Table of contents for October 2023 in FourFourTwo UK

Being the new boy isn’t easy – whether that be at a new school, in a new job or, in this case, at a new football club. Add in the label of being the most expensive British player ever, and you could forgive Declan Rice for feeling like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. When FFT met up with him for this issue though, there was no sense of that at all – he couldn’t have seemed more relaxed as he went through the various wardrobe changes for our photoshoot, including Arsenal’s 1990s bruised banana shirt, supplied by Classic Football Shirts. The fact that the £105m man seems so comfortable off the pitch has paid dividends on the field in his early days at Arsenal, making…

ADIDAS X CRAZYFAST: MESSI INFINITO PACK £220 adidas.co.uk Nine months on from Lionel Messi’s triumph at the World Cup, Adidas are honouring the man, the myth, the Miami MLS menace with an entirely bespoke version of their X Crazyfast boots. The limited edition Messi Infinito Pack blends the irresistible blue, silver and black of Argentina with the iconic stripes of the F50 boot that’s more commonly associated with the little genius. If that doesn’t quite drive things home enough, the ginormous ‘MESSI’ branding should do the trick. Muy bonito! OFFICIAL FOOTBALL JERSEY FIGURINES From £15 besplink.com If, like FFT, you love replica shirts but don’t live in a mansion that can house your dream collection, don’t fret. You just have to start thinking inside the box. Splink make miniature jersey…

After spending the last four years in Rome since swapping Manchester for the Eternal City, how’s your Italian? [Smiles] It could be better, but equally I can do interviews and have conversations, so it’s pretty good. I can get by, and also translate for a lot of my friends and family. There have been ups and downs with it, but once you’ve learnt a foreign language – I’d never learnt another one properly – then you can pick up others after. It’s a work in progress. You signed a two-year contract extension in April. That must be an indication of how much you’re enjoying your time at Roma? When I first joined Roma on a season-long loan in 2019, it was a last-minute thing and hadn’t been the plan at…

It might sound odd to celebrate Tottenham’s summer business, given they reluctantly sold talisman Harry Kane, but hear me out. England’s skipper had to go or he’d have walked for free next year. By selling him to Bayern Munich for an initial £86m, they ensured they didn’t strengthen a rival and pocketed a huge fee for a 30-year-old. It was a deal that suited everybody. Ange Postecoglou was their next excellent piece of business. The straight-talking Aussie has got Spurs playing high-octane, organised football that relies far less on the goalscoring ability of one player. Fans love him already. Importantly, it was the manager who decided how the Kane cash (as well as the £10m banked from Harry Winks) was spent. “I don’t know what ‘club signings’ means,” he said…

BOBBY ZAMORA Born in east London, the frontman departed for Bristol Rovers and was prolific at Brighton prior to returning for a tour of the capital. A Spurs spell proved short-lived, but he bagged play-off final winners for West Ham and QPR either side of Europa League heroics with Fulham. When the ball hits the goal for one of several London teams, that’s Zamora… SCOTT PARKER Apart from two months on loan at Norwich and that two-year stint when he accidentally joined Newcastle, thinking they were actually Elephant & Castle, the Lambertborn pass master spent his entire career in the capital, representing Charlton, Chelsea, West Ham, Spurs and Fulham. It makes his decision to accept the Club Brugge job all the more peculiar. CLIVE ALLEN No player knows London quite…

NDONG FEARED HIS ARREST FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT IF HE RETURNED TO THE UK 50 DIDIER NDONG SUNDERLAND (£13.6M) If you fear arrest for merely stepping foot in the same country as your employer, things haven’t gone too well. That was the pickle in which Didier Ndong found himself when, two years and two relegations into Sunderland life, he fled to Africa and refused to return. Having survived by the skin of their teeth the previous campaign, the Black Cats had high hopes the tough-tackling midfielder would prevent another Premier League relegation battle and, at least initially, the August 2016 record signing from Lorient looked the part. The combative Ndong made 31 appearances but the Mackems struggled and finished bottom, spending all bar two weeks of the season in the…

VALENCIA 1942, 1944, 1947, 1971, 2002, 2004 Los Che cemented their name in the Spanish game thanks to three Liga titles in the 1940s. They were champions again in 1970-71, managed by Alfredo Di Stefano (a playing legend); 30 years later, Rafael Benitez (not so much) won two titles. REAL SOCIEDAD 1981, 1982 Managed by former player Alberto Ormaetxea, Sociedad became the smallest city to be crowned Spanish champions – courtesy of their superior head-to-head record against Real Madrid. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, they saw off Barcelona by two points the next season. DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA 2000 Deportivo won an historic title despite losing 11 Liga games; last term, their 69-point tally wouldn’t have got a top-four place. But, galvanised by great home form and the goals of…

You were named Shrewsbury’s new boss this summer, after departing Walsall last year. How pleased were you to join the club, and you’re titled head coach rather than manager – is there a subtle difference? It’s the modern landscape of the game – rewind to my playing days and the structures at clubs were very different. As people’s methods have evolved, and I’m talking generally here, roles have become more focused on particular aspects. At Shrewsbury, I have a really good relationship with our director of football – I don’t see a huge difference between the two job titles. We’re here to fight for three points, and that goes for both ‘manager’ and ‘head coach’. The project is incredibly exciting – I had a burning desire to work at a…

MITCHEL BERGKAMP Son of Dennis, Bergkamp shares his old man’s status as a roaming playmaker. But while his dad dropped jaws for Ajax and Arsenal, his nipper struts his stuff in the National League. The 24-year-old had trials with the Gunners, then spent a spell in Watford’s reserves before joining fifth-tier Bromley in January. BENJANI JUNIOR Clearly, Benjani Snr names his offspring in the same no-nonsense manner he scored goals for Portsmouth and Manchester City. The younger Benjani, just 18 years of age and also a striker, made his professional debut for sixth-tier Yeovil last term, then moved down a level to sign for Dorchester on loan until the end of the current campaign. TYRESE CAMPBELL Not to be confused with Charlton’s almost-namesake Tyreece Anthony Tupac Shakur Campbell (yes, those…

1 Which rugby league club once tried to sign a young Aaron Ramsey 2 Which former Galactico has faced protests from fans over a cuddly fox 3 Which FIFA video game cover star has since become an MMA fighter 4 Which gaffer’s team-talk made players feel like they could ‘kill a lion’ 5 Which team kept a dead player on their bus, pretending he was alive SUBSCRIBE FROM £4.23 PER ISSUE Get FFT sent direct to your door every month for £54.99 per year – with 13 issues published in total, you’ll make some great savings. Head to magazinesdirect.com and find FourFourTwo, or phone 0330 333 1113…

ANSWERED PRAYERS: ENGLAND AND THE 1966 WORLD CUP Duncan Hamilton riverun £25 Wembley gleaming in the sun, Nobby Stiles’ toothless jig, Alf Ramsey sat motionless on the bench after Geoff Hurst completed his hat-trick; victory in the 1966 World Cup Final remains English football’s crowning glory. Yet despite the immortality that the win granted them, life proved challenging for many of England’s heroes. Hamilton forensically teases out the boys of ’66’s contrasting personalities. Beneath his austere public facade, Ramsey was a patriot and fiercely loyal to his men, with little time for an intrusive press or meddling directors. But by the ’70s, Ramsey’s ‘stuffiness’ was deemed outdated in an era of colour TV and larger than life media personalities, and the FA dispensed with his services in 1974. Overlooked and…

01 Who was the last Italian boss to win the Premier League title? 02 Which country is the only one to have appeared in three World Cup finals but never clinched the trophy? 03 Which Manchester United icon played in three Champions League finals in three different decades? 04 A globe, a football and a ribbon appear on the badge of which Midlands-based Championship club? 05 In which Argentine city would you find Newell’s Old Boys? 06 Who scored in the Euro 2008 Final, won the Euro 2012 Golden Boot and played for two Premier League giants? 07 Who hit more goals for England: Emile Heskey or Peter Crouch (both right)? 08 Which nation was the last to host two Champions League finals in a row? 09 In which year…

FIKAYO TOMORI MILAN The Chelsea academy product spent the latter half of 2020-21 on loan at San Siro prior to joining the Italian behemoths permanently. Now 25, the centre-back won the Scudetto in his first full campaign but has found England call-ups difficult to come by. RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK MILAN The injury-plagued midfielder has averaged a paltry 17 Premier League games per season since debuting for Chelsea in early 2015. He sought a fresh start in the summer, hoping Milan’s warmer climes and fine food can help to recapture his best form. SAMUEL ILING-JUNIOR JUVENTUS Another graduate of (you guessed it) Chelsea’s academy, Iling-Junior swapped Cobham for Turin in 2022 and hasn’t looked back. The winger enjoyed a breakout campaign last term, amassing 12 Serie A outings and scoring against Atalanta…

It was the dead of night when the phone rang in Jimmy Johnstone’s hotel room and a chilling threat was dispensed to Celtic’s star man and entertainer. ‘Jinky’ turned to his room-mate and fellow Lisbon Lion Bobby Lennox: “Bobby, they’re going to shoot me,” he trembled. The Bhoys were about to face Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the 1974 European Cup semi-final, for which the Glasgow giants were favourites. It became arguably the most brutal affair in the club’s history, and the violent behaviour of Atletico summons a strong emotional reaction from Hoops fans to this day. When Johnstone informed manager Jock Stein, it transpired Celtic’s ‘Big Man’ had been issued with a similar warning. The Celtic gaffer told a terrified Johnstone not to worry – he’d be…

THE GAFFER GORDON STRACHAN “Great personality, very knowledgeable and he could motivate players. He was personable, too – he could take the mickey out of himself, but you always knew where the line was with him.” THE SUBS 01 BRETT 02 OWEN 03 MICHAEL SVENSSON ANTTI NIEMI “Antti was a magnificent goalkeeper during a good spell we had at Southampton. He was a madman, but keepers are a different breed anyway. On his day Antti was unbeatable, it was insane. I almost included Nigel Martyn, who was with me at Everton.” JASON DODD “I made my England debut in 2003 against Australia and our right-back was Gary Neville, who was obviously a top player. I’m going to pick another old Southampton team-mate in Jason, though. He was the captain and…

Try telling Brighton fans that the Europa League doesn’t matter. Gone are the days when Thursdays looked like a tough follow-up act to the Champions League. Now, the Europa League is truly deserving of its night in the football spotlight. It’s a night for the dreamers, as anything can happen. Yes, the Champions League is the elite. It comes with prestige and features some of the world’s best players. It’s still the trophy every club wants to win. But, in European football’s younger sibling, you’re guaranteed a more diverse draw, away days in towns you’d never think to travel to otherwise, and a few European giants to turn up the heat. It all makes for an entertaining, unpredictable cup competition. For the last few years, I’ve had a front-row seat…

“HOW OLD IS THAT TORTOISE?” Declan Rice may be the most expensive British footballer of all time these days, but he’s lost none of his curiosity about the age of domesticated reptiles. Arsenal’s £105m club-record signing is back on familiar turf this afternoon, meeting FourFourTwo at our base for the day – a location in leafy Cobham, complete with a pet tortoise wandering around quietly in the background. It’s 15, thanks for asking. Coincidentally, we’re just a few hundred yards from Chelsea’s training ground, where the Kingston-born midfielder learned his trade between the ages of seven and 14. “I spent the first part of my career coming to this area, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,” he explains to FFT. Today, our location has nothing to do with the Blues and…

JILL ELLIS Born in Folkstone, Ellis moved across the pond as a teenager before taking up coaching and eventually becoming USA manager by 2014. Within a year she’d won the World Cup, then did it again in 2019. She’s now president of San Diego Wave, who have Casey Stoney as boss. SONIA BOMPASTOR No female head coach had won the Women’s Champions League for a dozen seasons when Bompastor took over as Lyon boss in 2021 – she to guide the French side to the crown last term, Barcelona in the final. EMMA HAYES The Chelsea supremo is the most successful coach in WSL history – Arsenal’s Laura Harvey and Liverpool’s Matt Beard have won it twice, but Hayes has bagged the title six times, even adding the 2017 Spring…

Piotr Swierczewski found himself on the cover of the very first FIFA, alongside David Platt – but his unusual career didn’t end there. The Polish midfielder was a Saint-Etienne player by the time FIFA International Soccer was released in December 1993, later signing for Gamba Osaka in Japan, then appearing for his country at the 2002 World Cup. Suitably impressed, Birmingham City snapped him up, although it didn’t go well. Total number of games: one, as a substitute in a Premier League defeat at home to Chelsea. Swierczewski finished off his playing career back home in Poland, where he was found guilty of assaulting a police officer and eventually became an MMA fighter, winning his second showdown over the summer at the age of 51. His next opponent? Surely it…

XI BEST: The National League-winning team from 2020-21. Tight knit, hungry and a proper set of bastards when they needed to be. Dean Bouzanis, Jon Barden, Ben Goodliffe, Louis John, Rob Milsom, Isaac Olaofe, Craig Eastmond, Kenny Davis, David Ajiboye, Donovan Wilson, Omar Bugiel. WORST: The 2007-08 side. Some nice lads, but just a mess. No surprise that we only won five league matches that season in the Conference South. Phil Wilson, John Scarborough, Karim El Salahi, Lewis Gonsalves, Nick Greene, Steffan Ball, Warren McBean, Solomon Taiwo, Harry Ottaway, Craig Dundas, Paul Honey. PLAYER B: Lenny Dennis [right] – a Jamaican international from the ’80s. Goalscorer and total gentleman. W: Defender Kameron Abbassi made one outing, spending most of it either shanking the ball into the stands, passing it to the…

Aged 19, you signed for Dutch behemoths Feyenoord, where the legendary Ronald Koeman was seeing out his career. What was he like to play alongside? Koeman had been an absolute hero of mine growing up. That was the same for so many kids in the Netherlands. I was a ballboy when Manchester United beat Barcelona 2-1 in the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup Final in De Kuip – I must have been 15 then and Koeman was playing for Barcelona. Then, four years later, I’m sharing a dressing room with him. When I saw him walk in for the first time I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ – I was genuinely starstruck. He helped me a lot in the early days of my career and I’ll always be very grateful to…

You played with David Silva in Valencia’s academy – what was he like then? He was a unique footballer. I joined Valencia aged 16 and played alongside him, then we played together for the reserves, and for the first team when he was 21 and I was 22. He was different. He could see things that others couldn’t. He always spotted the correct pass, and in training he never gave the ball away – it was impossible to take it from him. How did your eventual breakthrough at Valencia feel, having had to wait and spend time at other clubs first? I played for the youth teams, but left at 18. I went to Club Deportivo Onda – quite close to where I’m from, in Castellon – when they were…