RedCafe.net

In the history of football not many sides have had such an effect on football as the Ajax side of the early Seventies, a story which actually began in 1880′s Manchester. Here is the story of the birth of that great side.

So how can a story of a truly legendary Dutch football side start in 1880′s Manchester? Well, simply the man who’s brainchild the system was Manchester’s own Jack Reynolds. Now, Reynolds own playing career wasn’t that impressive, in fact the highlight came in the second division in 1904/05 with Grimsby. Reynolds retired from playing in 1911 following a few uninteresting years at New Brompton (nowadays Gillingham). Following his retirement he moved into management at Swiss club St. Gallen, where he did a good job, earning him an offer to manage the German national side; this was in 1914, so for obvious reasons he never actually took the job on. On his travels to Germany he basically stopped in Holland, where his main work was to be done.

Whilst at Ajax Reynolds did some hugely important work that we still see to this day; not only did he begin the total-football side Ajax was to become, but he also began the work on the academy system that up to this day is one of the envies of the world. Only 2 years into his tenure he would win the KNVB cup, Ajax’s first ever trophy. 3 years after he joined the club, Ajax won their first ever Eredivisie, a trophy he would keep hold on to the following season. This achievement would mean that Reynolds would take charge of the Dutch side for their first post-war game against Sweden in a 3-1 win.

6 trophy-less years later Reynolds left Ajax and went on to manage neighbours Blauw Wit Amsterdam in a 3-year unsuccessful stint before returning to Ajax. In this stint Ajax won 5 Eredivisie titles, the last one coming in his penultimate season, with Reynolds taking a break from football in 1940. When Ajax came knocking again in 1945 he was not going to turn down the job, spending the last 3 years of his managerial career at the club, winning the league in his final season.

In the following 18 years Ajax were mildly successful, winning one KNVB cup and 2 Eredivisie titles. However, they didn’t know just how big one of their former stars would be, when Rinus Michels took control of the club in 1965 – prior to this Ajax had been relegation fighters. Michels adapted Reynolds style slightly and took it to the extreme, removing the less technically gifted from the side and giving key roles to the likes of Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens. This ‘Total Football’ that Ajax played had one basic premise: every single outfield player was capable of playing in any outfield position. The following season Michels’s Ajax won the Eredivisie, before completing the double the next year with the KNVB cup.

The following season Ajax were to win the Eredivisie again; nevertheless, they would struggle the following season with their eyes being largely on European glory, and they didn’t do a bad job of that. However, the final wouldn’t go well for Michels side, getting quite frankly annihilated in a 4-1 defeat by AC Milan. When they won the Eredivisie back the following year, the side was hungrier than ever to dominate Europe, and in 1971 Ajax were to win the European cup with a 2-0 victory over Panathinaikos at Wembley.

The following season Michels left Ajax for Barcelona, leaving the Ajax board looking for someone to carry on the Gloria Ajax days. It turned out not only did they replace Michels but they hired the man who would further refine the total-football style, with the signing of Romanian István Kovács. Kovács side was to win not only the Eredivisie the following year, but also to retain the European cup, taking part in one of the most one-sided finals up to this date. Although the score of 2-0 to Ajax against Inter Milan may seem tight, that was not the case of the game itself; the Dutch side dominated the entire game and only a defensive master class from the Italians restricted them to the 2. Cruyff’s double was enough to seal the trophy for the total-football side. How could Kovác’s side match such an accomplishment? By doing it again of course! The side was to beat Juventus in the European cup final playing their total football. A 1-0 result was enough to retain the trophy – such was the level of the achievement of 3 wins in a row.

This Ajax side, and to a large degree style, may now be long since gone. However, its influences are still there. For instance the much watched Barcelona now adays play a system with has its roots in total football, although this newer “Tiki Taka” style is more about the use of the ball rather than the adaptability of the players. This goes to show just how revolutionary this side was and how modern football is still greatly influenced by a Mancunian that has been dead since the early 1960′s.

When looking back at the World Cups of 1990 and 1994 there is one name that seems almost a baffling one, a name of a man who should have, by that point of his career, been long retired; yet, he chose to throw himself into international stardom, becoming a player whom many people can name without prompting. This is, of course, Roger Milla.

Roger began his career playing in the capital of Cameroon’s Littoral province, playing for two small local sides, Eclair and Léopard. For these sides he scored 95 goals in 178 games before leaving at the age of 22 (in 1974) to play for Tonnerre. Tonnerre had just been formed and Milla was the man with the task of scoring as many goals as possible for the club that was trying to begin to challenge. In his 3 years at the club from the capital he scored a very impressive 69 goals in 87 games. However, a move to Europe was on the cards for the 25 year old.

When moving to Europe Milla made the logical move to France, joining Valenciennes. However, once he had signed, the club weren’t very keen on Roger, making him spend the majority of his 2 years at the club in the reserves. When he did play, though, he scored 6 goals in his 28 games. Following on from the disappointment at Valenciennes, Roger joined Monaco, where again he spent the majority of his time in the reserves and occasionally on the substitutes bench. During his one season at the club he scored only 2 goals in his 17 appearances before Monaco decided to get rid of him. Milla went on to spend his longest spell at a single French club, 4 years at Bastia, playing in 113 games with a slightly disappointing 35 goals to his name.

In 1984 Milla began to show what he was capable of after signing for St. Ettiene. He only spent 2 years at the club, but his goal rate was back where it belonged, with him smashing in 31 goals in 59 games. Even though the club weren’t highly successful, there were some very good performances mainly inspired by the Cameroonian who was stealing all of the plaudits before leaving the club in 1986, in order to sign for Montpellier.

Whilst in Montpellier, Milla performed admirably, lifting the ligue 2 trophy in 1987. Milla’s record for the club wasn’t quite as impressive as the one he had in St. Ettiene, scoring 37 goals in his 95 appearances for the club; however, in 1989 he entered semi-retirement, playing the majority of his games in Reunion.

Now onto Roger’s famed international career. Making his international debut in 1978, he had being reasonably successful with Cameroon until he had a fallout with the association in 1987, causing him to retire from international football. In the build up to the 1990 World Cup, the entire nation of Cameroon were crying out for Milla to return to the national set up, and after the association asked him to return, Milla obliged. Roger Milla was going to the World Cup.

Cameroon arrived at Italy as huge underdogs in the tournament and were expected to fail; this was far from the case though. Milla’s most famous moment came in the second match for Cameroon against Romania in which he scored two goals, celebrating both with his infamous dancing in the corner flag. Cameroon went through the group stage and faced Columbia in the second round, and Milla was the difference between the sides scoring twice in extra time. In the quarter finals Cameroon were to face England. Milla came in as a substitute in this game and put in a great performance, getting fouled for a penalty and getting an assist, but this was not enough for Cameroon, who were eliminated after a 3-2 loss.

Milla carried on in semi-retirement in various nations for the next few years, before again being called up for the World Cup of 1994, this time in the USA. Nevertheless, the indomitable lions weren’t to repeat the heroics of Italia 90, exiting in the group stage. Milla broke records as both the oldest outfield player at the World Cup and the oldest scorer in the tournament, at 42 years of age. The most incredible thing about his record-breaking goal was that the game contained another record, when Russian Oleg Salenko scored 5 goals in a 6-1. Following the tournament, Milla didn’t play for his nation again, remaining in semi-retirement for several more years.

Now, let’s move on to the downright bizarre: did you hear the one about Roger Milla and the kidnapped pygmies? It may sound ludicrous but it is absolutely true. In 1992 whilst working as an ambassador in Cameroon, Milla decided to organise a pygmy World Cup in Cameroon’s 50,000 seater Omnisports stadium, but a mere 50 tickets were sold. Even weirder, these 50 tickets were largely people who wanted to verbally abuse the pygmies. After this failure, Roger kept the players locked in the stadium for the vast majority of the summer, only feeding them one meal of rice (with sauce) every 3 days. The defence for this? Well a spokesman said “You don’t know the pygmies. They are extremely difficult to control. They play better if they don’t eat too much.”

If you look back through Barcelona’s history books, as an Englishman one name stands out a long long way; it is also a name that for whatever reason is quite unknown, a name that holds one of the best managerial records known to man and started playing for the English non-league team of Crook Town. This man is, of course, Jack Greenwell

Greenwell started his career with Crook Town while also working in a coal mine, which led to him going to the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy in 1909 with West Auckland Town, a side full to the brim with coalminers. The side went to the tournament as the FA refused to enter a top side into it, and so the West Durham coalminers decided to play instead, and their entrance was accepted. They were going to compete with some of the top sides in Europe in the competition that was hosted in Turin.

In the first tournament, West Auckland lined up against the German side Sportfreunde Stuttgart in their opening game, which they won 2-0. In the other game, FC Winterthur of Switzerland faced up against a Turin XI made of players from Torino and Juventus, a game which the Swiss won 2-1, setting up a final tie against the miners.

The final, many would say, fizzed out quickly, with all of the goals coming in the opening ten minutes, giving West Auckland the 2-0 win over the more illustrious opponents, and giving them the inaugural European cup, to which some even refer as the first World Cup. However, that is probably a bit of an exaggeration of this quite illustrious trophy.

Jack went back to his Crook Town side following this trophy, and continued performing to his usual relatively high level, and was henceforth soon snapped up by the Catalan side in 1912. Understandably, a non-league striker struggled to settle with playing for the Catalan club, scoring 10 goals over his 4 years at the club, totalling 88 games. However, Jack was yet to do his best work in the city, he had a long way to go yet.

In 1917, Greenwell became Barcelona’s first official coach, which ended up being a fantastic appointment for the club. Despite a barren first season, he won the Championat de Catalunya (the precursor to La Liga) in his second season. He carried on the next year and won the double prize of the Campionat and the Copa Del Rey. This really was a golden age for Los Culés. They went on to win another 3 Campionats in the next 3 years as part of another double in 1921-22. This was all before Greenwell decided he wanted a new challenge and took on the UE Sants job, a local side in Barcelona. However, this wasn’t a spell as successful as his Barcelona days one, and he soon took on a job at CD Castellon, a similarly small club in Valencia, which was another tough spell he had to go through before in 1927 he decided enough was enough and that he had to get another big job, this time with Barcelona’s arch rivals RCD Espanyol.

In Greenwell’s first year at Espanyol he led them in the inaugural La Liga. However, he only managed to finish 7th with the side, which wasn’t quite good enough, but it didn’t stop him from winning another Campionat De Catalunya, as well as the club’s first Copa Del Rey.

The following season Espanyol finished empty handed, leading to Greenwell taking a new challenge at Mallorca. However, this would be a fruitless spell, and only lasted one season before Greenwell decided to return to a former club. That’s right; Greenwell was heading back to Barcelona.

On his return to Barcelona Greenwell won another Campionat de Catalunya in his first season. His second one, though, was fruitless. Greenwell’s 2 years on his return at Barcelona earned the record of the sides’ longest serving manager. This record was only actually toppled by Johan Cruyff in the 1990′s, meaning he held the record for a total of 70 years. He actually still holds the highest total number of seasons as Barcelona boss at 9 seasons, which is no mean feat in the Spanish game.

Following his second leaving of his first club, Greenwell took over at Valencia, where he once again finished 7th in La Liga, and also again won the local league trophy, the Campeonato de Valencia, as well as being defeated in the final of the Copa de España by Madrid CF (currently known as Real Madrid) 2-1. From Valencia, Greenwell moved on to Sporting Gijón, club in which he was only one year with no success; the end of this year saw the start of the Spanish Civil War, which led to Greenwell’s disappearance.

The next 3 years of Greenwell’s life are, well, unknown. There are stories of him managing in Turkey and other places but these are, to this day, unconfirmed. The next known destination of Greenwell’s managerial career was, almost bizarrely, in Peru, managing Universitario and the National team at the same time. Surely that was too much, surely?

Well, no, it wasn’t. Not only did he win the Peruvian league, he also led the National team to the South American Championship (Copa America for us youngsters), and is still to this day the only non-South American to have won the trophy. This good spell made him become headhunted by the Colombian National side, who were actually unrecognised by FIFA at the time (so records are scarce); this means that not much is known. What is known, however, is that Greenwell didn’t last long at the helm of the National team, since he settled happily in Santa Fe. He decided to take over the local side, and with success, becoming known for his discipline and tactics. He went on to win the league title.

Unfortunately, Greenwell’s managerial reign at Santa Fe didn’t last long. On October 5th his side won against local rivals Deportivo Texas in a resounding 10-3. However, two days later, Greenwell took a training session, was driven home by his assistant and upon getting to his apartment fell gravely ill. Before a doctor could arrive Greenwell was dead. He had suffered a suspected Aneurysm, passing away at the age of 58, an age by which point most modern managers are just building a reputation, and in which Jack Greenwell was already a mighty fine manager who unfortunately passed before his time, whilst managing highly successfully abroad.

In modern folklore it is often stated that the best two players of all time are Diego Maradonna and Pélé. However, if you were to ask any man from Pélé’s homeland the same question, he would not get a look in, for there is one man that, in Brazil, is seen as the greatest of all time: the very highly complicated character Manuel Francisco dos Santos; the man known as simply “Garrincha”.

Garrincha was born in 1933 as the son of an alcoholic father. Amongst other problems the young boy had was a spinal deformity, an inward-bending right leg, and a left leg that was 6 centimetres longer than it’s counterpart (which was also bending outwards); all of these, combined, must surely impede his ability to run… mustn’t it? Well, the answer to that question is a complete and resounding NO. He is seen as the greatest dribbler of all time and by quite some distance, and although FIFA see him as Brazil’s number 2, he had a truly fascinating life that shall be divulged now.

Garrincha first arrived onto the professional scene in 1953, (he was already a married parent). It took until he was 19 to sign his first contract for two reasons: first of all, despite his immense ability, he had little interest in playing football. Secondly, no one was quite sure of his age, it was even said that Botafogo had to find out that he was, in fact, old enough so he could sign professional terms. It is also said that in his trial he repeatedly beat and nutmegged Brazil centre-back Nilton Santos, who requested the management that Garrincha was signed, the deal was soon completed.

In Garrincha’s first game for Botafogo reserves, he put in a good performance in a 5-0 win. However, this was nothing compared to his first-team debut, in which Garrincha scored a hat-trick against Bonsucecco in July 1953. Garrincha carried on with this superb level of performance until the next year’s World cup. Sadly, this was not enough for him to steal Julinho’s position in the Brazil side. He won his first league title in 1957 with a staggering 20 goals in 26 games from a wide position, which was enough for him to earn his place in the national side.

In the build up to the 1958 World Cup, Garrincha scored his most famous goal, he picked the ball up against Fiorentina in Florence, he beat 4 defenders and the goalkeeper, leaving him with an open goal… would he just place the ball in the back of the net? Of course not, he waited for another defender to get back so that he could beat him again, before finally placing the ball in the back of the net. Despite this fantastic goal, he was dropped for the opening 2 games of the World Cup in Sweden for being so irresponsible in not just putting the ball home.

Brazil had a good start to the World Cup, with a dominant display against Austria, followed by a 0-0 draw with England. Let’s not forget that this was a Brazil side that played without the heart and soul that we are all so used to. This lead to a change for the 3rd and final group game against the USSR. Both Garrincha and young Pélé started a game in which the Soviet side were overwhelming favourites, but, within a minute, Brazil had hit the bar and put the Soviets under the cosh. Just after the kick-off, Garrincha received the ball wide, beat 3 men before hitting the post… the ball bounced back to him, and he crossed it towards Pélé, who hit the bar. All of this in the opening minute. Garrincha kept up this performance throughout the full game, which Brazil won 2-0.

Brazil kept that style for the quarter-final, in which they had to face Wales in a tough game which Brazil won 1-0. After the game, the Welsh full-back Mel Hopkins called Garrincha “a phenomenon on both legs”, which is high praise, indeed. The competition continued in this fashion until the final, in which Brazil faced the hosts, Sweden. The home side soon took the lead in the game, before the wing wizard came in. Soon after the restart Garrincha broke down the right, putting the ball into the box for Vava to score an equaliser. In an almost identical move at the end of the first half, Vava scored another and Brazil held on to win the trophy. After the game, with the whole of Brazil in celebration, Garrincha looked on with what can only be described as confusion, as he was unaware they were the champions. How was he supposed to know this wasn’t a league competition? It had to be described to him that it was knock out and they didn’t have to face another team again… Garrincha had dominated a World Cup without knowing what he was doing!!

Following the World Cup, Garrincha gained a bit of weight and was therefore dropped from the national side. He carried on playing for Botafogo, but his performances on the pitch gave very few moments that would standout at this level, although that could partially be down to records from the Brazilian leagues of the time, which were very difficult as shown by the questionability of Pélé’s 1000 goal claim . Nevertheless, nothing was going to stop Garrincha from appearing at the 1962 World Cup. After all, you can never keep a good man down, can you?

Brazil started the 1962 world cup with a 2-0 win over the Mexicans. However, and after their result in the following game, a 0-0 draw with Czechoslovakia, Brazil were required to win their third game of the tournament without the other star man, Pélé. This loss would usually affect a team greatly, but not with Garrincha in the side. Against Spain in the 3rd match, Brazil fell behind early on before Amarildo scored an equaliser. With 5 minutes to go, the ball fell into Garrincha, who beat his man, paused, waited for the defender to regain his position, only for him to be beaten again before a cross was played to Amarilda who put the South Americans through to the next round.

In the following round, Brazil had to face England. The game started with a Garrincha goal when he nodded home from a corner. However, on the verge of half-time, England got an equaliser. In the second half, Vava gave Brazil the lead again, which was followed by a wonderful goal by Garrincha with what was known as the “banana shot” into the bottom corner, but this was not the best story of this game. During the game, a dog found it’s way onto the pitch, the majority of players on the pitch attempted to retrieve the dog and failed, until Jimmy Greaves got down on all 4′s and beckoned the dog, and so the people were able to remove the dog from the pitch after Greaves handed it to an official. However, whilst this was going on, the dog urinated on Greaves, and Garrincha found this incident so funny he ended up keeping the dog.

In the following round Brazil had to face the hosts Chile, a game in which Garrincha once again bamboozled his opponents repeatedly, again scoring a double in a 4-2 drubbing. This led to the headline the following day of “What planet is Garrincha from?” in the local newspaper. Yes, such was the winger’s ability. Although he was also red carded for lashing out at an opponent, that was not going to stop his appearance in the final.

The final came at a bad time for Garrincha, who was suffering from a fever on the day of the game, which was not strong enough to stop his appearance in the game. He actually put in a good solid performance in a 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia. Garrincha was named the player of the tournament and they were the world champions for the second time in a row.

Garrincha returned to Brazil to lead Botafogo to every possible trophy between 1963 and his leaving in 1965. His record for Botafogo was nothing to be sniffed at, 232 goals in 581 games. After leaving, he joined Corinthians, where he was a reasonable success, merely amassing 10 games, in which he scored 2 goals. This was deemed a good-enough performance to get another World Cup appearance.

This tournament in England wasn’t as good as previous tournaments for Brazil, although, ironically, they had a better opening game, beating Bulgaria 2-0. However, in the following game, Garrincha’s last at international level, Brazil lost 3-1 to Hungary, which was the first loss Brazil suffered with Garrincha in their shirt. He didn’t play in the final group game against Portugal, and Brazil were eliminated.

At the end of the season, he signed for Columbian club Atletico Junior. Nevertheless, his knee injuries that had affected him in recent years meant that he never played for the club, so as well as him never really settling, this meant that Garrincha left at the end of the season with 0 games for the club. Upon returning to Brazil, Garrincha spent a year at Flamengo, for whom he scored 4 goals in 15 games over the course of a season, but he left the club at the end of it.

Garrincha was unable to find a club for the following season, and instead, he took a few years away from the game. In 1972 a return was on the cars, with him lining up for Olaria, although they were a non-league equivalent side at the time, he scored 1 goal in 10 games in his year at the club, following which he officially retired..

The playing side of Garrincha is not the whole story, there are many other sides to his personality. For instance, as he grew up his father was an alcoholic, a problem that he eventually inherited with many stories stemming from it, like in 1959, in which he ran over his father whilst drunk, leading an angry mob to chase the star, and once they had caught up with him following the crash, they found him almost catatonic due to the drink he had consumed. He was also unaware of what he had just done.

Garrincha also had a love for the ladies, he was married twice, one from 1952 to 1965, in which he had 8 daughters; and another one with a showgirl who he was wed to between 1966 and 1977. He is known to have had many affairs, to the point where he is known to have fathered 14 children, whilst other estimate place the figure at 36.

In 1969 Garrincha was involved in another car crash which involved a family member. However, this one was not to end as the one before. This time Garrincha’s crash killed his mother-in-law in April 1969. Garrincha died as a result of his alcoholic abuse in 1983, he died of cirrhosis of the liver, penniless and seemingly a forgotten hero. However, once the word of his funeral was out, it attracted thousands of people to pay their respects to him. His epitaph reads “Here rests in peace the one who was the joy of the people – Mane Garrincha”

Garrincha, it seems, was a mentally challenged man who never understood the world around him. All evidence shows that the reason that he never moved to Europe was that he would miss samba music, one of the things that brought him great joy. On the pitch he was a player who played for fun, not for competition, he was a player who had one great joy, beating a man, and hence his skill on the ball is not mixed with the ridiculous goal-scoring stats that his ability deserved. A true inspiration to how football should be played.

There were wider factors at play too. Garrincha lived in a period of great change for Brazil: the country tried to modernise but industrialisation proved a harsh reality and problems typical to any developing country quickly spread, like poverty and criminality exploding in overcrowded cities. Meanwhile, after losing the 1950 World Cup final on home soil and disappointing at the 1954 tournament, it was felt that Brazil needed to be modernised in football terms too. Europe’s emphasis on tactics, discipline and physical prowess were inspirational, and so, ahead of the 1958 World Cup, Brazil’s potential squad members had to undergo IQ and psychological profiling tests.

Garrincha failed both, before going on to win the tournament, and then the next one too. Thus he proved that football was not a science but an art, that cunning could defeat planning. Brazilian society, like its football, was not logical: it favoured instinct and invention over predictable efficiency. The European football model had been undermined, and with it, the model of industrialisation, allowing Brazilians to dream that less severe means of progress might be possible.

More interested in the game than he was in goals, Garrincha reaffirmed an order of priorities: that it was important to enjoy the journey rather than focus too intently on the final destination. For all its many problems, Brazil can still teach the rest of the world a trick or two about having fun and being happy, which is why Garrincha remains such a popular and important figure today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/may/22/seven-deadly-sins-football-lust-garrincha-brazil

In the history of football there have been many attacking partnerships that have automatically induced fear on any defence that has had to face them, whether that be England’s SAS (Shearer and Sheringham), or Manchester United’s treble-winning combo of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke. However, AC Milan’s Gre No Li is a much under-rated partnership, which I will look at.

The story of Gre No Li began in 1948, when the trio Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm represented Sweden in the Olympic football tournament, which they won, with Nordahl finishing as top goalscorer and Gren having scored a double in the final 3-1 win over Yugoslavia. Following the tournament, Nordahl signed for the Rossoneri in January 1949. There was, however, a big implication he had to embrace, as, at the time, the Swedish FA had rules that forbid any player working outside of Sweden from playing for the national side, thus enforcing Nordahl’s international retirement. In this season, Nordahl got the fantastic record of 16 goals in 15 games, and this was before the arrival of his main creator.

The signing of Nordahl was followed by the arrival of Gren and Liedholm, who both made their debuts on September 11th of 1949 in a 3-1 victory against Sampdoria. During that season, the Gre No Li partnership amassed a fantastic return of 118 goals in 38 games. But it was the following one the most successful for the trio, with the side winning the Scudetto.

Amazingly during this time, although it is almost impossible to find proper stats, it is often stated of Nils Liedholm that in two years at the San Siro he did not misplace one pass (or give it away – probably a better statement). He received a 5-minute standing ovation, although, as I’m sure you know, this is likely to be, at least, an exaggeration, and at most, a complete fabrication – make of this what you will.

In 1952, Gren was hired as AC Milan’s manager-player in order to replace Lajos Czeizler, the man who brought the trio to the club. Nevertheless, this was a short affair, leaving the club completely the following year, with only the No and Li parts of the partnership remaining at the club. However, this would not stop them from being a huge success, with the duo winning another Scudetto in 1955. Nordahl himself, then, left in 1956 joining Roma and leaving Nils Liedholm alone at the club.

Liedholm was to remain at AC Milan as captain, winning another 2 Scudetto’s and being finalist in the 1958 European cup final loss, of which it is said that Alfredo Di Stefano offered Nils the opportunity to join Real on the lap of honour, thing which Liedholm rejected as he had lost; this shows how well he and AC had played in that game.

Hitherto, Gunnar Nordahl is the second highest goalscorer in Serie A history, having amassed a staggering 225 goals in 291 games for AC and Roma, even though his Roma scoring record was a mere 15 goals in 34 games; thus, the total he achieved for AC can actually be contemplated, especially considering he achieved his Italian records playing for only nine years in the country, as massive. Goals-per-game wise, in the league his record is 0.77 goals per game, the next highest total is 0.46 goals per-game by Silvio Piola, who sits atop of the actual goalscoring charts.

Who knows what the Swedish national side could have gone on to achieve if they had allowed players such as Gre No Li to appear in their colours whilst based abroad, a truly horrifying prospect for any defence, and no doubt an unfulfilled wish for many Swedes.

In the history of the beautiful game, as well as there have been many great players, there have also been some controversial ones, but one man can stand toe-to-toe with all comers. A man that even stands above them (and by some margin). That man of which I’m talking about is, of course, Diego Armando Maradona. EL Diego.

Diego’s story began when playing for his home town team Estrella Roja in the town of Villa Fiorito, when he was spotted by a top talent scout and soon became the stalwart of Los Cebollitas (or “the little onions”, for those of us with little Spanish knowledge). Then, playing for the youth team of Buenos Aires based side Argentinos Juniors, as a 12 year old ball boy, he was already dazzling the crowds by showing his wizardry on the ball.

Maradona made his debut for Argentinos Juniors ten days before his sixteenth birthday and was a real stalwart of the side, with a highly impressive tally of 115 goals in 167 games in 5 years from his role as a support striker. It was during this time that Sheffield United had a bid of £180,000 rejected for the young attacker. Later Diego sealed a move to Boca Juniors midway through the 1981 season.

In the 1981 season, which was Diego’s first at Boca, he won his first league title. He played the full season in 1982 and in this time scored a whopping 28 goals in 40 games before leaving Argentina for Europe, where he joined Barcelona for a world record £5,000,000 price tag. However, before the move was sealed, there was a small matter of a World Cup for Diego to contend with.

At the 1982 World Cup Argentina were the defending champions and were set-up against Belgium, El Salvador and Hungary in the opening round of fixtures. Although in the opening game Argentina were on the losing side against the Belgians, they still progressed with relative ease, looking very convincing against both Hungarian and El Salvadorian sides, with Diego scoring two against the Hungarians. Argentina’s second round, however, was far from convincing, with them suffering defeat to both Brazil and eventual champions Italy. In this tournament Diego remained on the field for all but 5 minutes, and even this time was enforced as he was sent off for serious foul play against the Brazilian side.

Maradona’s time in Catalunya was far from smooth, with Diego suffering a career threatening broken leg at the hands of Athletic Bilbao’s Andoni Goikoetxea. When tied in with the fact that in this short time Diego suffered from Hepatitis and frequent feuds with teammates, directors, and most notably club President Josep Lluis Nunez, Diego was forced to request a transfer from the Nou Camp. In spite of this, he still picked up the Copa Del Rey and Spanish Super Cup in his time at the Catalan Club.

Following Diego’s disputes at Barcelona, he commanded another World Record transfer fee, this time of £6,900,000 in his move to resurgent Serie A side Napoli. Soon after joining the Naples club, Diego became a fan favourite, leading the club to their only ever Serie A title’s in 1987, followed by two seasons placed 2nd before Napoli earned the Scudetto again, and Diego himself finished the 1988 season as top scorer in the league. In 1989, Napoli won the Eufa Cup, the Coppa Italia in 1987 and the Italian Super Cup in 1990. During this time, however, he was most noted for his international exploits.

In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Diego took it upon himself as national team captain to help Argentina win back the Jules Rimet trophy, and whilst in the Central American country he played every minute of every game Argentina participated in. This tournament & Diego combined to give the fans one of the most recognisable displays in football history in the Quarter Final against Sir Bobby Robson’s England. The game wasn’t for the majority an overly impressive performance by Diego. Nonetheless, in one 3-minute spell Diego took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored two completely different goals. Firstly, the infamous “hand of god” goal, followed almost directly from kick off by Maradona picking up the ball in his own half before taking on 5 England players and rounding England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, slotting the ball into the gaping net. This goal was later voted as the goal of the century. Nevertheless, it is sometimes overshadowed by the complaints over the questionable nature of the goal minutes earlier, of which Maradona proclaimed the ball went in with “a little of the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of god”. Replays later showed that this meant that the ball went in from the hand of Maradona.

In the following Semi final against Belgium, Maradona again scored a brace, the second goal, again, coming from a virtuoso dribble past many men to put Argentina in the final, in which the South Americans had to face the West Germans, who were adamant not to allow Diego to dictate the game as he had done in previous rounds, and so they double marked him. But even this was not enough to stop Maradona, who played the ball through to Jorge Barruchaga for the winner. Such was this feat that outside the Azteca Stadium a statue was built of Diego scoring “the goal of the century”.

Back in Naples there were many off-the-pitch problems, Cocaine use being the most noted with Diego often missing practices and even games as a result of “stress”. However, there were other controversies including an alleged illegitimate son, as well as rumoured acquaintances with the Camorra. In 1991, Diego was found guilty of Cocaine use and given a 15 month ban from football, which caused much disgrace and his release from the Italian side, for whom he had notched 81 goals in 188 games.

In the 1990 World Cup Argentina were much less dominant than 4 years previous, as was Diego himself. Argentina were quite lucky that year, as they barely qualified from the first round in 3rd position. On they went to face Brazil in the second round in a game that finished 1-0 after Diego played a pass to Claudio Caniggia, who proceeded to put the ball in the back of the net. Next came the quarter finals in which Argentina faced Yugoslavia. After the game had finished 0-0, a penalty shootout was required to separate the sides, but the Argentine captain hit a very poor penalty, which was stopped by the Yugoslavian keeper Tomislav Ivkovic. Argentina still moved on in the tournament though. In the Semi-final against the host nation Italy, the game, again, went to penalties. The brave Maradona hit his penalty into the exact same spot as his penalty-kick against the Yugoslavians. This time the ball hit the back off the net. In the final against the West Germans Diego was reasonably quiet and Argentina lost the game 1-0.

After Diego returned from his cocaine induced ban he returned to La Liga to pull on the shirt of Sevilla. However, due to the ban he had just served, Diego was incredibly rusty and his performances weren’t quite up to his usual exceptional standards, with him only getting 5 goals in his 26 games at the club, and was allowed to leave the La Liga outfit to return to Argentina.

Whilst at Newell’s Old Boys, Diego was still showing signs of problems brought on by his age and 15 month absence from the game, but he was still seen as being worthy of his place in the Argentinian squad for the upcoming World Cup in the United States of America.

In the 1994 World Cup Diego started as though there had been no issues in the previous years, mainly evidenced by his fantastic dribble and goal in the opening game against Greece. Nevertheless, many people became suspicious of Maradona when he sprinted over to and screamed at the camera, his eye’s visually bulging out of the sockets. This suspicion was only heightened when it became clear that Diego’s personal fitness coach in the build up to the tournament was no other than convicted drug abusing sprinter Ben Johnson. Following the second group game Maradona was seen to be dragged off the pitch by a female FIFA official, it soon became apparent that he had been found to be full of the performance-enhancing drug Ephedrine.

Following the World Cup Maradona moved back to Boca Juniors to finish his career. Although he didn’t win any more competitions, he had a reasonably successfully swansong, with 7 goals in 30 games in his 2 years at the club, before leaving to go into management.

Maradona took on two clubs alongside his Argentinos Juniors midfield partner Carlos Fren, taking over Mandiyu and Racing. However, both were unsuccessful, leading to Diego’s retirement. That would be the end of it. Or would it?

Many questions were soon asked about Diego’s private life, including his ongoing cocaine addiction and weight gain, to the point were he was both in drug rehab before having his stomach stapled to aide in his weight-loss following a heart attack in 2004. It recently became apparent that Diego had paid no taxes during his time at Napoli and now owes 37,000,000€ of unpaid taxes, of which he has paid back 42,000€, two watches and a pair of earrings.

In October 2008 Maradona was chosen to take control of the Argentinian national team, a job in which Diego showed early signs of not being up to it, most notably when the national side succumbed to their worst defeat in their illustrious history, by losing 6-1 to Bolivia, leaving Argentina needing 2 wins in the remaining 2 games (or a combination of results) to reach the World Cup of South Africa. The feat was managed due in no small part to Martin Palermo’s 93rd minute winner against Perú, which made Diego run down the touchline and belly flopping in the torrential rain, a moment that could warm the heart of any football fan. This was followed days later by a 1-0 victory over Uruguay, meaning that Argentina had qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Whilst in South Africa, Argentina were very effective as an attacking force. However, they struggled with the defensive side of their game. It was clear that all of the players were highly motivated to perform for their combined hero, but their defensive nievity really showed up in the quarter finals in a match against the highly impressive counter-attacking German side, who defeated Diego’s men quite convincingly, 4-0. After this, Diego and the AFA president Julio Grondona had many disputes, leading to Maradona’s sacking (or as a matter of fact, a lack of contract-extension) from the international job. Although, for those who enjoy entertaining press conferences, Diego is in the hunt for a new job, so there is hope for his return to the game as a club manager.

“I am searching for abstract ways of expressing reality, abstract forms that will enlighten my own mystery.”

In the history of football there are very few men who have had such an immediate impact on a club as the one Eric Cantona had, most particularly at Old Trafford. Eric was brought up in the southern French city of Marseille, growing up in a mountain side house which overlooked the city. His mother was born from Catalan separatist parents, whereas his father was the son of a Sardinian and a local Frenchman.

Eric’s father was a local hero in his region of Marseille, being the star goalkeeper at their regional club. As a youth, Eric joined local academy side SO Caillolais, a side that also included noted players such as Jean Tigana and Christophe Galtier, whereas previous players produced include the likes of Roger Jouve. Early on, Eric took after his father and played in goal. However, this was found to stifle his creative nature, and he naturally found himself moving further and further forward until he became noted as a striker. He played over 200 games for Caillolais, and it is stated that at 9 he was playing like a 15 year old.

Cantona’s professional career began in Auxurre as a player due to the treatment that they gave him when trialling in comparison to the other offers he received. Although the distance moved from Marseille to Auxurre upset his parents, young Eric was adamant that Auxurre was to be his destination, so off he set to his new club. Cantona spent two years in the youth system before making his debut for (the incredibly long lasting) Guy Roux’s side in 1983 in a 4-0 victory over Nantes. After this, Eric had to leave for a year in 1984 as he was required to undergo national service.

When he returned from national service, Eric was sent from Auxurre on loan to Ligue 2 side Martigues, where he had a record of 4 goals in 15 games, giving fans a premonition of what was going to happen a fateful 10 years later, when Martigues were beating Grasse 5-0 in the French cup. This game was most notable for an incident involving Eric. Cantona was playing his game and receiving a torrent of abuse from one fan in particular, so he proceeded to run over to the perimeter fence separating the fans and pitch and gave the fan some of the abuse back. In this incident Eric’s more reserved brother Jean-Marie, who was also at the game, was injured in an attempt to reach this fan from the other side of a partitioning.

Upon his return to Auxurre, Eric was seen by Roux as being worthy of a regular spot in the first team, where he spearheaded them for several years, earning himself a reputation as one of France’s great young players and being relied on to take France into what would be their golden generation. However, this time was far from passing by without an incident, as in 1987 Cantona punched Bruno Martini in the build up to a game when the majority of the squad were clearing thick snow off of the pitch. Martini just gave a dismissive gesture when asked to help, Eric took exception and smacked Martini on the side of the face. It was widely reported that this earned Eric a club imposed ban. Nevertheless, this is not, in fact, true. Eric didn’t play in this match, he was never going to, as he was actually injured. In the same year, he was given a call-up and debut in the French national team under the stewardship of Henri Michel.

The following year was a highly notable one for Eric and his infamous “hot-headedness”, including yet another incident that was somewhat of a precursor to that infamous night in 1995, when during a game, Michel Der Zakarian, who for a long time was seen as Eric’s “tormentor” on pitch, drove Cantona to boiling point, leading Eric to make a two-footed kung-fu style kick at the defender, who was fortunate Eric had parted his feet before impact, meaning that the amount of damage done was minimal in relation to the possible amount of damage from such a lunge; this was immediately met with Cantona rising to his feet and heading to the dressing room before the ref had even arrived on scene. This was not, however, the end of that night’s events. Auxurre’s chief executive Gerard Bourgoin went into the dressing room at the end of the game to give the young Cantona a good talk. Nonetheless, this was probably a poor judgment, as Cantona proceeded to throw Bourgoin a good 15 meters into a wall, earning himself a ban from both his club and national authorities. Roux, though, convinced both to reduce the ban using Eric’s importance to the national side with an upcoming game with England.

Later that year, Eric was once again national news. This time for an off-the-pitch incident, in which after being substituted during an important international, he referred to manager Henri Michel as “a sack of shit”. This meant another year out of the international side for Cantona. During this time he completed his move to boyhood club Marseille. However, in his supposed last match for Auxurre, he was left out and sent to Marseille early to be introduced to his new fans. The reason? Some Auxurre fans wanted to personally “thank” Eric for his “loyalty”, which if it had gone ahead, it would have ended in several hospitalizations, included Eric, so Roux personally made sure that such an event didn’t happen.

The move to Marseille wasn’t as fruitful as Eric would have wished, having picked up a month ban soon after joining for kicking the ball at the crowd and ripping his shirt off and throwing it on the ground. This month-long sabbatical from the side put Cantona on the fringes and into the manager’s bad books, meaning that he struggled to break back into the side.

After struggling to settle in his hometown, Eric seeked another move, and proceeded to join Bordeaux on a 6 month loan, a time which also drew some questions on Eric’s temperament, most notably when he had a fight with (and proceeded to throw his boots in the face of) team-mate Jean-Claude Lemoult. This caused outrage and understandably 6 team-mates called for the young Cantona to be sacked. However, with the backing of key squad members Laurent Blanc and Carlos Valderrama, it was decided that Cantona was going to remain at Bordeaux, a decision which was justified when Eric was at the heart of the side which won the French Cup.

“The ball is like a woman, she loves to be caressed.”

After Eric’s fine form at Bordeaux, Marseille decided to retain his services for the upcoming season. Cantona played well coached by Gerard Gili and his successor Franz Beckenbauer. However, when Bernard Tapie decided to replace “Der Kaiser” as manager, he hired Raymond Goethals, whom was not really fond of Cantona neither as a player nor as a person. Cantona remained at Marseille for the remainder of the season winning the French Ligue 1, but his time was numbered and he was transferred to Nimes.

Cantona’s time at Nimes, although very short, was far from smooth. After a reasonable start in December, he took exception to a refereeing decision, leading him to throw the ball at the referee. This, naturally, lead to a disciplinary committee examination, which found Eric guilty and banned for a month. This was to Eric the last straw, who went on to call each committee member an idiot to their face, and he immediately announced his retirement from football.

Not long after making this announcement, Eric was advised to return to the game by national team manager and Eric’s hero Michel Platini, as well as a hugely influential figure in French football in Gerard Houllier and Eric’s own psychoanalyst. However, it was Houllier who had most influence on Eric’s eventual destination, as he was adamant that Cantona needed to escape the FFF and French league to reinvent himself as a player and recommended a move to England.

Sheffield Wednesday was originally the favourite to sign Cantona once he agreed to return. Following a trial, he was invited to spend an extra week at the club to get a more in-depth view into Eric’s playing style. However, he took exception and refused, before joining league leaders Leeds United.

Whilst at Leeds, Cantona soon became a fan favourite, getting many assists, predominantly to Lee Chapman, whom Eric was rumoured to be having an affair with his wife. This was seen as aiding to Leeds in their march to the title, and they were beginning to seem a tad stale in the title race. The following season (or as Sky would claim, the beginning of time itself), Cantona started on red hot form, scoring a hat trick in the Charity Shield victory over Liverpool, soon followed by the first Premiership hat-trick against Tottenham. However, that November Leeds manager made a phone call that was going to change the course of English football history. This phone-call was an enquiry to Martin Edwards of Manchester United about the availability of full-back Denis Irwin. Nevertheless, Edwards was in the middle of a meeting with Manager Alex Ferguson, who outright refused to sell Irwin, but did ask about the availability of Cantona. A few days later Eric Cantona moved across the Pennines for a fee of £1.2m (yes, you would need 25 of those to get hold of James Milner today).

Manchester United had made a poor start to that season. However, they got their spark, the catalyst to great things. Scoring twice between December and January, as well as a deal of assists, Cantona showed just what he was capable of on January 9^th 1993 against Tottenham Hotspur. In a 4-1 victory, he got one goal and 3 assists, before his disciplinary issues were to reignite a week later on his return to Elland Road to face Leeds. He spat at a fan. Nonetheless, he was treated with more leniency than he had ever been put under in France and was merely given a fine. Manchester United went on to win the inaugural Premiership by a colossal 10 points much inspired by Cantona, who also became the first player to ever win 2 consecutive league titles with different teams. He is still, to this day, the only player to have done so.

“An artist is someone with the gift to light up a dark room.”

Manchester United retained the league title the following year and also won the FA cup with Cantona scoring a double in the final. Nevertheless, Eric was far from flawless, being dismissed 3 times in the season, including two in successive Premier League games.

The most famous moment in Cantona’s career occurred in the following season, in which he was on red-hot form until January, when, in a game at Wimbledon’s Selhurst Park, Cantona’s hot-headedness resulted in a stamp on the home side’s John Moncur, where Cantona was spared from the red card he realistically deserved. Not long later, this would have dire consequences for Cantona and Manchester United.

“Sometimes in life one experiences an emotion which is so strong that it is difficult to think, or to reason.”

Weeks after the John Moncur incident, Manchester United returned to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace. During the game, Cantona was running for a free ball with Palace defender Richard Shaw, who was tugging the shirt of the French striker, which caused Eric to give a kick out in retaliation. This was flagged as a red card by the linesman and Cantona accepted the decision and began to walk towards the tunnel. Whilst walking off the pitch, he came under the usual torrent of abuse. However, the abuse directed at Cantona from one, Matthew Simmons, was deemed too much by the Frenchman, who took the law into his own hands, giving Simmons a Kung Fu style kick to the chest.

“After his first training session in heaven, George Best, from the favourite right wing, turned the head of God who was filling in at left back.”

Following the incident at Selhurst Park was one of the most famous press conference in history, with the ever-poetic Cantona merely declaring that “When the Seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think Sardines will be thrown into the sea”. Cantona was charged by law. The original sentence of 2 weeks in jail was later overturned into 120 hours of community service, which was deemed more realistic for the offence. Eric was also given a worldwide ban of 8 months, meaning that a transfer would do Eric no good, although it was widely expected that he would leave for Inter Milan. Paul Ince was the only player offloaded to Internazionale that summer.

“My best moment? I have a lot of good moments but the one I prefer is when I kicked the hooligan.”

The following season began as the previous ended for Cantona, sitting watching his team-mates, although this was quite a different team to the one from the previous campaign, with many first team players being replaced by products of the United youth academy. United were up to second in the league when fan-favourite Cantona was scheduled to make his comeback in a local derby with Liverpool. Chants of “Oh Ah Cantona”, banners of “The King is back, sit back and enjoy”, French flags, Eric masks all over the place, and a big round of applause (not only from Old Trafford, but also from many other homes around the world) saw Eric come back in a game in which Cantona proved that his long lay-off had done no damage by getting an assist for Nicky Butt two minutes in. He went on to score from the penalty spot too in the 2-2 draw, although Eric didn’t really get into top-form until the next year, when Cantona and Manchester United seemed unplayable, resulting in the infamous Kevin Keegan “I would love it” rant and Manchester United regaining the Premier League trophy. The Cantona highlight of the season was yet to come, with Eric scoring an 85^th minute winner in the FA cup final against non other than Liverpool with a beautiful volley from the edge of the area.

“In football, I wore my collar up like that to hide the traces of the heavy burden I was carrying! No, I’m kidding: I was never the one saying that. But it’s like the idea of tattoos for this photo – I liked it because I thought it was very powerful.”

In the final season of Eric’s career, he was the full-time captain of Manchester United, as opposed to his previous role as vice-Captain, due to Steve Bruce’s move to Birmingham. Cantona had a poor season, however, despite United winning another Premier League trophy and getting to the Champions League semi-final, causing him to announce his retirement at the end of the season as he had fallen out of love with the game.

“I stopped playing football because I’d done as much as I could. I needed something which was going to excite me as much as football had excited me.”

“If you have only one passion in life – football – and you pursue it to the exclusion of everything else, it becomes very dangerous. When you stop doing this activity it is as though you are dying. The death of that activity is a death in itself.“

Since retirement, Eric Cantona has gone on to star in films and adverts alike. However, he says what makes him proudest is that a good decade after his retirement his name is still sang with pride around Old Trafford, although his goalscoring rate was far from the greatest. His 80 goals and all-round influence was massive to the growth of Manchester United Football Club from one of history’s great underachievers to a name at the forefront of world football, thus earning him the tag of the greatest overseas player of the opening decade of premiership football. Eric, the King of Old Trafford.

“I’m so proud the fans still sing my name, but I fear tomorrow they will stop. I fear it because I love it, and everything you love, you fear you will lose”

“Often there are players who have only football as a way of expressing themselves and never develop other interests. And when they no longer play football, they no longer do anything; they no longer exist, or rather they have the sensation of no longer existing.”