Search: ' Edgar Davids'

The high number of drug-test failures in Italy compared to England is mainly the result of the seriousness with which the issue is treated there, believes  Gabriele Marcotti

The funny thing about nandrolone is that it has been around for a long time. A team-mate on my university rugby team took it for three years. No, he wasn’t a drugs cheat: as a child, he was frail and underdeveloped, so his doctor put him on a nandrolone course. Whether or not he knew (or cared) at the time that it could reduce his libido, increase his risk of developing tumours and potentially lead to “testicular atrophy” is unclear. Either way, in the 1980s, before serious drug-testing, its use was widespread in a variety of sports, including football. Its benefits – increased concentration, increased aggression, increased lean muscle mass – were seen by some as worth the risk of a couple of shrunken balls.

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Tuesday 1 A Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, buys a controlling interest in Chelsea and is expected to  settle the club’s oustanding debts, which will cost him around £130m in total.  Ken Bates, who will stay on as chairman,  professes himself delighted with the deal: “The club will benefit from a new owner with deeper pockets to move Chelsea to the next level.” UEFA president Lennart Johansson repeats an earlier warning that England may be expelled from the European championship if fans misbehave at future away matches. Harry Kewell’s agent claims there are still six clubs in the running to sign him, one of whom he can’t name, just to make it all sound more exciting. Craig Bellamy is to face three charges of racially aggravated  harassment following an incident outside a Cardiff nightclub in March.

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In an extract from the new edition of Tor!, his book on the history of German football, Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger explains the ethnic make-up of the national side

On a cloudy Saturday, the first day of September 2001, England came to Munich for a crucial World Cup qualifier. On paper, things looked promising for Germany, who probably only needed a draw to go through to the finals. The country approached the match with op­timism, even anticipation, content with the job Rudi Völler had done so far. During his 13 months at the helm, the new national coach had put into action many of the ideas his two predecessors regarded as suicidal. Ger­many no longer played with a sweeper, although you could still have listed the formation as 3-5-2. However, it was the system Argentina had popularised during the 1998 World Cup, with a flat back three and a crowd­ed midfield that did most of the defending before the opposition even reached the last third of the pitch.

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Dave Hannigan tells the story of the Irishman who's been around the world and back

Just four summers have passed since the then Juventus manager Carlo Ancelotti introduced Ronnie O’Brien for the last 13 minutes of an Intertoto Cup semi-final against the Russian representatives Rostelmash. Making his third cameo appearance in the competition, the 20-year-old Irishman slotted in comfortably along­side Edgar Davids, Alessandro Del Piero et al. A matter of months after Bryan Robson had shown him the door at the Riverside Sta­dium, while very publicly dismissing his chances of ever making it at the highest level, he was pulling that famous zebra-striped jer­sey over his head and trousering £3,000 a week. Life was good and the unfortunate Liam Brady com­parisons were far too plentiful.

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We asked some of our regular contributors if they could remember anything about 2001. Surprisingly, quite a few of them could

Harry Pearson
Best • Seeing different faces in the home dugout at the Riverside. Finally getting a radio that allowed me to listen to Alistair Brownlee’s delirious, deranged commentaries on Century FM. His pronunciation of Marinelli alone is worth the price of the batteries. Oliver Kahn’s expression at the end of the game in Munich.

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