Onside Magazine

A B R A N D S PA N K I N G N E W F O OT B A L L M A G A Z I N EA B R A N D S PA N K I N G N E W F O OT B A L L M A G A Z I N EMay 2009www.onsidemag.com

FOOTBALLMANAGER

UEFAEXHIBITION

IAN IAN ASHBEEASHBEE

THIS ISANFIELD

ALUNPARRY

Hull City’s captainHull City’s captain

on Premiership l i feon Premiership l i fe

Dean Gripton on the

popular computer game

We spend the day

at the museum

Founder of Liverpool’s

newest team

The home of LiverpoolFC, but for how long?

HYPOTHETICAL SHIELD =KIT-ASTROPHE!=STICKY MCKENNA

REVIEW OF THE SEASON SO FAR

Premiership Football League European Leagues

Price: £2.50

48Pages of Pages of

football football

goodnessgoodness!

Steven Gerrard says: Drink LucozadeSteven Gerrard says: Drink Lucozade

Sport and you’ll run really fastSport and you’ll run really fast

ADVERTISMENT

Yes folks, it’s finally here! Issue One

of the soon to be critically acclaimed

football magazine, ONSIDE!

It has taken nearly a year of gruelling

production, blood, sweat and tears

(that’ll be that red stain on page 34) but

we have eventually arrived at a

magazine we are sure you will enjoy on

not only a mental level, but an

emotional one too.

“So what?” I hear you cry. “We’ve

already got a thousand and one football

mags, why do we need another?” Well

my friends there is a very simple reason

for that. All other footy mags fade into

insignificance when compared to this

one (I don’t want to oversell it, judge

for yourself). Besides if you are reading

this you have already decided to buy a

copy, well done you. Unless you have

picked it up off the shelf and are

reading it without paying for it, if so

shame on you.

Anyway enough ego massaging, lets get

on with what you will find in the debut

edition of Onside Magazine.

First of all we have several interview

subjects including Hull City captain Ian

Ashbee.

We also have AFC Liverpool founder

Alun Parry, Football Manager

researcher Dean Gripton and England

fan Simon Parker (that’s right, THE

Simon Parker).

We also have an in depth review of the

season so far, covering the Premiership,

Football League and Europe...oh and of

course the Blue Square Premier. For

those of you who don’t have Setanta

yes it is a real league.

As if all that wasn’t enough we have the

Hypothetical Shield where Real Madrid

1960 go head-to-head with Manchester

Utd 1999, we look at the history of the

world famous structure that is Anfield,

there is a review of the UEFA

Exhibition in Liverpool and of course

we have the badly drawn adventures of

Sticky McKenna!

So what are you waiting for, get stuck

into your very first experience of the

brand new Onside Magazine...NOW!

RAFA’S CRACKING UP!Over the recent months it has become clear to me

that Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez cannot

handle the pressure that comes with being near

the top of the Premier League.

He often goes on rants in his press conferences

and cannot seem to control his urge to have a pop

at Sir Alex Ferguson any chance he gets.

It isn’t fair to criticize the man who is undoubt-

edly the greatest manager of all time in world

football, just because Rafa is jealous of all Sir

Alex has achieved. He should grow up and give

the Manchester United manager the respect he de-

serves. Number Eighteen will be ours this season

and we will also get to within one of Liverpool’s

European Cup wins. Come on Utd!

Alex, Manchester

RIGHT ON RAFA!I would just like to commend Liverpool boss Rafa

Benitez on his so called ‘rant’ at Slur Alex Fergu-

son. Everything he said was fact! It wasn’t just a

random attack on someone, it was genuine facts

that people have ignored for far too long.

Ferguson gets away with so much in this country

because referees are scared of him. It is not fair

that there seems to be one rule for him and an-

other for the rest of us...I mean managers.

But I prefer to talk about my team. Liverpool

have a great squad with lots of quality and for

sure we will be fighting United till the end.

Rafael, Liverpool

DOMINANCE IS BORINGI suppose I must say congratulations to England

and their elite clubs on their recent dominance of

the UEFA Champions League.

However, I for one am bored with the competition

being half made up of teams from England come

the quarter final stage every year. I want to see

Lyon v Real Madrid, AC Milan v Barcelona,

Spartak Vladikavkaz v Dukla Prague!

It is clear to me that the continuing success of

Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal is that

they have more money than most. It is unfair that

they can splash out £30m+ on a player who does

not even come from England, whereas the likes of

Barcelona and Lyon are full of players from their

own nations.

I propose we ban England from European compe-

titions until they can learn to be a bit more courte-

ous to their European neighbours by letting them

win something for a change.

Michel, France

SAVAGE TREATMENTI am just writing to comment on the harsh treat-

ment Robbie Savage continues to recieve from

home and away fans.

I think it’s disgusting and this Welsh legend de-

serves much better.

It’s not his fault he’s such a good player, leave

him alone.

He’s lovely really, just ask his mum.

Robbie, Derby

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE

TO BE ONSIDE

FAN’S LETTERS

Insert fake signature here

ONSIDEKALLKWIK PUBLISHING,

LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE,

LIVERPOOL, MERSEYSIDE

EDITORIALTel 020 8267 3085 Fax 020 8267 2846

E-Mail [email protected]

Editor-in-chief David Segar

Deputy editor David Segar

Art editor David Segar

Features editor David Segar

Designer David Segar

Onsidemag.com editor David Segar

Staff writer David Segar

Picture desk David Segar

Editorial secretary David Segar

Thanks to Paddy Hoey, Carly Duffen, Alun Parry, Dean

Gripton, Sue Beedle, Simon Parker, James Finnegan,

Lawrence Turner and of course Ray, Dorothy and Paul

Segar

ADVERTISINGTel 020 8267 7265 Fax 020 8267 3186

E-mail [email protected]

Sales director Bert the Sales Director

Commercial director Sally the Commercial director

Sales manager Bob the Sales Manager

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Classified sales executive Randy the Classified sales

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MANAGEMENTPublishing director David Segar

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Assistant production manager David Segar

Circulation Enquiries

Repro

Onside cannot accept any responsibility for unsolicited

contributions. No part of this magazine may be repro-

duced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any

form without permission.

Group editorial director David Segar

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Chairman David Segar

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3

CONTENTSCONTENTS6 - 6 - Ian AshbeeIan AshbeeHull City’s captain talks about life in the big

leagues and the importance of the FA Cup.

10 - Jokes Page10 - Jokes PageReaders send in some of their favourite football

funnies.

11 - Kit-astrophe!11 - Kit-astrophe!A look at some of footballs worst fashion

crimes. Yes Coventry’s brown kit is in there.

14 - This Is Anfield14 - This Is AnfieldA profile of possibly the most famous stadium in

world football.

18 - Team Sheet18 - Team SheetWe put together a select XI of the worst foreign

imports to the Premier League.

19 - Season Review19 - Season ReviewA comprehensive look back on how the

2008/09 season has gone for your team.

29 - Team Sheet29 - Team SheetAnother select XI, this time of the best foreign

imports to the Premier League.

30 - Alun Parry30 - Alun ParryThe founder of non-league AFC Liverpool on

why he created the club.

p38 UEFA ExhibitionWe spend the day at the mu-

seum and look at the UEFA ex-

hibit. It’s not just giant subbuteo

players, honest.

p6 Ian AshbeeHull’s longest serving player

talks to Onside about his side’s

debut campaign in the Premier

League.

p14 This Is AnfieldA look at the history of one of

Europe’s most recognisable

structures, including the Anfield

tour experience.

4 www.onsidemag.com

34 - Hypothetical34 - Hypothetical

ShieldShieldA review of a match that never happened, but

we really wish it had, so we made it up.

36 - Sticky McKenna36 - Sticky McKennaThe adventures of Newchester Albions prodigal

son. Think Roy of the Rovers, but thinner.

37 - Fan Q&A37 - Fan Q&AAn interview with an England fan on Fabio

Capello’s first year in charge.

38 - UEFA Exhibition38 - UEFA ExhibitionWe get all cultural and visit the Liverpool

Museum to review the UEFA exhibition.

42 - 42 - Football ManagerFootball ManagerSports Interactive’s Dean Gripton gives inside

info on our favourite footy simulator.

44 - Reviews44 - ReviewsOnside gives it’s profound opinion on the latest

football related products.

46 - Quiz46 - QuizTwo rival football fans go head-to-head in a bat-

tle of football I.Q’s.

47 - Stats all folks!47 - Stats all folks!A collection of tables from the Premier League

and Football League.

p30 Alun ParryAn interview with the Liverpudlian

musician, but seeing as this is a

footy mag we talk about how he

founded AFC Liverpool.

p11 Kit-astrophe!An observation of the most vomit

inducing football kits that have

been adorned by the unluckiest

of players down the years.

p42 Football ManagerA look at one of the most popular

computer game franchises, including

an interview with Sports Interactive’s

Dean Gripton.

5

CONTENTS

p44 ReviewsOnside keeps you up to date on

the latest footy related films,

books and products. Including a

look at ‘The Damned United’.

EYE OF

THE TIGER

he English Premier League is made

up of hundreds of players. There

are those who have come through

the ranks of elite academies, those

who have impressed at lower league clubs

and been signed, and of course those who

have been bought in from a foreign league for

obscene amounts of money.

Ian Ashbee comes under a different category,

one which he can almost call his own. Instead

of becoming a Premiership star by one of the

token methods above, Ashbee has effectively

done it from scratch and has played with the

same team from the old division 3 right

through the football league and into the top

division.

The 32 year old joined Hull in 2002 as part of

a new look midfield being put together by

then manager Jan Molby. He has though not

just been a one team man.

The Birmingham born midfielder started his

career at Derby County where he featured just

once in a match against Southend on the final

day of the 1994/95 season. It would be man-

ager Roy McFarland’s last game in charge

and the new boss Jim Smith kept Ashbee in

the reserves for another season.

He did not make another appearance for over

a year before being sent out on loan to the

household named Icelandic team, IR

Knattspyrnudeild (yes, them). Having scored

three goals in just eight appearances in the

Icelandic league he was snapped up by Cam-

bridge United, linking up once again with

McFarland.

Ashbee enjoyed life more at the Abbey Sta-

dium and was part of the side that won pro-

motion to the old division 2 in 1999. Despite

his goalscoring exploits abroad, Ashbee was a

key member of the U’s defence. His versatil-

ity meant he could play comfortably any-

where across the back four.

After six years at Cambridge, Ashbee was

signed up by Molby in the summer of 2002

on a three year contract.

His Hull career did not get off to the best of

starts as he was sent off for two bookings on

his debut, ironically against the same team he

debuted against for Derby, Southend.

However, Ashbee would soon be revered by

Tigers fans far and wide for his combative

tackling and accurate passing game. He was

no longer playing across the back four as he

had done at Cambridge, but had taken up a

new role as a midfield general.

Having been made captain by new boss Peter

Taylor, he scored the winning goal in Hull’s

defeat of Yeovil in the 2003/04 season. It was

the goal that sent Hull into League Two and

earned his team their first promotion in 19

years.

‘Ash’ would go on to cement his name in

Tigers folklore as the following season he be-

came Hull’s first captain to guide them to

successive promotions.

However, disaster struck at the start of their

Championship campaign as Ashbee fractured

his knee and was forced to miss the whole

season. Later it emerged that the problem was

deeper and he had an ‘osteochondral defect’.

This meant he had a degenerative bone dis

Hull City captain Ian Ashbee on life inthe big league, the FA Cup and his side’schances at Premiership survival.

6 www.onsidemag.com

Words by David Segar

T

“His performancesin the IcelandicLeague won him amove to Cambridge”

IAN ASHBEE INTERVIEW

Hull’s version

of the ‘Haka’

7

ease which affected his femur. There were

question marks over whether he would ever

play again.

Ashbee fought through it and made his come-

back against his boyhood team Birmingham

the following season.

He picked up where he left off and put in

some match winning performances to keep

Hull in the second tier.

In the 2007/08 season Ashbee made history.

Hull’s 1-0 playoff final win against Bristol

City saw him become the first captain ever to

lead his team from the third division right up

to the Premiership, and he had done it in just

six years.

Hull have enjoyed a mixed bag so far in their

inaugural Premiership campaign. The first

half of the season was a dream. They picked

up several impressive wins against the likes

of Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle and were

flying high. At one point they found them-

selves in the top four and there were murmurs

of a potential spot in the Champions League,

though it’s doubtful anyone truly believed it

would happen.

Their rise to the top was almost as quick as

their plummet back down the league. From

December to March the Tigers went eleven

games without a win and were edging closer

to the relegation zone.

Ashbee believes his side have had a good sea-

son considering the resources at their dis-

posal. “We've done as much as we could've

possibly done. We've come into it (the Pre-

miership) with a positive attitude and shown

everyone that we're a decent football club and

a decent team.”

When asked why he thought the team had

started so well he stated “I think we were

probably unknown at the beginning of the

season and teams didn't give us the respect

we deserved.” Quizzed as to his reasons for

the sudden loss of form he added “We're

playing in the Premier League and we're

playing against quality players week in week

out. I think the form's still been there but it's

the loss of results that's been the issue really.

I don't think we've lost too much form and

been hammered week in week out, I think

we've just been unlucky and lost picking up

results like we were early start of the sea-

son.”

When manager Phil Brown came in two sea-

sons ago Ashbee and several of Hull’s fans

were worried he might have an overhaul of

the team and appoint a new captain. However,

seeing Ashbee’s leadership qualities the for-

mer Bolton boss insisted Ashbee keep the

armband, it proved to be the right choice.

When asked what he thought of his manager

Ashbee said “Well obviously his record

speaks for itself. He came to us in the bottom

part of the Championship and now we're suc-

cessfully competing in the Premier League.”

Despite Hull’s recent descent down the Pre-

mier League table, they have been able to

pick up wins in the FA Cup and now find

themselves in the quarter finals. The competi-

tion has been talked down in the last few

years and people have argued it is not impor-

tant as the big teams do not take it seriously.

However, with Chelsea, Man Utd and Ever-

ton already in the semi-finals, Ashbee be-

lieves the magic of the cup is still very much

alive. “The FA cup should never be dismissed

in my opinion. It's a quality cup that's always

been around. It's a way into Europe so it's

something that you should never dismiss.”

He added “On a priority list, would I take the

FA cup to staying in the Premier League?

Probably not but it certainly doesn't mean the

Gaffer won't be taking it seriously.”

In a season which has been so up and down

there have been numerous high’s and lows,

and Ashbee is in no doubt as to which are the

best and worst moments of Hull’s debut Pre-

miership season. “The best moment this sea-

son for us has probably been the Emirates

and us beating Arsenal. For me the worst

moment has got to be Wigan or Man City and

losing heavily.”

Hull’s ‘captain marvel has never been one to

seek the attention and the glamour that some

people in the game do, in fact this is the first

feature interview with a national football

magazine Ashbee has done since he became a

Premiership player, his only other interviews

coming with the official Hull City magazine.

Ashbee is one of the strongest minded players

in the game today, and his confident perform-

ances on the pitch are mirrored in his confi-

dent mannerisms off it. When asked where he

thought his team would finish this season he

simply answered “We will finish in the Pre-

mier League securing our survival for next

season.”

Though Hull’s excellent start to the season

has given them a helpful cushion to avoid rel-

egation, their dip in form has seen them come

within spitting distance of the likes of Mid-

dlesbrough and Newcastle. But their ability to

shock anyone with some of their attacking

displays and resolute defending means that

Ashbee’s confidence in his teams ability to

avoid the drop should be correct.

Finally when asked where he thought Hull

would be in five years time he said “Hope-

fully Hull in 5 years time will be a long estab-

lished Premier League side knocking on the

door for Europe.”

Whether Hull are capable of getting into Eu-

rope remains to be seen, but considering the

speed they made their way from Division 3 to

the Premiership, you certainly wouldn’t bet

against them.

Bellamy attempts playing

footy whilst sucking a lemon

“The FA Cupshould never bedismissed in myopinion”

8 www.onsidemag.com

9

- 6 September 1976:

Ashbee is born in Birmingham.

Hull’s chief scout put on alert.

- August 1993:

Signed by Roy McFarland for

Derby County.

- May 1995:

Makes his first appearance for

The Rams, it would also be his

last.

- August 1996:

Sent out on loan by manager

Jim Smith to Icelandic team, IR

Knattspyrnudeild where he

scored three times in eight

games.

- December 1996:

Is re-signed by McFarland, this

time for Cambridge Utd.

- May 1999:

Wins promotion with the U’s to

Division 2.

- July 2002:

Signs for Hull City on a three

year contract.

- August 2002:

Sent off on his debut for the

Tigers against Southend.

- May 2004:

Scores the vital goal against

Yeovil that sends Hull into

League One.

- May 2005:

Is promoted in successive sea-

sons up to the Championship.

- August 2005:

Picks up knee injury, and then

it is found he has an ‘osteo-

chondral defect’. Ashbee

misses the entire season.

- August 2006:

Makes his comeback against

Birmingham City.

- May 2007:

Hull just avoid relegation.

- May 2008:

Guides Hull to the playoff final

at Wembley where they beat

Bristol City 1-0.

- August 2008:

Ashbee is once again the cap-

tain as Hull win their first ever

Premiership game, beating

Fulham 2-1 at the KC.

- September 2008:

Plays in the team that beats

Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates.

Hull are just the second team

to win there.

- February 2009:

Ashbee talks to Onside.

TIMELINE OF THE TIMELINE OF THE

CAREER OF IAN ASHBEECAREER OF IAN ASHBEEA look at the career of Hull City’s longest servingplayer, from Iceland to the KC Stadium.

IAN ASHBEE INTERVIEW

Football Related

JOKES

Over The WallOur club manager won't stand for any non-

sense. Last Saturday he caught a couple of

fans climbing over the stadium wall.

He was furious. He grabbed them by the col-

lars and said,

"Now you just get back in there and watch the

game till it finishes."

The Sound of MusicFirst fan: "I wish I'd brought the piano to the

stadium."

Second fan: "Why would you bring a piano to

the football game?"

First fan: "Because I left the tickets on it."

The Great Geordie RobberyPolice were called to St James’ Park in the

early hours of yesterday after it emerged that

burglars broke into the Newcastle United tro-

phy room and emptied it’s entire contents.

Officers have told residents of the area to

look out for a group carrying a black and

white carpet.

WAG RequiredOne of the highest paid players in the Premier

division, Gary had everything going for him.

He had a fancy new house in North-East Lon-

don, a flash new sports car, masses of de-

signer clothes -the lot. His only problem was

that he had three girlfriends and he couldn't

decide which one to marry. So he decided to

give £5,000 to each woman to see what she

would do with it.

The first woman bought new clothes for her-

self and had an expensive new hairdo, a mas-

sage, facial, manicure and pedicure.

The second woman bought a top-of-the range

VCR and CD player, as well as an expensive

set of golf clubs and tennis racquet and gave

them all to Gary. "I used the money to buy

you these gifts because I love you," she told

him.

The third woman invested the money in the

stock market, and within a short time had

doubled her investment. She gave Gary back

the initial £5,000 and reinvested the profit.

"I'm investing in our future because I love

you so much," she said.

Gary considered carefully how each woman

had spent the money, and then married the

woman with the biggest breasts.

Just Imagine You’re in a WallA famous international footballer was asked

to appear nude in the centrefold of a glossy

new women's magazine.

`Our intention is to photograph you standing

nude holding a ball" said the feature's editor.

'I see,' said the footballer. 'What will I be

doing with my other hand?'

That Was a Dive Ref!A match between two non-League teams took

place last winter in the North of England. It

had been raining heavily all week and the

ground resembled a swamp.

However, the referee ruled that play was pos-

sible and tossed the coin to determine ends.

The visiting captain won the toss and, after a

moment's thought, said, 'OK - we'll take the

shallow end!'

A Faecal MatterIt’s half time at Wembley and England are

losing 2-0 to Holland. Fabio Capello follows

his players into the dressing room and notices

a piece of excrement lying in the middle of

the floor. The Italian shouts “Whose poo on

the floor?” to which Emile Heskey replies

“Me boss, but I’m not bad in the air”.

What’s Behind a Badge?The Football Association was considering a

scheme for simplifying club badges and em-

blems so that they more closely reflected the

clubs' names. A committee was set up to re-

ceive suggestions and, after a few weeks, the

chairman called a meeting.

'Gentlemen,' he said, 'our request for new

club badge designs has produced a very satis-

factory response.

Most of the suggestions are perfectly straight-

forward and logical - an ox for Oxford

United, a sun for Sunderland, a heart for

Heart of Midlothian, a windmill and a brick

wall for Millwall.

However, I'm afraid we must definitely draw

the line at the proposed design received from

Arsenal!'

A Deadly Mix UpA man walked into the office of a large Lon-

don firm and said to the manager, 'I'm young

Cartwright's grandfather - he works in your

mail room here.

I just popped in to ask if you could give him

the afternoon off so I could take him to the

League Final at Wembley.'

'I'm afraid he's not here,' said the manager.

'We already gave him the afternoon off to go

to your funeral.'

Cold BallsAn American visitor to England watched his

very first football match and was struck by

the differences between English and Ameri-

can football.

After the match he fell into conversation with

one of the English players and remarked, 'You

know, over in the States, our players wear

thick protective clothing. You guys must be

frozen stiff in those light clothes.'

'It's not so bad,' said the Englishman. 'Some-

times the ground is covered in snow.'

'You don't say!' exclaimed the American.

'What do you do about the balls? Paint them

red?'

'Oh, no,' said the player. 'We just wear an

extra pair of shorts.'

Onside readers have sent in some of their favouritefootball funnies. Here’s a selection of the best thatwill have you literally wetting yourself until you haveto swim to safety, using this magazine as a float.

10 www.onsidemag.com

KIT-ASTROPHE!There have been some spectacularly bad lookingfootball kits worn down the years, but have theyreally had an effect on the players wearing themother than making them look silly?

11

Scotland Pink kit 1999When you think of boisterous Tartan Army Scotland fans in Germany for an away

friendly with their beloved Scotland, you can imagine their reaction when they saw

their heroes emerge in this ‘faded salmon’ kit. To be fair it worked as the Scots ran

out 1-0 winners. Billy Dodds, who played in the win, later said “It was dulled down

a bit by the dark blue shorts so it wasn’t too in-your-face.”

Oxford Utd ‘Wang’ kits 1985-

1989Now strictly speaking there’s nothing wrong with the

design of the U’s kits between 85 and 89. They had al-

ways worn yellow and blue so it this kit is hardly a re-

bellious effort.

But it doesn’t matter how nice a kit looks, if you write

‘WANG’ on the front of anything you will look silly.

Sponsored by ‘Wang Computers’, Oxford insisted on

just emphasising the first word, silly ‘Wangers’.

Jorge Campos all kits 1991-

2004What a legend Jorge Campos was. When people up and

down the country were asked who their favourite goal-

keeper was in 1994 most stated the Mexican shot stop-

per, despite the fact he wasn’t that good.

Campos’ self designed kits werea lot of people looked

forward to during the 94 World Cup, and he kept the

trend up until he retired from international football in

2004.

Hull Tiger-skin kit 1992The less said about this kit the better. Hull are

nicknamed the Tigers, so you can guess why they

went for this particular design. They soon

changed it.

Coventry Brown kit 1978I know what you’re thinking, how on earth could an all

brown kit not look cool, but somehow Coventry man-

aged it. The horrific looking design was the fault of for-

mer England kit manufacturers Admiral. What makes

the strip even stranger is that it had to pass approval

from several members of the Coventry board before it

was produced.

It has since become a cult figure of self ridicule among

Coventry fans, so much so that the club are producing a

special limited edition of the shirt to wear on the last

day of the current season.


Chelsea Orange & Grey kit

1994There’s something so stylish about the Dutch, in par-

ticular Ruud Gullit. He is so laid back and cool, wait

a minute, who’s that berk in the orange and grey?

Yes Chelsea had just started a revolution where they

were going to bring in quality technical players from

around Europe, starting with Gullit. As a comprim-

ise they had to play well whilst looking like a

mouldy piece of fruit.

Man Utd Grey kit 1995I always look at this kit and smile, because it re-

minds me of the greatest excuse in the history of

football. United were losing 3-0 at half time at

Southampton, but it wasn’t the fault of the players,

no it was the kits fault. Apparently the players could-

n’t see each other. It was quickly traded in for a blue

and white shirt. To be fair Fergie had a point, if you

relax your eyes and squint at this picture you can’t

see Ryan Giggs.

Cameroon kits 2002 & 2004I for one thought these kits were cool, but FIFA

certainly didn’t. Cameroon wore the sleeveless kit

for the 2002 African Nations Cup, but were told

they weren’t allowed to use it during the upcoming

World Cup. They then wore an ‘all-in-one’ kit for a

World Cup Qualifier in 2004, and FIFA were so

angry that they docked them six points and fined

them $154,000. They didn’t wear it again.

England Grey kit 1996Millions of England fans blamed Gareth

Southgate for losing to Germany on

penalties in the semi-final of Euro 96. It

has since emerged that the kit was to

blame. German keeper Andreas Kopke

was laughing so hard at the shirt South-

gate was wearing that he put him off.

England Keeper kit 1996If anything was going to put someone off a

penalty it was this red, purple, green, yellow

and god knows what else shirt David Seaman

was unlucky enough to wear. He was so used

to looking silly that when England brought

out a trendier keeper top he grew a ponytail

to even it up.

KIT-ASTROPHE!

13


THIS ISANFIELDOnside goes to L4 for a closer look at one of

the most famous structures in the world, but

the chippy was closed so we came here.

iverpool’s domination of the English

game throughout the Seventies and Eight-

ies ensured that there were many glorious

days and nights at Anfield as the club’s

supporters celebrated a succession of trophies

which came to their new home on Merseyside. Fast

forward to today and that tradition is still continu-

ing, with Champions League nights at Anfield

world famous for their unique atmospheres.

It may come as a shock to some to learn that it was

Everton who first played their home matches at An-

field and had there not been a dispute over rent, the

Toffees could still be playing their home games at

the famous stadium today.

It was back in 1884 when Everton started playing at

Anfield and they continued to do so for eight years,

until a major row erupted concerning Everton’s

renting of the land. A dispute with John Houlding,

the owner of the land, led to Everton leaving the

stadium to purchase another site in the area, known

as Goodison Park.

At that time Anfield was regularly attracting 8,000

supporters for games, and John Houlding had

ploughed a lot of his own money into transforming

the stadium into one worthy of a local football

team. A small stand had been erected to house the

fans, but with Everton gone the stadium was empty

and Houlding was out of pocket.

As a result he made the decision to form his own

team to play at Anfield - Liverpool Football Club.

Their first match was played on Thursday Septem-

ber 1st 1892 against Rotherham. It was a friendly

which Liverpool won 7-1.

Following a successful first season in the Lan-

cashire League, Liverpool were granted permission

to play in the Football League and the first national

League game at Anfield was played against Lincoln

City on September 9th 1893. Liverpool won 4-0 in

front of 5,000 supporters.

Another new stand was constructed in 1903 at the

Anfield Road End. It was made from timber and

corrugated iron.

When Liverpool won their second League title in

1906 the directors rewarded the fans by building a

banked terrace at the Walton Breck Road End.

Local journalist Ernest Edwards from the Liverpool

Daily Post and Echo christened it the Spion Kop

after a hill in South Africa where a local regiment

had suffered heavy losses during the Boer War.

The next major improvement to Anfield came in

1928, when the Kop was redesigned to house

30,000 fans. A huge roof was erected to keep the

supporters dry during the bad weather. At the time

it was the largest stand in the country. The top mast

of the ship ‘Great Eastern’ was taken from the

breaker’s yard in Rock Ferry and was erected

alongside the Kop, where it remains today.

In 1957 Anfield had floodlights installed, enabling

the team to play in the evening. They were used for

the first time on October 30th for a game against

Everton which was staged to commemorate the

75th anniversary of the Liverpool County Football

Association.

In 1959 when Bill Shankly arrived as manager he

was appalled at the conditions and demanded the

stadium be improved. He said the ground was not

good enough for the fans who supported the team

each week.

In 1963 the board of directors agreed to spend ap-

proximately £350,000 on a new stand on the Kem-

lyn Road side of the ground. It was a cantilevered

stand able to hold 6,700 supporters. Soon after,

major alterations were also made to the Anfield

Road End as that stand too was turned into a large,

covered standing area.

One of the biggest and most exciting redevelop-

ments came in 1973 when the Main Stand was re-

duced to rubble and a new, smarter stand was

constructed in its place. It was officially opened by

the Duke of Kent on March 10th 1973 and still

stands at Anfield today.

A second tier was added to the Kemlyn Road Stand

in the early Nineties at a cost of £10m, and for the

first time executive boxes and dining lounges were

seen at the stadium. The stand was now able to hold

11,000 fans and was renamed the Centenary Stand

in celebration of Liverpool FC’s hundred years of

existence.

The biggest change of all was still to come; follow-

ing the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, where 96

Liverpool fans lost their lives, Lord Justice Taylor

had issued instructions that all top division clubs

must have all-seater stadiums - to prevent another

tragedy like it. For Liverpool this meant the end of

the world famous Spion Kop where thousands of

fanatical Reds fans turned up week after week in

support of their team.

In May 1994 after Liverpool’s final match of the

season against Norwich City, work began to demol-

ish the famous stand. A 12,000-seater stand was

built in its place. It was the biggest single-tier stand

in Europe. Many tears were shed as fans left the

Kop for the last time, and there was a dash for sou-

venirs as fans were desperate to get their hands on

any kind of memento to remind them of their times

in the middle of a noisy, swaying, flag-waving Kop.

Further reconstruction of Anfield continued in 1997

when the Anfield Road Stand was transformed into

a two-tier stand, which brought Anfield’s capacity

to over 45,000, making it the second biggest club

stadium in the country at the time.

“It may come as a

shock to some to learn

that it was Everton who

first played their home

matches at Anfield”

Article By

David Segar

THIS IS ANFIELD

15

L

Outside the stadium there have also been changes

over the years. Following the sad death of Bill

Shankly, the club decided to honour his memory by

erecting a set of wrought-iron gates with the simple

but powerful message ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’

across the top. They were named The Shankly

Gates and were officially opened by his widow

Nessie.

Following the Hillsborough tragedy, a memorial

was constructed beside The Shankly Gates. An eter-

nal flame flickers in remembrance of the 96, whose

names are listed down two columns on the memo-

rial. Flowers and scarves are regularly draped by its

side from supporters everywhere who were

shocked and saddened by the disaster.

More recently a bronze statue of Bill Shankly has

been erected in front of the Kop Grandstand. The

statue was designed and crafted by local sculptor

Tom Murphy. It stands 7’6” high and weighs three

quarters of a ton. The message on the front of the

statue reads simply ‘He made the people happy.’

Bob Paisley, Liverpool’s most successful ever man-

ager, is the most recent to be honoured with the

opening of the ‘Paisley Gateway’ which leads on to

the Kop forecourt. Three European Cups, reflecting

Paisley’s historic achievement as Liverpool boss,

are depicted on the top of the gates while the coat

of arms for Liverpool and that for Hatton-le-Hole,

his birthplace, are inscribed on the gates.

In recent years the stadium has not had much work

on it at all. This is due to the realisation that in

order to compete financially in the modern game,

the club needed a stadium which can hold a lot

more than the 45,400 it currently does, which

meant moving to an entirely new ground.

With the surrounding area being so compact it was

not feasible for Liverpool to expand the current An-

field any further than they already have, so the de-

cision was taken to apply to the council to build a

brand new 60,000 seater stadium across the road in

Stanley Park.

The original designs revealed in 2002 recieved

mixed reviews from Reds fans. It very much resem-

bled a similar design to the one eventually used by

Arsenal to build the Emirates Stadium. With all the

stands connected to each other fans were worried

that a lack of a ‘Kop-like’ stand would detract from

the atmosphere.

When the American duo Tom Hicks and George

Gillett bought the club in January 2007 one of the

first things they did was to throw away the old de-

sign and come up with one themselves. American

architects HKS were appointed with the job of de-

signing a revolutionary football stadium that would

eclipse any other in the world, and they duly deliv-

ered.

In the summer of 2007 the new plans were revealed

and the new designs really caught the imagination

of fans and journalists alike.

Like the current stadium, the new plans showed

that each stand would be individual i.e. spaces in

the corners as opposed to a bowl shape. Crucially, a

‘new Kop’ stand was part of the design, with Hicks

claiming that it would be “The orchestra to which

the players will conduct”. The design, in particular

the Kop stand, were done in mind of keeping as

much noise in the ground as possible. The steel

structure would be rounded at the back so any noise

created would just go straight back towards the

pitch.

The turf would be sunk 26ft into the ground allow-

ing room for more supporters to be accomodated

around the pitch.

The initial capacity would be 60,000, but with a fu-

ture option to increase it to more than 76,000,

which would put it on a par with Old Trafford.

The plans will also have a positive effect on the

overall area of Stanley Park, with the actual park

recieving £14m of funding.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez gave his backing to the

plans on the day they were released.

"The plans for the new stadium are absolutely fan-

tastic.

"The facilities the new stadium will provide are

going to ensure that the future of this club is a great

one and this is what the fans deserve.

"There are a lot of windows and it really is ground-

breaking in terms of stadium design."

The project was estimated to cost around £300m,

and this is where problems arose. Hicks and Gillett

realised they did not have enough money to fund

the project themselves, so took out a loan in order

to pay the first installment to get work started. The

aim being that the stadium would be open in time

for the 2010/11 season.

However, it emerged that £300m as an estimate fell

a fair way short of the reality, and when the owners

admitted the cost would be at least £100m more

than that, the realisation hit everyone that the proj-

ect would have to be delayed. The global credit

crunch has affected the plans further and as of now

there is no estimate as to when the stadium will be

built, with 2013 quoted as the earliest possible date.

The upcoming summer should iron out a few wrin-

kles in the Liverpool board room finance-wise,

with the Americans due to pay off a £350m refi-

nancing loan. If they are unable to then they will be

forced to sell the club to the highest bidder, with a

number of billionaires in the waiting from countries

such as Kuwait, Dubai, India and America.

If Liverpool can obtain a secure financial footing

then work can begin on the new stadium, but until

then fans and players alike will be more than happy

to spend a few more years at the current Anfield.

The history of the ground means that although it

may not be as big as some others, it is still consid-

ered to be one of the finest stadiums in world foot-

ball.

“If Liverpool can obtain

a secure financial footing

then work can begin on

the new stadium”


No idea where we

were when this picture

was taken

The new stadium

design

THIS IS ANFIELD

THE ANFIELD TOUR AND

MUSEUM EXPERIENCEWe begin with a leisurely stroll

around the outside of the ground.

Everywhere you look there is a piece

of history. The first thing we come

across is the Hillsborough memorial.

It lists all the names and ages of the

96 Liverpool fans who died on that

fateful day in 1989. It will be moved

to the new ground when it is built.

Right next to it are the world famous

Shankly Gates. They are closed

today but on a matchday you often

see people walking through it just to

get some inspiration ahead of a

match. The proclomation of ‘You’ll

Never Walk Alone’ resides above it.

There is also talk the gates will be in-

tegrated in the new stadium.

As well as a set of gates, Shankly

has his own statue on the other side

of the ground. Another tourist attrac-

tion on matchdays, there is often a

mass of people around the statue

taking photos with the great one,

meaning the statement on the front,

‘He made the people happy’, still

rings true today.

On with the stadium tour now and

first of all we enter the Liverpool

dressing room. The shirts of each

member of the first team hangs up on

the pegs. There is also a physio

area, a fridge with drinks in and a toi-

let and shower area. There is a

poster on the wall reminding players

to keep their shirts on if they score.

Next is the iconic ‘This Is Anfield’

sign. It is used to intimidate the oppo-

sition as well as inspiring the home

side. Superstitious players tap it on

their way down the tunnel ahead of a

game, believing it will bring them

good luck. As I’m busy holding a

camera I unfortunately cannot do the

same.

Out into the stadium and what a sight

it is. There are giant portable lights

on the pitch, apparently to help the

condition of the grass. We are told

we are not allowed to step onto the

pitch, but we can walk up and down

the side and even get to sit in Rafa

Benitez’s seat in the dugout. It’s still

warm.

Having enjoyed looking around the

stadium the next step is the museum.

It holds many artefacts from the his-

tory of Liverpool FC. As soon as you

go through the replica of an old

school turnstile, you are greeted with

a picture of John Houlding, the man

who founded Liverpool Football Club

and owned Anfield.

There are various trophies and shirts

scattered around the museum. But

without doubt the star attraction is the

European Cup which Liverpool won

in 2005 and as it was their fifth win in

the competition, they were allowed to

keep it. I look a little closer and see

the dent on the handle where Milan

Baros dropped it.

Having seen trophy upon trophy, pro-

files on famous LFC figures, and two

movies, one on the history of Liver-

pool FC and a documentary about

the 2005 European Cup win, we

reach the end of our tour. The last

thing we see as we are about to

leave the museum is a banner. It

sums up LFC in one statement.

17

TEAM SHEETA compilation of the best and worst players of thebeautiful game. This month we look at successfuland unsuccessful foreign imports to England.Starting with the worst because they’re more fun.

Massimo TaibiManchester UtdThe Italian shot stopper was

brought in to be a stalwart

between the sticks at Old

Trafford. Unfortunately he

was useless, typified by his

howler against Southampton

Winston BogardeChelseaThe Dutchman was an estab-

lished international. Ranieri

decided he didn’t want him

though so Bogarde sat out

his contract on the side,

playing 11 times in 4 years..

J.A BoumsongNewcastle UnitedWas seen as the future of the

France defence when at

Auxerre. Impressed further

at Rangers but was an un-

mitigated disaster on Tyne-

side. He now plays for Lyon.

KlebersonManchester UnitedNot strictly a defender but

given that he rarely played

for Utd after signing for £5m

in 2002, even Utd fans

would struggle to tell you

his position, or name.

Florin RaducioiuWest Ham UnitedWhen the Romanian forward

joined West Ham big things

were expected but he pro-

duced just 2 goals in 11

games, though one was

against Man Utd

Juan Seba VeronManchester UnitedThe Argentinian midfielder

cost Utd a whopping £28m

back in 2001. Considering

the price tag he produced

very little before moving to

Chelsea for a meagre £15m.

Salif DiaoLiverpoolThe Senegalese midfielder

joined the Reds with El

Hadji Diouf after the 2002

World Cup. Both were spec-

tacular failures at Anfield.

Diao now resides in Stoke.

B DiomedeLiverpoolAnother midfielder Liver-

pool signed on the strength

of a good World Cup per-

formance, Diomede only

made 5 appearances at An-

field before being released.

Diego ForlanManchester UnitedForlan has since gone on to

be one of Europe’s top

marksmen, but at Old Traf-

ford it took him 27 games to

score his first goal for the

club, and that was a penalty.

A ShevchenkoChelseaWhen Sheva signed for

Chelsea people feared he

would destroy the Premier-

ship, he didn’t. Instead he

played half heartedly until

he was loaned back to Milan

Sergei RebrovTottenham HotspurRebrov was Sheva’s strike

partner at Dynamo Kiev, and

was just as big a failure at

Spurs as his mate was at

Chelsea. He is currently

playing for Rubin Kazan.


PROBABLY THEPROBABLY THEBEST LEAGUE INBEST LEAGUE IN

THE WORLDTHE WORLD

Arab Billionaires, the World Player of the Year and

Rory Delap’s freakishly long throw ins. We go back

over the 2008/09 campaign and look at the highs and

lows of your team in this club-by-club analysis of the

Premiership season so far.

Including:

The big question at the start of the season was 'Could

Aston Villa break into the top 4?', and based on how

their season started the answer was, yes they could.

Their uncanny ability to win on a regular basis

showed the signs of a great team, but their record

against the other big teams has been where they have

lost points. Their only win against a 'big 4' team came

at the Emirates in mid November when they beat Ar-

senal 2-1. Draws at home to Liverpool and Man Utd

have been improvements on previous years but their

inability to take more than a point from these games

means there is still a way to go.

Something Villa have relied on this year that has set

them apart from the rest of the chasing pack has been

their knack of scoring late winners in games they

have not necessarily played that well in. Examples

such as the win against West Ham at Upton Park and

a Hull own goal in the last few minutes at the KC

Stadium showed that as well as effieciency when

they are playing well, Villa can win ugly.

Martin O’Neill has started to build quite a team at

Villa Park, though this could bring unwanted atten-

tion. Reports suggest that when Alex Ferguson retires

from his post at Old Trafford, O’Neill will be the

favourite to replace the Scot. But until then the chal-

lenge for him is to establish his current side as part

of the Premier League’s elite.

The impressive form of Gabby Agbonlahor and Ash-

ley Young in the first half of the season was in bal-

ance with the solid defensive performances of Martin

Laursen and Brad Friedel. Villa show a balance

which makes them very difficult opponents for many

sides, and with the January addition of Emile Heskey

they looked to potentially be a major threat to the 'big

4', the question still remained though. Could they

last?

Martin Laursen is the only major player to have

faced any significant time out, but it has had a vastly

detrimental effect on the team. Villa’s defence has

been a shadow of its former self in the Dane’s ab-

sence.

Their small squad has meant they have run out of

steam in the second half of the season and are now

fighting it out with Everton for fifth spot. The Cham-

pions League looks to have eluded Villa this season

which may see captain Gareth Barry finally leave

Villa Park in the summer. However, if O’Neill can

continue to build on the work he has already done,

then there’s every chance his side could be a poten-

tial threat to the top four in the years to come.

TOP SCORERS:

Agbonlahor - 12

Carew - 9

Young - 6

Arsene Wenger's men have been one of the most un-

predictable teams in the league this season. One

week they'll be sweeping aside the Champions, the

next they'll be struggling to beat one of the newly

promoted sides. Wins at home to Manchester United

and away to Chelsea have come in the same season

as losses away to Stoke and home to Hull. Finding

themselves losing grip on their place in the so called

'top 4' in the Premiership, the Gunners put together

an impressive run at the start of 2009 and have re-

mained undefeated since a 3-0 drubbing at the hands

of Man City in November.

A notable moment of the season at Arsenal was ‘Gal-

las-gate’ when the club captain William Gallas

openly criticised his team-mates. He was stripped of

the captaincy and the armband was handed to Cesc

Fabregas. However, The young Spaniards injury in

December was a huge blow and they have clearly

missed him in his absence. Although the defence

have done a good job, there is a significant lack of

creativity when Fabregas doesn’t play.

The £15m January signing of Russian playmaker An-

drei Arshavin has caputured the imagination of Gun-

ners fans all over. Whether or not the 27 year old will

be able to adapt to the Premier League to make an

impact this season remains to be seen. His four goals

against Liverpool at Anfield showed his undoubted

ability, but does he have the consistency to match it?

With Arsenal failing to win a trophy in almost five

years a few have started to question manager Arsene

Wenger’s future, with Real Madrid reportedly eyeing

up his services. The Frenchman has though stated his

intent to stay on at the Emirates.

The Gunners certainly had a fight on their hands to

finish in a Champions League spot, with Aston Villa

and Everton hot on their heels. However, their recent

form has propelled them into a comfortable position

ahead of their rivals and with Robin Van Persie, Fab-

regas and Eduardo to come back from injury the fans

at the Emirates will be more than confident their side

can fight off the challengers and maintain their place

in the Champions League.

Their hopes will be reliant on Aston Villa faltering

towards the business end of the season, whilst also

keeping an eye on Everton. The Merseyside club

have crept up behind the former Premiership cham-

pions and Arsene Wenger’s men will have to be on

their guard if they are to fight off the new pretenders.

TOP SCORERS:

Adebayor - 10

Van Persie - 9

Nasri - 6

ARSENALARSENAL

ASTON VILLAASTON VILLA

THE DEFINING MOMENTS OFTHE SEASON...SO FAR

It certainly has been a season to

remember. There’s been a billionaire

takeover, a newly promoted side in the

top four, and more managerial

changes than it’s possible to recall in

one thought. These are just some of

the key moments that have occured in

the 2008/09 season that will no doubt

make it one of the most memorable in

Premiership history...enjoy!

31st August 2008

Manchester City are taken over by themulti-billion pound Abu Dhabi UnitedGroup and straight away start splashingthe cash, spending £32m on Brazilianstar Robinho. Fans wrap tea towelsaround their heads in celebration.

4th September 2008

After a poor start to the season KevinKeegan steps down as Newcastle boss,just eight months back into the job. He isreplaced by Joe Kinnear, who comes inas ‘interim manager’ until the end of theseason.

“A few have started

to question Arsene

Wenger’s future.”

“Villa show a balance

which makes them

difficult opponents.”


BLACKBURNBLACKBURN BOLTON BOLTONIn a topsy-turvy season for Rovers,

they finally seem to have some stabil-

ity. The arrival of Paul Ince as man-

ager raised a few eyebrows in the

summer. With little

managerial experi-

ence and none in

top flight football,

people questioned

whether he was the

right man for the

job, he wasn't.

With Blackburn languishing near the

bottom of the table and wins appear-

ing rarer than a Matt Derbyshire start,

the board decided drastic action had to

be taken.

Former Bolton boss Sam Al-

lardyce jumped at the opportu-

nity to get back into

Premiership management and

so far has turned the ship

around. Rovers are still very

much in a relegation fight, but a

series of draws and home wins has at

least pulled them out of the trouble

Ince left them in.

Being able to hold onto Roque Santa

Cruz was a massive boost for the

Ewood Park side.

Despite the

Paraguayan not hit-

ting the form he did

last season, he is

still no doubt

Rovers’ prize asset

and will be key in whether they can

stay out of the bottom three.

There is no doubting Blackburn’s po-

tential to push on and pull away from

the relegation zone, and with an

experienced head like Allardyce

at the helm you would be foolish

to bet against them doing just

that.

TOP SCORER:

McCarthy - 9

Gary Megson's side have surprised

many this season. Bolton were a lot

of peoples tip to go down at the start

of the season, but after a good start

they found themselves in the top half

of the table and

there were even

whispers of Eu-

rope. However, a

recent dip in

form and the un-

believable close-

ness of the league this year means

they have been sliding down the

table and in danger of being pulled

into a relegation fight. Record sign-

ing Johan Elmander has

shown glimpses of the form

his £9m figure promised but

has not been the replacement

for Nicolas Anelka Bolton

fans hoped he would be.

One of Bolton’s more remark-

able stats is their seeming in-

ability to draw games. In thirty four

games this season they have drawn

just five. Thankfully they have been

able to produce eleven wins, an im-

pressive four of which have come

away.

The left foot of

Matt Taylor and

the head of Kevin

Davies have

proved invaluable

this season with

most of Davies’

goals coming from Taylor assists.

The importance of these two players

cannot be measured at the Reebok

Stadium and if the Trotters wish to

continue their progress they must

hold on to them.

TOP SCORER:

Davies - 12

CLUB-BY-CLUB REVIEW OF THE SEASON...SO FAR

13th September 2008

Liverpool make the first impact on thetitle race with an impressive 2-1 victoryagainst Man Utd at Anfield. After CarlosTevez gave the visitors the lead, a WesBrown O.G was followed by a winnerfrom super-sub Ryan Babel.

5th October 2008

Hull continue their remarkable start to theseason with an away win at Spurs. Aspectacular Geovanni free kick is enoughto collect a surprise three points for theTigers at White Hart Lane. Talk of Europeis rife at the KC Stadium.

26th October 2008

Juande Ramos is sacked after just a yearas Tottenham manager. He is controversially replaced at the helm byHarry Redknapp. Portsmouth fans feel a sense of deja-vu after Redknapp leavesthem for the second time.

Not since King Jose of Mourinho took charge at

Stamford Bridge in 2004 had a team ever been such

strong favourites for the title having not won it the

year previous.

When Luis Felipe Scolari was named the new

Chelsea boss in the summer many Blues fans were

relieved. Not that his predecessor Avram Grant did a

particularly bad job, he guided Chelsea to their first

ever Champions League Final and challenged Man

Utd in the title race up until late April. However, his

knack of collecting runners-up medals meant he had

to be replaced.

When Scolari came in one of his first moves was to

bring in Deco from Barcelona; and his experienced

creativity helped Chelsea play the kind of exciting

football that no-one had seen from them before.

Everything was set for Chelsea to dominate the

league and win the title by March.

However, their early promise unravelled when Liv-

erpool ended their 86 match unbeaten home winning

streak, quickly followed by Arsenal and several un-

wanted draws. Their near flawless away form was

the only reason they remained in the title race at the

halfway stage.

After away defeats at title rivals Man Utd and Liv-

erpool Scolari was surprisingly sacked after just a

few months in charge. The players were reportedly

unhappy with the Brazilian’s coaching methods and

man management skills. Roman Abramovich de-

cided to call in a friend, Guus Hiddink, to take tem-

porary charge until the end of the season.

The Russian has been an undoubted success since his

arrival and has not only dragged Chelsea back into

the title race but also guided them to the FA Cup final

and Champions League semis. He has injected a new

wave of confidence throughout the team and in par-

ticular has revived Didier Drogba’s influence. The

Ivory Coast striker struggled for form under Scolari

but has thrived under the Dutch manager.

If they aren’t challenging for the title come May then

people will inevitably point to their poor record

against title rivals this season. Having played Utd

and Liverpool twice and Arsenal once they have

recorded just one point. They still have to play the

Gunners at the Emirates but after a goalless draw at

home to Everton in mid April Hiddink conceded that

the Blues’ title aspirations were all but over.

The question remains as to whether or not the ex

PSV coach will continue his Chelsea tenure into next

season, but if he decides against it no doubt there will

be a queue of Europe’s top coaches waiting for a

chance to become Chelsea’s fifth manager in two and

a half years.

TOP SCORERS:

Anelka - 15

Lampard - 12

Kalou - 5

CHELSEACHELSEA

“Everything was set

for Chelsea to

dominate the

league.”

“The arrival of

Paul Ince as manager raised afew eyebrows”

“Bolton were a lot

of peoples tip to godown at the startof the season.”

21

EVERTONEVERTON FULHAMFULHAM HULL CITYHULL CITYThe one thing you always find at the start of the sea-

son is people predict Fulham will go down. "Finally

this will be the year they go" is heard in pubs up and

down the country by wannabe Hansen's.

What often triggers this assumption is their hero-

ically dire away form in recent years. A Fulham

away win happens less often than a sighting of Hal-

ley's Comet, and so far this season that trend has

continued, although they have been able to pick up

two uncharacteristic victory’s on the road.

However, what is different this season is that under

the reigns of Roy Hodgson, they have become very

difficult to beat, with five of their eleven away

matches so far ending in draws, and five of their six

defeats have been by one goal margins. Impressive

draws at Anfield and at home to Chelsea have un-

derlined how efficient Hodgson has the Cottagers

playing and their current mid-table position cer-

tainly does not flatter them.

The problem lies up front, with goals seemingly

very hard to come by. The summer purchases of

Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora appeared to put

this problem to bed, but with just five Premiership

goals between them the pair have not flourished as

Fulham would have hoped. Both have suffered with

injuries this season, but the Cottagers don’t have

much back-up, with Erik Nevland scoring his first

two goals of the season in late January.

In the transfer window they lost Jimmy Bullard to

Hull City which will undeniably prove to be a big

blow to the team. Although Bullard did not provide

Fulham with the goals fans hoped he would have,

his tenacity and accuracy from set-pieces will be

sorely missed at Craven Cottage.

Hodgson has built a good side at Fulham, with

Scandinavian defender Brede Hangeland impress-

ing in his first season in England. His form has

brought some unwanted attention from the likes of

Arsenal and Man City. Hangeland has reportedly la-

belled his latest contract offer ‘derisory’ so it seems

Hodgson will have his work cut out keeping the

centre back for next season Whatever happens the

future does look bright for the Cottagers while

Hodgson is in charge.

TOP SCORER:

Johnson - 7

On getting promoted the first thing that happens is that

everyone tells you you're going back down again.

Clearly Phil Brown took this personally and decided

to do something about it. Hull had the kind of start to

a season the likes of Tottenham and Newcastle would

have dreamt of with a phenomenal start that saw them

just behind the top 4.

The form of Geovanni and Michael Turner meant they

were picking up impressive wins away to Arsenal,

Tottenham and Newcastle and home to West Ham,

Fulham and Middlesbrough. A fightback to narrowly

lose 4-3 at Old Trafford and a draw at Liverpool hav-

ing gone 2-0 up seemed to suggest this was no fluke

from the Tigers. However, their form since that match

at Anfield suggests it maybe was. Hull have obtained

just one win since the turn of the year and find them-

selves in a relegation battle going into the last few

games.

Something many pundits have pointed out as a poten-

tial turning point in Hull’s season was the incident at

Eastlands. Brown kept his players on the pitch at half

time to give them their team talk in front of the fans

after being outplayed by Man City in the first half and

trailing 3-0.

The January signing of Jimmy Bullard could have

been a crucial move for the Tigers as his experiences

in the top division with Wigan and Fulham would

surely have beeen just the tonic for Hull’s dip in form.

However, he picked up a characteristic injury soon

after joining and will not play again this term.

Geovanni’s goals have dried up and coincided with

the team’s turn in fortune, and with Marlon King hav-

ing gone to Middlesbrough a lot of the goalscoring

will have to be done by Daniel Cousin. The French-

man has a knack of scoring big goals in big games,

but he needs to start scoring on a more regular basis.

Had it not been for their early season heroics they

would probably have already been condemned to an

immediate return to the Football League. Having that

cushion has helped but if they are unable to find that

kind of form again in their final games then expect to

see Hull versus Peterborough at the KC Stadium in

2009/10.

TOP SCORER:

Geovanni - 8

If you had described the first two months of Everton's

season in one word it would have been 'disaster', but

having found their feet the Blues have become almost

unstoppable.

The amazing turnaround in the Toffee's season began

at Goodison Park at the end of October when they

drew with, and probably deserved to beat, Man Utd.

That draw still meant in five home games they were

yet to pick up a win, but the confidence gained from

that performance saw them beat Fulham 1-0 in their

next home game and they have motored up the league

since then.

The Blue half of Merseyside could easily have fallen

back off the rails after an energy sapping 3-2 home

defeat in the last minute against Villa, but to their

credit they have continued their good form since that

tie in early December.

What has made their form more impressive has been

their lack of forwards, with midfielder Tim Cahill

having to play the lone striker role since Yakubu was

ruled out for the season and Louis Saha picked up his

token mid season injury. Cahill has weighed in with

the goals and Lescott and Jagielka have re-discovered

their form at the heart of the defence.

After a poor start they are back where David Moyes

has always intended them to be, near the top four and

challenging for a spot in Europe.They won’t be able

to break into the top four this season but they will be

part of the new Europa League competition next year

having assured themselves of a top six place.

The January acquisition of Brazilian striker Jo on loan

from Man City could well be one of the deals of the

season. Having moved to Eastlands for £18m in the

summer, he failed to make an impact scoring just

once in the Premier League. However, the former

CSKA Moscow player has revived his career in the

Premiership by banging in five goals in twelve games

at Goodison Park. It has raised the question as to

whether the Toffees will be making the deal perma-

nent in the summer. It seems unlikely though as no

doubt City will be looking to recoup most if not all

of the money they originally splashed out on Jo last

year.

Their success in getting to the FA Cup final is being

viewed as a sign of things to come at Everton. With

David Moyes at the helm hopes are high amongst fans

that they can break the top four within the next few

years.

TOP SCORER:

Cahill - 8

1st November 2008

On a big day for the ‘big four’ Liverpoolsuffer their first defeat of the season atSpurs. Arsenal lose at Stoke, Man Utdwin a seven goal thriller against Hull andChelsea smash five past Sunderland.The title race begins to heat up.

8th November 2008

Arsenal gain a vital win against Man Utdat the Emirates thanks to a brace fromSamir Nasri. The defeat means Utd havepicked up just one point in matchesagainst their rivals this season havingdrawn at Chelsea and lost to Liverpool.

15th November 2008

Aston Villa show what serious contenders they are to the top four bybeating Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates. Anown goal and a Gabby Agbonlahor strikegives Villa the win and sends a messageto the rest of the league.

“Having found their feet

the Blues have becomealmost unstoppable.”

“Hull have picked up just

one win since the turn ofthe year and find themselves in a relega-tion battle.”

“Hodgson has built a

good side at Fulham, withScandinavian defenderBrede Hangeland im-pressing”


21st November 2008

Arsenal’s problems mount as WilliamGallas is stripped of the captaincy andleft out of the squad to face Man Cityafter openly criticizing his team matesand admitting to unrest in the camp.Cesc Fabregas takes over the armband.

30th November 2008

The Gunners bounce back the followingweek to beat Chelsea 2-1 at StamfordBridge. A Robin Van Persie double can-cels out a Johan Djourou own goal and isenough to hand the Blues their secondhome defeat of the season.

4th December 2008

Roy Keane resigns as manager of Sun-derland. The Irishman claims the reasonis that he simply believes he cannot takethe club any further. His assistant RickySbragia takes charge for the rest of theseason.

LIVERPOOLLIVERPOOLWhat can you say about Liverpool that hasn't been

said a million times already? The Premiership is the

holy grail to the fans, and this year not only being

the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough disas-

ter, but also potentially the year rivals Man Utd equal

their record of eighteen league titles, Reds fans have

never wanted the title more.

They started their campaign well and proved their

pedigree with rare victories over title rivals Utd and

Chelsea. Grinding out wins against lesser teams hav-

ing fallen behind also meant the points tally grew at

a decent rate, but what was noticeable was the lack

of genuinely good Liverpool performances. When

the Reds routed Newcastle 5-1 at St James Park in

their last match of 2008 people were convinced this

would be their year. They were finally showing form

to go with their results.

However, in January they became draw experts, and

worse of all with teams they really should have been

beating. Injuries to key players like Fernando Torres

and Martin Skrtel didn’t help, and the quickfire sale

of Robbie Keane has seen Liverpool become a little

lightweight in attack.

After seven draws in ten games they found them-

selves behind Utd having played more matches, but

an impressive 2-0 win at home to Chelsea and a 3-2

comeback victory at Portsmouth lifted them right

back into the title race.

The terrific form of Utd kept the Reds at arms length,

but with the red half of Merseyside thrashing their

fierce rivals 4-1 at Old Trafford there was renewed

talk that they could still snatch the title away from

Ferguson’s grasp.

Torres is back in the goals after his hamstring prob-

lems and the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt

have upped their game recently to help out in the

Liverpool attack. Kuyt has continued his trend of

scoring goals at vital times and Benayoun has

stepped up to become Liverpool’s creative influence

when Gerrard is either having an off day or is unable

to play.

They have been putting together a good run of wins

towards the end of the campaign. However, a draw

at home to Arsenal looks to have maybe doused the

flames and may well have signalled the end of their

championship challenge. The noises coming out of

Anfield though indicate the players and staff will not

give up until it is mathematically impossible.

Liverpool will be reliant on Utd making mistakes in

their run in as well as becoming ruthlessly consistent

themselves, but if there’s one thing that will keep the

players and fans going it is the thought of Ferguson’s

face if the title were to end up at Anfield this season.

TOP SCORERS:

Gerrard - 13

Torres - 13

Kuyt - 10

MAN CITYMAN CITYThis season has possibly been the most

fascinating and bizarre one City fans will have ex-

perienced. The campaign started simply enough,

winning two and losing one of their opening three

games in August. Then a sensational takeover by

Abu Dhabi United Group on the last day of the trans-

fer window threw not only Eastlands, but the whole

world into a spin. Straight away they sent out multi-

million pound bids for world class players, even try-

ing to steal Dimitar Berbatov from under the noses

of Man Utd at the last minute.

One of these audacious bids did bear fruit in the form

of £32m striker Robinho. The Brazilian playmaker

had been set for a move to Chelsea, but the Blues un-

willingness to part with £30m+ saw City swoop in

and take him from Madrid to Manchester.

Despite this significant investment City have strug-

gled to find the form to match their finance under

Mark Hughes. In a situation any manager would

love, an open cheque book in the transfer market,

Hughes has not yet been able to build a team capable

of the Champions League aspirations the owners

clearly crave.

The mid-season additions of Wayne Bridge, Craig

Bellamy and Shay Given could prove to be a sensible

move by the manager. Not filling his team with big

names, but players who have Premiership experience

can ease his side through what is undoubtedly a tran-

sitional period.

The unbelievable £100m January bid for Kaka ulti-

mately failed, but sent out a message to the world of

football that Manchester City are ready, willing and

able to fight with the big boys.

It’s anyones guess as to how City will fare in the next

few years, but with the January additions of Given

and Bellamy as well as the form of Stephen Ireland

and Robinho there is certainly a base for Hughes to

build on.

It may be too late in the season for a run at the Euro-

pean spots, but if they can improve their away form

and gain a bit more consistency they are certainly ca-

pable of finishing in a respectable position, but next

year they will undoubtedly be thinking a little higher.

The form of Robinho has been often disappointing

to City fans, especially away from home. A lot of

pressure was put on his shoulders given the size of

his price tag, but he has been known to go missing

in games and has rarely shown that he can change a

game on his own. Despite this he has still chipped in

with goals, hitting thirteen so far.

Lord knows what the summer will bring at Eastlands,

but if there’s one thing this season has taught us

about City, it’s expect the unexpected

TOP SCORERS:

Robinho - 13

Ireland - 9

Wright-Phillips - 5

“If there’s one thingthis season has taughtus about City, it’s ex-pect the unexpected.”

“When the Reds

routed Newcastle 5-1

people were

convinced this would

be their year.”


23

MIDDLESBROUGHMIDDLESBROUGH

MAN UTDMAN UTD

Showing early promise is never

enough in the Barclay's Premiership,

something Gareth Southgate knows all

too well. An impressive win on the

opening day of the season against Tot-

tenham and a per-

formance that

deserved more

than a late loss at

Liverpool gave

people the im-

pression it would

be a good season for the Teesiders, it

hasn't been.

Results have not gone their way and

performances have not been of a high

enough standard. Rare highlights have

been an away win at Villa and a

home win against Liverpool.

However, home losses to West

Brom, Bolton and a 5-0 ham-

mering by Chelsea along with

erratic away form has led to

Southgate's position being

questioned and Boro fans worried

about the inevitable relegation fight.

The under-

performing Afonso Alves has been a

disappointment to fans and the 'Down-

ing to Spurs' saga in January didn't

help with team morale. But there is no

doubt there is

underlying quality

in the Boro side.

However, if the

likes of Alves and

Tuncay can’t find

the form that

brought them to

the club in the first place then Boro

could find themselves in trouble.

Given their difficult run in it appears

that Boro may be heading out of the

Premiership. Gareth Southgate will no

doubt come in for some criti-

cism but if they do go down then

the players will have to shoulder

a lot of the blame too. There have

been too many players shirking

responsibility at the Riverside this

season.

TOP SCORER:

Tuncay - 6

Like Blackburn, Newcastle's season

has been hit by inconsistency in the

manager's hot seat. Kevin Keegan's

departure early in the campaign was

heartbreak for Geordie fans who had

only just gotten

used to having

King Kev at

the helm again.

What was even

more surprising

was the deci-

sion to make Joe Kinnear his tempo-

rary successor. Kinnear had not

managed since 2004 when he re-

signed as manager of Nottingham

Forest, and his appointment

raised a few eyebrows, espe-

cially after his curse word

filled tirade on a group of

journalist's just days into the

job. Since then Newcastle

have struggled to find any

form of consistency, with

some impressive home form not

being accompanied by even re-

motely good away form. Just one

away win all season sees them

planted firmly in the relegation zone

and in real danger of going down.

The 5-1 humiliation at home to Liv-

erpool in December saw Newcastle

reach a new low.

The manner of

the defeat con-

vinced fans that

relegation was a

real possibility.

The appointment

of Geordie legend Alan Shearer as

manager till the end of the season

after Kinnear was taken ill caught

the imagination of Toon fans every-

where.

Whether or not the temporary

career change for Shearer is

enough to keep Newcastle up

remains to be seen, but what-

ever happens the Toon Army

will want to forget 2008/09 as

soon as they possibly can.

TOP SCORER:

Owen - 8

The Champions are once again top of the league and

look odds on to win a record equalling eighteenth

league title.

However, looking at their season it almost feels as if

the title is being won by default. They haven’t been

at their best for large parts of the campaign and have

relied on a number of late wins. The term ‘winning

when you play badly is the sign of Champions’ has

never been used so often to describe Utd as it has this

season.

A poor start to the campaign saw them fall behind

the other title contenders in the early running. De-

feats to Liverpool and Arsenal led people to doubt

Utd's credentials and Ronaldo's inability to recapture

his incredible form from last season just went to fur-

ther these claims.

However, an uncanny ability to carve out one goal

victories and score late winners has catapulted them

above their rivals and to the summit of the Premier-

ship.

A record twelve clean sheets in a row helped mas-

sively over the winter period, with Edwin Van Der

Sar breaking all kinds of clean sheet records. A 3-0

mauling of Chelsea and a dominant 5-0 away win at

West Brom showed they still have the ability to de-

stroy opposition as well as squeezing out one goal

wins. Matches where they have grabbed victory from

the jaws of defeat have seen them keep Liverpool at

a distance since they suffered defeats to the Mersey-

side club and Fulham in successive weeks.

The defence has been their main strength this cam-

paign, with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic con-

tinuing their form from previous seasons, as well as

Jonny Evans coming through as an accomplished

back up to the pair.

The experience of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes

playing alongside the flair and talent of Ronaldo et

al seems to be the reason for Utd’s consistency.

The signing of Dimitar Berbatov was heralded as the

acquisition of the ‘new Cantona’. However, the

£30m Bulgarian has struggled to replicate the form

that caused Ferguson to splash out on the former

Spurs striker. His presence has meant Carlos Tevez

has struggled for games. The question mark over his

future could be a blotch on Utd’s season as the Ar-

gentinian has signalled his intent to leave Old Traf-

ford in the summer in search of first team football in

the upcoming World Cup year.

It is odds on that Real Madrid will rekindle their in-

terest in Ronaldo in the summer. Whether or not

United are able to hold onto their prize asset could

be the key to how long their dominance in domestic

and European football lasts.

TOP SCORERS:

Ronaldo - 17

Rooney - 12

Berbatov - 9

16th December 2008

Less than two weeks later Keane’s oldMan Utd team-mate Paul Ince is sackedas Blackburn manager just a few monthsinto his reign. A run of poor results seesthe former England midfielder replacedby Sam Allardyce.

28th December 2008

Liverpool make the biggest statement yetof their title credentials by destroyingNewcastle 5-1 at St James’ Park. Goalsfrom Steven Gerrard (2) Sami Hyypia,Ryan Babel and Xabi Alonso (pen) givesthe Reds victory.

10th January 2009

Rafa Benitez launches an astonishingverbal attack on Alex Ferguson in a pre-match press conference. The Spaniardaccuses his rival of attempting to intimi-date match officials at Old Trafford. Themedia suggest he is ‘cracking up’.

NEWCASTLENEWCASTLE

“erratic away form

has led to South-gate's positionbeing questioned”

“Newcastle have

struggled to findany form of consis-tency”

“An uncanny abilityto score late winnershas catapulted themabove their rivals”


Again like Newcastle and Blackburn, the story of

Pompey's season comes from the managerial hot seat.

The Fratton Park faithful had hoped that having won

the FA Cup in May, this would be their season to

break into the Premiership's top six.

A mixed start saw them collect a decent amount of

points but also receive heavy defeats to Chelsea and

Man City.

However, on 26th October Harry Redknapp con-

firmed he would be leaving the club to take up the

vacant reigns at Tottenham, leaving Portsmouth

stranded for the second time in his career. He left

Fratton Park for rivals Southampton a few years ago.

His assistant, and former Arsenal captain Tony

Adams took charge.

There were question marks over the appointment

given Adams’ lack of experience. He endured a woe-

ful start to his first outing as a top flight manager,

winning just nine points from thirteen games in

charge.

He was dismissed in February after throwing away a

lead against Liverpool, and was replaced by the team

of Paul Hart and Brian Kidd.

Since then Pompey’s fortunes have turned around and

they have been able to pull clear of the relegation

zone thanks to some impressive home form. Hart has

turned them into a unit who are difficult to break

down, though problems still lie upfield.

In January top scorer Jermain Defoe followed Red-

knapp to Spurs and although the south coast club re-

ceived a very reasonable fee for him, it's not enough

to replace the goals they have sorely missed without

him. Peter Crouch has attempted to take the goalscor-

ing burden on by himself. David Nugent has strug-

gled to replicate his goalscoring form that saw

Pompey bring him in from Preston and Kanu has only

been given rare appearances.

The form of right back Glen Johnson has seen the for-

mer West Ham and Chelsea player earn several Eng-

land call-ups and he was named in the PFA Team of

the Year. They may have a job on their hands keeping

hold of him with Liverpool being linked with a sum-

mer move.

One thing is for sure, next season Pompey will need

stability. The managerial merry-go-round has affected

them in this campaign. Whether or

not Hart and Kidd stay on could be

the key to the clubs future.

TOP SCORER:

Crouch - 11

At the Brittania Stadium there has been one thing

that has stood out about Stoke City and their first

season in the Premiership, Rory Delap and his hu-

mongous throw-in.

A large percentage of the Potter's goals this season

have come from Delap launching the ball into the

box with pace and accuracy akin to a corner. So fear-

ful are teams of the mighty launch that they are will-

ing to concede a corner rather than a throw-in, as

Hull's Boaz Myhill did in their November meeting,

turning round and booting the ball behind the goal

instead of out for a throw.

Stoke’s physical style is arguably the key to their

success. Teams have struggled to contain them, es-

pecially from set pieces, and have suffered as a re-

sult. Whereas other teams around them have

attempted to play it on the floor, Stoke have utilised

their style to become solid enough to get points on

the board.

One of the teams tipped to prop up the table for most

of the season, Stoke have surprised some with their

impressive home form, gathering six wins from

twelve games. Wins against Arsenal, Aston Villa and

Man City as well as two draws against Liverpool and

performances that deserved at least a point against

Chelsea and Man Utd have shown the doubters that

Stoke are not in the top division to make up the num-

bers.

Despite this they remained one of the favourites to

go down, mostly because of their poor away form.

They’ve won just once in the league away from

home, picking up only seven points from a possible

fifty one on the road.

With the addition of James Beattie they finally have

a regular threat in attack who won't slap his team-

mates, as Ricardo Fuller did to Andy Griffin in an

away defeat at West Ham. They have continued their

fine home form and have pulled away from any rel-

egation threat. Pulis has worked wonders at the Brit-

tania Stadium but there have been a series of teams

who have come up and enjoyed a successful debut

season, only to go down the following year. The Pot-

ters will have their work cut out if

they want to consolidate them-

selves in the top division.

TOP SCORER:

Fuller - 8

Sunderland's form has been up and down more times

than a chimney sweep. Starting the season with an un-

lucky loss at home to Liverpool, followed by an im-

pressive win at Tottenham and then a three nil defeat

at home to Man City pretty much sums up their season

as a whole.

This unsteady start led to questions about how far Roy

Keane could take the club, but it was still a surprise

when the Irishman handed in his resignation at the

start of December.

It was even more of a surprise when his assistant

Ricky Sbragia was handed the reigns at the Stadium

of Light, though he set about steadying the ship and

he guided his side comfortably into mid-table.

The strike partnership of Kenwyne Jones and Djibril

Cisse has the potential to bear many goals for the

Black Cats whilst a steady if unspectacular defence

makes Sunderland one of the more difficult teams to

break down. Man Utd and Liverpool both had to rely

on late goals to defeat them and they managed a draw

with Arsenal, though Chelsea were able to put five

past them, that was under Keane's management. Two

of Sbragia's first three games saw them beat West

Brom 4-0 and Hull 4-1, which showed the potential

for the side to become a real force.

However, Sunderland’s season has gone downhill

since then and they now find themselves in danger of

being sucked into the relegation zone. A poor run of

results means that going into the last few games they

must stay ahead of their north east rivals Newcastle

and Middlesbrough in order to maintain their Premier-

ship status.

Their erratic form was on show again in April when

they secured what appeared to be a vital 1-0 victory

against Hull at the Stadium of Light. However, the

next week they lost 3-0 at bottom of the table West

Brom. This kind of up and down form is the chief rea-

son they find themselves in trouble.

Chairman Niall Quinn has promised that whatever

happens Sbragia will be in charge next season and

given sufficient backing to bulk up his squad. The

question now is which division will he find that squad

playing in? If they are unable to stave off relegation

then they could find themselves up

against Roy Keane’s Ipswich.

TOP SCORER:

Cisse - 10

12th January 2009

United respond by demolishing Chelseaat Old Trafford. In a surprisingly lacklus-tre display from the visitors, goals fromVidic, Rooney and Berbatov see off theLondon side. People start to question theBlues’ title credentials.

16th January 2009

In a move that sent shockwaves throughthe football world Man City made a re-ported bid of over £100m for AC Milan’sBrazilian ace Kaka. After several days ofnegotiations and speculation the playerturns the Eastlands club down.

1st February 2009

After an unsuccessful spell with his boy-hood club Liverpool, Robbie Keane re-turns to Tottenham for a reported £12m.Having scored just five league goals forthe Reds the Irishman fell out of favourwith Rafa Benitez.

“If they are unable to

stave off relegation thenthey could find them-selves up against RoyKeane’s Ipswich.”

“Stoke’s physical style is

arguably the key to theirsuccess. Teams havestruggled to containthem, especially from setpieces”

“Peter Crouch has at-

tempted to take thegoalscoring burden onby himself”

PORTSMOUTHPORTSMOUTH STOKE CITYSTOKE CITY SUNDERLANDSUNDERLAND


25

2nd February 2009

Life after Keane starts well for Liverpoolas they beat Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield. AfterFrank Lampard is controversially sent offFernando Torres scores a late double infront of the Kop. The title appears to beturning into a two horse race.

10th February 2009

After a poor run of results Portsmouthmanager Tony Adams is sacked. Thefinal straw was a 3-2 loss at home to Liv-erpool when his side threw away the leadin the final minutes. Paul Hart is put incharge till the end of the season.

11th February 2009

One of the more shocking managerialdismissals of the season came a daylater when Chelsea sacked Luis FelipeScolari. The Brazilian only took charge inthe summer, but poor home form sealedhis exit from Stamford Bridge.

TOTTENHAMTOTTENHAM WEST BROMWEST BROMSomething you can always rely on in

football is numerous football fans

predict Tottenham will have a superb

year. Spurs go out

in the summer and

bring in big names

for big money and

people assume it

will lead to them

breaking the top

four. They then go

on to underachieve

and disappoint their

fans, this season was no different.

Under Juande Ramos they showed a

lot of promise towards the back end

of last season and cemented it by

winning the League Cup.

They brought in Luka Modric,

David Bentley and Roman

Pavlyuchenko among others

and they went into the new sea-

son full of hope. Fast forward

to late October and they found

themselves in the relegation zone and

losing to the likes of Hull and Sun-

derland at home.

Drastic action was needed so the

Spurs board not only sacked Ramos

and replaced him with Harry Red-

knapp, they

sacked Damian

Comolli as well so

Redknapp could

have complete

control on trans-

fers.

The former

Portsmouth boss

has guided Totten-

ham out of the relegation zone, and

with just a few games to go they have

a chance of finishing in the top seven

and a European spot.

Their performances have been

impressive since Christmas, and

with the likes of Aaron Lennon

and Tom Huddlestone playing

in sparkling form, they are

showing a lot of potential

ahead of next season...uh oh!

TOP SCORER:

Bent - 12

There have been some strange oc-

curences at Upton Park this season. A

Chelsea legend in the managers hot

seat, a former

Chelsea player is

their top

goalscorer and

Kieron Dyer has

been injured all

season...okay so

I guess some

things are nor-

mal.

West Ham have often been associated

as being a team in the middle, one of

those clubs who always finishes com-

fortably between the relegation zone

and Europe. However, in re-

cent years it has been turmoil

at the club with ‘Tevez-gate’

featuring prominently in most

West Ham related headlines.

Gianfranco Zola has restored

some sanity to the club and has

introduced a style typical of the

way the little Italian used to play up

the road at Stamford Bridge.

The Hammers have been their usual

stable mid-table selves for most of

the season and look to be finishing

around the tenth place mark.

Carlton Cole’s goals

have been a surprise

to some cynics, as

was his call-up to the

England squad.

But the real story at

Upton Park this sea-

son has been the

emergence of some

of the youngsters

from West Ham’s famous youth

setup. Freddie Sears burst onto the

scene last season and he has been

joined by Jack Collison and James

Tomkins this year.

With Zola having just signed a

new contract West Ham fans can

rest assured that they will con-

tinue to be wowed by a new

style of football, good football.

TOP SCORER:

Cole - 9

Having won the Championship title

last year it was predictable that the

Albion would be favourites to go

straight back

down. It would be

nice to say they

defied the odds

and are pushing

for a Europa

League place. Un-

fortunately for

West Brom fans

that is not the case

and they have

found themselves propping up the

table for a large portion of the sea-

son.

They have become known for

playing some decent football

under Tony Mowbray, without

the results to show for it.

What made the difference be-

tween the legitimate fights for

survival that their fellow pro-

moted teams, Stoke and Hull, have

put up was their activity in the two

transfer windows, or lack of it. The

signing of Borja Valero from Real

Mallorca captured a lot of Albion

fans’ imaginations, but the Spanish

midfielder has found it difficult to

settle to the pace of

English football.

What they needed

was a striker who

could put the ball in

the net on a regular

basis. The one

player who could

do that for them

was Kevin Phillips,

who they sold to

Birmingham. Bednar has been off

form and Miller has been injured all

season.

The likes of Robert Koren and

Chris Brunt have done their

best, but Albion’s leaky defence

has seen them concede too

many goals and they are odds

on to be back in the Champi-

onship next season.

TOP SCORER:

Brunt - 7

Wigan have quietly crept around this

season. They are one of those teams

who people say “Gosh I didn’t know

Wigan were doing so badly/well”.

One minute they

seem to be in rele-

gation trouble, the

next they are on

the edge of a Eu-

ropean spot.

So inevitably it ap-

pears they will fin-

ish somewhere in the middle.

The undoubted success story at the

JJB Stadium this season has been the

form of on loan Egyptian striker Amr

Zaki. The FC Zamalek loanee banged

in a remarkable ten goals in

the first half of the season,

including a memorable brace

at Anfield.

Of course everyone knows

certain things are too good to

be true, and so it proved with

Zaki. Not only did the goals

dry up (hasn’t scored at all since the

turn of the year) but his discipline

was called into question. Steve Bruce

publically lambasted him for consec-

utive AWOL’s after an international

break.

They sold Wilson

Palacios to Spurs

in January for a de-

cent fee of £14m.

However, they

have yet to re-in-

vest that money so

have struggled in

recent times. Having been on the

verge of claiming a Europa League

spot they have fallen away and now

find themselves in the bottom half,

though safe from relegation.

Their success next season will

depend on how the Palacios

money is spent, and whether

they can hold on to their other

asset, Antonio Valencia. Don’t

expect to see Zaki though.

TOP SCORER:

Zaki - 10

WEST HAMWEST HAM WIGANWIGAN

“with just a few

games to go theyhave a chance offinishing in the topseven and in a Eu-ropean spot”

“They have be-come known forplaying some de-cent footballunder Tony Mow-bray, without theresults to show forit.”

“Carlton Cole’s

goals have been asurprise to somecynics, as was hiscall-up to the Eng-land squad.”

“Having been on

the verge of claim-ing a EuropaLeague spot theyhave fallen away”


The Tykes have not enjoyed the best of seasons,

with relegation still a real possibilty.

The former Premiership outfit have

been in erratic form at home and it

has cost them dear. They have lost as

many as they have won at Oakwell

this term.

When they came down many tipped Birmingham to

go straight back up, and they may well do just that.

The goals of Kevin Phillips have helped but it has

been their solid defence which have won them the

majority of their points. Liam Ridgewell and Maik

Taylor have won more MOTM awards than anyone

else at St Andrews this season.

There weren’t many expectations at Bloomfield

Road this season but Blackpool have steadily gone

along and although they find themselves in the bot-

tom half, they are well clear of the relegation zone.

Like Barnsley, their poor home form has been a

problem, with five wins and ten defeats meaning

they are actually better away.

Hopes were high at Ashton Gate at the start of the

season. Having just missed out on promotion the

previous year, losing to Hull in the playoff final,

City fans expected their team to at least equal that

feat. It has not turned out that way and they cur-

rently find themselves twelve points off the playoff

spots.

Most of the main stories at Turf Moor this year

have been related to their form in the

two main cup competitions, nearly

making the League Cup Final. How-

ever, they have also impressed in the

league and thanks to an heroic team

effort are well on course for a playoff place.

The Welsh side have had a terrific year. Another

team who had high hopes after their FA Cup Final

appearance last season, Cardiff have pushed on and

appear on course for a place in the playoffs. The

goals from Ross McCormack have propelled The

Bluebirds up the table. Promotion will be a fine

send off in their last season at Ninian Park.

Well, what a disaster this season has been for the

Addicks. Some were tipping them for promotion

under boss Alan Pardew, but things have gone from

bad to worse and their relegation to League One

has already beed confirmed. They will be hoping

they can emulate Leicester and come straight back

up, but nothing’s for sure in this game.

The Sky Blues have not enjoyed the best of seasons

under Chris Coleman, and there were fears of rele-

gation at one stage. Their inability to turn the Ricoh

Arena into a fortress has been a worry, winning

eight and losing seven of their home games this

term. No doubt the club have the potential to return

to the big time, but can Coleman bring it out?

When it comes to Neil Warnock you can never tell

what is going to happen next. His outspoken ways

have often landed him in hot water with the FA, but

there is no denying he has a lot of managerial abil-

ity. His success at Sheffield Utd led people to as-

sume he would get Palace up this season, but as it

is they have languished in mid-table all year.

Let’s face it, Derby were embarrassed in the Pre-

mier League last season. So bad were they that they

were one of the favourites to go down

this season too. As it is they have

steered clear of the drop and under

new boss Nigel Clough they’ll have

higher hopes for next year.

Having drawn only seven games all season, Don-

caster are known as one of the more exciting teams

to watch in the division. They play some pretty

football on the floor and entertain the crowd.

What’s so interesting about watching them is that

you never know whether their style will pay off,

their mid-table status suggests it’s about 50-50.

There have been strange goings on at Portman

Road this season. Last year they were brilliant at

home and useless away. This term they have been

the exact opposite. Missing out on the playoffs was

not acceptable to the board, so Jim Magilton was

dismissed with just two games left and replaced by

Roy Keane. Big things are expected next term.

A very disappointing campaign at Carrow Road

could see them relegated to the third tier of English

football. Uncertainty in the dugout has been a big

problem, with Glenn Roeder especially experienc-

ing troubles. Bryan Gunn has tried to steer them

away but they’ve ended up in a worse position than

before. Canaries fans will not be happy.

The former European Champions were on the up,

promoted back into the Championship and as far as

Forest fans were concerned it was just a step on the

way back to the top league. It hasn’t worked out

that way and Forest have been teetering on the

brink of the relegation zone all season. They should

have enough to stay up though.

Argyle started the season fairly well. A darkhorse in

the league, the south-west club looked like they

were in with a shout of a playoff place

after a month or so. They have fallen

since then and find themselves near

the bottom. The goals of Paul Gal-

lagher have been important.

Preston have been threatening to do something for

a while. Always in and around the playoffs but

never getting through them, North End are once

again in with a chance of going up. It seems a fight

between themselves, Cardiff and rivals Burnley for

who will get the last places, but whatever happens

no doubt they’ll be there again next season.

The rich boys of the division, many people were

expecting QPR to bring in Kaka, Ronaldo and Ger-

rard and run away with the league. They didn’t and

they haven’t. Getting through three managers du-

rung the season, Flavio Briatore still has a lot to do

at Loftus Road, as Rangers’ mid-table finish will

suggest.

Like Birmingham, Reading were expected to have

enough to come straight back up. However, a poor

start looked to have put paid to that.

They have fought back gradually since

and have an outside chance of a top

two finish. If not they will certainly be

favourites for the playoffs.

A very impressive season at Bramall Lane looks

like it could well end in joy as the club who felt

they were robbed of their Premiership status by the

‘Carlos Tevez’ saga could go back up. They are

fighting it out with Birmingham and Reading and

will fancy their chances as their rivals play each

other on the final day.

A fairly standard season at Hillsborough, they have

never really threatened at either end of the table.

Marcus Tudgay has kept the goals flowing which

has kept them ahead of the relegation fight. They

have been impressive at home, lacklustre away and

will finish somewhere in mid-table. All in all a

fairly dull season really.

It has certainly not been dull at St Mary’s though,

for all the wrong reasons. They have struggled on

the pitch as well as off it and have just been pun-

ished for going into administration. Having also

been officially relegated their ten point penalty will

not come into effect till next season. Saints fans are

praying for a consortium to buy the club.

As said earlier, Doncaster play some nice football,

but not compared to Swansea. Roberto Martinez

has installed a European style of passing and mov-

ing at pace which has made The Swans a difficult

opponent for many teams. They’ll just miss out on

the playoffs but it’s been a very impressive debut

season in the Championship.

Under Aidy Boothroyd, Watford had hoped to be

promotion candidates. After he left though expecta-

tions were lowered and rightly so. Watford have

found themselves close to the relegation zone all

season and have only just managed to pull away.

It’s anyones guess how they’ll fare next year but

the potential is certainly there.

Saving the best for last, Wolves have been out-

standing this season and have already confirmed

themselves as Champions. Mick Mc-

Carthy has put a terrific young team to-

gether at Molineux and with the likes

of Kightly and Ebanks-Blake on board,

Premiership watch out!

CHAMPIONSHIPCHAMPIONSHIP

BIRMINGHAM

BRISTOL CITY

CRYSTAL PALACE QPR

BURNLEY

DERBY

COVENTRY

CARDIFF

DONCASTER

READING

IPSWICH

NORWICH

SWANSEA

SHEFF UTD

NOTTINGHAM F

BLACKPOOL

CHARLTON PLYMOUTH

SOUTHAMPTON

BARNSLEY

SHEFF WED

WOLVESPRESTON

WATFORD

27


LEAGUE ONELEAGUE ONE

CONFERENCECONFERENCE EUROPEEUROPE

LEAGUE TWOLEAGUE TWOTwo teams have already managed to

get out of League One at the right end

with games to spare. What makes it

interesting is that neither one was in

the division last season and were two

leagues apart this time last year.

When Leicester came down it was

somewhat of a surprise. Another club

that thought they were too big to

come down but weren’t.

Fans at the Walkers Sta-

dium weren’t happy but

had faith that the newly

appointed boss Nigel

Pearson would be able

to guide them back up

straight away, and so it

proved.

The former Middles-

brough defender has

built a solid team at

Leicester and despite an

indifferent start they

went top around Christmas time and

never looked back.

Joining them in the Championship

will be Peterborough, who have en-

joyed successive promotions under

‘Sir Alex Junior’, Darren Ferguson.

Boro have hardly been a bastion of

consistency but their never say die at-

titude and ability to score all kinds of

goals has been too much for some of

their opponents. Craig Mackail-Smith,

Aaron McLean and George Boyd

have all been scouted by Premier

League clubs, but given Posh’s suc-

cess they may not need to leave in

order to experience top flight football.

At the other end of the table we have

lost Hereford and Cheltenham, with

Crewe and Carlisle expected to fol-

low. No-one has really been the whip-

ping boys of the division, but to be

fair all four of these

sides knew they would

struggle this season,

with the possible excep-

tion of Crewe.

Leeds were the bookies

favourites at the start of

the season but have

been thwarted in their

attempt at automatic

promotion. On a

brighter note Jermaine

Beckford has continued

to find the net at Elland

Road, but he has been outshone this

campaign by Swindon’s Simon Cox

and Bristol Rover’s Richie Lambert,

who have scored an impressive 27

and 28 goals respectively.

The playoffs will be made up of

Leeds, Millwall, MK Dons and either

Scunthorpe or Tranmere, with the lat-

ter two playing each other on the last

day of the season. Call it a coinci-

dence, but Scunthorpe will be the

favourites to grab the last spot.

It has been a fascinating season at the

summit of League Two this year, but

the big stories have been at the other

end of the table.

In a division where there are only two

relegation spots it was quite a thing

when it was announced at the start of

the season that three sides would be

starting on minus points. Both Rother-

ham and Bournemouth

found it a pain in the

backside but have

been able to make up

the difference and pull

away. However, Luton

were treated most

harshly and found

themselves starting the

campaign on a whop-

ping minus thirty

points. As was ex-

pected they have not

been able to overturn

this defecit and have had their relega-

tion to the Conference confirmed.

They will no doubt be heavy

favourites to come straight back up,

but that is not a trend that has been set

by teams leaving the Football League

in recent years.

At the top it had been a four way

shootout for the majority of the sea-

son, with Wycombe, Brentford, Bury

and Bradford setting the early pace.

Bradford have since drastically fallen

away and emerging from the darkness

was Exeter. The winners of last years

Conference playoff final were around

the League Two playoff places for a

while, but have recently put win after

win together and are now looking a

good bet to grab an automatic promo-

tion spot. They will have to fend off

the challenge of Bury if they are to do

so. Brentford have con-

firmed their promotion

which was expected and

it appears Wycombe will

join them.

Like the league table, the

scoring charts has seen a

new challenger emerge

towards the end of the

season. Chesterfield’s

Jack Lester was one of

the favourites for the

golden boot at the start of

the campaign but injuries

and poor form meant he faded into the

distance. Shrewsbury’s Grant Holt

and Gillingham’s Simeon Jackson

have spent most of the year at the top

of the charts, until Lester put a run of

goals together and now finds himself

at the top of the pile.

In the playoff race it seems it will be

made up of Gillingham, Rochdale,

one of Bury and Exeter and one of

Shrewsbury and Dagenham and Red-

bridge.

The Blue Square Premier always

promised to provide an interesting

season, with around half the league

made up of former Football League

teams.

The likes of Wrexham, Mansfield,

York, Oxford, Cambridge, Torquay

etc. were expected to lead the pack

from first to last, it didn’t happen.

The surprise package

this season was Burton

Albion, led at the start

by Nigel Clough. Al-

though no-one ran

away with the league in

the first few months, it

was Burton who finally

broke free and put to-

gether a run of wins

that would take them

nearly twenty points

clear at the top. That

cushion would prove to

be decisive.

A number of other teams started well

and some unlikely clubs took up the

top spots. The likes of Histon, Craw-

ley and Salisbury were somehow out-

muscling their more prestigious

counterparts and showing that money

isn’t everything at this level. Salisbury

and Crawley eventually ran out of

steam and fell away, but Histon kept

on going and have deservedy got

themselves a playoff place.

On a sidenote Mansfield, Crawley and

Oxford were all hit with points deduc-

tions for improper registrations of

players. All the clubs were outraged

and it led to an internal enquiry.

Toward the latter part of the season

Burton lost Clough to Derby, and their

results soon showed his influence.

They began dropping points all over

the place and the chas-

ing pack smelt blood in

the water.

On the last day of the

season Burton needed to

get at least a point at

Torquay to be crowned

Champions. They lost,

but luckily for them

Cambridge failed to beat

Altrincham so Albion

went up anyway for the

first time ever.

The relegation spots

were filled by Lewes, Northwich,

Woking and the unlucky Weymouth.

They went bankrupt and lost all their

players in February. Needless to say

they didn’t pick up any points fielding

their youth team.

The playoff places have been filled by

Histon, Cambridge, Stevenage and

Torquay. Histon will be the underdogs

but if there’s one thing you can rely

on about the Conference it’s an

essence of unpredictability.

Like the Premiership, the title races in

top leagues around Europe have held

no real surprises, except maybe in

Germany.

The Bundesliga was shocked when

lowly village side Hoffenheim began

to dictate the early running and were

outperforming the likes of Bayern and

Stuttgart. It wouldn’t last though and

they now find them-

selves in eighth posi-

tion. However, that

wasn’t the end of the

surprises, as Wolfsburg

now head the table.

Bayern Munich are in

real danger of not qual-

ifying for next years

Champions League so

coach Jurgen Klins-

mann has just been dis-

missed.

In Spain it has been

Barcelona who have led the way since

pretty much the start. Under Pep

Guardiola the Catalans have been

awesome, playing outstanding attack-

ing football. And with a front three of

Henry, Eto’o and Messi with Xavi and

Iniesta behind providing world class

service it’s no wonder they are widely

considered the best team on the planet

at the moment. Juande Ramos was the

surprise appointment at Real Madrid

after Bernd Schuster was sacked, but

the former Spurs manager has been a

revelation at the Bernabeu, dragging

Barca back in the title race and getting

‘Los Merengues’ within four points of

their illustrious rivals.

Further down the table the Champions

League postions are up for grabs, with

Sevilla, Atletico, Villarreal, Malaga,

Deportivo and cash strapped Valencia

fighting it out. Valencia

desperately need the

cash input of Europe’s

premier competition.

When Jose Mourinho

went to Italy to manage

Inter Milan who had just

comfortably won the

league the year previous

there wasn’t anyone in

world football who

would have bet against

him being a success.

And so it has proved,

with Inter consistently matching the

results of their title rivals Juventus

and AC Milan throughout the season.

In France there has been a bit of a sur-

prise in that Lyon look like they will

not retain a title they have become ac-

customed to winning in recent years.

Marseille and Bordeaux have stepped

up and overtaken them, with the for-

mer looking favourite to pick up the

Ligue Un trophy thanks to the goals

of Mahamadou Niang.


Carlo CudiciniChelseaInitially bought in as a re-

serve keeper, Cudicini es-

tablished himself in the first

team and was named their

player of the season in

2002. He is now at Spurs.

Vedran CorlukaManchester CityThe Croatian right back was

a surprise success at East-

lands. He came in for £8m

but left for Tottenham a year

later for just half a million

more.

J.F HasselbainkLeeds UnitedIt seems like an age ago we

first saw Jimmy Floyd. The

Dutch striker was signed by

Leeds in 1997 for £2m and

went on to score 34 goals in

69 games at Elland Road.

Kolo ToureArsenalToure was signed by Arsenal

in 2004 as a midfielder.

However, he established

himself in defence and has

been The Gunner’s Mr Con-

sistent ever since.

O.G SolskjaerManchester UtdUtd’s super-sub, the Nor-

weigan had a knack of scor-

ing off the bench. It was a

wonder he didn’t start more

games. He is now a coach in

the reserve set-up.

Dwight YorkeAston VillaPeople didn’t expect much

from the Trinidad and To-

bago forward but he scored

73 goals in 232 games for

Villa, then went on to be a

huge success at Man Utd.

A KanchelskisManchester UtdAn unknown Ukrainian mid-

fielder, Kanchelskis was

signed by Ferguson in 1993.

The wing wizard also en-

joyed success at Everton and

Rangers.

Roy KeaneNottingham ForestAlthough he made his name

at Old Trafford, Keane was

brought to England by Forest

in 1990 from Irish side Cobh

Ramblers. His record speaks

for itself.

G KinkladzeManchester CityNot much was known about

the Georgian when he came,

but he took the league by

storm. His trickery caused

defences problems and

brought City plenty of goals.

Sami HyypiaLiverpoolBrought in for £2.5m from

Willem II, the big Finn will

go down in history as one of

Liverpool’s best defenders.

He remains at Anfield after a

decade of service.

Gael ClichyArsenalAn example of Wenger’s

ability to find a gem, Clichy

was brought in to replace

Ashley Cole, who went to

Chelsea. He is widely con-

sidered to be better than Cole

TEAM SHEETFor the second half of team sheet we look at someof the players who took the Premiership by stormhaving arrived with very little reputation. No over-paid Ukrainians, no overhyped Argentinians, noFrench defenders...well one.

29

TEAM SHEET

THERE’S ONLY

ONE LIVERPOOL?Founder of AFC Liverpool Alun Parry talks aboutthe thinking behind his creation, how difficult itwas to achieve, and why Rafa Benitez and KennyDalglish have given the club their full backing.

aving arranged to meet in a

classy bar in the middle of Liv-

erpool city centre, I make my

way through town to interview

Alun Parry, the man who created Liver-

pool’s newest football club. It occurs to

me that maybe I have underestimated

how tricky this interview might be. This

man created a whole football club, he has

been interviewed a thousand and one

times by various media outlets including

Sky Sports and LFCTV and he is also a

successful musician.

Will he be an uptight suit who will de-

mand professionalism in every aspect of

this young journalist and his interviewing

technique? Maybe I should turn back and

catch the second half of ‘Home and

Away’ instead. Then I recieve a text from

the man himself. “Am here mate upstairs.

Am all in black like a big fat specky

Johnny Cash”. Phew! I get to the bar and

look out for someone who is most likely

whistling ‘Ring of Fire’ and looks like

Joaquin Phoenix. We meet, shake hands

and exchange pleasantries. He informs

me he is available for the next hour. I as-

sure him the interview should not take

any longer than fifteen minutes. Well forty

minutes actually but who’s counting?

What was the thinking behind

AFC Liverpool?

“The landscape of football has changed

nowadays. Ticket prices have become so

expensive that normal people are being

priced out of going to matches on a Sat-

urday afternoon. My dad used to take me

to the game every week and the question

of money never came into it. Now most

dads can’t afford a ticket for both them

and their kids. My nephew is taken to An-

field by his dad on a matchday and they

just stand outside and absorb the atmos-

phere. For two tickets, a programme and

food and drinks on a Saturday at Anfield

it costs around £100. This is why you

don’t see many kids at football matches

these days. I’m a season ticket holder at

Liverpool and whenever I look around the

ground all I see is old fellas everywhere. I

created AFC Liverpool to give these fa-

ther’s who wanted to take their sons to a

football game on a weekend somewhere

to do that which was of an affordable

price. Fans are starting to lose their iden-

tities as well. All the city centres are start-

ing to look the same and there seems to

be a loss of heritage at certain clubs. I

learnt what it was to be a Liverpool fan

from the environment when I used to

stand on the terraces at Anfield, but

nowadays kids are learning about football

from TV. I wanted to create something in

the Liverpool image and a club that would

embody the values and spirit that is asso-

ciated with LFC. Kevin Keegan once said

that football was the people’s theatre, but

it costs about £15 to go to the theatre.

The average price for a Premiership

match these days is £40. At AFC Liver-

pool it is five pounds for adults and two

pounds for children. That’s affordable for

anyone who wants to go to a match on a

Saturday afternoon.”

Interview By David Segar


H

It was definitely waterin that bottle...honest

31

ALUN PARRY INTERVIEW

So the club wasn’t created as a revolt

against the owners like FC United of

Manchester was, more an objection to

how expensive going to football has

become?

“Exactly. A few people have assumed

AFC was created because of the Ameri-

cans but to be honest it was more an ob-

jection to the idea of the 39th game.

When the proposal came about I realised

football was losing its identity. If it came

into effect the whole Premier League

would become a farce and I for one

would not support it.”

How difficult was the club to set up?

“More difficult than I thought it would be.

Looking back I think I may have gone into

it a little naïvely. I had to put my life on

hold for eight months to make sure it was

up and running in time for this season. I

was working on it seven days a week for

about sixteen hours a day. I was in Den-

mark for a music festival I was performing

at and at the same time I had to continue

with work on the club. I stayed awake for

four days straight during that trip. Then I

got a call from the FA saying that we

couldn’t enter the league because we

didn’t have a good enough ground to play

at. Eventually we negotiated a deal

where Prescot Cables would allow us to

use their stadium and we were accepted

into the Vodkat league.”

You managed to get John Aldridge,

Vegard Heggem and Erik Meijer as pa-

trons of the club. How did that come

about and what exactly does it mean?

“A patron effectively means they are a

club ambassador. Erik Meijer’s involve-

ment came about via e-mail. We asked

him if he would be willing to be a patron

of the club and he was more than happy

to do so. I was put in touch with Heggem

through a Norweigan journalist who had

interviewed me. Once Liverpool FC an-

nounced their approval of the project

Heggem was okay with adding his name

to the list. John Aldridge heard about the

club through word of mouth and rang me

to say he approved and would be more

than willing to become a club patron. We

were also able to get David Johnson on

board. I was being interviewed by the

club channel LFCTV and Johnson said

he loved the idea and would be an am-

bassador for the club too. There have

also been words of support from Rick

Parry, Kenny Dalglish and Rafael Ben-

itez.”

AFC Liverpool currently find them-

selves second in their division. How

do you think the club have done so

far?

“I think they’ve done very well consider-

ing the manager had to start from

scratch. With most teams the manager is

able to look at strengths and weaknesses

in his team and make minor changes

here and there, but Derek (Goulding) had

to build an entire team from nothing. Re-

sults have fallen a bit recently but this

time of the season is always difficult for

clubs with a small squad like ours.

The team plays a bit like Liverpool do,

with passing and moving and keeping the

ball on the floor. At this time of year a lot

of the pitches are cut up and it is difficult

to play this kind of game. They should fin-

ish in the top two and get promoted to the

first division. A lot of other teams have a

fixture pile up because of numerous can-

cellations earlier in the season. We don’t

have that problem as the pitch we play on

at Prescot is much better quality than oth-

ers in the league. I am certainly proud of

what they have achieved in their first ever

season.”

Do you think there is a danger that if

AFC Liverpool become successful and

go up the leagues that eventually their

ticket prices will rise to the extent that

Liverpool’s have?

“I don’t think that will be a problem as the

club is owned by the supporters. The club

was set up in this way to protect against

that very problem. Things like ticket

prices are voted on by the fans so if they

were to put ticket prices up they would be

voting against themselves. I think the

club is capable of eventually becoming a

Football League outfit, and they will find

their level. But the fans vote on pretty

much everything at the club so even if

they do move up the leagues I doubt the

prices will become much higher than they

are now. Because the club is owned by

the fans every penny that comes into the

club is re-invested. Whereas other non-

league clubs are privately owned and

gate money is spent on the owners boat

payments, AFC Liverpool keeps its

money in house.”

Parry decided to leave the club in Febru-

ary of this year.. He was confident he was

leaving the club in capable hands and

confessed he still enjoys going to games.

What are you up to now?

“Well I’ve just finished making my third

album, that’s going to be out in August.

Then I’m planning on touring in Septem-

ber. I haven’t confirmed any dates yet be-

cause I need to see the fixture list for

next season first. I don’t want to schedule

a date on the same day we’re at home to

United or Everton.”

What do you make of Liverpool FC’s

current situation?

“There’s been a noticeable improvement

this year but I can’t help but look at the

league table with regret. We’re in a good

position but we’ve dropped so many stu-

pid points at home that really we should

be clear at the top. I’m dreaming that

“ The team plays

a bit like Liverpool

do, with passing,

moving and keep-

ing the ball on the

floor. ”

The AFC Liverpoolplayers check eachother for nits.

Aldo theambassador


United slip up and let us back in but to be

honest I can’t see it. Having said that I’d

be happy with finishing second. I think

you have to go through a campaign like

this before you can think about winning

the league. Finishing second will propel

our challenge next season as the players

will be hungry for success and realise

they can do it. I think the international

break has come at an unfortunate time

but hopefully we can finish the season

strongly and we’ll just have to see how

United do. You never know. There was a

moment this season where both AFC Liv-

erpool and Liverpool FC were top of their

divisions, that was pleasing to see and I

hope it happens more often in the future.”

With twenty minutes still to spare we con-

clude the interview. We continue to dis-

cuss Liverpool FC, who they should buy

in the transfer window, and the pro’s and

con’s of Lucas Leiva.

One of the most pleasant and natural in-

terview subjects I have had the fortune to

meet, I eventually shake hands and part

ways with the co-owner and creator of

the potential future rivals of Everton Foot-

ball Club.

AFC Liverpool have four home games re-

maining this season in the Vodkat league.

Entrance is just £5 for adults and £2 for

children. If you are in the North West and

feel like Alun that Premiership football

has become too expensive, give Prescot

Cables a visit and cheer on the newest

team on Merseyside.

AFC Liverpool’s remaining home fixtures

Tue 7th April - Norton Utd - 7:45PM

Wed 22nd April - Holker Old Boys - 7:45PM

Wed 29th April - Stone Dominoes - 7:45PM

Sat 2nd May - Chadderton - 3:00PM

VODKAT LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION

Table P GD PTS

1. Bootle 26 45 61

2. AFC Liverpool28 35 56

3. Padiham 24 34 51

4. Wigan R.P 25 20 47

5. Oldham Town 24 17 45

“ There was a

point in time this

season where both

AFC and LFC were

top of their

divisions. ”

ALUN PARRY INTERVIEW

33

We’ve got all the top quality football you could want!...and the

Blue Square Premier

ADVERTISMENT

In pubs up and down thecountry there are thousandsof ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ thatdrunk football fans debate,argue and fight over till theyforget what the question was.

Enter Onside. We have taken it upon ourselves to

provide answers to the age old questions of ‘who

would beat who’ when it comes to teams from dif-

ferent eras. Many things have to be taken into ac-

count such as the overall strength of the team, the

style of football that they played, and the quality of

the opposition they came up against.

There are loads of great teams from Celtic’s Euro-

pean Cup winning side, to Holland’s late eighties

‘total football’ side, to Arsenal’s ‘invincibles’ in

2004. There are so many potentially mouth-water-

ing ties to choose from, but as its the first ever

Hypothetical Shield we have gone for a big one.

The goal hungry Real Madrid side from 1960 go up

against Manchester United’s treble winning side

from 1999.

First of all lets have a look at the teams, starting

with Real Madrid.

The 1960 side is widely considered to be the best

team ‘Los Merengues’ have ever produced, with

world class all over the pitch and most notably, two

of the greatest players of all time up front.

In Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas, Madrid

had the deadliest duo on the planet. In today’s

terms it would be like having Fernando Torres and

Lionel Messi in the same team. Puskas and Di Ste-

fano would bang goals in left, right and centre

against all kinds of opposition, and were the only

two Madrid goalscorers in the 7-3 European Cup

Final win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

But Madrid were far from being a two man team.

They boasted quality all over the pitchm the likes

of Gento, Santamaria, Canario and Vidal compli-

menting Puskas and Di Stefano. There was also the

expert captaincy of Jose Maria Zarraga. Zarraga

was a great leader of men and when his side were

in trouble he had a knack of riling up the troops and

getting them back into gear, very much like a cur-

rent day Steven Gerrard.

Real’s manager was Miguel Munoz. Munoz spent

most of his career at the Bernabeu both as player

and coach. He scored Madrid’s first ever goal in the

European Cup in 1955 against Servette FC. When

Madrid won the 1960 European Cup final Munoz

became the first ever person to win the trophy as

both player and manager. He still remains Real’s

most successful coach to date.

The United team won the league and the FA Cup as

well as the European Cup in 1999, and they were

able to achieve this because of their impressive

strength in depth.

They had Peter Schmeichel in goal, a bastion of

consistency and the club’s greatest ever shot stop-

per. Jaap Stam was at the heart of the defence and

was widely considered to be one of the best defend

ers in the world at the time. The homegrown talent

in the midfield was key to United’s style of pace

and energy in their play. David Beckham, Paul Sc-

holes, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs all had various

attacking strengths and provided a threat to the op-

position in every game they played. Andy Cole and

Dwight Yorke were the regular strike-force and

managed to keep Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gun-

nar Solskjaer out of the team. Cole and Yorke were

the deadliest pairing in Europe at the time and

scored 53 goals between them in the 1998/99 sea-

son. United’s heart was their captain Roy Keane.

The Irishman was always influential on the team

and was always running box to box in order to dic-

tate the play.

Now, onto the matter at hand, Real Madrid 1960

versus Manchester United 1999 for the first ever

Hypothetical Shield. The line-ups (top right) show

that Madrid are at full strength, whereas Utd are

missing their captain Roy Keane due to suspension.

the

HYPOTHETICAL

SHIELDReal Madrid 1960 vs Manchester United 1999


DominguezDominguez SantamariaSantamaria

PachinPachin

MarquitosMarquitos

VidalVidal

CanarioCanario

Zarraga (c)Zarraga (c)

GentoGento

del Soldel Sol

Di StefanoDi Stefano Schmeichel (c)Schmeichel (c)

G. NevilleG. Neville

IrwinIrwin

JohnsenJohnsen

StamStamBeckhamBeckham

ButtButt

BlomqvistBlomqvist

ColeCole

YorkeYorke

GiggsGiggs

PuskasPuskas

The rules state they must be the same team that

played in their respective European Cup Final wins,

so Schmeichel takes over the armband for the Red

Devils.

Madrid line up with a 3-4-3 formation, with Puskas

and Di Stefano leading the line with Del Sol to the

right of them. United show up with a traditional 4-

4-2, with Jesper Blomqvist replacing Keane and

Giggs moving over to the right of midfield.

The game kicks off at quite a slow pace, neither

side willing to give up the first goal. There are

some sloppy passes and numerous fouls committed.

Scholes is booked for a foul on Vidal in just the

eighth minute, he’ll have to be careful from now

on. Puskas hits a free kick from thirty yards but

Schmeichel deals with it comfortably.

Then, out of nowhere, Real take the lead. A through

ball from Gento finds Di Stefano who rounds the

keeper and slots it home. United are shell shocked

and have to put up with some more pressure, wor-

ried they might go two down. Puskas tests Schme-

ichel again from range and Canario just misses the

far post with a shot come cross.

The English side begin to step on the gas and get

out of their own half. A neat one two between Sc-

holes and Giggs gets Utd down the left hand side.

The Welshman ghosts past Pachin and squares it for

Andy Cole. However, Cole is on the stretch and can

only find the side-netting with his effort.

United keep up the pressure and are rewarded in the

thirtieth minute when a Beckham free kick is

palmed out straight to the feet of Scholes who has

an easy job of tapping it in. One all.

Back to square one, the game becomes stale again.

There is some nice passing moves but both de-

fences have learnt their lessons and are cutting out

anything that gets within reach of their penalty

area. Santamaria is marking Yorke out of the game

and Stam is keeping close to Puskas to try and ex-

tinguish his influence.

Then, just before half time, Puskas finally gets the

better of his Dutch marker. Zarraga plays it to the

Hungarians feet, Puskas then turns away from Stam

and plays it down the wing for Gento to run onto.

Gento puts in a fizzing cross to the far post finding

the head of Del Sol, who heads it back across goal

and Puskas volleys it home. Madrid go in 2-1 up at

half time.

The Spaniards will certainly be the happier of the

two going in at the break, but with the attacking

quality on show there will be chances for United to

rectify this scoreline.

There are no changes for the second half, mainly

because substitutes didn’t exist in 1960 so only

United have the option to bring subs on.

The Manchester team begin the half brightly, and

come close to equalising when Yorke meets a

Blomqvist cross, but his header grazes the top of

the bar.

It’s end to end stuff and you get the feeling a goal

for either team would completely change the tempo

of the game. That goal comes in the sixty fourth

minute, and it goes to Real Madrid.

Canario wins a corner and takes it himself. The ini-

tial ball in is cleared by Ronny Johnsen but only

goes as far as Puskas whose first time shot sails

straight into the top corner.

Ferguson throws on Sheringham and Solskjaer for

Blomqvist and Yorke and goes all out attack to try

and get back into the game. It almost pays off

straight away as Sheringham diverts a wayward

Denis Irwin shot towards goal but Dominguez is

equal to it and diverts it round the post.

Then disaster for United. A counter attack from

Madrid leads to Di Stefano being one on one with

Schmeichel. He selflessly squares the ball to

Puskas who rolls it into the net and completes his

hat-trick.

In the dying minutes Sheringham heads a consola-

tion from a Beckham corner and Solskjaer taps in a

third after a killer through ball from Giggs, but it is

too late.

The final whistle goes and Real Madrid are

crowned the kings of European history and are the

inaugural winners of the Hypothetical Shield.

REAL MADRID 4MAN UTD 3

HYPOTHETICAL SHIELD

35

Miguel

MunozAlex

Ferguson

The Badly Drawn Adventures of...

STICKY McKENNA

NEXT MONTH: Sticky is seen leaving a nightclub

with glamour model Danielle Lloyd.

Press Conference at

Newchester Albion F.C

We’d like to introduce

our new signing, Sticky

McKenna!

Isn’t he a

bit fat?

I want goals from you

Sticky, and for crying

out loud get a haircut!

Ok, bossHere are some of your

teammates, Mark, Julio and Ugly

Dan

HeyChrist. he’s

hideous!

God, he’s brilliantYes he is, and will

you take that hat

off?

Well Sticky, it’s your

debut for Newchester,

what do you hope will

happen?

Whatever happens I

hope it’s easy to draw“Kick off here at Stick Stadium, it’s Newchester

vs Queens Park Villa.”

“McKenna scores!!! He’s curled the ball into the top

corner. We’ve just moved into injury time and it looks

like the new boy has won the game for Newchester!”

“The referee has blown for a foul, and he’s issued a

red card to Thomas. It’s a free kick to Newchester on

the edge of the area.”

“McKenna goes on a mazy run, but he has been

tackled by the big bruiser Liney Thomas.”

“The final whistle goes and Newchester have

won by a goal to nil. Sticky McKenna is the

hero of the hour!”

Well Sticky, you

scored the winning

goal in the last minute

and picked up the stick

of the match award.

What are you going to

do next?

I’m just going to

make sure I rest up

for the next game.Wooooooooooo!!!!

Yay!


Simon

ParkerENGLAND

FAN

-------------------Simon is a student from

Oxford currently studying

Film at Liverpool Hope

University.

Q: Have you supported Eng-

land your whole life?

A: Yes, even through the Steve

McClaren years. Those were

tough times but we’ve seen

them through and now we’ve

entered the age of Capello.

Q: So you think Fabio Capello

has done a good job so far?

A: Absolutely. There have been

a couple of hiccups like the de-

feats to France and Spain but

they were just learning curves.

The win in Germany was sweet

even if it was a friendly. It looks

like we’ll qualify comfortably for

the 2010 World Cup so he’s al-

ready done better than that pil-

lock McClaren.

Q: Assuming they do qualify

for the World Cup, how far do

you think England can go?

A: It may be too early to say

they can win it but I’m hoping we

can at least reach the semi-fi-

nals. We haven’t done that since

1990, it’s about time we did.

Q: Who do you consider to be

England’s best player?

A: It’s a toss up between Ger-

rard and Rooney. I think Gerrard

is the better player but Rooney

has more influence on games. It

might be because he gets to

play in his natural position unlike

Gerrard who is just put wher-

ever. I’ll say Rooney.

Q: Have any England players

surprised you since Capello

came in?

A: They all have in a way. I

never knew they could play like

a team but they’ve certainly

shown it in their last few games.

Individually though I suppose

the likes of Walcott and John-

son. Johnson especially as I al-

ways thought he was useless

when he was at Chelsea.

Q: Are there any players not

in the England squad who you

would like to see included?

A: I’d love to see Jimmy Bullard

back in the squad but he’d have

to get fit first. I wouldn’t mind

seeing Kevin Davies get a

chance, I mean if Carlton Cole

can play for England why not

him? Maybe his Bolton team-

mate Matty Taylor too.

Q: In the unlikely event that

Capello were to leave the job

tomorrow, who would you like

to see take over?

A: I pray that doesn’t happen,

but if it did I would go for an

English manager. Maybe it’s

about time Harry Redknapp was

given a chance. He’s always

wanted the job and he’s been

fairly successful in club manage-

ment.

Q: What do you make of the

new England kit?

A: God it’s horrible isn’t it!? It

looks like a cricket shirt. I’ll prob-

ably still get one anyway at

some point but not at full price.

I’m sure Sports World will sell it

for about four quid when the

World Cup comes around just to

get everyone in England colours

for the summer.

Thank you for your time

Simon.

It was my pleasure.

FAN Q&AFAN Q&A

FAN Q&A

37

A DAY AT THEMUSEUM

t’s a warm Saturday morning and the footy rit-

uals have begun. Up at quarter to nine to

check the headlines on Sky Sports News, then

three hours of ‘Soccer AM’, followed by

‘Football Focus’ and then a couple of hours of Jeff

Stelling and the boys on ‘Soccer Saturday’. But

hang on a minute, my team isn’t playing until half

five. What on earth am I supposed to do till then? I

know, I’ll go to the museum, it was obvious really

wasn’t it?

It is the World Museum in Liverpool, and there

happens to be a football exhibition on at the mo-

ment, where UEFA are showing off various tro-

phies and more artefacts than you can shake a cup

of bovril at.

Running from November 2008-April 2009, ‘Only a

Game?’ looks at the human face of football in Eu-

rope from the classic era of the fifties to the current

day of global superstars.

It is UEFA’s way of celebrating the game of foot-

ball with the people who make it what it is, the

fans. And what better place to hold it then in a city

that houses two of Europe’s biggest clubs, one of

which has won Europe’s premier club competition

on five occasions. Not to mention that it was attrib-

uted as the European Capital of Culture for 2008,

and what is more cultural than a game where

twenty two grown men in shorts try to kick a

leather ball past each other?

The exhibition was first put on display in Brussels

where it enjoyed a lot of success and critical ac-

cliam as people from all over the continent came to

see it.

Numerous figures from the world of football have

thrown their weight behind the exhibition, heaping

praise not only on the exhibition itself, but the deci-

sion to bring it to Liverpool.

Michel Platini, President of UEFA and three times

European Footballer of the Year, said: “I am de-

lighted that UEFA is bringing this exciting exhibi-

tion to Liverpool during its Capital of Culture

celebrations, a city that loves its football and plays

such a big role in Europe’s fascination with the

game.” High praise indeed from one of the game’s

greatest ever players and now one of the sport’s

most powerful individuals.

Fellow Frenchman Lilian Thuram, official patron

of the exhibition and winner of both the World Cup

and European Championship with France, said:

“Football brings people together across Europe. It

speaks a simple language that everyone under-

stands. Only a Game? shines a light on all the ac-

tors that play a role: fans, school kids, amateurs, as

well as the professional players.”

Looking at European culture through the lens of

football, Only a Game? highlights the parallels,

positive and negative, between the two. Solidarity,

As the UEFA Football Exhibition rolls into the

World Museum in Liverpool, Onside goes along

to see football’s European governing body put

their private bits on display

I


Sir Thomas Lipton

Trophy Medal from 1909

success, participation, celebration, racism and inte-

gration is all examined in this thought-provoking

exhibition. The City of Liverpool has played a cen-

tral role in this story.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard added his praise

behind the exhibition saying "There is no city in

Europe where football means more than it does to

the people of Liverpool. So I think it is great that

we are having a European football exhibition as

part of Liverpool 08."

Bryan Gray, Chair of the Liverpool Culture Com-

pany, added: “Sport is part of Liverpool’s heritage

and football has helped to shape this city of culture,

so it should be no surprise to see it feature so

prominently in the Capital of Culture programme.

We are delighted to welcome Only a Game? to the

European Capital of Culture; I can think of

nowhere more fitting for this thought provoking ex-

hibition.”

Olivier Guilbaud, the man behind the exhibition,

said: "It's great to be able to take Only a Game? to

Liverpool because it is a city whose passion for

football remains second to none in Europe. Thanks

to its location, the World Museum should enable

people from all over the region and beyond to visit

the exhibition."

The exhibition has a number of features to it that

can keep the everyday football fan ensconced for

hours.

Highlights include:

• Player memorabilia from the National Football

Museum - shirts, medals and trophies of great Eu-

ropean players such as Phil Neal, George Best, Fer-

enc Puskas, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore,

Stanley Matthews and Petr Cech

• A display of UEFA trophies, including the Cham-

pions League trophy and UEFA Cup

• A set of giant football figures telling the evocative

personal stories of players including Kevin Keegan,

Bernd Trautmann and Johann Cruyff

• Key items from the Everton Collection and from

Liverpool FC Museum

• Memory Zone where visitors can mix their own

football highlights into a video clip and set it to a

soundtrack

• Interactive multimedia football quiz

• Portrait gallery of grassroots footballers from Liv-

erpool and across Europe.

When I initially walked through the doors to the ex-

hibition I was initially taken aback by these giant

subbuteo figures glaring down at me. On closer in-

spection these were the figures which as stated in

the highlights tell stories of past players. There is

an archway to walk through behind them with a

quote from Lilian Thuram. It takes a while to read

it before I realise I’m holding up the line.

Then in front of me is a gauntlet of various football

memorabilia as far as the eye can see. Each glass

cabinet contains one, two or more pieces of football

history.

As expected it is all in chronological order, so fit-

ARTICLE BY

DAVID SEGAR

UEFA EXHIBITION

Gerrard: “There is no

city in Europe where

football means more

than it does to the

people of Liverpool.”

39

tingly the first object I come across is a Sir Thomas

Lipton Trophy winners medal from 1909. It be-

longed to Tom Gill of the victorious West Auckland

team who beat FC Winterthur of Switzerland 2-0 in

the final.

Next to it was a shiny golden ball, but not just any

shiny gold ball. It was the Ballon’D’or trophy (the

European Player of the Year Award) from 1956,

won by England’s Stanley Matthews.

It is shirts galore after that with a Franz Becken-

bauer Germany top from a match against France

glowing as if it is better than the others, much like

Beckenbauer did when he was playing.

Another shirt I come across at the end of the gaunt-

let is one that will be instantly recognisable with

Premiership fans. It was also worn by a German. It

is the purple Tottenham away kit, in particular the

specific shirt worn by Jurgen Klinsmann when he

scored on his debut at Sheffield Wednesday in

1994.

Wait a minute, there’s something else in this cabi-

net, but it’s not a shirt, or a medal, or a trophy, it

kind of looks like a puppet. On closer inspection it

is the puppet used by the comedy television show

‘Spitting Image’, more specifically it is the puppet

of Manchester United legend Eric Cantona.

Having looked at all of these various shirts and

other football artefacts it is hard to believe I am

barely halfway through the exhibition, what else

could they have to show me? Wait a minute, is that

the European Championship?

A trophy cabinet that would make most manager’s

drool over lies ahead, with the main attraction

being the UEFA European Championship trophy.

It was won by Spain last summer thanks to a Fer-

nando Torres goal against Germany in the final, and

now it is on display in the city where Torres plays

his club football. If irony was made of strawberry’s,

we’d all be drinking a lot of smoothies right about

now.

Originally the cabinet also had the Champions

League and UEFA Cup trophies, but unfortunately

they have been whisked off to be readied for this

years winners. Some people can be so selfish.

There are several people surrounding the famous

trophy so I decide to move on and check the others

out before going back to it.

Accompanying the Euro trophy is the UEFA

Under-21 trophy, won by Holland two years ago

and which will be competed for again this summer.

Next to it is the UEFA Women’s trophy. No this is

not the European trophy for the best woman, it is

awarded to the winners of the Women’s European

Championship.

Finally I see a cup which seems familiar but I can’t

quite put my finger on it. You know when you see a

celebrity and think “I thought he was dead”, well

that’s how I felt, and then I realised why, it was the

European Cup Winners Cup. The competition was

stopped about a decade ago and integrated into the

UEFA Cup and was for the winners of domestic

cup competitions in each country i.e. the winner of

the FA Cup would play in the Cup Winners Cup in-

stead of the UEFA Cup like they do today.

The crowd has dispursed and the European Cham-

pionship is now free. Taking photo’s of this beauti-

ful trophy I come to an educated decision, it is

impossible to take a picture of this bloomin trophy

without getting glare of the lights.

Having basked in its glory for a few minutes I no-

tice something to the right of it, something that

isn’t a trophy. They look like bingo balls, or those

little plastic containers you used to get in Kinder

Surprise. They are the plastic balls and official

names of the teams from a Champions League last

sixteen draw from 2007. Names like Real Madrid

and Manchester United are printed on what looks

like the same kind of paper you get jokes printed on

in crackers.

There is a quiz machine in the corner, but it is not

just any ordinary quiz machine, all the questions

are based around European football history. Con-

sidering myself a bit of an anorak I step up confi-

dently and wait for Chris Tarrant to tell me what to

do. Strangely he didn’t feature in this quiz but it

was a steady start, challenging but not got any

wrong yet. ‘Who was the captain of Club Brugge

when they defeated Real Madrid in 1979?’ Right,

how exactly do you put your tail between your

legs?

After that there are several pieces of football re-

lated artwork, including a big print of the President

of UEFA Michel Platini during an international

match with France. There are televisions showing

goals from the past and present in European foot-

ball, I’m sorry but when there’s footy on the telly it

doesn’t matter where you are, you are going to stop

and watch it. It shows gems from the likes of Van

Basten, Ronaldo, Puskas, Garcia and Platini

(again? Anyone would think he owned the place).

At the exit of the exhibit is a print of George Best,

doing what he does best (excuse the pun) and is a

fitting way to end the experience. Right now onto

the dinosaurs !

It certainly wasn’t how I anticipated spending my

Saturday afternoon. I think someone suggested to

me once before if I wanted to go to a museum on a

weekend and I seem to remember I had them sec-

tioned. But this was a genuinely enjoyable and edu-

cational experience. Being in the presence of so

many historical pieces of memorabilia from this

game we all love so much was awe inspiring.

The exhibit runs at the World Museum in Liverpool

until April 26th, and I whole-heartedly suggest you

get down there and see it, it’s free after all.


“Now get out there lads

and make sure you keep

your heads!”

A Hungary shirt from their

famous Wembley win

Stanley Matthews, the

original ‘Golden Balls’

UEFA EXHIBITION

41

The now extinct Cup

Winners Cup

The Under-21

TrophyThe European

Championship

How can a puppet

look like an arro-

gant wannabe

poet?

Shouldn’t this have mud

stains all down the front?

What number are you

Michel? Ooh nearly

t has been one of the predominant tools man

has used in recent years to put off doing any

work. If the missus says she’s going out shop-

ping and wants you to clean the car before she

gets back then more than likely you will think to

yourself “Yeah I’ll get right onto that...just after

I’ve finished my Crewe Alexandra season on Foot-

ball Manager.”

Many an hour has been ‘wasted’ by man searching

for the secret formula to creating a Champions

League winning outfit when they should be taking

the dog for a walk. However, the joy that over-

comes a player when their £3m striker has just

given Burnley their fourth goal in the Champions

League final against Real Madrid makes it all

worthwhile.

The Football Manager franchise has been going

since 2005, when they broke away from their now

rivals, Championship Manager, after a falling out

with their publishers Eidos. The games are de-

velped by Sports Interactive and are now published

by SEGA.

If you have never heard of the game and haven’t

figured it out already, ‘FM’ is a football manage-

ment simulation, where you can become manager

of any club in the world and attempt to guide them

to success.

There is an easy to use interface and a match en-

gine that simulates the matches for you. In 2005

through to 2008 the game used a 2D match engine.

However, this year for the first time a 3D engine

has been attempted, making the experience more

realistic than ever.

But personally what I wanted to know was what

happens behind the game? How much work goes

into producing a database which holds thousands of

different players and teams?

I was lucky enough to speak with Sports Interac-

tive’s Dean Gripton to find out more.

How long have you been working at Sports In-

teractive?

I’ve been here since 2002, and working on the Eng-

lish Research team for the last four years.

What exactly does your job entail?

I am one of two people contracted to manage the

English research team here at Sports Interactive. I

also work alongside the researchers of the other

countries, analysing their databases, making any

necessary amendments and helping them improve

their own management of their own country data-

bases.

I also have to test the data, and the tools used to

create and store the data, during the year. This in-

volves checking and re-checking how the data ap-

pears in the editors and ensuring that the editors

and databases used by Head Researchers and their

assistants work to purpose.

How much effort and time goes into each edition

of Football Manager?

The evolution of each FM release starts before even

the release of the previous year’s game. Ie, FM2010

ideas and plans were set in place before FM2009

was released. Indeed, we have in place some future

ideas and plans for FM2011 and even FM2012, in

terms of new features and improvements to the

many current features.

There are over 50 full-time staff here at SI working

on Football Manager in one of its many guises, and

while everyone is contracted to work a 40-hour

week, I cannot believe that anyone works ‘only’ that

amount. In particular, during the ‘crunch’ periods

of the weeks before an impending release, produc-

ers, coders, researchers and testers all work many

more hours than that as we wish to make the best

game that we can.

Including researchers, how many people does it

take to produce each edition of the game?

As mentioned, there are 50 full-time staff here, and

throughout the year there are many temporary full-

time testers working in our test lab here, with those

figures depending on the workload of the time.

There are 60 Head Researchers maintaining data-

bases of players, clubs and competitions in their

country, and nearly all rely on unpaid assistants

who volunteer extra information about their spe-

cific club.

Why do you think FM games are so popular?

They allow gamers to immerse themselves into the

world of football in a different way to any other

football game. You do not have to be skilful with a

joystick to beat an opponent, you use your own

knowledge of tactics to try and outwit the AI and

achieve results with your team. You are not re-

stricted to playing as Manchester United, AC Milan

or Barcelona and you can play as Basingstoke

Town, or Berwick Rangers, or as Güngören

Belediyespor in Turkey.

“There are some very

interesting new features

planned, but I’d have to

kill you if I told you!”

IT’S NOT JUST

A GAME,

IT’S MORE

IMPORTANT

THAN THAT

A look at the popular

video game franchise

that is the Football

Manager series

Interview by

David Segar


I

Do you play the game in your leisure time?

I wish I did! I do not have much time for any com-

puter games – indeed I have never even owned a

console of any sort and have only ever played FM

(or Championship Manager before the split in

2005). When I do, I invariably end up looking at

the data on a professional level, logging aspects I

wish to change or discuss with other researchers,

rather than enjoying the game for what it is. Which

is why, for FM2009, I did not play in the lower

leagues in England, as I used to do.

When you get a chance to play what team do

you usually pick?

In my FM2010 game I picked Sivasspor in Turkey.

The reasons for this was that there was an upheaval

in the Turkish research team in 2007 and 2008, and

I knew that the database was much improved for

that country to the level that I knew I could trust it.

I knew that I would not have prior knowledge of the

majority of players in the Turkish Premier Division,

so that all helped me choose a league. I went for

Sivasspor as I did not wish to choose one of the

giant clubs such as Galatasaray, and chose Sivas

because they were in the InterToto Cup which I

thought would make it interesting. Little did I know

that, in real life, Sivasspor would be challenging

for a shock first-ever Turkish title success! That

said, I am a slow player and have only played the

first couple of months of the first season.

Which member of the staff is best at the game?

Miles Jacobsen, our MD, plays the game the most

(he needs to know everything about how he works)

and is always keen to find the latest youth discover-

ies, so I’d say he is. That is only because the guys

who code the match engine (Paul Collyer) and

transfer modules (Keith Flannery) are too busy

coding to play!

Are there any new features planned for FM2010

or beyond?

There are some very interesting new features

planned, but I’d have to kill you if I told you! Many

improvements to current features are also being

planned.

Football Manager will always be close to my heart.

It has taken up about a third of my life in the last

four years and I’m sure as long as Dean and the rest

of the gang are improving future games in the se-

ries, my life will continue to go on a downward spi-

ral...that is until I win the Champions League with

Crawley Town.

FOOTBALL MANAGER

43

Jelleyman’s ThrownA Wobbly An inside look into life as a

Sky Sports pundit

The cult SkySports Soccer Saturday anchorman de-

livers a volley of entertaining and informative an-

ecdotes about life in front of the vidiprinter.

Jeff Stelling is a legend amongst football fans. To

the millions unable to get to their teams' games on

Saturday afternoons, the next best thing is undoubt-

edly the pleasurable company of Jeff and the Sky

Sports vidiprinter for a cosy marathon on the sofa.

If someone's got to reveal that your beloved team

have just gone 3-0 down away from home and had

a man sent off, it's best if it's consummate profes-

sional Jeff who breaks the news to you.

Avid Hartlepool fan Jeff knows our pain and shares

our joy!but mostly he knows our pain. The long-

time host of SkySports' iconic Soccer Saturday

show has become a cult figure, universally admired

for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, his

genuine and unlimited enthusiasm for ALL levels

of football, and his wicked sense of humour which

makes the six-hour long show simply whizz by.

Jelleyman's Thrown a Wobbly is a deliciously

chaotic, hugely entertaining, anecdote-ridden, hu-

morous taste of life in the Soccer Saturday studio.

Hear what Jeff has to say about some of the show's

legendary pundits over the years, ex-players such

as George Best, Rodney Marsh, Chris Kamara,

Charlie Nicholas and Matt Le Tissier.

Be a fly on the wall of the hotel bar on Friday

nights as Jeff and his guests gather for a natter and

few drinks. Get the inside track on all those great

one-liners: / "Mansfield Town's Gareth Jelleyman

has been shown the red card for dissent. Looks like

Jellyman's thrown a wobbly." / "Darlington's

equaliser has been scored by Guyain Ndumbu-

Nsungu. Very much a case of local boy makes

good." (He's from Congo.) / "They'll be dancing in

the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight." /

"James Brown's grabbed a second for Hartlepool. I

feel good!"

The man who is currently wowing housewives

across the country on Countdown has put this book

together to give football fans a chance to share in

the banter that regularly goes on in Isleworth, Mid-

dlesex at the Sky Sports studios. Whether its the in-

sistent disagreeing just for the sake of disagreeing

of Paul Merson, the ever so slight Liverpool bias of

Phil Thompson or the ridiculous, nonsensical yam-

merings of Chris Kamara. “I tell you what Jeff,

Stoke City are defending like badgers at the mo-

ment.”

Jelleyman's Thrown a Wobbly goes a long way to

demonstrate how a six-hour long, studio-based

show with no live action pictures and featuring

men gazing into TV monitors which the viewer

can't see, can hold a huge audience enthralled every

Saturday afternoon between August and May.

RATING: A 5-0 MAULING, COME

ON YOU JEFF!

REVIEWS

The Damned UtdA portrayal of one of

England’s finest managers

Based on David Peace’s controversial book of

the same name, The Damned United follows

the legendary Brian Clough during his ill-

fated six weeks in charge of Leeds. It is done

in a slightly more glowing way towards

Clough as opposed to the book which the

Clough family condemned.

Michael Sheen continues his trend of imper-

sonating historical figures (Tony Blair in The

Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon). He

portrays ‘Ol’ big ‘ead’ expertly, especially in

the scene where he is first introduced to the

Leeds Squad.

Rather than purely being a football film, it is

more of a ‘buddy movie’, concentrating on

the relationship between Clough and his as-

sistant Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall).

The film is the length of a football match

with seven minutes of injury time, I suppose

the makers thought that was a guaranteed

time football fans are willing to sit and watch

something.

There are hits and misses within the film but

overall it is enjoyable enough to warrant

going to see. Now all we need is the next

manager bio-pic, Neil Warnock and the Tem-

ple of Doom.

RATING: A NARROW 2-1

HOME WIN

A look atsome of thelatest footyfilms, books,games andkit available


Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Konami provideus with anotheredition of theever popular ProEvo franchise,still the samerubbish sound-track though.

Once again we as consumers are asked the oh so

important question. It is often used as an opening

query to someone, from man to man, when you

first meet. It helps people decide what kind of per-

son you are, indeed they may be able to tell your

whole character from your answer to the one and

only question...FIFA or Pro Evo?

The war has been going on in the video game

world for the best part of a decade with ups and

downs along the way.

Arguably, Pro Evo has been leading the way for the

past few years, with many gamers preferring it for

its simulation style as opposed to FIFA’s arcade

feel. However, when positive reviews started com-

ing in for the new FIFA 09 game Konami sat up

and took notice. Their rivals had produced a game

that was not just on a par with Pro Evo, but had ac-

tually surpassed it. The Japanese company knew

they had to do something, so they did, they bought

the exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions

League licence to use in future Pro Evo games.

While that has been a nice feature (it is not in-

cluded on the PS2 version) it has not really been

enough to persuade people away from FIFA. The

gameplay in Pro Evo was always praised but has

never really evolved since the early days when it

was known as International Superstar Soccer.

The passing has improved on last years game but

some of the shooting is still a little off. The power

guage seems to have a mind of its own at times and

is not as immediate as one would like when trying

to take a snap shot on goal.

A new feature this season is the ‘Be A Legend’

mode, which is basically stolen from the FIFA ‘Be

A Pro’ mode. It is enjoyable enough and can be

quite time consuming. The idea is that you only

control one player in one position and you see the

game from a third person viewpoint. You start off

in a trial match for some unknown team and based

on your performance in that game you are offered a

contract by a real club. You then try and work your

way into the first team your club and gradually

mould yourself into one of the world’s great play-

ers.

Something Pro Evo has been criticised for in the

past by FIFA fans is that they have never had the

full licences for the Premier League, only featuring

two teams a season and making fake teams loosely

based on the rest. This season it’s Liverpool and

Man Utd’s turn, but the lack of any others can be

off putting. However, there are sufficient licences

for other nations, such as the whole of La Liga.

A solid effort without being spectacular. Konami

will have to up their game if they want to go top of

the tree again.

RATING: A NERVY 2-0 HOME WIN

New England HomeShirtLet’s face it, you know it, I know it, it looks like a

cricket shirt. In fact if you took a plain white polo

shirt and stuck an Umbro logo and an England badge

on it you could probably make it yourself.

Why was this design chosen? It was “a statement of

confidence and unity — an intimidating sight for op-

ponents“, according to officials. Couldn’t they have

just stuck Wayne Rooney’s face on the front?

RATING: A DRAB 1-0 DEFEAT

Umbro England BootsAccompanying the shirt are these limited edition ‘Spe-

ciali’ football boots, of which just 283 will be made

(pairs, not individual boots).

They are made of kangaroo leather (so jumping shouldn’t

be a problem) and boast covered lacing which supposedly

provides more control. They cost £150...for the pair.

RATING: A COMFY 1-1 DRAW

Adidas UEFA ChampionsLeague Finale BallBased on the star design of previous Champions League

balls, the Adidas 2009 Rome Finale ball integrates PSC-

Texture, meaning there are tiny bumps across the surface

which allows greater control for the player.

The burgundy colour is related to the colour of AS Roma

RATING: AN EXCITING 3-1 AWAY WIN

REVIEWS

56

Colin Farrow

Manchester Utd fan

Tom Bradshaw

Manchester City fan

1. Who scored the win-

ning goal in the 1997 FA

Cup Final?

Roberto Di Matteo Di Matteo

2. Who was the manager

of Ireland at the 1994

World Cup?

Mick McCarthy Jack Charlton

3. By what scoreline did

Hull beat Arsenal by this

season?

2-1 2-1

4. How much did Liver-

pool pay for Stan Colly-

more in 1995?

£8.5m No idea. Was it around

£6m?

5. What was the name of

the mascot at France 98?

Le Mascot? It was Footix! He was a big

cock (as in the bird)

6. Which Italian team is

Maradona a legend at?

Napoli Er, either Genoa or Napoli,

i’ll say Napoli

7. Who were the runners

up at Euro 96?

Czech Republic The Czech’s

8. Who is the current

coach of the Brazil na-

tional side?

Unless he’s been sacked

yet it’s Dunga

Dunga

9. What was the last tro-

phy won by Arsenal?

The FA Cup in 2004, the

jammy gits!

Was it the FA Cup?

10. What is the capacity

at the Camp Nou?

A lot. Isn’t it around

100,000?

Read this the other day, it’s

95,000

FINAL SCORE 7 9

QUIZTwo footy fans pit their wits against each other to obtain bragging rights down the

pub. Our first encounter is a Manchester derby. But who will come out on top?

There’s only one way to find out...QUIZ!!!!


Yes Yes

Yes

YesYes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

STATS ALL FOLKS!STATS ALL FOLKS!PREMIERSHIP TABLE (as of 28/04/09)

P W D L F A GD PTS1. Man Utd 33 24 5 4 61 23 38 77

2. Liverpool 34 21 11 2 66 26 40 74

3. Chelsea 34 21 8 5 56 20 36 71

4. Arsenal 34 18 11 5 60 32 28 65

5. Aston Villa 34 15 10 9 50 44 6 55

6. Everton 34 14 11 9 48 36 12 53

7. Fulham 34 12 11 11 34 28 6 47

8. West Ham 34 12 9 13 38 38 0 45

9. Man City 34 13 5 16 53 45 8 44

10. Tottenham 34 12 8 14 41 41 0 44

11. Wigan 33 11 8 14 31 38 -7 41

12. Stoke 34 10 9 15 33 49 -16 39

13. Bolton 34 11 5 18 40 51 -11 38

14. Portsmouth 34 9 11 14 35 50 -15 38

15. Blackburn 34 9 10 15 37 55 -18 37

16. Sunderland 34 9 8 17 31 46 -15 35

17. Hull 34 8 10 16 37 59 -22 34

18. Newcastle 34 6 13 15 37 53 -16 31

19. Middlesbrough 34 7 10 17 25 49 -24 31

20. West Brom 34 7 7 20 33 63 -30 28

CHAMPIONSHIP

P GD PTS

1. Wolves 45 27 87

2. Bir’ham 45 16 80

3. Sheff Utd 45 25 79

4. Reading 45 33 77

5. Cardiff 45 13 74

6. Burnley 45 8 73

7. Preston 45 11 71

8. Swansea 45 14 68

9. Ipswich 45 8 63

10. Bristol C 45 4 61

11. QPR 45 -1 61

12. Sheff Wed 45 -8 58

13. Doncaster 45 -10 58

14. C Palace 45 -3 56

15. Watford 45 -6 55

16. Derby 45 -10 54

17. Coventry 45 -10 54

18. Blackpool 45 -12 53

19. Plymouth 45 -12 51

20. N Forest 45 -17 50

21. Barnsley 45 -14 49

22. Norwich 45 -11 46

23. Soton 45 -21 45

24. Charlton 45 -24 36

LEAGUE ONEP GD PTS

1. Leicester 45 42 93

2. Peterboro 45 24 88

3. MK Dons 45 35 84

4. Millwall 45 12 82

5. Leeds 45 25 81

6. Scunthorpe 45 19 75

7. Tranmere 45 13 73

8. Southend 45 -5 68

9. Hud’field 45 -3 67

10. Oldham 45 0 62

11. Walsall 45 -4 61

12. Bristol R 45 15 60

13. Stockport 45 3 60

14. Colchester 45 -2 60

15. Leyton O 45 -12 55

16. Swindon 45 -3 52

17. Yeovil 45 -23 51

18. Hartlepool 45 -10 50

19. North’ton 45 -1 49

20. Brighton 45 -16 49

21. Carlisle 45 -15 47

22. Crewe 45 -20 46

23. Chelt’m 45 -38 39

24. Hereford 45 -36 34

LEAGUE TWOP GD PTS

1. Brentford 45 27 82

2. Wycombe 45 22 78

3. Exeter 45 14 76

4. Bury 45 19 75

5. Gillingham 45 2 72

6. Rochdale 45 12 70

7. Dag & Red 45 25 68

8. Shrewsbury 45 16 66

9. Bradford 45 9 64

10. Che’field 45 7 63

11. Morec’be 45 1 63

12. Darlington 45 16 59

13. Lincoln 45 3 59

14. Rotherham 45 15 58

15. Aldershot 45 -23 51

16. Accrington 45 -16 50

17. Barnet 45 -17 48

18. Macc’field 45 -32 46

19. Port Vale 45 -23 45

20. Notts C 45 -21 44

21. Bo’mouth 45 4 43

22. Grimsby 45 -18 40

23. Chester 45 -37 37

24. Luton 45 -5 26

STATS ALL FOLKS!

47

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