ON DECEMBER 7 1966, the first signs of Total Football, that short-lived but glorious chapter in the evolution of the game, were spotted in Amsterdam. That was the night that Ajax beat England’s champions, Liverpool, by 5-1 in the Olympic Stadium in the second round of the European Cup. It was the first glimpse that the […]
MALCOLM ALLISON, that big, brash, iconic figure from the early 1970s, once said the period between 1967 and 1972 was a golden age for English football. Of course, during that time, Manchester City were quite successful, so naturally, Allison would look back on this six -year spell as special. But this was an age where […]
BENFICA are to Portugal what Real Madrid and Juventus are to Spain and Italy. In other words, wherever you go in the country, fans of the club can be found, from Algarve villages to the biggest towns and cities. And across Europe, wherever there are Portuguese people, the chances are they will be Benfica fans, […]
FOOTBALL dramas rarely hit the spot and unfortunately, Netflix’s The English Game did little to satisfy fans’ craving for action while the world’s most popular sport is suspended until further notice. As lightweight afternoon drama, it made a nice change from watching funeral plan advertisements and over-50s insurance, and it looked pretty good aesthetically, but […]
WE ALL wanted to be George Best. In the playground, on the football pitch, in the disco(!), in the boutique. He seemed to have everything that a virile male, circa 1967-72, needed to be a success in life: looks, women and outstanding ability. But he was a flawed character, and there can be no other […]
MALCOLM ALLISON, that big, brash, iconic figure from the early 1970s, once said the period between 1967 and 1972 was a golden age for English football. Of course, during that time, Manchester City were very successful, so naturally, Allison would look back on this six -year spell as special. But this was an age where […]
FOOTBALL is a sport that flourished during the industrial revolution, especially the professional game, so naturally, stadiums sprung up in red-bricked back streets, on the fringes of mill towns and close to mines, factories and railways. The vision of the working class community trudging to the game, flat caps screwed onto heads, turned-up collar and […]
FOOTBALL, as a business, grew out of the industrial revolution in Britain and certain parts of Europe. Hence, the early winners in the game were mostly from industrial cities and Europe’s infant conurbations. In England, the early growth was in the north and the midlands, two areas that really fuelled the development of the nation’s […]
LIVERPOOL returned to the top of the first division two years after their double-winning performance of 1985-86. It was a reshaped Liverpool team that was crowned champions, playing a brand of football that led many pundits to declare them as one of British football’s best-ever sides. Liverpool spent heavily in building this team, signing England […]
