A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

When we put out a tweet looking for post requests back in July we weren’t too shocked to see one Croatian attacking midfield genius being put forward. The fact that there was a second so close behind, however, was something of a surprise. Still it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve chucked out two posts in close succession from the same team or the same sticker album and after all the Twitter spamming that Michael at 80s&90sfootball has had to endure from us we weren’t exactly going to say no. Again we thoroughly recommend you all to give his page a follow for some excellent nostalgic content. In Michael’s request today’s subject was described as “the best player I’ve seen play live”. High praise. We hope this lives up to such a reputation. Last month Derby County manager, England and Manchester United’s all-time leading goal scorer Wayne Rooney was once again the subject of tabloid speculation following some suggestive photographs from a night out. Like many of England’s ‘golden

Emlyn Jones takes us to a land down under today with a look at a former Socceroos skipper and the behind the scenes tension that goes with elite international sport. He also brings us possibly one of the greatest examples of Search Engine Optimisation which was something I knew little about until he joined this blog . Now you know who to thank. Over to Emlyn. You don't have to look for long to find examples of footballers falling out with their teammates. Putting a squad of young men into high-pressure situations, and throwing competition for places into the mix, it's inevitable that some of them will end up at each other's throats. The example that came straight to my mind was Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer having an on-field barney while playing for Newcastle United; Dyer said he didn't pass to Bowyer because “you're shit, basically” and the two tussled before being sent off. We've also written about a few other examples in the past. We're nothing if not sham

We have another request post today courtesy of Cantona’s Collars . Writing this post is the least we could do due to his patience with our Twitter spam and if you are a Manchester United fan his account is an absolute must follow for all things relating to the Red Devils past and present. Today’s subject never played for United but ticks some massive boxes for us due to his pivotal roles in the great AC Milan and Croatia sides of the 1990s and his excellent facial hair . Unfortunately he didn’t follow in Tomas Brolin ’s footsteps and trade in Serie A for Selhurst Park but we’ll let him off on that front. Cantona’s Collars – we hope this does the trick! My love of history really began to grow when I was in Year 4 and my class were asked to do some research on the Second World War. I was lucky enough to be able to access primary source material in the form of my three surviving grandparents and was genuinely fascinated by my Gran’s stories of moving over from Ireland to work in an aircra

Today Mat Jolin-Beech takes a look at one of the country’s proudest clubs and their admirable academy system which has produced some exceptional players over the years from Bobby Moore to Trevor Brooking, from Paul Ince to Freddie Sears . Love them, hate them or really hate them it’s hard to deny that West Ham United have contributed a lot to English football and if you do deny it Frodo Baggins and Danny from Hustle will be after you. Over to Mat. There are often conversations that crop up about the best team that never was, or that could have been. As a Manchester United fan the Busby Babes of 1958, led by Duncan Edwards, is one that is etched in legend. Not only for United, but also for England and arguably led to the 1968 European Cup winning team. On top of this, that post Munich team formed a key part of the England 1966 winning team – still the only time England’s men have won a major trophy. Excluding the 1997 Tournoi de France obviously. And talking of England winning the Wor

When we reflect on significant moments in sporting history we are often transported back to the place we were and the people we were with. Just over a month ago I was on my sofa witnessing England come so close to European Championship glory as my mother-in-law went from disinterested onlooker to the Three Lions’ newest fan. Back in April 2016 I ended up in the bar of one of the shiny new hotels surrounding Wembley with my mate Sean, a lad we hadn’t seen since school and a large crowd of elated Crystal Palace fans following the FA Cup semi-final. All the way back in May 1995 I was watching my sister celebrate her twelfth birthday at a funfair in Crystal Palace Park as goals from Fabrizio Ravanelli , Gianluca Vialli and Didier Deschamps secured Juventus their first Serie A title in nine years with a 4-0 win over closest rivals Parma. I was gutted to miss the game live on Channel 4 but one of my sister’s schoolmates threw up on the chairoplanes so I was hardly denied entertainment. The

Today Richard Allinson takes a look at one of the leading lights of the early 90s Manchester United side that swept all before them in the early days of the Premier League. His credentials for this era increase further when you factor in his move to Serie A in the peak James Richardson coffee and croissant days . Add in an integral role in E ngland’s Euro 96 side , a bloodied headband on international duty and some penalty heartbreak at a World Cup and you could argue he is a true icon of the period. Still, he was no Darren Caskey . Over to Rich. Completely out of the blue, my wife recently posed me the question “whatever happened to Paul Ince?” The only honest answer I could give was “I dunno, he was Macclesfield manager for a bit, said he was going to manage Inter Milan and then got sacked by Blackpool , never heard anything of him since.” So in lieu of an answer as to what Paul Ince is currently up to, let’s have a look back at the glittering career of “the Guv’nor” instead. Mor

Among the many things in our lives that we have little to no control over the time we are born has to be pretty high up the list. As the father of a so-called lockdown baby it’s fair to say that he’s probably going to find it a bit strange when we look back at the first photographs of him with his family and he sees his grandparents, aunts and cousins wearing face masks. In our defence my wife was already ten weeks pregnant when the country went into lockdown and we wouldn’t change a thing about our son but if we could have magically chosen when he was born we probably wouldn’t have chosen smack bang in the middle of a global pandemic. In a similar sense I reckon Andy Murray probably isn’t over the moon that he entered the world within the same twelve months as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Then again I’m not sure that Andy is ever that over the moon about much. These ‘golden generations’ in sport have led to some of the greatest rivalries and most memorable matches and that’s just

Mat Jolin-Beech is at the helm for today’s post with a football history lesson for us all and just the thing to get you in the mood for the first weekend of Football League action. As well as today’s offering the Steel City’s early footballing days were graced by The Zulus, a team formed to raise money for widows of the Zulu War and on occasions the team was known to adopt traditional Zulu costumes as part of their playing kit. They were eventually disbanded for bringing the game into disrepute for paying their players. The whole cultural appropriation thing was clearly fine. Over to Mat. Phil Jagielka, the 38-year-old defender, has seen his second spell at Sheffield United come to an end. After failing to win a contract extension, he joins the plethora of players out of contract and looking for a new club for the new season after proclaiming he’s not yet ready to retire. After breaking through for the Blades at the age of 17 in May 2000, he helped steer the club back to the Premier Le

Richard Allinson transports us all the way back to three and a half weeks ago when Gareth Southgate ’s young charges came so close to bringing football home that even the most cynical of us genuinely believed that the Three Lions could do it. Alas it was not to be but for a brief moment people had been brought together by the admirable achievements of the England football team. Still, just over a year to go until Qatar 2022 and you can do it all again. Time to practice your Luke Shaw wonder goals. Over to Rich. I’m writing this blog on Saturday 3rd July 2021 as the hours tick down to England v Ukraine in Euro 2020. As an almost forty year old I’m quite surprised as to how excited I am about the match but there you are, football does funny things to a man. The anticipation involved in a big England game has got me thinking back to the major international tournaments of my youth, and particularly Italia ‘90 (perhaps unsurprisingly as it is the greatest sporting spectacle of all time). E