'FourFourTwo'
can be subscribed to at www.fourfourtwo.com
Read
the full text of the interview between Bob's 70-71 Pages
and 'FourFourTwo' at:
Online Oddity - A Soccer Web
Master Interviewed
Bob's
70-71 pages have always enjoyed reading the regular
football history articles under the heading 'Action
Replay'. Here's an index of these articles...
Action Replay
(Note:
links are to the magazine review, not the article itself)
130
June 2005
Real Madrid versus WHO!?
The team in white you know, the other lot are
somewhat less celebrated. But Stade de Reims were
France's finest club, finalists in the inaugural European
Cup Final and a team punching above their weight. Alas it
couldn't last...Story Jonathan Wilson.
129
May 2005
Kop That
It was the closest title race ever: George
Graham's rebuilt Arsenal vs Liverpool in the
final 90 minutes of the entire season. But as a TV
audience of millions watched on, no one could have
predicted its dramatic conclusion. (Arsenal's 1989
Championship winning match v Liverpool - further
immortalised by Nick Hornby's Fever
Pitch). Story Louis Massarella
128
April 2005
Carry On Doctor
From World Cup legend to Garforth Town - via
Colonel Gadaffi's tent, political rallies and a
smoke-filled recording studio. Welcome to the boozy, fag
fuelled life of Dr Socrates, football's hairiest revolutionary. Story Alex Bellos.
(N.B. this
article reveals the 1982 World Cup Brazilian captain's
full name to be Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de
Souza Vieira de Oliveira !)
See report
of the supplement Best and Worst Player At
Your Club Ever!
127
March 2005
Falling Star
An invincible blend of sublime skill and
thuggish cynicism, the Red Star Belgrade of 1991 might
have celebrated as one of the greatest sides ever...but
for Balkan politics and the worst final ever. Story Jonathan
Wilson.
126
February 2005
Mr Incredible
Was he a footballer? Yes. Was he a shopkeeper ?
yes. Was he soldier, teacher, writer, broadcaster,
activist, and revolutionary? Of course he was! Meet Charles
Buchan, a right royal pain in the backside for
football's ruling elite. Story Jon Spurling.
125
January 2005
Take That Comrade
Roman Abramovich may have aroused intrigue when
he arrived in London in the Summer of 2003, but it wasn't
half as much as when his compatriots visited blighty
almost 60 years earlier... (Moscow Dynamo's UK Tour1945)
Story Leo Moynihan.
124
December 2004
"Don't Give Up the Day Job, Keeper"
Solicitor by trade, top-flight goalkeeper for
fun; weekday schoolmaster, weekend winger. Amateurs and
part-timers still flourished at football's highest levels
until well into the 1960s... Story Duncan Steer.
123
November 2004
The Masters of Mayhem
With a combination of blood, sweat, and real
ale, Altrincham were non-league football's premier giant
killers, wreaking havoc among the football League's
finest. Could anyone stop them ? Story Andy Mitten.
122
October 2004
Crash! Bang! Wallop!
Vinny Jones calls him the hardest man to ever
play football, Neil Ruddock still
shivers when you mention his name. Meet Billy
Whitehurst: a defender's worst nightmare. When
he wasn't slapping managers, that is. Story Rob
Finch.
121
September 2004
Ship of Fools
Preston were billed as champions of the world,
and America was supposed to be football's bold new
frontier. But when North End embarked on their 1929 tour
of the USA, it soon became clear that neither claim was
true. Story Gavin Willacy.
120
August 2004
Shot Through the Heart
A week after scoring this own goal at USA 94, Andres
Escobar was murdered. On the 10th anniversary of
his death, FourFourTwo returns to the crime
scene. Story Sjef van Hoof
119
July 2004
The Man Who Wasn't There
When he played at full back no one noticed. As a
coach of IFK Gothenburg, the players got his name wrong.
But behind the scenes, Sven-Göran Eriksson
was calling the shots. And soon his name would be known
across Europe. Story George Cooper.
118
June 2004
"We Can't See You Sneaking Out"
Boasting 19 European Cup Winners' medals,
England went to the 1980 European Championships sure of
success. But as Ron Greenwood's team
fell apart, their fans went on the rampage. Well, it beat
watching football. Words Daniel Ruiz.
117
May 2004
The Man Who Would Be King
Sir Henry Norris was prepared to bully and bribe
everyone from the FA to the Archbishop of Canterbury to
turn Arsenal into London's first super-club. But could he
reach the top before the dodgy deals caught up with him?
Words Jon Spurling.
116
April 2004
Hi-Ho Silver Lining
There was a grey cloud over Anfield when Bill
Shankly decided to call it a day. Nobody could
live up to his legend. Or could they? (Story of Bob
Paisley as Liverpool's manager.) By Leo
Moynihan
115
March 2004
It happened one night...
Wiener Sport Club play in Austria's amateur
leagues now - but in 1958 they thrashed a giant of the
game to pull off perhaps the greatest upset in European
Cup history. By Conrad Brunner.
114
February 2004
Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Major Frank Buckley was an eccentric straight
out of PG Wodehouse who became the game's biggest name.
But despite his tweedy image, the Wolves boss had a
vision of victory that would stop at nothing. By Duncan
Steer.
113
January 2004
Prime Suspects
He was the best player in the Soviet Union. Some
say perhaps the best in the World. But while Pelé
was stealing his thunder in the World Cup, Eduard
Streltsov was standing trial for rape... By Jonathan
Wilson.
112
December 2003
Mission Impossible !
Fifty years ago, in an unknown country behind
the Iron Curtain, a plan was hatched to create a team of
football supermen who would destroy mighty England on
their own turf. And it worked. By Jonathan Wilson.
(Story of Hungary's drubbing of England in the 1950s)
111
November 2003
John, Paul, George, Ringo and Kevin !
The Beatles left Liverpool for Hamburg on the
road to world domination. But already crowned with the
England captaincy and a revolutionary haircut, what was Kevin
Keegan playing at when he defected to the old
enemy ? By Matt Thompson.
110
October 2003
Another Fine Mess...
Frank McAvennie scored for fun. But as the
limelight faded, japes turned to scrapes. And it was
always someone else's fault. By Andy Dougan.
109
September 2003
It's Raining Men
Justin Fashanu was Britain's first openly gay
footballer. But it was his champagne and celebrity
lifestyle that was to lead to tragedy. By Matt Allen.
108
August 2003
There was no Action Replay , though
there was a 5 page feature on the Hillsborough
Disaster by Anthony Teasdale.
107
July 2003
The Golden Oldie
Nearly 50 Years young, Roy of the Rovers has
survived shooting kidnap and amputation. What is the
secret of his success ? By Samantha Walker-Sowden.
106
June 2003
Goosebumps !
The FA Cup Final remains the boyhood dream come
true. By Leo Moynihan. And on p106, we rewind
100 years to a less-than-classic won by, yes, Bury...
(Also
featured Cliff Jones on Tottenham v
Leicester City 1961, Steve Coppell on
Man U v Southampton 1976 and Man U v Arsenal 1979, Mark
Lawrenson on Liverpool v Everton 1986, Dave
Beasant on Wimbledon v Liverpool 1988, and Mario
Melchiot on Chelsea v Aston Villa 2000 and
Chelsea v Arsenal 2002)
105
May 2003
Every Picture Tells a Story (The Robin Friday
Story)
He was a rebel in an era of rebels, breathtakingly flash
in a golden age of individual genius giving it large. So
what went wrong with Robin Friday ? By Paolo Hewitt.
104
April 2003
Send in the Clown
Only one man stood between the thoroughbreds of
England and the stately progress to the 1974 World Cup
Finals. Ridiculed at home and abroad, no one gave
goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski and his Poland team-mates a
chance... Dominic O'Reilly recalls the ultimate
upset. (About England versus Poland 17 October, 1973).
103
March 2003
The Appliance of Science
Every so often, football undergoes a revolution
inspired by just one man. Meet Herbert Chapman,
Helenio Herrra and Valeriy
Lobanovski, three visionary thinkers whose
masterplans for club successes reinvented the whole game.
By Alasdair Reid, Conrad Brunner and Jonathan
Wilson
102
February 2003
Goodbye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester Square
When FA Cup winning Charlie Mitten walked out on
Manchester United to seek his fortune in Columbia 50
years ago, it was a move too far for the footballing
authorities back home... Story by Andy Mitten
101
January 2003
It's a War on Two Fronts, Ron...
Some marched off to fight in foreign fields.
Other (sic) stayed in Blighty to keep the home
fires burning. Scott Morgan recalls the exploits
of World War II's football legends.
100
December 2002
Murder most foul
With their entertaining football, Third Lanark
were Glasgow's friendly side. But one man had a grudge,
and single-handed this enemy within administered the
poison that killed the club... By Graeme Thomson.
99
November 2002
Shoot ! Goal ! Foul !
... and of course Jimmy Hill's Football Weekly. Peter
Seddon takes a trip up to his loft and unearths the
best and the worst of the footy mags that time forgot ...
98
October 2002
Wish you were here
Thirty years ago Rangers took 25,000 fans to
Barcelona and won their one and only European trophy. And
typically, things got a little out of hand ... By Ronnie
Esplin
97
September 2002
Because I'm worth it
Not even wor Jackie (Charlton)
could polish off three of these breakfast haybales
(Shredded Wheat). But he was richly rewarded trying ... Alasdair
Reid hacks through football's commercial jungle.
(Article on famous footballers in adverts)
96
August 2002
...World Cup Souvenir Edition, excellent though
it is, had NO Action Replay...
95
July 2002
Senna ! Prost ! Greavsie ?!?
Though not picked for England, there was no way
Jimmy Greaves was going to miss out on the 1970 Mexico
World Cup. So he drove there - and nearly died... Matt
Allen recalls an awfully big adventure
94
June 2002
The Boys are back in town
All Belfast turned out when Northern Ireland's
1982 World Cup Team came home in triumph. Rob
Wrightman recalls the campaign that couldn't stop
celebrating.
93
May 2002
I have a Dream...
He coached England for 16 years, four World Cups
and humiliation heaped upon high hopes and hubris. Yet
Walter Winterbottom dragged the game into the modern era
and laid the way for final victory.
(Also see
obituary of Velibor Vasovic)
92
April 2002
Who killed Accrington Stanley ? (Review
March 2002)
Forty Years ago, this famous club met a
mysterious end. But Whodunnit ?The rival chairman, the
teenage player, the gasman - or suicide ?
(Also see
obituaries for John Bromley and Rarnon
Moreno Grosso)
91
March 2002
Cast not the first stone. (Review
February 2002)
Thirteen years ago Manchester United seemed to
be going backwards. With slipping results and
uncharismatic players, the fans were calling for Alex
Ferguson's head. So what went right ?
90
February 2002 (Review
January 2002)
Sing when you're knitting !
Home-made scarves, rosettes and rattles. A
warming half-time mug of Bovril. We look back on those
golden years when it really was a people's game.
(N.B. This article is largely based on the photographs
from 'Football: the Golden Age' by John Tennant,
published by Cassell at 30 pounds. - Bob)
89
January 2002 (Review December 2001)
'You're My Best Mate You Are !'
A Chelsea legend of the Swinging era. A great
lost England maverick. So tell us, Alan Hudson: What went
wrong ?
88 December 2001 (Review: November
2001)
Decline and Fall of a Giant.
Don Revie was the most successful club manager
in the country. But when England called him, things began
to go badly wrong. Worse still, the press started digging
up his shadowy past ...
Also see
Scandals
87 November 2001
The Unlikely Lads
When your World Cup winning manager and the
world's best player leave your club, who do you get to
replace them ? A shy Scot and a cheeky chancer from
London, that's who ... (Steve Archibald and Terry
Venables at Barcelona)
86 October 2001
We happy few, we band of brothers.
Pegasus were gentlemen as well as players,
relics of a bygone age with the footballing style of the
future. And 50 years ago they managed to fill Wembley
stadium ...
85 September 2001
Das ist die Hand Gottes!
(Of double-page spread of picture from 1966
World Cup Final ...) A second after this picture was
taken, West Germany scored to equalise the 1966 World Cup
Final, forcing that nail-biting extra-time. Never before
seen in Britain, these rare photographs throw a dramatic
new light on English football's legendary summer.
84 August 2001 (Review: July
2001
King of the Celts
It's taken Celtic 32 years to win the domestic
Treble again. With the recent death of the Bhoys'
inspirational Bobby Murdoch, 'FourFourTwo' recalls the
Class of '69.
83 July 2001 (Review: June
2001)
The Genius
He destroyed England's World Cup winners,
dominated the Sixties north of the border and, in the
words of Sir Alex Ferguson, "was the greatest ever
Scottish footballer." So what went wrong with Jim
Baxter ?
82 June 2001 (Review:May
2001)
The Tractor Boys plough through Europe.
Ipswich Town looking good ? It's nothing new: 20
years ago they were among Europe's best.
81 May 2001 (Review: April
2001)
King of Clubs
Pelé built his reputation as the world's
greatest ever player on the international stage. His
performances at club level weren't bad either.
80 April 2001
'It's all cultivated. innit ? Unbelievably
cultivated'
West Bromwich Albion toured China in 1978 and found a
world they did not understand.
(From the same tour that John Trewick a WBA player
famously said, 'When you've seen one wall, you've seen
them all')
79 March 2001
Stand Down !
With 12 years now passed since the disaster at
Hillsborough, we look back in pictures at the glory days
of the terraces and remember those bizarre years in the
early Nineties when every major ground seemed to become a
building site as clubs joined the rush to change from
standing to seating. Maybe terraces will return one day,
but you'll never see ends like these again in your lives.
78 February 2001
A funeral in France
Saint Etienne had dominated French football for
a decade - another decade on and they were in ruins.
76 December 2000
The man who would be king.
CB Fry was the epitome of the Edwardian
gentleman: international footballer and cricketer, world
record long jumper, and putative king of Albania. This is
the story of his remarkable life.
75 November 2000
Judgement Day
Swindon were down. So were Oldham, barring a
miracle. But who would join them in Division One ? On
May, 1994, four teams were fighting for their Premiership
lives.
74 October 2000 (Review September
2000)
Sergeant Wilko's barmy army take over.
Howard Wilkinson's Leeds team was said to be an over-the
hill gang of long-ball merchant's. Yet they belied the
jibes to win the League in style.
73 September 2000
These two men (and a few others) helped change football
forever.
In 1978 a decent midfielder cost 200,000 pounds.
A year later that price had risen by 700 per cent. How
did it happen ?
(The two men: Wolves manager John Barnwell, and Steve
Daley prior to his big money move to Manchester City.)
72 August 2000 (Review: July
2000)
Can't drink. Can't smoke. What can you do ?
Frustrated by the football language and
lifestyle, Jimmy Greaves was left wondering why the hell
he ever agreed to go to Milan.
71 July 2000
'Anybody who wears new boots for England will never get
selected again.'
Alf Ramsey's outburst was symptomatic of
England's 1968 Euro campaign, when a team of legends lost
its gloss.
70 June 2000 (Review: May
2000)
'Ossie's going to Wembley, his knees have gone
all trembly.'
Once upon a time two men won the World Cup, then came to
London to win the hearts of the country.
(This title is a line from the 1981 UK top 5 record,
'Ossie's Dream (Spurs Are on Their Way to Wembley)' by
Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup Final Squad, and the two men are
Ricky Villa and Osvaldo Ardiles.)
69 May 2000 (Review: April
2000)
The rise and fall of Swansea City.
Within a decade, Swansea played in every
division - twice - as they went all the way up, then all
the way back down.
Also see One Third
of a Trinity - Denis Law
68 April 2000 (Review: March
2000)
The Arthurian Legends.
A tale of two Arthurs - Rowley and Friedenreich.
One's record is remembered; the other's has been lost in
the mists of time. Both scored goals.
65 January 2000
'Put the Wall Back Up!'
When the Berlin Wall came down, Franz
Beckenbauer said Germany would be unbeatable at football.
A decade later it's all gone wrong.
63 November 1999 (Review: October
1999)
The Life and mysterious death of the Austrian superstar.
Having dazzled the football world for much of
the 1930s, Matthias Sindelar's life came to an end after
a futile stand against Nazism.
46 June 1998
1969-70
Leeds have the world at their feet ... and fall
over; while up above the world, Apollo 13's in a spot of
bother.
World Cup Stories: Part 10.
'Can we play them again tomorrow ?'
That was the plea from England at the 1950
finals after the horror that was Belo Horizonte. First up
though: an iffy win over Chile ...
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