FBH Series

Unheralded Genius

Alan Hansen: The Illusion of Ease

Chris Beaumont -
Alan Hansen is remembered by many for one sentence. That is the problem. The deeper story is of a defender who changed British football,...
Unheralded Genius

Socrates: The Doctor Who Refused to Obey Football

Chris Beaumont -
The moment that defined him The air in Seville did not move. It hung over the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, thick and unmoving, as if...
Long Reads

Michel Platini: The Genius Who Arrived Before the Game Did

Chris Beaumont -
Turin, May 1985. Michel Platini places the ball down and steps back. The stadium is full, but the atmosphere is wrong. It is loud without...

Johan Cruyff at the Bernabéu: The Night Football Changed Direction

Those Good Ol' Days

Roberto Baggio: The genius football tried to reduce to one penalty

Long Reads
Load more

Those good ol' days

Those Good Ol' Days

Johan Cruyff at the Bernabéu: The Night Football Changed Direction

Chris Beaumont -
Key Takeaways: • Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona debut changed the rhythm of a struggling side almost immediately • The 5-0 win at the Bernabéu was not just...
Those Good Ol' Days

Euro 96 and the Rebirth of Germany: Unity, Resilience, and Wembley 1996

Chris Beaumont -
The mid-1990s in Europe were a time of profound cultural and political flux, defined by the falling of old barriers and the energetic rise...
Those Good Ol' Days

The Golden Era of Hungarian Football

Chris Beaumont -
Introduction: Setting the Scene In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Europe was a continent remaking itself. The war had left scars across...

Real Madrid’s Dynasty: The First Five European Cups

Those Good Ol' Days

The ‘West Ham Way’: A breeding ground for managers

Those Good Ol' Days
Load more

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS

Contemporary Classics

David Ginola: The Enigmatic Maestro of French Football

Chris Beaumont -
November 1993: The moment that stayed It is late. Too late for improvisation. France need control, nothing more. A point will take them to the World...
Contemporary Classics

Jay-Jay Okocha: The footballer who made people fall in love with the game

Chris Beaumont -
There are footballers who are measured by medals, footballers who are measured by numbers, and footballers who are measured by memory. Jay-Jay Okocha belongs in...
Contemporary Classics

Basque-Only: A Double Edged Sword for Athletic Club

Chris Beaumont -
Today's throwback piece comes from August 2018 and our sister site Tale of Two Halves - with Athletic Club going well in La Liga...

Ronaldinho: Football’s Muhammad Ali

Contemporary Classics

Corinthians and the Casuals: bound by history

Contemporary Classics
Load more

Long Reads

Long Reads

Michel Platini: The Genius Who Arrived Before the Game Did

Chris Beaumont -
Turin, May 1985. Michel Platini places the ball down and steps back. The stadium is full, but the atmosphere is wrong. It is loud without...
Long Reads

Roberto Baggio: The genius football tried to reduce to one penalty

Chris Beaumont -
Pasadena, 1994: the image that refused to leave Roberto Baggio walks back slowly, head down, alone with the noise. The ball has gone over the bar....
Long Reads

Matt Le Tissier: The genius who stayed still while football moved on

Chris Beaumont -
There are footballers who chase the game, and footballers who let the game come to them. Matt Le Tissier did something else entirely. He stood...

Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet System: Lobanovskyi, Science, and the Rise of the Machine

Long Reads

The Felt on Red Square: A History of Soviet Football

FBH Series
Load more

© Copyright 2026 - Ronnie Dog Media All Rights Reserved.