This article first appeared in the February 2020 issue of FourFourTwo magazine. Listen to the full interview on the FourFourTwo podcast:Subscribe to the podcast onSpotify here,on Acast hereoron iTunes hereThey have been in the same room for less than five minutes, and already Barry Davies is threatening to punch John Motson. Clenching his fist and sending it very close to Motty's jaw, Davies bursts into laughter when he realises that he's not only taken his commentary colleague by surprise, but also FourFourTwo's photographer."Too late, you missed it!" exclaims Davies, realising that his split-second pretend assault hadn't been caught on camera.The BBC duo were once the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of television commentators; two all-time legends sharing the stage in...
Happy deadline day everyone!It's that time of year again - break out the gold tie, whack on Sky Sports News and bask in the flurry of wheeling and dealing from Europe's finest. Or as Arsenal fans call it, "Friday".The question is, if your club happened to find hundreds of millions of pounds down the back of the sofa, who could they realistically purchase from the Premier League?The answer is everyone, but we want you to tell us who the most valuable players are according to the gurus at Transfermarkt.Remember, a player's value isn't just determined by how good he is - marketability, contract details and English premium are included too.We've given you 15minutes, since you're giving us 100 names. Let...
The football manager was only ever hired so he could be sacked.In late 19th-century England, the emerging sport of football was a scary business, with its unruly mass-gatherings of excitable, volatile, drunken young men. When they didn’t like what they saw from their team, football crowds would often invade the pitch, brawl with each other and set fire to local taverns, all in unnerving proximity to the upper-class club directors, who were meant to be the ones in charge here. Alarmed at what they had unleashed, the directors decided to step away from the public eye and present the public with an official representative:a proxy, a lightning rod. Not only would this person act as the focus of the supporters’...
Not much needs to change at Sheffield United. Already, they’re virtually assured of a second successive Premier League season and Chris Wilder’s squad has proven itself more than equipped for the top-flight.As a result, altering the side’s chemistry halfway through a season seems like a strange thing to do and yet United have been one of the busier sides over the last 24 hours, as the transfer window draws to a close.Midfielder Sander Berge hasarrived from KRC Genk for £22m, while Richairo Zivkovic, one of European football’s lost hopes, is heading to Bramall Lane from China.These are interesting developments for a few reasons. Firstly, because they again challenge the perception of who Wilder is as a head coach. But also,...
Last night againstWest Ham markedan impressivepoint of Liverpool'scampaign: they have nowbeaten every other team in the league this season.So, until Jurgen Klopp's tricky Redslose a game of football, we're probably all going to be hearing a lot about the potential they have for an unbeaten season.Should Liverpool become immortal come May, they won't be the only team to have done it - yes, we know you're thinking of that one, but we've got a few more for you.Across Europe, some of the Champions League's regular entrants have recorded undefeated seasons in the last half century. Check out 1986 to 1989 in Romania, where one side managed three of them on the bounce.We've given you seven minutes to name as many...