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A previously unpublished interview with Carlos Alberto, who died in October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