Search: ' Glenn Hoddle'

With the release of Darren Anderton’s autobiography, Georgina Turner explains why the former Tottenham player should be regarded as much of an England hero as his Euro 96 team-mates

Most people remember England’s Euro 96 campaign for Gazza’s goal and the dentist’s chair, Psycho going… psycho, Gareth Southgate, another heart-wrenching defeat to the Germans. France 98 is the tournament of Michael Owen and David Beckham each for different reasons. No one can think about them without hearing the Lightning Seeds. But I haven’t met many who remember first and foremost, as I do, how brilliant Darren Anderton was.

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Glenn Hoddle seems an unlikely saviour, but one struggling club has survived due to a deal with his academy. Steve Wilson reports

The Spanish region of Andalucía, with its year-round sunshine, unspoiled beaches and sprawling vista of manicured golf courses, is long accustomed to English visitors. Some recent arrivals, however, are here for more than just a two-week getaway and the chance to improve their handicap. An unlikely alliance between a former England manager, a group of young players deemed surplus to requirement at British clubs and a lower league Spanish side has seen Los Ingleses welcomed with open arms in the unassuming town of Jerez.

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Just four months after facing West Germany in the World Cup final, a fiery defender arrived in Wiltshire. Graham Davidson remembers

Before the Premier League era, what few foreigners there were in England often arrived after a World Cup. Nico Claesen came to Spurs in 1986, while Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles more famously arrived on the back of Argentina’s 1978 triumph. Italia 90 was the last tournament before overseas players became commonplace in the English game, and saw the aforementioned Ardiles, by then managing Swindon Town of the old Division Two, pull off a notable transfer coup in the shape of countryman Néstor Lorenzo.

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It sounds like a dream. A young man plucked from a building site and now scoring goals freely in the Football League. Scott Anthony recounts the story of Charlie Austin

When Charlie Austin swept in Swindon Town’s opener in their 3-0 victory over Leeds United it marked a truly remarkable ascent through the football pyramid. After arriving at the County Ground from Wessex League Poole Town in the summer, 20-year-old Austin has become a scoring sensation. At the time of writing he had notched 15 goals in 23 games, a ratio that bears comparison with much-hyped peers such as Jermaine Beckford and Jordan Rhodes. Austin is “constantly pinching myself”, League One defences are consistently being shredded. For Swindon promotion is a possibility, for Austin there is talk of an England Under-21 bow.

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My autobiography
by Chris Sutton with Mark Guidi
Black & White, £18.99
Reviewed by Jonathan O'Brien
From WSC 302 April 2012

Buy this book

No one who remembers Chris Sutton needlessly humiliating David Tanner of Sky Sports during one of Celtic's on-pitch title celebrations in the early 2000s – "Chris, just what is it that has made Celtic champions this year?" "We got more points than anyone else" – would describe him as an easy character to like. If Sutton has never come across an amiable type, that is because he has never made the slightest attempt to present himself that way.

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