JOHN CHARLES – The original Welsh super star
In a week that has seen Real Madrid smash yet another transfer record to take Tottenham Hotspur star Gareth Bale to the Santiago Bernabeu, it is perhaps prudent to recollect another Welshman who made a...
View ArticleDEATH IN THE AFTERNOON – Sunyol, Barcelona and the Spanish Civil War
There is a wind-swept spot high up on the road out of Madrid that serves as a stark reminder to Spain’s turbulent history and the complex relationship football endures with the country’s bloody...
View ArticleEAST-WEST DIVIDE – Bayern and Dynamo battle it out on the biggest stage of all
Four decades ago today, the European Cup saw the culmination of it’s first ever all-German encounter, when Bayern Munich hosted Dynamo Dresden in the second leg of their second round clash at the...
View ArticleONLY THE BRAVE – FC Barcelona’s forgotten Scottish hero
In the build up to their 2008 Uefa Champions League clash against Glasgow Celtic at Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s official website published an article charting the careers of ten Scottish footballers who...
View ArticleSEVEN TEARS – The Sacking of Heinz Krügel
FC Magdeburg are among the best supported clubs in Germany’s Regionalliga Nordost, the country’s fourth tier of football. With an away following that often numbers in excess of 500, their passionate...
View ArticleTHE BATTLE FOR SPAIN – A fractured history explored
The history of Spain is one of contrasts. On one hand it is a country which has united itself at times of need and on the other it is a state divided, tearing itself into civil conflict and regional...
View ArticleLIFE BEFORE MESSI: The story of Barcelona’s Filipino phenomenon
Define a legend. leg.end [lej-uh nd] 1. A non historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical. 2. The body of stories of this kind,...
View ArticleSEVEN TEARS – FC Magdeburg and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 remains one of the most significant moments in modern history. Constructed more than three decades earlier, the barrier had been a symbol of the huge...
View ArticleYugoslavian football – we used to rule the world
Wondering what could have been is one of life’s many irritants. In the end, it can drive people to distraction. In footballing terms, fans, players and journalists alike love to ponder about missed...
View ArticleLA LIGA SEASONS: Athletic Bilbao’s Basque Glory – 1982/83
Background Football in Spain was in need of a boost. The country had staged the twelfth World Cup Finals during the summer of 1982 and despite a vast investment on infrastructure and publicity, the...
View ArticleLA LIGA SEASONS: Super Depor reign supreme – 1999/2000
Background Such is the domination of the big two in Spanish Football, any glimpse of a realistic alternative or threat to the duopoly is often over-egged by the sporting media. Regrettably, true...
View ArticleLA LIGA SEASONS: Valencia finally end the Madrid monopoly – 1970/71
Background La Primera title had not left Madrid for a decade, with either Real Madrid (8) or Atlético Madrid (2) winning the league throughout the sixties. Barcelona was the last side from outside of...
View ArticleLA LIGA SEASONS: A campaign from hell for Atletico Madrid – 2000/01
Background The conversion in 1992 of many of Spain’s leading clubs to Sociedades Anónimas Deportivas, in effect a limited company, weighed heavily on a number of outfits as the decade wore on. The...
View ArticleLA LIGA SEASONS: Barça, Cruyff and Total Football – 1973/74
The 1960’s had not been a swinging time for Barcelona. Financially crippled by the cost of building the Camp Nou and unable to sell the land on which the old Les Corts stood, the club had to slake its...
View ArticleFROM THE ARCHIVES – Why you can’t make a fortune out of football
This article was first published in the August 1959 edition of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly. In it, Clifford Webb explains why financial gain cannot be made out of football. Will the take-over...
View ArticleMAN IN THE MIDDLE – Has referee loyalty reached breaking point?
Referees, we all love them don’t we? Well hard as it may seem, berating the man in the middle is not a phenomenon of the modern multi-million pound game. This article was first published in the January...
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