Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i FourFourTwo UK

The teams at the top of the Premier League table may be familiar, but that doesn’t mean this season has been a dud. Personally, it’s the performances of many stars outside the runaway top two that I’ve enjoyed the most. In this issue, we rank the division’s 100 best players based on their displays this season. Of course, the usual suspects have still shone and make the cut – but this was a chance to honour the likes of West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen, who has really grasped his opportunity to excel in 2021-22. And, as he tells FFT, he owes it all to a Herefordshire potato field. Joao Cancelo, Fabinho and Wolves’ Max Kilman sit down with us to reflect on similarly superb campaigns so far, but we’ll also be…

* STAR TWEET Nigel Winterburn. He always just looked like someone’s dad playing in an Arsenal shirt? Emma Barwell Gabriel Batistuta… @Slang1001 Sorry?! Batigol was the accepted template for any cartoon or video game representation of ‘South American Footballer’ for about 20 years… @welsh_shaun Adebayo Akinfenwa. Very decent footballer, but he could also pass for an Olympic shot put champion. @DadDadB74 Johnny Metgod – a man who works solely ‘out the back’ in your local hardware store. @statmanbrad Peter Crouch looks like an electrician. Harry Kane looks like Peter Crouch’s apprentice. Ronny Davies Bernardo Silva could definitely be an investment banker. Joao Jeremias Ronny Davies David Seaman. Looked like a milkman. Sounded like a coal miner. @mrmstoney Dietmar Hamann – a school teacher. Jeevan Nathan In his day, ex-Tottenham man…

The cheers of 12,000 jubilant Scotland fans were still reverberating through the Cardiff air, as a group of policemen frantically carried Jock Stein down the tunnel at Ninian Park. The greatest manager in domestic Scottish football history had just guided his nation to within touching distance of Mexico 86, after Davie Cooper’s late equaliser rescued their hopes. Wales’ had been all but destroyed in a monumental Battle of Britain decider. Now, though, Stein was ashen-faced amid the post-match chaos. Seconds before the final whistle, he’d collapsed on the touchline, clutching his chest. Less than half an hour later, Alex Ferguson entered the Scotland dressing room and uttered the mortal words that no one wanted to hear: “Jock’s dead…” A legend had passed away at the age of 62. Stein had…

You’re currently playing as well as ever – captain of a Hearts team that looks destined for Europe, and back as first choice for Scotland. It’s hard to believe you were out of the game completely through injury from 2012 to 2014. I remember playing one last game in my final year at Sunderland [2011-12]. I knew deep down that I wasn’t fit, but I was playing to win another contract, stay in full-time football and buy myself time to get my knee fixed. I shouldn’t have been out there and I was in a lot of pain. I tried to get through it, but in the end they let me go. I was out of the game for two whole years and, yeah, I couldn’t have imagined at that…

Derby County are deep in financial trouble and desperately need a saviour. As they drown in debt and overheads, the club faces bankruptcy and extinction unless it can find a hero with deep pockets. Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Actually, you may have done – because in 1984, this proud old club, freshly relegated to the third tier in its centenary year only nine years after being English champions for the second time in four seasons, were begging for help from someone, anyone, to keep the lights on. The saviour they found was a game-changer for football – one who saw its symbiosis with the media, and was arguably the first truly high-profile superstar owner without any connection to a club or its location. He was also…

You left hometown club Middlesbrough for Aston Villa, before securing a dream move to Liverpool in 2011. Do you wish you’d spent longer than two seasons there? It all started so well for me – we won the League Cup against Cardiff after a penalty shootout. I scored with my spot-kick and won man of the match that day. I thought that would be the start of something special. We should have won the FA Cup that year as well, because we were better than Chelsea on the day, but it wasn’t to be. Though I was quite happy with the way I’d started, to end up eighth in the league wasn’t good enough and Kenny Dalglish lost his job. Brendan Rodgers came in and wanted to bring in his…

“I went backstage at an Iron Maiden gig, expecting a party. Instead, one of the members was blow-drying his daughter’s hair…” Euro 96 wasn’t just about England and football coming home, you know. In a halcyon summer of excitement, music and memorable moments, Slaven Bilic had more to smile about than most. Representing Croatia was far from the standard honour of cap-stacking: it was the Vatreni’s first tournament as an independent nation. The squad was packed with talent, and though several members would later grace the Premier League, none managed to cultivate an enduring relationship with British football quite like Bilic. University-educated and multilingual, Bilic grew up in Yugoslavia and, like most kids who’ve ever kicked a ball around with their mates, he dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. But…

GET IT ON Jon Spurling (Biteback, £20) It’s the little details that grab you in this hearty slice of ’70s football life. What was George Best’s final Manchester United trophy? Apparently it was at Wembley – Arena, not Stadium – in the Daily Express five-a-side tournament. By that point they were grateful for anything. Radical change hit football in the early ’70s, all of which is woven into a brightly coloured tapestry here, as stars start to get bigger than their sponsored boots. Get it On begins not with Best, Marsh, Osgood and other mavericks, but the revolution that made them famous: colour TV, controversial pundits, and a ratings battle that sometimes spilled over into actual scuffles. Those flawed schemers finally shine, but with a fresh twist as the author…

The prospect of Italy vs Portugal for a place at the World Cup was already intriguing enough, until Roberto Mancini threw another curveball into the mix. Mario Balotelli hasn’t been capped by Italy since 2018, but got a shock call-up to their training camp during the January international break, and will hope to be involved again during this month’s play-offs. It’s been quite a turnaround for the 31-year-old, whose days at the top seemed to be over. Only three of his 36 caps have come since the 2014 World Cup, when he netted in a win over England in Manaus. Then came a £16m move from Milan to Liverpool – and when that went just about as disastrously as you might imagine, he returned to the Rossoneri on loan, then…

Back in May 2019, Diego Maradona was analysing a copy of FourFourTwo. The Argentine was managing in Sinaloa, Mexico, and as he flicked through the pages of our humble title, his eyes lit up at the thought of England – but not for the divinely metacarpal matters you’d expect. “Bryan Robson, he was my favourite English player of that generation,” Maradona told us in a sweltering evening heat, reminiscing about days both glorious and not so. “Robson and Graeme Souness were the best British midfielders. Great players.” Diego talked about a Cup Winners’ Cup game he’d played for Barcelona at Old Trafford in 1984, when Manchester United came from 2-0 down in the first leg to win 3-0. “I should have won a penalty!” he protested. “It was a penalty…”…

You linked up with your old England team-mate Scott Parker at the club in August, signing on for a year after choosing not to ink a new contract at Crystal Palace. How’s it been for you so far? It’s been good. Obviously I knew the manager already, he spoke to me over the summer, and at that point I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do – whether to try to stay in the Premier League, try a different challenge altogether, or just take a bit of time out from playing and decide whether to carry on at all. My head was a bit all over the place to be honest, and that’s why it took me so long into the summer to decide! But the manager gave me the…

FABIO CARVALHO FULHAM LOWDOWN The thrilling playmaker arrived from Lisbon as a child – then immediately whipped up a frenzy of intrigue. Cage king Carvalho joined Fulham aged 12 and debuted for the Cottagers in 2020 – but this has been the rapid youngster’s breakout year: seven goals and four assists led to an £8m January deadline day raid from Liverpool. It was averted… for now. HIGHLIGHT His full Premier League debut at Southampton last May was marked with a goal – followed up by three in Fulham’s first four games of 2021-22. His clever run and fine finish at Millwall was particularly sweet. THEY SAID “Teenagers went running into the clubhouse shouting, ‘You’ve got to come and see this kid!’” said Greg Cruttwell, Carvalho’s ex-coach at youth side Balham…

You played non-league football at Southall and Hayes before QPR snapped you up in 1987. How did you find the step up? It was tough, but not the level of play – just being a non-league player, then suddenly playing for a club in the highest division. It took a while for my mind to process it. I tried to remain the same person because I didn’t want my mates to think I was big-headed. It wouldn’t happen today; not because the talent isn’t there, but if Tottenham or Arsenal took a player out of non-league football and put them straight in the first team, the fans wouldn’t like it. They want their clubs to be spending £60 million on a player or they don’t feel like they’re competing. You…

Jamie, you knackered your back in a cup final and needed metal implants. Are you Wolverine now? I’m different! When I go through the metal detectors at the airport, they bloody go off every time. I always have to say to them, “I’ve got two titanium screws and a rod in me back, it’s not anything else. And you aren’t going to be able to get them out.” That would be tricky, putting them in the little tray. Have you ever been strip searched for them? I have, in Dubai. Down to my pants. It was like [speaks very slowly], “I… have… titanium… screws… in… my… back. That’s… why… I… keep… going… off…” Speaking of exotic places, your hometown Dartford is ‘one of the most exciting and dynamic towns in…

How did Angel City come about? They approached me – it’s a completely different project, because the club was starting from scratch in the upcoming National Women’s Soccer League in the States. They’ve got an incredible investment group – Natalie Portman, Serena Williams, [Reddit co-founder] Alexis Ohanian… so it really felt like a chance to do something completely different that will never happen again. You’re usually entering a club that has an established culture, and sometimes that’s difficult to change. Angel City has allowed me to put my stamp on things, recruit my own staff and all the players. It’s like someone giving you an amazing kitchen, all the ingredients and saying, ‘Right, go ahead and cook’. Moving to Los Angeles is something I didn’t expect at this stage of…

“HIS LEGACY HAS BEEN SEALED. HE’S WALES’ GREATEST EVER PLAYER” Five years ago, Gareth Bale had to watch from the stands as his World Cup dream was snatched away from him. Back then, the wing wizard had already won three of his four Champions League titles with Real Madrid, and spearheaded Wales’ run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016. All that remained was a World Cup appearance, and a role in his country’s first qualification since 1958. Such a dream had felt virtually impossible when he first joined the international setup – Wales finished 10 points off qualification for the 2010 World Cup, then fifth in their group four years later after an infamous 6-1 loss in Serbia and defeat in Macedonia. By 2017, though, Bale had given Wales belief…

Things weren’t always weird. Back in 2007, I was a journalist for Football Italia. But quite soon after that, my career took a rather different turn. I was also a failed semi-pro player who’d only ever reached the heights of being released by Tooting and Mitcham’s reserves. Unlike most rejects, however, I refused to give up the dream gracefully. Instead, I decided to move the goalposts with my flatmate Matt Conrad. Together, we sought out the lowest-ranked international teams we could find, in the wild hope of qualifying to play for one of them and fulfil our lifelong dream of getting a cap. When we found that in fact, no side was bad enough to consider us, we stumbled upon the non-FIFA Rankings for teams not yet recognised by them.…

1 BLANCOS BACKLASH The last team to beat Madrid in a major European final? Oh yes. Other teams have tried, nine times – Liverpool (2018), Juve (2017, ’98), Atletico Madrid (2016, ’14), Bayer Leverkusen (2002), Valencia (2000), Köln (1986), Videoton (1985) – but none have succeeded since Alex Ferguson’s Dons toppled them in the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup Final. 2 “ER… REF?!” Before that, however, Aberdeen became the first club to be knocked out of Europe on penalties, when Honved dumped them out of the same competition in 1970. After a 4-4 draw, the Hungarians made it through – albeit only after one clued-up observer was forced to inform the ref of newfangled rules that dodged a third, deciding game. 3 DUG FOR VICTORY Pittodrie is where the dugout arrived…

DAVID JAMES “Jamo had everything – in some training sessions, nobody could score past him. He was so big, strong and agile. Athletic, too. We weren’t the closest team-mates at Liverpool, but I always had a tremendous amount of respect for his ability and talent.” KYLE WALKER “I was at Aston Villa when he came on loan, then I played at Tottenham with him for four years. Kyle was an exceptionally explosive right-back and a really good team-mate. He was so quick that it didn’t matter if he made a mistake, because he could always correct it with his pace. He’s had some incredible coaching from Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola, and now he’s positionally superb.” LEDLEY KING “He hardly ever trained because of his knee – I never knew…