MICHAELOWEN

The alternative football magazine

“Alex Ferguson didn’t treat me right. I’m back where I belong.”

ERIC CANTONA“I wish I didn’t kick that fan in Selhurst Park...I should’ve punched his lights out.”

FIFA 10Is it the best football video game ever made?

WORLD CUPFEATURESOPINIONNEWS

2 CONTENTS

FTT 06/10

PAGE 8-10 - FEATURES

PAGE 14 - REVIEW

PAGE 3-7 - NEWS

PAGE 11-13: OPINION

HERE’S WHAT WE’VE GOT FOR YOU IN THIS MONTHS EDITION OF FOUR THREE

THREE...

Capello’s woes, Hodgson’s joys, managerial changes both at home and abroad and all the

latest as countries name their provisional World Cup squads. It’s all in our 3 pages of

news.

Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph gives us his rundown on what’s been a surreal Pre-

mier League season, while Paul Hayward of the Guardian explains to us just what Fabio

Capello did wrong.

Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph gives us his rundown on what’s been a surreal Pre-

mier League season, while Paul Hayward of the Guardian explains to us just what Fabio

Capello did wrong.

This month we talk to two of the greatest strikers of their generation. Michael Owen tells us about his recent transfers, while we

catch up with Man Utd legend Eric Cantona.

NEWS 3

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World Cup scare for defender John Terry• Chelsea captain targets return to training tomorrow• ‘There is no break and I hope to play in the Cup final’

Stephen Long - in London

Chelsea captain and England defender John Terry gave the nation a scare on Wednesday after reports surfaced sug-gesting he had broken a bone in his foot, ruling him out of Saturday’s FA Cup final and England’s World Cup squad.

Terry, the cornerstone of the back four for club and country, was injured in training on Wednesday preparing for the weekend FA Cup showpiece against Portsmouth at Wembley where he hopes to lead the west London club to the league and cup double.

“John Terry has today taken a knock in training and has gone to hospital for a precautionary scan on his right foot,” said a statement on the club’s website.

“He left Cobham walking freely in a protective boot, and we await the results which are expected on Thursday.” But Terry later calmed fears that he would miss the World Cup next month, telling reporters:

“I took a slight knock in training, but with such an im-portant match on Saturday the right course of action was to put a protective boot on my right foot and have a CT scan.

“The scan has shown there is no break and I am hoping to train tomorrow if not Friday, and of course play in the FA Cup final on Saturday.”

The 29-year-old Terry’s fitness has been a concern for Chelsea and England at various stages in recent years.

In December 2007 he fractured a metatarsal and was out for 14 games and a repeat of that kind of injury would almost certainly rule him out of next month’s tournament in South Africa.

Terry lifted the Premier League trophy on Sunday, Chel-sea’s first league title since 2006, but his season has been overshadowed by patchy form and newspaper revelations about his private life which cost him the England captaincy.

His fitness for England is key for coach Fabio Capello, however, as there are already question marks over some of the country’s other experienced defenders named on Tuesday in the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup finals.

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand, Terry’s regular England partner, missed a chunk of the season with back and calf injuries while Tottenham Hotspur’s Ledley King has knee problems which mean he cannot train prop-erly.

Midfielder Gareth Barry has an ankle injury while striker Wayne Rooney was troubled by ankle and groin injuries during the final weeks of the sea-son although he is expected to be fit.

Terry made his Chelsea debut on 28 October 1998 as a late substitute in a League Cup tie with Aston Villa; his first start came later that season in an FA Cup third round match, a 2–0 win over Oldham Athletic. He spent a brief period on loan with Nottingham Forest in 2000 to build up his first team experience.

Terry began to establish himself in the Chelsea first team from the 2000–01 season, making 23 starts, and was voted the club’s player of the year.[20] He continued his progress during 2001–02, becoming a regular in the defence alongside club captain and French international Marcel De-sailly. Following Desailly’s retirement, new Chelsea manager José Mourinho chose Terry as his club captain.He went on to become the most successful captain in the clubs history.

4 NEWS

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Avram Grant on West Ham shortlist after Zola is sackedWest Ham United want to talk to Avram Grant after Saturday’s FA Cup final with a view to installing him as the managerial suc-cessor to Gianfranco Zola, who was sacked this morning and faces an acrimonious battle to secure a payout.

The east London club have placed Grant, the Portsmouth manager, at the top of their shortlist, which also includes Glenn Hoddle, the former England coach, whose previous post was at Wolverhampton Wanderers four years ago.

West Ham’s joint chairmen, David Sul-livan and David Gold, will have to wait until after Saturday’s Cup final, in which Port-smouth take on Chelsea, to sound out Grant

as the Israeli is focused only on the game. But Sullivan and Gold are aware that Grant would jump at the chance to move to Upton Park while there would be no issues with Portsmouth over compensation.

Zola has clashed with Sullivan, in par-ticular, and felt the club’s ownership has been too outspoken and demanding. But Grant would have no such problems, having worked for Chelsea’s exacting owner, Roman Abramovich, and run the gamut of emotions at Portsmouth this season.

Hoddle’s candidacy is intriguing. Sullivan and Gold like to work with British managers – they had Alex McLeish, Steve Bruce, Trevor Francis and Barry Fry at their previous club,

Birmingham City – but Hoddle may tick oth-er boxes, too. He is gifted, experienced and, in many respects, a glamour name while, like Grant, there would be no problem regarding compensation.

West Ham’s shortlist is completed by Gregorio Manzano, Real Mallorca’s Span-ish coach, who has had an excellent season in guiding his team to fifth place in La Liga, with a chance of fourth on the final day, and a quartet of upwardly mobile Champion-ship managers: Dave Jones (Cardiff City), Nigel Pearson (Leicester City), Ian Holloway (Blackpool) and Paulo Sousa (Swansea City). The first three are involved in the promotion play-offs while Sousa narrowly missed out.

Scholes snub sours England’s Fabio Capello’s big day • Manchester United midfielder rejects offer to join squad• FA forces Capello Index player ratings venture to be scrapped

Fabio Capello has endured his most turbulent 24 hours as England manager after the Football Association forced him to shelve the con-troversial Capello Index project, and the make-up of his provisional World Cup squad was disrupted by a late rejection from Paul Scholes.

The head coach has announced a 30-man party to attend a pre-tournament training camp in Austria with Gareth Barry a late inclusion after bringing forward an assessment on his ankle ligament injury to 24 May. The Fulham forward, Bobby Zamora, called Capello to rule himself out with an achilles problem, yet it was only late this morning that the Italian’s initial optimism that Scholes would return from self-imposed international retirement was dashed.The 35-year-old midfielder, who gained the last of his 66 caps at Euro 2004, had offered Capello and the England general manager, Franco Baldini, reason to believe he might follow Jamie Carragher out of exile by making himself available for the finals in South Africa and had been sleeping on a decision.

“We had been monitoring him for the second part of the season when he’s played very well,” Capello said. “We tried to convince him to come back, but he said ‘no’. He preferred to stay with his family.”

If the late and unexpected courting of Scholes, who has long

insisted he had no desire to represent his country again, lent the selection process an air of desperation, then the disappointment at his rejection of a return maintained Capello’s troubled day. The England coach declined to speak at length about the ill-advised Capello Index, launched publicly 24 hours previously much to the FA’s surprise, which would have seen ratings for his players appearing within two hours of a World Cup game this summer.

While the 63-year-old, who earns £6m a year with England, was never due to analyse matches himself, his employers were uncomfortable with his involvement and, after the head coach met with senior FA staff this morning, the launch of the project was suspended until after the World Cup. “Fabio Capello’s involvement has been purely as a technical expert to establish statistical criteria for the index,” a spokesman for Capello said. “However, he wants to ensure that all appropriate pro-tocols are in place before the project proceeds and has therefore decided to postpone it.”

There will be no further leeway to put back a deci-sion on Barry’s fitness, with his hopes of participating in South Africa now hinging on the results of medical checks to be undertaken while his England team-mates play Mexico at Wembley on 24 May. This is Capello’s first major tournament with England.

England manager Fabio Capello

5NEWS

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Fulham cast as people’s champions ahead of Europa League finalJamie Jackson - in Hamburg

Danny Murphy believes Fulham will have the whole nation behind them when they face Atlético Madrid in the Europa League final tomorrow. The Fulham captain’s claim was backed up by John Terry, the Chelsea captain, who said he hoped their west London rivals would triumph at Hamburg’s Nordbank Arena.

“I think the support we’ve received, or I’ve been getting – phone calls, meeting people in the street – has just been amazing, phenom-enal really,” Murphy said. “It’s kind of everybody’s second favourite club at the moment because of maybe our spirit, our unusual posi-tion this season, that we’ve overcome the odds and beaten so many good teams.

“I think people enjoy watching us – the spirit and also the way we play. I think supporters appreciate good football and over the course of the competition we’ve certainly tried to play the right way. It’s nice to have the encouragement because it gives you the extra incentive to take the trophy home.”

Asked who had sent good luck messages Murphy said: “The usual friends, they’ve all been wishing me all the best. I think all the other lads are the same. We’ve all been surprised and overwhelmed really,

with all the support we’ve had.”Terry, who played with Fulham’s leading scorer, Bobby

Zamora, and Paul Konchesky, the left-back, in the same youth team, Senrab, said: “I wish the Fulham guys a lot of good luck because they have done brilliantly this season, probably unex-pected from everyone, but I wish them well.

“I wish Fulham, Paul Konchesky and Bobby Zamora good luck in the final. I know Bobby has been struggling with his achilles but I wish him well. He texted me after we won the title and I would be delighted for him if Fulham went on to win the Europa League.”

Zamora, who has scored 19 goals this season, watched the squad’s final training session, which was held at the Nordbank Arena, last night, although Damien Duff had recovered enough from a leg injury to take part.

Hodgson said: “They trained yesterday [on Monday] and that was very, very positive and, of course, I hope and we’ll have to see if there’s any reaction. I’ve been given no indication there’s going to be any reaction so hopefully they’ll be able to play tomorrow.”

Hodgson, who was head coach of Internazionale in 1997 when they lost to Schalke 04 on penalties in the Uefa Cup final, said of his side’s prospects of defeating Atlético: “You work hard to get to a final. You play some very, very important games along the way, then the big day arrives when it’s down to two teams: it’s either you or your opponent.

“You know one of you is going to go smiling and one’s going to leave the field with tears in their eyes. That’s the nature of things. I think all the people out there know how we’re going to feel: if we win or if we lose.”

Atlético should present a formidable challenge. They are also in the final of the Copa Del Rey, Spain’s major domestic cup competition, and are ninth in La Liga, following a difficult start which led to Quique Sánchez Flores replacing the sacked Abel Resino in October.

6 NEWS

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Adams off to AzerbaijanFormer England captain Tony Adams signed a three-year contract on Wednesday to take over as coach of Azerbaijan club FK Gabala.

“I am extremely delighted to join this fantastic project and am looking forward to starting work,” the former Arsenal defender told a news confer-ence in the Azeri capital.

“It is my honour to use this op-portunity and to bring this club to the highest international standards. We are definitely creating history.”

Zanetti out of Argentina squadDiego Maradona disregarded the vast experience of Inter Milan midfielder Esteban Cambiasso and 136-cap record holder Javier Zanetti when he named his 30-man provisional World Cup squad on Tuesday.

Zanetti, a veteran of the 1998 and 2002 World cups, and Cambi-asso, who helped Argentina reach the 2002 quarter-finals, are both key players in the Inter side that reached the Champions League final at the expense of holders Barcelona.

Ronaldinho not going to World CupForward Adriano and former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho were left out of Brazil’s World Cup squad on Tuesday as coach Dunga opted for a safety-first approach.Dunga also refused to bow to pres-sure to call up Saantos youngsters Paulo Henrique Ganso and Neymar, instead announcing a squad packed with defensive midfielders.

“Being conservative has brought results since the start,” said Dunga, who has won the Copa America, Con-federations Cup and South American World Cup qualifying group in little under four years as coach.

José rejects reports he is in talks with Madrid

Paolo Bandini - in Milan

José Mourinho has rejected reports that he is in negotiations to be the next manager of Real Madrid, insisting he is thinking only about the immediate chal-lenges facing his Internazionale team.

Inter head into the final Serie A match of the season at Siena on Sunday two points clear of second-placed Roma, then face Bayern Munich in the Cham-pions League final on 23 May. Having already won the Coppa Italia last week, Inter stand on the verge of an historic treble.

“I haven’t spoken with any other club and, like all Inter fans, I too am thinking only of the matches with Siena and Bayern Munich,” said the manager, Mourinho. “These are crazy days, we are focussed on our two objectives and nobody at Inter is thinking about what they will do after the Champions League final. That is the truth.

“I told my agent, Jorge Mendes, I will not discuss the matter at least until May 23 –

after the Champions League final. The immediate objec-tives are what I said. But I still have things to do in football. Of course part of my plan is to coach in Spain, and maybe also be Portugal coach some day – but that’s when I’m old, maybe in 15 or 20 years.

Asked whether one day he would like to coach the Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, he reiterated his former statement: “Well, I said I want to be coach of Portugal in 15 or 20 years.”

Yesterday afternoon the Inter president, Massimo Moratti, had issued a similar statement reject-ing reports he was lining up a successor for Mourinho.

“In regard to what has been reported by certain media out-lets, in quite a brazen way, FC In-ternazionale would like to under-line that they have never been in contact with managers of other clubs or international sides,” he said. “We have a contract until 2012 with José Mourinho, and we are all concentrated, exclu-sively, on the important upcom-ing challenges of the team.”

The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported this morning that it would cost Real Madrid €57m (£48.3m) to bring in Mourinho. The paper said Madrid would have to pay €5m to terminate the contract of their existing manager, Manuel Pellegrini, €7m to have Inter release Mourinho and €15m a season for a minimum of three seasons in wages for the Por-tuguese and his staff of four people.

On 2 June 2008, Mourinho was appointed the successor of Roberto Mancini at Internazion-ale on a three-year contract, and brought along with him much of his backroom staff who had served him at both Chelsea and Porto.

Mourinho also caused imme-diate ripples in Italian football through his controversial rela-tionships with the Italian press and media, and feuds with major Serie A coaches such as Carlo Ancelotti then of Milan, Luciano Spalletti of Roma and Claudio Ranieri of Juventus in various news conferences.

Martin O’Neill to stay at Aston Villa after talks with Randy LernerThe Aston Villa owner, Randy Lerner, has con-firmed that the manager, Martin O’Neill, is staying at the club after talks between the two.

O’Neill stated his desire to stay at the club last week, rejecting internet rumours that he was unhappy with Lerner’s transfer policy. He insisted then that there was no fallout with Lerner and that he would assess eve-

rything with the American at the end of the campaign, and the owner indicated today that the two had now caught up.

“Martin will be back next year managing. It has already been settled,” said Lerner. “He and I spoke on a number of occasions in person and over the phone, and he’s happy to stay.” O’Neill joined the club in June 2007.

6 NEWS 7

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Dave Jones raises promotion stakes for Cardiff and Wales in play-offs

The Cardiff City manager, Dave Jones, is under no illusions about what promotion to the Premier League would mean for the club and, he has said, for all of south Wales.

Jones leads his side into tomorrow night’s play-off semi-final second leg against Leicester at the Cardiff City Stadium holding a 1-0 advantage from Sunday’s first leg in the east Midlands.

Peter Whittingham’s first-leg winner has made Cardiff favour-ites to go through to the final at Wembley for the chance of promo-tion – worth an estimated £90m. That would be a significant boost for a club battling to clear heavy debts.

Having won promotion with Wolves via the play-offs in 2002-03, Jones knows what it would mean to the area as a whole. But he is urging everyone to keep their feet on the ground and knows nothing has been achieved yet with the tie still effectively at half-time.

“It [promotion] is life-changing for everybody in south Wales – that’s what’s at stake,” he said. “But we’re not there yet. And we’re working hard to try to achieve it. When I was at Wolves and we went up, the industry and the city was on a high, everything. You look at teams that are going to come to the city. The hoteliers will be happy because more fans will come and everything else.

“It’s a massive injection for everybody in south Wales. But we’ve got to get there and we’ve got to do it, and we’ve got a tough one to get there at this moment. We’ve got our noses in front and we’ve got to try to capitalise on that.”

The winger Chris Burke is facing a race to overcome a groin strain having been substituted on Sunday, but the centre-back An-thony Gerrard will definitely miss out again with the calf injury that ruled him out of the first leg.

The Leicester assistant manager, Craig Shakespeare, believes the pressure is off his side after their first-leg defeat. He said: “We are obviously disappointed to be going there a goal down but, as we said to the boys after the game on Sunday, it is only half-time and rather than just 45 minutes we have 90 minutes to claw it back.

“Maybe that takes some pressure off us because, had we gone there with a lead, we would have been the favourites. Now there is no pressure on us. The onus is on Cardiff to a certain extent because the balance has swung in their favour. We were always going to be the underdogs, especially at Cardiff with their home record, but everyone knows in football that the underdogs sometimes come out on top.”

The experienced striker Steve Howard will return to the Leices-ter squad after completing a three-match suspension. The Foxes will assess the fitness of the defender Wayne Brown and the on-loan striker James Vaughan, who were both left out of the squad for the first leg after picking up hamstring problems in training.

• Premier League football would be ‘life-changing’• Jones urges fans to ‘keep feet on the ground’

PL proposes new compensation deal for young playersThe Premier League are pressing for a major change in the way smaller clubs are compensated for youth players in a move which could boost the number of English players in the top flight.

The league is proposing a fixed level of compensation for young players who are snapped up before they have signed a professional contract at the age of 16. The planned system would see more compensation money tied to ‘add-ons’ - such as playing for the first team, making a fixed number of performances and playing at Under-21 and senior international level.

The Premier League accept that the initial fee for young play-ers will often be less than would be received under the current tribunal system, but believe it will often work out more in the longer term.

Some League One and Two chairmen fear that the new system will open the floodgates to poaching by top clubs but the Football League clubs have had to agree to a review of the system as part of their acceptance of a package for solidarity payments - including parachute payments of £48m being paid over four years. Premier League chiefs, who insist they will not impose the new system without Football League agreement, hope it will stop clubs going to France and the rest of the continent where compensation is cheaper, because there would be less of a risk in taking on English youngsters even if they fail to make the grade.

8 FEATURES

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“I AM MY OWEN PERSON” The former Liverpool and Real Madrid starlet talks to FTTs Stephen Long on Ferguson, finances and fitness.

What’s the best goal you’ve ever scored? Apart from the ones against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, of course...I scored a brilliant one for England U15s at St James’ Park. We were playing Scotland and I remember they had just equalised to bring the game to 1-1. I was standing on the centre spot for the kick-off, the ball was tapped to me and that was it, I was off. I beat about four people and put it past the keeper. Sky were televising it too, so I got to see it afterwards. We ended up winning the game 2-1 and won the Victory Shield as well, so it was quite a good night, all in all.

A hat-trick against the Germans on their own turf: can you explain what went through your mind when the third went in?It was amazing. The first was very different from the third because it was the equaliser and I thought, “Yes, we’re back in the game!”. Plus I knew at that moment that we could beat them. The second was great and the third was the icing on the cake. A hat-trick in any international is tough, but it’s particularly hard against a team like Germany. It was one of my best moments in an England jersey. It’s also a moment that most England fans can really look back on and feel a sense of pride. That was a great occasion and it was as about exciting as it gets for a footballer.

How long after you joined Real Madrid did you real-ise that certain players were undroppable – or were you aware of that before you went?I wouldn’t say players were undroppable, but you didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to drop you. I think I went on a run where I scored for seven games on the spin. Then in the next game I didn’t score for 55 minutes and I was taken off. I was on the bench for the next game. [Laughs] That just shows you how difficult it is. My time in Madrid was better than most people make out.

I started a lot more games than the ones where I came on as sub, though a lot was made of the time I’d spent on the bench. I think I was more involved than most of the players in the squad that season – even the goalkeeper. But playing in Spain was an eye-opener for me, that’s for sure. I played in a lot of different stadiums against some fantastic players and the fans were great. I had a really good relationship with the fans. I loved it and I wouldn’t have changed my time there for anything, but I definitely wanted to come back to the Premiership – it’s a league that I enjoy.

How did you spend your time between training and games in Madrid? Did you socialise with Becks a lot?Yeah, I did. It was good that we had each other there –

9FEATURES

FTT 06/10

“I AM MY OWEN PERSON” The former Liverpool and Real Madrid starlet talks to FTTs Stephen Long on Ferguson, finances and fitness.

What’s the best goal you’ve ever scored? Apart from the ones against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, of course...I scored a brilliant one for England U15s at St James’ Park. We were playing Scotland and I remember they had just equalised to bring the game to 1-1. I was standing on the centre spot for the kick-off, the ball was tapped to me and that was it, I was off. I beat about four people and put it past the keeper. Sky were televising it too, so I got to see it afterwards. We ended up winning the game 2-1 and won the Victory Shield as well, so it was quite a good night, all in all.

A hat-trick against the Germans on their own turf: can you explain what went through your mind when the third went in?It was amazing. The first was very different from the third because it was the equaliser and I thought, “Yes, we’re back in the game!”. Plus I knew at that moment that we could beat them. The second was great and the third was the icing on the cake. A hat-trick in any international is tough, but it’s particularly hard against a team like Germany. It was one of my best moments in an England jersey. It’s also a moment that most England fans can really look back on and feel a sense of pride. That was a great occasion and it was as about exciting as it gets for a footballer.

How long after you joined Real Madrid did you real-ise that certain players were undroppable – or were you aware of that before you went?I wouldn’t say players were undroppable, but you didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to drop you. I think I went on a run where I scored for seven games on the spin. Then in the next game I didn’t score for 55 minutes and I was taken off. I was on the bench for the next game. [Laughs] That just shows you how difficult it is. My time in Madrid was better than most people make out.

I started a lot more games than the ones where I came on as sub, though a lot was made of the time I’d spent on the bench. I think I was more involved than most of the players in the squad that season – even the goalkeeper. But playing in Spain was an eye-opener for me, that’s for sure. I played in a lot of different stadiums against some fantastic players and the fans were great. I had a really good relationship with the fans. I loved it and I wouldn’t have changed my time there for anything, but I definitely wanted to come back to the Premiership – it’s a league that I enjoy.

How did you spend your time between training and games in Madrid? Did you socialise with Becks a lot?Yeah, I did. It was good that we had each other there –

we’re mates, we’re English speaking and we get on well. It actually took us longer to learn Spanish because we could get away with talking English with one another, though I could speak a bit of Spanish to get by. And there was Woody [Jonathan Woodgate] as well, so there were a few of us out there. We would go out for meals together – it’s a country for dining out really.

The restaurants are good, the food is fantastic. You can go to a restaurant, have a meal and chat away over a glass of wine into the early – or the late – hours of the morning. It’s difficult in a way because it’s hard to get babysitters and it’s hard to get to know the other lads because you don’t talk the language, but it was a great experience.

How did you feel when you watched Liverpool winning the Champions League Final against AC Milan?I was watching it in my living room in Madrid with the wife. The kids were upstairs asleep. At 3-0 down I thought they were dead and buried, but once they came back into it after an hour you knew they had it in them. Funny thing was, I was probably the last to text them all, wishing them good luck, and the first to text them with congratulations. We’re still all good mates. Stevie Ger-rard, Jamie Carragher and Dietmar Hamann – while he was still there – were my big friends at the club.

I was speaking to them all after the game. I was so pleased for them. And yeah, you do think, What if I was there? What could I have done for them during the game? But I’m not one to look back with regrets. Win-ning the European Cup is something that I want to do in my career. I’m not jealous, but I’d love to do it. Another part of you also thinks, ‘I’ve been there all that time and I never won it and then I leave and they win’. [Laughs] Proves that I’m crap, really! But seriously, it was great for the lads. I was there for the semi-final against Chelsea and that was a great game as well.

What is the truth behind the whole ‘Will he, won’t he return to Anfield?’ saga before you moved to Newcastle?It was real. I spoke to the chief executive Rick Parry and I was in Liverpool with Rafa Benitez and we were pretty close to agreeing things. The main issue was Real Madrid and Liverpool settling on a deal and they couldn’t agree a fee – plus Newcastle were quite aggressive in their offer to Madrid. So Madrid felt that Liverpool weren’t match-ing their valuation of me and I thought it would be good to go to Newcastle.

It was a World Cup year and I wanted to be playing, plus Madrid had bought two more strikers, so I went to St James’ Park and thought it was great. It’s a very similar place to Liverpool in a lot of ways – especially the

people, who are football mad. I thought that, as much as it would have been great to go back to Liverpool, going to Newcastle would be just as enjoyable an experience. Looking back I still think I made the right decision. Me and Liverpool had moved on and I got to play for a club with the best fans in the world. I just wish I had won something there.

How accurate is the newspaper coverage of your life and what’s the most outrageous story that’s ever been written about you?I’d say that 90 percent of stories about you are part true. I’ve had millions that have been written about me that are wrong. Recently, someone found out that I was tak-ing a helicopter up to Newcastle and the next story was about how ‘Freddie Shepherd is on collision course with Michael Owen over his pilot lessons’, or something. I wouldn’t even dream of trying to learn, but I like sitting in the back and reading the papers.

It’s like that, though, and you soon get used to it. Anything you do, anything you buy or anywhere you’re seen, they’ll get some story out of it. They always get half of the story right and the other half completely wrong. I don’t bother getting the hump with it any more – I’m long past that. I used to think, ‘Who wrote that bad story about me?’ but then you calm down. I’ve got kids and stuff now, so I’m more sensible. And who’s bothered if a few thousand people think that Michael Owen is doing this and that? Denying it only fuels the story, so it’s bet-ter to ignore it.

Your face was etched with a slow m.otion look of horror when you went down during the Sweden match at the World Cup in Germany. What went through your mind?To start with I thought, ‘That’s me finished in the game and the World Cup’. I knew it was bad straightaway. After that you think about what you need to do. Once that’s done you’re thinking about how long you’re going to be out and what games you’re going to miss. Weirdly you then start feeling sorry for all your family who have flown out to see you, and your sponsors.

Newcastle had only just got me back fit after breaking my foot and I’d only played one game for them, then I got injured and was going to be out for most, if not all, of the next season. Football’s a big business and if I don’t play then there are investments from clubs and sponsors and different things involved. I actually found myself in the treatment room texting everyone to apologise for getting injured, even though it was just a freak incident. It’s like that, though, and you soon get used to it. Anything you do, anything you buy or anywhere you’re seen, they’ll get some story out of it. And in the end of the day, that’s all they care about.

10 FEATURES

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Standing out in the crowdFrom kicking supporters to painting himself red (literally) for a photoshoot, Eric Cantona is never one to shy away from publicity. Here, he answers YOUR questions.

What stands out most from your time growing up in Marseille? Were you a happy child or were you always frowning then too?I was a happy child. We had a strong, close family, which gives you the best education you can get. We were working class and satisfied with the small things in life. We were polite and always said please and thank you. We were respectful to others and enjoyed life. We sang, smiled and loved. We were immigrants, Mediterranean people. My father came from Italy, my mother from Barcelona.

I was there when I was a child to see my grandfather. I was 10 and liked it very much. He came to France after the Spanish Civil War. He was not allowed to return for 15 years under the Franco regime. When I finished in Manchester I went to live in Barcelona for three years, to relive those childhood memories. To read and live. I liked Barcelona. [FFT: Have you read Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell?] No, but I would like to. Can you send it to me? Now, I am in Marseille, a football city where OM [Olympique Marseille, another of Cantona’s former teams] is like a religion. It’s a cosmopolitan, pas-sionate city and the people live for football.

Who was crazier: you or Guy Roux? And what’s your favourite memory of your old manager?I left my family in Marseille to go to Auxerre, which was 600 kilome-tres away. I was just 15. For us young players, Guy Roux was like a father. I liked him and respected him. In some clubs it is not so close, some coaches are not so close to their players, but Guy Roux made sure that Auxerre was like a big family. If I had moved to another club it may have been difficult. But at Auxerre I found my family.

What motivated you as a player? Money? Success? Glory?Success and glory: what’s the difference? [Long pause] I think I retired so young because I wanted to improve every time, to be a better player. For myself and the team. To win trophies. To have a feeling of improving. When I retired, I felt that I couldn’t improve any more. And I lost the passion at the same time. The passion comes with the motivation of improving. If you lose the passion, you lose the motiva-tion.

Money? No. If someone asked you to pay £100 to play in an FA Cup final would you pay or not? So it was a dream for me to play

because I did not have to pay. We were paid, but I would have played for nothing. There is lots of money involved in football and the players take their share, which is normal. But it is not money that motivates, it is a dream. The atmosphere is special for the players because we can feel that the fans make the sacrifices to be in the stadium. We can feel that football is in the blood of the fans.

In 1993, against Bulgaria, David Ginola’s misplaced pass to you gave the ball away and Kostadinov’s goal stopped France qualify-ing for USA 94. How far do you think you would have progressed at the World Cup had you made it?It’s a very bad memory because we did not lose a game until we had three to go. First, we played in Sweden; if we’d won, we would have qualified, but we drew after leading 1-0 – they equalised 10 minutes from the end. So we had two more games, against Israel and Bulgaria. We beat Israel 4-0 away, but lost 3-2 to Bulgaria at home. If we had drawn, we would have gone through. We were 1-0 up and I scored the goal. They scored the winning goal in the last seconds.

Bulgaria and Sweden qualified, and both of them reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. France could have done at least as well as they did. We had the best team, but we didn’t really handle the situation well, despite our players having a lot of experience – because even with expe-rience, you can make a mistake. But you have to learn from mistakes to improve, both in football and in your life.

Do you prefer a nice glass of French wine or a cold British pint? What about snails or roast beef?Snail? Ah, escargot. I like to taste local things, to test them. When I go to Spain I take a Spanish beer or wine. When I go to Brazil I take a Brazilian beer or wine. When I was in England I took an English beer. But with the French, wine.

11OPINION

FTT 06/10

PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON OF THE SURREAL WILL LIVE LONG IN THE MEMORYBY HENRY WINTER

The Premier League may not be home to the best football, an hon-our belonging to La Liga of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is certainly home to the most

excitement. The Spanish keep their beach-balls on the beach.

The season lacked a star but not drama and there was enough barmy material to keep soap-opera scriptwriters in episodes for years. There was the manager as naughty-boy messiah, Arsène Wenger banished to the Old Trafford stand. There were unprintable chants against John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Sol Campbell, yet wonderful sportsmanship from supporters applauding injured opponents and powerful fans’ movements at Old Trafford and Anfield. Green and gold were new colours splashed across the Premier League abstract.This was the season of Emmanuel Adebayor’s taunting run towards the Arsenal fans and Marouane Fellaini’s coiffeur, moments when the hair stood on end. Didier Drogba was again top of the strops, the Chelsea striker finishing the season with a show of petu-lance, the match ball, the prize for top marks-man and a ticking off from his manager, Carlo Ancelotti, and his team-mate Frank Lampard. Even those in Golden Boots have feet of clay.So this was the season without a big name up in lights. The selfless and impressive Wayne Rooney deservedly scooped all the individual honours but hardly trailed Hollywood gold-dust like Ronaldo in previous seasons.

Other contenders included Thomas Ver-maelen, occasionally vulnerable in open play, and Ledley King, magnificent recently but ab-sent for chunks of the season. Yet as frequent goal sprees indicated, some of the defending was abject and Wenger had little hesitation in turning to a 35 year-old, Sol Campbell, to help out.

In midfield, Lampard and James Milner shone while for all Florent Malouda’s promi-nence and Gareth Bale’s elegant raiding, Ste-ven Pienaar’s vibrant form merits saluting. A three-man attack combined Carlos Tévez’s non-stop endeavour, Drogba’s target-man qualities and Rooney’s deftness. Darren Bent also impressed.

“Most managers have a hor-ror story about officials, but Mark Clattenburg matured into one of the very best – fit, unfussy and authoritative.”

Encouraging for England in the long term was the strong form of Johnson, Jack Wilshere and Jack Rodwell, as well as that of Hart and Milner. As for English referees, most fans and certainly most managers have a horror story about officials, but Mark Clat-tenburg matured into one of the very best – fit, unfussy and authoritative.

In Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson de-served praise for pushing United to within a point of Chelsea, while Roberto Mancini brought some stability to City. Some of the management was overly cautious, and Mancini and Rafa Benítez overdid the holding midfielders at times, but others set up teams adventurously, notably Harry Redknapp’s midfield quartet at Eastlands. Not the first fab four to boast a Lennon, Redknapp’s selection demonstrated what can be achieved when a manager keeps his nerve and his faith in talent like Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddle-stone, Luka Modric and Bale.

Redknapp was named Barclays Premier League Manager of the Year but I voted for Ancelotti, who has brought the title back to Stamford Bridge and composure back to the dugout. Chelsea’s manager loved his first sea-son in the Premier League. “I found a fantas-tic atmosphere, a very good championship – not only in terms of the quality of the teams but also for the stadiums, the atmosphere, the high tempo,’” said Ancelotti. “Every game is interesting.”

For all the thrills and spills in equal measure, never has a season been so awash with noises off the pitch. Even by modern football’s skewed moral compass it has been truly bonkers.

Normally the news that the England captain had an affair would be accompanied by public tut-tutting and sympathy for the cheated wife. John Terry’s fling with the former paramour of Wayne Bridge, his inter-national team-mate, changed the dynamic, a point made by an England fan when saying, “Terry has brought a problem into the Eng-land dressing room’’. Whatever Terry’s sins, he handled the astonishing abuse well, par-ticularly on a torrid night at the KC Stadium.Hull and Burnley followed Portsmouth into the Championship while debt-ridden Port-smouth almost became the most famous sinking in the Solent since the Mary Rose in 1545. In football’s mad world of everyone being famous for 15 minutes or more, even administrator Andrew Andronikou had peo-ple chasing his autograph.

Portsmouth fans, like those of Hull and Burnley, will be much missed. At least the followers of West Brom and Newcastle United will maintain decibel levels.Roll on next season.

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12 OPINION

FTT 06/10

FABIO CAPELLO’S INDEX PLUMMETS TOSVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON LEVELS BY PAUL HAYWARD

Two out of 10 would be a generous mark for Fabio Capello’s index of player ratings, which he launched at the London Stock Exchange on Monday and then aborted less

than 24 hours later as England’s provisional 30-man World Cup squad was being typed up. John Terry, condemned for exploiting the office of England captain for personal gain, would have been among those scampering to a laptop to see how the manager’s software had ranked them two hours after the final whistle.

The worst 48 hours of Capello’s gener-ally serene reign also featured a series of apparently bum steers as Gareth Barry was included, a day after the manager had shaken his head and said “too long” in response to questions about the Manchester City’s man recovery, and Owen Hargreaves was left out, despite some outlets being led to believe he would be recalled.

More serious than the leader’s change of policy on form and fitness was the news at lunchtime that the Capello Index, which is backed by an online gaming firm, was to be “postponed” less than a day after its unveiling in the City. On Monday, the Football Associa-tion had hurtled back to the days of Sven-Goran Eriksson, whose pre-World Cup tie-ups included Cirio Del Monte pasta sauces, a box CD of soothing classical favourites and two PlayStation games: Sven-Goran Eriksson’s World Cup Challenge and Sven-Goran Eriks-son’s World Cup Manager, the brainchild, or childbrain, of Anco Software.

Reviewing those two screen adventures, one online expert wrote that “the great-est challenge is actually deciding which is the worse game”, and called them “a dismal experience”, which at least rendered them compatible with England’s actual World Cup campaigns, certainly in 2006, when a long-ball side staggered to a quarter-final defeat against Portugal. Eriksson’s spring harvest also produced a Sainsbury’s ad with Jamie Oliver and coincided with his dalliance with Ulrika Jonsson. His Swedish representative at IMG, the deal-making agency, considered the exposure of the Eriksson-Jonsson love-match to be a cherry dropped by the gods, because it raised the England coach’s profile and lent him a caddish aura. “Of course I am pleased,” Lars Sternmarker was quoted

as saying. Sternmarker being, of course, a potential nickname for Capello.

“It’s not only for the mon-ey,” Capello protested when challenged by reporters at the Stock Exchange. This confirmed his first serious error of judgment as England manager.

So far Capello has seemed content with his estimated £6m per year remuneration and has posed as the antidote to English deca-dence. Again and again he has preached the necessity of keeping minds fixed on football and has swept away the presumption that big-name players could expect to be called up by right. He turned the England set-up from a circus to a seminar and the FA had no reason to think he was looking to spin-offs beyond the job. Resentment would have been guar-anteed when players saw their performances marked and posted on the internet as part of a scheme to enhance Capello’s standing as a sage.

In mitigation he was not about to rate Wayne Rooney eight out of 10 and put it straight on his site while the players were still spraying on post-match cologne. But Capello’s work in developing the software for a statistical analysis that would bear his imprint when supporters pored over the re-views compromised some of the most sacred dressing-room codes. This crashing PR own goal suggested Capello’s first loyalties were to the world outside and not to players who have supported his dictatorial approach on the basis that they yield results and are based on trust and solidarity.

“It’s not only for the money,” Capello protested when challenged by reporters at the Stock Exchange. This confirmed his first seri-ous error of judgment as England manager, though some felt he was misguided to invite the injured David Beckham to join the Eng-land camp, with all the attendant paparazzi hoo-ha that would generate. There is some-thing in the English culture that draws even the most serious participants into an oppor-

tunistic and self-inflating outlook.At the League Managers Association’s an-

nual dinner on Monday night it was already being predicted that Capello would have to pull the plug on his new venture before it reached the 24-hour mark. The good news is that the FA, without a full-time chief execu-tive following Ian Watmore’s resignation, felt sufficiently emboldened to lean on their highest-paid employee and explain what a potentially divisive idea he had just unfurled in the heartland of rampant financial specula-tion.

In a statement Capello’s spokesman claimed his client’s involvement had been purely “technical” and added: “He has not been involved in the online gaming element of the site. However, he wants to ensure that all appropriate protocols are in place before the project proceeds and he has therefore decided today to postpone it.”

This was a victory for the FA, and pro-vided a laugh, no doubt, for the demoted Terry, who allegedly violated other protocols by offering his subsidised captain’s box at Wembley for a knockdown rate and taking money (for charity, he claimed) for tours of Chelsea’s training ground. For that and other indiscretions, Capello marked him low.

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13OPINION

FTT 06/10

THE QUESTION: JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS

POSSESSION IN MODERN-DAY

FOOTBALL?BY JONATHAN

WILSON

Will Inter's successful performance at Barcelona, when they had 16% possession, be seen as a turning point in football?

One of the beauties of football is its capacity for reinvention, without great rewriting of the rules. Unlike certain other sports – for instance Aussie

Rules, which I pick on for no reason other than that the issue was brought to mind by this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald – football seems to have (historically justified) faith that coaches and players will be able to mediate their own way away from predict-ability or, worse, unwatchability.

Yes, there has been tinkering with the offside rule, and the backpass and the tackle from behind have been outlawed, but es-sentially a player from a century ago could be parachuted into a game today and would need no more than a two-minute tutorial to get him up to speed on the modern rules. He’d be gasping for the Woodbines after 10 minutes, admittedly, but he would at least know what was going on.

When a rigid W-M seemed dominant, fluid 4-2-4 rose up to overcome it. As cat-enaccio threatened to strangle the game, along came Total Football. As Johan Cruyff was accusing 3-5-2 as being “the death of football” because it killed the winger, single-striker systems emerged to reintro-duce them. Football constantly evolves, and watching Internazionale frustrate Barcelona two weeks ago, it was hard not to wonder whether tactical historians of the future will look back on that game as a turning point as significant as, say, Hungary’s 6-3 win over England in 1953, Celtic’s 2-1 win over Inter in the 1967 European Cup final or Italy’s 3-2 victory over Brazil at the 1982 World Cup.

It rather depends, of course, on what

happens next as to whether this is confir-mation of a trend or a blip, but what Inter’s victory has done is to challenge the assump-tion that the “best” way to play is to main-tain possession and pass a side to death – as Barça have, as Spain do and as, in a slightly less aesthetically pleasing way, Brazil do.

Now, some caveats. Inter still lost at Camp Nou, and but for a handball decision against Yaya Touré that could have gone either way, would have gone out on the away goals rule. Although they were themselves wronged in losing Thiago Motta to a red card (the continuing unwillingness of the au-thorities retroactively to punish those, like Sergio Busquets, who have blatantly cheated is bewildering), they also had the benefit of two key decisions in the first leg, in that Di-ego Milito’s goal was offside and Dani Alves should have had a penalty (although it’s hard to have sympathy with somebody who cries wolf so often). And, of course, Barça were disadvantaged in having had to make the journey to Milan by bus, which perhaps left them leggy and not quite so sharp in their pressing as they had been, for instance, at the Emirates.

So their 3-1 lead was fortuitously ob-tained, and without it, Inter would not have had the platform on which to build their rearguard action, and even then it might have meant nothing had Bojan’s late strike been allowed to stand. And yet, for all that, to make Barcelona look so toothless when they had 84% – 84%! - of possession is remarkable, and shows what can be achieved with rigorous organisation allied to im-mense mental strength.

José Mourinho’s claim that his side

deliberately gave the ball away so as not to lose focus may have been exaggeration for the sake of bravado but, whether purposeful or not, to prosper having had so little of the ball seems almost the definition of anti-foot-ball. (Earlier this season, a frustrated Arsène Wenger asked how his side were supposed to play properly when other teams persisted in playing anti-football against him, and raised the thought of the former Estudiantes coach Osvaldo Zubeldía, an evangelist for “anti-fútbol”, storming into a press conference in La Plata demanding to know how his side were supposed to spoil and break the game up when the opposition persisted in playing “fútbol” against them, passing and dribbling, having shots and generally disrupting his team’s game plan.) At the very least, Inter’s success must make football ask whether pos-session is really all that important.

What Inter showed last week, is that there are specific cases in which a radical dis-regard for possession can succeed. At Milan, Arrigo Sacchi got fed up of players moaning about his obsession with team shape, and so proved its worth with a simple drill. “I con-vinced [Ruud] Gullit and [Marco] Van Basten by telling them that five organised players would beat 10 disorganised ones,” he said. They had 15 minutes to score against my five players, the only rule was that if we won possession or they lost the ball, they had to start over from 10 metres inside their own half. I did this all the time and they never scored. Not once.”

So as strange as it may sound, Jose Mourinho proved once and for all that there are times when possession matters less than organisation.

14 REVIEWS

FIFA 10 The best just got better...

Under the careful gaze of David Rut-ter, EA Canada transformed FIFA from mid-table me-

diocrity into genuine champions with last year’s FIFA 09. No long-er instantly considered inferior to PES, the idea of seeing where FIFA could continue to improve is something we would never imag-ine admitting to barely a few years ago. Created under the mantra of ‘30% innovation/70% evolution’, FIFA 10 sets out to enhance its predecessor’s impressive com-mand over controls, player move-ment, and matchday experience, while serving up a handful of new gameplay features and modes.

The bewildering amount of content that FIFA 10 offers can’t be faulted. Being able to play as a specific player in ‘Be-A-Pro’ makes a welcome return from FIFA 09, as you attempt to rise through the ranks of the club’s reserves and become an international star. Ad-mittedly, it’s all largely familiar, but there are a number of worthy additions expected from the an-nual update. The ability to cre-ate your own player down to the

smallest, customary EA detail is made a

little easier with the ability to upload a photo of your face and add it on to your player.

But it’s the fact that your vir-

tual player can gain experience by playing in various offline modes (and the Arena) and earn accomplish-

ments, which in turn enhance his playing stats and unlock good-ies (untucking your shirt, long sleeves,...) that gives the concept a purpose it never previously had. Your virtual player can then also take it online and join the 10 vs. 10 Pro Club Championship, where players compete together in clubs from 11 regional leagues. The chance to become a Virtual Leg-end and top world scoring ranks, becoming a sought after transfer target in the process, makes this an alluring prospect once the servers become active.

With ‘more then 50 major im-provements’, the Manager Mode is where the bulk of the offline game stems from. Although we didn’t spot each of these improve-ments, the more natural way in which players develop and the more lifelike grind of the trans-fer market gives the mode the touch of realism that it’s always lacked while results appear to be much more genuine. Interactive Leagues, Exhibitions, and the customary selection of Tourna-ments round off the selection and should provide enough substance to keep even the most fanatical football fan happy until next sea-son. If EA is to be believed, then over 350 million online matches of FIFA 09 has enabled the team to iron out the flaws and offer the definitive online experience in FIFA 10. Unfortunately, the serv-ers were not active at the time of writing, but the addition of a multitude of new custom filters should at least bring an end to everybody playing as Man United.

On the pitch, it’s largely the same case of subtle evolutions over massive back-of-the box bul-let point features. Once again, the grasp over player individuali-

FTT 06/10

14

ties, ball physics, and movement is enjoyable and the first touch control and right thumbstick skill moves are still endlessly grati-fying. Excessive bouts of FIFA 09 would draw attention to its few foibles. The AI - although unquestionably good - tended to stick with the same routines, half-line goals (and other cheap techniques) were easy once you knew how, and control over long ball passes that didn’t turn into floaters was erratic at best. FIFA 10 makes genuine improvements in all of these areas. In particu-lar, the variety in teammate and opponents’ movement and play is immediately noticeable, which makes for less predictable and more genuine matches. A greater level of control over the curve and pace of the long ball is certainly evident, although this opens up an issue that we believe could be-come a cheap glitch. We’ve scored directly from a corner on several occasions because of the added ability to put more curve on the ball; this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but watching the otherwise

flawless keeper watch in disbelief every time concerns us that this could be a flaw to exploit when you’re a goal down in a crucial online match. Generally, FIFA 09 achieved a considerable sense of fluidity and tight controls on the pitch, but it’s fair to say FIFA 10 takes it to another level. The improved match dynamics and player movement emphasise the individual skills of each player more profoundly than before. The keeper AI has also been looked at closely, although the scrutiny ap-pears to have come at the cost of last year’s occasional superhuman reflexes to provide something a little closer to reality - although thankfully that doesn’t mean Ben Foster like slipups.

There’s no two ways about, FIFA 10 is the greatest football game ever made. It’s to the PS3 era what Pro Evolution Soccer was to the PS2. Those who continue to insist that Pro Evo is still the way to go are simply in denail..

10/10