Table of contents for April 2023 in FourFourTwo UK

England may not have won the World Cup in December, but a new star was born as Jude Bellingham announced himself on the global stage. His performances as a 16-year-old for Birmingham in the Championship caught the attention of Borussia Dortmund in 2020, and since then he’s shone for the German giants in the Bundesliga and the Champions League. If anyone had missed the teenager’s remarkable rise, though, he made the rest of the world sit up and take notice in Qatar. Still only 19, Bellingham has the world at his feet, and every top club on the planet will be scrambling for his signature if he moves this summer – we speak to the people who know Jude best and have watched his ascent from close quarters. We also…

LES FERDINAND Sir Les was only 21 when he was loaned from QPR to Besiktas in 1988, while Gordon Milne was in charge of the Istanbul side. A season earlier, he’d failed to score on loan at thirdtier Brentford, but in the Turkish top flight he registered 14 times in 24 games to spark a goal-hungry career. DEAN SAUNDERS Three years before signing for Graeme Souness at Benfica, the Welshman joined his former Liverpool boss at Galatasaray in July 1995. He soon bagged the winner in the Turkish Cup final against Fenerbahce, inspiring Souey to plant that infamous flag in the middle of Fener’s pitch… KRIS BOYD The striker is the top scorer in the history of the Scottish Premiership, but struggled at Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest before heading to…

TRINITY RODMAN When you become the youngest player to be selected in the National Women’s Soccer League Draft, the pressure to perform is set high. When everyone already knows your name because your dad is basketball royalty Dennis Rodman, that breaks the pressure gauge. Yet Trinity Rodman has appeared unfazed by the attention in her first two seasons as a professional footballer. In 2021, aged 18, she became the youngest ever NWSL draft pick when she was selected second overall by Washington Spirit, despite having never played a game of college soccer in her life. Rodman originally intended to play for the Washington State Cougars, but when her freshman college campaign was cancelled due to the pandemic, she decided to go pro. Central to Spirit’s Championship-winning side in her first…

Football teams never even used to display badges on the front of their shirts, let alone lucrative sponsors. Now, the very DNA of an institution is woven into the fabric of your club (we’re talking about the crest, not the generic betting firm logo emblazoned on the middle of the strip). Like with anything football-related, sides scampered off in a multitude of directions – some prefer to showcase their city’s coat of arms or a symbol representative of the location; others’ icons have evolved into a simplistic shape surrounding an emblem in the centre. And then there’s all creatures great and small, from lions and tigers to the birds and the bees, via horses, hats, pirates and even the depiction of a legendary ex-player. Each of the 92 has something…

What has been behind Sheffield United’s improvement this season? I think we started that process last season, which gave us confidence for this campaign. We had a big upswing in points and performances. We didn’t quite get to where we wanted to be, by losing in the play-offs, but it didn’t sour things. Being realistic, from where we were [16th when Heckingbottom took the reins in late November 2021] to where we eventually got to, it was almost an unbelievable campaign. We continued where we left off rather than starting anything new. You were on the academy coaching staff before taking charge of the first team, initially on an interim basis. Did that give you a headstart? For me to come in and get to know the club, the staff…

ANIS MEHMETI BRISTOL CITY LOWDOWN The Islington-born Albania Under-21 international didn’t make the grade at Fulham, Spurs nor Norwich, but after joining Woodford Town he was plucked from the Essex Senior League to join a new ‘B Team’ programme at Wycombe – only to make his Championship debut three weeks later against Millwall. A skilful attacking midfielder with a hammer of a shot, great dribbling ability and productivity to match, he shone in League One and moved to Bristol City in January, earning Wycombe a record fee for their smart scouting. HIGHLIGHT In a stunning December display against Portsmouth, in front of the Sky Sports cameras, Mehmeti scored with a magical strike and teed up Wanderers’ second in a 2-0 win. THEY SAID “He was released here, there, and everywhere,…

You joined Manchester United’s academy as a teenager. How did that come about? As a 14-year-old, I was spotted playing and invited up to Manchester United for a week's trial with a group of other lads from around the country. We took part in a trial match against Luton and it went well. Then Sir Alex Ferguson came into the dressing room and introduced himself. We had no idea he was there. I was thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what is happening here?’ At the end of the week, my mum picked me up from the train station and told me that Sir Alex had been on the phone to ask if I’d sign – he rang personally. I was absolutely gobsmacked. It was a mark of the man that he…

1 Which famous footballer’s dad helped inspire the story of Cool Runnings 2 Which team have taken on spoon bender Uri Geller as their chairman 3 Which player received crates of eggs for a man of the match display 4 Which future Oxford United boss kicked off the J.League in spring 1993 5 Which club retired their goalkeeper’s shirt in honour of the Pope SUBSCRIBE FROM £3.93 PER ISSUE Get FFT sent direct to your door every month for £12.75 per quarter – with 13 issues published each year, you’ll make great savings. Head to magazinesdirect.com and find FourFourTwo, or phone 0330 333 1113…

RED ON RED Jim White and Phil McNulty (Harper North, £20) Liverpool and Manchester have long been rivals. Partly down to the Manchester Ship Canal, which allowed 19th-century Mancunian merchants to skip paying duties at Merseyside docks, the football duel has only exacerbated the frostiness for the past half a century. Red on Red brings together the testimony of players from both Liverpool and Manchester United, focusing on the turning points that have made matters toxic. The authors, who skilfully lay bare the sights, sounds and smells of the rivalry, suggest that the much respected Matt Busby’s exit from the scene in the early 1970s (he played for the Merseysiders and managed the Red Devils) was a catalyst for change. After his departure, the gloves were truly off. By the…

When England boss Terry Venables sat down for an interview with a new magazine called FourFourTwo back in 1994, he probably didn’t realise how significant his chat would be. Branded as ‘the quite remarkable football magazine’, QI style before QI was a thing, issue one of FFT launched with that Venables exclusive – our first cover also contained gems like ‘Barry Fry: cheeky fat bastard’ and Jimmy Hill taking a long throw in a Chelsea away kit. Because why not? El Tel was a trendsetter – this month FFT celebrates its 350th issue, having spoken to all of football’s greatest names over the ensuing 29 years. Lionel Messi became guest editor in 2017, three years after Brazilian great Ronaldo did likewise to celebrate our 20th birthday – even bringing his…

@FOURFOURTWO ASKS… Snoods. Akash Roy Goalkeepers carrying little bags that they kept in the goal. Mark Gordon Queuing for cup final tickets. Richard Garnett Alan Shearer’s hairline. Ian Reynolds Plaster strips that players (mainly Robbie Fowler) wore over their nose. Tim Grindell Contested drop balls. Elliott Levy Pitches that looked like something out of the Somme. David Bowen Sweepers or liberos. @NicwMUFC The six-second rule for goalkeepers (it still exists, but it’s never enforced). Ben Lavender Paul Jewell. @LadLeamore 349 SPINE LINE: “‘Maxime Pelican’ got picked for France’s U17 Euros squad in 2015 ahead of Kylian Mbappe,” says Phil Lane, via email. Yes! Got the Spine Line? For a chance to win an Art Of Football T-shirt or A4 print, enter on Twitter via #FFTSpineLine or email fourfourtwo@futurenet.com…

CRACOVIA The Polish club haven’t let anyone wear No.1 since 2005, when their squad visited Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, just three months before his death. God’s emissary – this one, anyway – was a boyhood Cracovia fan and a goalkeeper in his youth, you see. SAO PAULO The Brazilians also retired their No.1 jersey… sort of. Their legendary goalscoring goalkeeper, Rogerio Ceni, actually wore 01, so Sao Paulo just retired that shirt, which no one was going to wear anyway, and handed their new shot-stopper the No.1. NY RED BULLS Bradley Wright-Phillips didn’t become a legend in England, but he did smash a century of goals in MLS, so Red Bulls retired his No.99 shirt. After leaving in his mid-thirties for a couple of years elsewhere, he…

Nothing weighs as heavy on the heart as the one that got away. Yes, somebody special who was within your reach is now thriving somewhere else without you. For English football, Jamal Musiala is that person. The 20-year-old, born in Stuttgart to a British Nigerian father and a German mother, but raised on England’s shores between the ages of seven and 16, looked destined to represent the Three Lions on the world stage – only to choose a different path. FourFourTwo has flown to Bavaria to learn first-hand how this young talent, considered among the brightest in Europe, fell through England’s net. Wearing a baggy green hoodie and Crocs without socks, Musiala bounces into our interview at Bayern Munich’s dazzling training complex. “Hey there, how’s it going?” he asks, beaming.…

JORDAN RHODES SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY | 2017 £11.7 MILLION PEDIGREE After starting out at Ipswich, Rhodes broke through at League One Huddersfield, where he scored a bonkers 36 goals – still a division record – in the Terriers’ 2011-12 promotion campaign. The hitman repaid Blackburn’s £8m fee with 20+ goals in three consecutive Championship seasons, convincing Middlesbrough to part with £11m in January 2016 and duly secure promotion with Rhodes in tow. THE SITUATION A host of shiny new signings arrived at Boro in the Premier League and Rhodes found himself back-up to Alvaro Negredo. Frustrated, the 26-year-old moved to Sheffield Wednesday on loan for the second half of 2016-17. Despite the Scot scoring just three goals in 18, with two of them coming in one game, Wednesday – defeated in…

1 SCHOOLBOY ORIGINS You can’t win anything with kids? Try telling that to Hamilton. Formed in 1874 by rector and pupils of nearby Hamilton Academy, Accies are the only professional British club to have originated from a school team. The players and staff from Hamilton FC soon joined the burgeoning Lanarkshire project. 2 POLES APART In 1971, Hamilton became the first British team to sign players from Eastern Europe, when Polish internationals Witold Szygula, Alfie Olek and Roman Strazalkowski were recruited in exchange for electrical goods being sent to Poland. Alan Dick, Hamilton club secretary at the time, later said the trio didn’t stick around because they were “clearly too good for us”. Strazalkowski had captained his country against Pele’s Brazil. 3 BOBBY ON THE BEAT In January 1987, policeman…

BERNT LJUNG “He was the goalkeeper for AIK when I broke through, and like a father figure. He possibly wasn’t the best when the ball was at his feet, but you didn’t need to be then. As a keeper, he was excellent. I never played with a better shot-stopper in my career.” JOOS VALGAEREN “Joos was so easy to play alongside. He was big, strong and very reliable. We understood each other – he covered for me and I covered for him. Honestly, I thought he was brilliant and really underrated in the history of Celtic.” PETER LARSSON “He was past his prime when he returned to Sweden from Ajax, but he was important for me when I got into the first team at AIK. He taught me how to…

01 From which club did Manchester City sign Kevin De Bruyne during the summer of 2015? 02 In 2014, three Chelsea keepers featured in a 0-0 draw against Atletico Madrid – one on loan at Atleti, another as a sub. Name them. 03 Newcastle’s fortress is St James’ Park, but which National League North side play at St James Park? 04 Which Peruvian Premier League hero used to ring his manager and play the trumpet down the phone as a practical joke? 05 Which legendary forward won consecutive trebles in 2009 and 2010 with two different teams? 06 Back in 2003, Franz Beckenbauer suggested that Bayern Munich could leave the Bundesliga and enter which other European top flight? 07 Which player’s first name is in fact Augustine: Jay-Jay Okocha, Enzo…

You moved from Southampton to Besiktas at the start of September – Turkey’s transfer deadline was a few days after the English window shut. How did the move happen? There was interest from English clubs, but it’s difficult when you’re working with so little time. We were waiting for one domino to fall, but it didn’t quite happen, and Besiktas had been interested during the summer – there was always this option if I wanted to play in Turkey. It was a whirlwind during those final 48 hours of the transfer window, but we got it done. How did you feel about moving to a country so far from home? It’s always something I’ve been open to. The biggest thing was they’re one of the top clubs in Turkey, and…

ENZO FERNANDEZ Enzo Fernandez had just lifted the World Cup and bagged the FIFA Young Player Award when a reporter approached him for an interview. “How did you do that?” the journalist asked. “Two and a half years ago, you joined Defensa y Justicia.” The midfielder, then just 21, broke down in tears of joy and disbelief. From Defensa to River Plate, and then to Benfica, Fernandez couldn’t have anticipated that a month after fielding this question having become a world champion, he’d be moving again – to Chelsea, in a British record £107 million transfer. “What he has achieved in so little time is almost impossible,” says River Plate’s youth football coordinator, Gabriel Rodriguez, who has known him for more than a decade. In mid-2020, having accumulated only nine…

Kevin Keegan’s entertaining brand of football was officially established during the club’s incredible 1992-93 campaign in the old First Division. But ‘The Entertainers’ moniker wasn’t formally bestowed on them until the Magpies swooped into the big time and into fans’ living rooms, via Sky TV’s new-fangled satellite dishes. The mastermind behind the famous nickname was actually a Geordie. Sky Sports director Vic Wakeling is credited with elevating football coverage from its staid single-camera era to today’s glossy, multi-angle, graphic-laden coverage. In thrall to Keegan’s brand of football, Wakeling regularly picked Newcastle for Sky Sports’ live coverage (when single-match TV money really did matter) and also encouraged the Magpies’ director Freddy Shepherd – both passed away in 2017 – to start using ‘The Entertainers’ nickname. “When he first said it, I…

MR PITCH Presenting one official J.League mascot: a man dressed as turf. Nearby, a puzzled groundsman stares at the stick figure outline cut into his pitch. KIZURU Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Both, sort of: it’s a giant origami crane that looks like an aircraft but patrols the touchline at Iwate Grulla Morioka. GRAMPUS-KUN Nagoya Grampus’ mascot is a killer grampus dolphin who has released a book, despite having had to write it using flippers. GENZOYER AND YASAGARASU Are these the droids you’re looking for? Or a still from Power Rangers vs Hawk-Ape? Just tell us, Zweigen Kanazawa. WINTOSU Inspired by Angry Birds – surely – Sagan Tosu’s avian ambassador is in an eternal state of rage, intimidating referees so managers don’t have to. IYOKANTA One of…

XI BEST: Paul Heald, Matt Lockwood, John Mackie, Dean Smith, Stan Charlton, Laurie Cunningham, Peter Allen, Steve Castle, Alan Comfort, Tommy Johnson, Peter Kitchen. WORST: Shwan Jalal, Andrea Dossena, Shane Lowry, Teddy Mezague, Zan Benedicic, Jens Janse, Ulrich N’Nomo, Sam Parkin, James Scowcroft, Gianvito Plasmati, Darius Henderson. PLAYER B: Laurie Cunningham [right], whose rise to fame is Roy Of The Rovers stuff. From the O’s to Real Madrid and an England international, he’s a person to be very proud of. W: We’ve had more than our fair share of dross but one of the worst was Gianvito Plasmati, an absolutely awful signing from the previous regime. One of his shots at goal is still orbiting Earth. OWNER B: Look no further than the current regime of Nigel Travis and Kent…

SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS BERND SCHUSTER BREDE HANGELAND LUKE CHADWICK How much football did you and Bradley, your younger brother, play at home with your dad, Ian, as you were growing up? I played with my brother pretty much every day. We played at primary school, secondary school and when we got back home if the sun was still out. If our friends were around, we’d go over the hill to an estate where we’d play a game of FA Knockouts, which is also known as Wembley. We used to play squash with footballs, playing one- or two-touch games. I’d say Brad and I were self-taught. As an Arsenal icon, does your dad regret that you and Bradley didn’t play for them? I’d imagine that if you asked him now, he’d say…

How does it feel to be Fulham’s leading appearance-maker in the Premier League, with 217 outings for the club? It’s a good statistic, for sure! It shows loyalty and consistency over a long time, which are things I value in football. Having said all that, I hope someone overtakes it soon. I want the club to re-establish itself as a Premier League regular and hope another player will get to 200, 300, even 400 games. I had a fantastic time at Craven Cottage, so I can recommend staying for even longer than I did. Do you enjoy returning to Fulham as a fan? Yes, I always look forward to it. Coming back to Craven Cottage has often felt like returning home. It’s the greatest stadium in the world, in my…