Introduction
Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson’s Editor’s Note from Issue Nineteen
Mourinho
The Devil’s Party – Jonathan Wilson
The manager, his methods and why it always goes wrong in the third season.
Poetry
The Unknown Football Fan – Craig SmithA poem
A Striker Fires Wide – Craig SmithA poem
Memories
The Immortality of Awfulness – Felix Lill and Javier Sauras
In 1965-66, Tasmania Berlin played their only Bundesliga season becoming the worst team in history
The Stench of the White Elephants – Jamil Chade
Only now is the full scale of the corruption that surrounded the Brazil World Cup beginning to emerge.
For the Love of the Honest Men – Ally Palmer
An Ayr United fan reflects on decades of following the ups and downs at Somerset Park
This Sporting Half-Life – Alex Preston
Sport, ageing and a novelist’s grudging acceptance of mortality
“You are not Nacka Skoglund!” – Gunnar Persson
The meteoric rise and terrible fall of the Swedish Internazionale legend
Football v Alzheimer’s – Dermot Corrigan
How football is being used stimulate the memories of Alzheimer’s patients
Interview
The Throwback – Maciej Iwanski
Robert Lewandowski is proving the value of the old-fashioned striker. But what created him?
Photo Essay
Going To The Match – Przemek Niciejewski
A Kickstarter project to create a visual celebration of football culture – http://bit.ly/blizz-gttm
Breeding Grounds
What’s wrong with Finnish football? – Paul Brown
As Iceland qualify for Euro 2016, Finland is asking, “Why not us?”
At the Feet of the Master – Kit Gillet
Gheorghe Hagi has established an academy to try to develop a new generation of Romanian talent
Slaggy Island – Harry Pearson
South Bank was a grim industrial pocket of Teesside – and the home to a wealth of footballing talent
Theory
The Peter Principle – Rupert Fryer
Promotion to a level of incompetence is a common idea in business, but is it true in football?
Chaos Theory – Alex Keble
With so many variables at play, does anybody ever know anything?
Late Style – Arthur O’Dea
Taking Edward Said’s theory about mature artists and applying it to Giovanni Trapattoni
Austria
Restoring the Glory – Vladimir Novak
Austria’s coach Marcel Koller explains their first tournament qualification in 18 years
The Burden of History – Peter Linden
For years, Austrian football has been struggling to live up to its glorious past
Fiction
The Quantum of Bobby (Part Five) – Iain Macintosh
Can Bobby stop David Beckham getting sent off at the 1998 World Cup?
Greatest Games
Hajduk Split v Crvena Zvezda (abandoned) – Charles Ducksbury
Yugoslav First League, Stadion Poljud, Split, 4 May 1980
Eight Bells
One-Hit Wonders – Richard Jolly
A selection of players who enjoyed a fleeting moment of fame