Table of contents for September 2023 in FourFourTwo UK

Remember September 2002? Atomic Kitten topped the UK singles chart with The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling), Coldplay had just released their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, while Matt Damon was making his first outing as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity. In the Premier League, Manchester United were beaten 1-0 in successive games by Bolton and Leeds, before going on to win the title. In the second tier, a 24-year-old Eddie Howe was starting his long recovery from a serious knee injury suffered while playing for Portsmouth. September 2002 was also the last time that Newcastle United graced the Champions League group stage – 21 years later, under the management of Howe, they’re back. How will they get on now they’ve returned to Europe’s…

SMELL OF FOOTBALL 2: THE NEXT 11 YEARS (AND TEN TEAMS!) Mick Rathbone, £14.99 After leaving Everton in 2010, physio Mick Rathbone published his much-acclaimed autobiography The Smell Of Football, exploring his journeyman playing career and chronic lack of self-confidence as a youngster, which ultimately cost him a first-team place at hometown team Birmingham. In the last 12 years, ‘Baz’ has served 10 different clubs, entered the after dinner speaking circuit, penned this follow-up and delivered ‘retirement’ speeches on numerous occasions. The lure of the game – and medical bag – has often proved too strong, though. In his customary down-to-earth style, Rathbone lays bare the itinerant nature of his post-Goodison Park days, with dalliances at Salford and Dundee seeing acquaintances flit in and out of his life. One of…

01 Who was Arsenal’s captain when the Gunners last won the Premier League title in 2003-04? 02 Which side has featured in the most Champions League/European Cup finals without ever winning the trophy? 03 Which future England boss led Ipswich to UEFA Cup glory in 1981? 04 In 2005, Stuart Pearce deployed which goalkeeper as a centre-forward towards the end of the final game of the season? 05 A sword-wielding pirate is prominent on the badge of which EFL club? 06 Which Spanish outfit have a ‘cantera’ policy of only signing players native to or trained in the local area? 07 Which of this trio has never featured at a World Cup while playing their club football overseas: Jude Bellingham, David Beckham or Paul Gascoigne? 08 The Henri Delaunay Trophy…

Miami, Florida. It’s a city synonymous with palm trees, white sandy beaches – and now, Lionel Messi. Inter Miami have made one of the statement signings of the summer to bring one of the greatest footballers in history to Major League Soccer, and south Florida has been consumed by Messi Mania. Arriving in Miami, it won’t be long until you see someone wearing the club’s trademark pink shirt with the Argentine great’s name on the back. You’d be lucky to find one anywhere to buy, though – demand was simply that high at the time of his full debut in July. Even at the specially dedicated pop-up Adidas Messi store on Lincoln Road, they had only men’s 3XL left in stock, such is the appeal since the World Cup winner…

RASMUS HOJLUND ATALANTA TO MANCHESTER UNITED The wedding of Rasmus Hojlund and Manchester United was the consummation of a long courtship, one that largely took place away from prying eyes. Much of it was down to Hojlund’s new agents, who also happen to represent Erik ten Hag. Some time ago, the Red Devils’ boss had placed Hojlund at the top of his wish list, viewing the Danish forward as the potential centre of his Old Trafford project. It wasn’t too hard for the club to convince him, either. “I won’t hide the fact I’m a huge Manchester United supporter,” the 20-year-old revealed in January. A significant salary increase only added to the attraction. Atalanta made the most of the situation, forcing the initial fee up to £64 million, plus £8m…

“I bet you he saves it. Watch.” James Trafford’s England Under-21 team-mate Cole Palmer knew. The European U21 Championship final had entered its ninth minute of stoppage time in July as Spain’s Abel Ruiz strode towards the ball. Score and he’d force extra time. England’s goalkeeper, yet to concede in six matches at the tournament, had other ideas. Diving to his right, Trafford saved Ruiz’s spot-kick. And the rebound. The Young Lions were champions of Europe for the first time since 1984, and Trafford had made history – the first goalkeeper to win the U21 Euros with the cleanest of sheets. “It’ll take a massive effort to break that record,” said Trafford. Until they invent minus goals, at least. Soon, the 20-year-old had signed for Burnley in a deal of…

Aged 17, Micky van de Ven was told he was surplus to requirements at Dutch second-tier club Volendam. Before he turned 20, he’d become their captain. The turning point was the arrival of new boss Wim Jonk, who soon implemented ‘Plan Cruyff’, which he co-wrote with Johan himself at Ajax. Its style of play suited Van de Ven perfectly. “We saw a Cruyffian defender – a lot of risk taking and incredible speed,” said Volendam strategic advisor Ruben Jongkind. “We have worked with Matthijs de Ligt, Toby Alderweireld, good defenders.” While Van de Ven needed to improve his heading and one-on-one defending, he could run 60 metres in seven seconds and bulked up to aid his physicality. Only 17 months after his debut, and still just 19, he was handed…

When you returned for your second spell with Carlisle, in early 2022, the club sat 91st in the Football League. Could you have imagined, 18 months on, you’d be preparing for a League One campaign? No. The very prospect seemed crazy, though I have to say that after staying up in 2021-22 with games to spare, we didn’t head into last season intending to just keep our heads above water. Realistically, I thought promotion was achievable by the end of my three-year deal, so it’s come earlier than expected. I’ve learnt in football that if a chance presents itself, you have to take it – my players grabbed it with both hands. It’s rare for a boss to enjoy success at his hometown club. Does it mean more, being Carlisle…

Coming through Manchester City’s youth system with Kasper Schmeichel, Micah Richards and Stephen Ireland, who did you have the highest hopes for? Stevie was one of the best players a lot of us ever played with. He was a bit too skinny, so he worked on that, and technically he was amazing. After the takeover, when Robinho signed, Stevie still won player of the season. As the quality increased, he stepped up. We just wish we’d seen it over a longer period. You represented England Under-21s, but never the senior side. How seriously did you consider playing for Nigeria instead? I considered it more as I grew older. When I was younger, I was probably naive to focus just on club football. Nigeria did get in touch about the Africa…

THE GAFFER JUPP HEYNCKES “It has to be Jupp – we won everything together. He got along really well with all the players and I know how difficult that is. He did a terrific job to keep the dressing room happy. A gentleman.” THE SUBS 01 PEP GUARDIOLA 02 ZE ROBERTO 03 ROBERT KOVAC MANUEL NEUER “There’s only one choice for this position in my team. I think Manuel’s just the complete player – he has everything. He can play with his feet but he’s also a top goalkeeper when it comes to the basics, like shot-stopping and catching crosses. He was already a leader in the dressing room during my time at Bayern Munich. He may be the greatest keeper ever.” PHILIPP LAHM “Philipp had an amazing mentality, which is…

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Hands on her knees, staring at the turf, Megan Rapinoe’s World Cup career came to a sad end against Sweden – victorious in 2015 and 2019, this time she skied a spot-kick in the last 16 shootout and the USA were out. “GET ME A HOT DOG!” FORT LAUDERDALE, USA When Inter Miami took on Cruz Azul, Ignacio Rivero discovered that facing Lionel Messi isn’t always the dream you expect it to be. The Argentine treated him to a game of ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ – Rivero almost tackled the corner flag, before Messi bagged Miami’s winner.…

What was the first football match you ever attended? Well, my father is from Liverpool and he was an Everton supporter, so that’s why I go for them. I grew up with Everton and I’ve been a big fan ever since I was little. I went to visit my brother in Liverpool when I was about 12: it was the 2000-01 season and I went to see Everton play against Coventry at their old ground, Highfield Road. We won 3-1. Gordon Strachan was the manager of Coventry and I remember him getting abused by the home fans. Then, the next week, I saw Everton at Goodison Park and we got beat 3-0 by Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup, which was pretty brutal. For someone from Australia to go to…

Late on the final day of last season, Union missed out on their first Belgian title since 1935. How was that day? We were confident that we simply needed to win our game. Antwerp were away at Genk, who were both still in contention, and the only way we wouldn’t win the championship was if Antwerp won, or we failed to win. We thought that we had to take care of our own business – we were doing that until the 89th minute at home to Club Brugge. The feeling when the equaliser went in was just one of shock and devastation. We couldn’t believe that it had happened. Then we knew that we had to score, because if we didn’t win, one of the other two teams would claim…

Last summer, it looked like Jurrien Timber’s move to the Premier League would be to Manchester United, linking up again with his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag. Instead, the Dutch international decided to stay in Amsterdam for another season, believing it was better to continue his development in the Netherlands and not put his place at the World Cup in any danger. That decision turned out pretty well. Last term, Timber matured yet further in familiar settings, playing in the Champions League against Liverpool and Napoli, then impressing at the World Cup on the right side of a three-man defence. This summer, Timber finally felt ready to move abroad. His destination proved to be Arsenal, the club he liked as a kid, inspired by Thierry Henry and Robin van…

“Coach Watson, I’ve got Micronesian ancestry and I’ve been trying to contact the FA to play for the under-17s, but I’ve been coming up dry everywhere I look. I was hoping you’d have some advice?”Kenny Aldana, 2022 Despite FIFA’s claim to ‘develop football everywhere’, there are still spots on the world map that remain exiled from the football family. Currently, six sovereign nations aren’t members of any FIFA confederation. When you discount Monaco and Vatican City, they are all in Oceania: the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia. With a population of about 110,000 across four main islands – Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae and Pohnpei – Micronesia has welcomed football since the 1990s, but attempts to engage FIFA have failed, leaving the game’s status at the mercy…

“I WAS UNVEILED O N THE PITCH AS VILLA’S RECORD TRANSFER BEFORE I’D EVEN SIGNED”JUAN PABLO ANGEL You cut your teeth at Nacional in Medellin before joining River Plate in Buenos Aires. What was it like to play and score in the world’s fiercest derby, the Superclasico? It’s hard to describe the atmosphere in those games against Boca Juniors – the incredible amount of pressure, everything that happens in the weeks before and after the game, what goes on in the stands… it’s just unbelievable. Back then, away fans were allowed in too, and it was very hostile – but that was part of its beauty. In Argentina I learned what it is to play under pressure constantly, in every training session, every match, every friendly. That set me up…

in association with NIKE X MARTINE ROSE COLLECTION £184.95-£729.95 nike.com Classier establishments might not appreciate the suit-and-boots look, but they can have no qualms with Nike and designer Martine Rose’s eye-catching collection. Modelled by Lionesses captain Leah Williamson, the gender-free range includes a player’s suit jacket, trousers, trench and shirt, plus a host of accessories and the latest iteration of the Nike x Martine Rose Shox Mule MR 4 just to finish things off. Swish. RAINBOW LACES 10 – GLITTER EDITION £5 stonewall.org.uk/rainbowlaces Celebrate 10 years of Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign with extra lustre by grabbing a special glittery pair. The movement has become synonymous with supporting the LGBTQ+ community within football and is backed by players and clubs countrywide. This year’s message, Lace Up To Keep Up, urges people…

“ALL I REMEMBER FROM THE GAME IS PINCHING MYSELF, THINKING, ‘I’M PLAYING FOR FRANCE!’” Rennes 4-3 Bordeaux March 23, 1996 Ligue 1 “This was my first senior appearance, at Rennes – I came on as a substitute for a minute or two. It was a defining moment, as that’s always the objective when you join a club’s academy, and it happened in my fourth year. I’d been in the squad on a few occasions before that, but never managed to get off the bench. I was training regularly with the first team, though, and was hopeful my opportunity would come pretty soon. It wasn’t planned when I did come on and I felt nervous, but those first steps on the field were amazing. We won the match 4-3, so it…

Pitches across the UK were mostly at their pristine best for the start of the new season. Not so in Saxony, where one had turned into a mudbath. The latest edition of the Mud Football German Championships took place in August in the tiny settlement of Wollnau, north-east of Leipzig. Ten men’s teams and two women’s teams – the questionably-named FC Bierzelona among them – slugged it out in a quagmire. The event began in 2009, and 600,000 litres of water are poured onto the playing surface to ensure it’s ready for action. It probably wouldn’t have suited the dribbling talents of Lionel Messi or Mohamed Salah, but it may have brought back a few memories for Derby supporters who visited the Baseball Ground in the 1970s. Mud football originated…

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“We don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries,” read the banner. Such was the rot that had set in at Newcastle United in Mike Ashley’s 14 years, that any concerns the club’s fans had over a takeover merely extended as far as ‘when’, never ‘whom’. The two entirely avoidable relegations, the rebranding of the stadium as the Sports Direct Arena, the hiring of Joe Kinnear, the employment tribunal with Kevin Keegan, the failure to retain Rafael Benitez. The decision to release Jonas Gutierrez – a man who mere months prior had made his footballing return after battling cancer – by asking the also-released Ryan Taylor if he could “pass the phone to Jonas”. Only the word count prevents me from going on. Newcastle fans would,…

“If he’s not a starter for Croatia by the time he’s 20,” said Dalibor Poldrugac, a coach in the Dinamo Zagreb academy back in 2019, “someone should go to jail for it.” The ‘he’ was a 17-year-old Josko Gvardiol, a left-footed defender who was considered a top prospect after switching from full-back to centre-back. Gvardiol actually became an international starter a year ahead of schedule: in 2021, he was selected for all four of Croatia’s games at the Euros, albeit at left-back. The tournament opener against England was only his second appearance for his country and his maiden start – at 19 years, four months and 21 days, he became Croatia’s youngest player at a major tournament. It wasn’t all hearts and flowers, though: in the last 16 defeat to…

“SPEAKERS LIKE McCLAREN, HUGHTON AND LESCOTT ARE HUGELY BENEFICIAL” Founded in 2019 by experienced Premier League and European scouting manager Steve Simmons, the company continues to go from strength to strength. Many attendees have since worked for football clubs around the world – including Premier League clubs – in both live and video scouting roles, directly upon finishing the course or via the organisation’s relationships with football clubs. The programme has provided an opportunity to anyone who is interested in becoming a professional scout regardless of academic qualifications, coaching or playing experience via their CPD-accredited online scouting course. It has featured current and former Premier League managers, chief scouts, coaches, technical directors and players as guest speakers on scouting webinars exclusive to Football Scouting Worldwide. Founder and CEO Simmons explained,…

What do you recall of the high drama on the final day of the 1990-91 season, after Oldham brought you to England en route to securing promotion to the top flight? For me, it was fantastic. We had the chance to go up and seal the title, but we were 2-0 down at home to Sheffield Wednesday. We got back to 2-2, then won a penalty in injury time. Neil Redfearn was calm, but I think his heart rate was high as he took that one. He scored and we won the title. The following day was wonderful, as we had a bus parade in front of the fans. Most people remember us in that era for the plastic pitch! It was fine with rubber studs, but the surface had…