MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 8.5.1993

Paul Ince, accompanied by the headline “JUST CHAMPION!” is the cover star of Shoot, as Manchester United have just won their first league title in 26 years.

The title success must have come too late for Shoot’s printing deadlines, as there was no features about it in the magazine.

On the inside cover, there is a poster of three of Juventus stars – Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Baggio. Curiously, Baggio was pictured in action for Italy.

In news, Brian Clough has announced his retirement, and Shoot prints various tributes from players and managers.

Crystal Palace returned a lot of their allocation of tickets for the FA Cup Final, with Chairman Ron Noades requesting that the FA redistribute them equally to fans of the two finalists, Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday.

Marco Van Basten has said that Manchester United are equipped to dominate European football for years to come, adding that the prospect of them playing in the following season’s European Cup is “An exciting prospect, but also a frightening one”

Coca-Cola’s official statistics pack for the Coca-Cola Cup (League Cup) Final listed Sheffield Wednesday’s Chris Bart-Williams as Chris Bart-Simpson.

Cyrille Regis could be heading back to West Brom after being free transferred by Aston Villa.

There are rumours of departures at Manchester City, with Niall Quinn (Porto), David White (Aston Villa) and Keith Curle (Sheffield Wednesday) all attracting interest from other clubs.

Manager Peter Reid could also be on the move, as his friendship with Liverpool Chairman David Moores could make him a candidate for the manager’s job at Anfield if Graeme Souness is sacked. Reid was sacked by City in August after a poor start to the following season.

Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis has refused to allow Villa Park to be used to host a testimonial game for the club’s European Cup winning manager Tony Barton. Barton died in August that year.

Liverpool and Leeds began the season at Wembley in the Charity Shield, and endured miserable seasons. Shoot gives two pages looking at where it went wrong for them both.

Colin Cooper has told Milwall he doesn’t want to be sold. He was that summer, to Nottingham Forest.

Ally McCoist, already scored 50 goals this season, gets a double page tribute.

Stoke City, promoted from the Second Division (Third Tier) get a feature, where they already have ambitions of reaching the Premier League. They wouldn’t achieve it until 2008.

Grantley Dicks of Bath City gets a feature, mostly about his disciplinary record which matches that of his brother Julian.

Jimmy Greaves letters sees him admit he was wrong that Eric Cantona would be a bad signing for Manchester United, and announce he will be co-hosting (with Ian St John, of course) a show called Sporting Questions, a sporting version of Question Time.

In foreign news, Andy Herzog has a curious goalscoring motivation – his uncle sends his Austrian cakes when he scores, and dog food when he doesn’t. Marco Van Basten has given AC Milan a boost by returning in time for the title run-in, while in Spain, Sevilla’s two Diegos – Simeone and Maradona are in trouble for not attending a Spanish FA disciplinary hearing after a brawl against Cadiz. Both players were believed to be on holiday.

The was also a competition to win a VHS of 501 German Goals.

Peter Ndlovu gets a two page feature, focusing on his travels to play for Zimbabwe in World Cup and African Nations Cup Qualifiers.

Mark Hughes gets a double page feature, with tributes from team-mates and opponents, having become the 10th player to score 100 goals for Manchester United. He would have another milestone coming up, having just won his 49th cap for Wales.

Scotland have suffered their biggest defeat in 18 years and are certain to miss their first World Cup since 1970. Staying in Scotland, Jimmy Nicholl has announced his retirement from playing to concentrate on managing Raith Rovers. Nicholl had been linked with the Northern Ireland manager’s job, as Billy Bingham was expected to retirement in the summer of 1993.

Bingham did retire in November 1993, and Nicholl was interviewed for the post but was unsuccessful. He tried again in 2004, and was again unsuccessful.

Shoot announces the result of a recent Teletext poll to reveal Britain’s Most Fervent Derby. The winner was Rangers v Celtic with 18%, beating Newcastle v Sunderland (12%)

Linfield v Glentoran polled 2%.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 2.11.1985

Kenny Dalglish, in his first few months as Liverpool manager, is this week’s cover star of Shoot, as he is in the middle of wielding the axe at Anfield.

Shoot gives a double page spread to this, as Alan Kennedy has left, Phil Neal is leaving, and Paul Walsh has been placed on the Transfer List.

The 3rd Round of the League Cup is previewed, and has some attractive ties, with West Ham (Old Trafford) and Arsenal (Maine Road) travelling to Manchester, Liverpool facing bogey side Brighton, and an East Midlands Derby between Derby County and Nottingham Forest, with a public spat brewing in the build-up between Derby Director Stuart Webb and Nottingham Forest Manager Brian Clough, after Webb claimed that Derby (then in the 3rd Division) were a better choice than Forest for any proposed breakaway Super League.

In news, Manchester United are lining up a bid to sign Maurice Malpas, while Kevin Sheedy has set himself a target of 20 goals this season for Everton.

One man hoping to take Malpas place in the Scotland team was Tommy Burns, having been converted from Midfield to Defence, is eyeing up a return to the Scotland squad after an absence of two years.

Paul Walsh’s potential departure from Liverpool is discussed by Bryan Robson in his column, who feels he is making a mistake by wanting to leave Anfield.

Jimmy Greaves awards his Star Letter award to Steven Wilkinson from Paisley, who proposes that Tommy Docherty should be the new Scotland manager, with there being a vacancy for the position due to the death of Jock Stein.

Peter Reid’s column reveals that Graeme Sharp has been singing “Down Mexico Way” in order to wind up the Welsh players at Everton, after Scotland eliminated Wales from the World Cup. One of those Welsh players, Neville Southall, was described by Reid as the best goalkeeper in the world.

Blackburn Rovers get a full page profile, with striker Jimmy Quinn desperate for the club to reach the top flight after so many near misses.

In Scotland, Aberdeen and Hibs were going head to head in the League Cup Final, with Alex Ferguson being desperate to win this, as it was the only domestic trophy he hadn’t won at Pittodrie so far.

Aberdeen won the match 3-0.

Shoot does a double page spread looking at the impact of recently appointed Sunderland Manager Lawrie McMenamy, while Alan Brazil pleads for the opportunity to lead Manchester United’s attack.

The magazine ends with a profile of Trevor Peake.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL MONTHLY – SEPTEMBER 1992

Steve McManaman is mocked up as a superhero called McMana Man for the cover image, as he is described as English football’s superhero for the 1990s.

Ian Wright is interviewed and has modest ambitions for 92/93 – to get in the England team and to win the Premier League and FA Cup with Arsenal, predicting that he can make the most of the new backpass rule which stops goalkeepers picking the ball up from a backpass.

Steve McManaman is the subject of a double page feature, predicting he will become Liverpool’s greatest ever player, as well as tributes from the likes of Alan Hansen, Bruce Grobbelaar and Bradley Allen.

Don Howe is the subject of a profile, having just joined Chelsea as a coach, and his happy to be in that role rather than being a manager.

In world news, Marseille’s new signing Rudi Voeller believes that he can score the goals to win the European Cup for the French club.

Meanwhile, Manchester United have rejected a bid from Derby County to sign Bryan Robson, with the Rams hoping he would have had the same effect on them in the 90s as a similarly aged Dave Mackay did in the 1970s.

The forthcoming Premier League season is previewed, with all the Football Monthly journalists predicting that Arsenal will be champions in 1993.

Leeds United get a four page profile as they get set to defend their league title, looking at their success over the past four years under Howard Wilkinson.

The new Non League season is previewed, with Wycombe Wanderers being predicted to win promotion to the Football League.

Manchester City manager Peter Reid is interviewed, stating he stands by all his decisions, with City hoping to launch a title bid having come 5th in 1992.

In Scotland, the return of Trevor Steven to Rangers makes them favourites to win the title in 1993.

In competitions, you could win with Hummel, but you had a choice of a pair of boots or a replica shirt of either Benfica, Denmark or Real Madrid.

The preview of the new Irish League season predicts Glentoran to pip Linfield to the title and Ards to win the Irish Cup. Ards lost the Final while Linfield won the league.

In Republic of Ireland, there are concerns that easier access could affect attendances at domestic games, while Bohemians are predicted to win the league.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : MATCH – 19.5.1984

It’s the FA Cup Final, as Everton and Watford take centre stage on this week’s copy of Match.

There is fighting talk from both teams. Peter Reid states that there is no way Watford will score against Neville Southall, while Mo Johnston is determined to win the cup for suspended captain Wilf Rostrun, and let him lead out the team at Wembley in the following season’s Charity Shield.

Chelsea get a double page feature, having just been promoted to the top flight of English football after an absence of five years.

In foreign news, Juventus have been rocked by the news that Claudio Gentile might be leaving the club in the summer.

Staying in Italy, Luther Blissett of AC Milan tells Match how delighted he is to have been recalled to the England squad.

In preparation of that summer’s European Championship, Match is previewing the teams, with Romania, written down as “Rumania” being this week’s subject.

Graeme Souness uses his column to preview the FA Cup Final, declaring that he can’t see Everton losing.

Andy Gray and George Reilly are profiled, with Gray revealing his favourite singer is Rod Stewart, and that his personal ambition is to have an uneventful private life.

George Reilly’s favourite pop star is Bryan Ferry.

Mark Hughes gets profiled, having broken into Manchester United’s first team this season, revealing that he thought he would have to leave United in order to advance his career.

A team-mate of Hughes in the future will be Gordon Strachan, who is set to join United from Aberdeen, with his last game for the club being the Scottish Cup Final against Celtic, a game Aberdeen will lose according to Hibs goalkeeper Alan Rough, previewing the game for Match.

It had been suggested that Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson has been mellowing, but he told Match that his wife had told him to behave himself.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 19.10.1985

Glenn Hoddle of England is the cover star of this edition of Shoot. Or perhaps, not of England, if the headline is anything to go by.

This was also the week in Back To The Future II where Marty McFly visits 2015.

As you open the magazine, there is a double page spread on Steve McMahon, who has just joined Liverpool from Aston Villa, nearly three years after rejecting Liverpool to go to Villa Park.

Meanwhile, there are reports that England’s top clubs could be forming a breakaway Super League.

Cover star Glenn Hoddle is interviewed, finally becoming an England regular, and is confident of returning home from Mexico the following summer with the World Cup.

The cover headline “I’LL QUIT ENGLAND” refers to his club status, as he expresses his desire to play on the continent, which he did in 1987 when he signed for Monaco.

Bryan Robson uses his column to state that Peter Barnes is worthy of a place in the England squad to provide competition for John Barnes and Chris Waddle.

Northern Ireland’s vital World Cup Qualifier away to Romania gets previewed, with manager Billy Bingham confidently predicting that Northern Ireland will finish 2nd in their group and head to Mexico.

Republic Of Ireland also have ambitions of going to Mexico, and have blooded Tony Cascarino into their squad in time for their vital game away to the Soviet Union.

Portsmouth manager Alan Ball gets a photo collage, as he aims to lead the club back to the top flight of English football.

Peter Shilton gets a double page feature as he becomes England’s most capped goalkeeper, complete with a tribute from Gordon Banks, who he replaced at Leicester City, Stoke City and England, with the headline “PETER SHILTON – KING OF KEEPERS”

West Germany manager Franz Beckenabauer feels this season’s European club competitions have been devalued by the absence of English clubs, while Canada have qualified for the World Cup for the first time in their history.

Meanwhile, Napoli failed in their bid to sign Hugo Maradona from Argentinos Juniors, the younger brother of Diego Maradona.

A dispute between the governing body and broadcasters meant that there were no games on TV, so Shoot did a double page photo collage of the best strikes.

In Scotland, there is a full page profile and a poster of Celtic.

In Wales, Mark Hughes was set to miss the opening games of Euro 88 Qualifying, due to a red card in an underage Euro qualifier against Yugoslavia in 1983.

Steve Cowan gets a full page feature, having just signed for Hibs and is hoping to put his injury problems behind him.

Bradford City get featured, as the club tries to recover from the tragic fire at their ground five months earlier.

Peter Reid uses his column to talk about Everton’s problems conceding goals, especially in the early moments of games.

Reid’s Everton team-mate Gary Lineker is happy, having found a Snooker Club near his home in Southport, and has managed to convince Willie Thorne to start supporting Everton.

Meanwhile, Portsmouth are trying to sign Paul Mariner from Arsenal.

The magazine ends with a profile of Davie McPherson of Rangers. His favourite music is Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 10.5.1986

The 1985-1986 season is nearing it’s end, and Malcolm Shotton of Oxford United is the cover star of Shoot, with the club having won their first major piece of silverware, the League Cup, after a 3-0 win over QPR.

Mark Hughes talks about his transfer from Manchester United to Barcelona, admitting that he should have done what Kevin Keegan did when leaving Liverpool, announce his plans to leave at the start of the season, as the protracted move turned out to be a distraction.

Hughes signed an 8 year contract with Barcelona, and he says this will be his only club on the continent. As it turned out, he did emulate Kevin Keegan, by playing in Germany, joining Bayern Munich on loan, before returning to Old Trafford in 1988. He never played for a club on the continent in the final 14 years of his career.

In adverts, there’s an advert for the following week’s edition, which has a free World Cup stickerbook, as well as previews of the FA and Scottish Cup Finals.

Bryan Robson uses his column to sing the praises of Paul McGrath, stating that he wishes he was English as he’d walk into their defence. He comments on his top 11 players of the season.

Shoot previews the three European Finals, singing the praises of Terry Venables, who Shoot believes is set to become Barcelona’s first European Cup winning manager, totally dismissing the chances of their opponents Steaua Bucharest.

Shoot does a double page photo collage of the recent League Cup Final, where Oxford beat QPR 3-0.

Peter Reid writes in his column that Everton have the grit to win the title.

Reid is also complimentary of West Ham, whose young defender George Parris gets profiled, described as “A new Billy Bonds”

Andy Goram, a recent debutant for Scotland, despite being born in England, tells Shoot he wants to join a club in Scotland.

Football in Sheffield gets a double page spread, as both clubs yo-yo between divisions, with Shoot pointing out that there hasn’t been a top flight Derby between United and Wednesday in 18 years.

Bruce Rioch gets interviewed after just being appointed manager of Middlesbrough, talking about what he has learnt from managers in his career, especially Tommy Docherty.

Iraq get a preview ahead of Mexico 86, with their style of play moulded by the influx of British managers in the Middle East in the late 70s, and the current Brazilian manager they have, Edu (not the ex Arsenal player), who is Zico’s brother.

Davie Cooper is interviewed, stating that the appointment of Graeme Souness as manager was a “Bombshell”, but is a top class appointment.

Dual nationality Vince Mennie of Dundee is interviewed, stating that he wants a call-up to the Scotland team, and turned down an Under 21 call-up for West Germany in order to achieve his dream.

Ron Saunders has responded to West Brom’s relegation by having a clear-out of his squad.

Staying in the West Midlands, Birmingham City manager John Bond has appealed to local businesses for help to secure funding to bring Trevor Francis back to St Andrews.

The magazine ends with a double page profile of Sandy Jardine, aiming to win the Scottish League and Scottish Cup with Hearts, 14 years after winning the 1972 European Cup Winners Cup with Rangers.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 16.12.1989

Peter Beardsley, playing for England, is the cover star of Match, as England, Scotland and Republic Of Ireland have discovered their group opponents in the 1990 World Cup.

1989-1990 has been a season of violence on the pitch in English football, with Sports Minister Colin Moynihan calling for players who misbehave to be arrested. Bryan Robson and Terry Butcher hit back against such a suggestion.

England and Republic Of Ireland face each other in the 1990 World Cup groups, having met in Euro 88, while Scotland also face familiar opponents, Brazil, who they met in the 1982 World Cup group stages.

Gary Shaw, currently playing in Austria, is hoping to return to the Football League, but is still struggling from the effects of a knee injury.

Ajax are eyeing up English clubs for potential friendlies as they are currently serving a UEFA ban.

One English club playing a high profile friendly is Arsenal, who travel to Ibrox to take on Rangers in an Unofficial British Championship, with Arsenal midfielder Brian Marwood saying this match is an opportunity to enhance Arsenal’s reputation.

There is a feature on competition winners who got to meet the England team.

John MacPhail of Sunderland tells Shoot he still has the legs to take part in Sunderland’s promotion battle at the age of 34.

Talking on veterans, there is a full page profile of QPR’s midfield duo of Ray Wilkins and Peter Reid, both well into their 30s.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 16.11.1985

Pat Jennings is the cover star of Shoot, as he gets ready to face England at Wembley in a World Cup Qualifier knowing that a point will be enough for Northern Ireland to go to their second successive finals.

Going into this game, England Under 21 manager Dave Sexton suggests that Terry Fenwick is the man senior manager Bobby Robson should turn to should Kenny Sansom get injured.

Should Northern Ireland reach Mexico, Martin O’Neill is planning to undergo surgery in a bid to be fit for it, having previously considered retirement due to his injury problems.

Wales are going in to their Euro 88 campaign minus Mark Hughes for three matches due to a red card he got playing in an underage international in 1983, and have launched an appeal to get this quashed.

Betty Westmancoat (Walsall) and John Westmancoat (West Bromwich Albion) made history by being the first husband and wife duo to be Club Secretary at two different clubs.

Ahead of the big game at Wembley, Bryan Robson uses his column to declare that England won’t make it easy for Northern Ireland, as Northern Ireland aim to reach Mexico.

Pat Jennings gets a double page feature, as he becomes the world’s joint most capped goalkeeper, and announced he will retire at Wembley regardless of the result.

In this feature, it is revealed that England manager Bobby Robson tried to bring him to Ipswich Town in 1977, but lost out to Arsenal.

Jennings retirement sees Shoot look at the goalkeeper options for the future, which Shoot narrows down to Eric McManus, Jim Platt and George Dunlop.

Republic Of Ireland are out of Mexico 86, but are defending a 13 year unbeaten home record in competitive internationals as they face Denmark at Lansdowne Road.

Eoin Hand has already announced his departure as manager, and Shoot has linked John Giles, Liam Touhy, and Jim McLaughlin, having ruled out Jack Charlton and Bob Paisley due to the FAI being unlikely to appoint a non Irish manager.

Shoot asks four foreign stars to assess England’s chances in Mexico, with Paolo Rossi saying they can win it, while Michel Platini, Jose Camacho and Manuel Bento saying that they can’t.

Glenn Hoddle is this week’s “Focus On …..” where he reveals that his favourite music was The Eagles, but it is now Don Henley and Phil Collins. He loves his singing drummers.

A future team-mate of Hoddle could be Gordon Durie, with Tottenham joining Arsenal and Chelsea in the race for his signature, with Hibs placing a £300,000 price tag on him.

Alan Sinclair of Glasgow writes to Jimmy Greaves to complain about Andy Goram’s call-up to the Scotland squad, as he was born in England, while Andrea Pepper in Carrick says that Northern Ireland won’t need any favours in the forthcoming World Cup Qualifier.

Reading get a profile, while Peter Reid uses his column to reveal he fears missing out on a World Cup place as his injury gives others a chance to stake a claim in the team.

Alan Davies gets a profile, telling Shoot that he is enjoying playing for Newcastle United every week.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT MEXICO 86 SPECIAL

At this moment 30 years ago, Italy and Bulgaria players were walking onto the pitch at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City for the opening game of Mexico 86.

The game was broadcast live on the BBC. As people sat in front of their TVs awaiting the month of football to come, it’s possible they may have been reading Shoot’s 1986 World Cup Preview guide, costing 75p.

With three UK teams in the finals (something that wouldn’t happen again until Euro 2016), Shoot capitalised on this by having a player from Scotland (Gordon Strachan), England (Bryan Robson) and Northern Ireland (Norman Whiteside) all holding the World Cup trophy.

All three were playing for the same club in 1986, so it was obviously convenient for them to arrange the photoshoot.

As you open the magazine, there is a double page editorial saying “Go get em lads”, wishing the three UK teams good luck.

There is then a double page TV guide, but it only covers the opening match, and the home nations group games. For the record, Northern Ireland and Scotland had two live games on ITV and one on the BBC, while England had two games on the BBC and one on ITV.

Trevor Francis gets four pages to write about who he thinks will be the stars in Mexico, predicting big things from Hugo Sanchez, Rudi Voeller, Preben Elkjaer, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Rinat Dasaev, Zico and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Enzo Scifo, Daniel Passarella, Antonio Cabrini, Zibi Boniek and Michael Laudrup.

Quite a lot of those players were based in Serie A, where Francis was playing his club football.

Mick Channon gets two pages to assess the three home nations, predicting Bryan Robson to lead England to the Quarter-Finals (They would reach that stage, but Robson would be at home injured), Scotland to reach the Second Round (Group stage exit) and Northern Ireland to reach the knockout stages (group stage exit)

Channon also commented that he was recently in Belfast to play in a testimonial game for George Dunlop.

Mal Donaghy gets a lot of praise from Channon, stating he would walk into England and Scotland’s teams, comparing him to Bobby Moore.

For the whole tournament, he expected Argentina to beat Brazil in the final.

Tony Roche gets a double page spread to assess the rest of the European teams, stating that Denmark could take the competition by storm, comparing them to Holland’s team of the 70s.

There is a full page round up of the results and tables from the European groups.

Peter Reid gets interviewed with the headline “ON YER BIKE JOAN COLLINS”. In case you’re wondering why, England will be warming up in America, staying in a hotel in Denver which is used to film scenes for the TV show Dynasty.

Reid comments on the progress in his career between World Cups, having just avoided relegation to the Third Division with Bolton in 1982, he was now challenging for trophies with Everton.

Shoot canvassed journalists from around the world for their opinion, and the consensus was that Brazil would repeat their success in Mexico they had in 1970.

Bobby Moore writes about his experiences at the 1970 World Cup, advising the players that playing Snooker will be a good way to relieve the boredom in the hotel room.

Charlie Nicholas gets four pages to write about his Scotland team-mates, where he reveals he shares a room with Steve Nicol. They are good mates, but Nicholas doesn’t share Nicol’s love of Status Quo.

There is a double page interview with the three UK managers, Bobby Robson (England), Alex Ferguson (Scotland) and Billy Bingham (Northern Ireland)

Ferguson and Robson predict Brazil will win the trophy, while Bingham shies away from predicting a winner.

Bryan Robson writes a two page article where he predicts England will reach the Semi-Finals, and that Gary Lineker will be England’s biggest star in Mexico, comparing him to Jimmy Greaves.

There are two pages then dedicated to the South American challenge, written by Tony Roche.

Shoot has bagged an interview with Diego Maradona, who says England look good, Northern Ireland have a chance of reaching the knock-out stage, while Scotland are in the toughest group. He didn’t predict Morocco to upset anyone.

The main question asked in Northern Ireland’s preview is where the goals will come from. Billy Bingham has a lot of praise for Norman Whiteside, predicting him to be a regular Northern Ireland player for the next decade.

Jimmy Greaves has two pages of letters, where a Notts County fan predicts Algeria to win because of Rachid Harkouk, to which Greaves sarcastically responds.

There is a full page dedicate to free-kick experts, listing the best players with this skill, including Platini, Hoddle, Cooper and Molby.

As well as looking forward, Shoot also looks back at England, Scotland and Northern Ireland’s World Cup history.

There are two pages dedicated to Jock Stein, who was Scotland manager during the qualifying campaign until his death after the game against Wales in September 1985, with tributes from Alex Ferguson and Billy McNeill.

There is a competition where you can win a Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Ray Clemence World Cup video game.

The preview ends with an infographic of all the team’s kits.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 9.5.1987

Glenn Hoddle is the cover star as Shoot counts down to the 1987 FA Cup Final between Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Glenn Hoddle gives Shoot an exclusive and revealing interview. He states that he wished Bobby Robson was appointed England manager earlier, and that if he was, he would be on course (he was 29 at the time of the interview) for 100 caps.

His England career ended in 1988 with 53 caps.

Hoddle also stated that he wished to move to Mainland Europe. He said he had turned down a move to Cologne in 1979 as he was too young, and an Achilles injury in 1984 saw Napoli withdraw their interest in making a bid for him.

He cited the examples of England team-mates Gary Lineker and Mark Hateley. At this time, there was a talent drain of English and British (Mark Hughes was already at Barcelona, and Ian Rush was soon to join Juventus) players due to a combination of being able to earn more money abroad, and most importantly, English clubs being banned from Europe as a result of Heysel.

That summer, Hoddle signed for AS Monaco, by a manager who would go on to make North London his home …… Arsene Wenger.

Interestingly, Hoddle also has his doubts as to wether Clive Allen (who scored 49 goals in 86/87) was up to the standard of international football. Allen only won 5 England caps and never scored a goal.

As part of the preview of the following week’s FA Cup Final, Tottenham’s Semi-Final win over Watford got a double page picture spread.

Gary Strodder, a rising star at West Ham, gets a full page feature.

Peter Reid gets a full page column, and writes a tribute to Everton’s squad players, who have contributed to them being on the verge of winning the title, which he believes they will. They did.

Jason Bate from from Stafford writes in to Jimmy Greaves to complain about the standard of facilities at English league grounds.

Greaves replies by saying the letter could have been written 25 years ago, and that things won’t change in another 25 years.

25 years on, I think it’s fair to say that facilities in English football have improved.

Dundee United, the first Scottish club to reach the UEFA Cup Final get a full page feature ahead of the first leg (Yes, younger readers, the UEFA Cup Final used to be 2 legs) and an interview with Iain Ferguson, who would miss the first leg through suspension.

The article comments that if Dundee United triumph, Scotland will have won all three European trophies. United lost 2-1 on aggregate, the first of three clubs (Celtic in 2003 and Rangers in 2008) to have lost the UEFA Cup Final.

Oxford United’s star striker Dean Saunders gets a full page profile, focusing on a range of coincidental similarities with former Oxford striker John Aldridge. Like Aldridge, Saunders would go on to play for Liverpool.

Shoot does a feature on the job security of managers in England’s top two divisions, and gives a rating for each manager.

Alex Ferguson, recently appointed at Manchester United, was given a rating of ‘Room For Improvement’

13 League titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 European Cups and 1 Cup Winners Cup later, i’d say things have improved.

In their section on world football, Soviet Union goalkeeper Rinat Dasiev confidently predicts that his side will win Euro 88, and that England will be their biggest rivals.

Soviet Union reached the final, losing 2-0 to Holland, having been in the same group as England. That match finished 3-1 to Soviet Union, as England finished bottom of their group, losing all 3 matches.

In the name of equality, Coventry’s FA Cup Semi-Final win over Leeds gets a double page spread.

This week’s player profile was of Kevin Gallacher, looking forward to the UEFA Cup Final with Dundee United.

His favourite TV shows are “Grange Hill and all sports programmes” and his favourite band are Simple Minds