Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
IAN
ASHBEE
Hull City’s captain
on Premiership life
ALUN UEFA
PARRY EXHIBITION
Founder of Liverpool’s We spend the day
newest team at the museum
FOOTBALL THIS IS
MANAGER ANFIELD
Dean Gripton on the The home of Liver pool
popular computer game FC, but for how long?
Price: £2.50
FAN’S LETTERS
Licensing director David Segar
Direct marketing manager David Segar
Production manager David Segar
Assistant production manager David Segar
RAFA’S CRACKING UP! DOMINANCE IS BORING
Circulation Enquiries
Over the recent months it has become clear to me I suppose I must say congratulations to England
Repro
that Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez cannot and their elite clubs on their recent dominance of
Onside cannot accept any responsibility for unsolicited handle the pressure that comes with being near the UEFA Champions League.
contributions. No part of this magazine may be repro- the top of the Premier League. However, I for one am bored with the competition
duced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any He often goes on rants in his press conferences being half made up of teams from England come
form without permission. and cannot seem to control his urge to have a pop the quarter final stage every year. I want to see
at Sir Alex Ferguson any chance he gets. Lyon v Real Madrid, AC Milan v Barcelona,
Group editorial director David Segar It isn’t fair to criticize the man who is undoubt- Spartak Vladikavkaz v Dukla Prague!
Group design director David Segar edly the greatest manager of all time in world It is clear to me that the continuing success of
Managing director David Segar football, just because Rafa is jealous of all Sir Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal is that
Chairman David Segar Alex has achieved. He should grow up and give they have more money than most. It is unfair that
the Manchester United manager the respect he de- they can splash out £30m+ on a player who does
serves. Number Eighteen will be ours this season not even come from England, whereas the likes of
and we will also get to within one of Liverpool’s Barcelona and Lyon are full of players from their
European Cup wins. Come on Utd! own nations.
Alex, Manchester I propose we ban England from European compe-
titions until they can learn to be a bit more courte-
RIGHT ON RAFA! ous to their European neighbours by letting them
win something for a change.
I would just like to commend Liverpool boss Rafa
SUBSCRIPTIONS Benitez on his so called ‘rant’ at Slur Alex Fergu-
son. Everything he said was fact! It wasn’t just a
Michel, France
Save money by subscribing random attack on someone, it was genuine facts SAVAGE TREATMENT
that people have ignored for far too long. I am just writing to comment on the harsh treat-
Call
Ferguson gets away with so much in this country ment Robbie Savage continues to recieve from
3
p6 Ian Ashbee
Hull’s longest serving player
talks to Onside about his side’s
debut campaign in the Premier
League.
CONTENTS
6 - Ian Ashbee
Hull City’s captain talks about life in the big
leagues and the importance of the FA Cup.
10 - Jokes Page
Readers send in some of their favourite football
funnies.
11 - Kit-astrophe!
p38 UEFA Exhibition A look at some of footballs worst fashion
We spend the day at the mu- crimes. Yes Coventry’s brown kit is in there.
seum and look at the UEFA ex-
hibit. It’s not just giant subbuteo 14 - This Is Anfield
players, honest. A profile of possibly the most famous stadium in
world football.
18 - Team Sheet
We put together a select XI of the worst foreign
imports to the Premier League.
19 - Season Review
A comprehensive look back on how the
2008/09 season has gone for your team.
29 - Team Sheet
Another select XI, this time of the best foreign
p14 This Is Anfield imports to the Premier League.
A look at the history of one of
Europe’s most recognisable 30 - Alun Parr y
structures, including the Anfield
The founder of non-league AFC Liverpool on
tour experience.
why he created the club.
4 www.onsidemag.com
CONTENTS
34 - Hypothetical
Shield
A review of a match that never happened, but
we really wish it had, so we made it up.
36 - Sticky McKenna
The adventures of Newchester Albions prodigal
son. Think Roy of the Rovers, but thinner.
37 - Fan Q&A
An interview with an England fan on Fabio
p11 Kit-astrophe!
Capello’s first year in charge.
An observation of the most vomit
38 - UEFA Exhibition inducing football kits that have
been adorned by the unluckiest
We get all cultural and visit the Liverpool of players down the years.
Museum to review the UEFA exhibition.
42 - Football Manager
Sports Interactive’s Dean Gripton gives inside
info on our favourite footy simulator.
44 - Reviews
Onside gives it’s profound opinion on the latest
football related products.
46 - Quiz
Two rival football fans go head-to-head in a bat-
tle of football I.Q’s.
5
EYE OF
THE TIGER
Hull City captain Ian Ashbee on life in
the big league, the FA Cup and his side’s
chances at Premiership survival.
Words by David Segar
T
he English Premier League is made the reserves for another season. His Hull career did not get off to the best of
up of hundreds of players. There He did not make another appearance for over starts as he was sent off for two bookings on
are those who have come through a year before being sent out on loan to the his debut, ironically against the same team he
the ranks of elite academies, those household named Icelandic team, IR debuted against for Derby, Southend.
who have impressed at lower league clubs Knattspyrnudeild (yes, them). Having scored However, Ashbee would soon be revered by
and been signed, and of course those who three goals in just eight appearances in the Tigers fans far and wide for his combative
have been bought in from a foreign league for Icelandic league he was snapped up by Cam- tackling and accurate passing game. He was
obscene amounts of money. bridge United, linking up once again with no longer playing across the back four as he
Ian Ashbee comes under a different category, McFarland. had done at Cambridge, but had taken up a
one which he can almost call his own. Instead
of becoming a Premiership star by one of the
token methods above, Ashbee has effectively
“ His performances
in the Icelandic
new role as a midfield general.
Having been made captain by new boss Peter
Taylor, he scored the winning goal in Hull’s
”
done it from scratch and has played with the defeat of Yeovil in the 2003/04 season. It was
same team from the old division 3 right League won him a the goal that sent Hull into League Two and
through the football league and into the top
division.
move to Cambridge earned his team their first promotion in 19
years.
The 32 year old joined Hull in 2002 as part of Ashbee enjoyed life more at the Abbey Sta- ‘Ash’ would go on to cement his name in
a new look midfield being put together by dium and was part of the side that won pro- Tigers folklore as the following season he be-
then manager Jan Molby. He has though not motion to the old division 2 in 1999. Despite came Hull’s first captain to guide them to
just been a one team man. his goalscoring exploits abroad, Ashbee was a successive promotions.
The Birmingham born midfielder started his key member of the U’s defence. His versatil- However, disaster struck at the start of their
career at Derby County where he featured just ity meant he could play comfortably any- Championship campaign as Ashbee fractured
once in a match against Southend on the final where across the back four. his knee and was forced to miss the whole
day of the 1994/95 season. It would be man- After six years at Cambridge, Ashbee was season. Later it emerged that the problem was
ager Roy McFarland’s last game in charge signed up by Molby in the summer of 2002 deeper and he had an ‘osteochondral defect’.
and the new boss Jim Smith kept Ashbee in on a three year contract. This meant he had a degenerative bone dis
6 www.onsidemag.com
IAN ASHBEE INTERVIEW
Hull’s version
of the ‘Haka’
7
ease which affected his femur. There were
question marks over whether he would ever Bellamy attempts playing
play again. footy whilst sucking a lemon
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 cessfully competing in the Premier League.” magazine Ashbee has done since he became a
season and teams didn't give us the respect Despite Hull’s recent descent down the Pre- Premiership player, his only other interviews
we deserved.” Quizzed as to his reasons for mier League table, they have been able to coming with the official Hull City magazine.
the sudden loss of form he added “We're pick up wins in the FA Cup and now find Ashbee is one of the strongest minded players
playing in the Premier League and we're themselves in the quarter finals. The competi- in the game today, and his confident perform-
playing against quality players week in week tion has been talked down in the last few ances on the pitch are mirrored in his confi-
out. I think the form's still been there but it's years and people have argued it is not impor- dent mannerisms off it. When asked where he
the loss of results that's been the issue really. tant as the big teams do not take it seriously. thought his team would finish this season he
I don't think we've lost too much form and However, with Chelsea, Man Utd and Ever- simply answered “We will finish in the Pre-
been hammered week in week out, I think ton already in the semi-finals, Ashbee be- mier League securing our survival for next
we've just been unlucky and lost picking up lieves the magic of the cup is still very much season.”
opinion”
FA cup to staying in the Premier League? shock anyone with some of their attacking
Probably not but it certainly doesn't mean the displays and resolute defending means that
Gaffer won't be taking it seriously.” Ashbee’s confidence in his teams ability to
results like we were early start of the sea- In a season which has been so up and down avoid the drop should be correct.
son.” there have been numerous high’s and lows, Finally when asked where he thought Hull
When manager Phil Brown came in two sea- and Ashbee is in no doubt as to which are the would be in five years time he said “Hope-
sons ago Ashbee and several of Hull’s fans best and worst moments of Hull’s debut Pre- fully Hull in 5 years time will be a long estab-
were worried he might have an overhaul of miership season. “The best moment this sea- lished Premier League side knocking on the
the team and appoint a new captain. However, son for us has probably been the Emirates door for Europe.”
seeing Ashbee’s leadership qualities the for- and us beating Arsenal. For me the worst Whether Hull are capable of getting into Eu-
mer Bolton boss insisted Ashbee keep the moment has got to be Wigan or Man City and rope remains to be seen, but considering the
armband, it proved to be the right choice. losing heavily.” speed they made their way from Division 3 to
When asked what he thought of his manager Hull’s ‘captain marvel has never been one to the Premiership, you certainly wouldn’t bet
Ashbee said “Well obviously his record seek the attention and the glamour that some against them.
speaks for itself. He came to us in the bottom people in the game do, in fact this is the first
part of the Championship and now we're suc- feature interview with a national football
8 www.onsidemag.com
IAN ASHBEE INTERVIEW
TIMELINE OF THE
CAREER OF IAN ASHBEE
A look at the career of Hull City’s longest serving
player, from Iceland to the KC Stadium.
- May 1995:
Makes his first appearance for
The Rams, it would also be his
last.
- May 2004:
- August 1996: Scores the vital goal against
Sent out on loan by manager Yeovil that sends Hull into
Jim Smith to Icelandic team, IR League One. - August 2008:
Knattspyrnudeild where he Ashbee is once again the cap-
scored three times in eight - May 2005: tain as Hull win their first ever
games. Is promoted in successive sea- Premiership game, beating
sons up to the Championship. Fulham 2-1 at the KC.
- December 1996:
Is re-signed by McFarland, this - August 2005: - September 2008:
time for Cambridge Utd. Picks up knee injury, and then Plays in the team that beats
it is found he has an ‘osteo- Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates.
- May 1999: chondral defect’. Ashbee Hull are just the second team
Wins promotion with the U’s to misses the entire season. to win there.
Division 2.
- August 2006: - February 2009:
Makes his comeback against Ashbee talks to Onside.
Birmingham City.
- July 2002:
Signs for Hull City on a three
year contract.
- August 2002:
Sent off on his debut for the - May 2007:
Tigers against Southend. Hull just avoid relegation.
9
Football Related
JOKES
Onside readers have sent in some of their favourite
football funnies. Here’s a selection of the best that
will have you literally wetting yourself until you have
to swim to safety, using this magazine as a float.
Over The Wall the initial £5,000 and reinvested the profit. clubs' names. A committee was set up to re-
Our club manager won't stand for any non- "I'm investing in our future because I love ceive suggestions and, after a few weeks, the
sense. Last Saturday he caught a couple of you so much," she said. chairman called a meeting.
fans climbing over the stadium wall. Gary considered carefully how each woman 'Gentlemen,' he said, 'our request for new
He was furious. He grabbed them by the col- had spent the money, and then married the club badge designs has produced a very satis-
lars and said, woman with the biggest breasts. factory response.
"Now you just get back in there and watch the Most of the suggestions are perfectly straight-
game till it finishes." Just Imagine You’re in a Wall forward and logical - an ox for Oxford
A famous international footballer was asked United, a sun for Sunderland, a heart for
Heart of Midlothian, a windmill and a brick
The Sound of Music to appear nude in the centrefold of a glossy
wall for Millwall.
First fan: "I wish I'd brought the piano to the new women's magazine.
`Our intention is to photograph you standing However, I'm afraid we must definitely draw
stadium." the line at the proposed design received from
Second fan: "Why would you bring a piano to nude holding a ball" said the feature's editor.
'I see,' said the footballer. 'What will I be Arsenal!'
the football game?"
First fan: "Because I left the tickets on it." doing with my other hand?'
A Deadly Mix Up
The Great Geordie Robbery That Was a Dive Ref! A man walked into the office of a large Lon-
A match between two non-League teams took don firm and said to the manager, 'I'm young
Police were called to St James’ Park in the Cartwright's grandfather - he works in your
early hours of yesterday after it emerged that place last winter in the North of England. It
had been raining heavily all week and the mail room here.
burglars broke into the Newcastle United tro- I just popped in to ask if you could give him
phy room and emptied it’s entire contents. ground resembled a swamp.
However, the referee ruled that play was pos- the afternoon off so I could take him to the
Officers have told residents of the area to League Final at Wembley.'
look out for a group carrying a black and sible and tossed the coin to determine ends.
The visiting captain won the toss and, after a 'I'm afraid he's not here,' said the manager.
white carpet. 'We already gave him the afternoon off to go
moment's thought, said, 'OK - we'll take the
shallow end!' to your funeral.'
WAG Required
One of the highest paid players in the Premier Cold Balls
division, Gary had everything going for him. An American visitor to England watched his
He had a fancy new house in North-East Lon- very first football match and was struck by
don, a flash new sports car, masses of de- the differences between English and Ameri-
signer clothes -the lot. His only problem was can football.
that he had three girlfriends and he couldn't After the match he fell into conversation with
decide which one to marry. So he decided to one of the English players and remarked, 'You
give £5,000 to each woman to see what she
would do with it.
A Faecal Matter know, over in the States, our players wear
It’s half time at Wembley and England are thick protective clothing. You guys must be
The first woman bought new clothes for her- frozen stiff in those light clothes.'
self and had an expensive new hairdo, a mas- losing 2-0 to Holland. Fabio Capello follows
his players into the dressing room and notices 'It's not so bad,' said the Englishman. 'Some-
sage, facial, manicure and pedicure. times the ground is covered in snow.'
The second woman bought a top-of-the range a piece of excrement lying in the middle of
the floor. The Italian shouts “Whose poo on 'You don't say!' exclaimed the American.
VCR and CD player, as well as an expensive 'What do you do about the balls? Paint them
set of golf clubs and tennis racquet and gave the floor?” to which Emile Heskey replies
“Me boss, but I’m not bad in the air”. red?'
them all to Gary. "I used the money to buy 'Oh, no,' said the player. 'We just wear an
you these gifts because I love you," she told extra pair of shorts.'
him. What’s Behind a Badge?
The third woman invested the money in the The Football Association was considering a
stock market, and within a short time had scheme for simplifying club badges and em-
doubled her investment. She gave Gary back blems so that they more closely reflected the
10 www.onsidemag.com
KIT-
ASTROPHE!
There have been some spectacularly bad looking
football kits worn down the years, but have they
really had an effect on the players wearing them
other than making them look silly?
11
Scotland Pink kit 1999
When 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.”
Jorge Campos all kits 1991- Oxford Utd ‘Wang’ kits 1985-
2004 1989
What a legend Jorge Campos was. When people up and Now strictly speaking there’s nothing wrong with the
down the country were asked who their favourite goal- design of the U’s kits between 85 and 89. They had al-
Hull Tiger-skin kit 1992 keeper was in 1994 most stated the Mexican shot stop- ways worn yellow and blue so it this kit is hardly a re-
The less said about this kit the better. Hull are per, despite the fact he wasn’t that good. bellious effort.
nicknamed the Tigers, so you can guess why they Campos’ self designed kits werea lot of people looked But it doesn’t matter how nice a kit looks, if you write
went for this particular design. They soon forward to during the 94 World Cup, and he kept the ‘WANG’ on the front of anything you will look silly.
changed it. trend up until he retired from international football in Sponsored by ‘Wang Computers’, Oxford insisted on
2004. just emphasising the first word, silly ‘Wangers’.
12 www.onsidemag.com
KIT-ASTROPHE!
Man Utd Grey kit 1995 Chelsea Orange & Grey kit
I always look at this kit and smile, because it re- 1994
minds me of the greatest excuse in the history of There’s something so stylish about the Dutch, in par-
football. United were losing 3-0 at half time at ticular Ruud Gullit. He is so laid back and cool, wait
Southampton, but it wasn’t the fault of the players, a minute, who’s that berk in the orange and grey?
no it was the kits fault. Apparently the players could- Yes Chelsea had just started a revolution where they
n’t see each other. It was quickly traded in for a blue were going to bring in quality technical players from
and white shirt. To be fair Fergie had a point, if you around Europe, starting with Gullit. As a comprim-
relax your eyes and squint at this picture you can’t ise they had to play well whilst looking like a
see Ryan Giggs. mouldy piece of fruit.
13
14 www.onsidemag.com
THIS IS ANFIELD
THIS IS
ANFIELD
Onside 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.
Article By
David Segar
L
iverpool’s domination of the English corrugated iron. lyn Road side of the ground. It was a cantilevered
game throughout the Seventies and Eight- When Liverpool won their second League title in stand able to hold 6,700 supporters. Soon after,
ies ensured that there were many glorious 1906 the directors rewarded the fans by building a major alterations were also made to the Anfield
days and nights at Anfield as the club’s banked terrace at the Walton Breck Road End. Road End as that stand too was turned into a large,
supporters celebrated a succession of trophies Local journalist Ernest Edwards from the Liverpool covered standing area.
which came to their new home on Merseyside. Fast Daily Post and Echo christened it the Spion Kop One of the biggest and most exciting redevelop-
forward to today and that tradition is still continu- after a hill in South Africa where a local regiment ments came in 1973 when the Main Stand was re-
ing, with Champions League nights at Anfield had suffered heavy losses during the Boer War. duced to rubble and a new, smarter stand was
world famous for their unique atmospheres. The next major improvement to Anfield came in constructed in its place. It was officially opened by
It may come as a shock to some to learn that it was 1928, when the Kop was redesigned to house the Duke of Kent on March 10th 1973 and still
Everton who first played their home matches at An- 30,000 fans. A huge roof was erected to keep the stands at Anfield today.
field and had there not been a dispute over rent, the supporters dry during the bad weather. At the time A second tier was added to the Kemlyn Road Stand
Toffees could still be playing their home games at it was the largest stand in the country. The top mast in the early Nineties at a cost of £10m, and for the
the famous stadium today.
It was back in 1884 when Everton started playing at
Anfield and they continued to do so for eight years,
“It may come as a 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
until a major row erupted concerning Everton’s
renting of the land. A dispute with John Houlding,
shock to some to learn in celebration of Liverpool FC’s hundred years of
existence.
the owner of the land, led to Everton leaving the
stadium to purchase another site in the area, known
that it was Everton who The biggest change of all was still to come; follow-
ing the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, where 96
as Goodison Park.
At that time Anfield was regularly attracting 8,000
first played their home Liverpool fans lost their lives, Lord Justice Taylor
had issued instructions that all top division clubs
supporters for games, and John Houlding had
ploughed a lot of his own money into transforming matches at Anfield” must have all-seater stadiums - to prevent another
tragedy like it. For Liverpool this meant the end of
the stadium into one worthy of a local football the world famous Spion Kop where thousands of
team. A small stand had been erected to house the of the ship ‘Great Eastern’ was taken from the fanatical Reds fans turned up week after week in
fans, but with Everton gone the stadium was empty breaker’s yard in Rock Ferry and was erected support of their team.
and Houlding was out of pocket. alongside the Kop, where it remains today. In May 1994 after Liverpool’s final match of the
As a result he made the decision to form his own In 1957 Anfield had floodlights installed, enabling season against Norwich City, work began to demol-
team to play at Anfield - Liverpool Football Club. the team to play in the evening. They were used for ish the famous stand. A 12,000-seater stand was
Their first match was played on Thursday Septem- the first time on October 30th for a game against built in its place. It was the biggest single-tier stand
ber 1st 1892 against Rotherham. It was a friendly Everton which was staged to commemorate the in Europe. Many tears were shed as fans left the
which Liverpool won 7-1. 75th anniversary of the Liverpool County Football Kop for the last time, and there was a dash for sou-
Following a successful first season in the Lan- Association. venirs as fans were desperate to get their hands on
cashire League, Liverpool were granted permission In 1959 when Bill Shankly arrived as manager he any kind of memento to remind them of their times
to play in the Football League and the first national was appalled at the conditions and demanded the in the middle of a noisy, swaying, flag-waving Kop.
League game at Anfield was played against Lincoln stadium be improved. He said the ground was not Further reconstruction of Anfield continued in 1997
City on September 9th 1893. Liverpool won 4-0 in good enough for the fans who supported the team when the Anfield Road Stand was transformed into
front of 5,000 supporters. each week. a two-tier stand, which brought Anfield’s capacity
Another new stand was constructed in 1903 at the In 1963 the board of directors agreed to spend ap- to over 45,000, making it the second biggest club
Anfield Road End. It was made from timber and proximately £350,000 on a new stand on the Kem- stadium in the country at the time.
15
Outside the stadium there have also been changes
over the years. Following the sad death of Bill
No idea where we
Shankly, the club decided to honour his memory by
were when this picture
erecting a set of wrought-iron gates with the simple
was taken
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 signing a revolutionary football stadium that would structure would be rounded at the back so any noise
on it at all. This is due to the realisation that in eclipse any other in the world, and they duly deliv- created would just go straight back towards the
order to compete financially in the modern game, ered. pitch.
the club needed a stadium which can hold a lot In the summer of 2007 the new plans were revealed The turf would be sunk 26ft into the ground allow-
more than the 45,400 it currently does, which and the new designs really caught the imagination ing room for more supporters to be accomodated
meant moving to an entirely new ground. of fans and journalists alike. around the pitch.
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-
“If Liverpool can obtain 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.
cision was taken to apply to the council to build a a secure financial footing The plans will also have a positive effect on the
brand new 60,000 seater stadium across the road in overall area of Stanley Park, with the actual park
Stanley Park. then work can begin on recieving £14m of funding.
”
The original designs revealed in 2002 recieved Reds boss Rafa Benitez gave his backing to the
mixed reviews from Reds fans. It very much resem-
bled a similar design to the one eventually used by
the new stadium plans on the day they were released.
"The plans for the new stadium are absolutely fan-
Arsenal to build the Emirates Stadium. With all the tastic.
stands connected to each other fans were worried Like the current stadium, the new plans showed "The facilities the new stadium will provide are
that a lack of a ‘Kop-like’ stand would detract from that each stand would be individual i.e. spaces in going to ensure that the future of this club is a great
the atmosphere. the corners as opposed to a bowl shape. Crucially, a one and this is what the fans deserve.
When the American duo Tom Hicks and George ‘new Kop’ stand was part of the design, with Hicks "There are a lot of windows and it really is ground-
Gillett bought the club in January 2007 one of the claiming that it would be “The orchestra to which breaking in terms of stadium design."
first things they did was to throw away the old de- the players will conduct”. The design, in particular The project was estimated to cost around £300m,
sign and come up with one themselves. American the Kop stand, were done in mind of keeping as and this is where problems arose. Hicks and Gillett
architects HKS were appointed with the job of de- much noise in the ground as possible. The steel 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
The new stadium aim being that the stadium would be open in time
design 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.
16 www.onsidemag.com
THIS IS ANFIELD
17
TEAM SHEET
A compilation of the best and worst players of the
beautiful game. This month we look at successful
and unsuccessful foreign imports to England.
Starting with the worst because they’re more fun.
Massimo Taibi
Manchester Utd
The 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
18 www.onsidemag.com
PROBABLY THE
BEST LEAGUE IN
THE WORLD
Including:
ARSENAL
Arsene Wenger's men have been one of the most un- be able to adapt to the Premier League to make an can fight off the challengers and maintain their place
predictable teams in the league this season. One impact this season remains to be seen. His four goals in the Champions League.
week they'll be sweeping aside the Champions, the against Liverpool at Anfield showed his undoubted Their hopes will be reliant on Aston Villa faltering
next they'll be struggling to beat one of the newly ability, but does he have the consistency to match it? towards the business end of the season, whilst also
promoted sides. Wins at home to Manchester United With Arsenal failing to win a trophy in almost five keeping an eye on Everton. The Merseyside club
ASTON VILLA
The big question at the start of the season was 'Could favourite to replace the Scot. But until then the chal- sence.
Aston Villa break into the top 4?', and based on how lenge for him is to establish his current side as part Their small squad has meant they have run out of
their season started the answer was, yes they could. of the Premier League’s elite. steam in the second half of the season and are now
Their uncanny ability to win on a regular basis The impressive form of Gabby Agbonlahor and Ash- fighting it out with Everton for fifth spot. The Cham-
showed the signs of a great team, but their record ley Young in the first half of the season was in bal- pions League looks to have eluded Villa this season
against the other big teams has been where they have ance with the solid defensive performances of Martin which may see captain Gareth Barry finally leave
lost points. Their only win against a 'big 4' team came Laursen and Brad Friedel. Villa show a balance Villa Park in the summer. However, if O’Neill can
20 www.onsidemag.com
CLUB-BY-CLUB REVIEW OF THE SEASON...SO FAR
BLACKBURN BOLTON
In a topsy-turvy season for Rovers, least pulled them out of the trouble Gary Megson's side have surprised games this season they have drawn
they finally seem to have some stabil- Ince left them in. many this season. Bolton were a lot just five. Thankfully they have been
ity. The arrival of Paul Ince as man- Being able to hold onto Roque Santa of peoples tip to go down at the start able to produce eleven wins, an im-
ager raised a few eyebrows in the Cruz was a massive boost for the of the season, but after a good start pressive four of which have come
summer. With little Ewood Park side. they found themselves in the top half away.
managerial experi- “The arrival of Despite the of the table and
“Bolton were a lot The left foot of
ence and none in Paul Ince as Paraguayan not hit- there were even Matt Taylor and
top flight football, ting the form he did whispers of Eu- of peoples tip to go the head of Kevin
people questioned manager raised a
whether he was the few eyebrows”
last season, he is
still no doubt
rope. However, a
recent dip in
down at the start Davies have
proved invaluable
right man for the Rovers’ prize asset form and the un- of the season.” this season with
job, he wasn't. and will be key in whether they can believable close- most of Davies’
With Blackburn languishing near the stay out of the bottom three. ness of the league this year means goals coming from Taylor assists.
bottom of the table and wins appear- There is no doubting Blackburn’s po- they have been sliding down the The importance of these two players
ing rarer than a Matt Derbyshire start, tential to push on and pull away from table and in danger of being pulled cannot be measured at the Reebok
the board decided drastic action had to the relegation zone, and with an into a relegation fight. Record sign- Stadium and if the Trotters wish to
be taken. experienced head like Allardyce ing Johan Elmander has continue their progress they must
Former Bolton boss Sam Al- at the helm you would be foolish shown glimpses of the form hold on to them.
lardyce jumped at the opportu- to bet against them doing just his £9m figure promised but
nity to get back into that. has not been the replacement
Premiership management and for Nicolas Anelka Bolton
TOP SCORER:
so far has turned the ship
around. Rovers are still very
TOP SCORER: fans hoped he would be.
One of Bolton’s more remark-
Davies - 12
much in a relegation fight, but a McCarthy - 9 able stats is their seeming in-
series of draws and home wins has at ability to draw games. In thirty four
CHELSEA
Not since King Jose of Mourinho took charge at erpool Scolari was surprisingly sacked after just a against title rivals this season. Having played Utd
Stamford Bridge in 2004 had a team ever been such few months in charge. The players were reportedly and Liverpool twice and Arsenal once they have
strong favourites for the title having not won it the unhappy with the Brazilian’s coaching methods and recorded just one point. They still have to play the
year previous. man management skills. Roman Abramovich de- Gunners at the Emirates but after a goalless draw at
When Luis Felipe Scolari was named the new cided to call in a friend, Guus Hiddink, to take tem- home to Everton in mid April Hiddink conceded that
Chelsea boss in the summer many Blues fans were porary charge until the end of the season. the Blues’ title aspirations were all but over.
relieved. Not that his predecessor Avram Grant did a The Russian has been an undoubted success since his The question remains as to whether or not the ex
particularly bad job, he guided Chelsea to their first arrival and has not only dragged Chelsea back into PSV coach will continue his Chelsea tenure into next
ever Champions League Final and challenged Man the title race but also guided them to the FA Cup final season, but if he decides against it no doubt there will
Liverpool make the first impact on the Hull continue their remarkable start to the Juande Ramos is sacked after just a year
title race with an impressive 2-1 victory season with an away win at Spurs. A as Tottenham manager. He is
against Man Utd at Anfield. After Carlos spectacular Geovanni free kick is enough controversially replaced at the helm by
Tevez gave the visitors the lead, a Wes to collect a surprise three points for the Harry Redknapp. Portsmouth fans feel a
Brown O.G was followed by a winner Tigers at White Hart Lane. Talk of Europe sense of deja-vu after Redknapp leaves
from super-sub Ryan Babel. is rife at the KC Stadium. them for the second time.
21
EVERTON FULHAM HULL CITY
If you had described the first two months of Everton's The one thing you always find at the start of the sea- On getting promoted the first thing that happens is that
season in one word it would have been 'disaster', but son is people predict Fulham will go down. "Finally everyone tells you you're going back down again.
having found their feet the Blues have become almost this will be the year they go" is heard in pubs up and Clearly Phil Brown took this personally and decided
unstoppable. down the country by wannabe Hansen's. to do something about it. Hull had the kind of start to
The amazing turnaround in the Toffee's season began What often triggers this assumption is their hero- a season the likes of Tottenham and Newcastle would
at Goodison Park at the end of October when they ically dire away form in recent years. A Fulham have dreamt of with a phenomenal start that saw them
drew with, and probably deserved to beat, Man Utd. away win happens less often than a sighting of Hal- just behind the top 4.
That draw still meant in five home games they were ley's Comet, and so far this season that trend has The form of Geovanni and Michael Turner meant they
yet to pick up a win, but the confidence gained from continued, although they have been able to pick up were picking up impressive wins away to Arsenal,
two uncharacteristic victory’s on the road. Tottenham and Newcastle and home to West Ham,
“Having found their feet However, what is different this season is that under Fulham and Middlesbrough. A fightback to narrowly
the Blues have become the reigns of Roy Hodgson, they have become very lose 4-3 at Old Trafford and a draw at Liverpool hav-
difficult to beat, with five of their eleven away ing gone 2-0 up seemed to suggest this was no fluke
almost unstoppable.” matches so far ending in draws, and five of their six from the Tigers. However, their form since that match
that performance saw them beat Fulham 1-0 in their defeats have been by one goal margins. Impressive at Anfield suggests it maybe was. Hull have obtained
next home game and they have motored up the league draws at Anfield and at home to Chelsea have un- just one win since the turn of the year and find them-
since then. derlined how efficient Hodgson has the Cottagers selves in a relegation battle going into the last few
The Blue half of Merseyside could easily have fallen
back off the rails after an energy sapping 3-2 home
“Hodgson has built a games.
Something many pundits have pointed out as a poten-
defeat in the last minute against Villa, but to their good side at Fulham, with tial turning point in Hull’s season was the incident at
credit they have continued their good form since that
tie in early December.
Scandinavian defender Eastlands. Brown kept his players on the pitch at half
time to give them their team talk in front of the fans
What has made their form more impressive has been Brede Hangeland im- after being outplayed by Man City in the first half and
their lack of forwards, with midfielder Tim Cahill
having to play the lone striker role since Yakubu was
pressing” trailing 3-0.
The January signing of Jimmy Bullard could have
ruled out for the season and Louis Saha picked up his playing and their current mid-table position cer- been a crucial move for the Tigers as his experiences
token mid season injury. Cahill has weighed in with tainly does not flatter them. in the top division with Wigan and Fulham would
the goals and Lescott and Jagielka have re-discovered The problem lies up front, with goals seemingly surely have beeen just the tonic for Hull’s dip in form.
their form at the heart of the defence. very hard to come by. The summer purchases of
After a poor start they are back where David Moyes Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora appeared to put “Hull have picked up just
has always intended them to be, near the top four and
challenging for a spot in Europe.They won’t be able
this problem to bed, but with just five Premiership
goals between them the pair have not flourished as
one win since the turn of
to break into the top four this season but they will be Fulham would have hoped. Both have suffered with the year and find
part of the new Europa League competition next year
having assured themselves of a top six place.
injuries this season, but the Cottagers don’t have
much back-up, with Erik Nevland scoring his first
themselves in a relega-
The January acquisition of Brazilian striker Jo on loan two goals of the season in late January. tion battle.”
from Man City could well be one of the deals of the In the transfer window they lost Jimmy Bullard to
season. Having moved to Eastlands for £18m in the Hull City which will undeniably prove to be a big However, he picked up a characteristic injury soon
summer, he failed to make an impact scoring just blow to the team. Although Bullard did not provide after joining and will not play again this term.
once in the Premier League. However, the former Fulham with the goals fans hoped he would have, Geovanni’s goals have dried up and coincided with
CSKA Moscow player has revived his career in the his tenacity and accuracy from set-pieces will be the team’s turn in fortune, and with Marlon King hav-
Premiership by banging in five goals in twelve games sorely missed at Craven Cottage. ing gone to Middlesbrough a lot of the goalscoring
at Goodison Park. It has raised the question as to Hodgson has built a good side at Fulham, with will have to be done by Daniel Cousin. The French-
whether the Toffees will be making the deal perma- Scandinavian defender Brede Hangeland impress- man has a knack of scoring big goals in big games,
nent in the summer. It seems unlikely though as no ing in his first season in England. His form has but he needs to start scoring on a more regular basis.
doubt City will be looking to recoup most if not all brought some unwanted attention from the likes of Had it not been for their early season heroics they
of the money they originally splashed out on Jo last Arsenal and Man City. Hangeland has reportedly la- would probably have already been condemned to an
year. belled his latest contract offer ‘derisory’ so it seems immediate return to the Football League. Having that
Their success in getting to the FA Cup final is being Hodgson will have his work cut out keeping the cushion has helped but if they are unable to find that
viewed as a sign of things to come at Everton. With centre back for next season Whatever happens the kind of form again in their final games then expect to
David Moyes at the helm hopes are high amongst fans future does look bright for the Cottagers while see Hull versus Peterborough at the KC Stadium in
that they can break the top four within the next few Hodgson is in charge. 2009/10.
years.
TOP SCORER: TOP SCORER:
TOP SCORER:
Johnson - 7 Geovanni - 8
Cahill - 8
On a big day for the ‘big four’ Liverpool Arsenal gain a vital win against Man Utd Aston Villa show what serious
suffer their first defeat of the season at at the Emirates thanks to a brace from contenders they are to the top four by
Spurs. Arsenal lose at Stoke, Man Utd Samir Nasri. The defeat means Utd have beating Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates. An
win a seven goal thriller against Hull and picked up just one point in matches own goal and a Gabby Agbonlahor strike
Chelsea smash five past Sunderland. against their rivals this season having gives Villa the win and sends a message
The title race begins to heat up. drawn at Chelsea and lost to Liverpool. to the rest of the league.
22 www.onsidemag.com
CLUB-BY-CLUB REVIEW OF THE SEASON...SO FAR
LIVERPOOL
What can you say about Liverpool that hasn't been an impressive 2-0 win at home to Chelsea and a 3-2 to play.
said a million times already? The Premiership is the comeback victory at Portsmouth lifted them right They have been putting together a good run of wins
holy grail to the fans, and this year not only being back into the title race. towards the end of the campaign. However, a draw
the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough disas- The terrific form of Utd kept the Reds at arms length, at home to Arsenal looks to have maybe doused the
ter, but also potentially the year rivals Man Utd equal but with the red half of Merseyside thrashing their flames and may well have signalled the end of their
their record of eighteen league titles, Reds fans have fierce rivals 4-1 at Old Trafford there was renewed championship challenge. The noises coming out of
”
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
be their year. TOP SCORERS:
to go with their results. talk that they could still snatch the title away from Gerrard - 13
However, in January they became draw experts, and Ferguson’s grasp.
worse of all with teams they really should have been Torres is back in the goals after his hamstring prob- Torres - 13
beating. Injuries to key players like Fernando Torres lems and the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt
and Martin Skrtel didn’t help, and the quickfire sale have upped their game recently to help out in the Kuyt - 10
of Robbie Keane has seen Liverpool become a little Liverpool attack. Kuyt has continued his trend of
lightweight in attack. scoring goals at vital times and Benayoun has
After seven draws in ten games they found them- stepped up to become Liverpool’s creative influence
selves behind Utd having played more matches, but when Gerrard is either having an off day or is unable
MAN CITY
This season has possibly been the most move by the manager. Not filling his team with big year they will undoubtedly be thinking a little higher.
fascinating and bizarre one City fans will have ex- names, but players who have Premiership experience The form of Robinho has been often disappointing
perienced. The campaign started simply enough, can ease his side through what is undoubtedly a tran- to City fans, especially away from home. A lot of
winning two and losing one of their opening three sitional period. pressure was put on his shoulders given the size of
games in August. Then a sensational takeover by The unbelievable £100m January bid for Kaka ulti- his price tag, but he has been known to go missing
Arsenal’s problems mount as William The Gunners bounce back the following Roy Keane resigns as manager of Sun-
Gallas is stripped of the captaincy and week to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford derland. The Irishman claims the reason
left out of the squad to face Man City Bridge. A Robin Van Persie double can- is that he simply believes he cannot take
after openly criticizing his team mates cels out a Johan Djourou own goal and is the club any further. His assistant Ricky
and admitting to unrest in the camp. enough to hand the Blues their second Sbragia takes charge for the rest of the
Cesc Fabregas takes over the armband. home defeat of the season. season.
23
MAN UTD
The Champions are once again top of the league and stroy opposition as well as squeezing out one goal that caused Ferguson to splash out on the former
look odds on to win a record equalling eighteenth wins. Matches where they have grabbed victory from Spurs striker. His presence has meant Carlos Tevez
league title. the jaws of defeat have seen them keep Liverpool at has struggled for games. The question mark over his
However, looking at their season it almost feels as if a distance since they suffered defeats to the Mersey- future could be a blotch on Utd’s season as the Ar-
the title is being won by default. They haven’t been side club and Fulham in successive weeks. gentinian has signalled his intent to leave Old Traf-
at their best for large parts of the campaign and have The defence has been their main strength this cam- ford in the summer in search of first team football in
relied on a number of late wins. The term ‘winning paign, with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic con- the upcoming World Cup year.
”
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-
above their rivals
ther these claims. TOP SCORERS:
However, an uncanny ability to carve out one goal
victories and score late winners has catapulted them
tinuing their form from previous seasons, as well as
Jonny Evans coming through as an accomplished
Ronaldo - 17
above their rivals and to the summit of the Premier- back up to the pair. Rooney - 12
ship. The experience of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes
A record twelve clean sheets in a row helped mas- playing alongside the flair and talent of Ronaldo et Berbatov - 9
sively over the winter period, with Edwin Van Der al seems to be the reason for Utd’s consistency.
Sar breaking all kinds of clean sheet records. A 3-0 The signing of Dimitar Berbatov was heralded as the
mauling of Chelsea and a dominant 5-0 away win at acquisition of the ‘new Cantona’. However, the
West Brom showed they still have the ability to de- £30m Bulgarian has struggled to replicate the form
MIDDLESBROUGH NEWCASTLE
Showing early promise is never performing Afonso Alves has been a Like Blackburn, Newcastle's season away win all season sees them
enough in the Barclay's Premiership, disappointment to fans and the 'Down- has been hit by inconsistency in the planted firmly in the relegation zone
something Gareth Southgate knows all ing to Spurs' saga in January didn't manager's hot seat. Kevin Keegan's and in real danger of going down.
too well. An impressive win on the help with team morale. But there is no departure early in the campaign was The 5-1 humiliation at home to Liv-
opening day of the season against Tot- doubt there is heartbreak for Geordie fans who had erpool in December saw Newcastle
tenham and a per-
formance that
“erratic away form underlying quality
in the Boro side.
only just gotten
used to having “Newcastle have
reach a new low.
The manner of
deserved more has led to South- However, if the King Kev at struggled to find the defeat con-
than a late loss at
Liverpool gave
gate's position likes of Alves and
Tuncay can’t find
the helm again.
What was even any form of consis-
vinced fans that
relegation was a
people the im- being questioned” the form that more surprising tency” real possibility.
pression it would brought them to was the deci- The appointment
be a good season for the Teesiders, it the club in the first place then Boro sion to make Joe Kinnear his tempo- of Geordie legend Alan Shearer as
hasn't been. could find themselves in trouble. rary successor. Kinnear had not manager till the end of the season
Results have not gone their way and Given their difficult run in it appears managed since 2004 when he re- after Kinnear was taken ill caught
performances have not been of a high that Boro may be heading out of the signed as manager of Nottingham the imagination of Toon fans every-
enough standard. Rare highlights have Premiership. Gareth Southgate will no Forest, and his appointment where.
been an away win at Villa and a doubt come in for some criti- raised a few eyebrows, espe- Whether or not the temporary
home win against Liverpool. cism but if they do go down then cially after his curse word career change for Shearer is
However, home losses to West the players will have to shoulder filled tirade on a group of enough to keep Newcastle up
Brom, Bolton and a 5-0 ham- a lot of the blame too. There have journalist's just days into the remains to be seen, but what-
mering by Chelsea along with been too many players shirking job. Since then Newcastle ever happens the Toon Army
erratic away form has led to responsibility at the Riverside this have struggled to find any will want to forget 2008/09 as
Southgate's position being season. form of consistency, with soon as they possibly can.
questioned and Boro fans worried some impressive home form not
TOP SCORER: TOP SCORER:
about the inevitable relegation fight. being accompanied by even re-
The under- Tuncay - 6 motely good away form. Just one Owen - 8
16th December 2008 28th December 2008 10th January 2009
Less than two weeks later Keane’s old Liverpool make the biggest statement yet Rafa Benitez launches an astonishing
Man Utd team-mate Paul Ince is sacked of their title credentials by destroying verbal attack on Alex Ferguson in a pre-
as Blackburn manager just a few months Newcastle 5-1 at St James’ Park. Goals match press conference. The Spaniard
into his reign. A run of poor results sees from Steven Gerrard (2) Sami Hyypia, accuses his rival of attempting to intimi-
the former England midfielder replaced Ryan Babel and Xabi Alonso (pen) gives date match officials at Old Trafford. The
by Sam Allardyce. the Reds victory. media suggest he is ‘cracking up’.
24 www.onsidemag.com
CLUB-BY-CLUB REVIEW OF THE SEASON...SO FAR
United respond by demolishing Chelsea In a move that sent shockwaves through After an unsuccessful spell with his boy-
at Old Trafford. In a surprisingly lacklus- the football world Man City made a re- hood club Liverpool, Robbie Keane re-
tre display from the visitors, goals from ported bid of over £100m for AC Milan’s turns to Tottenham for a reported £12m.
Vidic, Rooney and Berbatov see off the Brazilian ace Kaka. After several days of Having scored just five league goals for
London side. People start to question the negotiations and speculation the player the Reds the Irishman fell out of favour
Blues’ title credentials. turns the Eastlands club down. with Rafa Benitez.
25
TOTTENHAM WEST BROM
Something you can always rely on in Drastic action was needed so the Having won the Championship title Mallorca captured a lot of Albion
football is numerous football fans Spurs board not only sacked Ramos last year it was predictable that the fans’ imaginations, but the Spanish
predict Tottenham will have a superb and replaced him with Harry Red- Albion would be favourites to go midfielder has found it difficult to
year. Spurs go out
in the summer and
“with just a few knapp, they
sacked Damian down. It would be “They have be-
straight back settle to the pace of
English football.
bring in big names games to go they Comolli as well so nice to say they come known for What they needed
for big money and
have a chance of Redknapp could defied the odds playing some de- was a striker who
people assume it have complete and are pushing cent football could put the ball in
finishing in the top control on trans-
League place. Un- under Tony Mow-
will lead to them for a Europa the net on a regular
breaking the top
four. They then go
seven and in a Eu- fers. The former fortunately for bray, without the player who could
basis. The one
on to underachieve ropean spot” Portsmouth boss West Brom fans results to show for do that for them
and disappoint their has guided Totten- that is not the case it.” was Kevin Phillips,
fans, this season was no different. ham out of the relegation zone, and and they have who they sold to
Under Juande Ramos they showed a with just a few games to go they have found themselves propping up the Birmingham. Bednar has been off
lot of promise towards the back end a chance of finishing in the top seven table for a large portion of the sea- form and Miller has been injured all
of last season and cemented it by and a European spot. son. season.
winning the League Cup. Their performances have been They have become known for The likes of Robert Koren and
They brought in Luka Modric, impressive since Christmas, and playing some decent football Chris Brunt have done their
David Bentley and Roman with the likes of Aaron Lennon under Tony Mowbray, without best, but Albion’s leaky defence
Pavlyuchenko among others and Tom Huddlestone playing the results to show for it. has seen them concede too
and they went into the new sea- in sparkling form, they are What made the difference be- many goals and they are odds
son full of hope. Fast forward showing a lot of potential tween the legitimate fights for on to be back in the Champi-
to late October and they found ahead of next season...uh oh! survival that their fellow pro- onship next season.
themselves in the relegation zone and moted teams, Stoke and Hull, have
TOP SCORER: TOP SCORER:
losing to the likes of Hull and Sun- put up was their activity in the two
derland at home. Bent - 12 transfer windows, or lack of it. The Brunt - 7
signing of Borja Valero from Real
Life after Keane starts well for Liverpool After a poor run of results Portsmouth One of the more shocking managerial
as they beat Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield. After manager Tony Adams is sacked. The dismissals of the season came a day
Frank Lampard is controversially sent off final straw was a 3-2 loss at home to Liv- later when Chelsea sacked Luis Felipe
Fernando Torres scores a late double in erpool when his side threw away the lead Scolari. The Brazilian only took charge in
front of the Kop. The title appears to be in the final minutes. Paul Hart is put in the summer, but poor home form sealed
turning into a two horse race. charge till the end of the season. his exit from Stamford Bridge.
26 www.onsidemag.com
CLUB-BY-CLUB REVIEW OF THE SEASON...SO FAR
CHAMPIONSHIP
BARNSLEY CRYSTAL PALACE QPR
The Tykes have not enjoyed the best of seasons, When it comes to Neil Warnock you can never tell The rich boys of the division, many people were
with relegation still a real possibilty. what is going to happen next. His outspoken ways expecting QPR to bring in Kaka, Ronaldo and Ger-
The former Premiership outfit have have often landed him in hot water with the FA, but rard and run away with the league. They didn’t and
been in erratic form at home and it there is no denying he has a lot of managerial abil- they haven’t. Getting through three managers du-
has cost them dear. They have lost as ity. His success at Sheffield Utd led people to as- rung the season, Flavio Briatore still has a lot to do
many as they have won at Oakwell sume he would get Palace up this season, but as it at Loftus Road, as Rangers’ mid-table finish will
this term. is they have languished in mid-table all year. suggest.
BIRMINGHAM DERBY READING
When they came down many tipped Birmingham to Let’s face it, Derby were embarrassed in the Pre- Like Birmingham, Reading were expected to have
go straight back up, and they may well do just that. mier League last season. So bad were they that they enough to come straight back up. However, a poor
The goals of Kevin Phillips have helped but it has were one of the favourites to go down start looked to have put paid to that.
been their solid defence which have won them the this season too. As it is they have They have fought back gradually since
majority of their points. Liam Ridgewell and Maik steered clear of the drop and under and have an outside chance of a top
Taylor have won more MOTM awards than anyone new boss Nigel Clough they’ll have two finish. If not they will certainly be
else at St Andrews this season. higher hopes for next year. favourites for the playoffs.
BLACKPOOL DONCASTER SHEFF UTD
There weren’t many expectations at Bloomfield Having drawn only seven games all season, Don- A very impressive season at Bramall Lane looks
Road this season but Blackpool have steadily gone caster are known as one of the more exciting teams like it could well end in joy as the club who felt
along and although they find themselves in the bot- to watch in the division. They play some pretty they were robbed of their Premiership status by the
tom half, they are well clear of the relegation zone. football on the floor and entertain the crowd. ‘Carlos Tevez’ saga could go back up. They are
Like Barnsley, their poor home form has been a What’s so interesting about watching them is that fighting it out with Birmingham and Reading and
problem, with five wins and ten defeats meaning you never know whether their style will pay off, will fancy their chances as their rivals play each
they are actually better away. their mid-table status suggests it’s about 50-50. other on the final day.
BRISTOL CITY IPSWICH SHEFF WED
Hopes were high at Ashton Gate at the start of the There have been strange goings on at Portman A fairly standard season at Hillsborough, they have
season. Having just missed out on promotion the Road this season. Last year they were brilliant at never really threatened at either end of the table.
previous year, losing to Hull in the playoff final, home and useless away. This term they have been Marcus Tudgay has kept the goals flowing which
City fans expected their team to at least equal that the exact opposite. Missing out on the playoffs was has kept them ahead of the relegation fight. They
feat. It has not turned out that way and they cur- not acceptable to the board, so Jim Magilton was have been impressive at home, lacklustre away and
rently find themselves twelve points off the playoff dismissed with just two games left and replaced by will finish somewhere in mid-table. All in all a
spots. Roy Keane. Big things are expected next term. fairly dull season really.
BURNLEY NORWICH SOUTHAMPTON
Most of the main stories at Turf Moor this year A very disappointing campaign at Carrow Road It has certainly not been dull at St Mary’s though,
have been related to their form in the could see them relegated to the third tier of English for all the wrong reasons. They have struggled on
two main cup competitions, nearly football. Uncertainty in the dugout has been a big the pitch as well as off it and have just been pun-
making the League Cup Final. How- problem, with Glenn Roeder especially experienc- ished for going into administration. Having also
ever, they have also impressed in the ing troubles. Bryan Gunn has tried to steer them been officially relegated their ten point penalty will
league and thanks to an heroic team away but they’ve ended up in a worse position than not come into effect till next season. Saints fans are
effort are well on course for a playoff place. before. Canaries fans will not be happy. praying for a consortium to buy the club.
CARDIFF NOTTINGHAM F SWANSEA
The Welsh side have had a terrific year. Another The former European Champions were on the up, As said earlier, Doncaster play some nice football,
team who had high hopes after their FA Cup Final promoted back into the Championship and as far as but not compared to Swansea. Roberto Martinez
appearance last season, Cardiff have pushed on and Forest fans were concerned it was just a step on the has installed a European style of passing and mov-
appear on course for a place in the playoffs. The way back to the top league. It hasn’t worked out ing at pace which has made The Swans a difficult
goals from Ross McCormack have propelled The that way and Forest have been teetering on the opponent for many teams. They’ll just miss out on
Bluebirds up the table. Promotion will be a fine brink of the relegation zone all season. They should the playoffs but it’s been a very impressive debut
send off in their last season at Ninian Park. have enough to stay up though. season in the Championship.
CHARLTON PLYMOUTH WATFORD
Well, what a disaster this season has been for the Argyle started the season fairly well. A darkhorse in Under Aidy Boothroyd, Watford had hoped to be
Addicks. Some were tipping them for promotion the league, the south-west club looked like they promotion candidates. After he left though expecta-
under boss Alan Pardew, but things have gone from were in with a shout of a playoff place tions were lowered and rightly so. Watford have
bad to worse and their relegation to League One after a month or so. They have fallen found themselves close to the relegation zone all
has already beed confirmed. They will be hoping since then and find themselves near season and have only just managed to pull away.
they can emulate Leicester and come straight back the bottom. The goals of Paul Gal- It’s anyones guess how they’ll fare next year but
up, but nothing’s for sure in this game. lagher have been important. the potential is certainly there.
COVENTRY PRESTON WOLVES
The Sky Blues have not enjoyed the best of seasons Preston have been threatening to do something for Saving the best for last, Wolves have been out-
under Chris Coleman, and there were fears of rele- a while. Always in and around the playoffs but standing this season and have already confirmed
gation at one stage. Their inability to turn the Ricoh never getting through them, North End are once themselves as Champions. Mick Mc-
Arena into a fortress has been a worry, winning again in with a chance of going up. It seems a fight Carthy has put a terrific young team to-
eight and losing seven of their home games this between themselves, Cardiff and rivals Burnley for gether at Molineux and with the likes
term. No doubt the club have the potential to return who will get the last places, but whatever happens of Kightly and Ebanks-Blake on board,
to the big time, but can Coleman bring it out? no doubt they’ll be there again next season. Premiership watch out!
27
LEAGUE ONE LEAGUE TWO
Two teams have already managed to have all been scouted by Premier It has been a fascinating season at the away and emerging from the darkness
get out of League One at the right end League clubs, but given Posh’s suc- summit of League Two this year, but was Exeter. The winners of last years
with games to spare. What makes it cess they may not need to leave in the big stories have been at the other Conference playoff final were around
interesting is that neither one was in order to experience top flight football. end of the table. the League Two playoff places for a
the division last season and were two At the other end of the table we have In a division where there are only two while, but have recently put win after
leagues apart this time last year. lost Hereford and Cheltenham, with relegation spots it was quite a thing win together and are now looking a
When Leicester came down it was Crewe and Carlisle expected to fol- when it was announced at the start of good bet to grab an automatic promo-
somewhat of a surprise. Another club low. No-one has really been the whip- the season that three sides would be tion spot. They will have to fend off
that thought they were too big to ping boys of the division, but to be starting on minus points. Both Rother- the challenge of Bury if they are to do
come down but weren’t. fair all four of these ham and Bournemouth so. Brentford have con-
Fans at the Walkers Sta- sides knew they would found it a pain in the firmed their promotion
dium weren’t happy but struggle this season, backside but have which was expected and
had faith that the newly with the possible excep- been able to make up it appears Wycombe will
appointed boss Nigel tion of Crewe. the difference and pull join them.
Pearson would be able Leeds were the bookies away. However, Luton Like the league table, the
to guide them back up favourites at the start of were treated most scoring charts has seen a
straight away, and so it the season but have harshly and found new challenger emerge
proved. been thwarted in their themselves starting the towards the end of the
The former Middles- attempt at automatic campaign on a whop- season. Chesterfield’s
brough defender has promotion. On a ping minus thirty Jack Lester was one of
built a solid team at brighter note Jermaine points. As was ex- the favourites for the
Leicester and despite an Beckford has continued pected they have not golden boot at the start of
indifferent start they to find the net at Elland been able to overturn the campaign but injuries
went top around Christmas time and Road, but he has been outshone this this defecit and have had their relega- and poor form meant he faded into the
never looked back. campaign by Swindon’s Simon Cox tion to the Conference confirmed. distance. Shrewsbury’s Grant Holt
Joining them in the Championship and Bristol Rover’s Richie Lambert, They will no doubt be heavy and Gillingham’s Simeon Jackson
will be Peterborough, who have en- who have scored an impressive 27 favourites to come straight back up, have spent most of the year at the top
joyed successive promotions under and 28 goals respectively. but that is not a trend that has been set of the charts, until Lester put a run of
‘Sir Alex Junior’, Darren Ferguson. The playoffs will be made up of by teams leaving the Football League goals together and now finds himself
Boro have hardly been a bastion of Leeds, Millwall, MK Dons and either in recent years. at the top of the pile.
consistency but their never say die at- Scunthorpe or Tranmere, with the lat- At the top it had been a four way In the playoff race it seems it will be
titude and ability to score all kinds of ter two playing each other on the last shootout for the majority of the sea- made up of Gillingham, Rochdale,
goals has been too much for some of day of the season. Call it a coinci- son, with Wycombe, Brentford, Bury one of Bury and Exeter and one of
their opponents. Craig Mackail-Smith, dence, but Scunthorpe will be the and Bradford setting the early pace. Shrewsbury and Dagenham and Red-
Aaron McLean and George Boyd favourites to grab the last spot. Bradford have since drastically fallen bridge.
CONFERENCE EUROPE
The Blue Square Premier always On a sidenote Mansfield, Crawley and Like the Premiership, the title races in the former Spurs manager has been a
promised to provide an interesting Oxford were all hit with points deduc- top leagues around Europe have held revelation at the Bernabeu, dragging
season, with around half the league tions for improper registrations of no real surprises, except maybe in Barca back in the title race and getting
made up of former Football League players. All the clubs were outraged Germany. ‘Los Merengues’ within four points of
teams. and it led to an internal enquiry. The Bundesliga was shocked when their illustrious rivals.
The likes of Wrexham, Mansfield, Toward the latter part of the season lowly village side Hoffenheim began Further down the table the Champions
York, Oxford, Cambridge, Torquay Burton lost Clough to Derby, and their to dictate the early running and were League postions are up for grabs, with
etc. were expected to lead the pack results soon showed his influence. outperforming the likes of Bayern and Sevilla, Atletico, Villarreal, Malaga,
from first to last, it didn’t happen. They began dropping points all over Stuttgart. It wouldn’t last though and Deportivo and cash strapped Valencia
The surprise package the place and the chas- they now find them- fighting it out. Valencia
this season was Burton ing pack smelt blood in selves in eighth posi- desperately need the
Albion, led at the start the water. tion. However, that cash input of Europe’s
by Nigel Clough. Al- On the last day of the wasn’t the end of the premier competition.
though no-one ran season Burton needed to surprises, as Wolfsburg When Jose Mourinho
away with the league in get at least a point at now head the table. went to Italy to manage
the first few months, it Torquay to be crowned Bayern Munich are in Inter Milan who had just
was Burton who finally Champions. They lost, real danger of not qual- comfortably won the
broke free and put to- but luckily for them ifying for next years league the year previous
gether a run of wins Cambridge failed to beat Champions League so there wasn’t anyone in
that would take them Altrincham so Albion coach Jurgen Klins- world football who
nearly twenty points went up anyway for the mann has just been dis- would have bet against
clear at the top. That first time ever. missed. him being a success.
cushion would prove to The relegation spots In Spain it has been And so it has proved,
be decisive. were filled by Lewes, Northwich, Barcelona who have led the way since with Inter consistently matching the
A number of other teams started well Woking and the unlucky Weymouth. pretty much the start. Under Pep results of their title rivals Juventus
and some unlikely clubs took up the They went bankrupt and lost all their Guardiola the Catalans have been and AC Milan throughout the season.
top spots. The likes of Histon, Craw- players in February. Needless to say awesome, playing outstanding attack- In France there has been a bit of a sur-
ley and Salisbury were somehow out- they didn’t pick up any points fielding ing football. And with a front three of prise in that Lyon look like they will
muscling their more prestigious their youth team. Henry, Eto’o and Messi with Xavi and not retain a title they have become ac-
counterparts and showing that money The playoff places have been filled by Iniesta behind providing world class customed to winning in recent years.
isn’t everything at this level. Salisbury Histon, Cambridge, Stevenage and service it’s no wonder they are widely Marseille and Bordeaux have stepped
and Crawley eventually ran out of Torquay. Histon will be the underdogs considered the best team on the planet up and overtaken them, with the for-
steam and fell away, but Histon kept but if there’s one thing you can rely at the moment. Juande Ramos was the mer looking favourite to pick up the
on going and have deservedy got on about the Conference it’s an surprise appointment at Real Madrid Ligue Un trophy thanks to the goals
themselves a playoff place. essence of unpredictability. after Bernd Schuster was sacked, but of Mahamadou Niang.
28 www.onsidemag.com
TEAM SHEET
TEAM SHEET
For the second half of team sheet we look at some
of the players who took the Premiership by storm
having arrived with very little reputation. No over-
paid Ukrainians, no overhyped Argentinians, no
French defenders...well one.
Carlo Cudicini
Chelsea
Initially 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.
Roy Keane
A Kanchelskis Nottingham Forest G Kinkladze
Manchester Utd Although he made his name Manchester City
An unknown Ukrainian mid- at Old Trafford, Keane was Not much was known about
fielder, Kanchelskis was brought to England by Forest the Georgian when he came,
signed by Ferguson in 1993. in 1990 from Irish side Cobh but he took the league by
The wing wizard also en- Ramblers. His record speaks storm. His trickery caused
joyed success at Everton and for itself. defences problems and
Rangers. brought City plenty of goals.
29
THERE’S ONLY
H
aving arranged to meet in a and exchange pleasantries. He informs ground all I see is old fellas everywhere. I
classy bar in the middle of Liv- me he is available for the next hour. I as- created AFC Liverpool to give these fa-
erpool city centre, I make my sure him the interview should not take ther’s who wanted to take their sons to a
way through town to interview any longer than fifteen minutes. Well forty football game on a weekend somewhere
Alun Parry, the man who created Liver- minutes actually but who’s counting? to do that which was of an affordable
pool’s newest football club. It occurs to price. Fans are starting to lose their iden-
me that maybe I have underestimated What was the thinking behind tities as well. All the city centres are start-
how tricky this interview might be. This AFC Liverpool? ing to look the same and there seems to
man created a whole football club, he has “The landscape of football has changed be a loss of heritage at certain clubs. I
been interviewed a thousand and one nowadays. Ticket prices have become so learnt what it was to be a Liverpool fan
times by various media outlets including expensive that normal people are being from the environment when I used to
Sky Sports and LFCTV and he is also a priced out of going to matches on a Sat- stand on the terraces at Anfield, but
successful musician. urday afternoon. My dad used to take me nowadays kids are learning about football
Will he be an uptight suit who will de- to the game every week and the question from TV. I wanted to create something in
mand professionalism in every aspect of of money never came into it. Now most the Liverpool image and a club that would
this young journalist and his interviewing dads can’t afford a ticket for both them embody the values and spirit that is asso-
technique? Maybe I should turn back and and their kids. My nephew is taken to An- ciated with LFC. Kevin Keegan once said
catch the second half of ‘Home and field by his dad on a matchday and they that football was the people’s theatre, but
Away’ instead. Then I recieve a text from just stand outside and absorb the atmos- it costs about £15 to go to the theatre.
the man himself. “Am here mate upstairs. phere. For two tickets, a programme and The average price for a Premiership
Am all in black like a big fat specky food and drinks on a Saturday at Anfield match these days is £40. At AFC Liver-
Johnny Cash”. Phew! I get to the bar and it costs around £100. This is why you pool it is five pounds for adults and two
look out for someone who is most likely don’t see many kids at football matches pounds for children. That’s affordable for
whistling ‘Ring of Fire’ and looks like these days. I’m a season ticket holder at anyone who wants to go to a match on a
Joaquin Phoenix. We meet, shake hands Liverpool and whenever I look around the Saturday afternoon.”
30 www.onsidemag.com
ALUN PARRY INTERVIEW
31
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.”
32 www.onsidemag.com
ALUN PARRY INTERVIEW
United slip up and let us back in but to be con’s of Lucas Leiva. children. If you are in the North West and
honest I can’t see it. Having said that I’d One of the most pleasant and natural in- feel like Alun that Premiership football
be happy with finishing second. I think terview subjects I have had the fortune to has become too expensive, give Prescot
you have to go through a campaign like meet, I eventually shake hands and part Cables a visit and cheer on the newest
this before you can think about winning ways with the co-owner and creator of team on Merseyside.
the league. Finishing second will propel
our challenge next season as the players
will be hungry for success and realise
“ There was a AFC Liverpool’s remaining home fixtures
they can do it. I think the international point in time this Tue 7th April - Norton Utd - 7:45PM
ADVERTISMENT
33
the
HYPOTHETICAL
SHIELD
Real Madrid 1960 vs Manchester United 1999
Hypothetical Shield we have gone for a big one. ers in the world at the time. The homegrown talent
In pubs up and down the
The goal hungry Real Madrid side from 1960 go up in the midfield was key to United’s style of pace
country there are thousands against Manchester United’s treble winning side and energy in their play. David Beckham, Paul Sc-
of ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ that from 1999. holes, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs all had various
drunk football fans debate, First of all lets have a look at the teams, starting attacking strengths and provided a threat to the op-
with Real Madrid. position in every game they played. Andy Cole and
argue and fight over till they
The 1960 side is widely considered to be the best Dwight Yorke were the regular strike-force and
forget what the question was. team ‘Los Merengues’ have ever produced, with managed to keep Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gun-
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
Enter Onside. We have taken it upon ourselves to became the first ever person to win the trophy as nar Solskjaer out of the team. Cole and Yorke were
provide answers to the age old questions of ‘who both player and manager. He still remains Real’s the deadliest pairing in Europe at the time and
would beat who’ when it comes to teams from dif- most successful coach to date. scored 53 goals between them in the 1998/99 sea-
ferent eras. Many things have to be taken into ac- son. United’s heart was their captain Roy Keane.
count such as the overall strength of the team, the The United team won the league and the FA Cup as The Irishman was always influential on the team
style of football that they played, and the quality of well as the European Cup in 1999, and they were and was always running box to box in order to dic-
the opposition they came up against. able to achieve this because of their impressive tate the play.
There are loads of great teams from Celtic’s Euro- strength in depth. Now, onto the matter at hand, Real Madrid 1960
pean Cup winning side, to Holland’s late eighties They had Peter Schmeichel in goal, a bastion of versus Manchester United 1999 for the first ever
‘total football’ side, to Arsenal’s ‘invincibles’ in consistency and the club’s greatest ever shot stop- Hypothetical Shield. The line-ups (top right) show
2004. There are so many potentially mouth-water- per. Jaap Stam was at the heart of the defence and that Madrid are at full strength, whereas Utd are
ing ties to choose from, but as its the first ever was widely considered to be one of the best defend missing their captain Roy Keane due to suspension.
34 www.onsidemag.com
HYPOTHETICAL SHIELD
Gento
Giggs
G. Neville
Puskas
Pachin
Marquitos
del Sol
Irwin
Canario Blomqvist
The rules state they must be the same team that far post with a shot come cross. minute, and it goes to Real Madrid.
played in their respective European Cup Final wins, The English side begin to step on the gas and get Canario wins a corner and takes it himself. The ini-
so Schmeichel takes over the armband for the Red out of their own half. A neat one two between Sc- tial ball in is cleared by Ronny Johnsen but only
Devils. holes and Giggs gets Utd down the left hand side. goes as far as Puskas whose first time shot sails
Madrid line up with a 3-4-3 formation, with Puskas The Welshman ghosts past Pachin and squares it for straight into the top corner.
and Di Stefano leading the line with Del Sol to the Andy Cole. However, Cole is on the stretch and can Ferguson throws on Sheringham and Solskjaer for
right of them. United show up with a traditional 4- only find the side-netting with his effort. Blomqvist and Yorke and goes all out attack to try
4-2, with Jesper Blomqvist replacing Keane and United keep up the pressure and are rewarded in the and get back into the game. It almost pays off
Giggs moving over to the right of midfield. thirtieth minute when a Beckham free kick is straight away as Sheringham diverts a wayward
palmed out straight to the feet of Scholes who has Denis Irwin shot towards goal but Dominguez is
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
Miguel and Puskas volleys it home. Madrid go in 2-1 up at Alex
Munoz Ferguson
half time.
The Spaniards will certainly be the happier of the
The game kicks off at quite a slow pace, neither two going in at the break, but with the attacking equal to it and diverts it round the post.
side willing to give up the first goal. There are quality on show there will be chances for United to Then disaster for United. A counter attack from
some sloppy passes and numerous fouls committed. rectify this scoreline. Madrid leads to Di Stefano being one on one with
Scholes is booked for a foul on Vidal in just the There are no changes for the second half, mainly Schmeichel. He selflessly squares the ball to
eighth minute, he’ll have to be careful from now because substitutes didn’t exist in 1960 so only Puskas who rolls it into the net and completes his
on. Puskas hits a free kick from thirty yards but United have the option to bring subs on. hat-trick.
Schmeichel deals with it comfortably. The Manchester team begin the half brightly, and In the dying minutes Sheringham heads a consola-
Then, out of nowhere, Real take the lead. A through come close to equalising when Yorke meets a tion from a Beckham corner and Solskjaer taps in a
ball from Gento finds Di Stefano who rounds the Blomqvist cross, but his header grazes the top of third after a killer through ball from Giggs, but it is
keeper and slots it home. United are shell shocked the bar. too late.
and have to put up with some more pressure, wor- It’s end to end stuff and you get the feeling a goal The final whistle goes and Real Madrid are
ried they might go two down. Puskas tests Schme- for either team would completely change the tempo crowned the kings of European history and are the
ichel again from range and Canario just misses the of the game. That goal comes in the sixty fourth inaugural winners of the Hypothetical Shield.
REAL MADRID 4
MAN UTD 3
35
The Badly Drawn Adventures of...
STICKY McKENNA
Press Conference at Here are some of your
I want goals from you Ok, boss
Newchester Albion F.C Sticky, and for crying
teammates, Mark, Julio and Ugly
Dan
out loud get a haircut!
We’d like to introduce
our new signing, Sticky Isn’t he a
bit fat? Christ. he’s
McKenna! Hey
hideous!
“McKenna goes on a mazy run, but he has been “The referee has blown for a foul, and he’s issued a “McKenna scores!!! He’s curled the ball into the top
tackled by the big bruiser Liney Thomas.” red card to Thomas. It’s a free kick to Newchester on corner. We’ve just moved into injury time and it looks
the edge of the area.” like the new boy has won the game for Newchester!”
Yay!
FAN Q&A
Simon Gerrard who is just put wher-
ever. I’ll say Rooney.
37
A DAY AT THE
MUSEUM
I
t’s a warm Saturday morning and the footy rit- on five occasions. Not to mention that it was attrib- Numerous figures from the world of football have
uals have begun. Up at quarter to nine to uted as the European Capital of Culture for 2008, thrown their weight behind the exhibition, heaping
check the headlines on Sky Sports News, then and what is more cultural than a game where praise not only on the exhibition itself, but the deci-
three hours of ‘Soccer AM’, followed by sion to bring it to Liverpool.
‘Football Focus’ and then a couple of hours of Jeff Michel Platini, President of UEFA and three times
Stelling and the boys on ‘Soccer Saturday’. But European Footballer of the Year, said: “I am de-
hang on a minute, my team isn’t playing until half lighted that UEFA is bringing this exciting exhibi-
five. What on earth am I supposed to do till then? I tion to Liverpool during its Capital of Culture
know, I’ll go to the museum, it was obvious really celebrations, a city that loves its football and plays
wasn’t it? such a big role in Europe’s fascination with the
It is the World Museum in Liverpool, and there game.” High praise indeed from one of the game’s
happens to be a football exhibition on at the mo- greatest ever players and now one of the sport’s
ment, where UEFA are showing off various tro- most powerful individuals.
phies and more artefacts than you can shake a cup Fellow Frenchman Lilian Thuram, official patron
of bovril at. of the exhibition and winner of both the World Cup
Sir Thomas Lipton
Running from November 2008-April 2009, ‘Only a and European Championship with France, said:
Trophy Medal from 1909
Game?’ looks at the human face of football in Eu- “Football brings people together across Europe. It
rope from the classic era of the fifties to the current speaks a simple language that everyone under-
day of global superstars. twenty two grown men in shorts try to kick a stands. Only a Game? shines a light on all the ac-
It is UEFA’s way of celebrating the game of foot- leather ball past each other? tors that play a role: fans, school kids, amateurs, as
ball with the people who make it what it is, the The exhibition was first put on display in Brussels well as the professional players.”
fans. And what better place to hold it then in a city where it enjoyed a lot of success and critical ac- Looking at European culture through the lens of
that houses two of Europe’s biggest clubs, one of cliam as people from all over the continent came to football, Only a Game? highlights the parallels,
which has won Europe’s premier club competition see it. positive and negative, between the two. Solidarity,
38 www.onsidemag.com
UEFA EXHIBITION
ARTICLE BY
DAVID SEGAR
success, participation, celebration, racism and inte- people from all over the region and beyond to visit • A set of giant football figures telling the evocative
gration is all examined in this thought-provoking the exhibition." personal stories of players including Kevin Keegan,
exhibition. The City of Liverpool has played a cen- The exhibition has a number of features to it that Bernd Trautmann and Johann Cruyff
tral role in this story. can keep the everyday football fan ensconced for • Key items from the Everton Collection and from
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard added his praise hours. Liverpool FC Museum
“
behind the exhibition saying "There is no city in • Memory Zone where visitors can mix their own
Europe where football means more than it does to
the people of Liverpool. So I think it is great that
Gerrard: There is no football highlights into a video clip and set it to a
soundtrack
we are having a European football exhibition as city in Europe where • Interactive multimedia football quiz
part of Liverpool 08." • Portrait gallery of grassroots footballers from Liv-
Bryan Gray, Chair of the Liverpool Culture Com- football means more erpool and across Europe.
pany, added: “Sport is part of Liverpool’s heritage
than it does to the When I initially walked through the doors to the ex-
”
and football has helped to shape this city of culture, hibition I was initially taken aback by these giant
so it should be no surprise to see it feature so
prominently in the Capital of Culture programme.
people of Liverpool. subbuteo figures glaring down at me. On closer in-
spection these were the figures which as stated in
We are delighted to welcome Only a Game? to the the highlights tell stories of past players. There is
European Capital of Culture; I can think of Highlights include: an archway to walk through behind them with a
nowhere more fitting for this thought provoking ex- • Player memorabilia from the National Football quote from Lilian Thuram. It takes a while to read
hibition.” Museum - shirts, medals and trophies of great Eu- it before I realise I’m holding up the line.
Olivier Guilbaud, the man behind the exhibition, ropean players such as Phil Neal, George Best, Fer- Then in front of me is a gauntlet of various football
said: "It's great to be able to take Only a Game? to enc Puskas, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore, memorabilia as far as the eye can see. Each glass
Liverpool because it is a city whose passion for Stanley Matthews and Petr Cech cabinet contains one, two or more pieces of football
football remains second to none in Europe. Thanks • A display of UEFA trophies, including the Cham- history.
to its location, the World Museum should enable pions League trophy and UEFA Cup As expected it is all in chronological order, so fit-
39
tingly the first object I come across is a Sir Thomas
Lipton Trophy winners medal from 1909. It be- “Now get out there lads
longed to Tom Gill of the victorious West Auckland and make sure you keep
team who beat FC Winterthur of Switzerland 2-0 in your heads!”
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 Championship. stead of the UEFA Cup like they do today.
could they have to show me? Wait a minute, is that Finally I see a cup which seems familiar but I can’t The crowd has dispursed and the European Cham-
the European Championship? quite put my finger on it. You know when you see a pionship is now free. Taking photo’s of this beauti-
A trophy cabinet that would make most manager’s celebrity and think “I thought he was dead”, well ful trophy I come to an educated decision, it is
drool over lies ahead, with the main attraction that’s how I felt, and then I realised why, it was the impossible to take a picture of this bloomin trophy
being the UEFA European Championship trophy. European Cup Winners Cup. The competition was without getting glare of the lights.
It was won by Spain last summer thanks to a Fer- Having basked in its glory for a few minutes I no-
nando Torres goal against Germany in the final, and tice something to the right of it, something that
now it is on display in the city where Torres plays isn’t a trophy. They look like bingo balls, or those
his club football. If irony was made of strawberry’s, little plastic containers you used to get in Kinder
we’d all be drinking a lot of smoothies right about Surprise. They are the plastic balls and official
now. names of the teams from a Champions League last
Originally the cabinet also had the Champions sixteen draw from 2007. Names like Real Madrid
League and UEFA Cup trophies, but unfortunately and Manchester United are printed on what looks
they have been whisked off to be readied for this like the same kind of paper you get jokes printed on
years winners. Some people can be so selfish. in crackers.
There are several people surrounding the famous There is a quiz machine in the corner, but it is not
trophy so I decide to move on and check the others just any ordinary quiz machine, all the questions
A Hungary shirt from their
out before going back to it. are based around European football history. Con-
famous Wembley win
Accompanying the Euro trophy is the UEFA sidering myself a bit of an anorak I step up confi-
Under-21 trophy, won by Holland two years ago dently and wait for Chris Tarrant to tell me what to
and which will be competed for again this summer. stopped about a decade ago and integrated into the do. Strangely he didn’t feature in this quiz but it
Next to it is the UEFA Women’s trophy. No this is UEFA Cup and was for the winners of domestic was a steady start, challenging but not got any
not the European trophy for the best woman, it is cup competitions in each country i.e. the winner of wrong yet. ‘Who was the captain of Club Brugge
awarded to the winners of the Women’s European the FA Cup would play in the Cup Winners Cup in- 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-
Stanley Matthews, the lated artwork, including a big print of the President
original ‘Golden Balls’ 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.
40 www.onsidemag.com
UEFA EXHIBITION
41
IT’S NOT JUST
A GAME,
IT’S MORE
IMPORTANT A look at the popular
video game franchise
I
t has been one of the predominant tools man Interview by There are over 50 full-time staff here at SI working
has used in recent years to put off doing any on Football Manager in one of its many guises, and
work. If the missus says she’s going out shop- David Segar while everyone is contracted to work a 40-hour
ping and wants you to clean the car before she gine that simulates the matches for you. In 2005 week, I cannot believe that anyone works ‘only’ that
gets back then more than likely you will think to through to 2008 the game used a 2D match engine. amount. In particular, during the ‘crunch’ periods
yourself “Yeah I’ll get right onto that...just after However, this year for the first time a 3D engine of the weeks before an impending release, produc-
I’ve finished my Crewe Alexandra season on Foot- has been attempted, making the experience more ers, coders, researchers and testers all work many
ball Manager.” realistic than ever. more hours than that as we wish to make the best
Many an hour has been ‘wasted’ by man searching But personally what I wanted to know was what game that we can.
for the secret formula to creating a Champions happens behind the game? How much work goes
League winning outfit when they should be taking into producing a database which holds thousands of Including researchers, how many people does it
the dog for a walk. However, the joy that over- different players and teams? take to produce each edition of the game?
comes a player when their £3m striker has just I was lucky enough to speak with Sports Interac- As mentioned, there are 50 full-time staff here, and
tive’s Dean Gripton to find out more. throughout the year there are many temporary full-
time testers working in our test lab here, with those
How long have you been working at Sports In- figures depending on the workload of the time.
teractive?
I’ve been here since 2002, and working on the Eng-
lish Research team for the last four years.
“There are some very
What exactly does your job entail?
interesting new features
I am one of two people contracted to manage the
English research team here at Sports Interactive. I
planned, but I’d have to
also work alongside the researchers of the other
countries, analysing their databases, making any kill you if I told you!”
necessary amendments and helping them improve
their own management of their own country data- There are 60 Head Researchers maintaining data-
bases. bases of players, clubs and competitions in their
I also have to test the data, and the tools used to country, and nearly all rely on unpaid assistants
given Burnley their fourth goal in the Champions create and store the data, during the year. This in- who volunteer extra information about their spe-
League final against Real Madrid makes it all volves checking and re-checking how the data ap- cific club.
worthwhile. pears in the editors and ensuring that the editors
The Football Manager franchise has been going and databases used by Head Researchers and their Why do you think FM games are so popular?
since 2005, when they broke away from their now assistants work to purpose. They allow gamers to immerse themselves into the
rivals, Championship Manager, after a falling out world of football in a different way to any other
with their publishers Eidos. The games are de- How much effort and time goes into each edition football game. You do not have to be skilful with a
velped by Sports Interactive and are now published of Football Manager? joystick to beat an opponent, you use your own
by SEGA. The evolution of each FM release starts before even knowledge of tactics to try and outwit the AI and
If you have never heard of the game and haven’t the release of the previous year’s game. Ie, FM2010 achieve results with your team. You are not re-
figured it out already, ‘FM’ is a football manage- ideas and plans were set in place before FM2009 stricted to playing as Manchester United, AC Milan
ment simulation, where you can become manager was released. Indeed, we have in place some future or Barcelona and you can play as Basingstoke
of any club in the world and attempt to guide them ideas and plans for FM2011 and even FM2012, in Town, or Berwick Rangers, or as Güngören
to success. terms of new features and improvements to the Belediyespor in Turkey.
There is an easy to use interface and a match en- many current features.
42 www.onsidemag.com
FOOTBALL MANAGER
Do you play the game in your leisure time? that country to the level that I knew I could trust it. who code the match engine (Paul Collyer) and
I wish I did! I do not have much time for any com- I knew that I would not have prior knowledge of the transfer modules (Keith Flannery) are too busy
puter games – indeed I have never even owned a majority of players in the Turkish Premier Division, coding to play!
console of any sort and have only ever played FM so that all helped me choose a league. I went for
(or Championship Manager before the split in Sivasspor as I did not wish to choose one of the Are there any new features planned for FM2010
2005). When I do, I invariably end up looking at giant clubs such as Galatasaray, and chose Sivas or beyond?
the data on a professional level, logging aspects I because they were in the InterToto Cup which I There are some very interesting new features
wish to change or discuss with other researchers, thought would make it interesting. Little did I know planned, but I’d have to kill you if I told you! Many
rather than enjoying the game for what it is. Which that, in real life, Sivasspor would be challenging improvements to current features are also being
is why, for FM2009, I did not play in the lower for a shock first-ever Turkish title success! That planned.
leagues in England, as I used to do. said, I am a slow player and have only played the
first couple of months of the first season. Football Manager will always be close to my heart.
When you get a chance to play what team do It has taken up about a third of my life in the last
you usually pick? Which member of the staff is best at the game? four years and I’m sure as long as Dean and the rest
In my FM2010 game I picked Sivasspor in Turkey. Miles Jacobsen, our MD, plays the game the most of the gang are improving future games in the se-
The reasons for this was that there was an upheaval (he needs to know everything about how he works) ries, my life will continue to go on a downward spi-
in the Turkish research team in 2007 and 2008, and and is always keen to find the latest youth discover- ral...that is until I win the Champions League with
I knew that the database was much improved for ies, so I’d say he is. That is only because the guys Crawley Town.
43
REVIEWS
A look at
some of the
latest footy
films, books,
games and
kit available
Jelleyman’s Thrown has been shown the red card for dissent. Looks like
Jellyman's thrown a wobbly." / "Darlington's
A Wobbly equaliser has been scored by Guyain Ndumbu-
Nsungu. Very much a case of local boy makes
An inside look into life as a good." (He's from Congo.) / "They'll be dancing in
Sky Sports pundit the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight." /
"James Brown's grabbed a second for Hartlepool. I
The cult SkySports Soccer Saturday anchorman de-
feel good!"
livers a volley of entertaining and informative an-
The man who is currently wowing housewives
ecdotes about life in front of the vidiprinter.
across the country on Countdown has put this book
Jeff Stelling is a legend amongst football fans. To
together to give football fans a chance to share in
the millions unable to get to their teams' games on
the banter that regularly goes on in Isleworth, Mid-
Saturday afternoons, the next best thing is undoubt-
dlesex at the Sky Sports studios. Whether its the in-
edly the pleasurable company of Jeff and the Sky
sistent disagreeing just for the sake of disagreeing
Sports vidiprinter for a cosy marathon on the sofa.
of Paul Merson, the ever so slight Liverpool bias of
If someone's got to reveal that your beloved team
Phil Thompson or the ridiculous, nonsensical yam-
have just gone 3-0 down away from home and had
merings of Chris Kamara. “I tell you what Jeff,
a man sent off, it's best if it's consummate profes-
Stoke City are defending like badgers at the mo-
sional Jeff who breaks the news to you.
ment.”
Avid Hartlepool fan Jeff knows our pain and shares
Jelleyman's Thrown a Wobbly goes a long way to
our joy!but mostly he knows our pain. The long-
demonstrate how a six-hour long, studio-based
time host of SkySports' iconic Soccer Saturday
show with no live action pictures and featuring
show has become a cult figure, universally admired Hear what Jeff has to say about some of the show's men gazing into TV monitors which the viewer
for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, his legendary pundits over the years, ex-players such can't see, can hold a huge audience enthralled every
genuine and unlimited enthusiasm for ALL levels as George Best, Rodney Marsh, Chris Kamara, Saturday afternoon between August and May.
of football, and his wicked sense of humour which Charlie Nicholas and Matt Le Tissier.
makes the six-hour long show simply whizz by. Be a fly on the wall of the hotel bar on Friday
Jelleyman's Thrown a Wobbly is a deliciously nights as Jeff and his guests gather for a natter and RATING: A 5-0 MAULING, COME
chaotic, hugely entertaining, anecdote-ridden, hu- few drinks. Get the inside track on all those great ON YOU JEFF!
morous taste of life in the Soccer Saturday studio. one-liners: / "Mansfield Town's Gareth Jelleyman
55 www.onsidemag.com
REVIEWS
Pro Evolution The passing has improved on last years game but
some of the shooting is still a little off. The power
Soccer 2009 guage seems to have a mind of its own at times and
is not as immediate as one would like when trying
Konami provide to take a snap shot on goal.
us with another A new feature this season is the ‘Be A Legend’
edition of the mode, which is basically stolen from the FIFA ‘Be
A Pro’ mode. It is enjoyable enough and can be
ever popular Pro
quite time consuming. The idea is that you only
Evo franchise, control one player in one position and you see the
still the same game from a third person viewpoint. You start off
rubbish sound- in a trial match for some unknown team and based
on your performance in that game you are offered a
track though.
contract by a real club. You then try and work your
way into the first team your club and gradually
Once again we as consumers are asked the oh so
mould yourself into one of the world’s great play-
important question. It is often used as an opening
ers.
query to someone, from man to man, when you
and took notice. Their rivals had produced a game Something Pro Evo has been criticised for in the
first meet. It helps people decide what kind of per-
that was not just on a par with Pro Evo, but had ac- past by FIFA fans is that they have never had the
son you are, indeed they may be able to tell your
tually surpassed it. The Japanese company knew full licences for the Premier League, only featuring
whole character from your answer to the one and
they had to do something, so they did, they bought two teams a season and making fake teams loosely
only question...FIFA or Pro Evo?
the exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions based on the rest. This season it’s Liverpool and
The war has been going on in the video game
League licence to use in future Pro Evo games. Man Utd’s turn, but the lack of any others can be
world for the best part of a decade with ups and
While that has been a nice feature (it is not in- off putting. However, there are sufficient licences
downs along the way.
cluded on the PS2 version) it has not really been for other nations, such as the whole of La Liga.
Arguably, Pro Evo has been leading the way for the
enough to persuade people away from FIFA. The A solid effort without being spectacular. Konami
past few years, with many gamers preferring it for
gameplay in Pro Evo was always praised but has will have to up their game if they want to go top of
its simulation style as opposed to FIFA’s arcade
never really evolved since the early days when it the tree again.
feel. However, when positive reviews started com-
ing in for the new FIFA 09 game Konami sat up was known as International Superstar Soccer. RATING: A NERVY 2-0 HOME WIN
56
QUIZ
Two 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!!!!
Colin Farrow Tom Bradshaw
Manchester Utd fan Manchester City fan
1. Who scored the win- Roberto Di Matteo Di Matteo
ning goal in the 1997 FA
Cup Final?
Yes Yes
2. Who was the manager Mick McCarthy Jack Charlton
of Ireland at the 1994
World Cup?
No Yes
3. By what scoreline did 2-1 2-1
Hull beat Arsenal by this
season? Yes Yes
4. How much did Liver- £8.5m No idea. Was it around
pool pay for Stan Colly- £6m?
Yes No
more in 1995?
5. What was the name of Le Mascot? It was Footix! He was a big
the mascot at France 98? cock (as in the bird)
No Yes
6. Which Italian team is Napoli Er, either Genoa or Napoli,
Maradona a legend at? i’ll say Napoli
Yes Yes
7. Who were the runners Czech Republic The Czech’s
up at Euro 96?
Yes Yes
8. Who is the current Unless he’s been sacked Dunga
coach of the Brazil na- yet it’s Dunga
tional side? Yes Yes
9. What was the last tro- The FA Cup in 2004, the Was it the FA Cup?
phy won by Arsenal? jammy gits!
Yes Yes
10. What is the capacity A lot. Isn’t it around Read this the other day, it’s
at the Camp Nou? 100,000? 95,000
No Yes
FINAL SCORE
7 9
46 www.onsidemag.com
STATS ALL FOLKS!
STATS ALL FOLKS!
47
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