100 Best Players + Cesc speaks out, inside QPR & facetime with Razor
Wednesday 07 December 2011 10:20
At last, the issue of FourFourTwo you’ve all been waiting for. Yes, it’s that time of year again: the world’s biggest football magazine picks the 100 Best Players from around the world. We’ve got goosebumps just thinking about what you’ll make of it.
But we know you want more, so in the new January 2011 issue, out now, we have a world exclusive interview with one of that top 100 – none other than international superstar Cesc Fabregas.
Is Pep Guardiola a genius? Was leaving Arsenal the easy option? Why aren’t the Gunners winning trophies? Yes, no and it’s complicated, says Cesc. He also tells us exactly what’s wrong with English football. It’s a must-read.
Of course, the real question is this: where is Fabregas in our famed 100 Best Players list? We’ve blogged aplenty about our selection, from explaining how we do it to profiling the players themselves, but the only place you can read the FourFourTwo top 100 in its entirety, in order and featuring interviews with experts and the players themselves – including Nasri, Neuer and Cavani – is in the magazine.
Our January issue has bags more features, not least the final part of our Youth Development series. This month, we look at the Football League in England. As small clubs prepare to lose their best young talent to the top teams for much less money than before under the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), we speak to anxious academy chiefs.
We also go inside QPR to take a look at the club reborn under Neil Warnock and owner Tony Fernandes. We have a chat with the outspoken pair, and take part in an extraordinary interview with the even franker Joey Barton – who even let us do this to him.
Our Action Replay this month looks at possibly the most historically significant football match of all time. Develop a new appreciation for humanity as you read the truth behind that most incredible of games: the First World War Christmas Day truce match of 1914.
On a lighter note, we get ready for football’s Christmas period by running down the times when the festive period threatened to kill a team’s season. Turkey with all the trimmings? All this lot got were 12-game winless streaks and X-rated teddy bears.
There’s even room for a One-on-One with the Razor: Neil Ruddock himself. The grizzled former defender gives his opinions on England, Alan Sugar and recalls the time he handcuffed himself to a stranger on a night out...
And there’s more. We reveal Arsene Wenger’s secret weapon, FC Lorient, dish out our alternative MLS end-of-season awards and present a feature on lesser footballing siblings, from Rhodri Giggs to Carl Hoddle.
Scott Parker gives us a consistency masterclass and Tom Cleverley the perfect gym routine in Performance, and there are more missives from Michel Salgado and our undercover columnist – plus a reviews special in time for Christmas. So go on: fill your sack.
Where do I get my hands on this fantastic organ?
The January issue of FourFourTwo was brought to you by Rio Ferdinand, Yaya Toure, Neil Warnock, Cesc Fabregas, Les Parry, Edinson Cavani, Gary Brooke, Ian Snodin, Scott Parker, Jason Roberts, John Bishop, Ray Wilkins, Yann M’Vila, Samir Nasri, Keith Southern, Adam Johnson, Mauro Bressan, Richard Dobson, Andy Awford, Leandro Damiao, Tom Cleverley, Manuel Neuer, Dave Merrington, Paul Futcher, Joey Barton, Michael Mancienne, Peter Hooton of The Farm, Alan Shearer, Neil Ruddock, Andre Santos, Nicky Maynard, Alvaro Pereira, Peter Schmeichel, Aidy Boothroyd, Robbie Savage, Tony Fernandes, Ossie Ardiles, Sean Scannell, Steve Evans, boxing Southend United chairman Tara Brady, Elvis lover Hermann Hreidarsson, Giuseppe and Franco Baresi, Graham Alexander, Michel Salgado, Daniele de Rossi, Kevin McNaughton, Dennis Bergkamp’s nephew, Michael Carrick’s brother and Yoann Gourcuff’s dad.
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