A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

Mat Jolin-Beech is back with some more about a holiday he apparently went on recently. Today’s subject racked up over 500 professional appearances for the likes of Birmingham City, Watford and Manchester City and was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the last top flight season before the start of the Premier League . Of course this is of absolutely no interest compared to Mat’s struggles to part with his hard earned cash, however, so over to him with the rest. Some shirts are hard to find. Just ask the Manchester United team from 1996 that rocked up to The Dell. Grey shirts, white shorts and white socks. Up against the tight crowd at Southampton’s classic ground (commentator code for old, cramped and small) the grey shirts faded into the background. At least that’s the excuse those United players and manager Alex Ferguson used. Or more accurately the sports scientist behind the scenes so much so that Ferguson had vetoed the shirt previously, and this was to be its last foray. Or sh...

The 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA was my introduction to football and, nearly thirty years later, probably the international tournament I remember most fondly despite the fact that I realistically don’t remember too much about it. I can attest to having witnessed Ray Houghton’s wonder goal/flukey lob in the Republic of Ireland’s shock victory over Italy as it was the centrepiece of a First Holy Communion celebration my family was attending. The joy and shock experienced by the predominantly Irish and Italian guests crowded around what seemed like the world’s biggest telly spilled over into the garden for all of us kids present and led to an inevitable kickabout. A few weeks later the quarter finals coincided with a primary school barbecue which, again, saw lots of people crowded around a telly watching Italy take on Spain . I remember very little about the game as my primary focus was the kickabout in the school playground and trying to digest ropey veggie burgers but one parent said ...

This week Emlyn Jones brings us a look at the career of a wing wizard whose ability to whip in a cross took his boyhood club to the very top. Like so many other English players from this period he probably deserved a few more caps than he received but has been, to the best of our knowledge, not taking out his frustrations on Carlton Palmer or retweeting some interesting scientific theories. Over to Emlyn with the rest. Without wanting to steal the name and premise of an excellent Twitter account , we aren't shy about mentioning the left-side 'problem' the England team experienced throughout the mid 90s and into the 2000s. While left midfield was one of few positions Wales could feel confident in (so long as it wasn't a friendly), England tried a succession of players, whether out of position experiments with Dennis Wise or Paul Scholes , or more established left-wing players such as Alan Thompson or Steve Guppy . One such player, who probably deserved a few more than ...

Mat Jolin-Beech is back with some more insight from his recent travels. Today’s subject played at three World Cups and earned 82 caps as his nation consistently impressed on the international stage. He proves that age is but a number by still playing to this day but quite frankly we know you’re really here to find out about Mat’s holiday so let’s not delay him any further. Japan is an amazing country. Clean, modern, futuristic and yet firmly with one foot in its past. It is unique. If you’ve not yet read by post on Park Ji-Sung , you may have missed the fact that I’ve recently been on holiday to South Korea and Japan. Both are amazing places, but they are surprisingly different. In Tokyo, there are no street markets and food stalls on the streets, but you will find people in Pikachu onesies chasing Bowser around the streets in real life Mario Karts. You will find five floor arcades packed with people watching hardcore Dance Dance Revolution veterans battling it out, and a multitude of...

Nearly a quarter of a century ago The Guardian published an article entitled ‘The 10 Worst Foreign Signings in History’. Focusing almost exclusively on British football in the 1990s the list is hardly exhaustive and mentions many names that will not come as a shock to any football nostalgic or reader of these pages over the last three years. Serie A imports Tomas Brolin , Andrea Silenzi and Marco Negri featured with particular disdain reserved for the latter’s regular take home of £18,000 per week for contributing about as much as Winston Bogarde did for Chelsea which seems harsh for a man who actually lit up Ibrox with 23 goals in his first ten games. George Weah’s “cousin” (not his actual cousin ) Ali Dia is of course included alongside Marco Boogers and Michele Padovano who managed just one goal in his twelve games for Crystal Palace and returned to the club a year after leaving demanding £1m in unpaid wages. The common denominator between the article’s inhabitants was the posit...