MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : MATCH – 21.5.1994

Steve Bruce, holding aloft the FA Cup, is the cover star of Match as Manchester United have just won the double for the first time in their history.

England are playing two friendlies this week, and Match interviews captain David Platt to get the lowdown on the England team.

Steve Chettle of Nottingham Forest is subject to a Q and A, where he reveals he loves Chinese and Italian food.

There is a pull-out of Group B as the countdown to the 1994 World Cup is in full swing. That group contained Brazil, Cameroon, Russia and Sweden.

Ryan Giggs is the subject of a double page spread, as Match goes on location with him at Selhurst Park as he films an advert for Reebok.

Giggs also appears (sort of) in an advert later in the magazine to flog his own video game.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : MATCH – 14.5.1994

Roy Keane is the cover star in a weekend that Manchester United face Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.

It is his fellow Corkonian and United team-mate Denis Irwin who is interviewed, getting a double page feature.

Across Manchester, Garry Flitcroft shows Match around his house, showing off his Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey CDs. His dad is a builder and has told him to invest his money in property.

Arsenal’s win over Parma in the European Cup Winners Cup Final gets a double page spread.

There is a pull out of World Cup Group A, featuring USA, Switzerland, Romania and Colombia.

David Elleray gets a profile, as he gets ready to referee the FA Cup Final, revealing that Carrow Road is his favourite ground.

Alan Moore of Middlesbrough gets a profile, being predicted as a star of the future.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : MANCHESTER UNITED – JUNE 1994

Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel holding the FA Cup is this month’s cover image, after Manchester United have won the double for the first time.

As you open the magazine, there is a poster of Bryan Robson, who left the club after 13 years.

In news, there was coverage of Clayton Blackmore’s testimonial dinner, while Westmoreland Supporters Club got a profile.

Dion Dublin gets profiled after making a comeback from a long-term injury and scored an important goal against Oldham in the title run-in.

There are match reports from United’s games from April onwards, reaching the FA Cup Final and winning the league.

This was commemorated with interviews with Alex Ferguson and Paul Ince, as well as Brian McClair’s Diary.

There wasn’t enough time due to printing deadlines to include coverage of the FA Cup Final, but there was an advert that it will appear in the next edition.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : MANCHESTER UNITED – DECEMBER 1994

Lee Sharpe and Andrei Kanchelskis, dressed as Santa, are the cover stars of Manchester United’s official magazine as Christmas 1994 approaches.

Sharpe is the subject of a news item where he is the subject of a big deal, not for another club, but a boot deal with Pony.

Elsewhere in news, United have denied that they are leaving Old Trafford to play at a new stadium proposed to be built by Manchester City Council.

Naturally, there are reviews of the month just gone and the month ahead, a run of games for United in October 1994 that saw top of the table clashes and big cup games in Europe and domestically.

Eric Cantona is the subject of a five page interview, where he talks about his love of English football.

In competitions, you can win a signed photo of a United player. You don’t know who, you have to guess who he is based on pictures of his house.

There is a four page Fans Forum where supporters (most of them called Barton) discuss United’s youngsters and the sale of Dion Dublin.

With Christmas approaching, the magazine looks at present ideas, with an official United interactive CD-Rom which costs £34.99 being reviewed.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 23.4.1994

It’s Derby Day in Manchester, and this is reflected with Paul Walsh and Andrei Kanchelskis appearing on the cover of Shoot.

As you open the magazine, there is a poster of Liverpool’s Rob Jones, Steve Nicol and Julian Dicks.

United’s recent FA Cup Semi-final Replay win over Oldham gets a double page spread, with most of the focus being on Andrei Kanchelskis and his goal.

Having just made his England debut, Darren Anderton is already worried that he might not be able to add to his number of caps in future, if Tottenham Hotspur are unsuccessful in their battle against relegation.

Over the page, there is a poster of Neil Webb.

With the World Cup approaching, Shoot does a double page feature focusing on Nigeria’s chances, having qualified for the first time.

In 1994, Shoot had a columnist called Metro, who was the reigning Nintendo UK Champion. He reviewed video games. This week, he reviewed Ryan Giggs Champions World Class Soccer.

In adverts, there were adverts for World Cup Cards, made by a company called Uppper Deck.

Paul Gascoigne had recently suffered a serious and potentially career ending injury. Shoot dedicates a page to this, with a host of footballers offering messages of support to him.

In foreign news, Inter Milan want to offload Dennis Bergkamp and replace him with Chris Sutton, while AC Milan want to buy back Ruud Gullit, a year after selling him after they thought he was too old.

Arsenal’s win over Paris St Germain in the European Cup Winners Cup Semi-Final gets a double page spread. It was a bittersweet night for Arsenal, as Ian Wright would miss the final through suspension.

With the World Cup approaching, Shoot has a series previewing it, with a comic book style full page look at past tournaments. This week featured the 1950 tournament.

Rangers and Dundee United have won through to the Scottish Cup Final, and this gets a double page feature, with Rangers aiming to make history by becoming the first team to win back to back trebles.

The Manchester Derby gets previewed on the final pages, with an interview with City’s Michael Vonk.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 3.9.1994

Jurgen Klinsmann is the cover star of this edition of Shoot, after making a goalscoring start to his career in England, denying claims that he’s past it.

In news, new Middlesbrough player/manager Bryan Robson has revealed that his lets his assistant Viv Anderson do half-time team-talks in matches that he is playing in.

In ads, there is an advert for a band called Oasis, as they have just released their debut album, Definitely Maybe. Meanwhile, Chris Sutton is advertising Patrick, having just made a British Record move to Blackburn Rovers.

England are playing USA in a friendly at Wembley, and this match gets a double page preview, focusing on Milwall goalkeeper Kasey Keller who is desperate to play in this game.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : VOX – SEPTEMBER 1994

Beastie Boys are the cover stars, as Vox looks back at 3 festivals during the summer of 1994.

In news, the BBC announced plans for a music festival called Music Live 95, to be held over the late May Bank Holiday in Birmingham.

Suede have decided not to split, following the departure of Bernard Butler.

Eric Clapton dressed up as Batman to raise money for charity, while Oasis are going on a UK tour this month following success festival appearances.

Video CDs receive a boost in sales following releases from Queen, Tina Turner, Pink Floyd, Kate Bush and Tina Turner.

VH1 launches, and will be broadcasting repeats of The Old Grey Whistle Test, while MTV (parent company of VH1) are considering bringing back the show on MTV.

Vox predicted big things for a band from Dublin called Blink. As it turned out, their main contribution to music history would be to copyright the name Blink, and force and American band called Blink to become Blink 182.

There is coverage of the Edinburgh Festival, doing a joint interview with Donna McPhail, Stewart Lee and Dorian Crook, labelling them the three hottest talents at this year’s Fringe.

The 3 main festivals getting covered are Phoenix, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury with a combined 15 pages covering these 3 events.

Terry Hall, formerly of The Specials gets a double page spread as he launches his solo career, at the same time he quits smoking.

With the World Cup over, and the Premier League not yet started, Vox comes up with a novel idea, of Team Tabs for your favourite bands, and a league table to chart their progress, complete with cartoons of Paul Weller, Jay Kay, Michael Stipe and Sinead O’Connor in football kits.

Vox looks at the history of t-shirts in music, asking Louise Wener, Sonya from Echobelly, Malcolm McLaren and James Dean Bradfield to talk about their favourite t-shirts.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : MATCH – 30.7.1994

Lee Sharpe is the cover star, having just been signed as a columnist by Match.

This edition, came with a free wallchart ……. and Team Tabs.

Sharpe’s team-mate Mark Hughes is the subject of a competition, where one lucky reader could win a VHS of ‘Hughesie : The Mark Hughes Story’

Le Sharpe’s column gets a double page spread, which begins with him talking about his holidays, a week in Portugal with his girlfriend, then a week in Crete with 16 (SIXTEEN) of his mates.

He also speaks about Pre-Season, and who would be United’s biggest challengers in 94/95. He said that Blackburn would be United’s biggest challengers that season, and so it proved, with Blackburn winning the league.

He also addresses transfer speculation, stating that he has signed a five year deal with United, so “I’m not leaving any time soon”

He was sold to Leeds in 1996.

In news, Ian Wright has signed a new contract at Arsenal, worth a whopping 7,000 pounds a week, Coventry wanted to sign Alexi Lalas, and Leeds want to sign Thomas Skuhravy.

Bryan Robson, newly appointed Player-Manager at Middlesbrough is a poster, as is Dean Saunders, in full page form.

Meanwhile, John Fashanu is interviewed saying he wants to help, as a middleman, African players get moves to English clubs. Awooga.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 12.3.1994

Ryan Giggs is the cover star, as Shoot are previewing the Quarter-Finals of the FA Cup and Scottish Cup.

All eight teams in the FA Cup Quarter-Finals get featured, including a double page spread where West Ham midfielder Matt Holmes visits his old school in Luton, who West Ham face.

John McGinlay wrotes a two page profile of his Bolton Wanderers team-mates, including describing one team-mate as permanently on a sunbed.

You may or may not be surprised to learn that he was referring to Phil Brown.

Shoot previews the Scottish Cup Quarter-Finals by interviewing Hearts midfielder Jon Colquhoun ahead of their tie at Ibrox against Rangers, where he focuses on their former Rangers Striker Mo Johnston, as being key to their hopes.

The final two pages are dedicated to the Merseyside Derby, also taking place that weekend, pointing out that football in the city is in decline with both teams out of the FA Cup and not challenging for the title (Everton eventually avoided relegation on the last day of the 93/94 season)

The piece ends ‘Will Liverpool and Everton ever regain their crown?’

Almost 19 years on, the answer remains no.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 30.4.1994

Kevin Campbell, with the Italian flag as the backdrop, is the cover star of this edition of The Magazine Archive, as Arsenal go into the European Cup Winners Cup Final as underdogs against defending holders Parma, minus Ian Wright, who is suspended.

The match gets a double page preview, with an interview with Paul Merson, and a brief profile of Parma’s star players, including future Premier League players Thomas Brolin and Faustino Asprilla.

Also getting a double page spread is Nigel Clough, billed as a ‘Big exclusive’, who issues a plea to new Liverpool manager Roy Evans not to leave him out of his first team plans.

It was a plea that would eventually fall on deaf ears.

In Jimmy Greaves Letters Page, Martin Spencer from the West Midlands writes in to say that Aston Villa’s team needs a shake-up for 1994-1995, despite winning the League Cup.

He was right, Aston Villa struggled against relegation that season, and sacked Ron Atkinson as manager, just 8 months after their Wembley success.

Another letter writer suggests Arsenal have no chance against Parma in the European Cup Winners Cup Final and gets rebuked by Greavsie. As it turned out, Arsenal won 1-0.