The Blizzard The Football Quarterly Issue Fifteen

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Contents of Issue Fifteen ----------------------- The North-East ----------------------- * Jonathan Wilson, A Sentimental Journey - In a world of superclubs, what’s the point of the ordinary teams? * George Caulkin, The Great Betrayal - Mike Ashley and the cheapening of the Newcastle dream * Harry Pearson, The Van Basten of Hartlepool - Adam Boyd and the glory of a flickering talent * Michael Walker, Bob Paisley and the Red Kennedys - The north-eastern influence that underlay Liverpool’s period of domination ------------------ Strikers ------------------ * Dominic Bliss, A Season in Turin - Denis Law remembers his year playing in Serie A * Jim Davies and Juan Felipe Rubio, The Lost Weekend - Spending two days on Faustino Asprilla’s Colombian ranch * Thierry Marchand and Philippe Auclair, A Game for Individuals - Thierry Henry reflects on how football has changed in his 20 years at the top ------------------------------- Davids and Goliaths ------------------------------- * Luke Alfred, The Boys who never Grew Up - South Africa are African football’s greatest underachievers. What’s gone wrong? * Robin Bairner, When FFP Goes Wrong - Luzenac’s promotion to the French second flight should have been a joyous fair-story but it killed the club * Will Unwin, Defying the Odds - How tiny Eibar have taken their place in the Spanish top flight * Paul Watson, Fifa’s Exiles - For Pacific islands, football development can be a haphazard and fragile process ------------- Theory ------------- * Nicholas Blincoe, The Roundhead’s Paradox - Tony Pulis and the conflicted character of British Puritanism * Amy Lawrence, Wengerball - Arsène Wenger, the Invincibles and the transformation of Arsenal’s philosophy * Jonny Singer, The Archduke and the Offside Law - Did the First World War lead to the most significant ever change to the Laws of the Game? * Marti Pararnu, Pep Talk - How Guardiola inspired Bayern Munich before the Super Cup shoot-out against Chelsea ----------------------------------- The Sense of an Ending ----------------------------------- * Ewan MacKenna, Fallen Eagle - The death of the former Nigeria striker Rashidi Yekini remains shrouded in mystery. * Alessandro Mastrolucca, Bergamini - 25 years ago the Cosenza midfielder Denis Bergamini was run over by a truck. Was it murder? --------------- Fiction --------------- * Iain Macintosh, Quantum of Bobby - Spinning through time and space, Bobby Manager finds himself at Roy Keane’s Sunderland ------------------------ Greatest Games ------------------------ * Scott Murray, Liverpool 3 Newcastle United 0 - FA Cup final, Wembley Stadium, London, 4 May 1974 ------------------ Eight Bells ------------------ * Rob Smyth, Dethronings - A selection of champions who surrendered their titles in decisive fashion

First published in September 2016, Issue Twenty Two contains 17 articles in 6 sections, including: Shaul Adar on football, family and the improbable success of Hapoel Be'er Sheva; Sam Wetherell on what San Jose Earthquakes tell us about the condition of Major League Soccer; and Juliet Jacques interviews Lilian Thuram on 1998, social cohesion and the importance of football as a political tool.

First published in June 2017, Issue Twenty Five contains 18 articles in 7 sections, including: Luke Edwards on why Leyton Orient's slide out of the league matters, Felix Lill and Javier Sauras on the growth of football in Cuba, Igor Rabiner on how Monaco have reinvented themselves and Andrew Lees' personal quest into the life story of Brazilian great Garrincha.

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Issue Eleven Contents ----------------------------------------- African Champions League ----------------------------------------- * Firdose Moonda - Following Orlando Pirates’ run to the final of the African Champions League * Colin Udoh, Football’s Only Part of It - To prosper in the African Champions League you have to play the game off the pitch as well as on it * James Montague, In Memoriam - After the tragedy of Port Said, Al Ahly’s seventh Champions League success was far more than a footballing victory * Oluwashina Okeleji, The Triumph of the People’s Elephant - How Enyimba became only the second team to retain the African Champions League * Ian Hawkey, The Flight of the Ravens - The rivalry between TP Mazembe and Asante Kotoko dominated African football in the late sixties * Segun Ogunfeytimi - Images of the passion stirred in Nigeria by this season’s African Champions League --------------------- Interview --------------------- * Martín Mazur, Oscar Washington Tabárez - El Maestro on how he keeps Uruguay overachieving --------------------- Theory --------------------- * Gunnar Persson, Roy’s Swedish Revolution - How Roy Hodgson transformed the face of the Swedish game * Andi Thomas, The Waiting Game - The strange world of the back-up goalkeeper * Uli Hesse, Learning to Press - The tactical revolution that led to the transformation of the German game ----------------------- Identity ----------------------- * Nicholas Hogg, Size 5 - Football, growing up in Leicester and falling out of love with the game * Dion Fanning, Booze Boys - Tracing Irish football’s sozzled relationship with alcohol ---------------------- Referees ---------------------- * Sam Kelly, The Final Whistler - Horacio Elizondo on the strategy of officiating and sending off Zidane in the World Cup final * Alexander Jackson and David Toms, The First Modern Ref - Refereeing a Cup final cost Harry Nattrass his job but he became the greatest official of his age * Ben Lyttleton, The Psychologist - Tom Henning Øvrebø on man-management and that game at Stamford Bridge ---------------------- Exile ---------------------- * James Horncastle, The Lost Legend - Árpád Weisz was one of Serie A’s first great coaches. He was also Jewish. * Igor Rabiner, Closure - Travelling through with Avram Grant to find the graves of his grandparents * Shaul Adar, The Survivor - Emmanuel Schaffer escaped the holocaust and took Israel to the World Cup ------------------------ Fiction ------------------------ * David Ashton, The Handkerchief - Young love intervenes between a goalkeeper and his chance of glory ----------------------------- Greatest Games ----------------------------- * Richard Winton, Dundee 1 Dundee United 2 - Scottish Premier League, Dens Park, Dundee, 14 May 1983 ------------------------- Eight Bells ------------------------- * Michael Yokhin, Unexpected league leaders - A selection of minnows who, briefly, found themselves at the top of the tree

First published in September 2017, Issue Twenty Six contains 23 articles in 7 sections, including Simon Hughes on what fan-owned clubs say about alienation from the Premier League, Priya Ramesh on how Dirk Kuyt helped Feyenoord end an 18-year drought, Manoj Narayan on why last season's champions are facing relegation in a shake-up of Indian football, and Philippe Auclair, Jonathan Northcroft, Tim Vickery and Brian Oliver, among others, look at their favourite stadiums.

First published in March 2016, Issue Twenty contains 20 articles in 10 sections, including: Robin Bairner explaining why Hampden Park's old goalposts have pride of place in St-Étienne's club museum; the playwright Patrick Marber discusses football, drama, and his football drama; and Nick Miller with the unusual story of how a united Ireland side took on Brazil at the height of the Troubles and almost won.

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Contents of Issue Thirteen ---------------- History ---------------- * Uli Hesse, Never the Twain - The story of the meeting between West Germany and East Germany at the 1974 World Cup * Greg Johnson, Hearts and Minds - Spain threaten, like Lennox Lewis, to be a great but unloved champion * Richard Jolly, The Clubs behind the Countries - Which clubs have produced the most World Cup winners? * Martín Mazur, The Moral Pendulum - Argentina’s eternal vacillation between fútbol and anti-fútbol ---------------- Brazil ---------------- * James Corbett, Fifa, Go Home! - What does hosting the World Cup mean for Brazil? * James Young, Futebol Nation? - How much do Brazilians really care about football? * Marius Lien, A Troubled History - The ambiguous past of José Maria Marin, the head of the Brazilian World Cup -------------------------- Protagonists -------------------------- * Rupert Fryer, Sideshow takes Centre Stage - The Brazil defender on handling the pressure of being hosts * Mike Phillips, The Multi-Kulti Question - How the Switzerland national team became part of the debate on immigration * Vladimir Novak, Better Late than Never - Algeria’s Vahid Halilhodžić on finally making it to the World Cup as a manager * Leo Verheul, The Artist’s Boy - The Netherlands striker was shaped by the Rotterdam in which he grew up ----------------- Minnows ----------------- * Sean Carroll, The Secret Team - An Yeong-hag and Chong Tese on playing for North Korea at the 2010 World Cup * Michael Yokhin, The Indomitability of Lions - In 1990 Cameroon overcame shambolic preparations to shock the world * Oliver Pickup, Milla’s Time - Oliver Pickup speaks to Roger Milla about becoming his nation’s saviour at 38 * Martín Mazur, Two Men Down - In 1982 El Salvador came from war, chaos and corruption, lost 10-1 and retained their dignity ----------------- Fiction ----------------- * Iain Macintosh, Quantum of Bobby - Spinning through time and space, Bobby Manager finds himself in Italy in 1990 -------------------------- Greatest Games -------------------------- * Jonathan Wilson, Hungary 4 Uruguay 2 (aet) - World Cup semi-final, Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland, 20 June 1954 * Rob Smyth & Scott Murray, Italy 3 Brazil 2 - World Cup second phase, Group C, Estadi de Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain, 5 July 1982 ---------------- Eight Bells ---------------- * Michael Yokhin, World Cup Cameos - A selection of players who played only a few minutes at the World Cup