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Quiz question: what was unique about Tony Cottee’s goal for West Ham against Charlton, in the FA Cup third round in January 1986? Answer: during that domestic season, it was the first live televised goal in either league or cup.
There hadn’t been loads of goalless draws before that – actually, there had been a complete TV blackout. No live football, not even Match of the Day highlights, after a dispute between the Football League and the broadcasters, BBC and ITV.
Even when tensions thawed, only 13 English club games were shown live during the second half of that campaign.
Fast forward 40 years, and you’d struggle to find a time where there weren’t at least 13 domestic league games televised in a single weekend. This season, a minimum of 267 Premier League matches will be shown live on Sky and TNT, plus 1,000 games from the EFL, League Cup and EFL Trophy, with the FA Cup and European games on top of that.
That’s just one example of how football has changed over the years – new state-of-the-art arenas have also been built around the country.
But as football has got bigger, what price has it all come at? Political interference, financial cheating and the quest to get every refereeing decision right to within a millimetre, leading to moments of spontaneous joy being sucked away from those in the stands.
In this issue, we ask if football is broken – and if so, how do we fix it?
Enjoy the mag.
James
How to fix football
The Manchester City scandal has been just the latest issue to anger supporters - is the game we all love broken, and can FourFourTwo fix it, with our 30-point plan to save football?
Calciopoli revisited
The 2006 match-fixing controversy exposed corruption at the pinnacle of Serie A – at its centre was one man and his mobile phone, FourFourTwo revisits the scandal that rocked Italian football.
Van der Star
Edwin van der Sar conquered Europe twice during his playing days – weeks after leaving his role at Ajax in 2023 though, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. He tells FFT about that experience, and a glorious career in the game
Bobby's England
Terry Butcher and writer Neil Prentice have combined to pay homage to Robson in new book Almost Immortal – Three Lions stars hail their legendary boss, via tales about electric shocks, Cameroonian spies and a mummified Gazza
On the front line
FourFourTwo were invited to spend time with Harrogate boss Simon Weaver, and get a rare viewpoint of their match against Eastleigh from the bench – naturally, we weren’t about to turn the offer down…
Marching on together
Jayden Bogle has been a key part of a Leeds United side that climbed out of the Championship and have kept on rising – he tells FFT why it’s been a collective effort, with some impromptu karaoke thrown in…
The Boy’s a Bit Special
Get the lowdown on Brigton's newest starlet and the next Xavi in the latest Boy's a bit special
The Danish revolution
Midtjylland only formed in 1999, but have used innovative thinking to become perennial title contenders in recent years – FFT headed to see them host title rivals FC Copenhagen
Around the Grounds
Former Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone on life as player-coach at League Two Crawley, learning from Jens Lehmann and facing RVP in training
Elsewhere, we get the lowdown on Stenhousemuir's rise in Scottish football, while in our ‘Beyond the Turnstiles’ feature we take a trip to Great Yarmouth and tell you why it should be on your bucket list of grounds to visit.
In the Players Lounge this month…
John Arne Riise on that bust up with Craig Bellamy, Vivianne Miedema on winning the double with Manchester City and Trevor Sinclair on his famous overhead kick.
The Mixer
Our latest merch round-up features a new Barcelona shirt and Arsenal's latest range with adidas.
We spy a Walthamstow away shirt from 2023 in Kit's a bit Special and let you know what to watch, listen to and follow this month.
Graeme Souness Q&A
Former Liverpool and Rangers midfielder and ex-Blackburn and Newcastle boss Graeme Souness answers your questions
Upfront
Think you’re a football expert? Prove it by getting 100 per cent in our Ultimate Quiz. Columnist Jules Breach on why she is daring to dream as a Brighton fan.
Martin Keown selects the games that changed his life and talkSPORT presenter Max Rushden discuss all things Cambridge United as well as working on Soccer AM
Stan Collymore hails politicians and a legendary football manager in People I Admire.
Perfect XI
Oscar picks his ultimate XI from former teammates made up of Chelsea and Brazil legends.
