Underbelly of World Talent Takes Centre-Stage

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As the Champions League returns for the knockout stage, James Dutton looks at some of the names ready to light up the competition…

It is an old adage in the football world that has been popularized over time; if you lay any claim to be amongst the best in world football, either at present or through the ages, then you have to prove it on the greatest stage of all – the World Cup.

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Another False Dawn for England?

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The False Nine editor, James Dutton, looks into Theo Walcott’s claim that this is the best England squad in his time with the national side…

So Theo Walcott has claimed this is the best England squad he’s been part of.

It certainly is a bold claim from the Arsenal forward. After all, this is the same Walcott who was plucked from Arsenal’s reserves by Sven Goran Eriksson at the age of 16 and invited to experience, first hand, England’s 2006 World Cup debacle. WAGs, metatarsals and prima donnas dominated the headlines, whilst poor little Theo was forced to watch on helpless. Continue reading

Pozzo Family Methods Benefiting Zola’s Watford

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The False Nine’s Joe Bookbinder is being won over by the Pozzos’s running of Watford and believes, under Gianfranco Zola, the Golden Boys are in safe hands…

When the Pozzo family bought Watford last summer there was an air of excited anticipation, twined with slight trepidation. The Udinese and Granada owners brought financial security, at least in the short term, to a club who have had to make do with a very tight budget. And make do they have. Continue reading

Young Lions Face Challenge of Filling Golden Generation’s Shoes

False Nine editor James Dutton assesses England’s upcoming fixture against Moldova, the symmetry it presents with the beginning of the ‘Golden Generation’ and the future beyond…

England return to competitive action for the first time since their dispiriting Quarter-Final showing against Italy with a return to Moldova. Sixteen years ago David Beckham was awarded his first cap in Chisinau, by Glenn Hoddle, and the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ was born. Sixteen years later and the ‘Golden Generation’s’ influence has largely subsided or been cast asunder, but its last remnants linger to make up the core of the transitional England of 2012. Continue reading