’s only a small part of Grealish’s fascinating story.

Enjoy the mag...

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HERE...

FOURFOURTWO.COM @FOURFOURTWO @FOURFOURTWOUK FACEBOOK.COM/ FOURFOURTWO FOURFOURTWO

James Andrew @JamesAndrew_ @FourFourTwo

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5 THINGS YOU’LL LEARN INSIDE Which former Hull City manager has released a rap single

Which World Cup star had a cockerel hung outside his home

How a very young Georgi Kinkladze ended up at Boca Juniors

Which club welcomed an alien to their official team photograph

Which former England winger is absolutely not willing to fight a wolf

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Get FFT sent direct to your door every month for a one-year fee of £51 – with 13 issues published, you’ll make some great savings. Head to magazinesdirect.com and find FourFourTwo, or phone 0330 333 1113

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ASK A SILLY QUESTION

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YOU ASK...

FEATURES

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28 Jack Grealish: the £100m man FFT charts the rise of a cult hero, via tragedy, agony and ecstasy 38 The dribble kings... ranked!

And the greatest of them all is...

42 The painful death of La Liga Messi gone; Barça in ruins; Real Madrid reeling. What happened?

48 Varane, Wolves & Bond villains The Champions League returns!

52 Schalke vs Hamburg: woe is us The fallen giants are nowsecond tier foes – and we paid a visit...

Manuel Pellegrini on Pep, KDB, Ronaldo, West Ham and more

UPFRONT 12 14 15 16 20 21 23 24 90

Alien invasion strikes Germany Michael Essien’s finest games Nashville’s own Soccer Moses Karen Carney on Jasper Carrott Primal Scream hail Hand of God Soh Chin Ann: record breaker Bari’s spectacular fall from grace Q&A: Stern John on losing 13-0 84

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FEATURES

AROUND THE GROUNDS

58 Kinkladze: Maine attraction “Imagine what I’d have been like under Guardiola at City?!”

66 Wrexham’s Hollywood heroes Their famous owners are here – but the club nearly weren’t 72 Keegan at Liverpool, revisited How a prospect from Scunthorpe ruled the world, 50 years later 78 The keeper who went to war Abdul Baset al-Sarout played for Syria U20s – then life changed 98 Andre Ayew’s Perfect XI

84 85 86 87 88 89

Charlie Austin: horse whisperer “Sorry Tinie, I’m off to Hastings” Best & Worst: Sheffield Wed Psycho at England’s worst team Ian Holloway: parachute pain From car showroom to Wembley

90 92 93 94

Dean Windass: Bob the Builder Carlos Queiroz didn’t sign Bebe Christian Fuchs buys a prison Shaka Hislop’s summer at NASA

42

LA LIGA IN CRISIS

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THE PLAYERS LOUNGE

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YOU ASK THE Interview Andy Mitten Portrait Ignacio Borrego López QUESTIOnS “I knew Guardiola was coming when I was Manchester City boss – the club had already told me they wanted Pep when I arrived” high – I had played volleyball and basketball when I was younger – but he could jump higher! [Laughs] So, maybe it was time to retire, but it wasn’t simply because of that. I was happy with my career. I played once for the national team, against Brazil in 1986 – it was only a friendly but it was a special, emotional moment.

MAnUEL PELLEGRInI M

anuel Pellegrini looks across the Staffordshire countryside and spies a hint of blue between the heavy clouds of late July. “An English summer,” says the smiling Real Betis manager, 67, who has brought his team to England for pre-season.

With Seville’s temperatures touching 40 degrees, St George’s Park and its plush facilities make for a welcome base as Betis prepare for their return to European competition. Last term was a roaring success under the manager who joined them a year ago, as Betis leapt from 15th to sixth under Pellegrini to nab automatic qualification for the Europa League group stage.

After a rough ride at West Ham – an uncharacteristic failure for the Chilean – it was a welcome return to normality for Pellegrini, who has made a career of taking unfancied sides into Europe ever since he guided Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals back in 2005-06. That came after a decade spent managing in his native Chile, followed by stints in Ecuador and Argentina, and preceded high-profile spells with Real Madrid, Malaga and Manchester City, whom he steered to the 2013-14 Premier League title and a pair of League Cup triumphs.

Now, following a day’s graft with Los Verdiblancos, the jovial Santiago native perches on a patio with FourFourTwo to answer readers’ questions...

6 September 2021 FourFourTwo

Were you close to going into civil engineering instead of football? Did your degree help you as a manager? @spursdab, via Twitter I worked a lot of years as an engineer.

First, I was a professional footballer, but I’d been at university from 17 and by 24 my studies were complete.

I was a player and also an engineer, but when I finished playing I decided to see if I liked being a manager. That was 1986 – until 1994, I was both an engineer and a professional football manager. I was working mainly on houses and small buildings, including those affected by the earthquake [of Algarrobo in 1985], which is a big part

of our history. But I reached the point where I had to decide. For the last 33 years, I’ve worked only as a manager.

As a player, you were a one-club man with Universidad de Chile. Why didn’t you move on? You’ve said before that Ivan Zamorano basically retired you!

Tyler Spencer, Ashbourne Universidad de Chile are one of Chile’s three biggest clubs. I’d supported them as a boy and wanted to play for them, though I studied at a rival university, Catolica. Why did I retire from football in the end? Yes, it’s true that I played against Ivan Zamarano when he was coming through. I could jump really

What did you learn about yourself during your early days managing?

What were your aspirations then?

Jude Palmer, Gravesend I started managing at the club where I’d always played. Maybe I was too young to have that duty at a big team in a difficult financial moment, but as a confident young man you think you can do it all. So, I started my career with a relegation – by only one goal – and that was a hard moment for me.

But it also allowed me to grow a lot, and it convinced me that I should be a manager. I did coaching courses in several different countries, including England. Altogether, I spent 10 years managing in Chile. I had three years at Universidad Catolica, a huge club where we lifted the Copa Chile. Then I moved to Ecuador with LDU Quito, where we won the league, before the next step – a big one – in Argentina.

What’s it actually like to manage a club like River Plate? How bad was the situation in 2002, when things turned nasty after a Superclasico defeat and the fans attacked you in your press conference?

Simon Selby, Brighton I won the title at both River Plate and San Lorenzo [left] in my two years in Argentina, plus a first international title for San Lorenzo [the Copa Mercosur].

My target was to get to Europe, but football is very passionate in Argentina.

As for that press conference, I had to play against Boca Juniors with only half a team, and River fans didn’t accept the defeat. The anger passed, but I did what I thought was right for the club.

Your assistant, Ruben Cousillas, has followed you to your last nine clubs.

What makes a manager-assistant relationship work well? Does he have a different role to other assistants?

He often wears a suit, for starters…

Lee Clarke, via Instagram I first met Ruben in San Lorenzo – he had played there for several years. The president told me that he was out of

YOU ASK CLUBS (PLAYER) 1973-1986 Universidad de Chile COUNTRY (PLAYER) 1986 Chile CLUBS (MANAGER) 1988-89 Universidad de Chile 1990-91 Palestino 1992-93 O’Higgins 1994-96 Universidad Catolica 1998 Palestino 1999-2000 LDU Quito 2001-02 San Lorenzo 2002-03 River Plate 2004-09 Villarreal 2009-10 Real Madrid 2010-13 Malaga 2013-16 Manchester City 2016-18 Hebei China Fortune 2018-19 West Ham 2020- Real Betis

YOU ASK the club, but recommended him. I met him and told him the way I like to play, and what I wanted from an assistant.

I told the president that I’d test Ruben for a month or two, and I did. I was very happy with him and we’ve worked together ever since, from San Lorenzo to today. He’s really good. I don’t want an assistant who repeats what I say, and he has a different personality to me. He doesn’t want to be a manager; he’s happy in his position. He knows so much about football. When I came to Europe, I wanted Ruben to come with me. I listen to him, but know that the final decision is my responsibility.

Clockwise from right Cousillas, “happy in his position”; Pellegrini’s Villarreal, en route to an unlikely semi-final shot; “Rebuilding houses after an earthquake was less stressful than this”; Real Madrid’s 2009-10 saw the stars arrive but not align; “Yes, very clever”

How exciting was your spell coaching Villarreal from 2004-09? How did you manage to improve them so quickly?

Josh Winter, Plymouth I was there for five years but nobody knew me when I first arrived, nor did they expect success at a small club.

But we finished second [in 2007-08] and third [2004-05] in the league, and also reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League.

That wasn’t easy to do, but it’s a great club with a fine president. When I left Villarreal in 2009 to go to Real Madrid, the club was at a high level, and they have stayed at a high level for most of the time since. We managed to sign Diego Forlan in my first summer [2004] – he was still young and hadn’t been playing much at Manchester United.

I knew Diego from Independiente when I was in Argentina; Villarreal’s sporting director told me about him, and I confirmed that he was a very good player. His displays for Villarreal were brilliant. In his first season, he scored 25 league goals.

How do you look back on Villarreal’s Champions League run in 2005-06?

Everton supporters will never forgive referee Pierluigi Collina for ruling out Duncan Ferguson’s play-off goal – how did you view that incident?

Jamal Eastwood, Liverpool We were a better team than Everton.

We beat them with a controversial decision in one moment, but we could have scored more goals in Spain. The team that deserved to go through was Villarreal. After that Everton game, we had a very good run in the group and reached the knockout stages. In the semi-finals, we lost 1-0 to Arsenal in a very equal match; in the second leg at home, we should have scored two or three goals, then we had a penalty saved. You experience these moments in football. I don’t blame [Juan Roman] Riquelme – he had the responsibility and courage to take the penalty. He was a special player; one of the finest

8 September 2021 FourFourTwo

I ever managed. At 24 or 25, you can have a difficult character, but really he was no problem. He was effective on the pitch and that was what mattered.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and Kaka all joined Real Madrid in your single season there.

How did that squad compare to your Manchester City players later? Were they easier or tougher to manage?

Lucas Ward, via Instagram The responsibility to coach any team is the same: to try to have the best year

of the club’s history. That’s what I try for at every club I go to. Real Madrid are one of the biggest teams in the world, whereas City were growing and didn’t have the history of Madrid. At Madrid, we got more points than ever before in the history of the club, but we could have done a bit better [Real Madrid finished second with 96 points to Barcelona’s 99]. We had a fantastic squad. Ronaldo is a great professional; maybe the best I’ve had in my long career. For him, it wasn’t about being great for five years, but becoming the

best player ever. He’s so ambitious – he was never going to be happy with one or two titles and a lot of money.

He always wanted more for himself.

So did Lionel Messi. I could have been a better manager, though, and the club could have been better with their human relations. I knew six or seven months before the end that I wasn’t going to stay there, as I didn’t have a good relationship with the president [Florentino Perez]. That was one more issue that I had and tried to resolve.

Sometimes life is like this.

YOU ASK

“A ROUnDABOUT IS nAMED AFTER ME In MALAGA! A BIG OnE nEAR THE STADIUM – IT MADE ME HAPPY” Did you enjoy working at Malaga?

How tough was it to miss out on the Champions League semi-finals after Borussia Dortmund grabbed that incredibly late winner... which was also incredibly offside?

Louis Goodwin, via Instagram My career is always a challenge. I had a lot of options after Real Madrid, but Malaga had a project. They weren’t in a good place at the time, but going to Malaga was one of the best decisions of my life. The city is so beautiful, the team played in Europe and all the fans

were amazing. One referee’s decision [in Dortmund] sadly cost us a place in the Champions League semi-finals. If there had been VAR back then, the goal would never have been allowed – it was clear. And there were times at Malaga when the players weren’t paid for months, when we had to let six important players go, but we still had an unbelievable team spirit. Isco was just starting his career, we had Martin Demichelis, Willy Caballero, Joaquin... it was an exceptional group. I’ve even got a roundabout named after me in Malaga! A big one near the stadium, which I was very happy about, though I don’t know if I deserve it. I still have a house in Marbella. I always go there.

reach the level I hoped for. I started to play golf, too, for something different.

I dedicate a lot of hours to football but I need to do things away from it. My mother read more books than anyone I know, while my father was interested in classical music – we used to listen after dinner. My family had interests in culture, in art, and I do as well. I think this complements football. I still have a book at all times, though I haven’t read so much in recent years. With the TV, there are so many matches I need to watch, so I have less time [to read].

And then there are all the series on TV that everyone keeps talking to me about. I was finally able to see a lot of them during the pandemic...

It’s been said that you’re a boss who doesn’t live exclusively for football – that you try to do other things with your life, too. Such as?

Miguel Gonzalez, Clapham When I finished my career as a player, I started to play tennis, though I didn’t

Which other modern coaches do you admire the most?

Rob Howard, Luton The word isn’t ‘admire’ as such. There are many superb managers out there who have a different style of play: I’m speaking about Pep Guardiola, Diego

Simeone, Jurgen Klopp and several young German managers from the new generation of very good ones.

In your first season at Manchester City, the team scored 102 league goals en route to winning the title.

How were City different from clubs you’d managed before, and what was it like coaching Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Edin Dzeko and others in their pomp?

Hamish Macrae, via Instagram It was a very good season and I had a good start at that great club. In that first season, we won the league title and a cup, we scored a lot of goals and we played beautiful football. We had some bad luck in the Champions League, when we had to play the best Barcelona side in 2014 and then 2015.

We lost both times. Or maybe I should say the best Messi, rather than the best Barça – because while they did have a good team, Messi was unbelievable during that time. He was outstanding

FourFourTwo September 2021 9

YOU ASK when I was at Real Madrid, too, and that’s why we didn’t win the league despite getting [what was then] the record number of points. At City, we couldn’t keep growing because we had some punishment from UEFA and couldn’t strengthen, so that held us back in my second season. In my third season, we won the League Cup and reached the Champions League semis, where we lost to Real Madrid with an unfortunate own goal. Maybe that was the moment to win a first Champions League with City.

I read somewhere that you learned English from Enid Blyton books – is that actually true?

Tom Partridge, Chester I learned English as a child, as I went to an American school from the age of five to 11 and you were obligated to speak English all day! If you spoke in Spanish in the last hour of the day, you were given a stick to hold. You passed it to anyone who spoke Spanish. The last boy holding the stick had to stay at school for an extra hour. Then my brother changed me to another school, a French one. Whenever I join a new club, I always prepare by learning the country’s language, so now I can speak Spanish, English, French and Italian.

I tried to learn Chinese when I was at Hebei China Fortune… but it’s difficult.

During the pandemic I started to learn German, but that’s also hard, especially when you’re not living in the country.

[FFT: Could you understand the strong accents in England?] Absolutely not! It was just a noise. [Laughs] I started to understand a bit more Mancunian, but with people from the north of England, I understood maybe one word in five or 10 – as I moved south, it got easier.

Clockwise from above Pellegrini lifted City, and vice versa; “China was a good experience”; somehow, this was Pellegrini’s only league title in Europe; at West Ham, the bubble burst; revitalised at Real Betis

What would you consider to be your best moment and your biggest regret in football?

Umar Musaazi, via Twitter My best moment is my whole career.

I’ve been abroad for 22 years in six countries, winning titles. I had a good reception at every one. No regrets – maybe I shouldn’t have started at the club I did in Chile, but as I said, it was a motivation. I’d like to have stayed at Real Madrid a bit longer, but then the opportunity wouldn’t have been there for Malaga. In football and in life, you have some bad moments. That’s life.

you want is to have excellent relations with the sporting director. I had a very good one with Txiki Begiristain. City are so well managed: they don’t change coaches after only one bad result, and everyone who works there knows their position. And City don’t think that just because they have money, they can go and buy whoever they need. Txiki never bought a player that I didn’t want, and when I arrived we bought four or five.

I knew De Bruyne from Chelsea, where he didn’t play much, then Germany, so I thought he could be a really good player for us. There was Fernandinho, too: I knew about him from playing in Ukraine. Raheem Sterling was a very good youngster, who we knew had a lot of things to improve but could become a standout player. It was impossible to work like this at Real Madrid. I also had players such as [Vincent] Kompany, Kun Aguero and David Silva, which helped me a lot.

I think Kun Aguero was the third-best player in the world at that time.

What were your expectations when you signed Kevin De Bruyne [right]?

Did you ask the club to recruit him, or was he a board deal higher up? @KhalifaMCFC, via Twitter One of the big challenges you face at clubs where you can buy any player

How was it, managing City from February 2016 knowing Pep Guardiola was taking over the following season?

Allan Riley, via Instagram I knew that Pep was coming and didn’t have any problem

10 September 2021 FourFourTwo

HIGHS & LOWS HIGH: 2003 His River Plate side beat Boca Juniors to the Torneo Clausura LOW: 2006 Suffers Champions League semis woe with Villarreal against Arsenal HIGH: 2014 Manchester City wrench the title back from United in his first season LOW: 2019 Sacked at West Ham after a joyless run of 10 defeats in 14 matches HIGH: 2021 Takes Betis back into continental competition at the first attempt with that. City had told me that they wanted Pep when I first arrived. When I was going to leave, it wasn’t an ideal situation because the players knew I was going, but we still qualified for the Champions League and reached the semi-finals in my final season.

Is the Premier League as good as it’s hyped up to be?

Dean Russell, via Instagram Yes – it’s the best league in the world. You’ve got organisation, players and money through the league. The best football is in Spain, though, and this is why La Liga clubs have been so dominant in Europe. Barcelona had Messi; Madrid had Ronaldo. Spain must improve now and have the Premier

League as an example – I’m talking about the distribution of TV money, so that the gap between the biggest teams and the smallest teams isn’t so big. If any small team in Spain has a good player, they don’t stay there long because the biggest clubs take them. In England, it’s not so easy to take a player from the smaller clubs.

From what you saw in China with Hebei, what kind of future does the game have over there? Do you think money has distorted the situation?

Marcus Miller, Crewe China was a good experience, for both football and culture. It’s an impressive country. I also travelled to Japan and South Korea, and I never would have visited these places otherwise. I could have stayed in Europe, but I liked the idea of a new challenge. I finished at

YOU ASK experienced professional. He also had this desire to improve in every area, and in every training session. The club weren’t so sure and maybe wanted to send him on loan. But I always told David Sullivan my opinion, and I think he’s already a much better player for staying at West Ham.

Manchester City in May [2016], then headed to China in September. They gave me time to plan a new team, which had only a couple of years in professional football. We had one and a half seasons of good performances, but then the club started changing and I decided to finish my contract. It still needs a few more years to grow, and unfortunately I don’t think China are spending quite as much money on football at the moment, but it’s true that clubs were spending too much on players at one time.

Where do you feel it went wrong for you at West Ham, and do you think you could have turned things around if you’d had more time?

Matt Young, via Instagram I knew West Ham were interested in me after City. I look at my time there

“WE HAD BAD LUCK In THE CHAMPIOnS LEAGUE – WE FACED MESSI AT HIS BEST In 2014 AnD 2015” as two different moments. In the first season, it was good for the club: we finished 10th, playing good football.

We beat Tottenham away in their new stadium, which was important to the fans. I wasn’t so happy after that first year, though, because it was the first time that I’d failed to take a club into European competition. In the second season, we had some problems in our

squad. We started quite well but then struggled to get results. The owners decided not to continue with me, and I understood that. I didn’t enjoy the way they did it, but overall they were behind me and I had good relations with them. I was sorry for West Ham supporters – and there are so many of them – because they deserve to have a competitive team.

How impressed were you with Declan Rice as a youngster coming through at West Ham? Was it you who said he should play in midfield instead of at centre-back?

Charlie Stewart, Dagenham I believed in Declan from the first time I watched him play. I knew he would be a top player, not just because of his talent but because at the age of 20 he had the personality of a 35-year-old

You took charge of Real Betis last summer and helped them back into Europe by finishing sixth in La Liga.

How have you found it? Will Joaquin ever stop playing?!

Pete Coyle, Southampton I discovered a club in a tough moment economically. Betis had been spending too much money, so I could bring only three players in. We won the first two games, then lost seven of the next nine – similar to at West Ham. But I wasn’t sacked. The players continued working and improving, and that’s why getting back into Europe after a poor previous season was a great achievement. The players believe in me now. We had some very good moments last season and some very bad ones, too, but we finished strongly [Betis lost just two of their 22 league games in 2021, against Barcelona and Sevilla]. And Joaquin?

He can continue playing! He knows he isn’t going to play every game, but he still performs well because he’s a top player. Physically he’s excellent, and his mentality is perfect as he plays for Betis, the club of his life. There was no reason not to offer him another year’s contract. He’s always laughing. He will tell me a story, but before he’s even finished it he’s started laughing. Then, a few days later, he tells me the same story and laughs at the same place. So then you start to laugh, because it’s all so ridiculous. [Laughs] Everyone knows about his smiles and his pranks, but he has another side. He’s professional and works really hard, rather than simply joking around on the pitch.

What can we expect from your team this season? We’ll have crowds back in stadiums, and that’s particularly big for Real Betis…

Abdul Khan, London The Betis crowd is similar to West Ham: working-class, loud, passionate and in a big stadium of 60,000. They need to see their team work hard, and it will be wonderful for them to be back again.

Our supporters have ideas that we can do well in Europe, but it will be tough.

The Europa League is harder than the Champions League: the teams aren’t as strong, but you play on a Thursday and get home at 6am on the Friday before a weekend match in a difficult league. We’re hoping to have a great season, though.

FourFourTwo September 2021 11

WEIRD WORLD OF FOOTBALL

MEAnWHILE In… ...Germany, the annual team photo is back – after a year of social distancing, it had become an alien concept

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“NOT TOTALLY SURE ABOUT THIS NEW SIGNING, LADS”

Hallescher FC welcomed a new arrival for their squad photo – but he seemed a bit under the weather.

Looking rather green, with bulging eyes and a tired expression on his face, the 8ft new boy didn’t exactly look ready for action. But no, the German third-tier

12 September 2021 FourFourTwo

side hadn’t brought Peter Crouch out of retirement – this was Galaktikus, alien mascot for the kids’ section of regional newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

Hallescher are based in the city of Halle, in former East Germany. They qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1971, back when the club were known as Chemie Halle, in honour of the local chemical industry. Sadly they fell on hard times after reunification, falling as

far as the amateur leagues, before embarking upon a partial recovery and returning to the 3. Liga.

It’s unknown if Galaktikus is a Halle resident who was exposed to a few too many chemicals, but his presence wasn’t the only weird occurrence in the early weeks of 2021-22 – Hallescher soon thumped Alemania Riestedt 18-0 in a regional cup tie. Was it down to alien intervention? The truth is out there.

UPFROnT

2

“DON’T YOU DARE TRY AND SUB ME, SARRI”

Jose Mourinho’s installation as Roma boss took most of the pre-season headlines in Serie A – but city rivals Lazio have a new manager, too.

A year since he was dismissed by Juventus, Maurizio Sarri has been drafted in to replace Simone Inzaghi, who has joined champions Inter.

To mark his new job, Sarri posed with the club’s eagle mascot. If the former Chelsea boss looked a little edgy, it was probably because of the absolutely furious expression on the eagle’s face, as if the bird was ready to claw his eyes out.

Either the eagle is an anti-smoking campaigner, or Sarri had just tried to substitute it for Willy Caballero.

6

Kanye West’s new album is all well and good, but can he rap like Leonid Slutsky?

The former Hull City boss is now manager of Rubin Kazan, and having lived in the shadow of Phil Brown’s unsurpassed singing skills during his days by the Humber, the 50-year-old has found his voice back in Russia.

Last year, Slutsky treated fans to an out-of-tune but hearty rendition of Mariah Carey classic All I Want For Christmas Is You, and recently he’s been at it again – releasing rap song Rubin SuperGood, featuring two waitresses brandishing the local equivalent of Ferrero Rocher.

He’s set the standard high for all ex-Hull managers – expect Steve Bruce’s reggaeton debut very soon.

3

ALEXIS WHO?

7

“GERONIMO!”

Only four months ago, Ben Brereton was warming the bench for Blackburn Rovers – now he’s the face of Pepsi in Chile.

The 22-year-old from Stoke received a shock Copa America call-up thanks to his Chilean mum. He starred on his debut against Argentina, then scored against Bolivia to earn cult status.

Commercial deals soon came rolling in. His only previous experience had been a tongue-in-cheek appearance on Blackburn’s social media channels alongside Bradley Dack, dressed as Del Boy and Rodney hawking watches QVC style – now he was promoting actual Pepsi on actual Chilean TV, in pidgin Spanish, with a broad Stoke accent.

Sometimes life is just weird.

With pretty much no fans in stadiums last season, there wasn’t a lot of need for mascots – but suffice to say, they’ve been making grand returns for 2021-22.

None have been grander than the return of PSV Eindhoven’s mascot Phoxy, who marked the club’s friendly against Greek side PAOK by heading up to the roof of the Philips Stadion, then dramatically abseiling down into the arena. England U21 prospect Noni Madueke scored PSV’s winner, but his thunder had been well and truly stolen by the daredevil fox.

Next up in the world of mascots: to celebrate his comeback, after that time he was sacked and unsacked again, Gunnersaurus is shot out of a cannon at the Emirates Stadium.

4

“DANE WHITEHOUSE HAS CHANGED”

8

P-P-PEPE THE PENGUIN

If you stumble across a giant polar bear outside Bramall Lane in the near future, don’t be alarmed.

Despite the long absence of fans, man-eating beasts haven’t taken over the stadium – although one has been stationed outside the main stand as part of a charity campaign.

The Bears Of Sheffield exhibition has seen sculptures placed around the city to raise funds for the local children’s hospital – one was painted in Sheffield Wednesday colours, another donned Sheffield United’s 1994-95 kit.

The Blades had just been relegated from the top flight that year, too, after a last-minute Chelsea goal sent them down. The bear still looks stunned.

Some players spent their summer at Euro 2020, while others headed to the Olympics. Pepe Reina, meanwhile, dressed up as a penguin on Spanish TV. The 38-year-old former Liverpool keeper was enjoying a well-earned rest after his first season at Lazio, and was a guest star on Spain’s version of The Masked Singer – treating viewers to Junco’s ’80s tune Hola Mi Amor.

Reina appeared for one night only, but El Chiringuito presenter Josep Pedrerol – he of the ace Eden Hazard Champions League semi-final meme – was a full contestant, donning a frog suit before bopping along to a tune by Dutch DJ Tiesto. Just imagine how angry he would have been if Hazard had done that at Stamford Bridge...

5

RESTRICTED VIEW

9

“IT’S BETTER THAN PARAGUAY ALREADY”

Kanye West knew exactly how to blend in when he turned up at Atlanta United’s MLS match against Columbus Crew – by wearing a giant red puffer jacket and a bizarre mask covering his entire face.

The rapper has been living inside the club’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium while completing his latest album, initially donning the weird attire for a listening party where 42,000 people turned up to watch Kanye silently sway while demo tracks were played over the PA. Two days later Atlanta were in MLS action, so he headed back into the stands and hung out with fans – still wearing the mask. The home side lost 1-0, so perhaps it was just as well that he couldn’t see a bloody thing...

Last summer, Ronaldinho was under house arrest after an unhappy spell in a Paraguayan prison – so this time he was determined to enjoy himself.

The 41-year-old headed to Illinois to meet Chicago White Sox’s fluffy mascot Southpaw, then make the ceremonial ‘first kick’ ahead of their clash with Cleveland Indians.

We’re pretty sure you’re not actually supposed to kick a baseball, and it’s probably not a very effective method of pitching – but he’s a living legend, so you go right ahead Ronnie.

The Brazilian also met up with the Chicago Bulls, where he presumably tried to rainbow flick the ball into the basket or something. If only Michael Jordan had thought of that.

FourFourTwo September 2021 13

UPFROnT

GAMES THAT CHAnGED MY LIFE MICHAEL ESSIEn 14 September 2021 FourFourTwo

BIT OF A KERFUFFLE Marcos Rojo punched a security guard and wielded a fire extinguisher after Boca’s Copa Libertadores exit sparked a fracas at Atletico Mineiro

UPFROnT Lyon 4 Fenerbahce 2

November 3, 2004 Champions League group stage “Nothing got past me that night. I felt like I was so fit, I could take on any player in the world right then.

Before we could get going, though, Fenerbahce took the lead and silenced our fans. Not long afterwards, I got upfield and connected with a cross that bounced in – I call it the Essien volley! It brought us level and got us going. Florent Malouda put us ahead before they equalised again, but then Nilmar scored twice in injury time. After, it felt like the whole city of Lyon couldn’t stop talking about me. I felt the love of what it was like being a professional footballer playing in the Champions League against big-time players.”

Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1

December 10, 2006 Premier League “Jose Mourinho still thinks this is the best goal I’ve ever scored. We were slipping to a rare defeat after Mathieu Flamini had scored from nowhere, and had tried everything – the ball just wouldn’t go in. It was desperate stuff and our invincible home record [going back to February 2004] was on the line, so a defeat would have been damaging to our confidence and pride. Frank Lampard tried and it wasn’t working; Didier Drogba tried too… the same. It was a London derby like no other. So when the ball came to me on the edge of the box, there was just one thing on my mind: to hit it as hard as I could. It flew in! I won [the club’s] goal of the season, but the pride that moment gave me can never be topped – that skill and timing.”

Ghana 2 Nigeria 1

February 3, 2008 AFCON quarter-finals “This match brought me the love of Ghanaians. We were hosting the tournament and had to face our eternal rivals, who took the lead. All our supporters were getting agitated, but midway through the first half I climbed highest to head home the equaliser, before Junior Agogo scored the winner. That match was pure magic – beating Nigeria was always special.

I never lost against them during my career, so that’s something special for me to hold on to now. Maybe one day I can use it for a team talk!”

Chelsea 1 Barcelona 1

May 6, 2009 Champions League semi-finals “I wouldn’t necessarily say this goal changed my life, but I think it was one that will be remembered by a lot of Chelsea and Barça fans thanks to both the brilliance and pain of that night. The technique and power I managed in hitting the ball was just about the perfect combination. Before the game, John Obi Mikel said he had a feeling I was going to boss it, so you can see after the goal that I run straight to him and whisper in his ear that he got it right. [Laughs] That last-minute equaliser from Andres Iniesta still hurts as much today as it did that night. I must say that if we’d knocked out Barcelona, I’m not sure any other team would have been able to stop us.”

Rahman Osman

THE SOCCER MOSES MLS has a new cult hero, who’s taken support to Biblical levels Think Nashville, and certain long-haired legends spring to mind: Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, Willie Nelson. But now the home of country has a new hero – a rabble-rousing religious icon making commandments of a footy nature. And he plays a mean guitar.

Soccer Moses is the unlikely face of Nashville SC, the new MLS franchise making noise in Music City. True, their unofficial cheerleader does rile some folks too, but Moses has eyes on the promised land.

“We want to help grow the sport here – I’m a passionate fan of what football can do,” he tells FFT. “Although sometimes it’s just an excuse to cosplay.”

Stephen Mason is behind the wild-haired idol, who was dreamed up in a barber shop.

Away from matchdays he runs a hair salon – a natural hub for music and football to collide.

“In MLS, we have ‘capos’, people who direct the songs, and I was cutting his hair,” he recalls. Mason suggested a T-shirt based on a quote from the Bible, where Moses declared ‘let my people go’. Bizarrely, the idea was inspired by Victor Moses scoring for Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup - watching on TV, one of Mason’s pals responded by standing on a chair and exclaiming ‘Let my people goal!’

A catchphrase was born and a banner later created, as was the idea of Mason embodying Moses when Nashville joined MLS in 2020.

His First Coming was for their February debut, where those exuberant sermons got national TV coverage. The legend spread – lockdown offered “lots of time for memes” and even merch to raise funds for charity Kickin’ It 615.

After coronavirus restricted MLS crowds, Moses and his flock have been able to regularly march into matches in 2021. “Lots of families ask for photos, and drunk lads call me ‘Soccer Jesus’,” he says. “I say that Jesus only lived to 33; this beard doesn’t happen over 33 years.”

Impersonating a Bible character can be contentious – “we’re in the Bible belt here” – and some have accused Moses of gimmickry, notably one video in which he tackled Nashville SC’s rocking pre-game ritual, where fans play guitar riffs. He has previous: Mason also plays guitar for Grammy-winning band Jars of Clay.

His football bug first began when the band recorded in London in the mid-90s, and the sound guy took him to a Highbury testimonial.

For who? “Hang on… Nigel Winterburn!” he says, digging out the programme. “At 21, that experience bordered on elation and terror.”

But he was hooked – initially on Arsenal, then the local team. Handily, Nashville are now building the biggest purpose-built stadium in MLS, right near his barber shop. “Players love to be fresh,” he says. “I’ll cut their hair, then don my robes in a phone booth for the game.”

Si Hawkins

FourFourTwo September 2021 15

UPFROnT

ASK A SILLY QUESTIOn

KAREn ‘PEAKY’ CARnEY

The 144-cap former England star chats brilliant Brummies, unfulfilled aims... and fighting wolves Interview Nick Moore Illustration Bill McConkey

Hi Karen. You’re from Solihull – who is the greatest Brummie of all time?

Hi. Ooh, wow, that’s a tricky one. Ozzy Osbourne maybe, or Jack Grealish… probably Jasper Carrott? You’ve caught me off guard. How about JRR Tolkien, who wrote Lord of the Rings? He lived two minutes around the corner from ours. He’s right up there.

What about Sir Alfred Bird, founder of Bird’s custard? What a Brummie.

We all owe him an immense debt.

Oh, that’s so true. Who doesn’t like a bit of custard? I like vegan custard.

My mum is obsessed with bananas and custard. We grew up on that stuff.

Very nice. Are you horrified by the Brummie accents on Peaky Blinders?

There are some absolute shockers.

I’m obsessed with Peaky Blinders – I’ve amassed so much merchandise it’s ridiculous. I’ve got the board game, a cool framed picture, some Peaky Blinders coasters. People keep giving it to me. And some of the accents might not be perfect, but the show has put Birmingham on the map for people all over the world. That makes me happy.

It’s an ambition to be an extra on it, though if they’re on the last series, it’s probably never going to happen.

Who’s your favourite character?

It’s got to be the main man Thomas Shelby, right? He’s a great watch. And Tom Hardy was pretty badass.

FFT lived in London for 20 years and never met a Brummie. Do they just refuse to leave Birmingham?

All my family are still there. They’re in a one-mile radius of each other. But I bump into a Brummie here and there.

You once wrote a dissertation on “the impact of caffeine on repeated sprint performance in elite female football”. What was the upshot?

That was for my sports science degree.

“I’VE GOT SO MUCH BLInDERS MERCHAnDISE IT’S RIDICULOUS. I WAnT TO BE An EXTRA On IT”

I also have a masters in psychology.

For the caffeine study: it is good for you, in terms of performance. It takes a certain amount of time to get in the system, and then it will wear off. But whether it’s coffee or gum, it works.

FFT has already had four cuppas this morning. Should we start doing some squat thrusts right now?

It depends when you had the caffeine.

If it was a while back, the performance effects will have worn off by now. And the more coffee you drink, the more immune you can become to its effects.

Quick, to the kettle! Now, you’re in the Birmingham City Hall of Fame, the England Hall of Fame and the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. We’ve always wondered, what is it like actually inside a ‘Hall of Fame’? Is it essentially a corridor?

I’ve not actually been inside the most recent one, because of COVID. I got that award at Wembley, which was really nice. But generally it’s a photo, or a piece of memorabilia within the museum... so it’s pretty nice.

If you could be inducted into one other Hall of Fame, which one would it be? The Rodeo Hall of Fame? The Circus Hall of Fame?

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, so I’ll stay happy with what I’ve got!

But if I could have a different talent, I wouldn’t mind being in the movies.

That would have been cool – maybe I’d have made it into Peaky Blinders...

According to a recent survey that wasted the time of all involved, nine per cent of women and 16 per cent of men believe they could beat a wolf in a fight to the death. Are you in that elite nine per cent?

Absolutely not. I’ve got a huge fear of animals to be honest… all animals. I’m not an animal fan. The wolf would win.

Tragic. Finally, would you rather be five years younger or take a cheque for one million dollars?

Oh wow… I’d have to go for five years younger to get some more football in!

Thanks for chatting Karen!

Karen was talking on behalf of Samsung

viSiT THE HOME OF THE FOOTBALL QUIZ

UPFROnT

THE UL

fourfourtwo.com/quiz

One-goal wonders, big spenders and fallen flops are all included in this issue’s selection of tricky teasers...

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

Arsenal’s summer signing Ben White enjoyed three loan spells earlier in his career. How many of those clubs can you name?

Which player won the Golden Boot at Euro 2020, by virtue of one assist over his closest rival?

11 12 13

I started out in the North East, won 35 caps for England, picked up two League Cup medals and retired in August aged 37. Who am I?

United States Women icon Megan Rapinoe has played club football for which NWSL team since 2013?

Which nation knocked out Great Britain from the Olympics with a 4-3 victory after extra time?

Paul Pogba’s Premier League record £89 million transfer from Juventus to Manchester United was completed in which year?

The eight players below are the only ones from their country to have played Premier League football – can you fill in all the gaps?

Armenia Burkina Faso Cuba Gibraltar Kenya Oman Philippines Tanzania

Which Scottish Premiership side claimed both domestic cups in their terrific 2020-21 campaign?

To the nearest thousand, how many seats will the King Power Stadium hold when Leicester fulfil their proposed ground expansion?

Bradford have begun their third straight season in League Two – in which campaign were they last a Premier League outfit?

William Gallas has taken a new coaching role with top-flight side Zalaegerszegi – from which European nation do they hail?

Which former Leeds winger has taken charge of National League strugglers Barnet for 2021-22?

10 These four players are all members of the one-goal Premier League club. Can you tell us who they are?

14 15 16 17 18

Former Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan joined which Spanish club in the summer transfer window?

Scottish Championship outfit Kilmarnock play home games at which sporting-themed ground?

Juventus legend Giorgio Chiellini, now 37, signed a new contract in August – in which year did he make his Old Lady debut?

Swansea hired which man from MK Dons to replace Steve Cooper as their manager this season?

Which Championship side spent more than £12m on Liverpool winger Harry Wilson this July?

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UPFROnT

THERE’S TWO OF THEM... Emulating his cousin Erling Braut Haaland, 17-year-old Albert Braut Tjaaland made his debut for Molde recently – and he scored, obviously seductive, and it’s an amazing feeling.

You surrender to something bigger than yourself.

BOBBY GILLESPIE

BOBBY GILLESPIE CELTIC

The Primal Scream frontman on trousering Wembley turf, King Kenny’s magic, stray wine bottles – and the time Oasis forced him to play centre-back What was the first match that you ever attended?

I had a ticket to see Scotland against the Czechs in 1973 – if we won, we’d qualify for the 1974 World Cup. I got a ticket because I lived close to Hampden Park, only two streets away.

I was up in the North Stand and went on my own; Scotland won 2-1 and Joe Jordan scored the winner. My seat was in line with it, a spectacular diving header. Jordan went where other men were scared to.

Who was your childhood hero, and did you ever meet them?

In Glasgow, my hero was Kenny Dalglish at Celtic. He was just f**king amazing, a wizard. I marvelled at the way he’d get the ball with his back to the opposition’s goal and could hold off four or five players. They couldn’t get the ball off him, which would create the space, and then he’d just pass it to Danny McGrain or Jimmy

20 September 2021 FourFourTwo

Johnstone. His football brain was second to none. Dalglish was just a f**king perfect player.

I was brokenhearted when he went to Liverpool in ’77, but as a fan I was like, ‘I know why he’s gone to Liverpool, because he wants to win the European Cup’.

I think the sad thing was – and we all knew it – that it kind of signified Celtic weren’t really a major club any more.

I never met him, but I knew so much about him – I knew his girlfriend was Marina Harkins and that her dad owned a pub 10 minutes from where I lived.

What was your greatest moment as a player?

I was in a Boys Brigade team and we won the league. I was 14 or something. I got a medal for winning the league and played inside-left, like a No.10. Free!

What do you like the most about going to a match?

Just the energy as you approach the ground, the build-up, this whole feeling of expectation. There’s that romantic idea your team is going to do well. The energy as you approach the stadium, that feeling of this massive event; this larger-than-life event. There’s religiosity to it – everybody is there to completely lose themselves, subsume their ego and their character in something that’s greater than them. You lose your sense of self and become part of this mass consciousness. It’s incredibly

How has watching football changed for you since you were a kid?

When I was a kid, there were the big clubs like Liverpool, Leeds, Man United, Man City, all the London clubs, Celtic, Rangers, right? Obviously, that hasn’t changed. But what has changed is the inequality. The wealth. The playing field was a little more level back in the day.

Have you ever watched I Believe In Miracles [the 2015 film documenting Nottingham Forest’s double European Cup winners of 1979 and 1980]? That answers what I’m about to say. Forest winning the league and then winning the European Cup, twice – that can never happen again because the super clubs are so rich, because of that inequality. And I think that’s what’s changed for me – that romance of a small club like Nottingham Forest achieving what they achieved under Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. It can never happen again because the game is rigged. And it’s getting worse.

Have you passed on your football fandom to your children?

My sons know everything about football – especially my older son Wolf, who’s fanatical. I love watching football with them. We’re Celtic fans in this house, especially my oldest son – he gets very upset watching games.

I’m like, “Well, you know, the thing about being a football fan is the highs are very, very high – and these days they’re few and far between. But the lows are very, very low. To make that commitment, you’ll be in pain a lot of the time... so get used to it!”

What’s your favourite goal you’ve ever seen?

Either Maradona’s Hand of God, or his second goal against England. I’m not a Catholic, but they’re holy goals; it’s like an anti-imperialist’s f**king wet dream. Those goals are just perfection.

Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever met a manager or a player?

I was on a march, right – an anti-austerity march – and we were going down Regent Street. I saw Alex McLeish, he saw me, and I’m like, “Alex!” He’s gone, “Hey, Bobby!” and then wandered in with his wife. We were just chatting as we walked down the street...

UPFROnT

Where’s the best place you’ve ever watched a game?

I was lucky enough to go to England vs Scotland at Wembley in 1977, when we won 2-1, Dalglish scored and then Scotland fans got on the pitch and broke the goal. I was really young, but it was a monumental occasion and I managed to get some Wembley turf.

I took it back to Glasgow and put it in a f**king pot.

If you could drop yourself into your all-time five-a-side team, who would you be playing alongside?

It’s got to be Diego [Maradona]. But you need a goalkeeper, don’t you? So he’s got to be Felix, Felix the cat, from Brazil. Franz Beckenbauer at the back.

One more, then... I’m just fannying about somewhere. Then [Andres] Iniesta’s in midfield.

Which fellow musician is the best footballer you’ve seen?

Guigsy from Oasis was pretty good.

We had a couple of games with them against roadies at European festivals – I think one was at Roskilde in Denmark around ’94/’95. All the Scream boys liked a game of football, but we were all like, “Ol’ Guigsy’s all right.” Throb from the Primals was good as well.

Guigsy was understated and tasteful.

The rest of Oasis, most of them were poaching. And I was poaching! I was like, ‘How many poachers can there be?’ So I went, ‘F**k that, I’ll go back and play centre-half’.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen at a game?

During a Celtic-Rangers game at Ibrox, Celtic were being beaten, and Celtic fans started fighting each other. I saw a grown man get another grown man by the hair and smash his face into the metal barrier. That was horrific. In the same game, I saw an 11-year-old boy get a full bottle of wine in his face that somebody threw from the back of the terrace. Then as I left the game, I got attacked by a man holding a massive wooden stake. All of that was on the same day. Were you after something less violent?

Niall Doherty

nOT SO FAST, BADER… After breaking the world caps record, Kuwait’s skipper has a new rival On June 25, Bader Al-Mutawa became the most capped male footballer of all time, making his 185th international appearance for Kuwait. By August, he’d already lost his record – to a rather unexpected source.

Al-Mutawa was officially recognised by FIFA this summer as the winner of a three-man race to surpass Ahmed Hassan as the international caps record holder – Hassan made his 184th and final appearance for Egypt in 2012, and a trio of players had been closing in on that mark in recent times.

Oman’s Ahmed Mubarak and Spain’s Sergio Ramos both stopped short at 180 after being dropped by their respective national teams, allowing Al-Mutawa to claim the record in a 2-0 defeat to Bahrain. The 36-year-old frontman has always played his club football in the Middle East, but came close to joining Nottingham Forest in 2012.

Cristiano Ronaldo has also been closing in, at 179 caps – but a giant curveball was soon thrown into the mix courtesy of Malaysia legend Soh Chin Ann. The defender played his final international game in 1984, but a campaign began this summer for the 71-year-old to be acknowledged as the world record holder. Statistics suggested he lined up 222 times for Malaysia, well beyond Al-Mutawa’s record, but FIFA had never recognised the figure – some games were Olympic qualifiers; some were unclassified friendlies.

Born in 1950, in what was then British Malaya, Soh made his international debut in 1969 and represented

his country for 15 years, during a golden period for the national team. His defensive partnership with Santokh Singh was one of the best in Asia, in an era when the side faced Arsenal in a friendly, and also took on a strong England B team.

He turned out for Malaysia at the 1972 Olympics in Munich and captained them as they qualified for the 1980 event – the story of which was immortalised in a popular film called Ola Bola – but they never travelled to Moscow after joining a US boycott. The team have struggled to reach the same heights, and were ranked 153rd in the world recently. So, having the globe’s most-capped player is a badge of honour.

The Football Association of Malaysia have been busily working behind the scenes to get Soh officially named as the number one - the man himself briefly became a politician after his retirement as a player, and told FFT he couldn’t discuss the situation while it was still being resolved.

“I’m not bothered whether I have the record or not,” he insisted when he spoke to us. But by early August, the Malaysian FA announced that FIFA have now recognised their man as having 195 caps, a new record. Legendary goal-getter Mokhtar Dahari, who terrorised Arsenal in 1975 but died at the age of 37, has also had his official caps haul revised upwards to 138, with Shukor Salleh on 163.

It’s all bad news for Al-Mutawa and Ronaldo. The race to overhaul Ahmed Hassan proved to be in vain.

John Duerden

FourFourTwo September 2021 21

UPFROnT

OUT Olhanense have sacked Edgar Davids after just six months in charge. “It was a disaster,” sighed the Portuguese club’s chairman. Barnet know the feeling

REQUIRED READInG RAnDOM CLUB PROFILE

BARI

The Italians signed David Platt for a British record fee – now they’re in Serie C It’s 30 years since Bari hosted the European Cup final and snapped up one of English football’s biggest stars – but sadly, they’re unlikely to be repeating either feat any time soon.

Based on Italy’s south-east coast, the city has a population of only 325,000 but boasts the 58,000-capacity Stadio San Nicola – built for the 1990 World Cup, it’s the third-biggest stadium in Italy, behind Milan’s San Siro and Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Within a year of opening, it was the venue for Red Star Belgrade’s European Cup triumph over Marseille.

Bari lured David Platt from Aston Villa for £5.5 million two months later – a record fee for a transfer involving a British club. “I didn’t even know where Bari was,” the midfielder (top) admitted. Promoted to Serie A in 1989, the yoyo club had recruited Gordon Cowans and Paul Rideout from Villa during their previous top-flight foray – but this time they were ambitious to better their highest ever finish of seventh.

They didn’t: Platt netted 11 goals, but Bari were relegated that season and their English star was sold to Juventus. The club later got back to Serie A on three occasions, but never lasted long – Antonio Conte (right) took them up in 2009 but departed that summer, and doom followed when promising stopper Leonardo Bonucci joined Juve a year later.

Bari were docked points for three successive campaigns in Serie B because of financial irregularities and a match-fixing scandal, then got declared bankrupt in 2014 before being kicked out of the second tier in 2018 – a year also notable for an incident when fans of local rivals Pescara hung a dead cockerel outside the home of manager Fabio Grosso.

Bari are now owned by the film company of Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis – his son is the club’s chairman – and

have had to climb back from Serie D, finishing fourth in the third tier last term. Their stadium has become a white elephant: crowds dropped as low as 1,000 in 2013, almost as if building a 58,000 arena in an outpost city wasn’t such a great idea after all. Remember that 46,000 World Cup stadium they were planning in Plymouth?

Attempts to somehow find a use for the Stadio San Nicola have seen the venue recently linked with the wacky idea of hosting next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but that won’t happen – largely because the stadium is wholly unsuitable.

That European Cup final seems a long time ago now...

MARADONA

Guillem Balague (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20) ●●●●● After serving a 15-month ban for drug use, Maradona joined Sevilla in 1992, vowing that it marked “the dawning of a new era of modesty”.

So naturally, one of the first things that he did in Andalusia was to rent the opulent house of Juan Antonio Ruiz Roman, the city’s prime bullfighter.

As this layered new biography reveals, the most corrosive and long-standing of Diego’s varied addictions was his constant craving for fame and publicity.

Through a host of interviews with old team-mates, journalists and school friends, the reader learns about the poverty that surrounded Maradona in Villa Fiorito (the Buenos Aires shanty town in which he grew up), and how the seamier side of his personality helped to first turn him into an icon in Naples, then ultimately lead to his decline.

As a boy, Maradona once fell into a cesspit near his home as he sought to retrieve a football.

He emerged with it unscathed.

Metaphorically at least, that incident sums up much of the Argentine’s chequered career.

A fascinating and illuminating read about a flawed great.

Jon Spurling

FourFourTwo September 2021 23

UPFROnT

STERn JOH INTERVIEW

The former Birmingham striker set records with Trinidad & Tobago – but now he’s in charge of the world’s worst team

Anguilla have just moved below San Marino to sit bottom of the men’s FIFA rankings. How and why did you become their manager last autumn?

Dennis Lawrence was the manager of the Trinidad & Tobago team and I was his assistant, but there were problems and he got the sack. I saw Anguilla needed a head coach, I applied, and a few weeks later I had an interview.

I knew Anguilla were bottom of FIFA’s rankings, and there’d be challenges, but I’ve always started out from the bottom in my career and I wanted to see if I could make a difference. There are a lot of decent players, but they don’t play much football. It’s all about changing the culture.

How have you found the job?

It’s been great. When I came to the island, locals were asking me how I’d get players to come to training. A lot of the players work in the hotel industry or have a regular 9-to-5 job. But they responded to the challenge: they used to get six or seven players to training, but now we have 15 or 16 at every session. I want to organise a structure – a defensive and an attacking shape.

How do you feel about the label of being the world’s worst team?

Well, the only way we can go is up. It’s something that can inspire the players – they want to get away from being the world’s worst team. It won’t happen overnight; it’s a process. The players are getting fitter. We have strength and conditioning programmes, GPS systems – stuff they’ve never had before.

How did the early games go?

I won’t lie to you: in my first match, against the Dominican Republic, we

24 September 2021 FourFourTwo

got battered. It was a new system and we lost 6-0. Against Barbados in our second game, we were a little more organised. We held on to 0-0 until the last 10 minutes, when they beat us on a set play. It was encouraging because that was the first time in 10 years that the players were disappointed about not getting a result.

In your final World Cup qualifier, in June, you suffered a very heavy loss against Panama...

After we played in Dominica [ending in a 3-0 defeat], five of our players tested positive for COVID-19. Then we went to Panama and four more tested positive.

We got battered 13-0.

As a boss, what can you do during a game such as that?

You just look at the time and hope it goes even faster than normal! I was disappointed in the Panama coach, because they didn’t need to beat us by that much. You learn to respect your opponent, so you don’t want to humiliate them that badly. I guess he had a job to do, but I wouldn’t have done it that way. They were top of the

table and had already qualified for the next round. If I was in his position, I’d have given some of the young players a chance, but he was probably under pressure, too. The guys took it to heart.

It was a tough night for us.

Though the island has a population of 15,000, Anguilla has a considerable diaspora, especially in Britain. Have you used that?

We won’t bring players in just because they play in the UK – they have to be better than the players here – but we had a recruitment drive there a few months ago. We had trials and picked up a couple of good young players.

This is a very different experience to your time as a player, when your 70 goals for Trinidad & Tobago made you the all-time leading scorer for any CONCACAF nation.

Coming from a very small country like Trinidad, it was a dream to score so many. A lot of my friends in the UK and the US tell me that if I was born in a different country, I’d probably get

JUDGE POLDI After signing for Gornik Zabrze in Poland, Lukas Podolski has also become a judge on the German version of Britain’s Got Talent, nattily titled Das Supertalent

THE VIEW FROM THE STAnDS

more recognition. But I’m happy with what I’ve done in the game, and the number of international goals I scored.

To rub shoulders with guys like Pele, Ronaldo and Messi is unbelievable.

What did it mean to represent your country at the 2006 World Cup? I don’t think it’s something you can explain. There you are: playing at a World Cup for your country, singing the national anthem. The first group game, against Sweden, was especially emotional for us. My mum went to Germany and could see me play at the World Cup before she passed away.

What are your highlights from more than a decade of playing in England?

Nottingham Forest, Birmingham and Sunderland have a special place in my heart. Forest was when I first went to the UK, under David Platt. I left MLS as a kid because I wanted to play in England, and it was like, ‘Wow, I’m here’. And going to Birmingham was a good move for me. We managed to get promoted through the play-offs, and a lot of players never have the chance to play in the Premier League.

Which managers influenced you?

I worked under guys like Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and Micky Adams, who were very serious when it came to their jobs. My mentor in Trinidad was Anton Corneal, and his dad, Alvin Corneal. There’s also Leo Beenhakker, who took us to the World Cup. He had a different style, because he was a bit more laid-back. When he first came to Trinidad, he learned the culture of the people. That’s also my approach in Anguilla. I always tell them, “I’m here to change the culture of the football, not the culture of the people.”

What was Keane like to play for?

Amazing. I think a lot of players don’t understand Roy Keane. As a manager, he’ll do anything for you. He just wants you to go and perform on a Saturday – that’s all he’s asking. If you wanted your pillow changed at the hotel, he’d change it for you, as long as you went out and produced. One thing I learned about him is that working really hard in football is a given: you have to work your socks off. But he was a funny guy, too. I know a lot of players can’t handle him, but I had a lot of respect for him.

Sean Cole

UPFROnT

Is there an issue you feel strongly about? Contact us: fourfourtwo@futurenet.com FourFourTwoUK FourFourTwo

LA LIGA LEARNINGS?

Far be it for me to try to deny the world watching Lionel Messi, but I had to applaud La Liga’s stance on that saga. The rules they have in place were introduced to stop clubs’ spending going out of control, and Barcelona’s has been ridiculous.

A number of Premier League clubs would have to drastically change their own practices under such rules – but clubs lower down the pyramid could benefit. With Championship clubs in particular plunging towards catastrophe, couldn’t the EFL finally introduce some rules with teeth, and force clubs to spend only within their means? Our clubs’ long-term futures are far more important than any short-term gains we might chase to reach the so-called promised land.

Liam Denny, Long Eaton

WELL IN, EVERYONE

Forgive me a backslap for my own club here. If Motherwell weren’t already one of Britain’s greatest clubs on social media, they’ve proved they’re brilliant off it, too, with their new initiative to give unemployed and low-income fans in the area free season tickets. Unemployment in the area is sadly shooting up thanks to COVID, but the Well In initiative has raised more than £60k, with the club matching that total to make it possible. Free season tickets for kids are already open to everyone. It’s yet another great scheme from a club that always tries to think differently and engage the community it exists in. I’m proud to call them my team.

Craig MacNally, Motherwell

WIN!

LETTER ✱FIVESTAR ALIVE

I enjoyed the Olympics this summer, but had very little interest in watching any of the men’s football.

Because what’s the point? With only some teams there, it’s not the pinnacle of the sport – so I would suggest changing things up for 2024. One event I did enjoy was the 3x3 basketball, which was great fun. I may just be putting rose-tinted glasses on for FIFA: Road to World Cup 98, but I think it’d be great if football at the Olympics was five-a-side instead, using each country’s best amateurs. Surely, fans around the world would love it? Count me in...

Oliver Smith, Stevenage A NOBLE DEED

I had to smile after Messi’s exit from Barça, as it meant that Mark Noble is officially the longest serving one-club player in Europe. Us West Ham fans know he’s far from being the best player in Europe (fun as that would be), but I think it’s an achievement that deserves a bit more credit than it’ll probably get. You can’t just stick with one

Ice Pred T-shirt for Star Letter and an A4 print of choice for Spine Line, courtesy of Art of Football

329 SPINE LINE: “‘57, 12, 75, 86, 4, 46, 50, 63, 39, 104, 2’ refers to the minutes when England scored at Euro 2020,” says David Harvey, for whom good times have never felt so good... #FFTSpineLine

club for so long because you feel like it – it’s a two-way process – so well in, Nobes. Now, if he can just convince Declan Rice to do the same, that’d be much appreciated in east London...

Jack Davidson, Dartford

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JACK GREALISH

JACK GREALISH

YOU DOn’T KnOW

Jack Grealish became a national icon this summer, despite starting only once for England at Euro 2020 – such is the appeal of Manchester City’s £100 million man.

Yet reaching cult status hasn’t been straightforward for Britain’s costliest player, who has battled family tragedy, derby day carnage and a near-death experience Words Chris Flanagan Portraits Matt McNulty

he man was wearing a flat cap, as he raced from the stand and swung a punch into the back of Jack Grealish’s head.

The Second City Derby was just nine minutes old, and St Andrew’s was in chaos. As Aston Villa’s Tammy Abraham and a steward teamed up to wrestle the pitch invader to the ground, Grealish sat stunned on the turf, trying to process what had just happened.

He’d been facing the other way, with no reason to suspect any imminent danger, when the fan rushed out from Birmingham City’s Tilton Road end.

The first thing Grealish knew about it was as the blow connected with his head. The pitch invader was messing with the wrong man, at exactly the wrong time. Grealish had endured two and a half years of misery by then, having been unable to help his boyhood club out of the Championship.

Only a week earlier, though, with Villa 13th in the table in early March 2019, Grealish had returned from a three-month injury lay-off and been made captain for the first time.

In that comeback game, he’d scored the best goal of his career to put Villa 4-0 up at half-time against Frank Lampard’s Derby, meeting a corner with a thunderous volley from the edge of the box reminiscent of Paul Scholes at his very best.

So, at St Andrew’s, the new Villa skipper knew how to react to such an unprovoked attack. Not by leaping up and chasing the wannabe Peaky Blinder, but by calmly taking stock, then letting his feet do the talking.

Midway through the second half, Grealish fashioned an opening inside the Birmingham penalty area and struck the winner.

“It’s the best day of my life,” he beamed afterwards. “I just tried to get on with my job. I think I did.”

Grealish’s first two games as captain would begin a club-record run of 10 consecutive wins, propelling Villa to the play-offs and promotion out of nowhere. It was the pivotal week of his career, a moment from which he’s never looked back.

Just two years later, he’s an Aston Villa great, an England hero – and now Britain’s first £100 million player. Pep Guardiola and Manchester City don’t spend that sort of

30 September 2021 FourFourTwo

cash without very good reason. It takes more than a pitch invader to stop Jack Grealish...

“IT WAS LIKE LOOKING AT MARADONA”

Across 213 Villa outings, Grealish delivered countless memorable moments. It was during one of the most memorable weekends of the club’s pre-Grealish era, though, that tragedy struck his family.

A lifelong Villa supporter himself, Grealish’s father Kevin had been in London ahead of the club’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Bolton in 2000, when he received a terrible phone call and immediately rushed back to the West Midlands.

Nine-month-old Keelan Grealish, four years Jack’s junior, had died in his cot.

“You never ever get over losing a child,” Kevin later said. “Jack was only a kid, but he still remembers Keelan. He thinks about him with everything he achieves.”

Grealish’s younger sister Holly has cerebral palsy, and the family have always been incredibly close-knit. Jack’s Irish heritage prompted him to take up Gaelic football as a youngster, even involving a trip to Dublin to play for Warwickshire during half-time of the 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final between Dublin and Kerry at the cavernous Croke Park.

Football was always going to win the duel for his affections, however. He’d joined Villa as a six-year-old, after being spotted by scout Jim Thomas during a game on a local playing field. “You couldn’t miss him,” said Thomas. “He was very small, but he dribbled right the way through the team. It was like looking at Maradona.”

Villa knew they had a special talent.

As Grealish progressed through the age groups, he continued to stand out – and not just for his giant calves and rolled-down socks, the latter borne out of superstition.

“One season, the socks we had kept shrinking and I wasn’t a first-team player, so I couldn’t ask for a new pair every day,” he explained. “They wouldn’t come

over my calves. That season I started kicking on as a player, so I kept that as my style.”

At 16, Villa’s first-team boss was starting to pay real attention. “When we had a home match, we could normally attend academy games on a Saturday morning,” Alex McLeish tells FFT. “This little guy captivated me every time I watched a game, I’ve got to say. The club were very excited about him – Bryan Jones was in charge of the academy at the time. I used to stand on the touchline, and it was like going to watch Michael Laudrup or something. I just wanted to see him get the ball time and time again.”

It wasn’t only McLeish who was impressed – other clubs were, too. With Grealish soon out of contract, compensation rules meant that Villa could have lost their starlet for as little as £200,000.

“We were told that Jack and his father had been in Rio Ferdinand’s restaurant with an agent who was attempting to take him to Manchester United,” says McLeish. “Bryan was conscious that other people were about to swoop, and it was very important that we got Jack on board again. We had to come up with a wee strategy to make sure he stayed at Aston Villa.

“Bryan asked me to be involved with it, and a lot of credit has to go to him – the fact he came to myself as the manager showed it was a critical situation, because normally the academy guys just get deals done and dusted. They don’t really need the manager’s supervision on it.

“We both agreed that it would be an absolute disaster for Villa if this mercurial

JACK GREALISH

“IF THIS MERCURIAL KID LEFT AnD BECAME A STAR WE’D BE REMEMBERED...

AnD nOT In A GOOD WAY” kid left. He was showing such potential, what was he going to become? If he moved and became a superstar, we’d be remembered for that... and not in a good way.

“So I met Jack and his dad, and they came into my office. Jack loved the club, his dad as well, and they were both really keen for him to stay put provided we came to a decent agreement. Bryan had been conscious of the club’s budget and how far you can go with an academy kid, but we made sure he got the best deal going – probably the highest for an academy boy at that time.”

As part of Villa’s efforts to show how much they valued Grealish’s presence, McLeish also put the 16-year-old on the substitutes’ bench for a Premier League fixture against Chelsea in March 2012. Such a ruse had the added bonus of potentially increasing his value at a tribunal, should he depart that summer.

“It was to give Jack a bit of the big time, but also we had to try to protect ourselves if he left and there was a fee to be decided,” explains McLeish. “The powers that be would maybe say it was £500,000 or £600,000 – I’m not sure what the figure would have been, but the bargain basement price would have been absolutely disastrous.

Any price would have been, because you can see what he’s become.”

Grealish soon committed his future to Villa, signing his first professional contract.

Clockwise from top “Say cheese”; Derry trusted Grealish at Notts County; “Tommy Shelby will be in touch”; en route to NextGen glory

That deal effectively saved the club more than £99m. “I wish I’d negotiated a little part of that for myself!” chuckles McLeish.

NOTTS SO FAST, SON

McLeish departed B6 that summer, and was replaced by Paul Lambert. It would be two years until Grealish made his first-team bow for Villa – he was promoted to the under-19s alongside players two years his senior, and helped the club shock Europe’s biggest sides to win the NextGen Series, a precursor event to the UEFA Youth League.

“He was miles ahead of anything else in his age group – that’s why he was pushed into our team,” says Graham Burke, who joint-top scored in the tournament. “He was one of the standout players among older boys, and it’s not often you see that. His dribbling was so good. He’d go past two or three and he wasn’t satisfied – he’d stop, come back on himself and go again. The ball was glued to his foot.”

In the group stage, Villa travelled to Lisbon and shellacked Sporting 5-1.

“Then we beat Ajax, with their famous academy,” continues Burke, now with Shamrock Rovers in his native Ireland.

“In the semi-finals we played Sporting again, and Jack put us ahead in extra time – that was a huge goal. We played Chelsea in the final and they had a good

team, but he won a penalty and I scored it.

I don’t think anyone expected us to win the tournament, but it showed the quality we had – out of that side, it was Jack who really excelled and went on to make it.

“It was a different brand of football against European teams, but it didn’t matter what country Jack was in or what pitch he was on, he was so comfortable in every situation.

“He’d go past people with ease, he could pick a pass, he could put a team on his back and drive them along, which he did in the semi-final against Sporting. He’s the best player I’ve ever played with. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time until he got his first-team opportunity.”

As it transpired, though, Grealish’s first senior experience wasn’t at Villa, but on loan at Notts County. “Paul Lambert was good for me, but I had a little falling out with him and I don’t think he wanted me around, so he said, ‘You’re going on loan’,” Grealish later recalled with a wry smile.

Arriving at Meadow Lane just days after his 18th birthday in September 2013, he joined a club sitting rock-bottom of League One. On his first start, the Magpies lost 5-1 at Leyton Orient, and not long after that, boss Chris Kiwomya departed. Shaun Derry took on his first managerial role.

“As soon as the session started on my first day, I realised we had a very special player,” Derry tells FFT. “The technical aspect of Jack’s

FourFourTwo September 2021 31

JACK GREALISH

“JACK IS A MAVERICK. HE HAD A DIFFEREnT KInD OF BELIEF – nOT ARROGAnCE, JUST A SUPERIOR BELIEF” game was above the level of a League One player. Callum McGregor [of Celtic] was there, too, both young players on loan.”

At first, the manager had to find a way to accommodate Grealish’s talent while trying to turn around results. “We didn’t go into Notts County and find that it clicked straight away,” he says. “It was a tough period, and at times you’re searching for answers; you’re open to making changes and experimenting with the team. But I had a conversation with my assistant Greg Abbott, who said it was about trusting a young player, putting your belief in him and letting him experience some pretty poor performances – moments when it would have been easier just to bring him off after an hour and then leave him out of the next game.”

Grealish repaid that belief in a December clash with Gillingham. With three minutes to

32 September 2021 FourFourTwo

go, he picked the ball up on the left before sashaying past three defenders to the other side of the penalty box. Racing into the area, he slammed a shot into the top corner – not bad for your first senior goal.

“That was the big moment, to see a special goal like that, in a game that was important to us,” remembers Derry. “His dad was in the stadium and he ran straight to him – I think he got booked because he ran into the crowd!

I played for Notts County when I was 18 and my dad watched my games, too – those are brilliant moments.

“At Villa, Jack had probably been playing in teams that were winning, so it was a different challenge for him. It was a pressure pot environment at Notts County: a big League One club who didn’t want to get relegated to League Two. Opponents would be physical with him, which was a learning curve – he’d

take some heavy blows and sometimes he didn’t like it, but he always got back on his feet and had the bravery to take people on again and again.

“As a person, he was incredibly humble and polite. Whenever I had any one-to-one conversations with him, he was a smart kid.

He was still a bit immature in some ways – he’d probably not recognise the importance of certain drills we did, because all he wanted was to have the ball at his feet. Off the field there were situations – only once or twice, not often – where perhaps his timekeeping let him down slightly or he made a couple of wrong decisions. That’s to be expected of an 18-year-old, though.”

But on the pitch, Grealish’s effervescence captivated Meadow Lane regulars like few before or since.

“He was outstanding and soon became our go-to guy; someone we could rely on to win games,” continues Derry. “He had a different kind of belief – it wasn’t arrogance, just this superior belief that he knew he was a good player. I love those players.

“Sometimes in football, we’re at fault for overlooking individuality – we’re forever looking for a perfect shape and system, and we’ve got to be careful with individual talents like Jack who want to go for the jugular and take on the opposition. Sometimes they’re going to lose possession, but they get people off their seats.

“Jack is a maverick, and I played with a few: Adel Taarabt at QPR was a magician, but frustrating at the same time. At Portsmouth we had Robert Prosinecki, who was amazing but could be found wanting on the defensive side because he didn’t really see the value of that. Playing with them helped me to handle someone like Jack.

“You had to be honest with him, and some days Jack didn’t like what I said. Generally, it was the arm around the shoulder and telling him how good he was. That’s what I wanted, actually, to tell him just how good he was.

Because he was...”

Grealish’s loan deal was due to expire in January, but he opted to stay and continue the club’s battle against relegation.

“Villa wanted him back, and he could have gone to clubs at Championship level,” reveals Derry. “But I spoke to Jack and his dad, to

JACK GREALISH

In THE GEnES

Jack Grealish isn’t the first member of his family to have represented England and Aston Villa – his great-great grandfather did the same more than 100 years ago.

Three of his grandparents hail from Ireland, but another strand of his family links back to West Midlander Billy Garraty (circled), a lethal inside-right who earned one England cap

in a 2-1 victory over Wales at Fratton Park in 1903.

He was the First Division’s top scorer with 27 goals when Aston Villa won the league in 1899-1900, and went on to make 260 appearances for the club. Garraty also helped them to beat Newcastle 2-0 in the 1905 FA Cup Final, watched by more than 100,000 supporters at Crystal Palace.

encourage them to put a little bit of pressure on Villa from their end. Jack wanted to finish what he’d started. He’d enjoyed it with us and stayed loyal to the cause. If he hadn’t stayed, we’d have been relegated.”

As it was, Grealish’s five goals and seven assists ensured Notts County’s survival on the final day of the League One season. He was a talisman at 18.

COUNTRY VS COUNTRY

Four days later, Lambert handed him his Villa debut, as a late substitute in the Premier League at Manchester City. In the early parts of 2014-15, Grealish was a regular member of the matchday squad, even if his appearances off the bench were only fleeting – a lot more so than many Villa fans would have liked.

A clamour had already grown for the teen talent, who had penned a fresh four-year contract to ward off interest from Chelsea and was widely regarded as the Midlanders’ great new hope. But Lambert took a cautious approach in terms of game time, eager not to expose Grealish to too much too soon.

“Paul was good with young players,” says Michael Watts, Villa’s head of performance at the time. “There were a lot of calls for Jack to be playing regularly, but the manager’s job was to protect him and make sure he could

Clockwise from top Grealish made 19 youth appearances for Ireland; sent off in the cup; Notts proved Grealish’s baptism of fire

develop. You see cases like Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney who were superstars at 16 or 17, but sometimes people say they weren’t protected at that young age, which eventually leads to injuries and problems further down the line.

“Part of their development is drip-feeding them because they’re still boys – they’re not physically developed or used to that amount of training and competition.”

Owen and Rooney peaked at a young age, but Grealish continues to improve as he enters his late 20s.

“People focus on his technical ability, but athletically he was really gifted, too,” adds Watts. “He was up there with the first-team squad even at 17 or 18 – he was an anomaly at that age, because players don’t tend to stop developing physically until about 23 or 24. If you wanted him to produce strength

and power, he could do that. If you wanted him to be aerobically strong and run all day, he could do that.

“You never saw him get stressed out either – he’d never overthink stuff. He had the full package and he simply loves football. If Jack wasn’t a professional footballer, he’d still be playing on the parks every week. Even in gym sessions, he’d still have a football – you’d have to tell him to put it away.”

Lambert had gone by the time Villa hosted West Brom in a 2015 FA Cup quarter-final.

New boss Tim Sherwood chucked Grealish on for an eventful cameo – in 16 minutes he laid on the assist that settled the tie, before being sent off for collecting two yellow cards, the second for simulation.

Despite the dismissal, Sherwood had seen enough to be impressed: soon Grealish was starting regularly, as the Villans moved out of relegation trouble and stunned Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-finals. “I was at Wembley that day, and for me he was the best player on the pitch,” says Burke.

It was a special moment for the whole Grealish family.

“When I remember the FA Cup semi-final against Bolton and the news we received that day, then I think about the way Jack played against Liverpool – he brought us so much happiness,” his father later explained.

Villa lost 4-0 to Arsenal in the final, but Grealish’s performances prompted the culmination of a long-running tug of war – since 2011, both England and the Republic of Ireland had been vying for his services.

“I was head of talent ID with the FA – I’d seen Jack play a few times and I liked him,” says Kenny Swain, a European Cup winner with Villa in 1982. “We’d identify players at 15, monitor them over that season, then call them into a training camp. I thought he was a talented player and Villa’s academy manager Bryan Jones said, ‘Kenny, I think he’s as good as we’ve had in my time here’.

That’s some praise, because the club have produced some good players over the years.

Jack came along to the first training camp and got through the first day OK, but then went home ill.”

Overnight, Grealish collapsed.

“I was in the bathroom, then I woke up on the floor,” he later explained. “I don’t know whether it was nerves, I’m not sure. The next day I was ready to train again, but for medical reasons I couldn’t.”

The next time England called Grealish up, he had to go home again because of injury.

“Then towards the end of the season, we were at the Nordic Tournament hosted by Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands,” explains Swain. “This was my one chance to look at him again – it was an eight- or 10-day trip, so we’d properly get to know him. I rang Bryan Jones and he said, ‘Take him, no problem’, but later I heard he wasn’t coming. I contacted his mum to say I thought he’d have an absolutely fabulous time with us, but she said she didn’t think he wanted to go. He was being courted by the FAI, who played him above his age group, which was a temptation.”

FourFourTwo September 2021 33

JACK GREALISH Grealish turned out for Republic of Ireland Under-17s and Under-18s, at a time when England’s record in the younger age groups wasn’t quite what it is now.

“That was one of the rare occasions when we didn’t qualify for the finals of the UEFA Under-17 Championship,” England’s then coach John Peacock tells FFT. “Qualification is about fine margins – with Jack involved, who knows if we would have made it? He’d always been at the forefront of our thinking.”

But even after Grealish began to represent Ireland, there was still uncertainty about his long-term international future.

“At one point, his dad approached me and said, ‘I think Jack’s ready to have a go with England’,” says Swain. “I met up with them, took them to St George’s Park and introduced them to the under-19s manager Noel Blake, and the technical director Dan Ashworth.

I’d already asked Blakey if he thought Jack was up to the mark and good enough to play a year higher up.

“Blakey was going to invite him into the U19s squad the following month, and again, I don’t know what happened. He stayed with the Republic and they put him in the U21s, but we did try awfully hard.”

Ireland boss Martin O’Neill had even tried to call Grealish up for their senior squad in

2014, during a period when his assistant Roy Keane was also Paul Lambert’s number two at Villa. Grealish politely declined, deciding at that point to keep his options open. England Under-21 boss Gareth Southgate confirmed that renewed attempts were underway to persuade him to represent the Three Lions.

Not long after Grealish helped Villa to the FA Cup final, Ireland made another attempt to select him for the senior squad – this time for a Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland, and a friendly... against England. Minutes before the squad announcement, though, Grealish was removed from the list. Again, he wasn’t ready to commit.

That August, he met with Roy Hodgson in a box at Villa Park, after a match against Manchester United. A month later, Grealish confirmed he’d decided to play for England.

“It was a relief when I heard that,” Swain smiles now. “I thought ‘Bloody hell, at last!’.”

“JACK, YOU COULD DIE…”

Grealish started that 2015-16 campaign as a Villa regular once more, but his career was about to take an unexpected turn. Despite his presence, the team lost seven league games in a row and Sherwood was sacked, with the club bottom of the Premier League

THE nOUS THAT JACK BUILT

No one won more free-kicks in the Premier League than Jack Grealish last season...

110 88 86 78 77 73 72 64 63 63

Jack Grealish Wilfried Zaha Adama Traoré Sadio Mané John McGinn Richarlison

Eberechi Eze Bukayo Saka Conor Gallagher Jordan Ayew

Left The starlet shone against Guinea in 2016 Right Manager Bruce made sure Jack was alright

34 September 2021 FourFourTwo

table. They remained there for the rest of the season – Grealish had a difficult relationship with replacement Remi Garde, who dropped him to the under-21s for visiting a nightclub hours after a 4-0 thumping at Everton. The Frenchman wasn’t an admirer of Grealish’s happy-go-lucky approach to life.

“He just told me off for smiling,” the baffled playmaker once told Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Garde lasted only until late March, but Grealish finished the campaign by setting a new Premier League record: he featured in 16 games... and lost all of them. Few blamed the player – just like Gareth Bale’s 24-match winless start at Tottenham, the record was symptomatic of the team’s general malaise.

“As a club, we were a mess at that point,” remembers Michael Watts. “There were a lot of things going on behind the scenes and it was a difficult dressing room to be in. I’ve never experienced so much dysfunction in one season. The fans and maybe people inside the club were looking at Jack to save the club, to do something crazy-special and pull a rabbit out of a hat. But no matter how talented Jack was, it was too much to ask – there were another 28 players who needed to do more as well.”

For the first time in 28 years, Aston Villa were facing life outside the top flight. It was a devastating blow for Grealish, the boyhood fan, and the player with England ambitions.

He did still get his first Three Lions call-up that summer, linking up with Southgate’s under-21 squad at the Toulon Tournament.

He scored twice in a 7-1 win over Guinea too, but started only two of England’s five games – the midfielder was an unused substitute when they defeated France in the final, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek taking the No.10 role.

Grealish didn’t make the next U21 squad before Southgate became the senior team boss. On the first day of the Championship campaign under new Villa chief Roberto Di Matteo, he found himself on the bench for a miserable loss at Sheffield Wednesday.

“He was streets above everybody else in that squad – he shouldn’t have been playing in the Championship,” recalls Tommy Elphick, Villa’s new captain after joining that summer.

“He had a hunger to get the club back where they belonged and shouldered much of that responsibility, but he didn’t start the opening game. The manager wanted to go for a bit more experience and know-how, but training with him, I remember thinking, ‘How is this lad not starting?’.”

Villa were a lowly 19th when Di Matteo was sacked after just 11 league games – a period during which Grealish had again irritated his boss by reportedly heading to an all-night party. Di Matteo became the third successive Villa boss to publicly admonish the No.10 for his off-field actions; Sherwood had also been forced to intervene, after pictures emerged of Grealish sprawled in the street following a night out in Tenerife.

Grealish had problems on the field, too: during Steve Bruce’s first match in charge, television cameras caught him stamping on Wolves defender Conor Coady, resulting in a retrospective three-match ban. In February

JACK GREALISH

“MAKInG JACK CAPTAIn WAS A MASTERSTROKE. HE AnD DEAn SMITH WERE BOYHOOD VILLA FAnS AnD BUZZED OFF EACH OTHER”

2017, he was sent off for a second bookable offence against Nottingham Forest and then spent two months on the bench.

Villa finished down in 13th, and Grealish’s career was in serious danger of stalling. Aidy Boothroyd called him up for the 2017 U21 Euros, but Grealish didn’t play a single minute at the finals in Poland. After the tug of war for his services, he was about to turn 22, and there was a genuine threat that his England prospects could be over almost as quickly as they had begun.

A week before the start of the new season, things got even worse. Facing Watford in a tribute match for the late Graham Taylor, Grealish took an accidental knee in the back while jumping for a header with Tom Cleverley.

“My kidney split in two places – it was pouring with blood internally for about five hours,” Grealish later revealed. “It’s the worst pain I’ve ever been in. I was rushed in for an operation – before it happened, the surgeon had to tell me the consequences of what could happen if it didn’t work. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Jack, you could die’.

I was genuinely scared.”

The surgery was successful, but Grealish spent three months on the sidelines. He was grateful for the way Bruce had regularly kept in contact during the darkest moments, and returned more determined than ever to repay his manager’s concern.

Also guided by the newly arrived John Terry, Grealish helped Villa to reach the play-offs, then came close to a sensational solo goal at Wembley, in a final they ultimately lost to Fulham. There would be a third season in the Championship to come.

Worse still, for a period that summer, Villa looked to be in dire financial trouble. Spurs began to circle for Grealish and Bruce even admitted that his sale looked inevitable. Villa were said to be ready to accept just £6m, but chairman Daniel Levy took his time over negotiations and attempted to force the fee down further. It proved a bad move: Villa’s finances were suddenly aided by a takeover and the asking price rocketed to £40m. “If Jack had joined Tottenham that summer, there’s no doubt in my mind that Aston Villa wouldn’t be in the Premier League today,” insists Elphick.

Even with their star man still at the club, however, promotion initially looked unlikely. Villa started 2018-19 poorly, a fan threw a cabbage at Bruce, and the manager was sacked. Not long after Dean Smith’s arrival, Grealish was ruled out for three months with a shin injury.

The Midlanders won only two of their next 13 games, and were drifting to another mid-table finish: had it not been for Grealish’s March return, and Smith’s brainwave.

“Making Jack the captain was an absolute masterstroke from Smith,” explains Elphick.

“They are both boyhood Villa fans and they

buzzed off each other. Dean has a wonderful way of not forgetting the human element to a football player – he’d come in sometimes and have craic with Jack over the last game, or a game that was on telly the night before.

That period when he became the skipper was the making of Jack.

“He’d been out injured but was desperate to get back, and the amount of work he was doing in the gym was unbelievable. He came back a completely different specimen.

“In his first game as the captain, he scored that outstanding volley against Derby which whistled over my head. Then there was the Birmingham episode, which could have been a really serious moment – the lad who got on the pitch could have been carrying anything.

Jack could have thought, ‘I need to get off, my head’s not in the right place’, but his way of getting back at that fella was by scoring the winning goal.”

Villa charged into the play-off semi-final against West Brom. The tie went to a penalty shootout at The Hawthorns – Grealish scored and Villa were heading back to Wembley. This time, they defeated Derby to return to the top flight. After three Championship campaigns, captain Jack was back in the big time.

SUPER JACK, SUPER SUB

Grealish only had one Premier League goal to his name at that point, but another eight followed in 2019-20 as Villa also reached the

FourFourTwo September 2021 35

JACK GREALISH League Cup final, losing to Manchester City.

The skipper had been imperious in a tough semi-final second leg against Leicester, delivering the assist for Matt Targett’s opener to help send Villa through 3-2 on aggregate.

When lockdown hit two weeks after the final, Smith’s side had lost four consecutive games – their last one, 4-0 to the Foxes – and sat 19th. Grealish hit the headlines again for the wrong reasons: hours after urging people to remain at home, he was photographed looking dishevelled after crashing his Range Rover into parked cars, wearing one black slipper and one white slider sandal. Criticism was widespread, but he responded on the field when the Premier League restarted. On a dramatic final day of the season, he rifled home at West Ham to secure Villa’s safety.

As if it could have been anyone else.

A clamour, not dissimilar to his younger days, was gathering for Grealish to get his first call-up to Southgate’s England squad – only now, it was right across the country.

Even Prince William, a Villa fan who sent a hand-written letter of support to Grealish following the St Andrew’s attack, got involved in the campaign. “I’ve given Gareth a little elbow nudge to say, ‘Why is Grealish not in the England squad?’” he grinned.

Initially, Southgate resisted that friendly royal intervention, but when Marcus Rashford withdrew from the Three Lions’ September fixtures through injury, Grealish was drafted in as a replacement and made his debut as a substitute in Denmark.

A week later, amid sustained interest from Manchester United and Arsenal, he signed a new five-year deal with Aston Villa which contained a £100m release clause. In early October, he bagged twice and assisted three more goals in a stunning 7-2 victory over champions Liverpool, as Villa won their first four games of the 2020-21 season.

The plaudits only intensified, not least after he started his first competitive England game against Belgium. Grealish befuddled Thomas

Meunier with a backheeled flick over the wing-back’s head, in a performance so impressive that he immediately established himself among fans as the new Messiah, barely six months after he’d been a very naughty boy. That escalated quickly.

Despite that, a three-month injury lay-off ruled him out of England’s March 2021 fixtures, with reports suggesting that even if fit again, he may be in danger of missing out on Southgate’s Euro 2020 squad. UEFA’s decision to increase squads to 26 players ended even the remotest possibility of that happening – particularly after he helped Villa beat soon-to-be European champions Chelsea on the final day of the campaign.

At the Euros, Grealish’s star rose further – despite starting just one game, against the Czech Republic when England had already secured their place in the last 16. He set up Raheem Sterling’s winner in that match, but for Grealish, the tournament was almost a flashback to his days as an 18-year-old under Paul Lambert: used sparingly as a super sub, while almost an entire fanbase pleaded for his inclusion.

“I went to Wembley to watch Jack play Scotland against Callum McGregor, and I was so proud of him and where he’s got to,” says Shaun Derry, his former boss at Notts County. “My son Jesse is 14, and his

MILESTOnE MEn

These five Brits all broke new ground – but only two of them have gone on to win a league title...

TREVOR FRANCIS

Francis became Britain’s first six-figure man as Nottingham Forest paid £1.18m to snare him from Birmingham in 1979.

Three months later he nodded the winner in the European Cup final, but Liverpool ended up as domestic champions.

CHRIS SUTTON

No British club had ever forked out £5m for a player when Blackburn signed Sutton from Norwich in July 1994 – but that very campaign, his SAS partnership with Alan Shearer lifted the Lancashire club to the Premier League summit.

36 September 2021 FourFourTwo

ALAN SHEARER

Sutton’s strike partner became the first British player to move for more than £10m when he joined Newcastle in 1996. The world-record £15m marksman delivered a club-record 206 goals and two FA Cup finals... but sadly no major honours.

RIO FERDINAND

The balletic centre-back was the first Brit to surpass the £25m mark – Manchester United signed him from Leeds for £29.1m in 2002, and were rewarded with six league titles and a European Cup. Not too bad for a kid from Peckham.

HARRY MAGUIRE

The first domestic star to join a British club for more than £50m was another defender transferring to Old Trafford.

‘Slabhead’ smashed the ceiling in an £80m deal from Leicester to United two years ago, but he’s yet to pick up a trophy.

JACK GREALISH

favourite player in the whole world is Jack Grealish – Jack was really kind to send him a lovely message a few months ago.

“Our national team has been crying out for somebody like Jack, and we want to see more of him. He gives you hope.”

Against Germany, Grealish turned hope into reality. After his introduction from the bench was greeted by one of the loudest roars Wembley has ever heard, the Brummie magician provided the spark that won the last-16 clash by playing a part in both goals.

It seemed like the start of something, but didn’t prove to be – Grealish was an unused sub against Ukraine, subbed on against Denmark, then subbed off again in the final minutes of extra time as Southgate sought more defensive solidity.

Released from the bench when the final against Italy headed to a shootout, Grealish hung around optimistically in Southgate’s eyeline, desperate to be asked to step up, just as he had in the play-offs for Villa two years earlier. Once again he was overlooked –

Clockwise from above “What can you tell me about Olympic basketball?”; Grealish makes his City debut; “Do my calves look big in this?”

reports suggested he was eighth on the list, behind even goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Pep Guardiola had seen more than enough, however. If Southgate has held concerns about the defensive side of Grealish’s game, the Manchester City manager clearly thinks they can be overcome – even the supremely talented Kevin De Bruyne has to work like a Trojan in Guardiola’s system.

That one of the greatest managers of all time was prepared to make Grealish Britain’s first £100m player tells you everything you need to know about the ability possessed by City’s new signing. In 19 years on the books of his boyhood club, he established himself as an Aston Villa great. Now, he’ll be playing Champions League football for the first time, and challenging for every major prize going.

“Dean Smith is a hell of a manager, but Pep Guardiola is regarded as the absolute God of football – he improves every player he works with and it will be great to see what he can do with Jack,” says Grealish’s former Villa team-mate Tommy Elphick.

“He gets better with better players around him, because he gets more space. He’s like silk – he floats, he glides. He still has that innocence, why we all fall in love with football when we’re kids; the ability to do something and wow a crowd. I’m so pleased at how he’s done – he’s got a heart of gold.

“He donated a load of stuff to a hospice, and I remember finding out that he’d paid for a Villa fan’s funeral – not for attention, but because he cares. You could always tell that Jack loved Aston Villa.”

Grealish’s ultimate ambition may well be 15 months down the line. England resume their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign with September fixtures against Hungary, Andorra

“GUARDIOLA IS THE GOD OF FOOTBALL – IT WILL BE GREAT TO SEE WHAT HE DOES WITH JACK” and Poland – and the new £100m man will hope consistent game time in the Premier League’s upper reaches convinces Southgate to give him a key role in Qatar next year.

“A few years ago I told Gareth Southgate, ‘You lucky b*****d, you’re going to inherit some of the best talent we’ve ever had,’” Kenny Swain smiles now. “After I’d finished at the FA, he came up to me and said, ‘You were right’. Jack wasn’t even an England player then – he’s the bonus on top of that, and there’s still more to come from him.”

“He’s gone from a precocious talent to a superstar,” is how Alex McLeish sums it up.

From the start, everyone knew that Jack Grealish was capable of something special.

In the past few weeks, he’s made history – now, he’s ready to take on the world.

MORE On FOURFOURTWO.COM • Have Villa become a better side without Grealish? (by Richard Jolly) • The most expensive British transfers ever (by Ed McCambridge) • Why isn’t Grealish starting for England? (by Mark White)

FourFourTwo September 2021 37

DRIBBLE KInGS

15

JAY-JAY OKOCHA

14

HATEM BEn ARFA

Okocha wasn’t quick, nor dynamic, but good luck trying to get the ball off him. His dribbling skills were unique – often, the Nigerian would go full showboat, including with a rainbow flick over the head of a bemused Ray Parlour.

Best moment Bolton and West Ham were battling to avoid relegation in April 2003 when Okocha picked up the ball deep inside his own half, dribbled upfield, then blasted home the game’s only goal. Bolton stayed up and the Hammers’ all-stars went down.

Jack Grealish has carved out a reputation for winning free-kicks on command, but even his dazzling footwork doesn’t get him onto this rundown of all-time Premier League dribble kings. Not yet, anyway...

Words Joe Brewin, Chris Flanagan

If the rest of the winger’s game had been as good as his ability to beat a man, he would have earned more France caps. In top form, he was impossible to stop.

Best moment As Alan Pardew’s Newcastle charged to a fifth-placed finish in 2011-12, Ben Arfa charged past most of Bolton’s XI to score one of the finest goals that St James’ Park had witnessed in years. Pards told him to do that, obviously.

DRIBBLE KInGS

“WHEn HE WAS In FULL FLOW, HATEM BEn ARFA WAS JUST IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP”

13

DIMITRI PAYET

12

JUnInHO

Put it this way: the Frenchman’s dribbling was so potent, he managed to injure an overstretched goalkeeper while scoring for Marseille in 2018. West Ham fans enjoyed the best of Payet across 18 sparkling months in east London, before hearts were broken as he forced his way back to l’OM. Best moment Bamboozling no fewer than five Middlesbrough players for a stunning goal of technical excellence in October 2016, earning the Hammers a 1-1 draw after four defeats in a row.

The nimble Brazilian headed to the North East in 1995 and transformed Middlesbrough, largely by running at the opposition at every opportunity. When your team-mates include Phil Stamp and Jamie Pollock, it’s not a bad idea to just go it alone.

Best moment Winning the BBC’s Goal of the Month award after dribbling infield from the touchline against Chelsea, then exchanging passes with Mikkel Beck to head (!) home.

1

MATT LE TISSIER

Blink and you... wouldn’t miss him. Le Tiss’ mazy credentials weren’t of the explosive variety, but who cares? “He could simply dribble past seven or eight players but without speed – he just walked past them,” noted No.1 fan Xavi, foam finger in hand.

Best moment His trademark stunners were often from distance, but Le Tissier shifted when he had to. His legendary juggle against Newcastle in October 1993, knocking the ball beyond Barry Venison and then over Kevin Scott, resulted in a sublime goal for the ages.

10

JOHn BARnES

Barnes won his top-flight titles when it was still the First Division, but he had seven years in the Premier League with Liverpool, Newcastle and Charlton, and was one of the finest dribblers England has seen.

Best moment All right, we’re cheating here, but when it comes to Barnes and dribbling, you can’t choose anything but his first goal for England, against Brazil at the Maracana.

It’s a serious contender for the greatest goal in Three Lions history.

9

RIYAD MAHREZ

You know a trick is good when everyone sees it coming and it still works a treat every time. Much like Arjen Robben, Mahrez and his chop inside has embarrassed a long line of foes, and the spindly-legged assassin continues to put it to regular, effective use for Manchester City.

Best moment Google ‘Mahrez Aston Villa’ – then watch him put three defenders on their backside with one 2015 feint for would-be champions Leicester.

FourFourTwo September 2021 39

DRIBBLE KInGS

8

GIAnFRAnCO ZOLA

He might have been about 3ft 7in, but Chelsea’s impish genius held his own in any duel. He gave Julian Dicks a nightmare mere weeks after his arrival in England from Italy, before dancing through Manchester United’s defence to score a similar beauty two months later.

Best moment Even at 36, Zola could mug the best, as his joyful corner-hogging against Liverpool in April 2003 proved. Three Reds players tried to rob him… all three failed.

7

CHRIS WADDLE

The winger was 31 by the time he joined Sheffield Wednesday at the start of the Premier League era, yet he became an Owls legend for skinning opponents week in, week out. Some teams put two men on him – and he would just dribble straight between them.

40 September 2021 FourFourTwo

Best moment Using a stepover and drop of the shoulder to deceive Leeds’ Gary Speed in a Yorkshire derby at Elland Road, before lashing home the winner from a ludicrously acute angle – and all with his baggy jersey untucked like the worst ruffian.

6

THIERRY HEnRY

Henry was a cyborg composed of brute and beauty – but his dribbling prowess was arguably borne of the former.

Velvet touches may stir the senses, but Titi knew there was a time and place for those... not least when you could just blitz a team from the halfway line.

Best moment You might say his solo Highbury strike against Spurs, but for importance, keeping the Invincibles on track in April 2004 takes some beating. The second goal of his

treble against Liverpool was a glorious gallop through the middle which put Didi Hamann, Igor Biscan and Jamie Carragher – a victim of our No.8 as well, bless him – in a tailspin.

5

DAVID GInOLA

Most of the finest dribblers are slightly built. Well, apart from Adama Traoré.

And Ginola, too, wanted to show us his muscles: his locks flowing behind him, the Frenchman combined power and skill to beat opponents and be a hero at Newcastle and Spurs.

Best moment Picking the ball up on the touchline, then darting past four players to score the only goal of an FA Cup quarter-final at Barnsley in 1999. It won BBC Goal of the Month – it would have won goal of the season, if the semis hadn’t delivered another amazing individual strike...

DRIBBLE KInGS Did w out? Telle umiss anyone via @F s on Twitte turn to opuarFourTwo, andr our in ge 58 to read anotheter crview with Georgi Kinontender, kladze

HAZARD TOPPED THE PREMIER LEAGUE’S DRIBBLInG CHARTS In FIVE OF SIX SEASOnS

4

STEVE McMAnAMAn

2

3

CRISTIAnO ROnALDO

1

There’s a reason why Real Madrid were so keen to sign McManaman in 1999: next to nobody in Europe could carry a ball upfield with such purpose as the mop-haired Liverpool wideman.

Best moment Take your pick. McManaman wasn’t short of fine solo goals. After scoring two of them to win the League Cup final in 1995, he ran virtually the length of the field to stun Celtic at Parkhead in a UEFA Cup tie two years later.

Ronaldo morphed from sulky stepover merchant into bona fide superstar at Old Trafford – but even those early days of boyish trickery were lovely fun. Eventually, skill was blended with monstrous physique to make for a Ballon d’Or-winning force of nature on the flank.

Best moment Ronaldo’s big breakthrough came in 2006-07, and featured a blistering individual goal at Fulham that started inside his own half. This lad was special, all right.

RYAn GIGGS

It takes something special to become a Manchester United first-team regular aged 17, but this adopted son of Salford was exactly that. Crucially, Giggs was fearless with his runs down the wing as he tore defences apart, again and again.

Best moment Showing the world his hairy chest after the aforementioned 1999 FA Cup semi-final cracker against Arsenal. Though, as a withering Gary Neville said 15 years later (tongue firmly in cheek): “A little bit greedy…”

EDEn HAZARD

While his magnetic ball control was plain to see, the Belgian’s stumpy frame belied a low centre of gravity and a body strength that emanated – not to beat around the bush – from his arse. Chelsea’s Opta stats darling topped the Premier League’s dribbling charts in five of the six seasons from 2013 to 2019.

Best moment Hazard was a delight to watch in his final season at Stamford Bridge, typified by the breathtaking 45-yard slalom goal that baffled five West Ham players in April 2019.

FourFourTwo September 2021 41

DEATH OF LA LIGA

Lionel Messi’s future s m erely one of Barcelona’s major problems amidwa fin an cia Real Madrid’s frugality has l chaos this year, while in Europe. Are Spain’s strugmade them a fading force or something much more trogles just a short-term crisis, ubling? FFT gets digging...

Words And rew Murray

T

he tweet is still there, more than four years after Gerard Pique sent it, in memoriam of a decaying dynasty.

At 9.55pm on July 23, 2017, the centre-back took a selfie with his Barcelona team-mate, Neymar, and captioned it with the infamous legend: Se queda. He’s staying.

Only he wasn’t. A week and a half later, Neymar moved to Paris Saint-Germain, the Ligue 1 runners-up anxious to prove they were more than nouveau-riche arrivistes. On August 3, PSG paid the Brazilian’s world-record €222 million release clause, in full, and there was nothing Barcelona could do to stop them.

Barely 12 months later, Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus. He had just steered Los Blancos to a third successive Champions League triumph – their fourth in five seasons, La Liga’s fifth in a row, and the league’s seventh in a decade.

In the three years since, no Spanish side has even reached the showpiece of Europe’s premier club competition, let alone won it.

In two of those three seasons, La Liga had a single representative in the last eight. The Premier League has produced two winners, two losing finalists and an additional four quarter-finalists in that period. For the first time in nine years, it has overtaken La Liga at the top of UEFA’s country coefficient.

Barcelona realised far too late that their natty post-Neymar purchases came without a warranty. Real Madrid have erred in the transfer market, too, while belt-tightening has resulted in exits for Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, as well as the departures of would-be stars Achraf Hakimi and Sergio Reguilon. The era of Florentino Perez’s spendthrift Galacticos is long gone.

Then came the bombazo – the massive bomb. On the evening of August 5, 2021, Barcelona released a statement saying Lionel Messi would end his 21-year stay at the Camp Nou as it was “impossible” to re-sign the Argentine because of “financial and structural obstacles (Spanish Liga regulations)”. The greatest Blaugrana player in history would leave for no fee. Messi had

DEATH OF LA LIGA

offered to reduce his wages by half to stay at the club of his heart, but Barça couldn’t make the numbers work – not that it was their fault, as their use of brackets made plain.

How did it come to this? Is this temporary pandemic-induced mismanagement, or the new reality? Is La Liga now circling the drain?

THE HUNGER GAMES

There was nothing that Barcelona could do.

Lawyers arrived at La Liga’s headquarters with the cash necessary to meet their star’s release clause and rescind his Blaugrana contract. Their pride wounded, the Catalans were determined to immediately reinvest the world-record fee with a decisive statement of intent. They would sign two of Europe’s most in-form players, no matter the cost, but would ultimately pay for their avarice.

First it was Marc Overmars for €40m, and then came Emmanuel Petit for €14m.

“History has repeated itself: this is exactly what happened after Real Madrid paid up Luis Figo’s release clause in 2000,” laments Alfredo Martinez, who commentates on every Barcelona encounter for radio station Onda Cero. “The day Neymar left in August 2017 is a ‘before’ and ‘after’ moment in Barça’s history. They had all this money

“THE DAY THAT NEYMAR LEFT IN 2017 IS A ‘BEFORE’ AND ‘AFTER’ MOMENT IN BARCELONA HISTORY” Above Neymar said au revoir to Barça and they were powerless to stop it

but no plan for how to use it. Clubs saw them coming. If they had just paused and waited a year, then this would have been a club with the best economic backing in the world. Not only did they not do this, they spent badly, producing an outlay they can no longer pay.

It’s now impossible, totally impossible, to continue down that route.”

Desperate to be remembered as the most successful Barça president of all time, having been at the helm for the 2014-15 Champions League triumph, Josep Maria Bartomeu spent like a toddler let loose in a sweet shop with mummy’s plastic. In 2017-18, he dropped an initial €105m and €120m on Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho respectively; the next season, it was €35m on Clement Lenglet, €31m on Arthur and another €41m on Malcom, who made 24 outings before being sold to Zenit (albeit for roughly the same fee) 12 months later. Last summer’s spending was more circumspect, but only after he’d splurged €273m on seven players in 2019-20, including Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong and reserve goalkeeper Neto.

Griezmann has had his moments, but only De Jong could be described as a post-Neymar success of any kind. Bartomeu, who runs the family business making jet bridges that take passengers from plane to airport terminal, even gave Luis Suarez to Atletico Madrid for free. ‘El Pistolero’ promptly won the league.

“Bartomeu is the guy with blood on his hands,” says Martinez. “He let this situation

DEATH OF LA LIGA

get out of control and left the club standing naked with no idea what to do. His board took us to the very limit where we’re bleeding on the street, about to die.”

The club is more than €1.2 billion in debt and needed a €525m Goldman Sachs loan last winter to help restructure their finances.

Having won La Liga in 2017-18 and 2018-19, Barça claimed only a single Copa del Rey in the two most recent campaigns. Then there were the Champions League defeats: 3-0 to Roma, 4-0 to Liverpool, 8-2 to Bayern Munich.

Even in times of apparent feast, they were still spending 70 per cent of their budget on wages. In 2011, then-president Sandro Rosell banned colour photocopying in order to save money. Incumbent Joan Laporta – back after a trophy-laden first presidential spell from 2003 to 2010 – has admitted that wages are as high as 110 per cent of turnover.

“When you’ve got money, the easy thing to do is spend it,” says Martinez. “There’s

44 September 2021 FourFourTwo

a pressure for immediate success and that’s where Barça failed. ‘Pan para hoy, hambre para mañana’ – bread for today, hunger for tomorrow. If the club had approached this calmly, like a more normal club, you say, ‘OK, maybe we don’t win anything this year, but that proves that we actually need guys like Dembele or Coutinho’.”

Real Madrid’s financial situation is similar but not quite as pressing. Los Blancos had a €120m surplus when the pandemic hit, and president Florentino Perez has focused on redeveloping the Bernabeu rather than investing in the playing squad. In 2019, the summer after Ronaldo’s sale, Perez spent more than €350m on players including Eden Hazard (€100m, rising to €146m), Luka Jovic (€60m),

Above While Real Madrid buy young, Barça buy De Jong Below Laporta even bought Messi a gift, but it was to no avail

Eder Militao (€50m), Ferland Mendy (€48m) and 18-year-old Rodrygo (€45m) – but that is the club’s only extravagant window of late.

In the summer of 2020, Real Madrid spent nothing at all on new additions. The result?

A trophyless season and Zinedine Zidane – the three-time Champions League-winning coach, and the fans’ darling in an otherwise underwhelming campaign – resigning upon learning that he wouldn’t be backed in the transfer market for a second year running.

“Any Real Madrid season without a trophy is a fiasco,” Radio Marca host Rafa Sahuquillo insists to FFT. “Zidane left more because of fatigue and exhaustion at dealing with the club. He had come back and won La Liga in 2019-20, but didn’t get the support of the president last season, especially after losing to third-tier Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey.” All of which means Cristiano Ronaldo was never replaced, and La Liga – shorn of the Messi vs CR7 Clasico which defined it for over a decade – now lacks lustre. Due to strict Spanish tax rules imposed after the financial crash in 2008, the Premier League and even Serie A are far more financially attractive. If Kylian Mbappe ends up at Real Madrid, it’s because he wants to be there.

Of the top 10 in the last Ballon d’Or vote of 2019 (last season’s poll was cancelled), only Messi plied his trade in Spain. In the summer 2020 transfer window, La Liga clubs forked out €348m, behind Ligue 1 (€474m), Serie A (€667m) and the Premier League (€1.5bn).

MESSI WAS THE ONLY LA LIGA PLAYER TO MAKE THE TOP 10 OF THE LAST BALLON D’OR IN 2019 Below Eden Hazard hasn’t repaid his huge transfer fee, so Real Madrid have started to look for resale value instead

“There’s a definite talent drain from La Liga,” says Sahuquillo. “Players who dominated and defined an era, such as Cristiano, just aren’t here any more. Karim Benzema is a superb, complete team player, but the voracity that Cristiano had in attack for the most important European games is what Real Madrid have missed the most. If Villarreal hadn’t won the Europa League, last season would have been an utter disaster.”

A MESSI SITUATION

La Liga’s decline is partly self-inflicted. The story of the summer has been Barcelona’s attempts to reduce their outgoings in line with La Liga’s wage cap, and subsequent inability to register players – Messi included.

The cap was introduced in 2013 as president Javier Tebas tried to force clubs to live within their means. The rules are strictly enforced.

The pandemic hit Barça harder than most, as a significant proportion of the Catalans’ income comes from matchday revenue. This includes ticket sales, stadium tours, the club shop and the museum. Exacerbated by the fallout from COVID-19, the wage caps are ever-lowering: in 2019-20, Barcelona’s was €671m, but last year it was virtually halved to €371m, and it is expected to fall again to €200m for 2021-22. Not only couldn’t they register new signings in Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay and Emerson – the first three of that quartet all arriving on frees – but they couldn’t re-register Messi, either.

Last summer, the Argentine’s relationship with Bartomeu irretrievably broke down, and Messi announced his intention to leave the

DEATH OF LA LIGA Camp Nou after more than two decades, even telling his children that they would be leaving the family’s beloved home in seaside Castelldefels. He changed his stance after Laporta’s presidential return, and in early July both parties had all but agreed a new five-year deal with a 50 per cent pay cut. Yet, even with Messi’s annual salary dropping from around €45m basic (after tax) to nearer €20m, it still wasn’t enough. More players would have to leave, and more would have to follow De Jong, Pique and Marc-Andre ter Stegen in taking wage cuts.

Worse still, it wasn’t a case of save/sell one Euro and reinvest it. A month before La Liga’s kick-off, Barça were around 40 per cent over their La Liga wage cap, meaning they could reinvest only 25 per cent of all fees received.

And so Junior Firpo went to Leeds for €15m, Jean-Clair Todibo to Nice for €8.5m and Carles Alena to Getafe for €5m, while Wolves took Francisco Trincao on loan with a €25m option to buy – roughly what Barcelona paid for him in 2020. But these amounts were a drop in the ocean for what was needed.

“Laporta’s biggest problem isn’t just the financial crisis, but that other clubs know about the crisis,” says Onda Cero’s Martinez.

“If you sign Aguero or Depay, then the big clubs in England, Italy, Germany and France know you have to sell, so they’re expecting Barcelona to get in touch – but they all have conditions because Barça’s card is marked.”

Flogging Griezmann alone wouldn’t solve the problem. The World Cup winner’s €20m yearly salary isn’t in the club’s top four, and the €70m still left in amortised payments owed to Atletico Madrid weighs heavily because Barça need a big fee to pay those off. All clubs now spread transfer fees over the length of the new player’s contract, but Barcelona have proven cuter than most. Last summer’s €70m arrival, Miralem Pjanic, was effectively swapped for Arthur at Juventus so both outfits could circumvent respective amortisation costs in the short-term. “There is something immoral about that transfer,” Martinez tells FFT. “It’s absurd.”

DEATH OF LA LIGA

As Barcelona went to such great lengths to balance their books, was Messi’s almost prohibitive cost actually worth it?

“People don’t seem to understand that Messi was actually the cheapest player in Barça’s squad,” counters Martinez. “Messi’s presence alone brings in 30-40 per cent of a club’s income. Even the cheapest player in the squad, who earns €2m a year, will still be more expensive than Messi. And this is before you get to him being the best player in the world. He was still La Liga’s top scorer last season and one of its best assisters.”

La Liga, however, weren’t budging.

“We can’t make an ad-hoc rule for Messi,” said league chief Tebas. “The rules are what they are. The efforts made by Barcelona to reduce their salary bill are on the right track, but the rules have to be complied with.”

Those rules put pressure on all teams – to such an extent that, on August 4, a 12-club committee consented to sell 10 per cent of

46 September 2021 FourFourTwo

La Liga to US venture capitalists CVC for €2.7bn in a 50-year deal.

Ninety per cent would be shared among 42 Primera and Segunda Division clubs. Barcelona’s share was worth €280m, but they and Real Madrid were so worried about giving up 10 per cent of broadcast money until 2071 – especially given the recently-signed $1.4bn US TV deal with ESPN – that they opposed it. Besides, only 15 per cent (about €42m) of Barça’s share could be used on transfers or salaries – and agreeing to the deal would also end both clubs’ hopes of setting up the European Super League.

That’s when Barcelona dropped the bomb. The only way to comply was to not sign Messi. Some thought it was brinkmanship, to force Tebas into raising the wage cap, especially as Real Madrid announced they were taking legal action over the CVC deal

just moments after Barça’s Messi statement. Would La Liga really allow its biggest star to leave? Laporta was unequivocal.

“We cannot formalise our deal with Messi,” he stated. “La Liga won’t increase the wage cap; the only way is to mortgage part of the TV rights for half a century. Messi wanted to stay, we wanted him to stay, but it comes with certain risks, which we can’t impose on the club. The job the previous board did was terrible. One thing is the numbers presented to us initially, now we have realised the situation is even worse.”

The president – a self-confessed dreamer now facing grim reality – confirmed that even without Messi’s salary, Barça were spending 95 per cent of turnover on wages, and made losses of €487m last year. He could, at least, finally register Aguero, Memphis, Emerson and Garcia.

DEATH OF LA LIGA dressing room and if his wages rose, so would Ramos’ wages, and Bale’s. Perez couldn’t support that.

“Florentino doesn’t like a certain type of personality in the club. He learned from his first spell in charge that having a handful of superstars who rule the dressing room isn’t a good thing. No one can be more important than the club president.”

Unlike their Catalan rivals, Real Madrid have favoured potential – Militao, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior and Jovic were all aged 18-21 – over players at their peak. Bale and Hazard made them think twice, especially as the duo make up 13 per cent of the club’s wage bill.

“Tebas has done a decent job in restricting the unlimited fuel that top La Liga clubs used to have,” admits Sahuquillo. “Most will have to find savings this summer, or move players on to readjust the figures. He has applied the cap well, because situations such as Barça’s are worrying for the biggest clubs.”

“SPANISH CLUBS CAN’T COMPETE NOW”

“MESSI BRINGS IN S0 MUCH OF A CLUB’S INCOME THAT IN FACT HE’S THEIR CHEAPEST PLAYER” One FFT source says Real Madrid are more in favour of the salary cap than you’d think.

Their belt-tightening began pre-pandemic, with Ronaldo’s sale. Perez is a businessman first and football man second; someone who sees his players as ever-depreciating assets.

Sergio Ramos has just joined PSG on a free transfer, having refused to take a 10 per cent wage cut. Fellow club icons, Iker Casillas and Raul, were also discarded without ceremony.

However, Los Blancos simply aren’t the same without the preening Portuguese slab of athletic perfection battering records like a Scottish chippy.

“Cristiano wanted to earn the same as Messi and be treated like the superstar within the club – Perez doesn’t take kindly to that sort of ultimatum,” explains Sahuquillo.

“Have they missed him? Of course!

Who wouldn’t miss 50 goals per season? Cristiano left because he was a major force in the

Above “4-1, even Moise Kean scored” Left Barcelona still owe Atletico some €70m for Griezmann Below Bale outlived Zizou at Real – twice

The wage cap has already had a knock-on effect on La Liga. Once, Barcelona and Real Madrid would each rack up 90 to 100 points; the 2020-21 season, though, was one of the most competitive in recent memory. Just six points separated the top four sides with two games to go, and Sevilla ended up posting a club-record tally for the campaign (77).

“Now, Madrid and Barça know they can’t make a mistake,” declared Diego Simeone, after guiding Atletico to the title. “Transition happens to everyone, even Real Madrid and Barcelona, because age comes at all of us.”

That transition is why his team’s title win feels different to their immense achievement in 2013-14. Yes, La Liga is more competitive, but the same quality is missing.

“I don’t want to take too much away from Sevilla’s excellent season, but it’s down to the big two’s mistakes, not others improving significantly,” says Martinez of Onda Cero.

“The league is fairer now, but los grandes will always be los grandes.”

Radio Marca’s Sahuquillo agrees, adding, “The overall level has dropped – it’s more competitive, but that doesn’t make it better.”

It has made for some European difficulties.

Last term, Chelsea dominated both Madrid teams en route to Champions League glory and Barça lost 4-1 at home to PSG. “Spain can’t compete with other leagues now,” continues Sahuquillo. “What I’d like to see is a financial regime which allows us to keep a competitive domestic league, but makes us more attractive to the world’s top players than Spain is at the moment. I can’t shake the feeling that the Premier League has overtaken La Liga. It’s been failure after failure in the Champions League since 2018.

Spanish sides are definitely weaker in Europe than we’ve seen for a long time.”

Was it all that surprising, then, that Real Madrid and Barcelona – used to riding roughshod over mere financial mortals – stuck to the European Super League project despite the wheels coming off in spectacular

fashion? Both clubs need the guaranteed €300m to afford further luxury purchases.

“There’s no doubt that financially it makes sense, which is why Perez is so keen,” says Sahuquillo. “Mbappe arrives straightaway.”

For one side, La Liga’s decline is threatening their very existence. Valencia have lurched from crisis to crisis for much of the past 10 years. The debt brought on by a high wage bill and trying (and failing) to build a Nou Mestalla is spiralling. They had a fire sale last summer just to make the start line: Ferran Torres joined Manchester City, and their best midfielders, Francis Coquelin and Dani Parejo, moved to local rivals Villarreal.

The 2019 Copa del Rey winners, in the Champions League as recently as 2020, are now relegation contenders. If they were to go down, Los Che would be circling the drain.

“Valencia’s biggest problem is Peter Lim,” Sahuquillo tells FFT. “He believes he can run Valencia from Singapore. He’s destroying a structure which, even in difficult off-field moments, was working. They’re playing with fire, with a crazy project of different coaches every year, signing fewer players but selling a lot more, and now relegation is a very real possibility. That simply can’t happen.”

So, where does all of this leave La Liga? Is Spain in danger of a fall from the top, à la Serie A? “If we keep losing important players, then yes,” says Sahuquillo, bluntly.

Newly frugal Real Madrid embody the newly self-aware league. By early August, free agent David Alaba was the only fresh addition to Carlo Ancelotti’s squad. The Italian must trim a squad of 30 to 25 and assess if he can get a tune out of Gareth Bale, with a year left on the Welshman’s €15m-a-season contract.

“There are a lot of unknowns at Madrid,” says Sahuquillo, who thinks things could get worse before they get better, ideally with Mbappe to arrive in 2022. “Ancelotti actually got the best version of Bale at Madrid.”

As for Barcelona, who knows any more?

“This is the hardest moment of my career – I wasn’t ready to leave Barça,” wept a teary Messi at his farewell press conference. “We were convinced we were continuing here, at home.” Home is now PSG, alongside Neymar, this story’s ground zero. How’s that for irony?

“It’s a sad day for the club and La Liga,” says Martinez. “They’ve lost the biggest figure of the last decade and can’t guarantee being able to register their own players. That’s the crude reality in 2021-22.”

Lionel Andres Messi is no longer a Barcelona player and it’s all their own fault. No man is bigger than a club, but what about a league?

MORE ON FOURFOURTWO.COM • Deportivo La Coruna in crisis: how the 2004 Champions League semi-finalists wound up in the third tier (by Andrew Murray) • Has La Liga’s quality dropped? Why Spanish football is now enduring a transitional phase (by Mark White) • Quiz: Name every team to have won La Liga

FourFourTwo September 2021 47

THE CHAAAAAAAM

CHAMPIOnS LEAGUE

WHAT TO WATCH IN 2021-22 After Chelsea’s unexpected success, the Champions League returns – with a few not-so-minor adjustments. Star signings and a major rivalry reignited make for another juicy campaign Words Mark White, Ed McCambridge

PIIIIIOOOOOOONS! CHAMPIOnS LEAGUE

PSG’S ‘NO, REALLY, THIS YEAR’ RECRUITMENT

In 1992-93, Marseille lifted a nation on its shoulders by defeating Milan 1-0 in the first Champions League final of a newly branded era. But France’s sole European Cup win was soon tainted: amid the sordid French football bribery scandal that came next, Marseille never defended their title.

It’s taken a while for France to scale those heights, but Paris Saint-Germain winning the Champions League might unite the country in a different way: as long ago as 2013, PSG were top of a L’Équipe survey on the nation’s most despised club. They’re a natural Bond villain: extravagant, well-dressed and prone to a tantrum. Remember their Manchester City meltdowns? Or the time they mocked

Below This year will be PSG’s year (repeat until 2039)

a teenage Erling Haaland’s yoga celebration?

Nobody likes them... and they don’t care.

Now, Les Parisiens are doubling down on the showiness and the sh**housery. The last time PSG didn’t win the league, they reacted by splashing €400 million on Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. Lille’s Ligue 1 victory has led to more of the same... with added nibble.

Gianluigi Donnarumma has joined to rival Keylor Navas, giving PSG a second world-class goalkeeper. Gini Wijnaldum is the latest Premier League midfielder to defect to Parc des Princes, after Idrissa Gueye and Ander Herrera. In Sergio Ramos, the king of the Champions League, they’ve found a maniacal monarch to govern their backline, perfectly content to crush the dreams of his former employers. And then, of course, there’s Lionel Messi’s arrival. All four of them cost nothing

in transfer fees – unlike superstar full-back Achraf Hakimi, responsible for the biggest transfer outlay of any African player (tipping €100m) now, with a €60m switch from Inter.

PSG’s time is nigh. Neymar will turn 30 in February, and his ambitions in French football are slipping away. Mbappe has critics for the first time, after his penalty miss at Euro 2020, although Marco Verratti returns in arguably the prime of his life. Following his strops against City earlier this year, PSG hope – pray, even – that the Italian is ready to become a double European champion.

PSG followed up their run to the 2020 final by reaching the last four in 2020-21. They’ve continued to edge close to the holy grail; this season, though, could well be their best shot at winning the thing. Just don’t expect street parties across France if they pull it off.

LILLE’S LIGUE 1 TRIUMPH HAS PROMPTED AnOTHER PSG TRAnSFER SPLURGE, WITH SOME ADDED nIBBLE

CHAMPIOnS LEAGUE JULIAN NAGELSMANN’S BAYERN MUNICH

VARANE: GAME CHANGER?

“Maximum success” is the rather robotic ambition for Bayern Munich this season, as Nagelsmann put it at his June unveiling. As at PSG, league glory is considered par for the 34-time kings of Germany – performing well in the Champions League is what matters.

To make things trickier still, Nagelsmann has the unenviable task of following Hansi Flick. Replacing a winner in the Allianz Arena dugout is daunting – just ask Pep Guardiola, who was unable to steer Jupp Heynckes’ treble-winning side into another Champions League final – and Flick, the new manager of Germany, lifted five major trophies in just 19 months as Bayern boss, Ol’ Big Ears included.

Yet it is widely felt that if anybody can take this team up another level, it’s Nagelsmann.

The 34-year-old – that’s right, he’s still only 34 – is lauded for his tactical flexibility and development of young players: Timo Werner and Serge Gnabry greatly improved under his guidance at RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim respectively. His teams often shift systems, and at Leipzig he deployed an unorthodox yet effective 4-2-2-2 in several European games.

His players have spoken of his meticulous preparation: Nagelsmann had enormous TV screens erected at both sides’ training pitches so that he could record sessions and stop play, to show his players exactly where they needed to improve positionally.

While Nagelsmann failed to mount a real title challenge in his two years with Leipzig, he did take them to the Champions League semi-finals in 2020. The Bavarian’s reputation as one of the brightest young managers in world football meant Bayern had to cough up serious cash to pinch him this summer: €25m according to some reports, though the club dispute that figure.

This still resembles a period of vulnerable transition for Bayern. There’s a new CEO, in club legend Oliver Kahn, and big changes at the

Harry Maguire is an intelligent, unflinching and not-unskilful centre-back, but, at 28, he’s still waiting for his first major honour as a professional footballer. His new defensive partner, Raphael Varane, is also 28 and has enough silverware to make a magpie woozy.

The four-time European champion might be the missing piece at Manchester United: long have they yearned for the Frenchman’s recovery pace, laser-passing and composure in the backline. Not only have they bought it, for just over £40m, but they have acquired one of elite football’s most experienced defenders. Someone with Varane’s CV could help United to overcome their mental block in this competition – not since 2011 have they made it further than the quarter-finals.

50 Sept

back: Jerome Boateng, David Alaba and Javi Martinez, defensive stalwarts who together racked up more than 1,000 appearances in a glittering decade for the club, are gone. The 22-year-old Dayot Upamecano, signed from Leipzig for €42.5m, has mighty boots to fill, as will Lewisham left-back Omar Richards – arriving from Reading with no top-flight experience – any time Alphonso Davies is out.

Preparing the new recruits, rewiring Leroy Sané into the free-spirited force he was at Manchester City, and continuing to fuel the sensational frontline of Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller are the cornerstones to success in Nagelsmann’s debut campaign.

“Maximum success” doesn’t come easy.

SEVEN UP FOR EMERY

FFT can’t decide what’s more notable: how good Unai Emery is at the Europa League, or how pants he is in the Champions League.

The Spanish boss collected a fourth Europa League winners’ medal in May as Villarreal beat Manchester United on penalties – but in six attempts with four clubs, he’s never gone further than the last 16 in Europe’s premier competition. At times it’s been downright humiliating, not least PSG’s 6-1 second-leg capitulation to Barcelona in 2017.

A good run with Villarreal would do Emery no harm. Or he could just aim to finish third in the group, and so add another Europa gong to his stack...

Above ‘Servus’ can mean bye as well as hello, saving Bayern a future paint job and photoshoot Below left Unai Emery, Europa League master Below Is Varane United’s latest French saviour?

AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD

Among the handful of English academy products blooded by Frank Lampard in his reign as Chelsea gaffer, only Mason Mount and Reece James are still Blues regulars. But while some remain on the first-team fringes under Thomas Tuchel, others have departed Stamford Bridge – including Fikayo Tomori.

The defender shone on loan for Milan in the second part of last season, helping the Rossoneri to finish second in Serie A. They forked out €28m to make Tomori’s move permanent; now the 23-year-old will be key to their European hopes this campaign. He’ll surely be adding to his solitary England cap.

CHAMPIOnS LEAGUE THE RETURN OF MAX ALLEGRI

INTER-MILAN MOVERS

When Barcelona met Juventus in the 2015 Champions League Final, it was a clash of ideologies: the beauty of Barça – the idea that intricate build-up play was not just nice, but necessary – against the ruthless beasts of Juve. Fittingly, Le Zebre were a team that often took the light with the dark.

As pretty football swept across Europe, it was comforting to see the Old Lady weren’t for turning. Massimiliano Allegri built his side from the remnants of Antonio Conte’s unit, and didn’t polish its pieces. Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci were classy operators, but they also fortified the old-school philosophy of throwing your body where it needs to go. Juve were a continental giant with a big man up top; it was wile over wizardry. “Winning isn’t important,” reads the club motto. “It’s the only thing that matters.”

It made the decision to oust Allegri in 2019 – replaced by a cerebral ex-banker, Maurizio Sarri – even more jarring. Allegri had rebuilt his 2015 side and taken Juventus to another Champions League final in 2017. It was some achievement, considering that only Barzagli, Bonucci and Gigi Buffon started both finals, just two years apart. But there was a feeling that it was as far as he was ever going to go, in a brave new world of expansive football and Guardiola disciples. Quarter-final exits in 2018 and 2019 hastened the end.

Italian culture has always been very sure of itself, in cuisine, music and art. Traditionally it has worked within its boot-like border, rarely

As a city, Milan apparently takes a relaxed attitude to playing for your arch rivals. Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all joined Milan from Inter without pitchforks, and now Hakan Calhanoglu is hoping for the same, having moved the opposite way on a free transfer.

He was key to the Rossoneri’s renaissance, and now the Turkish schemer could make a difference to both sides, undergoing notable rebuilds. This season is the first in a decade to feature each Milan club in the Champions League, pointing at a derby that’s about to find its fire once again. Calhanoglu could find himself at the centre of it.

Above Juve are taking it to the Max once again Below This was the inevitable conclusion to appointing Jose Fonte as captain

looking to outside influences for change.

Now, even craving a more graceful approach, in line with what everyone else is doing, is in the past. The simple fact is that Juventus jettisoned Allegri but fared worse under Sarri and then Andrea Pirlo, with chastening exits in the last 16 to Lyon and Porto.

Now Allegri is back in Turin, with a pair of European champions in Chiellini and Bonucci, and young Matthijs de Ligt learning from the Italian masters. In Federicos Bernardeschi and Chiesa – another pair of Euro 2020 kings – the Bianconeri have game-changers, while the summer’s joint-top marksman, Cristiano Ronaldo, returns off the back of a typically brutal 36-goal season. Paulo Dybala will hope to reignite under Allegri, his old mentor, and Rodrigo Bentancur can dazzle once again.

After two years away finding themselves, Juventus feel much more recognisable now.

The landscape has changed and Don Max is scouring his new horizon, but there’s a single target in his sights. Winning is the only thing that matters.

VAN BOMMEL: WOLF MAN

Eyebrows were raised in June as Wolfsburg replaced Eintracht Frankfurt-bound Oliver Glasner with Mark van Bommel, whose only previous managerial gig ended abruptly at PSV in 2019 following “a decline too large and unworthy” for and of the Dutch giants.

Glasner’s quiet competence resulted in Wolfsburg finishing fourth last term, so fans were sad to see him leave ahead of their first Champions League campaign since 2015-16.

Van Bommel, an ankle-nipping midfielder for Bayern Munich from 2006 to 2011, will need his new charges to show some similar bite in Europe, where the Wolves will be reduced to underdogs. Lanky Dutch targetman Wout Weghorst, with 25 goals last season, is vital.

LILLE, LES CHAMPIONS

Like Monaco before them, Ligue 1’s champs have been ransacked, their shock triumph precipitating exits for Boubakary Soumaré (to Leicester) and Mike Maignan (Milan). Manager Christophe Galtier had already quit, saying, “I don’t want to fall into a routine.”

With a raft of talent still at their disposal, however, it’s difficult to write off Lille – as they proved, under new manager Jocelyn Gourvennec, with yet another victory over an admittedly understrength PSG in August’s Trophée des Champions. While Les Dogues have big guns in attack, in Burak Yilmaz and Jonathan David, they were miserly at the back last term, leaking only 23 league goals.

This will actually be Lille’s eighth campaign in the Champions League, but they’ve never advanced beyond the group stage. That could change now they’re in Pot One.

LIKE MOnACO BEFORE THEM, THE LIGUE 1 CHAMPIOnS HAVE BEEn RAnSACKED BY CLUBS

FourFourTwo September 2021 51

On THE GROUnD

WE’RE SCHEISSE AND WE KNOW WE ARE Germany’s second division could be far more exciting than its top flight this season, with a pile of hungover fallen giants slogging it out for promotion. The unthinkable has become reality for Schalke and Hamburg in 2021, so FFT headed to Gelsenkirchen to discover their stories of woe Words Ed McCambridge Photography Stefan Grey

“E

verything has an end, only the sausage has two,” or so goes an old German saying that’s still widely used today. Revered porcine products aside, Germans believe all things end eventually.

Nothing lasts forever.

Fans of Schalke 04 and Hamburger SV will understand the sentiment better than most.

Until recently, both were considered German football powerhouses – successful on the pitch, respected off it. Even rival supporters appreciate the traditions and values upheld by the two clubs.

And yet, the pair find themselves in the 2. Bundesliga, Germany’s second tier, this season. Schalke’s relegation in 2020-21 was among the most humiliating in top-flight history: 34 matches, three wins, 24 defeats and 86 goals conceded. They came within one match of equalling Tasmania Berlin’s infamous record of 31 consecutive games without a win, dating back to 1965-66. In tier two, they have found waiting for them

52 September 2021 FourFourTwo

Hamburg – by now a veteran of three seasons outside the Bundesliga.

So, how did these juggernauts, who have claimed 13 German championships between them, get here? To find out, FourFourTwo have travelled to Gelsenkirchen, a mining city in Germany’s Ruhr Valley, for the 2. Bundesliga season opener between the duo. Football is a soap opera, so it was inevitable Schalke vs Hamburg kicked things off.

With 20,000 fans in attendance for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, the sun-bathed Veltins-Arena looks a thing of beauty as FFT ambles out of the train station on a warm late-July evening.

“It’s wonderful to be back, even if it is in the second division,” Andreas Middeke of official Schalke supporter group Blau-Weiss 80, tells us pre-match, bratwurst in one hand and pint in the other. “The past few years have been a catastrophe, but here we are.”

“Schalke and Hamburg are massive teams,” explains Marcel Wrobel of HSV fan group Schwarz-Weiss-Blauer Norden. Despite there being no official away support at the match

due to COVID-19 restrictions, hundreds of white-shirted Hamburg fans scurry between the blue masses on Rudi-Assauer-Platz, home to the Veltins-Arena. “They were once our rivals at the top level, but those days are over for now.”

Fans are everything in Germany, where the 50+1 rule ensures that a club’s members get the final say on all decisions. A club’s stature, therefore, is determined less by the number of trophies they’ve amassed, and more by the size of their membership. Schalke, with 160,000 members, are considered Germany’s third-largest outfit, behind behemoths Bayern Munich and neighbours Borussia Dortmund.

Hamburg, with 85,000, are the fifth-biggest team in the country.

But these two are also among Germany’s biggest in terms of silverware. Schalke have seven championships to their name, as well as five DFB-Pokals; Hamburg have been top dogs on six occasions, with three German cups. Both boast European gongs: Hamburg won the 1983 European Cup, while Schalke lifted the UEFA Cup in ’97. Die Konigsblauen

On THE GROUnD

On THE GROUnD – or Royal Blues, as Schalke are known – have even bagged silverware as recently as 2011, as a side including Raul, Manuel Neuer and Julian Draxler lifted the DFB-Pokal.

“I was there – we had a fantastic team and club back then,” says Schalke fan Andreas, surrounded by his blue-shirted, moustachioed comrades from Blau-Weiss 80. “That’s in the past, though. We’re in the second division and size doesn’t play a role here.”

BLUE WITH ENVY

Speaking to supporters of both clubs, it’s clear where disgruntlement lies. There has been colossal mismanagement in Gelsenkirchen and Hamburg, cities separated by 350km of autobahn in Germany’s north-west. They’ve taken different roads to reach this point, but their respective declines have happened almost imperceptibly, over a sustained spell.

“It wasn’t just over a couple of seasons,” continues Schalke fan Andreas. “The club’s situation got worse and worse, one bit at a time. I believe our recent problems started under former coach Felix Magath, who left in 2011. He alienated members of the dressing room and fired coaches who had been loyal to the club. Various bad decisions were made by the board later down the line, of course, including awarding huge contracts to players that shouldn’t have been signed.”

Schalke’s transfer business has long been a cause for concern among supporters. Die Knappenschmiede, their esteemed academy, has produced such talents as Neuer, Draxler, Mesut Ozil, Leroy Sané and Leon Goretzka. All have departed, but while some fetched large fees, others – including Goretzka – left for zilch. Ozil, tipped for greatness, was sold for a meagre €5 million.

“It’s really frustrating when your brightest talents run down their contracts or leave for next to nothing,” laments Andreas, as FFT wonders how he’s not wilting in his heavily embroidered Blau-Weiss 80 jacket. “You can understand if a young player wants to further their career, but far too often we’ve received little for developing these gems.”

Despite losing potential transfer fees into the tens of millions on some of their players, the lucrative sales of certain others, including Neuer (Bayern, €30m), Draxler (Wolfsburg, €43m) and Sané (Manchester City, €52m) helped to halve the club’s debt to around €129m by 2016. Yet, just as Schalke edged towards financial safety, they flip-flopped.

Tired of not challenging for the title and apparently jealous of the success that arch adversaries Dortmund had recently enjoyed under Jurgen Klopp, Schalke ramped up their spending in a bid to keep themselves in the Champions League. Larger-than-life sporting director Christian Heidel was appointed from Mainz, and over the next two and a half years, he rubber-stamped four of Schalke’s six most expensive signings. A hefty €73m went on Breel Embolo, Nabil Bentaleb, Sebastian Rudy and Yevhen Konoplyanka alone. Failure to become Champions League regulars plunged them deeper into the red. Heidel finally quit in the summer of 2019.

54 September 2021 FourFourTwo

“If you miss out on European football, you’re quickly left without money and without good players. We made big mistakes.”

Beiersdorfer returned to Hamburg in 2014, but by then the damage was done.

RACE WARS, GAZ AND VLAD

“WE WEREn’T THE SECOnD-BEST TEAM THAT SEASOn. THE OTHERS WERE JUST COLLECTIVELY AWFUL” Schalke remain more than €200m in debt, even though they have a passionate fanbase, a bumper sponsorship contract with Russian gas giant Gazprom since 2007 and a modern, state-of-the-art stadium used for the 2006 World Cup. Studying it from the outside, the Veltins-Arena resembles a space station, with its sleek glass facade and bubble-dome roof.

Ahead of kick-off, FFT watches fans wander through a network of academy pitches, as the stars of tomorrow are put through their paces by Schalke’s academy coaches. You’d be forgiven for thinking a home this luxurious must belong to a team swimming in cash.

You’d be wrong.

It’s a similar story in Hamburg, who find themselves more than €100m in debt. The club’s supporters have winced at some of the exploits in the transfer market over the previous decade. “The management signed players who were too expensive,” Marcel from fan group Schwarz-Weiss-Blauer Norden tells FFT. “Things got out of hand.”

Torsten Rumpf, Hamburg correspondent for German outlet SportBild, attributes their scattergun transfer activity to the 2009 loss of sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer.

“Beiersdorfer brought in really good players for low fees, including Vincent Kompany and Jerome Boateng, both of whom later moved to Manchester City. He had a good eye for players and ensured that incoming coaches fitted the club’s philosophy. But then he fell out with the chairman, Bernd Hoffmann, and left the club in 2009.

“HSV began to switch between managers, players and systems from year to year. They had no long-term strategy, results began to slide and they started losing a lot of money.”

With Beiersdorfer gone, Hamburg bought established stars instead of rough diamonds.

Ruud van Nistelrooy arrived from Real Madrid on a free transfer, and Rafael van der Vaart returned from Tottenham for €13m in 2011 – both on hefty contracts.

“They were good, but you can only afford them if you’re playing at the top,” says Marcel.

Above “You’re sure this corner flag is standard size? OK then...”

While Hamburg’s lack of long-term planning meant regular struggles before they went down in 2017 – having survived relegation play-offs in both 2014 and 2015 – Schalke’s fall from grace hasn’t been quite so linear.

Die Konigsblauen were Bundesliga runners-up in 2018, and reached the Champions League last 16 a season later where they faced Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

Those notable achievements under young coach Domenico Tedesco, who arrived from second-tier strugglers Erzgebirge Aue in 2017, were overshadowed by what was perceived as dull and defensive football. Furthermore, fans have eventually come to regard 2018’s second-place finish as a fluke.

“Schalke weren’t the second-best team in the country that year,” concedes Andreas, to mumbled agreement from fellow Blau-Weiss 80 members by a beer kiosk in the stadium’s shadows. “The other teams were collectively awful and we were so lucky along the way.

The football was mind-numbing.”

Ask Schalke fans to pinpoint an exact date which led to the club’s demise, and they may well say August 7, 2019 – just a year on from Tedesco’s second-place finish. That was the day Schalke’s supervisory board acquitted chairman Clemens Tonnies, a meat industry billionaire who fronted the club between 2001 and 2020, over racist comments made during a business conference in Paderborn.

Earlier in August, Tonnies had called for the construction of power plants in Africa so that, “Africans will stop producing children as soon as it gets dark.” The decision to merely suspend Tonnies for three months split the fanbase, and resulted in the resignation of honorary board member and lifelong Schalke fan Kornelia Toporzysek.

“I saw it as my role as a member of the honorary advisory board to defend the values of Schalke,” she tells FFT ahead of the season opener. “When the most important person at the club says something that is shameful and racist, they should be held accountable.

Tonnies was not the first person in power at a football club to do something damaging, and many fans felt he should stay in charge.

But moments like this should always be seen as a test for a club.

“Do Schalke take racism seriously or not?

Personally, I wanted them to move forward with a new chairman, but he was defended publicly by the board. I had no choice but to step down from my position.”

Tonnies secured Schalke’s Gazprom shirt sponsorship deal – via his mysterious links to Vladimir Putin – and was also a driving force behind the development of the club’s Berger Feld training complex. Toporzysek admits Tonnies was “a shrewd businessman”, but believes he must also shoulder the blame for the football slide.

On THE GROUnD Fan Andreas agrees. “His racist comments were completely unacceptable,” he states.

“But Tonnies is also more widely responsible for where we are today. He should have been fired even before the racist incident. Despite bringing in money through marketing deals, the club was in heavy debt and lacked any direction. He oversaw our decline. The buck stopped with him.”

How one man can be held so accountable for a club which abides by the 50+1 rule says much about Tonnies’ sway behind the scenes during a pernicious premiership.

“He had a very strong personality,” reveals Kornelia. “He was an alpha male, incredibly powerful, and dominated the other board members. He came across as charismatic and approachable, but had the supervisory board right in the palm of his hand – as the acquittal over his racist comments showed.

Ultimately, he ruled the club.”

Outrage with the board was compounded during Schalke’s miserable relegation last term. Estimating that lost matchday revenue would cost them up to €3m per home game because of the pandemic, Schalke looked for other ways to balance the books. They asked season ticket holders to continue paying for them when they weren’t allowed to attend matches. Unlike many other clubs, though, they demanded that fans submit financial evidence as to why they couldn’t afford to waive their refunds.

“That was a typically poor decision,” says Andreas, shaking his head. “It’s sad, but we’re used to that kind of behaviour now.”

“I was shocked,” adds Kornelia. “How can a club become so far removed from its fans?

So many people were negatively affected by the virus. So many lost their jobs or couldn’t work. You would never ask people to explain their situation. These are normal people – they need their money now more than ever.”

STOP THE CLOCK

Years before Schalke were battling with the kind of boardroom sniping that would make Alan Sugar blush, Hamburg were contriving to get relegated with their own shenanigans behind the scenes.

Between 2013 and their relegation in 2018, they went through seven permanent bosses and a number of sporting directors, with good money thrown after bad in a bid to return to European football. In 2016, they shelled out a hefty (and club record) €14m for winger Filip Kostic, then €9m on defensive midfielder Walace in 2017. Both were flogged at a loss within two windows.

“Before we went down, so many mistakes were made in squad planning and there was plenty of management mayhem,” Marcel of Schwarz-Weiss-Blauer Norden tells FFT. “The wrong players were brought in for too much money and too little talent was developed.”

After their annual flirtation, HSV finally caved when they finished second-bottom in 2017-18. After a season of toothless displays which yielded a paltry 29 goals, their fate was sealed following Wolfsburg’s 4-1 win against already-relegated Köln. Hearing the scoreline,

56 September 2021 FourFourTwo

“IT’S ALWAYS THE SAME – HSV START WELL, THEn FALL APART. THERE’S A PRESSURE PROBLEM” Hamburg supporters interrupted the end of their own 2-1 triumph at home to Borussia Monchengladbach, launching flares onto the pitch and clashing with police.

One of the founding Bundesliga outfits had dropped out of the division for the first time.

Inside the club’s Volksparkstadion, a huge clock which counted the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds of Hamburg’s existence in every top flight since 1963 – the only team to do so – ground to a halt.

“We were extremely proud of our status as an original Bundesliga side,” admits Marcel, frustration clear in his voice. “The clock was a matter of debate among supporters. Some thought it was a bit much to count how long you’ve been in the Bundesliga, but others thought it was great.”

Rather than bin the clock entirely, Hamburg decided it should be set back to zero. It will begin to tick again when the club kicks off their first league game back in the top tier – whenever that may be. Going up has proved easier said than done.

Heavy favourites for promotion in the last three campaigns, HSV have finished fourth, just below the promotion places, on every occasion. Five bosses have come and gone – Tim Walter took the reins in the summer – none of whom could prevent bleak seasonal second-half collapses.

“Those three years were exactly the same,” sighs reporter Rumpf. “There’s a good start, they’re doing well, and then in the second half of the season, after 20 games, they fall apart. It’s a mentality issue. There are only four teams in Germany with bigger support than HSV and their fans demand promotion.

Pressure is clearly a problem.”

Rumpf believes Hamburg’s hopes of going up may actually be helped by Schalke’s slide into the second division, along with Werder Bremen, another giant relegated from the Bundesliga last season. “With Schalke also in the league, HSV aren’t the heavy favourites to win the title this time,” he suggests. “The pressure is spread. Schalke will be favourites

Above Heyer nets Hamburg’s second in their comeback win

to win it; then Bremen second, maybe. HSV have a real chance this year.”

Surprisingly, Schalke’s Blau-Weiss 80 group agrees. “I don’t believe we’ll get promotion; I don’t think we have the experience at this level,” says Andreas, as fans drain their pints and advance towards the turnstiles. “This is a new situation for us now. We need to find our feet in this league. There are other sides, like HSV, who are used to this level.”

On a beautiful, floodlit night – with 20,000 supporters singing into the warm night air – Andreas is spot on. Schalke lose 3-1, having led at the break. Austrian goalkeeper Michael Langer had even saved a penalty at 1-0 up, sending the home fans into raptures. If this is what the Veltins-Arena sounds like only a third-full, FFT is looking forward to a return visit without fan restrictions. But in the end, it’s HSV’s stowaways heading home happy after second-half goals from Robert Glatzel, Moritz Heyer and Bakery Jatta.

FFT notices Andreas among the deflated fans filing out at the final whistle.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted,” he says, puffing out his cheeks. “But it’s still great to be back with other fans. There’s always next week.” Clambering out of Germany’s second tier won’t be easy, though for many Schalke fans, promotion to the Bundesliga isn’t what matters most in the short term.

“I want to see a modern club with modern standards and a professional approach from the top down,” says Kornelia, who despite stepping down from the honorary advisory board in 2019, is still a season ticket holder.

“I want good people who love the club and want the best for it, plus players who care and play for the badge. It would be unbelievable to reach the Bundesliga and play Champions League football again, but that will be tough.

We’re a long way from that now, and first we need to lose our negative image.”

Even Hamburg fans could live with another year in the 2. Bundesliga, on one condition.

“My hope is that HSV can work calmly and sensibly for a few seasons, in our leadership, management and youth development,” says Marcel, before smiling. “Short-term, though, I hope we beat St. Pauli.” Hamburg bragging rights trump all, it would seem.

As FFT rides the packed night tram back through Gelsenkirchen, there’s a sense in the air – not merely the scent of stale lager – that the blues could be here to stay. Hamburg supporters know the feeling all too well, but the bad times will end for both clubs. After all, everything ends eventually – except, of course, the sausage.

MORE On FOURFOURTWO.COM • Behind enemy lines at Schalke: when our Borussia Dortmund fan went to Gelsenkirchen (by Yannick Hesse) • What is the 50+1 rule and could it work in the Premier League? (by Ed McCambridge) • Quiz: Can you name every club in the top two tiers of German football?

GEORGI KInKLADZE Georgi Kinkladze was a light in the darkness of Manchester City’s late ’90s misery, ensuring a special place in Maine Road history. More than 25 years on, it’s all still love – not least from the man himself, who takes FFT back through a wild life of Maradona, Madchester and Vinnie Jones menacing

Words Chris Flanagan Interview Vazha Tavberidze

GEORGI KInKLADZE

ike all the great goals, it started with Steve Lomas. The Northern Ireland international arguably did the easy bit: a square pass near the halfway line, to a diminutive left-footer on the right flank. From there, magic happened.

A quick drop of the shoulder, and a dart inside Simon Charlton. A swerve past David Hughes, as the penalty area drew closer. A touch that defeated Ken Monkou, then another one to befuddle Hughes for a second time. The path to goal had been opened up. What followed was a brilliant stutter to put Dave Beasant off balance, then a lavish dink over the helpless goalkeeper into the net.

In the long history of the Premier League, no goal has been quite so similar to Lionel Messi at his finest, yet the Argentine was just eight years old at the time. Long before Manchester City were linked with ‘The Atomic Flea’, came Georgi Kinkladze.

“It was unforgettable,” beams the Georgian to FourFourTwo, as he reflects on that goal against Southampton at Maine Road in 1996.

“I didn’t even realise it was 25 years – I think I dribbled past 25 people!”

It says much about the standard of iconic moments during the mid-90s that Kinkladze didn’t even win the BBC’s Goal of the Season – that went to Tony Yeboah. But in the space of 10 seconds, the ball seemingly glued to his left foot, he’d produced one of the most famous goals in Manchester City’s history... and secured hero status for life.

BALLET TO BUENOS AIRES

Given the parallels in playing style with another pint-sized Argentine left-footer who had a tendency for solo strikes, it’s no surprise that Kinkladze’s idol was Diego Maradona.

For a brief period, the 5ft 8in playmaker even shared a dressing room with Diego, during an unlikely loan spell at Boca Juniors.

The route from Tbilisi to Buenos Aires was far from conventional. Kinkladze had grown up in Georgia while it was part of the Soviet

60 September 2021 FourFourTwo

Union – if his football skills later became balletic, it owed something to his childhood, when he took up mtiuluri. “It was traditional Georgian dance, which you could argue has a lot to do with both gymnastics and ballet,” he explains. “It gave me fleet feet, quick reactions and a sense of rhythm, as well as making my ankles very strong. I was actually considered something of a talent, but then my dad took me to a local football team and I never looked back. Georgian dancing’s loss was Georgian football’s gain!”

Kinkladze joined the youth setup at Dinamo Tbilisi but left for city neighbours Mretebi to gain first-team experience at 16, helping them to reach Georgia’s top flight in 1991 just as the country became independent.

Dinamo paid one million rubles to re-sign him – Kinkladze promptly inspired them to a league and cup double, also earning national team honours and becoming Georgia’s player of the year for 1993.

That year, though, with the Georgian Civil War causing mayhem and Dinamo kicked out of the Champions League following a failed attempt to bribe

a referee against Northern Irish side Linfield, the club protected their asset by moving him overseas – initially on loan to Saarbrucken in the German second tier.

“It was a horrendous time, very traumatic,” Kinkladze says of the war. “We had a lot of talented guys, an incredibly gifted generation, but Dinamo were disqualified from Europe.

In order for us to retain form, our president Merab Jordania loaned most of the players out for six months. We’re so grateful to him until this day, because nobody knows what could have happened if we’d stayed there – whether we would have any career at all.

Nobody had time for football back then.

The country was in chaos.

“At Saarbrucken there was a Georgian there already, Murtaz Shelia, and he helped me to cope. It was tough as the 2. Bundesliga was really physical, something I wasn’t used to – back home we played with more flair. I got kicked a lot in Germany.”

When Kinkladze’s loan deal expired, Dinamo offered him to clubs in Spain.

“Myself and two other players had

GEORGI KInKLADZE

trials with Atletico Madrid,” he reveals. “We played a match against Boca Juniors, and afterwards I was asked whether I’d like to go to Argentina. I said yes straight away – I was going to Maradona’s club. He was my idol.

“For all of the Messi versus Ronaldo debate, for me the number one was and always will be Maradona. Football lost a genius when he passed away, and I lost part of my childhood.

My whole childhood was watching Diego.”

Kinkladze was only 21 when he travelled to Argentina – Maradona wasn’t officially a Boca player at the time, but had turned up to train not long after failing a drugs test at the 1994 World Cup. “Here I was, training with him – to say it was a dream come true would be an understatement,” smiles the Georgian.

“Well, training is a bit of an overstatement – he’d appear, take a few free-kicks, then call it a day. Not that I complained; I just stood there in awe and watched him. After Boca, I trained at Real Madrid with Michael Laudrup, Fernando Redondo, Raul, Luis Enrique and Emilio Butragueno. They had an outstanding side and offered me a place in their B team – I was considering staying, but Dinamo’s ban

Above Giving Butt and Becks the runaround Below Georgi briefly trained with idol Diego

“MARADOnA WOULD APPEAR, TAKE A FEW FREE-KICKS, THEn CALL IT A DAY. I JUST STOOD THERE In AWE AnD WATCHED HIM” was over, UEFA allowed us to play again and I went back to Georgia, where we had real European ambitions.”

Tirol Innsbruck soon dashed those dreams in the first round of the UEFA Cup, but weeks earlier he’d started to catch the eye on the international stage. Georgia played their first ever competitive international at the start of qualifying for Euro 96, but despite losing 1-0 at home to Moldova, Kinkladze’s performance attracted the attention of scouts – and then City chairman Francis Lee. Two months after that, he was the star as Georgia thrashed Wales 5-0 in Tbilisi, netting his first international goal in the rout. “Wales had a decent team back then – most of their players were playing in the Premier League –

but it was our day,” says Kinkladze. “Those days are quite rare, though they can happen.

Whatever you want to pull off – an exquisite pass, a cheeky lob, dribbling past two players in one move – everything works. We ran riot.”

In the summer of 1995, Georgia travelled to Cardiff Arms Park for the reverse fixture and Kinkladze scored the only goal of the game with a brilliant 25-yard lob over Neville Southall – a year before Philippe Albert did similar in Newcastle’s famous 5-0 thumping of Manchester United.

“Wales came out hungry for revenge, and Vinnie Jones was being, well, himself,” grins Kinkladze. “He kicked Mikheil Kavelashvili, who was already on the floor, and rightly got a red card. I scored the winning goal and it

FourFourTwo September 2021 61

GEORGI KInKLADZE

GEORGIA On THEIR MInD Georgi Kinkladze wasn’t the only Georgia international to end up at Manchester City in the ’90s – three more followed, too.

Just eight months after Kinkladze’s City bow, Mikheil Kavelashvili made his Sky Blues debut – but the striker netted only three times in 30 appearances. It wasn’t enough to earn a renewal of his work permit, and he was shipped off on loan to Grasshoppers.

Kinkladze’s former Saarbrucken team-mate Murtaz Shelia (left) arrived in 1997, as did fellow defender Kakhaber Tskhadadze. Both were hit by injuries but outlasted Kinkladze at Maine Road, going on to feature for City in the third tier.

Only three other Georgians have played Premier League football: Rati Aleksidze made three cameos for Chelsea, Zurab Khizanishvili swapped Rangers for Blackburn, and Temuri Ketsbaia used his spell at Newcastle to take vengeance on several advertising hoardings.

Either he was a staunch opponent of capitalism, or just very angry.

wasn’t bad, if I’m allowed to say so myself!

To a large extent, you could say my move to Manchester City was decided by those two games. Then when I went to City, Kit Symons was there and had played in both games for Wales – I drove him mad by reminding him about them constantly.”

MANCHESTER’S NEW MAINE MAN

Kinkladze moved to Maine Road ahead of the 1995-96 campaign, for a fee of around £2m.

“I found it difficult for the first two or three months,” he remembers. “I don’t think that’s anything out of the ordinary – some players need the whole season to adapt. The tempo of the Premier League was two to three times higher than it is now, and the referee would stop a game only for the most blatant fouls.

“It was rough. Some of the referees cared about technical players not being hacked to pieces, but for others, unless somebody was literally sawing your leg off, they refused to blow their whistle.

“I had problems with the language as well, but not a lot of talking was needed anyway with what I was doing on the field. The first words I learned were ‘give me the ball’ and ‘get in space’. I made do with those phrases.

I was thinking all the time that if I managed to show everybody what I was capable of, if I played my game, that success would come, and with that the respect and the love of the fans too. They were very supportive from the beginning – I was an unknown entity, but they afforded me time and never jeered me.

That was important, and I’m still extremely grateful for it.”

Kinkladze had joined a club that finished just two places above the relegation zone in

the previous season. During his adaptation period, City lost eight consecutive league games and collected only two points from their first 11 matches, culminating in a 6-0 battering at Liverpool.

Soon though, the playmaker started to give them hope. After setting up the only goal in their first victory of the campaign at home to Bolton, he got off the mark himself in a 1-0 triumph over Aston Villa. The Sky Blues took 13 points from five matches to climb out of the bottom three.

By the time they hosted Southampton in March, they sat 17th in the table, one place above the visitors. Kinkladze had already put the hosts in front with a tap-in when he tore Saints apart with his iconic individual effort six minutes later. Alan Ball’s side eventually prevailed 2-1, ensuring everlasting adulation for their match-winner.

“In addition to being a beautiful goal, that game was a six-pointer,” recalls Kinkladze.

“Both teams were battling relegation – after that win, we went five points ahead of them.

Francis Lee said to me, ‘I’ve been in English football for decades and I’ve never seen an ovation that long’.”

Kinkladze relished playing at Maine Road, City’s base until 2003. “Fans were a hand’s reach away – the atmosphere was different, more intimate,” he says. “It felt like home.”

Sadly, the euphoria of that Southampton game didn’t last. The team took one point from their next four games and succumbed to relegation on the last day of the season, mistakenly keeping the ball in the corner in the final minutes against Liverpool, believing a draw was enough. It wasn’t.

City’s player of the year was in demand that summer, with Liverpool among those keen to

“SOME REFEREES CARED ABOUT TECHnICAL PLAYERS nOT BEInG HACKED; OTHERS HAD TO SEE A LEG GETTInG SAWn OFF TO BLOW” 62 September 2021 FourFourTwo

keep him in the Premier League. “I was aware of Liverpool’s interest, and there were other clubs as well,” he says. “But City decided they would rather not sell me, and I wasn’t overly sure about the move because I enjoyed being loved by the fans. I wanted to repay them – no deserting the sinking ship.”

What Kinkladze couldn’t do, however, was stop the ship from sinking further. Despite scoring 12 times in 1996-97, he was part of a City side that finished a disappointing 14th in the second tier. Ball was replaced in the dugout by Steve Coppell, who lasted just 33 days before quitting and eventually being succeeded by Frank Clark.

A season later, Clark was a goner too, with Joe Royle installed for the latter stages of a campaign that ended in shocking fashion: City were relegated to the third tier for the first time in their history.

“They sold every player who was decent,” is Kinkladze’s explanation for the club’s rapid decline during that era. “With all due respect to my team-mates, in the Premier League and the First Division, our direct competition had better squads. Yes, we added a couple of guys, but in general, better players left than those who came in. I did stay, but you can’t win with only one player in good form.

You need about seven at least.”

THE DOWNFALL: PRANGING A FERRARI AND JAMIE POLLOCK’S OWN GOAL

Kinkladze had been crowned player of the season for a second consecutive campaign, even signing a new three-year contract after fans made it clear how desperate they were for him to stay by paying for adverts on the Maine Road scoreboard.

His third and final season was challenging.

After the ink had dried on his new deal, he’d treated himself to a Ferrari, but then crashed it into a motorway bridge in October and missed two matches as he recovered. When Royle took over in February, it was clear the boss regarded him as an unwanted luxury – supremely talented, but too individualistic to benefit the team as a whole.

GEORGI KInKLADZE

“To the fans, he was the only positive in all that time,” Royle wrote in his autobiography.

“To me, he was a big negative. I’m not saying that City’s ills were all down to him, but too often since Kinkladze’s arrival, the team had underperformed. I couldn’t help deducing that contrary to popular opinion, he would be my weak link, not my strong one.”

In the years that have followed, there have been some suggestions that the tweaks of formation to accommodate Kinkladze played a role in City’s Premier League downfall, too.

“So City’s relegation was my fault? Give me a break,” is the Georgian’s robust response to those claims. “There was no need to change the formation just because of me – I played in a 4-4-2; I played from the left, sometimes in a 4-3-1-2. I don’t know who thinks getting relegated was all my fault, but what I think is that if we’d had a few better players, we’d have stayed up.”

For a period towards the end of his third and final season at Maine Road under Royle, Kinkladze was dropped. “It was his decision – as a manager, he was entitled to do so and I respect it,” says the 48-year-old. “He didn’t stick me on the bench straight away – it was after talks about my future intensified, about whether I’d stay or be sold. I think financial concerns played a part, making the club more amenable to selling me.”

Above Kinkladze couldn’t keep City afloat in 1995-96

Kinkladze was restored to the line-up for the penultimate game of the season against QPR, which would prove to be his last home appearance for City. He did his best to save the club from the drop, despite intimidation tactics from Vinnie Jones. “There was a bit of a scuffle in the tunnel,” Kinkladze explains of events before kick-off. “Jones tried to play the hard man, promising to break my legs. We went out, and within a couple of minutes I’d put us 1-0 up. I was smart enough not to get anywhere near him!”

Ultimately, Jamie Pollock’s crazy own goal was a major factor in denying City victory, as he flicked the ball over an opponent’s head, then accidentally nodded it over goalkeeper Martyn Margetson. With the club having long since recovered from that 1997-98 relegation, Kinkladze can chuckle about the goal now.

“Pollock’s own goal was quite something,” he says. “As bad as it was, you have to admit it was exquisite, the way he lobbed his own keeper. Some of our guys even clapped. Jokes were made about whose lob was better – me against Wales or Pollock against ourselves!”

Kinkladze departed City that summer, with the team two divisions lower than when he arrived. But he has no regrets about staying for the full three years, rather than taking up one of the big offers he received after falling out of the Premier League.

“Never in my life have I or will I regret that,” he insists. “Firstly, there’s no point regretting things that happened decades ago. That’s not going to get you anywhere. I might not have won anything with City, but I saw and felt what I meant to the fans. I couldn’t have betrayed that trust. I’m not the kind of guy who abandons a sinking ship.

“Twenty-five years have passed since, but the supporters still remember me. Every now and then, a Georgian flag is waved there as a homage, and I couldn’t have wished for more respect and appreciation. For an English fan, who you are is as important as your skill on the pitch. When you’re in peak form, they all cheer for you. But when you return years later with your career long over, and you see they still give you a standing ovation, that’s a feeling I struggle to put into words. During my time at the club, there were several cases when die-hard City fans would kneel down holding my posters with ‘Don’t Leave’ written on them in Georgian. How can you leave after something like that?

“I wish I could have won at least one trophy with City, but that doesn’t mean I’d have left for trophies – I’d do exactly the same again.”

“I’M WELL AWARE THAT I COULD HAVE ACHIEVED MUCH MORE IN MY CAREER”

A parting was inevitable when the Sky Blues plummeted into the third tier, however, and Kinkladze joined Ajax that summer for £5m.

It was a move that didn’t go as planned – the Dutch giants came sixth in his debut season, still their lowest placing since 1965.

The schemer was stranded on the left wing – his normal spot was taken by Jari Litmanen, who was poised to sign for Barcelona, only for

FourFourTwo September 2021 63

GEORGI KInKLADZE

“OASIS WERE DUE TO START AT 3PM, BUT ME AnD nOEL SPEnT TWO HOURS REMInISCInG AnD AT 5PM THE GIG ORGAnISERS BAnGED On THE DOOR” the switch to be delayed. When Jan Wouters came in as coach, Kinkladze was eventually frozen out altogether.

“It’s not unusual that disagreements with managers ruin your chances to make it at a club that on paper seems ideal for you,” he reflects. “It’s not like I just put the blame on others – it was my fault too. But then again, when I went to Ajax I was 26, already the finished article and playing a position on the field where I was effective. I wouldn’t mind

helping the club by playing in an unfamiliar role, even in defence, for two or three games, but totally transforming yourself is another matter altogether. I was struggling to play in a way that was completely new and alien to me. I didn’t really help the team and wasn’t useful in that position.

“As the new season was about to kick off, I went to the manager and told him, ‘I know Litmanen is a phenomenal footballer and I’m not demanding to play in his place, but I’m

TOO GOOD TO GO DOWn?

happy to be on the bench as long as I get to play in my preferred position’. The Dutch have a somewhat different mentality, and instead of somehow sorting it out, he dropped me altogether. I was disappointed. I blossomed when football was enjoyable and struggled once it became a job. It was difficult to find motivation, but I found it at Derby. I enjoyed my time there very much.”

After talks with Sheffield United, Kinkladze joined the top-tier Rams in November 1999, initially on loan. He spent three and a half years at Pride Park – longer than he’d been at Maine Road – although his impact proved limited: only eight goals in 100 appearances.

Just like Kinkladze, these class acts also suffered relegation from the Premier League

ROY KEANE

Despite a growing list of admirers, the 21-year-old couldn’t help Nottingham Forest escape the drop in the Premier League’s inaugural season of 1992-93.

It signalled the end of Brian Clough’s reign, and Keane completed a British record transfer to Manchester United.

64 September 2021 FourFourTwo

FABRIZIO RAVANELLI & JUNINHO

The international icons steered Boro to two cup finals in 1996-97, but even though Ravanelli scored 31 goals in all competitions and Juninho 15, the club were still relegated.

PAOLO DI CANIO & JOE COLE

No one expected West Ham to fall in 2002-03, but they did despite accruing 42 points. Di Canio and Cole were the standouts in a squad featuring Les Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Jermain Defoe and Fredi Kanouté.

MARK VIDUKA

Leeds’ financial implosion consigned some big names to the drop in 2004 – including Australia goal-getter Viduka, who’d famously bagged four in a 4-3 victory over Liverpool three seasons earlier and even registered a dozen during United’s relegation campaign.

GEORGI KInKLADZE

He played alongside former Middlesbrough and Italy marksman Fabrizio Ravanelli in the East Midlands – just like their previous spells in England, they joined a side in the Premier League but couldn’t prevent its slide into the second tier. Again, Kinkladze remained at the club following relegation. “There weren’t any offers from a team I’d be more interested in,” he reveals. “I had a contract, so I stayed.”

Both Ravanelli and Kinkladze departed in 2003, after Derby had finished 18th in their first season outside the top flight. Kinkladze turned 30 that July, and trained with Leeds and Portsmouth in a bid to prolong his career in English football. He’d actually go more than

ANDY JOHNSON

No player has ever plundered more Premier League goals in a season and still been relegated. Johnson racked up 21 for Crystal Palace in 2004-05 – his debut top-flight campaign – and even received his first England cap against the Dutch, yet the Eagles finished 18th.

Above Now 48, the Sky Blues hero plans to open a Man City academy in Georgia

MICHAEL OWEN

a year without a club before linking up with former Georgia team-mate Temuri Ketsbaia at Anorthosis Famagusta in Cyprus.

He did well enough there to secure a move to Rubin Kazan, but 12 months later, injuries meant he hung up his boots at just 33. There was a sense that he hadn’t maximised the ability he had; that he’d shown the potential to achieve a lot more during his playing days.

“So many people are angry at me because of that – if I started getting angry with myself, it would be too much,” he concedes. “To be honest, I’d be angry and devastated every day, and that wouldn’t help, so I try not to think about it very often. Obviously, I’m well aware that I could have achieved much more in my career, but due to a combination of reasons, it is what it is.”

Whether fairly or not, some have claimed he could have tried harder at times. “I wasn’t lazy, at least by Georgian standards!” he says.

“Well, unless it’s considered a sign of laziness that I could learn whatever was asked of me in 30 minutes, while it took the others three days. I may not have played well sometimes, but it was never due to a lack of effort. There were no allowances for anyone in the Premier League. Nobody will let you get away with a half-hearted performance. You always had to put in a full shift.”

Opinions are rather less divided among City fans. Kinkladze settled in Russia for a period after retirement and met some old mates.

“Oasis always had my respect, as they were die-hard City supporters and wouldn’t miss a match unless they were on tour,” explains Kinkladze. “After performing at Maine Road once, they invited the City players backstage and that’s how our friendship started. We’re still mates to this day. I remember going to an Oasis gig in Moscow. The security guard was a City fan – he clocked me straight away and took me to Noel Gallagher. The concert was supposed to start at 3pm, but we spent two hours talking to each other, reminiscing.

At 5pm, the organisers began banging on the door, trying to get him to finally go on stage!

Whenever I’m back in Manchester, I always meet him. Ricky Hatton is a good friend, too.”

“I’D BE WORTH A BILLION AND A HALF NOW!” Kinkladze briefly returned to Anorthosis as sporting director in 2011, but now runs an agency with an ex-international team-mate.

“Due to the pandemic, I’ve been spending most of my time in Georgia,” he says. “Goga Gakhokidze and I have a football agency – we try our best to support young, promising

Ballon d’Or winner Owen was only 28 as 2008-09 began. Newcastle’s captain hit eight goals, but the Magpies went down after Kevin Keegan, Joe Kinnear, Chris Hughton and Alan Shearer each had spells in charge.

SCOTT PARKER

players, to give them the opportunity to play for elite teams and strengthen the Georgian national side. I planned to open a Manchester City football academy in Tbilisi – negotiations were going on before the pandemic started, so hopefully we can resume those. I’m really keen for it to work out.”

Two years ago, Kinkladze also announced plans to launch his own brand of wine and open a bar near Manchester. “Georgia is the home of wine – we have several millennia of experience making it,” enthuses the Sky Blues legend. “When I visited Manchester with my eldest son, I’d always bring Georgian wine for him and my English friends. They liked it so much that we started something, so let’s see. If Georgian wine can gain a foothold in England, that would be brilliant for the whole country – though the UK wouldn’t have much to complain about either, because our wine is delicious! When the pandemic is fully over and doesn’t impede our ambitions, I’ll invite FourFourTwo for a glass of the best Georgian wine, I promise.”

Whether he can travel or not, Kinkladze will continue watching his old club with interest, as City bid for a fourth Premier League title in five seasons. Asked what he might be worth if he was playing today, he has an immediate answer: “A billion and a half!”

Does that mean he’d have backed himself to make City’s current starting line-up? “It’s hard to say, but I’d definitely play,” declares Kinkladze. “Pep Guardiola is among the three best coaches of all time, and I don’t think I’d have much problem adapting to the team’s philosophy. If I played as I did with the old City, imagine what I could have done under Guardiola in an all-star team?”

Imagine, indeed. In a chapter of gloom for the club, the Georgian was the lone flicker of greatness; the lone messiah among a sea of despair. For all of the current side’s success, few Manchester City players will ever be more popular than Georgi Kinkladze.

MORE On FOURFOURTWO.COM • Georgi Kinkladze, a lightbulb in the dark: the twinkle-toed Georgian hero remembered (by Seb Stafford-Bloor) • The Greatest Goal I Ever Saw… Georgi Kinkladze vs Middlesbrough, December 1995 (by Joe Marshall) • Ranked: The 15 finest own goals, including Popovic, Pollock and Brass (by Greg Lea)

The tenacious midfielder was the Footballer Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year for 2010-11 – despite West Ham finishing bottom. He’s the only Premier League player to have lifted the award in a relegated side.

GINI WIJNALDUM

The Dutchman made a real impression during his first Premier League season in 2015-16, netting four goals against Norwich and a brace in a 5-1 final-day thrashing of erstwhile title contenders Tottenham. Newcastle still ended up in 18th spot, then Liverpool came calling.

FourFourTwo September 2021 65

WREXHAM

IT’S FINALLY SUNNY IN

Hollywood heroes buy fifth-tier Welsh club in bid for glory. It sounds like a movie idea, but this story needs no scripting. Wrexham may have a bright future under Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, but as FFT hears, it took 20 years of unbridled misery to make it this far Words Ryan Herman

WREXHAM

TITLE FAVOURITES 2021-22

WORLD’S OLDEST NATIONAL GROUND

MOST HEROIC FANS

RECORD WELSH CUP WINS

5,000 SEASON TICKETS SOLD

And boy do Wrexham have a story to tell.

The fifth-tier club’s arduous climb back from the brink features covert recordings, gagging orders, court hearings, convicted criminals, a transexual producer of ‘adult films’, and would ultimately lead to an extraordinary takeover by McElhenney – aka Mac from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – and Reynolds.

Is it any wonder there’s so much excitement in north-east Wales? After all, it was the latter’s foul-mouthed superhero Deadpool who once said, “Looks are everything! Ever heard David Beckham speak? It’s like he mouth-sexed a can of helium.”

But new reasons for cheer aside, Wrexham have endured plenty of days in the darkness.

As ever, it’s a story with their long-suffering supporters at the heart of it...

THE GRUESOME TWOSOME

umphrey Ker still struggles to get his head around the past 18 months.

One moment he was a writer and actor in Rob McElhenney’s comedy series Mythic Quest, the next he was being sent back to Britain to find a football club for McElhenney and Hollywood icon Ryan Reynolds to buy.

During the opening season of filming, Ker would occasionally spend his lunch breaks watching Liverpool’s live midweek matches.

McElhenney is a sports fanatic, but couldn’t fathom the appeal of football beyond playing FIFA with his kids.

“Rob saw how much me and another guy on set were into it,” Ker tells FFT. “But the big shift was during lockdown. I recommended he watched Sunderland ’Til I Die. I thought, ‘That’s the key to this. He’s a storyteller. He needs to understand the story of football’.

“The All Or Nothing documentaries are very good, but they don’t cut to the heart of the game, which is the fans. Rob being Rob, he devoured every documentary. He’s a doer, so he said, ‘Let’s buy a football club’. I said, ‘Er yeah, OK’. He replied, ‘No, really’.”

Ker established a set of criteria, among them facilities, fanbase, history and finance.

Wrexham scored highest, with 38 marks out of 50. The scoring mechanism also included a column for ‘narrative’.

68 September 2021 FourFourTwo

“This sounds a bit naff, but we also wanted to buy somewhere that deserves it,” reveals Ker. “Wrexham needs a break, the fans need a break, and the same goes for the town.”

The story begins back on December 3, 2004, when the Welsh side made history by becoming the first to be docked 10 points by the Football League. Under the disastrous reign of Alex Hamilton and Mark Guterman, the club had gone into administration with debts of more than £4 million. By the end of the season, they’d plunged into the fourth tier by a margin of eight points.

Around this time, one supporters’ group started a ‘donate a beer’ scheme where fans would hand over the weekly equivalent of a pint to raise money for the club. That group would later become Wrexham Supporters Trust (WST), who would play a seismic role in the Red Dragons’ future.

But there were also supporters like Lindsay Jones and Kenny Pemberton, a local cabbie known as ‘the man in the pink taxi’. Long before administration, the pair had grown increasingly worried about the club’s future, so recorded a series of meetings with owners Hamilton and Guterman.

“A football club is unlike other businesses,” says Andy Gilpin from the Fearless In Devotion fanzine and podcast. “Say you’ve been to the same hardware shop for 20 years, somebody buys it and puts a garage there. That’s not going to change your life, because you’ll just find another shop.

“If you start messing with a football club, it’s such a major part of people’s lives that they’re not simply going to give in. Hamilton didn’t understand that 100 people would be outside his house every Saturday. He didn’t understand the depth of feeling.”

Gilpin also covered Wrexham for local and national media, and was briefly “banned for life” by Guterman after running a story that the players had been paid late, accompanied by the headline ‘Cash, Bang, Wallop!’ “There were moments when I wished that ban had stood,” he says, half-jokingly.

When Jones and Pemberton attempted to make their recordings public, the tapes were seized by police and became the subject of a gagging order. Pemberton spent £35,000

Below The club’s Racecourse Ground was saved only in a High Court ruling Right Wrexham’s Van Wilder: Party Liaison branch has just doubled in size

of his own money challenging the decision, which was later repaid by the club. The two fans eventually settled with Guterman out of court, but the hearing set in motion a chain of events that would achieve Pemberton’s aim of ousting Wrexham’s toxic owners.

Eventually, it came to light that Hamilton and Guterman had made an agreement – in writing, no less – where their “main and sole objective” of owning Wrexham was “to realise the maximum potential gain from the [club’s] property assets”.

Upon purchasing the Red Dragons in 2002, Hamilton had immediately transferred the ground to his company, Crucialmove, in the hope that a superstore chain might offer him millions for its land down the line. Wrexham would then move to an unspecified location on the edge of town.

Luckily, administrators David Acland and Steve Williams were wise to the ruse: they successfully contested that Hamilton and Guterman had been acting unlawfully, and a judge ruled that the Racecourse Ground should be transferred back to Wrexham in 2005. Pemberton passed away in 2012, but fans still hold a day in his honour to celebrate the cabbie who saved his club.

Not that things got much better. In 2006, local businessman Geoff Moss took over with a masterplan to turn the car park into student flats, then plough those profits back into the club. But Moss overreached on the pitch, and in 2008 Wrexham were relegated from the Football League. To shore up mounting debts, the Racecourse Ground’s proprietorship was transferred to Wrexham Village Ltd – a firm owned by Moss.

Wrexham were put up for sale in 2010, and a series of prospective owners came forward.

“THE HIGHLIGHT OF SOME MATCHES WAS COUNTING THE CROWD. AN EXTRA 100 PEOPLE AT £11.40 A HEAD WAS £250,000 A YEAR”

WREXHAM Former Chester chairman Stephen Vaughan – the first person to fail the FA’s fit and proper person’s test in 2009 through his involvement in a £500,000 VAT fraud – said he was part of a consortium bid to purchase the club, mere months before he was handed a 15-month prison sentence for assaulting a police officer on his driveway.

Other bidders included Colin Poole, the CEO of Claims Direct when the company collapsed in 2002 who was later struck off from acting as a solicitor, and ex-UKIP candidate Stephen Cleeve – the focus of a BBC land sale sting in 2006 and previously suspended from being a company director for eight years after an investment scam involving champagne. He has since become a successful chairman at National League side King’s Lynn, joining the Linnets in 2016.

And then there was Stephanie Booth: born Keith Hull before undergoing transformative surgery in 1984, she ran a beauty salon for transvestites but was given a suspended sentence for prostitution services there, and later spent three months in Askham Grange for selling soft porn without a valid licence.

Booth was a pioneering figure in the trans community and a local celebrity, but pulled the plug after citing abuse from supporters.

“I’d known Stephanie for many years,” says Gilpin. “I’d even judged wedding competitions with her – she was a real force of nature. But however well-meaning she may have been, you certainly wouldn’t want her in charge of your football club.”

Meanwhile, the WST was desperately trying to raise enough funds to run the club itself.

Former board member and honorary club vice-president Spencer Harris remembers the overwhelming sense of helplessness.

“Fans can be buffeted by decisions from a few people that have big ramifications,” he says. “And you get into a situation whereby it doesn’t matter what you do, no one seems to be helping you.”

Wrexham’s future was in doubt. The money had run out and, agonisingly, it seemed like their time as a club might, too.

TEN ROUNDS WITH TYSON

Ahead of the 2011-12 campaign, Wrexham were still £100,000 short of the £250,000 bond they needed to guarantee their fixtures or be kicked out of the league and into the abyss. Moss, he insisted, had no money left to inject, and the deadline to offer up the required proof had passed.

But fans came to the rescue again, which featured one moment at the Turf Hotel – the birthplace of Wrexham AFC and focal point for fundraisers – that read like a scene from a feelgood film. As donations were frantically counted, a 10-year-old walked in and handed over £35 towards saving his beloved team.

As supporters offered up their pocket money, wedding funds and even the deeds of their homes, the club met their £100,000 target in a whirlwind day.

By December, the WST had completed their takeover of Wrexham. Glyndwr University had bought the Racecourse Ground earlier that year, but the WST secured a 99-year lease on it in 2016.

“What united the fanbase was having some credible people fronting the bid,” says Harris.

One of them was Barry Horne – a former Wales international, Everton captain, FA Cup winner and former head of the PFA. “Instead of being hostage to somebody else’s fortune, it was a moment when people were ready to unite and believe we could do this ourselves.

“But we also knew it was going to be very tough. When we took over, just about every relationship that a club could have within its community, with local administrators and leagues, was burned. We were also losing £750,000 a year and were £500,000 in debt.

We had absolutely nothing in terms of legal practices and policies.

“The club had virtually no commercial income. There had previously been a fire sale of season tickets to bring a bit of money in.

We didn’t have a proper kit. And we all had full-time jobs! It was a monumental effort from everyone, not just the Trust.”

In the space of three years, they had paid back the debt and broken even.

“Sometimes, the highlight of going to the game almost became how many people were in the crowd,” says Harris. “If an extra 100 supporters were paying £11.40 a head across 23 games, that was £250,000 a year. You’d have this feeling in the pit of your stomach when you had to do the budget around April

WREXHAM or May. I used to come out of that meeting with the finance director feeling like I’d gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, thinking, ‘We’ve got to put more in than that’.

“During COVID, we had no income but still had costs. Yet we handed over a debt-free club [to McElhenney and Reynolds]. Fans don’t expect to see Wrexham in non-league, but we simply couldn’t get back up into the Football League. Some people lose faith and that can cause tension.”

After 12 years of non-league football, there was a growing sense that WST had taken the club as far as they could. The relationship between board and supporters resembled a marriage where the parents stick together purely for their kids’ sake. Harris says there had been dozens of enquiries about buying Wrexham, most of which sounded more like phishing scams. But last May, Portsmouth CEO Mark Catlin got in touch. Would Harris be interested in speaking to Steve Horowitz from Inner Circle Sports?

“Once we’d done some reading, we knew this was different and they were serious,” he recalls. Inner Circle had previously brokered deals to purchase Liverpool, Portsmouth and Crystal Palace. Being debt-free paid dividends.

“In very preliminary talks with other clubs it was like, ‘Well, it will cost you £2m to buy this club off me’,” explains Ker, who is now Wrexham’s executive director. “You can give a rich man £2m, or you can put it into the operating budget of a community-run club.

The objective was to use it as a philanthropic engine; a way to generate more positivity and investment in the town.”

The other positive legacy that WST left was a commitment from the Welsh government to invest in a major redevelopment plan that includes the Racecourse’s disused Kop stand.

The Wrexham Gateway project may also be bolstered by the government’s Levelling Up Fund - the town became a Tory seat for the first time in 2019.

“This began in October 2017,” says Harris.

“Me and a couple of other directors went to Cardiff to present to the Welsh Assembly and highlight Wales’ unequal distribution of facilities. That began the Wrexham Gateway partnership. The Welsh government has already purchased the land for it to happen.”

LOOK MUM, WE’RE ON THE TELLY

McElhenney and Reynolds finally completed their takeover on February 9. While many fans rejoiced, others, like Gilpin, were hardwired to disappointment. They wanted evidence of a plan beyond the new owners’ goodwill community gestures, and a documentary series called Welcome to Wrexham that will air early next year.

“The question I kept asking myself is, ‘Are you making a documentary or are you buying a football club?’” he says. “It was 50-50 for me, but the thing that tipped it in favour of buying a football club was the appointment of Phil Parkinson as manager. He’s not box office in the sense that they could have given it to Casey Stoney, who was reportedly in the frame. They’ve gone for experience.”

70 September 2021 FourFourTwo

“I’VE TOLD ROB AND RYAN THAT, EVENTUALLY, THEY WILL GET CALLED C**TS. THAT’S JUST FOOTBALL” Parkinson, who has won three promotions and took Bradford to the 2013 League Cup Final, contacted ex-Southampton vice-chair and FA technical advisor Les Reed, who now sits on the board at Wrexham.

“I worried that when I arrived they would think, ‘Who is this posh wally?’,” adds Ker. “But since then we’ve also brought in Fleur Robinson [recently of Burton Albion] as our CEO, and Shaun Harvey [former Leeds and EFL CEO] has become our strategic advisor.

It’s a piece-by-piece process.”

New boss Parkinson was equally convinced.

“I looked at the ambition of Wrexham and wanted to be part of something,” he tells FFT. “I wanted to go somewhere where there’s a real chance of making a difference. I had a great conversation with Rob – he outlined why they bought Wrexham, and his passion for it just blew me away. A successful club, especially in a football town like Wrexham, can bring a sense of pride to the community.

It’s an honour to try to make that happen.”

Parkinson saw the Sunderland ’Til I Die team leave shortly before his spell at the Stadium of Light, but has had time to adjust to Wrexham’s new normal.

“Coming in at the start of pre-season helped me get used to the cameras,” he says. “We know they’ll be around and we know we have to play our part in all of that. We have to work together to tell the story. It’s part of the overall package of Rob and Ryan buying in.

“Wrexham fans talk about the Arsenal FA Cup victory in 1992.

Every time I bump into Bradford

Above “Stand up, if you love Deadpool” Below McElhenney and Reynolds are bringing Hollywood glamour to Wales

fans, they talk about the 2012-13 League Cup run. You want a parent taking their child to a packed house and giving them something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.

I want to create these sort of memories for the people of Wrexham.”

Parkinson’s arrival, along with Paul Mullin, who broke a League Two record last term by scoring 32 goals in 46 games for promoted Cambridge, resulted in Wrexham’s odds being slashed for the National League title.

We’re all familiar with new owners waltzing in having the best intentions, only to then use their business acumen for immoral ends. But in Hollywood, where image is everything and ideas get binned if there isn’t a happy ending, failure isn’t an option. Parkinson knows from Sunderland what it’s like to lead the team that everyone wants to beat.

Now, Ker is trying to educate his new bosses on some finer points. “One of my main jobs is explaining football culture to Rob and Ryan,” he says. “They are both very astute. But I told them that at some point, you’ll be at an airport or train station and someone will call you a c**t.

It doesn’t make any difference if you’re a good guy. That’s just football. That’s life.”

Welcome to Wrexham, Mac and Deadpool. And welcome to football.

.

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KEVIn KEEGAn Fifty years ago, a lean 20-year-old made his Liverpool bow following an almighty leap from the Fourth Division. Kevin Keegan’s incredible success extended far beyond the Kop, however, during a fascinating career of pop singles, punch-ups, bike crashes… and cracking perms

Words Ed McCambridge 72 September 2021 FourFourTwo

LOVE

HEAD OVER HEELS In

t all started in the back of a van, rumbling between Doncaster and Scunthorpe.

It was the summer of 1966 and sat behind the wheel was Bob Nellis, a furniture salesman who’d once had trials with the former. Now in his thirties, Nellis’ football career consisted of the odd Sunday League kickabout as well as helping to coach a local kids team.

Dreams of making it had long since expired; Nellis didn’t even have enough balls or kit to run his training sessions. As luck would have it, the solution to acquiring some was getting changed on the back seat of his van: a scrawny 15-year-old lad named Joseph.

Nellis had initially met the youngster a few weeks earlier, and hadn’t much enjoyed the encounter. Turning out for his local pub team, he was tasked with marking the skinny waif playing on the right of midfield. Such was the runaround Nellis received, he approached the kid at the final whistle. Nellis had a contact at Scunthorpe United, he explained, and 10 balls and a bag of kit had been promised if he could bring them someone worth signing.

Joseph had been to trials before, including at Coventry, but his miniature 5ft 8in stature proved a stumbling block. Still, the offer was a no-brainer for this pint-sized pub footballer who’d just quit school to work for a nearby brassworks firm.

Once delivered to the Old Show Ground, Scunthorpe’s original home, the prodigy’s trial consisted of a cross country run before a match on the car park adjacent to the pitch.

Even on gravel, it was obvious that the teen was wasted on ballcocks and toilet fittings.

Iron manager Ron Ashman summoned the trialist to his office before the session had even concluded.

That night, Nellis drove home with a new bag of balls on his back seat. And Joseph Kevin Keegan was a professional footballer.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Scunthorpe had been relegated to the Fourth Division before Keegan made his first-team debut in September 1968, aged only 17. The team trained on a rugby pitch owned by the local council, and players took turns to drive the minibus to matches. During the summer, they found part-time work to beef up their income; Keegan, for example, worked on the railways for British Steel.

Despite his shabby surroundings, the young forward was determined to shine. “The thing that impresses me most about you is that you’re a hundred percenter,” fitness trainer Jack Brownsword told him. Keegan would regularly be seen running up and down the terraces, weights tied to his waist, long after team-mates clocked off.

74 September 2021 FourFourTwo

The starlet made 89 appearances across his first two seasons, and his performances quickly attracted interest from bigger clubs.

Indeed, such was the buzz around Keegan that Granada Television visited Scunthorpe’s Quibell Park training ground to interview the coveted 19-year-old.

“I’m ’appy here... it’s a very good club,” the pearly-faced Keegan tells presenter Gerald Sinstadt in his soft Yorkshire accent, while mud-caked team-mates shoot into a rugby goal over his shoulder. “I’m getting first-team football – should think if I went First Division, I’d struggle a bit.”

It was soon time to test that hypothesis. In 1971, Scunthorpe accepted a £33,000 offer from Liverpool. Ashman, who negotiated the deal himself, drove Keegan to Anfield. “Have you got a good suit?” he asked his protégé.

“Where you’re heading, you’re going to need to look smart.”

The Reds had gone five campaigns without a major trophy, and bringing in a 20-year-old from the fourth tier went unnoticed.

“We didn’t know anything about him,” Ian Callaghan, Liverpool’s record appearance holder with 857 outings between 1960 and 1978, tells FFT. “We went on a pre-season tour and this lad called Kevin came with us.

That was the first time we’d ever seen or heard of him.”

Callaghan admits the squad were instantly impressed by Keegan’s determination. “His enthusiasm and energy were fantastic from the off,” he recalls. “He was a very fit young guy and he gave everything – you could see how much he wanted it.”

Though he was signed as an understudy to Callaghan at right-midfield, Keegan’s lack of positional discipline during training prompted a rethink. After watching him play upfront in a youth match, Reds boss Bill Shankly gave him a chance there in a first-team training game. Unbridled by defensive responsibilities, Keegan scored four in a 7-0 rout.

A senior debut soon followed, with Keegan handed the No.7 shirt against Nottingham Forest at Anfield in August 1971. He arrived into the dressing room almost half an hour late – “I hadn’t anticipated the traffic around the ground on matchdays” – but shook off a Shankly rollicking to score the opener after 12 minutes in a 3-1 victory. Unsurprisingly, Keegan was teed up that day by Welsh strike partner John Toshack.

“He quickly formed an excellent partnership with Tosh,” remembers Callaghan. “They had such a connection.” In fact, so in tune did the pair seem, they later appeared on a 1974 ITV show to try to prove if they actually had telepathic powers. “It came back negative,” confessed Keegan, “but rather than spoiling everyone’s fun, we kept that quiet.”

Keegan made another 41 appearances during his debut campaign, scoring 11 goals in all competitions. Liverpool went potless for a sixth year running, but that all changed in 1972-73 when both Keegan and Toshack

“WE WEnT On PRE-SEASOn AnD THIS LAD CALLED KEVIn CAME WITH US – THAT WAS THE FIRST WE’D SEEn HIM” plundered 13 league goals apiece, helping Liverpool to a first title since 1965-66. Weeks later, they followed it up with a 3-2 aggregate triumph over Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup final; Shankly’s paltry purchase from Scunthorpe bagged a brace against the Germans in a 3-0 first-leg romp.

By the 1973-74 season, Keegan was the Merseysiders’ big game player. After losing the league title to Leeds, he scored twice in the FA Cup final win over Newcastle – leading to an infamous Charity Shield scuffle with Billy Bremner. Keegan and the Scot received three- and eight-match bans respectively.

Little could King Kev lower in his gaffer’s estimations, however. “Shankly loved Kevin like a son,” smiles Callaghan. “They adored each other. Bill made everybody feel special.

He didn’t like to play favourites with players, but their bond was clear.”

By the mid-70s, Keegan’s adulation had reached Beatles-level. The frontman was the driving force in Liverpool’s second wave of dominance under Shankly, then improved further under the Scot’s successor Bob Paisley. He was named the Football Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year in 1976 after the Reds’ second league and UEFA Cup double in just four campaigns. Kev-mania was in full swing.

“Kevin came to Liverpool and developed into one of the best players – and one of the most famous men – in the country,” says Callaghan.

“He became the next superstar after George Best. You’d go out

KEVIn KEEGAn

to the car park after the game and there’d be queues of fans waiting to see him, and he wouldn’t head off until he’d signed every last autograph.”

Keegan was one of the first footballers to recognise his marketability. He opened shops and starred in advertisements, including for Brut aftershave with ex-boxer Henry Cooper.

In the summer of 1976, he appeared on ITV’s Superstars. The show pitted athletes from a range of sports against one another in Olympic-style events, with Keegan hurtling off a bike and grazing his shoulder.

“The people in the stands have come here to see me make a fool of myself and they’ve got a right to it!” he insisted, before dusting himself down to win the steeplechase and claim overall victory.

“It would never be allowed now,” chuckles Callaghan. “But it was great entertainment.”

Keegan had also become key for England after making his debut against Wales in 1972.

Clockwise from above King Kev first ascended the throne at Anfield; ruling Superstars; “I’m not done with you yet, Bremner”

The ’70s was a fallow period for the national team, however, as the Three Lions failed to qualify for either the World Cups in ’74 and ’78, or Euros in ’72 and ’76.

“Everyone was disappointed with the way things went,” his England team-mate Mick Channon tells FFT. “People analyse why we didn’t get to any tournaments, but ultimately we weren’t f**king good enough.”

The blow of missing out on Euro 76 would be softened by extra success at club level.

A dozen goals helped to deliver the 1976-77 championship, before Monchengladbach – regular Reds victims back then – were beaten 3-1 in Rome’s European Cup final.

“Kevin was the man of the match,” grins Callaghan. “He ran Gladbach defender Bertie Vogts, his man marker, ragged that night.”

Ten years after that trip in the back of Bob Nellis’ van, Keegan had reached the pinnacle.

But despite the relentless glory at Anfield, he was getting itchy feet.

“He admitted to us at the beginning of the European Cup-winning campaign that he was seeking a new challenge,” reveals Callaghan.

“Kevin rarely changed his mind, and made arrangements to leave us before the season’s end. The way he played in that European Cup final was the perfect send-off.”

PERMS AND POP SINGLES

If Keegan’s decision to leave the European champions at the height of his powers raised eyebrows – “I’m not being vindictive,” said Paisley, being vindictive, “but I wouldn’t play a man for England that goes abroad” – his destination was even more bewildering. The 26-year-old didn’t join another English club

or European giant like Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. Instead he opted for Hamburg, who’d just finished sixth in the Bundesliga.

“We were all surprised Kevin came to HSV,” laughs right-back Manfred Kaltz, who made 729 appearances for them between 1971 and 1991. “It was a big transfer for the club – he’d just won the European Cup, so was a name on everybody’s lips.”

The size of the deal added to the surprise: £500,000 was a British transfer record, and more than doubled Germany’s. Just as the Beatles swapped the Mersey for the fortunes on offer by the Elbe, Keegan knew his worth.

“With God and Kevin Keegan with us, we will win,” bragged Hamburg general manager Peter Krohn at the attacker’s unveiling.

The sums rubbed Keegan’s team-mates up badly, though. A group led by captain Peter Nogly knocked on HSV boss Rudi Gutendorf’s door to share their reservations. “If you put the little English guy in, we don’t want to work with you,” they reportedly warned. “We don’t need him and we don’t like him.”

Meanwhile, the England international was struggling to settle in northern Germany. He didn’t know the language – admitting in one instance to visiting a hardware shop to buy a fuse, then leaving with Christmas lights just to end the embarrassment for everyone – and began to suspect that his colleagues were intentionally not passing the ball to him.

Keegan told his wife that he felt “unusually vulnerable”, but Kaltz believes he was being sensitive. “No one tried to send him back to England or anything,” he tells FFT. “He just had a hard time with the language. Everyone knew that Kevin would earn a lot of money, but I doubt anyone was envious of him for it.”

FourFourTwo September 2021 75

KEVIn KEEGAn Either way, emotions swiftly began to get the better of Keegan. During a winter friendly against VfB Lubeck on New Year’s Day 1978, the Englishman snapped. Unhappy at the repeated roughhousing from an opposition defender, Keegan “knocked his lights out” before walking straight off the pitch.

An eight-week ban proved a turning point.

Keegan got a call from an old pal. “Did you hit him properly, son?” Shankly cackled down the line. “Was it a left or a right hook? Did he stay down until the count of 10?” Keegan promised his former manager that he’d make a go of his career in the Bundesliga.

The first step was trying to master the language. “He put in a lot of effort and learned German very quickly,” recalls Kaltz. “He needed a bit of time to settle, but soon fitted in extremely well. In terms of commitment, attitude and ambition, everyone acknowledged that Kevin really was something special.”

It didn’t hurt that Hamburg’s early-season promise crashed in Keegan’s absence – they won only two of the eight games he missed.

Eventually, his team-mates began inviting him out and requested updates about when he could play again.

With the barriers now down, Keegan was touched to turn up for training one day and find full-back Peter Hidien sporting a perm.

Keegan had pioneered the haircut to mixed early results. On first viewing, wife Jean burst out laughing, while Keegan’s agent jokingly tried to disown him in public. Soon though, it was the footballer barnet du jour.

“I even tried it myself, but it was a complete disaster!” guffaws Kaltz.

At the end of Keegan’s debut campaign, in which Hamburg finished 10th, Branko Zebec was appointed as manager. His impact was profound. A fierce disciplinarian, the Yugoslav believed his new squad needed toughening up, as punishing fitness sessions twice a day became the norm. “I’d never trained so hard in my life,” groaned Keegan.

But there was method to Zebec’s madness.

Hamburg outran and outmuscled opponents to reach second place in the Bundesliga at Christmas, as Keegan – who hit a hat-trick against Arminia Bielefeld in HSV’s last game before the turkeys came out – won his first Ballon d’Or in 1978. Die Rothosen went 13 matches unbeaten from March to a final-day defeat by Bayern Munich and cruised to the title, Keegan smashing 11 goals. Supporters affectionately dubbed him ‘Mighty Mouse’ due to his powerful yet diminutive frame, and Kaltz concedes the team became reliant on Keegan’s ability to win.

“You could play him in midfield or up top,” he explains. “He was strong in the air, a good dribbler, lightning fast and a great scorer, but he also worked incredibly hard defensively.”

In true superstar form, Keegan celebrated Hamburg’s victory by releasing a pop single.

Head Over Heels In Love was a chart success, selling more than 200,000 copies in Germany

76 September 2021 FourFourTwo

Kaltz believes the intensity of Zebec’s training sessions were a major factor in his decision.

“It meant we often lacked energy towards the end of matches,” he says. “If he’d stayed, I think we would have been champions two or three more times.”

AUF WIEDERSEHEN, KEV

and peaking at No.31 in the British rankings. “I actually thought that song was quite good,” titters Mick Channon, who used to rib Keegan about his England team-mate’s pop ‘career’.

That Bundesliga crown would be Keegan’s only silverware in Germany, although he did win a second successive Ballon d’Or in 1979, before Hamburg lost the 1980 European Cup Final to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in Madrid. By then, the headstrong Keegan had already revealed he was returning to England.

It’s difficult to imagine any Ballon d’Or holder coming to the same conclusion as King Kev. He spurned offers from Real Madrid, Juventus and the USA to join Southampton: a Second Division outfit as recently as 1978, but who’d just come eighth in the top flight.

The move was all down to Saints manager Lawrie McMenemy, who called Keegan under the guise of needing some light fittings for his home. “They’re only made in Hamburg, Kevin,” he pleaded. “Could you bring a few back for me on your next visit?” Cunningly, McMenemy soon turned the conversation to Keegan’s plans once his Hamburg contract expired that summer.

“Lawrie was certainly a wheeler dealer,” smiles Channon, into his 15th Saints year by then. “He knew what was going on and who was available. But Kevin was Europe’s player of the year and probably the best footballer in the world. You don’t often get characters like him at Southampton.”

KEVIn KEEGAn

Keegan’s hopes of winning a league title with a struggling club didn’t pay off a second time. A talented-yet-ageing crop – including Channon, Charlie George and 1966 World Cup winner Alan Ball – did, however, help Saints to what was then their highest ever league finish of sixth in 1981, before ending seventh in Keegan’s second season.

His 26-goal haul in 1981-82 bagged him the First Division golden boot, as well as the PFA Player of the Year award. Saints may not have been top class, but in Channon’s eyes his strike partner still was.

“Kevin was in his prime when he arrived at Southampton,” he remembers. “He’d score goals, make goals and dictate games. If his name was on the team-sheet, you knew we were guaranteed another few thousand fans through the turnstiles.”

Ahead of the 1982-83 season, the recently retired England captain – who’d finally made a World Cup outing that summer, albeit for 27 injury-doomed minutes against Spain – made another shock move. For once, though, fans could understand the destination.

Keegan’s ancestors had emigrated from Ireland to Newcastle. His grandfather, Frank, was a local hero: a mine inspector who saved 30 lives following the West Stanley Colliery explosion in 1909. His father Joe and uncle Frank also spent their working lives down the

“HE WAS THE BEST PLAYER In THE WORLD – YOU DOn’T GET THAT AT SOUTHAMPTOn”

Clockwise from below “Must.

Touch. Perm”; with Our ‘Enry; saying ta-ra to the Toon Army; a “quite good” single; loving Hamburg life; “but I’m a Saint”

pits, and Saturdays at St James’ Park. It was Keegan’s homecoming, even as the Magpies languished in the Second Division.

Tens of thousands mobbed the stadium for Keegan’s unveiling, and the queue for season tickets went around the block. Those frenzied scenes had nothing on Keegan’s debut: a 1-0 win over QPR which featured a goal from the man himself. The 32-year-old celebrated by launching himself into the swaying support.

“I could have stayed there forever,” he later reflected. The atmosphere Keegan inspired was only outshone by his brilliance.

“He was the messiah to those fans,” former Newcastle and Northern Ireland midfielder David McCreery tells FFT. “But 100 per cent, he was still a world-class player. The rest of us went onto the pitch knowing he was going to be the difference.”

For Keegan, mere adoration wasn’t enough.

He felt it was on him to take the club back to the top flight, and was disappointed with the team’s fifth-place finish in his debut season.

But Peter Beardsley’s arrival from Vancouver Whitecaps proved significant in year two – his

work-rate and creativity allowed an ageing Keegan to prosper. By then 33, the messiah netted 27 goals in 41 appearances to steer Newcastle to promotion.

Leading the Magpies in the First Division, 13 years after his Liverpool bow, seemed the perfect end to a remarkable career. But King Kev had already chosen to retire.

“The players and the manager, Arthur Cox, tried to convince him to stay on,” continues McCreery. “We knew what a huge asset he would be in the First Division. But when Kevin makes his mind up, there’s no changing it.”

McCreery rates Keegan as “one of the best I played with, alongside George Best and Paul Gascoigne.” Kaltz calls him “a great player and a great person” – sentiments echoed by Channon. “Wherever Kevin went, he made a massive impression on everyone,” he says of his friend. “He was top dog.”

But Callaghan, like many Reds supporters, believes Keegan’s playing legacy belongs to Anfield. “He’s one of the greatest players in Liverpool history,” he declares. “Kevin was the best. It’s that simple.”

Keegan’s career may have been officially over in 1984, but for a man whose perm and pop career broke the mould for footballers, there was time for one more piece of pizzazz: a farewell friendly between Newcastle and Liverpool at a sun-kissed St James’ Park. Fans held up banners reading “Auf Wiedersehen, Kev”, as a teenage Alan Shearer watched in awe as ball boy.

“There were probably another 15,000 fans outside wanting to pay their tributes,” says McCreery, who played in the 2-2 draw. “Kevin had brought good times back to the club and people wanted to thank him.”

The most memorable moment came at the final whistle. A white helicopter landed on the centre circle as Keegan completed a closing lap of the pitch, a horde of supporters in tow.

Then, wiping tears from his eyes, he climbed aboard his chariot.

A career which started in the back of a van ended in a helicopter. Up it went, high above the stadium. Its passenger took one last look at the swirling sea of black and white below, crossed the Newcastle skyline and vanished into the blue.

MORE On FOURFOURTWO.COM • Kevin Keegan recalls Newcastle’s 1995-96: “I still have nightmares about how we threw the title away” (by Sam Pilger) • The odd history of football-inspired names: from German Kevins to 600 Brazilian Linekers (by Huw Davies) • How Kevin Keegan’s romantic Newcastle return ended with but more broken hearts (by Gary Parkinson)

FourFourTwo September 2021 77

SYRIA

THE KEEPER WHO WEnT TO WAR

SYRIA

In June 2019, Syria’s former under-20 goalkeeper was killed fighting for freedom in his people’s devastating war against president Bashar al-Assad. To millions, Abdul Baset al-Sarout was a hero standing up for justice; to others, he was an extremist who flirted dangerously with Islamic State (ISIS). This is his incredible story...

Words Nick Moore

SYRIA he goalkeeper is hoisted high above the huge, wild crowd in front of the Clock Tower in Homs, Syria. He’s propped up by a mass of humanity, as if he’s a crowd surfer at a heavy metal gig. There’s a volume to match. Thousands of frenzied men jump up and down, lock arms and spin in circles as their hero is passed through to a raised platform. But this is not the end to some dramatic football tournament – it’s a furious political protest.

Warned that his life is in danger – that assassins of the regime he detests, the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, may be gunning for him – the goalkeeper points to his head.

“Listen, oh sniper: here’s the neck and here’s the head,” he goads. The crowd erupts. What follows is extraordinary. Like a football terrace, the gathering fervently parrots his chants.

“The army’s hearts are dead! Who is killing us? The army and our supposed brothers!”

“Bashar kills his own people to stay in power – shame on him!”

“It’s your choice, soldier: to heal or kill!”

“Homs the audacious! Leave, leave, leave!”

After the performance, the goalkeeper is bundled into a car and the crowd claws at this hybrid of rock star and rebel; Diego Maradona, Mick Jagger and Che Guevara, all at once. The car speeds away and the children of Homs run after it, singing, “Baset, we love you!”

The goalkeeper is on top of the world. It’s early 2011, and the Syrian rebellion is young.

In the wake of the Arab Spring, a series of pro-democracy uprisings and protests across the area, hope has returned to an oppressed people. Assad’s violent regime has terrorised Syria since 2000, and his father’s before him since 1971.

The goalkeeper is 19-year-old Abdul Baset al-Sarout, a promising former international with Syria’s youth teams. He’s also known as ‘The Nightingale of the Revolution’, leading the uprising in Homs.

However, in fighting his cause, and for his country, the well of optimism will soon run dry. It will be replaced by horror. Baset’s story will traverse heroism, war crimes, a siege, the death of his family, Islamic extremism and desperation as the net tightens around him.

Football will offer him a way out, and he will refuse it. Football, as with almost everything else good in Syria, will be destroyed.

As Kim Ghattas writes in her devastating analysis of the region, Black Wave, the Syrian revolution will not follow the path of more fortunate Arab Spring nations. Instead: “There would be rivers of blood, millions of refugees. The war in Syria would break the Middle East. It would break the world.”

Elements of the British press may still rage about people in dinghies trying to make it to Dover. Few wonder why they’re doing it.

The goalkeeper’s story is Syria’s story – and few emerge from it well.

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AL-SAROUT WAS OFFERED A PLACE On THE FREE SYRIAn FOOTBALL TEAM In TURKEY. HE DECLInED AnD FOUGHT TO THE EnD “HE WAS LIKE RENE HIGUITA” It wasn’t meant to be like this. Born and raised in Homs, Baset was the most gifted young goalkeeper to have emerged from his country in years. In a regional media poll, he was voted the second-best custodian in the whole of Asia, despite his teenage years.

“He was so talented,” says Syrian journalist Orwa Kanawati, talking to FourFourTwo from Turkey where he is now based after fleeing Aleppo. “He played for Karama FC in Homs, and graduated with the player who is now the No.1 for Syria [Ibrahim Alma]. He would have played for Syria for many years.

“Baset was a flamboyant, acrobatic keeper.

He liked to do tricks – many people likened him to the Colombian, Rene Higuita. But he was also strong, brave and a good athlete.”

Before the rebellion of 2011, football in Syria was wildly popular but “third world”, according to Kanawati. “We don’t have many football accomplishments,” he explains.

“We’ve never qualified for the World Cup, although we did have a referee [Jamal Al Sharif] there! We didn’t beat big countries.”

Sport suffered under the current leadership.

It had been hoped by the west that when Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, his son might be a reformer. The opposite was the case: under Bashar’s rule, the nation became even more insular. “Before 2000, it was common for the Syrian league to bring in professionals from outside Syria,” adds Kanawati. “After then it wasn’t allowed, and Syrian clubs had to belong to the government.”

The Arab Spring would fire this low-level suppression into the stratosphere. Uprisings, beginning in Tunisia but then spreading to Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria, sent panic through the region’s dictators – both Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak were deposed. As Ghattas writes, in Syria, “Private yearning for freedom from a brutal dictator became a tsunami of people on the streets, openly resisting him [Assad]. Syrians had discovered their own power as they broke out of the internal prison that had confined them throughout decades.”

Crowds chanted, “There is no president for eternity – down with Assad!” Baset was one

Above Hated in some quarters, but a visionary martyr to many

of many roused, but many other key figures didn’t join in. Some were pro-regime, and there was also a religious divide (it’s a slight generalisation, but many rebels were Sunni Muslims while many loyalists were Shias).

Others were frightened. “They tried to get famous people to be anti-revolution, and they monitored anyone pro-revolution,” says Kanawati. “The Assad regime wanted to use athletes to suppress demonstrations and convince people that this was all a foreign plot to topple their reign. When some, like Baset, rejected the killing of their people, the regime targeted them. So, Baset joining the revolution was a big deal.”

SYRIA

As dissent grew, football was suspended.

“The regime were concerned that stadiums would be a focal point for protest,” continues Kanawati. “The matches would be streamed to an international audience and they didn’t want anyone to see any unrest.”

The ultras would instead be found chanting on the streets, in places such as Homs. At first, it was peaceful – but Assad responded with force. Stone-throwing was promptly met with bullets and grenades. Tanks were sent in, rebels rounded up. Baset was briefly courted by the regime, who recognised his sway. In the remarkable documentary about him, Return To Homs, he tells the story while picking through the rubble of his destroyed former home, where his brother has recently been killed by an army offensive.

“A few months ago, I could have returned to my normal life,” he says. “They asked me to meet Bashar, then speak on TV. ‘You’ll be a star player,’ they said. They were furious when I refused.” Surveying the mess, Baset begins to realise that peaceful resistance is futile. “We are dealing with people who don’t fear God,” he insists. “We would never win if we stayed peaceful. I don’t need them to be a star player.”

“WHEN A REGIME KILLS YOUR WIFE, YOUR CHILD, YOU DON’T HIRE A LAWYER”

part of the Shia Alawite sect). On the other side, the Sunni world, led by Saudi Arabia, wanted to limit Iranian influence (which, as ever, usually boiled down to oil and power).

While Barack Obama disapproved of Assad, he was wary of another hellish conflict in the area. The US, always ready to prompt ‘regime change’ whenever it suited them, calculated that although Assad was deplorable, a war in Syria would prove too costly. The west had used Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapon potential as a reason to destroy him – but

when Assad actually used chemical weapons on his own civilians, the west didn’t react.

“We were so disappointed with the west,” says Kanawati. “Yes, they accepted refugees and provided some aid, but they didn’t take a strong position against the regime. There was evidence of crimes against humanity; evidence to get rid of this criminal. But they decided not to. When a regime kills your wife, your sister, your child, you don’t hire a lawyer.

You have to fight.”

Baset’s hand was forced, after four of his brothers were killed in battle around Homs.

His days as a keeper were over. “We came out with olive branches and bare chests,” he said. “But when the whole world lets you down, when you show demonstrations with no sectarianism and you’re fought, then you have no choice. People want to live in peace and dignity. Maybe older generations already knew the regime better. Ours didn’t.”

He was soon shooting at the army street to street, firing behind bombed-out buildings and grabbing fitful sleep inside safe houses or amid the rubble. In Return To Homs, we see him examining TV coverage of government torture rooms, while there’s also unflinching footage of a ‘child martyr’, gunned down by the administration.

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zateK zezaludbA evoba serutciP

As protests turned to riots, demonstrators picked up arms. From May 2011, Homs was under siege. Meanwhile, a military wing of the rebellion – the Free Syrian Army – was established, with the aim of gaining enough territory to set up an opposition government.

For a while, it appeared to be succeeding: throughout 2011 and 2012, Assad lost his stranglehold on much of the country. Even the US felt his days were numbered. “But they had underestimated the dictator with no conscience,” writes Ghattas. “His approach was ‘Assad, or we burn the country’. And he would do just that.”

International geopolitics also came into play. Syria, like much of the Middle East, was just a pawn; of strategic importance to Iran, which sees the country as an extension of its Shia-dominated territory (Assad himself is

Above and right Baset did not remain in football for long Below A scene from a special forces course given his name

SYRIA

“HIS VOICE LIT THE HOLY PATH FOR US. HE WARnED US nOT TO LET DOWn OUR SYRIA In HIS LIFE AnD In HIS DEATH”

All the time, Baset sings: in the square, on YouTube and in rebel-controlled areas, where Syrians would gather around TVs to watch. It wasn’t long before he become Public Enemy No.1 for Assad, with a $35,000 bounty put on his head. When Ibrahim Qashoush, a fellow revolutionary singer, was detained, Assad’s men reportedly slit his throat.

Kanawati offered Baset a place on the Free Syrian Football Team in Turkey, but he turned it down, deciding to fight until the end. The rebellion hung in the balance. Unfortunately, two of the most sinister Islamist groups on the planet were by now exerting influence on the conflict – on rival sides – and making an awful situation even worse.

WHEN ISIS CAME TO TOWN

Through 2012, proxy elements of Sunni-Shia and Saudi-Iranian hostility moved in, adding a new dimension to the conflict. On Assad’s side arrived the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as well as Hezbollah: the much-feared, Iran-funded, Lebanon-based militia classed as a terrorist group by the European Union.

This was a major fighting force, superior to the Syrian army. Ultimately, the IRGC wanted an empire loyal to Iran. Much of the Middle East was outraged by their daring.

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On the other side were Sunni jihadis. Led

by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi, they were followers of Wahhabism (the extreme beliefs followed by Osama Bin Laden) and wanted to create their own borderless Islamic State.

Syria’s chaos meant plenty of willing recruits.

Both camps scored victories. Supported by Baghdadi’s men, the city of Raqqa fell into Free Syrian Army hands in March 2013. There was rejoicing, and statues of Assad were pulled to the floor, but some dangerous deals had been done. Extremism was overlooked by those seeing Baghdadi as a liberator. The Islamists overpowered the FSA leadership and imposed their beliefs on the city, berating women who didn’t veil and forming a Sharia court. By April 2013, black flags flew over Raqqa, and Baghdadi officially announced a new organisation: the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. ISIS was born.

Above Baset’s funeral brought mourners in their droves

Baset faced more tough choices. In 2013, Assad gassed civilians in Ghouta. There was international uproar, but rather than oust the Syrian leader, the US made a deal with Assad in which he essentially promised not to do it again. “The message seemed to be: he could kill his people with any weapon he wanted, except chemical weapons,” writes Ghattas.

“It was an inflexion point. Assad had broken international law with no consequences. Left to die by the world, sensing Assad would feel emboldened, thousands more Syrians fled.”

Jihad groups swelled – “Even men who’d never been religious and preferred a drink to a prayer,” reveals Ghattas. “In their despair, there was nothing left to hold on to but guns and religion. The FSA was now disintegrating.

There were no good options for good men, so Al-Sarout joined an Islamist rebel group.

He grew a beard. He stopped singing.”

SYRIA

The goalkeeper had suffered a lot. After setting up the ‘Martyrs of Bayada Brigade’, he had been involved in several successful battles but sustained serious injuries. Also, his men faced starvation. “During the siege, we were reduced to eating soup consisting of water and grass,” he said. Having lost faith in the weak FSA, he pondered allying with ISIS. Rumours swirled that he had given allegiance.

“There’s no smoke without fire,” he would confess. “It does have a basis. I’d become frustrated by seven months of no progress, trying to break the siege. They asked, ‘When ISIS reaches this area, will you be prepared to give allegiance?’ I was willing.”

It was later reported that Baset did pledge, saying that ISIS were, “Muslims, just as we are... all of us are one hand, to fight and take back the lands defiled by the regime.”

Others say it never happened, and Baset became horrified by the group. Either way, ISIS eventually declared him an “ally of the USA” for not joining, and demanded his weapon. But Baset fronted up to what was by now the most notorious group on Earth.

“I replied, ‘If there is someone among you more macho than Abdul Baset, let them come forward to take my weapon’,” he said.

He then released a video condemning ISIS, and continued life on the run. The conflict

Top Gone but not forgotten Above On that truck: the body of one Abdul Baset al-Sarout

dragged on for years – and Baset fought on.

But Hezbollah troops poured in and allowed Assad to recapture huge territories.

A key battle in Al-Qusayr tipped the balance back to the regime. In Homs, the rebels were pummelled into a small quarter. Time ran out for Baset on June 7, 2019. The goalkeeper was shot during a firefight in Hama, and died the next day. He was 27. In the tiny village of Dana, hundreds attended his funeral.

“ONLY PRO-REGIME PLAYERS CAN PLAY”

Baset’s legacy is complex. Some condemned him as an extremist; for others, though, he remains a hero. “His voice lit the holy path for us,” tweeted prominent opposition activist, Lina Shamy. “He warned us [not] to let down our Syria in his life and in his death.”

For all, he is a lesson of what can happen in revolutions. Aron Lund, an expert at the Century Foundation think tank, says Baset’s life was “a microcosm of the Syrian war, and of the way it’s also been a war over how to reimagine a very murky and fluid reality as something clear-cut and political.”

The sadness is that Baset could never have become famous just for his acrobatic saves.

Sport in Syria continues to be as torn apart as the country: when the final round of World

Cup qualifying starts in September – with the national team pitted in the same group as Iran, Iraq and Lebanon – they’ll have to play their ‘home’ games in Jordan, while the domestic league now consists only of sides based in government areas.

Kanawati explains: “No player or coach or person can contact the other regions. Only the pro-regime players can play.” Kanawati helped to establish the Free Syrian team in Turkey, while other attempts at setting up an alternative side have been made among refugees in Germany. He also assists with the running of a league in a Turkish-controlled portion of Syria and commentates on games, broadcast via social media.

Kanawati wants one thing to come out of his interview. “We’d like to have our country back, but that feels impossible,” he tells FFT. “If we’re ever going to achieve something, we need international recognition. That hasn’t happened, and until Assad is gone it doesn’t look likely. But I want people to know that we aren’t monsters. Pro-Assad westerners want to paint us as terrorists – we’re just people, seeking freedom from a regime.”

In life, that was enough for Abdul Baset al-Sarout the goalkeeper to feel like his future death might be worthwhile. “This nation will never submit again,” he said. “This matter has been decided. We’re already victorious.”

MORE On FOURFOURTWO.COM • Leigh Roose: The ‘reckless’ war hero who kept goal for Arsenal (by Jon Spurling) • Gianluigi Buffon has a few things to tell you about goalkeeping, and life (by Nicky Bandini) • Ex-Argentina goalkeeper Carlos Roa: “I decided to devote myself to religion…”

• What happened to Helmuth Duckadam?

“I saved four penalties to win the European Cup final... but it was my last ever game”

FourFourTwo September 2021 83

AROUnD THE GROUnDS

THE

nD nDS

EFL • nOn-LEAGUE • SCOTLAn InTERVIEW

CHARLIE AUSTIn

QPR’s goal machine tells FFT about his successful return to west London, a new adventure in horse racing... and life as a hit viral sensation. Parklife!

Interview Ben Welch You returned to QPR in January after five years away, and helped the club climb from 20th to ninth in the table.

What did that mean to you?

I had my head down at West Brom and tried to get back into Big Sam’s plans [Sam Allardyce]. I was on my way to training one Thursday when my agent called me to say QPR were interested.

I just said, “If we can get a deal sorted, let’s go.” By that night the deal was all but done. It was the one club I wanted to join, and they gave me the perfect platform to get my love back for the game. I needed it more than anything.

The world was going through a strange time and I didn’t want to keep going down a black hole.

How do you look back on last season?

The team was 20th when I signed, as they hadn’t been getting the rewards

84 September 2021 FourFourTwo

they deserved. Football is a punishing game if you don’t put the ball in the back of the net. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to go back, score eight goals and contribute to a decent second half of the campaign. I’d like to have scored 10, but I wouldn’t have said I could have got many more than I did. I worked well alongside Lyndon Dykes, who managed double figures in his first season in the Championship.

We formed a partnership that scared a few people in the league. [FFT: You’ve both been bleach blond in the past – is there a risk of you awkwardly rocking up one day with the same ’do?] No… we’d look like a pair of wallies, wouldn’t we? If one does it you’re already a bit of a wally; two, and we’d be complete ones. I bleached it once and my hair started to fall out, so I’m half regretting it. I see myself in the mirror and think, ‘Jesus, Charles…’

After joining QPR permanently this summer, you talked about a period where you weren’t enjoying football.

What went wrong at West Brom?

I went there to help the club get back to the Premier League, and scored 10 goals as we won promotion in 2020, but once we got there the manager [Slaven Bilic] chose to go in a different direction. Karlan Grant came in from Huddersfield that October [2020] and it spoke volumes about how the club felt about me. I was still living down south and driving up two hours a day, which probably didn’t help, but I was sat on the bench and not enjoying my football. People will say, ‘Oh, but you

“AT QPR THEY GAVE ME THE PERFECT PLATFORM TO REGAIn MY LOVE FOR THE GAME. I nEEDED IT” get paid so much money’ – but come Saturday afternoon, every footballer just wants to get across the white line.

What are your and QPR’s targets for this campaign?

I don’t really set myself goal targets, but I’d definitely like to reach double figures and help the club improve on last season’s performance. We want to continue where we left off last year.

It’s pretty much the same squad with

a couple of additions, and I don’t think we’re going to be too far off the top.

But the Championship is looking very strong this season, so it’ll be tough.

You netted 18 goals in 2014-15, your debut Premier League season, and earned an England call-up. Can you reach that level again?

That seems so long ago, and of course I want to do it again. Not many strikers have come up from the Championship and scored that many goals in their first season. I also managed it playing for a side that finished bottom of the table. I loved that period in my career and still feel I have the fire in my belly, plus the movement and the finishing.

It’s such a long way off now, and the Championship is impossible to predict, but I’m determined to show everyone what I can do.

AROUnD THE GROUnDS

You didn’t quite win an England cap, though. Why do you think you never got another chance? Would it have been a different story had you played for a club higher up the table?

Maybe, but then again I may not have scored 18 goals for another club. That QPR side played for me and constantly looked for me in the final third. There were also a lot of injuries at the time – maybe I wouldn’t have been called up had those players been fit. Listen, I’m still disappointed that I didn’t get a cap, but if you don’t get one after scoring that many goals, there’s not much else you can do, right? I’ve parked that one.

Outside of football, horse racing is your passion. How did you get into it?

When I was about 15 or 16, I used to watch it with my grandad and it got to the stage where I was going down to Newbury. I’d always thought that I’d love to own a horse if it ever became possible, and fortunately it did. Then the sport grasped me. I love meeting new people, and have huge admiration for the jockeys and their dedication to the sport. It’s phenomenal. More than anything else, I love chasing the win.

And now you lead a team – what’s your involvement with Goat Racing?

I’m the manager of a team that picks which horses run where, and dictate what the team do going forward. We have a strong squad and I’m pleased to be involved in the competition, as I think it’s what the sport really needs.

[FFT: Ever chatted with Michael Owen about the nags?] Yeah, a few years ago – but he’s all in. I’ve been to his setup and it’s incredible; he’s done very well over the years, and rightly so with the money he’s put into the game.

Hastings United CEO Billy Wood was once an executive working with N-Dubz, Tinie Tempah and more – until he jacked it all in for the eighth-tier Sussex side Billy Wood’s allegiances haven’t always been with the club for which he now works as CEO. Before having the hots for eighth-tier Hastings United, Wood was a player and fan at their local rivals, St Leonards.

One day in his teens, though, Wood found himself on enemy territory to watch Hastings take on Brighton in a friendly. Everything changed. “I just fell in love with the place,” recalls the Croydon-born 35-year-old. “It seemed bigger, grander than St Leonards. It had this feeling of something special.”

His affection for the U’s has stayed with Wood ever since. It’s the reason why he recently made what he calls the “absolute madman” decision to conclude a glorious career as a music agent – where he worked alongside grime stars including Tinie Tempah, Skepta and Chipmunk, plus hip-hop icons Snoop Dogg and Run DMC – to take up a permanent gig at The Pilot Field. It’s a long way from the O2, where Tempah’s first Wood-booked arena tour visited, to the Isthmian League South East Division, but he couldn’t be happier.

Previously occupying a part-time role as Eastbourne United chairman,

Wood went full-time at Hastings last summer. “I left the music business in September,” he reveals. “Who would quit an industry where you’re earning comfortable money and have a good life, to take a bet on a non-league club?” he wonders, before providing the answer: he thinks Hastings could eventually reach the “promised land” of the Football League.

Promotion in a year was his original target, but right now he’d be content to finish a season. Hastings were top on both occasions when the league was prematurely curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, first in 2019-20 with only 10 games left and two in hand over their nearest challengers, and then again last term after a more palatable seven matches had been completed. Given the club haven’t been in the Isthmian League Premier since 2013 – and the sixth tier since 2003 – getting back there is a big deal.

“It doesn’t change the plan,” says their unflappable CEO, “it just slows the plan down slightly. I hoped we’d be speaking about Hastings being in the National League South – instead it’s another year in the same league.

But you roll with the punches.”

One of their talents from last year, 16-year-old midfielder Benn Ward, signed a two-year scholarship with Premier League Burnley in January.

Things are looking equally promising for Hastings, then, where Wood says more than a decade spent wangling lucrative festival deals has given him ample skills to thrive in football.

“I was a music agent, which is very different, but I can smell bulls**t,” he insists. “Being in the music industry, every day was spent negotiating, and at this football club we negotiate on sponsorship and different deals with suppliers. It’s been quite transferable.”

Looking out for his artists has now become protecting his players. “This club is very player-centric – we look after our lads and our women too,” he says. That’s hard to dispute, after Wood & Co wrapped up a two-year, five-figure kit sponsorship for the U’s women’s team in July.

Wood is hoping that come May, he finally gets the promotion he’s been dreaming of. “We will get there,” he declares. “I won’t give up until we do.”

Not even a global pandemic can put a stop to that.

Niall Doherty

revresbO sgnitsaH / ttecyL nitsuJ tiartroP

Striker, racing manager and even an accidental lyricist. Do you ever watch the Parklife mashup that went viral while you were at Southampton?

[Laughs] Yeah. My reaction during that interview was just spur of the moment!

It got so much traction as the timing is bang on. I was speaking passionately because I felt we’d been done out of a goal, especially as I was struggling to score at the time. I think the guy who made it is a musician; he messaged me the next day saying, “I hope you don’t mind, Parklife just rang in my mind.”

He came up with it within a couple of hours and bosh: three million views. It was mental. Now, if it’s my birthday or something significant happens, I get tagged in that video on social media.

[FFT: So, who did it better: you or Scott Parker?] Me! He’d just won promotion to the Premier League with Fulham and he’s speaking like that [starts reciting lyrics to The Streets’ Dry Your Eyes in a downbeat tone]. I’d just had a goal disallowed – I was ready to windmill...

I WAS THE MUSIC MAn nOn-LEAGUE nEWS

AROUnD THE GROUnDS

BEST&WORST

SHEFFIELD WEDnESDAY

War of the Monster Trucks’ Paul Taylor and Steve Walmsley chat dodgy sideburns – and dodgier builders

XI

but after a honeymoon period couldn’t keep us up. Then he told fans that if they didn’t have any coaching badges, their opinions were worth diddly squat.

Good coach, poor manager.

BEST: Kevin Pressman, Roland Nilsson, Des Walker, Nigel Pearson, Nigel Worthington, Chris Waddle, John Sheridan, Carlton Palmer, Benito Carbone, Mark Bright, David Hirst.

WORST: Ola Tidman, Ray Blackhall, Ashley Westwood, Danny Maddix, Jon Beswetherick, Chris Carr, Alan Harper, Craig Armstrong, Almen Abdi, Gilles De Bilde, David Graham.

GOAL

B: Sheridan’s famous dink in the 1991 League Cup Final.

W: The last minute of extra time in the 1993 FA Cup Final replay, as goalkeeper Chris Woods flapped his way to gifting Andy Linighan the winner for Arsenal.

PLAYER

AWAY TRIP

B: Nilsson [right]. Not many players get to be all-time icons from right-back.

Wednesday fans still talk about him having young Lee Sharpe in his pocket from the 1991 League Cup Final.

W: Beswetherick gave the impression of trying to play at left-back with both legs tied together.

MOMEnT

B: Despite bigger glories, winning the 2005 League One Play-off Final at the Millennium Stadium. Massive Wednesday noise, a Steve MacLean penalty late on to keep us in it, then two goals in extra time.

W: When an owner spends £140m on your club, and five years later ends up in a worse position than when he first bought it. Maybe not the worst moment ever, but the most dispiriting.

GAME

B: Beating the Blunts in the 1993 FA Cup semis. The whole of Sheffield decamped to Wembley for a glorious victory that will always keep that lot on the quiet side of bragging rights.

W: Newcastle away in September 1999. We lost 8-0 in embarrassing fashion and began the drawn-out

86 September 2021 FourFourTwo

B: Leicester. Always a very big away following: cracking pubs and curries.

W: Pride Park, Derby. An unremitting hell hole of only one win. That train north is always welcome.

process of dropping out of the top flight.

SEASOn

B: 1990-91.

Promotion glory under Big Ron [Atkinson, top right], and we beat Man United in the League Cup final. Yorkshire TV’s post-match programming gave birth to our War of the Monster Trucks fanzine.

W: 2020-21. A points deduction after abysmal financial management, as our chairman couldn’t get the ground sale (to, er, himself) sorted in time. Then falling into League One, all seen from the living room squinting at iFollow.

SIGnInG

B: Trevor Francis couldn’t decide on

Eric Cantona until he’d seen him play on grass in 1992, so Leeds nipped in instead. But that year, we also signed Waddle [left]. Best signing ever – no contest.

W: Abdi signed in 2016, with Watford supporters telling us what a great signing we’d got. Full marks for their sense of humour.

MAnAGER

B: Strangely, it might be Carlos Carvalhal. He got us to the very rim of the Premier League with an exciting squad. A cardcarrying Wednesdayite.

W: Alan Irvine arrived with a decent record at Preston,

FACIAL HAIR

B: Viv Anderson [below] and his supercool moustache sat perfectly with his equally cool on-pitch persona.

W: Paolo Di Canio had sidies that just needed removing. If anyone had tried, they’d be sleeping with the fishes.

HARD MAn

B: Mick Lyons. On a freezing cold January afternoon in the FA Cup third round, he came out in just his kit and lay on a frozen pitch at Fulham doing sit-ups in front of Owls fans.

Once had stitches put in his ankle stood in the tunnel waiting to come back on.

W: De Bilde – you get more fight from a blancmange.

To the tune of Bob the Builder: “Gilles De Bilde, can he do it? Gilles De Bilde, can he f**k.”

BOY’S A BIT SPECI A L CARLOS MEnDES GOMES

AROUnD THE GROUnDS

THE UnLIKELY LADS

STUART PEARCE LONGFORD (2016)

LUTON TOWN

LOWDOWN From Dakar to Didsbury via Atletico Madrid, Mendes Gomes’ route to the Championship has been rather unconventional. Born in Senegal, he moved to Lanzarote, then Madrid as a teenager – spending time with both Getafe and Atletico – before the family swapped sunny Spain for, er, Salford. Morecambe spotted him in 2018 during a spell with 10th-tier West Didsbury & Chorlton, and the versatile forward’s 15 league goals fired the Shrimps into League One last season. Luton won the fight for his signature over the summer.

HIGHLIGHT The emphatic penalty that earned Morecambe victory in last season’s League Two play-off final (right). He loves the spectacular.

THEY SAID... “I haven’t seen anything like Mendes Gomes in all my years of developing players,” gushed former youth coach Bill Prendergast. “He does things differently. He plays in a way that opens up defences.”

WHAT’S NEXT? Luton will be eyeing the play-offs and the 22-year-old adds firepower to a side that only plundered 41 goals last time out.

WHO ARE YA? | ESH WInnInG

COULD BE The drunk bloke propping up the bar who’s asking for a score update.

ACTUALLY Durham side who boldly claim to play at “the most picturesque ground in the Northern League, if not the country”. Wycombe want a word. Brilliantly, though, they were formed in 1967 as ‘Esh Winning Pineapple’ – after the local boozer, not the famous north-east delicacy – before ditching the fruity part in 1982.

CREDENTIALS 1990 World Cup semi-finalist. Euro 96 semi-finalist.

Scorer in the 1991 FA Cup Final.

Two-time League Cup winner.

A top-flight player in every season bar one from 1983-84 to 2000-01.

Quite a lot, really. Pearce forged a well-earned reputation as one of the most dependably terrifying left-backs in England, having been plucked from non-league with Wealdstone in his early 20s while famously working as an electrician.

A Nottingham Forest legend in 12 seasons at the City Ground, Pearce also had stints at Premier League Newcastle and West Ham, plus a swansong season at second-tier Manchester City. Then, in January 2016, a 53-year-old Psycho agreed to turn out for Longford – bottom of Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division Two...

HOW’D IT GO? Not bad. Longford had lost all 18 games, scoring one goal and leaking an eye-watering 179. Pearce only played once for the so-called worst team in the UK, coming on for the second half against second-bottom Wotton.

“I’m woefully short of fitness,” he declared to no one’s surprise, “but I’ll give it my best.” Longford had already been battered 17-0, 16-0 and 15-0 that campaign, so the eventual 1-0 defeat was fair going.

THEN WHAT? Pearce left, probably for the best. Longford finished the season with 30 defeats out of 30 and a colossal -216 goal difference.

FourFourTwo September 2021 87

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WHA T’ S OCCURRIn G

IAn HOLLOWAY

With so much power vested in owners at the top of English football, its clubs below are putting themselves at risk by chasing the dream. But with this imbalance, says our columnist, how will we ensure everyone’s survival?

I

’ve played and managed at every level of English football, including the Premier League – and it’s been an honour and a joy to have spent my life doing that. But I’m also worried about this wonderful game, because some people at the top have too much power they’re trying to wield for their own means.

What they don’t realise – or at least didn’t before last season – is that this game still belongs to the people and always will. Even if you can’t play it, you can become part of something as long as you live.

Some owners are trying to make clubs their businesses, for personal profit, but they’ll always be about their communities first.

We saw last year what powerful people are capable of with those plans for the Super League, and you have to wonder where they’re going next. They’ll try something like it again, and I don’t trust them in the slightest. If I had any power, I’d be doing what I could to make sure they can’t fleece what isn’t theirs to fleece, just because they own something at this particular moment in time. They’re nothing more than custodians.

I do believe that the Premier League is the best in the world, but that’s only because the rich are getting richer. There’s too big a divide between leagues, because the distribution of money at the top of the game is a huge problem.

Parachute payments try to equal things out, and the clubs that get relegated earn some money for the next three years. But they also encourage overspending in the Championship, which we’re seeing so often now. And if you don’t get back up in three years, what are you going to do after that? Everything is geared towards being all out or bust, and that can’t be the way to go. What about if you’re a club that doesn’t get parachute payments? You can’t bridge that gap. If you’re a corner shop, you’re trying to get by with your own income; trying to engage your local community wherever you can. But your budget isn’t that of a major supermarket, who are also all trying to compete with each other.

If the money was distributed more fairly in English football, we surely wouldn’t be seeing these disaster situations every season. It could go towards making the game more secure for the rest of its life, and I’ll tell you why Premier League clubs should care about that – because they haven’t always been in these positions and might not be again one day. I’d think about creating some serious laws and legislation after what some of these owners have tried to do recently, in doing their best to change the very fabric of our game; removing the element of competition to guarantee themselves more money each year. The only way to stop this cycle is to stop the greedy from making all the decisions.

Football isn’t just a sport – it’s much bigger than that. You might support our wonderful swimmer Adam Peaty in the Olympics, but you’ll struggle to feel a part of what he’s doing. In our game you’re part of it every minute of every day, and there aren’t many sports where you can live it, take it to work, laugh about it, cry about it and argue about it. It gives so much to so many people, and that’s why it needs protecting at all costs.

So who can do it? Well, that’s what worries me. Unless you take your selfish glasses off, you’re never going to be part of a good solution for the game as a whole. As a player or manager, I was always accountable for what I did with any club I represented. Now it feels like football’s owners at the top aren’t – and that can’t be right. Someone needs to change it, but as they’ve already proved, it can’t be those who are in the game.

Somebody impartial needs to get involved, but there’s no organisation tough enough to tell the Premier League what to do. They have to ask the owners of its clubs what they think for every key decision, so the system is completely flawed.

Instead, I want to see an intelligent committee of people put together who can find a way forward that works for everyone in football – not just asking the people at the top who benefit massively and think that money is theirs.

So come on, government – take over. How can you argue with them?

“YOU WOnDER WHAT THESE OWnERS ARE GOInG TO TRY nEXT. WE nEED TO MAKE SURE THEY CAn’T FLEECE WHAT ISn’T THEIRS TO FLEECE”

88 September 2021 FourFourTwo

AROUnD THE GROUnDS

SALESMAn TO WEMBLEY FInALIST nOn-LEagUE nEWS

Hereford’s Afghan star Maziar Kouhyar thought he was finished. He was wrong...

Two curtailed seasons have left many non-league players praying for a first uninterrupted campaign in what feels like an age – but new Hereford signing Maziar Kouhyar will be even happier than most.

After joining the Bulls for good this summer, the 23-year-old is looking to complete his first campaign since 2017-18, after two serious injuries that laid him up until March 2020 – when the UK went into lockdown.

The former Walsall midfielder was left with little choice but to take jobs outside football, working initially at KFC before becoming a car salesman.

“There were no clubs available to go to, and I needed a job because I was just sitting at home doing rehabilitation on my own,” Kouhyar tells FFT. “When I was doing the car sales, I didn’t even have an inkling that I was going to go back any time soon. I thought football was dead for me – I never thought for a million years that I’d be playing again.”

But after eight months working the showroom, Kouhyar’s life was turned upside-down again. In March, he earned a short-term move to National League North side Hereford for a role

in their FA Trophy run. One whirlwind month later, he was wide-eyed and playing at Wembley.

“It was a crazy transition,” he says.

“I was just thinking that I needed to get into football again, and suddenly there I was at Wembley. It was a very lucky situation – one that gives you the taste of where you want to be and drives you on.

“When you’re out for so long with injuries and other things, you really do appreciate everything when you get the chance to come back. Even the running we do or training – I look forward to it all. It’s really enjoyable being around players and I don’t take anything for granted any more.”

It was a rare high point for the seven-cap Afghanistan international, who fled the war-torn nation with his family as a one-year-old but made his debut for them in 2017. Alongside the injury struggles, Kouhyar’s spell at Walsall ended under a cloud after he was called a terrorist by his own team-mate. However, he insists he can already tell the Black Lives Matter movement is having an impact.

“The progression starts within clubs and it has progressed a lot, so that

“I THOUGHT FOOTBALL WAS DEAD FOR ME. THERE WERE nO CLUBS TO JOIn”

will subside very soon,” explains Kouhyar. “We want to spread it out to the fans and people watching the game as well. Obviously these people are a minority, but hopefully that will be abolished as well. I think football is moving in the right direction.”

Kouhyar is among a smattering of South Asian players in the English game, and after becoming the first Afghan to play professionally in the country following his breakthrough with the Saddlers, he has become something of an unwitting trailblazer for others hoping to follow suit.

“There are loads of other young Afghans in England who are making their way up,” he says. “They contact me on social media, we talk and become friends. It’s not one of the things I think of all the time – I’m still a young player trying to make it myself. I haven’t made it yet, but for the young kids seeing older Asian players, they think, ‘Oh my god, it is possible’. So if I’m in some way a bit of a role model, it’s just an added bonus of playing football.”

And after the time Kouhyar’s had, everything must feel like a bonus.

Chris Evans

CLAIMS TO FAME CARDIFF CITY

1CLEAN LIVING

Cardiff won the 1927 FA Cup and remain the only non-English club to do so. Hughie Ferguson was the hero in a 1-0 defeat of Arsenal, though the last touch came off Gunners gloveman Dan Lewis, who blamed his slippery new woollen jersey. The error inspired a lasting Arsenal tradition of washing their keepers’ kits before every game.

2REAL RATTLED

The Welsh Cup offered a handy route into the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971 – leading to victory over Real Madrid in their quarter-final first leg, as Brian Clark’s goal saw off Miguel Munoz’s giants at Ninian Park. They lost the return 2-0, but hey: still sounds good 50 years on.

3IRANIAN INFLUENCE Cardiff fans regularly implore their players to ‘do the Ayatollah’, a celebration of head-patting with both hands. The curious greeting first came to Ninian in 1990 and allegedly owes its roots to Welsh band U Thant, who were inspired by grievers doing it at the funeral of 1979 Iranian Revolution leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Obviously.

4EARNIE’S ACCOLADE

Robert Earnshaw bagged 109 goals in 227 games for City, putting him third on the club’s all-time top scorers list. Earnie is also the only man to have netted a hat-trick in all three Football League divisions, the League Cup and FA Cup (each for Cardiff), as well as the Premier League and for Wales. Busy boy.

5RUDY AWAKENING ycnega .eB erutciP

Cardiff are responsible for bringing Rudy Gestede to English football from Metz in 2011… then crushing his hopes. The striker has only ever played three seasons in the Premier League, all of which have ended in relegation: first with the Bluebirds (2013-14, though he was quickly sent on loan), before two doomed spells at Aston Villa (2015-16) and Middlesbrough (2016-17). Give the guy a break.

FourFourTwo September 2021 89

FFT GRABS A WORD WITH...

DEAN WINDASS • CARLOS QUEIROZ • CHRISTIAN FUCHS • SHAKA HISLOP

TEAMS North Ferriby Hull Aberdeen Oxford Bradford Middlesbrough Sheffield Wednesday (loan) Sheffield United Oldham (loan) Darlington Barton Old Boys Scarborough Athletic AFC Walkington

DEAN WInDASS

“On MY FIRST DAY AT BORO, PAUL InCE TOOK THE PISS AnD SAID, ‘WE’VE SIGnED BOB THE BUILDER!’” The former Hull and Bradford talisman talks building site beginnings, love for El Tel and telling ‘the Guv’nor’ to zip it Interview Alec Fenn

Before turning professional, you worked on a building site and in a factory – what was that like?

I realised pretty quickly that I didn’t want to work on a building site or in a factory for the rest of my life – it was the perfect motivation to work on my fitness and keep chasing my dream. I had to carry a hod on my back up a set of ladders all day long, but it gave me great lower body strength and huge calves.

After work every night, I’d go for a five-mile run with a couple of rugby players who lived near me, and my physicality improved a lot.

You made your senior debut for Hull at 22 – that’s late for most footballers...

It was the best thing for me. If I’d gone into the Hull dressing room at 18, I’d have lasted a year, been released and played non-league football. But the four years of full-time work built me up physically and mentally. I’d seen both sides, so turning up to training every day and playing on a Saturday was easy when I’d worked full-time. I respected the game more and seized the opportunity with both hands.

Were you always a prolific goalscorer?

No. I joined Hull as a central midfielder, but we had a few injuries and Terry Dolan put me up top. My first game as a striker was against Peter Shilton at Plymouth! I scored twice, we won the match and from that day on I was a striker. I scored 17 goals in my first season and the rest is history.

You helped Bradford to reach the top tier in 1998-99 – tell us about that period.

We had a brilliant dressing room. Paul Jewell was a young manager still learning his trade,

but he was very switched on and organised.

The lads knew what they were doing every day of the week and never pushed their luck with him. The senior players ran the dressing room and it all just clicked into place. We had some quality players, like Gary Walsh, Peter Beagrie, Darren Moore, Stuart McCall, Jamie Lawrence, Robbie Blake and Gareth Whalley.

Did you feel ready for the Premier League?

I never felt in awe of the top guys – I’d played against Gazza, who was my childhood hero, when I was at Aberdeen. I always felt I was technically gifted and I was a cheeky git, so I was confident I could play at that level. But I also knew that in the Premier League they were all athletes, and I didn’t want to be left wanting physically. The summer we secured promotion, I didn’t have a holiday. I stayed at home and worked with a personal trainer, so that I was in the best possible shape. It really paid off – I scored 10 goals that season and we stayed up on the final day, which was an amazing achievement.

You played for Paul Jewell, Terry Venables and Phil Brown – who was the best?

Terry Venables. When he talked, you listened.

When the ex-England manager buys you, it’s huge for your confidence. He was tactically so switched on and wasn’t a ranter or raver, because he didn’t need to do it to command the respect of his players. Paul Jewell was excellent too, and he gave an amazing speech before the start of the Premier League season – he told us if we finished fourth from bottom we’d have had a good season, and we did. Tactically he changed us

from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 against the big sides – a long time before teams were playing that system. It was a big reason why we survived.

You moved on to Middlesbrough in 2001 – why did things not quite work out?

Because Terry left. I was his first signing and walked into a dressing room of internationals, but I wasn’t fazed one bit. He brought me in because Boro were struggling at the bottom of the league. He said I’d score the goals to keep them up, and we finished 14th. If Terry had stayed I might have played 200 league games for them, but Steve McClaren came in, I was in and out of the side and then he said I wasn’t part of his plans. I respected that – me and Steve went way back to my time at Hull when I used to clean his boots as a kid, so I just had to get on with it.

Middlesbrough had some big names at the time – what was that dressing room like?

Brilliant. On my first day, Paul Ince took the piss out of me. He’d done his research and said, “We’ve signed Bob the Builder.” I could have crumbled but I said, “You’ve signed Bob the Builder as you’re fourth from bottom in the league!” Me and Incey had a really good relationship, and I also partnered Alen Boksic there – the best striker I ever played with. He was electric, great in the air and could score with both feet. Some people said he didn’t turn up if he didn’t fancy it, but when he did he was unplayable.

You had a prolific second spell at Bradford – how were you able to keep scoring goals?

I trained on my days off, even at 37 years old.

I learned a lot from Dan Petrescu and Benito Carbone at Bradford in the Premier League.

They educated me about diet and told me to never have a day off – even on rest days I had to stretch and do a cool down session. That definitely helped me to prolong my career.

You returned to Hull in 2007 – was that an easy decision?

I’d initially been offered a two-year deal by Bradford, which would have taken me to 38, but then I got a call from the chairman who said they needed to raise money. They said Hull would pay £350,000 and Roy Keane at Sunderland wanted me as well, so I had two options. It was a no-brainer in the end – I’d always wanted to return to my hometown club. Little did I know what would happen...

You scored that famous volley in the 2008 Championship Play-off Final – why didn’t you take a touch?

I was knackered! As the cross came in from the left, I thought a defender was behind me so I had to volley it. I’d tried them in training and they’d sailed over the bar, but I knew I was capable. If it’d been on my other foot, I’d have done the same thing.

Once I struck it, I knew. I was 39 and it was the 39th minute – it was meant to be.

Dean Windass was speaking on behalf of Smart Energy GB

ourTwo September 2021 91

CARLOS QUEIROZ

“QUITTInG UnITED WAS THE HARDEST DECISIOn OF MY LIFE – IF I COULD TURn BACK TIME, I’D nEVER LEAVE” Fergie’s former right-hand man on Beckham, Bebe and why working with Florentino Perez is no walk in the park Interview Dani Lopez

How did you become Manchester United’s assistant manager in 2002? Did you know Sir Alex Ferguson already?

I was managing South Africa at the time. Sir Alex wanted an assistant with the ability to communicate, as he was opening the club to different cultures and languages. I was able

to speak English and Portuguese, and I could also help with French and Italian. In Sir Alex’s straightforward style, he phoned a couple of guys to find out more about me. One of them was Quinton Fortune, who played for South Africa. Sir Alex then called me to ask if I could meet him in Manchester. I went there and we talked, shook hands and agreed the deal. It was a privilege to work alongside him for all those years, and today I have the honour of saying that we are friends.

What was it like to work with him? Was he demanding of his staff?

With Sir Alex at Manchester United there was no such thing as second. When you work in that environment, you know that nothing less than number one is acceptable. You sleep, eat and work only with winning in mind. But in Sir Alex, I also had an exceptional boss. He supports you, and opens the door for you to dream. His intelligence is unique, and he’s an incredibly wise person.

Were you in the dressing room the day he kicked the boot and hit David Beckham?

What was going through your head when that happened?

It’s time to establish the truth behind that story. Someone once said that if Sir Alex had intended that [hitting Beckham in the face], his left foot must be real quality! I was there in the dressing room that day and, let’s put things right, it was not a good shot, because the boot first hit a table and only then went in Beckham’s direction. [Laughs] Sir Alex, I’m very sorry but your left foot was not quite as good as you think!

What did Fergie say when you were offered the Real Madrid job?

When the opportunity to coach Real Madrid arrives, you decide first and think after. But the first thing I did was to schedule a private meeting with Sir Alex. He tried to stop me – he asked me to think hard about my decision.

The day after, I called him and said, “I must go, it’s a great opportunity for me.” I’ll always keep his reply in my heart. He said, “Carlos, I’m proud of you. If you’d phoned me to say you wouldn’t be accepting Real Madrid’s offer, I’d be very disappointed with you.”

You had some fabulous players at Real, like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo, yet only finished fourth in 2003-04. How come?

The team was imbalanced. That season we lost Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes and Claude Makelele. At a press conference I said, “Even a Ferrari can’t win a race on only three tyres.” My game plan was pretty simple. I’d play Ronaldo upfront, so opponents would need to put two or three players around him.

Then the others would have to contend with Michel Salgado, Roberto Carlos, Figo, Zidane, Raul, Guti, Beckham... That worked until April, but we lost the title and I was the scapegoat.

How challenging is it to manage superstars with huge egos? Were there any problems?

No, because I had players full of confidence who believed they were champions in their minds. It was easy to manage the dressing room as they were the best professionals in the world. I think a Real Madrid’s manager’s role is 20 per cent football and 80 per cent dealing with the media. [Laughs] Or maybe 40 with the media and 40 with the president!

How did you find Florentino Perez to work with? Would he occasionally get involved more than a manager would ideally like?

Florentino Perez was the president who gave me the chance to manage Real Madrid. I can never forget that, and I’ll always be grateful to him. He’s among the greatest presidents in the world; one of the best in football history.

The only problem with Florentino is that he needs to accept that he’s not perfect. No one is perfect. When he starts to believe he knows football more than the managers, it doesn’t help the club.

TEAMS Portugal Sporting NY/NJ MetroStars Nagoya Grampus Eight UAE South Africa Manchester United (assistant) Real Madrid Iran Colombia

After a year in Madrid you returned to Old Trafford – how did that move come about?

Everything had been going smoothly at Real, then suddenly we had injuries and our form started slipping. We lost in the semi-finals of the Champions League to Monaco, with those brilliant goals from Morientes who was our player [out on loan]. After that defeat, I had a call from Sir Alex. He came to Madrid and we had brunch together. He’d been reading about my struggles and said, “I want to tell you one thing: if anything happens here, your place is still waiting for you at United.” At the end of the season [after being sacked by Real] I had some other opportunities, but I’d given my word to Sir Alex. “Let’s finish our job and become European champions,” he told me.

So I returned to Manchester.

In your final season at the club, United won both the Premier League and Champions League – what did it mean to you to go out on such a high?

To leave the club at that time was probably the hardest decision in my professional life.

We were in a fantastic moment, and the club was one of the best in the world. To this day, I regret going, but the Portugal national team called and it’s very hard to turn that down. If I could turn back time, I’d never leave United.

TEAMS Wiener Neustadt SV Mattersburg Bochum Mainz (loan) Schalke Leicester Charlotte Charlotte Independence (loan) Austria

Did things change much when United were taken over by the Glazers?

As far as I remember, our day-to-day work, from a leadership perspective, improved. We had straightforward communication, and the family was always very supportive of Sir Alex and [former chief executive] David Gill. From a personal point of view, I’m so grateful that they understood my desire to leave [in 2008].

They tried everything to keep me but it was too late. I’d already agreed to coach Portugal.

How do you assess your second spell as Portugal manager from 2008-10? How sad were you about the way it ended?

It’s always a huge privilege to represent your country, but it was also a chance for me to re-establish my career as a head coach. The federation’s goal was to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which we did. But that was just the start. You ask if it was sad how it all ended, but it was not sad – it was political and personal. Because of an agenda against me behind the scenes, I lost my job [after it was suggested that he interfered with anti-doping procedures shortly before the World Cup] thanks to claims that were later disproved [by the Court of Arbitration for Sport] and condemned. I hope to hear an apology from the Portuguese federation and government. It’s about principles.

Did you play any part in Bebe’s infamous move to United in 2010?

Once and for all, I want to make it clear that I had nothing to do with that. What’s more, no one from United ever sought my advice about him. Why would I have been involved?

As everybody knows, at that time I was the Portugal manager. Bebe wasn’t even part of our national elite scouting list – I didn’t even know that he existed. I was the first one to be shocked and surprised with what happened.

Where might we see you next? Would you potentially return to England as a manager or assistant, or would you like to coach in another part of the world?

Now is the time for reflection and analysis – understanding where football is moving in order to be ready for the next step and next challenge. Returning to England is always in my mind and finishing my career there would be a dream, but as you know there are many opportunities in the rest of the world. Besides going back to England, I dream of qualifying for a fifth World Cup – something that would be unique. After South Africa [2002], Portugal [2010] and two qualifications with Iran [2014 and 2018], my World Cup ambition lives on.

CHRISTIAn FUCHS

“AMERICAn FOOTBALL... WHY nOT? I’VE TRIED OUT WITH nFL COACHES – I’M In THE TOP 30% OF KICKERS”

Leicester’s title-winning Austrian chats Raul, motivational pizza and the most exhausting game of his career he never played in Interview Sean Cole

You’ve joined new MLS club Charlotte FC – how did the opportunity arise?

I’ve been in touch with them for a couple of years and know them through Steve Walsh, who scouted me for Leicester. I know that when he’s a part of a programme, it’s bound to be good! It’s a great challenge. He told me all about their setup and what the plans are.

When I visited Charlotte to finalise the deal, I saw their professionalism – it’s a well-run club and I was impressed with the facilities.

You played alongside Raul during your first season at Schalke in 2011-12 – what was that experience like?

He was a true gentleman. I played with him for one year, but he taught me many things.

He was very humble and such a hard-working player, even though he was nearing the end of his career. His humbleness impressed me, plus his dedication to the sport and how he approached training each day, on and off the pitch. That was a great lesson for me.

Schalke had some talented young players back then, such as Leon Goretzka, Julian Draxler and Leroy Sané. Are you surprised by what they’ve gone on to achieve?

Not at all. Draxler was playing in front of me as a winger. He was 16 or 17 but already able to decide matches. I’m not surprised by how those players evolved. Goretzka was there in my last year at Schalke. He was a rising talent and you saw right away that he had a bright

FourFourTwo September 2021 93

future. Sané was outstanding. I remember on my final day at Schalke, he was stood in an ice bath. I said, “Listen, work hard, do what the coach tells you and keep your head down, and you’ll have a brilliant career.” I was right.

How did your Leicester move come about?

It was a goal of mine to play in the Premier League and I waited for an opportunity. My Schalke contract ran out and Leicester soon knocked at the door. I was leaving a team where you were in the top four and played in the Champions League every year. I thought I was stepping down from the highest level, as Leicester had only just escaped relegation that season. Things turned out to be a little different! It was Nigel Pearson who’d signed me, but when I was on holiday, before I even joined the club, I was told that he was being sacked. That wasn’t a nice situation to be in – you don’t know who the next manager will be or their plans. You’ve signed a long-term deal, then everything is turned upside down.

Claudio Ranieri replaced Pearson – what were your first impressions of him?

We were in Austria on a pre-season tour. On the first day he arrived, he literally said, “I’m only watching you. I’m not doing anything.”

That was slightly bizarre. When a manager comes in, he has the chance to implement his own ideas, but Ranieri was a spectator for the first week. It was an interesting situation, because usually a new boss wants to step in right away. But I think what he did was good.

He knew there were guys in place who were working well with assistant manager Craig Shakespeare. He knew he could rely on those people who already knew the squad.

Ranieri had some interesting methods, like promising pizza if the team kept a clean sheet. What did the players make of that?

He proved there’s more to motivating players than a big contract. It was pizza! That’s what we wanted. He communicated well with the players. It’s the dilly dong thing. It’s the pizza.

He knew about players’ needs, which is really important. For example, I was suspended for picking up five yellow cards. I stopped Ranieri before he left the training ground and asked if it was OK to see my family in New York. He said, “You know what, have five days off. See you later.” All credit to him for being such an understanding human being.

What were the most significant factors in Leicester’s historic 2015-16 title triumph?

The camaraderie and the way the club is run.

That’s a massive factor with every player that joins. You think you’ve been at a club that’s run like a family, but then you go to Leicester and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, this is like a family!’

That all starts with the owners – Khun Vichai back then and Khun Top now. They’re always available. You can talk to them. I don’t know which other chairman would dance with you or just hug you. They were very intimate and honest. I don’t see that anywhere else. I think that’s the biggest strength that Leicester has.

When did you start to think it was possible?

Never. After the great escape, a season where you just stay up, how can you expect to go on and win the Premier League title? You always see yourself as an underdog, but I think that was the greatest weapon we had. We loved playing every game without pressure.

You recorded a famous video celebrating at Jamie Vardy’s house when the title win was confirmed [after Tottenham drew 2-2 at Chelsea]. What was that evening like?

Those were the hardest 90 minutes I never played. It was very intense. Physically, I felt like I played the game. You want Chelsea to get a result, but it’s out of your control. Being so mentally involved in the game was tiring.

My video, when we’re gathering around the TV and waiting for the final whistle to blow, was crazy. That video shows 20 seconds of screaming, but it lasted for the whole night!

After six years and more than 150 games for Leicester, how did it feel to leave the club this summer?

We had 10,000 fans at my last match, which was amazing. I was so happy to share that moment and not be in an empty stadium. It was disappointing to leave after a great run and six years of being attached to the club – it was sadness and happiness at the same time. But we can be really proud of what we achieved. You can only look back at the good memories, and there were so many.

You’ve previously discussed your dream of becoming an NFL kicker – is that realistic?

Yes, why not? I’ve tried out with NFL coaches and they were impressed, so there’s potential.

I was up in the top 30 per cent of NFL kickers without having any specialist coaching. Right now, though, all my focus is on Charlotte and building this club up.

You’re known for having plenty of passions outside of football. What sort of things are you involved in at the moment?

Loads! About two years ago I bought a prison in New York, which has been converted into a sports complex. I have a football academy for esports players; I have my own alcoholic drinks business as well – gin, rum and vodka.

That’s all under the ‘No Fuchs Given’ brand.

I feel people can identify with the brand and the message it delivers. There are some nice projects I’m doing together with my wife too, so there’s a lot going on.

94 September 2021 FourFourTwo

SHAKA HISLOP

“BEFORE JOInInG READInG In 1992, I EARnED A DEGREE In EnGInEERInG AnD InTERnED AT nASA”

The ex-Trinidad shot-stopper swapped star-gazing for hero status at Pompey and more Interview Sean Cole

How did you get into football growing up, and why did you become a goalkeeper?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve played football. Everyone plays sport in Trinidad and Tobago – given the hot weather, you can play outdoors all year. Most people play football or cricket. I remember Trinidad and Tobago were putting together a national under-12s football team and my dad took me along to the regional trials. I’d never played in goal before, but as I was walking up to register for the try-outs, the coach looked at me and said, “You’re the tallest, you’re the keeper.” That was the first time I’d played in goal. I made the regional team and then eventually went on to make the national side.

How did the Reading move come about?

I’d been at university in the US on a football scholarship, and did a summer internship at NASA a year before graduating. After getting my degree in mechanical engineering, I was drafted by an indoor soccer team called the Baltimore Blast. This was before the days of MLS. As it turned out, Baltimore were about to tour England. We played Aston Villa twice; Dwight Yorke – another Trinidadian – had signed for them a couple of years previously.

I played in both games and did pretty well.

A Reading scout spotted me there, then the club got in touch and offered me a trial. They handed me a contract two months later.

You were a key part of a successful era at Reading, winning promotion to the second tier and coming so close to reaching the Premier League [losing the 1995 play-off final 4-3 to Bolton]. How was that period?

I didn’t miss a game in the promotion season [1993-94] and we went up to what is now the Championship. It was a big jump. First of all,

Presumably the opportunity to work with Redknapp again was a major factor in your decision to drop down to the First Division at Portsmouth?

Yes, it was all because of Harry. I thoroughly enjoyed playing under him for three seasons at West Ham. In my final year I was second choice to David James and the manager was Glenn Roeder, who I didn’t get on with. Once Harry called and said he wanted me to come down to the south coast, and told me about his ambitions for the club, I was sold. That was probably the easiest sale Harry has ever had to make. Given how well I’d played under him before, I wouldn’t have hesitated about joining him anywhere else.

you have to give credit to the manager, Mark McGhee, for showing faith in me, especially given some of the inconsistency that comes with being a young keeper. The team played really well, and when you’re in a winning side confidence grows. I enjoyed the next couple of years a lot. We played well and got results.

My confidence steadily grew, as did my own status within the team and within the game.

How did it feel to join Newcastle in 1995?

The club would rival Manchester United for the Premier League title that season...

It was an unbelievable challenge. Six months before I signed, Andy Cole had been sold to Man United, so Newcastle invested heavily that summer. They brought in Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Warren Barton and me. It was a big step up, but the good thing for me was that their other goalie, Pavel Srnicek, had got sent off at the end of the previous campaign.

He was suspended for the first two matches, so I had a chance to prove myself from the start. I played, we won both games and as the cliché goes, you don’t change a winning team. I kept my place and we kicked off that season with nine wins out of 10.

Looking back, should Newcastle have won the title in your first season?

Yes. It still hurts to let as big a lead slip as we did [12 points], but Man United knew how to chase teams down. They had the experience of winning league titles and we didn’t. I think that told – especially in the match we played against them at St James’ Park, where Peter Schmeichel put in an incredible display. Eric Cantona grabbed the headlines for his goal, though, and they edged it 1-0. That signalled a massive shift in momentum and they went on to win the league.

TEAMS Reading Newcastle West Ham Portsmouth FC Dallas Trinidad and Tobago

Avoiding relegation from the top flight in your first season must have also felt like an incredible achievement...

The focus was just on staying up. We found it very hard at first and were struggling. Then we played Liverpool in the FA Cup at Fratton Park and beat them 1-0. All of a sudden, that kick-started our push for survival. We won six of our last 10 games and got ourselves out of the bottom three. It was an exciting finish given how difficult we’d found it at the start.

Why did you rejoin West Ham in 2005?

I thought Portsmouth were going to offer me a player-coach job. That didn’t materialise, so I was out of contract. I was 36 and hadn’t played for about four months, but I got a call from Alan Pardew asking if I’d come to West Ham. They’d just signed Roy Carroll and Alan wanted somebody with experience to push him a little bit. I felt like I’d left Upton Park on a sour note because of my bad relationship with Roeder, so it was a good opportunity for me to go back.

What was Kevin Keegan like to play under?

I loved it. Kevin was about playing attacking and exciting football. As a keeper you knew that you would be left exposed at times, but that’s the kind of team you want to play for.

The excitement is there for everyone to see when the players and supporters respond to it. It was a great time – I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Newcastle.

How big for your career was the chance to move to West Ham in 1998 and become an undisputed first choice there?

In my final season with Newcastle, I’d played quite a few matches and managed to keep [recent arrival] Shay Given out for a little bit, but then things changed and he became the number one. My contract was expiring and the Bosman ruling was a new thing. I wanted to be a club’s first choice. Down at West Ham, Ludek Miklosko was nearly 37, so they were looking for someone to come in and take his place. I chatted to the boss, Harry Redknapp, about the opportunity and it felt right. I didn’t hesitate in making the move.

Portsmouth were dominant en route to the First Division title in 2002-03...

We really were. Paul Merson came in, but we had many other players who were significant.

In particular Linvoy Primus, who’s a player I became very friendly with and our families remain close to this day. He was somebody who represented everything that was good about Pompey. As far as I know, Harry tried to move him on at the start of that season but couldn’t. Linvoy stayed and played for his spot, and he was brilliant. As much as Merse hogged the headlines, Linvoy epitomised the character of the team.

You made more than 100 Premier League appearances during your first of two spells at West Ham. What were the highlights of that initial period?

We came fifth in that first season, which is still West Ham’s highest ever Premier League finish. I was named the player of the season that year and, albeit indirectly through the Intertoto Cup, we brought European football back to Upton Park. Those are the things I’m most proud of. More than two decades later we still hold that record of the club’s greatest Premier League finish, and just being part of UEFA Cup nights at Upton Park [against Osijek and Steaua Bucharest] was special.

What are your memories of playing in the 2006 FA Cup Final against Liverpool, which you were minutes away from winning until Steven Gerrard’s famous equaliser?

It was an incredible experience – everything about it. I went to the 1998 FA Cup Final with Newcastle, but had to watch from the bench.

Knowing that I was going to face Liverpool, one of the truly big clubs in English football – and at the Millennium Stadium – was magic.

As a kid growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, I loved watching the FA Cup on TV, so it was the stuff boyhood dreams are made of. We nearly had the cup won, but it just wasn’t to be in the end.

FourFourTwo September 2021 95

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MY PERFECT XI AnDRE AYEW

The Al Sadd forward picks a squad of old pals from Marseille, West Ham, Swansea and the Ghana national team – although baby brother Jordan just misses the cut...

STEVE MANDANDA “I played with Steve at Marseille. He was such a calm head and I saw him become the best goalkeeper in France for years. He never got the recognition he deserved, but he’s played at Marseille for almost his whole career and is a legend there.”

GK

STEVE MANDANDA

CB

RB

CB CM

CM

LUCHO GONZALEZ

MICHAEL ESSIEN

AM

RW

SAMIR NASRI

DIMITRI PAYET

LB

CF

LW

HATEM BEN ARFA

ASAMOAH GYAN

THE GAFFER

THE SUBS

01

DIDIER DESCHAMPS “Deschamps gave me confidence and trust at Marseille – he guided me, and built me into the player I am. Even today, a lot of his words come back to me. Everywhere he’s been, he’s won.”

CESAR AZPILICUETA “Cesar was always determined at Marseille.

He got to training early and left late – he was so focused. When Chelsea made him their captain, I wasn’t surprised because I knew he was that kind of guy. You can rely on him.

He has quality offensively and defensively.”

JOHN MENSAH “John was our captain in the Ghana national team and known as ‘The Rock’ – I think he’s the best centre-back Ghana has had over the past 30 years. If it wasn’t for the injuries he suffered later on when he joined Sunderland, he’d have had an even better career.”

GABRIEL HEINZE “Gabriel had strength, energy, fighting spirit and a great understanding of the game, with the way he positioned himself. He was a top player who won titles in Manchester, Madrid and Marseille. He was like a mentor to me as well, and a player I admired.”

BENJAMIN MENDY “My left-back was between Mendy and Taye Taiwo – I’ve gone for Mendy because he gave me lots of crosses at Marseille. He’s a beast.

Benjamin is one of the best left-backs in the world, and has been unlucky with injuries for the past couple of years. Before that, he was unstoppable on the left side – the quality of his crossing was incredible. He was like my little brother when we were team-mates, as he’d come and wake me up so early by making noise! A good lad to have around, who always brings positive vibes and jokes.”

MICHAEL ESSIEN “The best midfielder I’ve ever shared a pitch with.

Michael was and is an idol in Ghana – he

played for big clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid and Milan and won major trophies. He gave his heart for the national team and played really well – I have so much respect for him.”

LUCHO GONZALEZ “When Lucho joined Marseille, I knew he’d had success at Porto and with Argentina, but I was surprised at just how good he was. He had a brain that could see and execute things in less than a second – he saw passes that only he could see, and changed a game with one through-ball. He had class; as soon as he arrived, he took us to another dimension.”

DIMITRI PAYET “What Dimitri [below] did at West Ham was amazing, and it’s been the same at Marseille.

I was his team-mate at both clubs – he can score goals with either foot, including from free-kicks, play passes between the lines and is very hard to stop. A complete footballer.”

SAMIR NASRI “Samir had a style that made the whole team play well, with the way he could hold the ball, turn and find people. I grew up with him at Marseille – he was one step ahead of all the other players there at the time.”

HATEM BEN ARFA “A magician. Hatem had something different – a magic touch, which we saw at Newcastle too. Everybody knows he should have been a player who went to the biggest clubs in the world with his talent. That left foot, the goals, the dribbles... he had the lot. Everything that you want from a player.”

ASAMOAH GYAN “My striker had to be either Asamoah Gyan or Mamadou Niang, a hero at Marseille.

Gyan was a legend for Ghana, so I’ve gone for him. He scored 51 goals in 108 games. We were all playing for him – I just got the ball and crossed it! Sorry to my brother Jordan that he didn’t quite make the team – if he helps me to win the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next year, I’ll add him in.”

Chris Flanagan

02 03 YOUR nEXT FOURFOURTWO IS On SALE SEPTEMBEr 22 MATHIEU VALBUENA

JONJO SHELVEY

MAMADOU NIANG