Released in December 2020, our next issue contains eight sections of articles including an analysis of some of football’s boldest talents such as Roberto Firmino and Leônidas; instances when football and politics intersected in the UK, Argentina, Georgia and Qatar; tragedy and surprise in the midlands and so much more.
Issue Thirty Nine
December 2020
In This Issue
Introduction
Issue 39: Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson’s Editor’s Note from Issue Thirty Nine
Football & The State
The Stubborn City – Patrick Keddie
Trabzonspor’s ongoing battle for the Turkish title, on and off the pitch
The Survivor – Hassanin Mubarak
Six years after Sahid Abbas was sentenced to death he was jailed for World Cup failure
The Chaos And The Glory – Jordan Florit
How the shambolic preparations for the 2019 Gran Final summed up Venezuelan football
Mouldbreakers
The Making Of Roberto Firmino – Josué Seixas
The Liverpool forward’s earliest friends and coaches recall his development in Alagoas
Harry Leddy’s War – John Harding
The PFA, an enforced pay-cut and the early fight for players’ rights
O Diamante Negro – Peter Speetjens
The extraordinary story of Leônidas, the man who invented the bicycle kick
The Birth Of A Club – David Kennedy
John Houlding and committee-room wrangling that led to Liverpool’s split from Everton
Photo Essay
A Day With The Red Shirts – Michael Sheridan
How a chance encounter in Yangon led to an Asian Cup qualifier
Beyond The Pitch
Truth To Power – Adam Bushby
Frits Barend and the battle to report on the junta at Argentina 78
The End Of Welfare – Will Magee
The struggle to keep alive the clubs founded by miners
Football v The Far Right – Michael Cole
How football has become a battleground in Georgia’s culture wars
Workers Rights – Tony Richardson
The story of the Nepalese labourers building Qatar’s World Cup stadiums
The Midlands
The Crash – Chris Lepkowksi
The tragedy that costs Tom Silk his life, and West Brom a visionary director
After Clough – Luke McLaughlin
How Frank Clark took Nottingham Forest to third in the league in 1994-95
Theory
Those That Can, Scan – Ben Welch
What do we mean when we speak of the “football brain”? Is there a sporting intelligence?
Greatest Games
Netherlands 1 Russia 3 (aet) – Michael Yokhin
Euro 2008 quarter-final, St Jakob-Park, Basel, 21 June 2008
Eight Bells
Eight Bells (Fashion First) – Alex Hess
The story of English football told through eight iconic items of managerial fashion
