Table of contents for March 2026 in FourFourTwo UK

X @JamesAndrew_ E james.andrew@futurenet.com There’s a scene at the end of the film version of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, when Arsenal win the league at Anfield in 1989, where fans who live around Highbury spill out of their houses, congregating outside the ground to celebrate and sing. That title triumph came after an 18-year wait, following their previous success in 1971. If or when Arsenal win the title this season, the wait will have been 22 years. How will supporters celebrate this time around? Chances are that it will be more social media based, but for the players, winning the title would bring an end to years of being the nearly men – it would probably be more relief at first, then elation second. Always the bridesmaids, finally the bride.…

01 December saw Mo Salah break the Premier League’s all-time goal contributions record for a single club with 277. Which now-retired forward did he overtake? 02 Noni Madueke’s first three goals for Arsenal all came in which competition: Premier League, League Cup or Champions League? 03 This season saw Harry Kane reach 10 Bundesliga hat-tricks in a record 76 outings. Who’s now second quickest to that tally, doing so in 161 matches? 04 As of early December, which Swedish Arsenal forward has the most goals as a sub (13) in WSL history? 05 Aside from Jamie Vardy, who is the only other Yorkshire-born player to win the Premier League golden boot? 06 Which team wearing red shirts and white sleeves currently plays its home games at Highbury Stadium? 07 Which…

@CFlanaganFFT OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER Since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, only one Manchester United boss has secured more than one top-three finish. That man was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. No other manager has come close. Looking at complete seasons only (sorry, David Moyes and Ruben Amorim), Louis van Gaal finished fourth and fifth. Jose Mourinho was sixth and second. Erik ten Hag was third and eighth. In his two full seasons, Solskjaer finished third and second. True, it went wrong after that, sacked in November 2021 with the club in eighth, although which recent Manchester United manager’s tenure didn’t go horribly wrong come the end? Mourinho was sacked with the club sixth, amid a sense that things had become increasingly toxic. For Solskjaer, the decline seemed less about him and more…

“AT SPURS GAMES, I’M NOT ANTONY COSTA FROM BLUE, I’M ANTONY COSTA THE FAN WHO SHOUTS AND SWEARS” What was the first match you ever attended? My dad took me to Ossie Ardiles’ testimonial in May 1986, when Diego Maradona played, before the Hand of God goal happened. He was in the team with Glenn Hoddle and there was debate over who would wear No.10. In the end they both wore it and that was right, as they were both top players. I don’t really remember that game, but the first game I do remember was Watford at home in the League Cup in 1994. Darren Anderton got injured and from then on got the nickname ‘Sicknote’ because he was always out injured, which was a bit unfair as he…

The end. The collapse. The exhaustion of 11 Arsenal players, slumping to the turf against the glittering backdrop of a Toon foil display. Mikel Arteta’s thousand-yard stare. Granit Xhaka’s chevron brow. The Sisyphean mission on St James’ Park’s infamously subtle slope to fight thunder, demons, Bruno Guimaraes, and the rumble and boom of 50,000 passionate Geordies. When you lose – and lose comfortably – it’s as if the ground beneath your knees swallows you up whole. The night was May 16, 2022 – an evening that defined a blossoming Arsenal side, crushed underfoot by Newcastle, 2-0. It wasn’t the first time that Arteta’s tender team had neatly folded at the opportune moment. It may have been the most definitive. “It’s true: we couldn’t cope,” Arteta sighed in the game’s aftermath.…

James Maddison will always remember where he was at 8.37pm on April 17, 2025. It was the moment when his injury troubles began, but also the moment that led him to one of the greatest achievements of his career. Maddison was inside Deutsche Bank Park for the second leg of Spurs’ Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt. The tie was locked at 1-1 on aggregate, when Cristian Romero lifted a pass over the German side’s defence. Maddison raced on to it and got his head to the ball near the penalty spot, before being taken out by the onrushing keeper. It was a sickening collision. “I FELT EVERY EMOTION WATCHING THE FINAL. IT WAS THE LONGEST 90 MINUTES EVER!” Lying prone on the floor, the midfielder had suffered a head…

Had qualification for the World Cup been decided by population, Spain would only just have made it for the past seven tournaments. Ranked 31st by that metric, they lag behind Myanmar, Sudan and Colombia – plus England, for that matter. Instead, their men’s and women’s teams both currently sit top of the FIFA rankings, having won two World Cups and three Euros between them in recent times. At this summer’s World Cup in North America, the men will go in as bookmakers’ favourites. No country consistently produces as many exceptional players as Spain, so FourFourTwo have flown to the Canary Islands to find out exactly why, and try our hand at talent-spotting the kids who’ll help them dominate the globe once more a decade from now. We’re in Las Palmas…

XI BEST: Joe Murphy, Conor Townsend, Cliff Byrne, Murray Wallace, David Mirfin, Josh Morris, Grant McCann, Ryan Yates, Gary Hooper, Billy Sharp, Hakeeb Adelakun. WORST: Tom Billson, Ross Millen, George Taft, Ryan Delaney, Colin Daniel, Devarn Green, Alex Perry, Dom Vose, Yasin Ben El-Mhanni, Tyrone O’Neill, Rekeil Pyke. PLAYER B: We’ve had a lot of great players, especially forwards, but I’d say Gary Hooper. In 2009-10 he was third-top scorer in the Championship, one behind Peter Whittingham and Nicky Maynard. W: Ross Millen was terrible for us. He cupped his ear to the fans after he took a free-kick, it hit the post and another player scored the rebound. An ear-cupping for a miss! MOMENT B: The 2008-09 League One Play-off Final. Coming from 2-1 down to beat Millwall 3-2.…

The Dutch midfielder on his nomadic career, suffering Champions League heartbreak with Liverpool in Athens and winning Boro’s first major trophy You started your career at PSV and played for clubs in England, Spain and France, but never stayed anywhere much more than two years. Why? Generally, I didn’t sign lengthy contracts to keep my hands free. You want to be the master of your own destiny. But of course, bad things can happen along the way, which meant sometimes it was best to move on and change your luck. You won the Eredivisie and La Liga but never a title anywhere else… That’s true, but I still won major honours elsewhere. I may not have won a league again after La Liga with Barcelona in 1999, but I consider…

TECH WIZARDS LONDON, ENGLAND The Premier League has few venues quite as glamorous as Selhurst Park – providing there’s no post blocking your view of the pitch though, it has a charm to it, right down to the little programme stalls outside. They’re embracing the future, too – contactless payment and everything. Pic Justin Setterfield/Getty PRETTY IN PINK BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND Residents of the Second City were baffled recently when the sky lit up pink for miles around – in fact, the cause was the LEDs being used on the pitch at St Andrew’s, with clouds and snow reflecting the light further than usual. Fear not everyone, the aliens haven’t landed just yet… Pic Christopher Furlong/Getty READY FOR ROUND NUMBER FOUR MACCLESFIELD, ENGLAND Fresh from beating Crystal Palace in the FA Cup third…

Saturday, January 10, 2026. The date Macclesfield fans will never forget. There are some matches that reignite why we love football and the FA Cup often provides those magical moments, but none have been more significant than what the Silkmen achieved in this season’s third round. Against all odds, the National League North side knocked out holders Crystal Palace, creating FA Cup history. It was the first time in the competition’s 155 years that a sixth-tier team had beaten a top-flight club. With Macclesfield 117 places below Palace, it also made it the biggest FA Cup upset of all time based on league places. Astonishing. I was covering the game pitchside for TNT Sports, and it was one of those days you think how lucky you are to witness something…

Sometimes in life, timing is everything. Alex Scott can attest to that. Making it from the Channel Islands to the England men’s squad is so difficult that no-one had done it for 31 years before Scott completed that journey in November, called up by Thomas Tuchel after his fine midfield performances for Bournemouth over the past two-and-a-half seasons. Had the 22-year-old emerged 10 years earlier, his pathway might have been blocked. Back then, his home island of Guernsey didn’t have a club playing in the English non-league system. Had he been just six months younger, the Covid pandemic would have struck before he could thrive for Guernsey FC in the Isthmian League as a 16-year-old and quickly earn a contract with Bristol City. Instead, he would have been frozen out…

Walsall are challenging for promotion from League Two this season, despite having one of the lowest average shares of possession of any team in the division. Is possession overrated? It really depends – everyone does things in different ways. We think this is what gives us the best chance of success. We want athletes who can cover the ground, and want to be really good in transition, on the counter-attack, and with the way we attack teams in the wide areas of the pitch. We also want to play attacking and exciting football in the final third. If that means we sometimes sacrifice making three or four passes at the back, then that’s no problem. I think it’s very easy to push your possession stats up just by doing that.…

The right-back talks about his newly found ITV fame, frustration at being stuck behind the Neville bros and linking up with Roy Keane on Wearside After the success of fly-on-the-wall series The Bardsley Bunch, do you consider yourself an ex-footballer or a reality TV star these days? [Laughs] Both I suppose, but primarily I’m a businessman now. I run a property company that works with local councils on social housing. To be honest, the TV series wasn’t really my thing, but I went along with it because the family wanted to do it. I like to think we all came across well and we had great feedback. It was good fun and I don’t have any regrets. Last year you were pictured with a bunch of former Manchester United players…

LISTEN Manager sackings, cup upsets, big transfer news and much more, at times it’s hard to keep up with the world of football. But for two hours every Monday night on BBC 5 Live The Monday Night Club does its best to make sense of everything. The show features regular pundits Chris Sutton and journalist Rory Smith along with a revolving guest each week, and is held together brilliantly by host Mark Chapman – it really is essential listening. BBC 5 Live READ The FA Cup is the oldest and best club cup competition – Whatever Will Be, Will Be: A Matter of Life and Football is the perfect book to sum up what the competition and football means. Felix White navigates every round of the famous competition in a…

When Sir Alex Ferguson signed Nani for Manchester United in 2007, the first thing he wanted to know was whether the young Portuguese winger had the mentality required to succeed in the Premier League. “I don’t need to know if he’s technically good – I take that for granted,” the legendary boss said. Nani arrived from Sporting carrying the weight of a difficult upbringing. He’d been forced to grow up fast, after both parents abandoned him and his eight siblings. Aged five, his father went on holiday to Cape Verde and never came back. Aged 12, his mother left for the Netherlands. The children were instead raised by their aunt, when he picked up the nickname that has remained with him ever since – ‘Nani’ is an adaptation of the…

CELTA VIGO 3 BARCELONA 3 La Liga, 2000 “I was a young, third-choice Barça keeper at that time. I’d joined the first-team because Francesc Arnau was injured and I got on the bench for two or three games, then Richard Dutruel had to come off at Celta after a first-half collision. I wasn’t nervous as I didn’t expect to come on, but the time came to prove my worth. We were losing 3-1 at that point but managed to draw. I kept playing after, the team didn’t lose and the manager, Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, kept faith in me. I also won’t forget how the senior players treated me – Pep Guardiola, Sergi Barjuan, Abelardo Fernandez and Luis Enrique were so supportive.” SPAIN 2 URUGUAY 0 International friendly, 2005 “My debut…

Some players break records, others break the internet. Neither was ever going to be enough for Neymar da Silva Santos Junior though – he had to break the transfer market too. Economists could chart the moment from early 2017: the Remontada, as it would become known. That night, as he pulled the strings for Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain, Neymar also began tugging at the threads of the very fabric of football’s financial tapestry. Just four weeks before that display, on Valentine’s Day in the city of love, Barça had been undressed and humiliated in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie in Paris. Former Real Madrid playmaker Angel Di Maria scored twice in a 4-0 win – no club had ever been able to overturn such a…

Santiago Munez holds the unique honour of being a Newcastle United cult hero, despite never having played a competitive game for the club. That’s because he’s fictional. He’s a character, the protagonist of an underdog story dreamed up by Hollywood film-makers. Two decades later, his name remains synonymous with one word: Goal! Written by Adrian Butchart and Mike Jefferies, plus renowned duo Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, the brains behind cult sitcoms The Likely Lads, Porridge and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, the 2005 movie told the tale of a young Mexican, whose childhood entry into the United States under the cover of darkness preceded an unimaginable rise from recreational footballer to Premier League star. After years in the US as an undocumented migrant, Munez was employed part-time at a Chinese…

Most children dream of becoming firefighters, astronauts or footballers – but Liam Rosenior wasn’t most children. From an early age, he wanted to become a football manager. “At the age of nine, I read The FA Coaching Book of Soccer Tactics and Skills,” the Englishman, now 41, would recall. “At 11, I was player-manager of the school team, setting up sessions and trying to get us to play in a certain way.” Rosenior soon had real-life experience to draw on. His father, Leroy, embarked on a coaching career in 1996, taking charge of non-league Gloucester. The former West Ham and Fulham striker would go on to manage the likes of Torquay, Brentford and the Sierra Leone national team across a respectable period in the dugout – albeit one often remembered…

LENNART KARL There aren’t many 17-year-olds who have been playing senior football for one of Europe’s biggest clubs. There are even fewer who have been putting in man-of-the-match performances alongside the likes of Harry Kane, Luis Diaz and Michael Olise. Karl is possibly Europe’s standout young player of 2025-26 – and if you’d heard of him last season, you’d know his opportunity in the Bayern Munich first team was virtually inevitable. Last season, the young attacking midfielder played 30 times for both club and country at under-17 and under-19 levels, in the process contributing to 45 goals. He averaged a goal or an assist every 52 minutes – more often than not it was the former, netting on 34 occasions. He’s an output machine who already boasts elite technique –…

In the middle of Stephen Ireland’s relaxing stretch, re-watching some match footage, his wife started laying into him. He wasn’t watching one of his 246 Premier League appearances for Manchester City, Newcastle, Aston Villa or Stoke, nor was it any of the six Republic of Ireland caps he earned. Instead, it was a Sunday League game he’d recently played for Wythenshawe Veterans, an over-35s non-league outfit. “She said, ‘You are sad. Honestly, you are the saddest guy,’” Ireland tells FFT. “‘Get a life,’ she told me and I replied, ‘This is my life!’” “IT’S ABOUT GETTING THAT BUZZ FROM PLAYING AGAIN. WE’RE ALL KIDS AT HEART” Ireland was only partly joking. He’s now unashamedly embracing his current chapter, the one that earned him a new nickname while in the barbers…

The tough-tackling utility man opens up about public perceptions, his Euro 2016 agony against Wales and why he can never forgive Roberto Martinez You were born in Belgium in 1988 as the son of an Indonesian immigrant. What was your early life like? I guess I’m a child of modern Belgium, of modern Europe. And that’s probably why I’ve always so easily adapted in any place that I’ve lived. I come from a multicultural environment and I had to manage every situation since I was a kid. I remember I was always playing with my twin sister and following my older brother, and that’s also set up a vision of equality for me. When it came to sport, for me, everything was always natural. I was self-taught in any field.…