A lot has changed in football during the 30 years since this magazine was first published, but one glaring consistent has been that most of the domestic honours have been won by a side from Manchester. A side whose era-defining manager has triumphed so regularly that he’s frequently been accused of ‘killing football!’ A side whose expensively assembled team needed a Champions League to cement their legacy, which arrived as part of a Treble.
Long before Pep Guardiola redefined what it means to pass and press at Manchester City, Sir Alex Ferguson was dominating both The Barclays and all the Barclaysmen within it. Across a reign of 26 years at Manchester United, delivering 38 trophies, things never got better than the 1998-99 line-up which sealed the clean sweep of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, culminating in that comeback victory over Bayern Munich at Barcelona’s Camp Nou thanks to two-last gasp goals.
Away from the shiny trinkets and immortal accolades, one other fact remains about that side: it’s where 4-4-2 probably peaked. During the formation’s long and illustrious history, it’s arguable that no side played it better than Ferguson’s Manchester United.
01 A FAMOUS XI
Denne historien er fra November 2024-utgaven av FourFourTwo UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra November 2024-utgaven av FourFourTwo UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
"THE PLAYERS DIDN'T SEE KEVIN KEEGAN'S 'MELTDOWN' AS ANYTHING NEGATIVE. WE LOVED HIM FOR HIS PASSION"
The Geordie recalls King Kev's rant, shares his love for Ossie Ardiles and reveals what it's like to cross the Tyne-Wear divide
"HODDLE HAD BEEN PLAYING FOR MONACO UNDER WENGER, SO WE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT WHEN HE JOINED SWINDON HE WAS LIGHT-YEARS AHEAD!"
The tireless winger opens up on playing in his dad's shadow and making the wrong kind of headlines at Sunderland...
"I'M PROUD TO BE THE FIRST AFRICAN IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE - BUT LOOK WHO CAME LATER"
FFT chats to the three Boy's A Bit Special stars of Issue 1: first, a humble hotshot on rejecting Arsenal and being 'Nuddy'
AROUND THE GROUNDS
Rangers' in-form keeper tells FFT he has his sights set on a Three Lions recall
WHY MESSI'S ARGENTINA HAD TO GET 'WORSE' TO CONQUER WORLD
The Albiceleste didn't have their most talented squad in 2022, and their star wasn't at his absolute peak - but 4-4-2 helped them to win anyway...
WHY 1999 WAS THE FINEST MOMENT FOR 4-4-2... AND SIR ALEX FERGUSON
Manchester United swept to a famous Treble thanks to the management skills of their legendary boss - and a formation that suited them perfectly
HOW THE 4-4-2 BECAME BRITISH FOOTBALL'S MOST ICONIC FORMATION
A system of playing inspired the name for this very magazine - on these shores, for numerous reasons, it's football heritage
FINDING DIEGO
A little over a year before his untimely death at the age of 60, Diego Maradona was managing Mexican second-tier side Dorados de Sinaloa - FourFourTwo went deep into drug cartel country to track him down
RESPECT
That's what women's football demands more than anything. Its status has grown exponentially during FourFourTwo's lifetime, but finally the long and arduous battle for recognition is starting to pay dividends
EL TEL THE MAN WHO HELPED TO LAUNCH FourFourTwo
Terry Venables was the cover star for FFT's launch issue in 1994 a year after his death, former players pay tribute to one of the finest managers Britain has ever produced
