FourFourTwo UK August 2022

Five men have given their best shot at bringing the kind of glory back to Old Trafford that Sir Alex Ferguson made look so easy. Nearly all of them arrived with credentials to do so. None came anywhere close. Now it’s the turn of Erik ten Hag to try reining in runaway rivals Manchester City and Liverpool. The Dutch tactician’s deadpan obsession for the game was notorious well before he worked alongside Pep Guardiola in Munich – a trait that proved effective when taking Ajax to a run of titles and the Champions League semis. But as usual, that big old question persists: why is he the man to finally get it right? FFT finds out from plenty of those who should know. Elsewhere, we preview a wide-open Women’s Euros…

Chris Coleman could easily have dined out for the rest of his days on his success managing Wales. Having led his country to a first tournament in 58 years, the Swansea native then went several better by taking them all the way to the semi-finals, beating a much-fancied Belgium en route. But that isn’t Coleman’s way. “I don’t live in the success I’ve had, because that’s a moment – it’s gone,” he tells FourFourTwo. “You’ve got to look at today and what’s coming tomorrow, because that’s the only way you can survive, especially in this industry.” In January, his latest job took him to Greece’s Atromitos, a club dubbed ‘the Millwall of Athens’. After two and a half years out of management, it was a risk due to the club’s…

1 “AND THE AWARD FOR EUROPE’S MOST MENTAL FANS GOES TO…” All across Europe, supporters have been competing for the continent’s worst meltdown. Dinamo Bucharest fans didn’t take kindly to a first ever relegation from Romania’s top tier, threatening players with violence before riot police intervened. In the Netherlands, angry Den Haag fans stormed the pitch then threw flares, bottles and even a corner flag at Excelsior supporters, after losing the play-off final to reach the Eredivisie. But even that was surpassed by the crazy scenes after Saint-Etienne suffered the drop. Though the joint-most successful club in French history, matching the 10 league titles of Marseille and PSG, a disastrous season ended with a relegation play-off defeat to Auxerre. Fans had already served a one-match ban for trouble in November…

Ghana 1-2 Brazil March 20, 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship final “We turned this game around to become champions in Australia. That day, I made a similar save to the one Gordon Banks had pulled off to deny Pele’s header at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, which is now regarded as the best in football history. We’d already won the South American Youth Championship the year before, but achieving the same result on the world stage had much bigger importance for all of us. I was young and what happened aided my case as a candidate for the senior team, too. People talked about me more and more, and in 1995 I made my debut for the Selecao.” Palmeiras 1-2 Cruzeiro June 19, 1996 Copa do Brasil final “The…

Jimmy Hill was credited with a number of innovations during his time in football, from three points for a win to all-seater grounds and electronic scoreboards. In July 1982, however, his role in a tour to South Africa was altogether more contentious. Mixed race football teams had been banned in South Africa due to the apartheid regime, so FIFA suspended them in 1964, then kicked them out altogether in 1976, although links with English football continued throughout the era. There were no rules stopping players joining South African sides, so George Best and Geoff Hurst had brief spells there, while Stanley Matthews coached an all-black outfit in Soweto. Former Manchester City manager Malcolm Allison took a touring squad there in 1973, before a team featuring Bobby Moore and the Charlton…

Here’s a million-dollar question for you: what do gameshow host Chris Tarrant, presenter Eamonn Holmes and football’s Gianfranco Zola have in common? Not a lot, it seemed. In 2001, though, the Chelsea genius took his kids to a WWE wrestling bash, got stuck sitting next to the grinning telly show-offs, on camera, and clearly found it excruciatingly awkward. “Gianfranco Zola! Having a blast at Earls Court!” lied the commentator. “I always just think, ‘What are these people possibly saying to each other?’” ponders Matthew Pincus, who started the simple-but-staggering Twitter account @WeirdCrossovers. The Zola footage was an early favourite, and things gradually got odder. “I don’t actually look into why they happened. I just like the idea that, magically, one day Alan Shearer bowled into Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office and ended…