In this issue

Introduction

Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson’s Editor’s Note from Issue Twenty Three

Crossword – Meredith
The cryptic crossword from Issue Twenty Three

Outsiders

The Exile – Gunnar Persson
Forced to flee Hungary by anti-Semitism, the forward Kálmán Konrád made a new life in Sweden

Standing Out from the Crowd – Dan Edwards
Marcelo Stones explains how he led an alternative fan movement at Racing

Decline and Fall – Paul Simpson
The end of Ron Knee and Private Eye’s relationship with football

The Wrong End of the Telescope – Joe Devine
David Icke on football’s role as an opiate to suppress the masses

The Short Unhappy Life of Dinorah De Assis – James Young
Love, betrayal, murder and the end of a striker’s glorious career

Grassroots Games – George Osborn
FIFA and ProEvo are more realistic than ever, but there’s still a place for simple playable games

Tangled Webs

Would the real CSKA please stand up? – Jack Robinson
When CSKA Sofia folded, two different entities rose up in their place. Who are the true heirs?

Stars and Shadows – Ged Naughton
Liberia, child soldiers, truth, false hope and a complicated charity tour

FAT Shaming – John Duerden
The complicated machinations that followed the downfall of Worawi Makudi

Odd Man Out – Lukas Vrablik
Football has thrived in the other former Yugoslav republics, so what’s wrong with Macedonia FYR?

Photo Essay

The Russian Lower Leagues – Sergei Novikov
From Borodinsky to Zakamsk, one photographer’s journey through the backwaters of the Russian game

The Past

The Eternal Captain – Samindra Kunti
A previously unpublished interview with Carlos Alberto, who died in October

The Sadness of the Master Builder – Alexander Jackson
Death, the War and the Bradford Park Avenue manager Tom Maley

Crime of Passion – Paul Brown
A France international, a champion cyclist, a gun and a deadly affair

Big Ron – Rob Smyth
The former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson on tactics, tempo, television and Roland Nilsson

The Sweep of History – Richard Jolly
Decade by decade league tables chart the changing tides of footballing success

Fiction

The Eternal Derby – Scott Oliver
It’s Boca v River in the Libertadores final, and there won’t be a penalty shoot-out.

Eight Bells

Nutmegs – Rupert Fryer
A selection of nutmegs that for reasons of context or aesthetics had special significance

Issue Twenty Three

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First published in December 2016, Issue Twenty Three contains 18 articles in 6 sections, including: Paul Simpson on the end of Ron Knee and Private Eye’s relationship with football; Joe Devine talks to David Icke about football’s role as an opiate to suppress the masses; and Rupert Fryer with a selection of nutmegs for the ages.