Monday 14 May 2012, 17:16
Aston Villa's lacklustre league form was getting ever worse under Alex McLeish. His dismissal was a necessary step if Villa are to avoid relegation next season, says Alex Keble Alex McLeish's tenure...
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Thursday 01 March 2012, 17:08
Man City fan Tom Wilkins wonders whether his club need the returning Argentinian at all – this season or next… It might not have quite been what he had in mind, but this week Carlos Tevez got his wish...
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Thursday 09 February 2012, 15:43
As the English press go gaga, Mark Robinson explains why Harry Redknapp really is the man to lead the national team... As one chapter ends, another begins. Just hours after being cleared of tax evasion...
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Tuesday 24 January 2012, 11:49
Freelance football writer Gareth McKnight ponders whether Chelsea may have difficulty holding onto their new Spanish starlet further down the line... With Spanish football on an all-time high, there is...
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Friday 13 January 2012, 14:15
Phil Gillen of TheSeatsFaceThePitch.com on the always-entertaining Assou-Ekotto Benoit Assou-Ekotto doesn't score many goals, but his effort against Everton cemented his place in Tottenham Hotspur's...
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Tuesday 20 December 2011, 10:31
Following on from FourFourTwo.com's Premier League XI and Tim Stannard's La Liga XI , here are a few English top flight suggestions from you, our dear readers... Even FourFourTwo Performance's...
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Monday 19 December 2011, 14:36
When it comes to the England job, there are many who believe Harry Redknapp’s widely-touted appointment to succeed Fabio Capello after next summer’s Euro 2012 finals to be a mere formality. In light of...
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Friday 09 December 2011, 16:41
Amidst Roman Abramovich’s empire there exists a collection of irrefutable truths. A squad that once boasted unparalleled riches, hunger and potential now reeks of decline and complacency. Like a vintage...
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Monday 05 December 2011, 11:50
After two and a half years on Wearside, Steve Bruce’s tenure at Sunderland came to an end last week. Following a home defeat to Wigan nine days ago courtesy of Franco di Santo’s late goal, it’s fair to...
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Thursday 17 November 2011, 08:30
It was once said of England’s rugby World Cup winning coach, Sir Clive Woodward, that he became aware of the impressive job he was doing. That he and his coaching team began to believe there was little...
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Wednesday 09 November 2011, 15:18
This time last season Gabriel Agbonlahor cut a disconsolate figure at Villa Park. Unwanted and seemingly unrated by the coaching staff, he was close to crossing that indefinable line at which players start...
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Monday 31 October 2011, 18:03
As Fabio Capello and the Football Association weigh up whether to launch an almost-inevitably futile appeal against Wayne Rooney’s three-match Euro 2012 ban, Joe Cole is trying to prove they need not bother...
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Friday 21 October 2011, 10:01
According to the old joke on Tyneside, Alan Shearer was so beloved that if you came home to find him in bed with your missus you’d offer him a cup of tea. With Shearer’s retirement in 2006, a vacancy opened...
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Tuesday 18 October 2011, 17:47
Journalist and Southampton fan Chris Cox explains how Southampton's surprising decision to axe Alan Pardew last August has boosted the Hampshire side... It has been just over a year since football...
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Friday 14 October 2011, 10:06
With Northern Ireland's qualification campaign ending in embarrassment and acrimony, Nigel Worthington has stepped down as manager. Ralph Hewitt examines the evidence So Nigel Worthington has finally...
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Sunday 09 October 2011, 14:41
Some folk can't cope with not being the centre of attention, says Declan Warrington It has become one of football’s greatest clichés to compare every competent attacking Argentinian to Diego Maradona...
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Thursday 06 October 2011, 16:23
Niall Quinn's decision this week to step aside as Sunderland chairman surprised many in the North-East. His association with the club goes back 15 years as player, coach, manager, public face of a...
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Wednesday 28 September 2011, 13:58
The former Liverpool manager, Graeme Souness, once despaired at the lack of desire shown by signings he had made during his time in charge of the club. He'd succeeded Kenny Dalglish and gambled on...
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Thursday 22 September 2011, 11:34
Our man in the North East Kris Heneage thinks the Magpies may already have the man to replace the midfielder-come-philosopher The King is dead, long live the King’- could be the best idiom to sum up the...
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Wednesday 21 September 2011, 12:35
“Fernando Torres has never been a great player. Some players are overrated and I don’t think Torres has ever been a great player. That’s just my opinion. " - Lou Macari; September 18, 2011 The former...
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Friday 09 September 2011, 15:30
For most, the prospect of international football providing a timely distraction when the world’s disapproving gaze is negatively focused upon your behaviour would be, at the very least, a stroke of good...
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Tuesday 06 September 2011, 12:37
On Friday, hours before England’s 3-0 victory over Bulgaria, one of the English game’s best servants of recent times was dropped from Fabio Capello’s starting line-up. It was refreshing, to some extent...
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Thursday 01 September 2011, 15:48
Legend has it that, upon being appointed Real Madrid’s manager, Carlos Queiroz told his bosses of the negative impact selling Claude Makelele to Chelsea would have on the club. Queiroz feared that despite...
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Friday 26 August 2011, 12:01
There's a banner that regularly appears at the Emirates Stadium. It reads: "In Arsene we trust". It's a banner that's emblematic of the respect that exists for one of the world's...
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Tuesday 23 August 2011, 11:30
Just as night still follows day and the youth of the nation still feel thoroughly marginalised, it seems many top-level footballers still lack any sense of loyalty or obligation beyond the realms of their...
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Thursday 11 August 2011, 14:26
Swansea are back in the top flight for the first time in a generation. Owain Jones remembers the last time clearly... To put into context how long Swansea City have been out of English football’s top flight...
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Wednesday 03 August 2011, 11:09
Joey Barton is to leave Newcastle United, and Josh Robbins ain't too surprised... This week’s episode of the Newcastle United soap opera has seen another of their best players pushed out of the club...
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Wednesday 27 July 2011, 16:07
It wasn't love at first sight, but like many a Man City fan Mark Booth is now hopelesly besotted with Bobby Manc... First impressions only last if reinforced by subsequent behaviour. The friends who...
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Monday 18 July 2011, 15:13
There's something rotten this summer that goes right to the top of the nation's media. Something ugly; something that provokes a breed of contempt reserved for only the most reprehensible behaviour;...
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Monday 18 July 2011, 12:34
With Paddy V swapping boots for suits, both the tussling titans of yesteryear have retired from playing. Rather unfairly, we asked Declan Warrington who would win in a (football) fight... Mayweather or...
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Wednesday 13 July 2011, 14:48
New writer Declan Warrington worries that Harry Redknapp may have set his own bar too high Beyond any shadow of a doubt, last season was one of the most memorable in Tottenham's recent history. Not...
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Thursday 09 June 2011, 16:52
As Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson moves closer to a big money transfer to Liverpool, Kris Heneage ponders which party has the best of the deal Not for the first time, the football clubs of the...
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Friday 27 May 2011, 09:49
Guest writer and Blues supporter Charlie Skillen explains why the dismissal of Carlo Ancelotti leaves Chelsea short of options... The sacking of Carlo Ancelotti gave further proof, if any were needed,...
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Wednesday 18 May 2011, 16:26
As the Newcastle favourite prepares to return to the North East, Kristan Heneage looks back on exactly why Nolberto Solano is so popular in the region When the news broke last week that Nolberto Solano...
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Thursday 21 April 2011, 11:57
It's been a great week for Man City. After 35 trophyless years, they've reached the FA Cup final – and Spurs being held by Arsenal strengthens their chance of finishing in the fourth Champions...
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Thursday 21 April 2011, 11:52
It's been a great week for Man City. After 35 trophyless years, they've reached the FA Cup final – and Spurs being held by Arsenal strengthens their chance of finishing in the fourth Champions...
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Tuesday 29 March 2011, 18:01
Proud North East-based England fan Kristan Heneage ponders whether the England manager has something against clubs from the North East... A recent study showed that Newcastle and Sunderland are the two...
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Tuesday 29 March 2011, 14:09
FFT writer Mark Booth criticises Capello's critics – and spies a welcome potential legacy Fabio Capello’s announcement that he will send out a second-string side against Ghana has been met with yet...
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Thursday 24 March 2011, 15:24
Your sympathy, please, for AVFC fan and FFT contributor Ian Woodcock . It's all gone very wrong... What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago fans and pundits alike enthused about Aston Villa...
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Friday 26 November 2010, 18:57
FourFourTwo's resident Gooner Ben Welch looks ahead to Arsenal’s visit to Villa Park on Saturday.... This week has left me questioning why I do it to myself. I feel like I’ve been going through a rough...
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Saturday 20 November 2010, 17:41
FourFourTwo's resident Gooner Ben Welch looks back on a dramatic North London derby... From ecstasy to complete and utter misery. I hate Arsenal. I hate football. There I was on the train to Manchester...
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Friday 19 November 2010, 11:58
FourFourTwo's resident Gooner Ben Welch looks ahead to Saturday's North London derby... I’m not a religious man, but tonight I’m going to get down on my knees, clasp my hands together, close my...
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Monday 15 November 2010, 10:08
Monday morning's office chat centres around David Haye's annihilation of Audley Harrison aka A-Farce, sorry A-Force. “Where'd you watch the fight?” my boss asks me. “In central London... ended...
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Sunday 14 November 2010, 14:52
"What you doing in there?" my nan shouts at me from outside the toilet. "Have you got an upset stomach?" "Yes - it's really bad," I reply with no sense of guilt that I've...
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