Leônidas da Silva
In 1936, Leônidas da Silva left Botafogo to join Flamengo. Already a star in the domestic Brazilian game and an established player with the Selaçao, across the next half-dozen seasons his reputation as...
View ArticleRonaldo – A season with Barcelona.
When setting out on a path of a nascent career, it’s often sage advice to listen to the sage counsel offered by elders, those who have travelled that journey before you, meaning that following in their...
View Article‘We knew then. We know now.’ – The rise, fall and rebirth of Adidas.
The slogan in the title was coined for an advertising campaign mounted by Adidas ahead of the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. It was created to emphasise how the company’s relationship with Jesse Owens ahead...
View ArticleDidier Drogba
So many top echelon footballers of the modern era are, or were, graduates of academies run by the richest clubs who scoop up any promising talent and ‘hot house’ them to produce the most precious and...
View ArticleRoberto Bettega
It’s the strongest of all generational familial bonds; a mutual devotion built on the deepest of emotional attachment and respect, and one that applies nowhere more so than in Italy. The love between a...
View Article“Dutch Masters – When Ajax’s Totaalvoetbal Conquered Europe”
My seventh book – “Dutch Masters – When Ajax’s Totaalvoetbal Conquered Europe” – is published today. Across the history of football, a select group of teams have achieved iconic status. Sometimes it’s...
View ArticleNike – Swooshing into the early days.
In Greek mythology, the winged goddess Nike was the personification of victory in all fields, not merely athletic endeavours. It seems highly appropriate therefore that, when Blue Ribbon Sprots, a...
View ArticleCruyff in Oranje.
It’s often argued that for any footballer to be worthy of inclusion in the pantheon of the very greatest players of all time, as well as having success with their various clubs, they must also have...
View ArticleAndrés Escobar.
On 23 June 1994, Colombia faced the USA in their second game of World Cup Group A in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. Following a qualification programme where they had suffered defeat only once across the...
View ArticleCruyff’s first season wearing Blaugrana
At the end of the 1972-73 season, things should have been perfect at Ajax. They had just retained the Eredivisie title, their sixth national championship in the previous eight seasons and been crowned...
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