Category: Stories

The Curse of Bela Guttmann

Published on by Martyn Green1 Comment

When you shoot for the king, you’d better not miss, or so the old saying goes. When that king literally has “Royal” in their name, and are undefeated in the European Cup – the pinnacle of continental competition – for five years, that saying goes double. So it was in the early history of the Europe’s premier tournament. Real Madrid, patronised by General Franco, won every iteration of the competition between its inception and 1960. And then, unthinkably, they didn’t.

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Gre-No-Li: Milan’s Unstoppable Swedes

Published on by Martyn Green

Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently announced that he was looking to sign another contract at Milan, in his 40th year, having led the line alongside Olivier Giroud as the Rossoneri lead the Serie A table and look for a first Serie A win since 2011. He has helped the cause with more than just his eight goals this season; he is an icon, a gravitational presence that inspires and intimidates in equal measure. But he is far from the first Swede to make his way to the San Siro, and in the minds of many, he may not even be the best.

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Who Ate All the Pies?

Published on by Martyn Green

“Who ate all the pies?” is a familiar chant around football grounds, directed at any footballer who happens to be a little larger, more sluggish, or slower than you might reasonably expect of a sportsman. Of course, in many cases, it’s a nonsense – I can quite happily admit that every player I’ve ever chanted it at is almost certainly fitter than I am – but the chant has lingered for over a century. The question is, where did it start, and who was the unfortunate player about whom it was created?

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Helenio Herrera and the Birth of Italian Football

Published on by Martyn Green

“Clown and genius, buffoon and ascetic, rogue and model father, sultan and faithful husband, swaggering fool and quiet achiever, delinquent and competent, megalomaniac and health fanatic. Herrera is all of the above and more.” So said Italian football journalist Gianni Brera in 1966, as Herrera took Inter to their third Serie A title in four years, a spell that also brought two European Cups. The Argentinian, by this stage, had already changed football in completely unrecognisable ways, and put in place practices that echo through to the modern game. He was perhaps the first modern manager.

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El Divino Manco – The One-Armed Wonder

Published on by Martyn Green

Winning the World Cup is the pinnacle of any player’s career. So few get the chance to even play in the competition, let alone win it, that the feeling is preserved just for the rarefied few, whose magic has lit up the global game. But only one side can claim the be the first World Cup winners, and when Uruguay romped to the title (scoring 15 goals in just four games), their final goal was scored by a one-armed man.

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Did Football Really Start the Balkans Wars?

Published on by Martyn Green

Football can be a serious business. It has repercussions for livelihoods, communities, even entire countries. Winning or losing can affect the mood far more than should be possible for something that is “only a game”. But what about when football goes beyond moods, or jobs? What about when it threatens peace? What happens, when football starts a war?

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A Casual Affair

Published on by Martyn Green

Corinthians were perhaps the most famous of the early amateur sides. They were founded in 1882, to provide players for the nascent England team who had developed a habit of losing to Scotland. Within four years they provided nine players to the England side, and later provided the entire selection. They beat the ‘Invincibles’ of Preston in 1889 and still hold the record for Man Utd’s worst ever defeat. Their greatest legacy comes in South America, where Corinthians of Brazil, one of the continent’s most successful sides, was set up in response to a tour by the English amateurs. In the 1930s, they combined with Casuals to become Corinthian-Casuals, who still play in the Isthmian League to this day.

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The (Original) Italian Stallions

Published on by Martyn Green

In 2021, Italy broke the record for the longest unbeaten run in international football. It has been an incredible period since their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, not suffering defeat between 10th October 2018, and their Nations League Final defeat to Spain on 6th October 2021, including a record-breaking run of clean sheets, and, as we are all too aware, the winning of a major trophy. A goalless draw against Switzerland seems an anticlimactic way of celebrating the achievement, but it will stand in the record books, for a while at least. What makes the achievement even more spectacular is the scrutiny, the pressure, and the expectation of the whole of Italy that this team carried with them.

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The Forgotten Man: England’s Greatest Mistake?

Published on by Martyn Green

When we look back at the great tactical innovators of the game, certain names crop up time and again. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are held up as heirs to a footballing genius laid down by Bill Shankly, Arrigo Sacchi, Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. For a certain type of football fan, Helenio Herrera and Karl Rappan are idols. But there are very few who have had the impact and legacy of and Englishman, mostly forgotten to history, by the name of James Hogan.

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