FourFourTwo UK

welcome

It’s six-and-a-half years since we first put Jurgen Klopp on the cover of FourFourTwo. Back then, he had just secured successive Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund, but he was relatively unproven in European competition. Up until that point, his 12-year managerial career had produced just three wins in European knockout ties – against Armenia’s Mika Ashtarak and Keflavik of Iceland during his time in charge of Mainz, then a solitary Europa League qualifying victory in his first five years at Dortmund, against Azerbaijan’s Qarabag. But it was only a matter of time before he achieved continental success. Klopp’s domestic feats, and his sheer force of personality, had already marked him out as the next elite global manager. Within months, Klopp had guided BVB to the 2013 Champions League Final at Wembley, narrowly…

tony cottee

CLUBS 1982-88 West Ham 1988-94 Everton 1994-96 West Ham 1996-97 Selangor 1997-2000 Leicester 1997 Birmingham (loan) 2000 Norwich 2000-01 Barnet 2001 Millwall COUNTRY 1986-89 England MANAGER 2000-01 Barnet “It’s like Dubai, not Southend!” The sun beats down as Tony Cottee joins FFT for a stroll along the Essex coast. Even on this warm morning, though, the beach is pretty much deserted. Southend isn’t quite the holiday destination it once was, but it is now home to a West Ham legend, and he’s giving us an impromptu tour. “World’s longest pier over there – it’s over a mile long,” he says, smiling. “Anything else you want to know?” Cottee, 54, left London some years ago but football is still at the heart of his life: he commutes for his regular duties on Soccer Saturday. We sit down outside Roslin Beach Hotel, and he’s ready to answer readers’…

the mixer the best of football

HUMAN BY NATURE KITS $45 humanbynature.co Hipster fans everywhere rejoice! Human by Nature are back with a bang. The brand, launched in 2017 by Beijing-raised American John Lehman, stays true to its roots with this new collection. Their latest offerings mesh European football attire with classic Asian heritage and are almost painfully trendy. Hector Bellerin doesn’t make football kits, but if he did, this is what they would look like. Well played. ADIDAS RPT HEADPHONES £139.95 adidas.co.uk FFT were invited to the Ministry of Sound’s workout studio for the release of Adidas’ new headphones, and then put through our paces in a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) class that almost killed us; our season hasn’t started well. The headphones held up superbly, sounded amazing and soak up moisture better than the inside of a Rory…

what the fuchs?!

1 DIEGO MARADONA: WOLF MAN There was only one way Diego Maradona could make his grand entrance at new club Gimnasia: through a giant wolf’s head. After leaving Mexican club Dorados during the summer, Diego was appointed Gimnasia boss in early September. His new club are nicknamed ‘El Lobo’ (The Wolf), and they were determined to make him feel welcome for his unveiling by firing up the club’s inflatable wolf’s head tunnel and letting a slightly bemused Diego enter the packed stadium through its massive mouth. They then drove the 58-year-old around the pitch on a golf buggy – not bad, although Belarusian club Brest used a monster truck when he was unveiled as their club chairman last year (a role the Argentine diligently fulfilled for about 20 minutes). Gimnasia had one more special…

mark watson

First game you ever attended? Bournemouth vs West Brom, Christmas 1987. My dad supports Bournemouth but he encouraged me to support my local team, Bristol City. I’ve extended that to my own son, who’s growing up near Arsenal. They’ve got a better deal than me... I was seven for my debut at Dean Court. We stood right at the front, and a boy next to me got hit in the face by a clearance. Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them? Bob Taylor, a prolific centre-forward for us in the late-80s. One of the players had a testimonial at a cricket club and Bob was strolling around the boundary eating an ice cream, so I nervously asked him for an autograph. I couldn’t believe that a 30-goal-a-season man would…

forest’s brand new home

SK Austria Klagenfurt, based in the south-east corner of Austria and currently in the second tier, are no one’s idea of a European glamour club. They do, however, have a swanky home ground – the Worthersee Stadion, a 32,000-seat arena and one of the venues for Euro 2008. Or rather, they did have a rather swanky home ground. For the past couple of months, the club have been playing at the tiny Karawankenblick Stadium in another part of town, while the Worthersee stages a public art installation. ‘For Forest – The Unending Attraction of Nature’ features 300 trees of varying size planted out on the pitch, to be viewed by visitors from the stadium seats. The installation was created by Swiss artist Klaus Littman, who curated the Faces of Football exhibition in…