Borussia Mönchengladbach were defending champions having won the Bundesliga title each of the previous three seasons. But despite going into the final day of...
Category - Nostalgia
Premier League newcomers Leeds United have a new icon to worship in the form of manager Marcelo Bielsa, whose unique tactical viewpoint has guided the club...
The official attendance was a little over 24,000 but many claim that in reality there were as many as 40,000 present. A Benfica side that included the late...
The boots. The hair. The goals. Everything about Ronaldo was iconic. The legendary striker is even now known as the ‘original Ronaldo’ to most, such is his...
When you think of David Platt, immediately one goal springs to mind – England vs Belgium, World Cup second round, 1990 – and rightly so. But there’s so...
Play to your strengths. It’s one of the most valuable lessons in football, so why did Stoke City receive endless criticism for doing just that with their...
Arguably the greatest Irish goalkeeper of all time, Shay Given enjoyed an astonishing career that spanned more than two decades. He entered the FIFA Century...
Roy Makaay is perhaps slightly unlucky in as much as he played in the same era as several Dutch greats and so finds his legacy not quite as prominent as it...
For reasons surpassing normal logic, former prime minister Tony Blair was invited onto the BBC’s Football Focus programme in 2005 to discuss his supposed...
Vision, accuracy, power; three words that can be used to describe Juan Sebastián Verón’s style of play. The Argentine midfielder was at one time regarded...
Fourteen years after his retirement and Gabriel Batistuta’s legacy is such that he is regarded by many a wise sage as Argentina’s third greatest ever...
There are a number of parallels that link Clarence Seedorf with his Dutch compatriot, Edgar Davids. They were both born in Suriname before moving with their...
There is a consensus in some quarters that Stan Collymore is one of English football’s great lost causes; a classic case of a man who had it all...
There aren’t many players who fit the mantle of cult hero more than Yakubu. A decade long association with English football for the Nigerian has resulted...
Across almost two decades, Damien Duff played a key part in two Premier League victories, as well as two League Cup wins, an appearance in the 2002 UEFA Team...
For followers of the Premier League, Jari Olavi Litmanen will be remembered for a spell spent mainly on the periphery at Liverpool at the start of the 2000s...
For many football fans, simulation games such as ‘Football Manager’ and the cult classic ‘Championship Manager’ provide a degree of escapism and...
The Premier League has seen hundreds, perhaps even thousands of great players since its conception in 1992. With the commercialisation, questionable kits and...
The term ‘journeyman’ has become an overused label, dished out to almost any footballer whose career path meanders its way through a host of lower league...
Who is the only Greek footballer to have won three consecutive league and cup doubles with two different clubs? The answer it turns out is Antonios...
Back in the latter years of the 1990s, Leicester City fans had often chimed up with a chant of “Bruno, Bruno,” whenever Emile Heskey featured in a game. I...
Whilst the names of Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani would, in all probability, be the initial responses to any request to name the top Uruguayan strikers...
If you’re the sort of player who travels the world kicking around various leagues having a decent, but hardly world-shattering career, with a hairstyle that...
You know that quiz question. “Who was the first million-pound footballer?” Hands shoot up and out comes the chorus, like clockwork, “Trevor Francis!”...
When remembering great Liverpool central defensive partnerships throughout the years, many names spring to mind. Emlyn Hughes and Phil Thompson. Alan Hansen...
Remember that time that the young Argentinian broke on to the scene as a fresh-faced teenage sensation before setting the world alight at Barcelona? He went on...
In 1997, kitted out in an exceptional strip that seemed to have it all – an ultra-cool badge, a sash, and the iconic Kappa logo repeating down the sleeves...
The word “team” according to the Cambridge dictionary, can be “used in a number of phrases that refer to people working together as a group in order to...
The name Jonathan Woodgate evokes special memories for the majority of football fans. His everlasting battles with numerous injury problems are one and...
Too often when someone talks about La Liga, we only hear about the Madrid sides or Barcelona. Very rarely does a club like Real Betis get any mention unless...
Hidetoshi Nakata was born in Japan in 1977 and is widely considered the greatest Japanese player of all time; however, this was very nearly not the case as he...
Croatia’s ‘Golden Generation’ reached the World Cup final in Russia last year before losing 4-2 to France, with soon-to-be Golden Ball and Ballon d’Or...
If you’re the manager of a Premier League club and your secretary wants to put a call through to you from “George Weah” odds are you’re at least going...
We all know Juninho Pernambucano. To some, he is the Juninho and to others, he is the other Juninho. The one from Pernambuco couldn’t stay away from Vasco da...
So, here’s a question for you? Who do you think has scored the most goals in international football? Pelé? Nope, not even close. Ronaldo? Closer, but no...
In May 2019 the footballing world was shocked by the news that legendary Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas had suffered a heart attack. Aged only 37 at the...
There are many ways to become a club legend. You can be locally born, and tap into the ‘one of our own’ emotional ties with the fans. You can be the...
Football referees are programmed as a thick-skinned species. Modern-day officials, whilst trying desperately to prevent multi-millionaire ball kickers from...
Mention the name Patrick Kluivert to football fans and it is likely that images of him scoring the winning goal for Ajax in the 1995 Champions League Final...
When Morten Gamst Pedersen arrived at Ewood Park, he was set to fill some big boots. In West London, José Mourinho was throwing around Roman Abramovich’s...
Álvaro Alexánder Recoba Rivero was born in 1976 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He went by the unusual nickname of “El Chino” (the Chinese) because of...
Was it simply the right time and the right place? Perhaps it was that iconic jerky intro music and visuals. “Campionato! Di Calcio! Italiano!” insisted the...
In January 2003, Birmingham City were back in the top tier of English football. After missing out on promotion via the play-offs on a couple of occasions...
“The mongrel who made it to Crufts” was how Kevin Keegan once described his two European Footballer of the Year awards in 1978 and 79, but although...
Francis Jeffers’ career promised so much in its infancy but ultimately failed to reach the heights of its early potential. Jeffers’ career saw him play for...
Nolberto Albino ‘Nol’ Solano Todco – Nolberto Solano for short – was born in Callao, Peru on the 12th December 1974. The youngest of seven, the son...
Some players are inherently likeable: Ronaldinho’s sheer joy to be on the ball inspired many of today’s great players; Roger Milla’s corner flag dance...
Featuring the likes of Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjær, the Danish team at the 1986 World Cup with jet-heeled strikers and elegant midfielders played such a...
In July 1997, the then Celtic manager, Wim Jansen pounced when Feyenoord fell into a contract dispute with their star striker. In four years with the...
Edgar Davids was an enigma as a player and a coach. At times he seemed to perfectly embody the stereotypical Dutch footballing genius of perceived arrogance...