Roar of Africa - The impact and influence of African football in the 90's Premier League - That 90's Premier League: Retro Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:14):
Hello and welcome back to that 90s Premier League podcast,
Jonesy my friend. We are on episode 17.
How are you doing? Good back after a nice.
Break. Yeah, we took another break
guys, so forgive us, but we've come back with some cracking
content today and we have a guest Jonesy, don't we mate?

(00:36):
Let's introduce. Firstly, we have the legend that
is my random shirt, Ibrahim. Ibrahim, say hello mate.
Hello guys, hello everybody, Yepthat's me at my random football
sporadically posting on Instagram, parts of shirt
collecting, football ground, attending all sorts of stuff.
I started venturing into reels and stuff as well.

(00:57):
So, you know, check it out if you.
Absolutely on. Instagram.
Yeah, also day job. day-to-day is a sports journalist and also
an author. I've written a book about
today's topic, I believe. Well, well, partially today's
topic. So yeah, we are.
What are we talking about guys? I guess.
Well, Ibrahim, as you're, as you've mentioned, you're an

(01:17):
author and a sports journalist. We have to top it, like to zone
in on this because we kind of geek out, Jonesy, when we have a
specialist in these fields. So Abraham, talk us a bit about
your book because I said to you off air, I've read it, It's
awesome. And I learned a lot more about
kind of African football and football players and the impact

(01:38):
of the teams and things like that.
So just give us a brief insight and obviously tell the kind of
listeners and viewers what it's all about.
South, yeah, 2020 during lockdown, I think when a lot of
us started this whole shirt collecting thing.
I was unemployed at the time. And so I decided that, you know,
let's let's do the thing that I've always said I wanted to do.

(01:58):
And I was decided to write a book about the history of
African football, specifically African teams competing at the
World Cup. It's called No Longer Naive.
Give us a zoom in on that mate. Rowing in very great impact at
the World Cup, available wherever you'd like to buy
books. It's actually quite out of date
now because I wrote it up to the2018 World Cup and obviously

(02:19):
with Morocco getting to the semifinals in 2022, it kind of
invalidates quite a lot of what was written there.
But still read it, it's still very good.
Everything before that is very good.
But yeah, it's. Dan Morocco, yes.
Yeah, I was thinking now watching that World Cup and
thinking I was really happy for them and I was like, they got,
they won the quarterfinals. Like yeah, my book pretty much
points out how an Africa team has.

(02:39):
Never gone into the world. Cup.
Oh good, yeah, thanks for that guys.
Yeah, no. But yeah, anything, if you
anything you want to know from before that, it's all in the
book and it's, I mean what he can tell you because as he's
read it and how. Very, very good.
I, I kind of wanted to ask you aquestion on that just before we
go on to today's topic mate, if that's OK.

(03:00):
How do you start kind of lookinginto researching and even
beginning to put pen to paper when you write something like
this? Yeah, it's just, I mean, good
question. You you call on sort of like
your own knowledge and your interests and things like that.
And then you sort of dig deeper and you know, you, you troll
your own memories and then you you read stories and you what

(03:21):
things you remember and you think, OK, how did I remember
that? Quite like I like I thought I
did. When you do the, you read up on
old newspapers, old magazines, videos, obviously books as well.
So you're reading other books towrite your own book.
And yeah. And then you sort of like put it
together. You couldn't come up with a
plan. So that's quite simply a
timeline of African teams at World Cups since 1930.

(03:44):
And yeah, so that was that was that and had a lot of time to do
it because. I bet.
Yeah, Jonesy, that sounds exactly up your street, doesn't
it mate? Mate, I can't even write a
shopping list to learn a book. I mean, in terms of all your
research and all of your kind ofarticles, I'm.

(04:04):
A research geek. I spent hours and hours
researching. I just, you know, I go to
newspapers, magazines, everything, anything that I can
find. Yeah.
So, yeah, that's fine. That's fantastic.
All righty. Do you want to get on to what
are you wearing? Yeah.
Oh, sorry. Did you want me to go first or
you guys? Yeah.
Guess first please. Well, I'm wearing the 1998

(04:26):
Nigeria, I thought it was fitting even though we're
discussing Premier League, so I thought the 1998 Nigeria World
Cup home shirt you may remember from the team reaching the
second round. They beat Spain famously in
their opening game, thrilling 3 to win one nil win against
Bulgaria in the second game, 31 defeat against Paraguay in the

(04:48):
third. But which actually?
Don't worry about that one. And then and then a quite
somewhat humiliating 41 defeat to Denmark in around the 16
which are. Going to in the book as well,
yeah, yeah, I I always forget itwas Denmark.
I knew it was a team in red. But yeah, I think all I say in
that one, the goal against Spain, I mean, that's probably

(05:11):
the best one. Right, Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, go into that in the book.
Actually, I was just a quick tidbit.
They it was very much and it's not not such a great story about
how African teams when they reach these tournaments and a
promised bonuses and financial stuff and all that.
And yeah, notoriously like Nigeria were apparently up till
the early hours of the morning arguing over bonuses before that

(05:33):
Denmark game, which obviously affected preparations and
allowed the loudrops and code torun riot.
So there you go. We had a We had a sleepy a
catcher and a sleepy Kanu playing against Denmark.
What? Did we give?
What did we give that shirt? Did we give it a thumbs up?
Didn't we double thumbs up on that World Cup 19 double?
Thumbs up. Yeah.

(05:54):
I mean, everyone loves a Super Eagles shirt.
I think that, like we said in the tournament, every kind of
World Cup, they've had somethingiconic about their kids.
Is that right, Ibrahim? Yeah.
I mean, yeah, they had this little period in the mid 2000s
where they went to Adidas and itwas a bit darl, a bit templatey
kind. Of Oh yeah.

(06:15):
Afterwards when they went back to Nike, when they went back to
Nike, it's sort of like, you know, right now we're sort of
making a big effort kind of thing.
So yeah, it was, yeah. The shirts have generally been
largely good. Yeah.
I mean, if you go back the two years before this one, I think
the Nike ones for the Olympics with the green and white, with
the white in the middle. Yeah, that was.
Oh, yes, yes. Yeah, I mean it's been, you

(06:37):
know, they've made a lot of dodgy ones if you want to try
and find it online, but you know, so it's hard to find a
real one basically is what I'm saying.
Yeah, over. Yeah.
Over and what I really want to find actually is the the away
shirt of this the inverse. So basically it's the same
pattern template, yeah, but it'swhite with the green on the.
Shoulder. Yeah, it's a beautiful shirt.
Yeah, yeah, I know the one. Yeah.

(07:01):
Excellent, Donzie. What about you, mate?
What are you wearing, mate? I'm wearing a Coventry Away
199495AS worn by How do I Say itPeter?
Yeah, I always say under love, but it's endlovu, isn't it?
Which I found out after looking at many articles.
So I always used to say under love, but I used.

(07:23):
To say I love like, like Ray Stubbs.
Yeah, but we'll go on to good old Peter in a minute.
Yeah. What do you?
I'm wearing the Arsenal. Oh, God, this is 97 to 99, isn't

(07:43):
it, Ibrahim? You're a gooner, aren't you?
Yes, I believe it is. Yeah, so.
Yeah, so. You know, keeping on topic,
Carnou famously wore that in, you know, during exactly at the
Club Australia. Which is which is what we do.
We stay we stay relevant in our content, Jamesy, don't we?
We like to keep up to date and we like to link our players and
moments and stuff. So yeah, that is what we wore.

(08:04):
Thank you guys. Right, James, What's next?
Let's get to Stead of the week. Where have you got?
Where's that binder? The binder is present.
Here we go. I've just got a fan on me at the
moment because it's absolutely roasting and what I'm conscious
of is loads of paper flapping all over the place so.

(08:27):
Fan so you know if you see me sweating of all YouTube.
Viewers. Any point doing this?
I apologise, but you know. Don't worry, don't worry mate,
right? Today's start of the week is
based on, again, a player that played for Ipswich Town, a chap
called Neil Gregory. Do you recall a player called
Neil Gregory, guys? I remember the name, but I don't

(08:51):
remember. I couldn't tell you anything
about him. Now, OK, cool.
So Neil Gregory, born in Undola in Zambia, became a full
professional for Ipswich Town in1992.
Now obviously we know of Peter Underlove as one of the first
Premier League players to grace the Premier League from Africa,

(09:13):
but Neil Gregory was amongst that list as well.
So he made two appearances for Ipswich in the Premier League,
one of which in 1994 as a sub coming on with A22 draw against
Wimbledon and then in 1995 when he came on again as a sub for a
four one win over Leicester. Those are his only two Premier

(09:35):
League appearances. In 90s he made appearances for
other sort of English clubs and obviously Ipswich once they got
relegated, but that was his big shot in the big time.
So my start of the week is dedicated to you, Neil Gregory.
Shout out, Neil, There we go. Excellent.
There we go. Shout out Neil done excellent.

(09:55):
Thank you mate. All righty, let's get into it
mate. Yeah.
All right, off you go. What have you got?
Yeah, I guess we just want to share about by the 1990s was
such an important, you know, decade for African footballers
in English football. What do you think, Abraham?
Come on, give us some. Give us some of your wisdom.
Yeah. You mentioned sort of the 94

(10:15):
World Cup. Well, actually, if you go back
to the sort of 1990 World Cup and obviously Cameroon doing so
well there, I think that sort ofreally sort of put into focus
how good African teams would be.Especially the fact that
Cameroon did so well against England, specifically in
Argentina was huge. But getting in that quarter
final against England, how tightit was.

(10:37):
And I think it totally changed perceptions in across the
country about what African footballers were capable of.
And although, yeah, we are talking Premier League,
obviously. Yeah.
But that 1990 period was when people, like I say, stood up and
took notice and, you know, leading to Ipswich signing
players like Neil Gregory. So you know.

(10:58):
Yeah. But then and then 94 when things
really started to come together,like you say, Nigeria doing
really well in that World Cup and then in the Olympics 2 years
late in 96 and by 98, yeah, I mean South Africa started have
been on the come up at that point as well.
So, yeah, there was a lot of focus there on these players and

(11:18):
being able to pick them up. And at youth level, there were
teams like Ghana as well who were producing lots of young
talent who were looking good. They they showcased themselves
at the Olympics in 92, from which third got a bronze medal
there and had won like the WorldYouth Cup like earlier in the
ninth in 1990s, I believe. And Nigeria won a Youth Cup in

(11:40):
93. And it was at that time people
signed to really see it actually, you know, the
continent is producing talent that can be, you know, brought
to Europe and specifically England.
But predominantly, I mean, we talk in kind of the African
players at that kind of time, were they more linked with the

(12:01):
European clubs as opposed to sort of the Premier League?
Because obviously the Premier League was in its early stages,
so a lot of the big hitters weregoing to the I axes, the AC
Milan's, the Juventus and that sort of thing.
So was it a bit more of a kind of European shores kind of thing
or I? Mean definitely the case because
I think I'm sure someone will correct me on this.

(12:21):
I think rules on foreign playersand overseas players,
particularly in England were quite rigid in terms of how many
players you can have. And there in Europe were a bit
more relaxed about it and they were able to you know, go and
scout around in the in in Africaand be able to pick out players
much more freely than English players.

(12:41):
The English teams were able to or even willing to as well.
I think England potentially still had that sort of the
slightly insular idea about things and, you know, more
geared towards homegrown. I think in Europe I think people
are more willing to take chanceson overseas players than.
Yeah. It was very, I mean, not, not

(13:02):
saying that it was completely out of out of character for an
English team, team to buy from overseas, but it was very
restricted. I think you know, not
restricted, but you know, not encouraged.
For people, sure. Yeah, I think we looked into on
the the first Premier League episode, didn't we Woody?
We picked out how many foreign players are actually in the
Premier League at that time. So going from that, yeah, I

(13:27):
guess as you said, the the WorldCup 94 obviously helped things
as well with the influx of players coming through.
Huge. I mean, you think Nigeria at
that time, because Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations in 94
as well, didn't they? So obviously from that point
they had an incredible World Cupin the USA, obviously top in
their group. Yep.

(13:49):
So beaten Argentina. As well.
Yeah, knocking out Italy in the last 16 until the badger popped
up and yeah. But what sort of give the
listeners a kind of list of someof the players at that point
that Nigeria had at that time? So the so that USA 94 squad was

(14:10):
potentially it was so you had Rashid Yakini who scored that
first goal in infamously you seehim celebrating in the net.
We've had Kanu, obviously, I think Honey, or he may have been
a bit young, he might not have been in the team actually.
Yeah, Younger Kocha, you had someone like Fenidi George who

(14:31):
went on to play for Ipswich, of course, JJ Okocha, of course,
who went on to play for Bolton. And yeah.
Daniel Amicacci, of course, played for Everton, so again we
mentioned who scored that infamous goal in 1998 and yeah,
and the interesting 1, Michael Emenalo, who went on to be sort
of Chelsea's director of football at some point.
So no way. There you go.

(14:54):
No idea. Wow, yeah.
And obviously, of course. Exactly director of football,
but he was definitely high up onthe Chelsea hierarchy, doing
something for quite some. Ah, that's cool.
He. Played in the 94 squad during
the World Cup, so yeah. Because yeah, before that, I
mean, looking at this squad as well, a lot of players played,
yeah, in Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, yeah.

(15:17):
And obviously just things changed after that, didn't they?
Yeah, Yeah, I think, yeah. I mean, there was, yeah, it was
a World Cup. So always potentially like a
shop window for Yeah, don't they?
So, you know, you see a player playing well in that tournament,
then they become, you know, highly sought after.
Yeah. Because I remember back then as
well. I mean, we all experienced it in
Championship Manager over the old work permits.

(15:43):
My gripe? Yeah, obviously you've agreed
the terms the player wants to come.
It's like, no, you can't. Yeah.
So, OK, right. So we've obviously understood
then that the kind of 90s kind of introduced people to kind of

(16:04):
the sort of African football teams and everyone started to
take notice that they were on the centre stage and performing
well in terms of the introduction to the Premier
League. Do you want to talk to us about,
in terms of how that kind of took off from kind of the early
90s, Abraham's? Well, there you go.
You mentioned the big man himself.

(16:24):
Neil Gregory. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean start. Of the week.
Let's let's get him on the pod. No, they, they actually, I mean,
the, the one name that sort of stands out that was sort of
there already was going to, you know, Bruce Grobola who had
yeah, yeah, who had been, you know, he'd been at Liverpool for

(16:46):
like years before the Premier League even begun.
So he sort of that sort of representation of Africa even in
the Premier League initially. And then you have people like
Efanikoku, who was of course Norwich in that that city, that
first. Loved.
I mean, I mean, he was born in like near Manchester, but still,

(17:06):
you know, he was of Nigerian heritage and he joined Norwich
during their sort of running during that that campaign to
essentially help them propel them to the title.
But unfortunately they they couldn't catch Villarian United
in that title race. But you know, Norwich saw him
and Mike Walker, Norwich managerat the time, obviously saw him
as the player that could help them potentially win the title.

(17:27):
So, you know, there's that levelof sort of acknowledgement and
respect for. Sure.
One quote, Nigerian footballer. So yeah, and you go, you go
again that early first year in the Premier League, Peter
Unlover, as we mentioned, you know, the first can layer in to
sign for the Premier League baseor to play in the Premier

(17:48):
League. Because I, yes, Rob Blah
wouldn't have been playing at the time for Liverpool, he'll
think. Well, this is what I found
interesting. He didn't actually start the
Premier League, did he? Because David James was in
favour? Because Grobola, I've read, kind
of chose to play for the national team in preference to
kind of Liverpool matches and helost his place to David James.

(18:12):
So he didn't actually start the Premier League, did he?
Which I forgot. Wow.
Yeah, forget all about that. Yeah.
Peter and Love was the first player to first African player
to play in the Premier League, Iguess just based on that,
essentially. So yeah.
Yeah, and and how insane is thatthough for Peter and Love, 18
years old, to obviously be the first player in the Premier

(18:35):
League. But he was a hot prospect
though, wasn't he? Yeah, I mean, he was because
Zimbabwe have not really had like AI mean of all the go back
to the book of all the teams that have qualified for World
Cups in the past or up until that point and they still
haven't lived in, well, they haven't made it to a World Cup.
But they weren't considered likea an African powerhouse in

(18:58):
across the continent as past teams and producing players go.
So for him to be to stand out that much is quite a big thing
for him. And obviously he became a
Coventry City hero and achieved so much playing for the club and
I'm sure this was going to come up at some point.
But first player to score hat trick at Anfield and a visiting
player to score Anfield in 30 years when he did it in 9495.

(19:22):
South, Yeah, Incredible, Incredible.
I mean, I mean going on the start of the week, I found like
in a in a shoot magazine it saidPeter had six brothers, all
potential footballers and he went on the trial of Coventry
with his brother Adam, but CD could only pick one of them.
So Peter got the nod. Adam had trials with Arsenal,
Manchester United and Grasshoppers in Switzerland.

(19:43):
There you go. See yeah, that is incredible,
but like I also read as well that after the 9390 forties and
where he scored eleven goals forCoventry, Arsenal had a bid
rejected for £4 million which would have made him most
expensive player in English football at that time.
Yeah, it's crazy. And also, I was watching the the

(20:06):
highlights of the the Hatcherik at Anfield, the matching way
commentary pointed out that Roy Evans apparently said that he
had bid for, he had looked at inlove the previous summer.
So yeah, yeah, he was, he was indemand at the time basically.
He'd obviously made that that much of an impression,
especially for someone like Coventry who obviously, again,
another team who were not, you know, as as good as they were in

(20:28):
the 90s, they weren't like one of the the big names, were they?
So you know of that level of talent.
The idea was eventually that he would, he would move on.
But he stuck around, didn't he? So.
Yeah, absolutely. Liverpool, I think we've, we, we
reached out to a few of our listeners and asked for kind of

(20:49):
players who you remember, any prolific player in your club
that stood out to mind. And on a few occasions the names
film The Singer and Lucas Raderby came up.
Can you give us a do you know much about kind of their story
and their background from South Africa?
Yeah, South Africa, because South Africa's story is strange.
I mean, just on an aside, it like it looks as though at that

(21:13):
point South Africa were obviously they'd come, you know,
let's delve into politics. They came out of apartheid.
Everything was supposedly betterin the country sport.
It specifically became such a big thing.
The rugby team won the World Cup, the cricket team started to
excel and obviously the the football team won the AFCON in
96 and reached the World Cup in 1998.

(21:35):
So it looked like it was going to build from there.
But unfortunately in the from the football side of things, it
hasn't. Whereas obviously, say the
cricket and the the rugby has really accepted that for
whatever reason, the football really hasn't even, you know,
going up to hosting the World Cup.
We've got a lot a long, long chapter on that in my book.
So, you know, people want to read about that.
Go for it. Yeah, Yeah.

(21:57):
But yeah, South Africa like, yeah, again, started to produce
talent that, you know, sort of unearthed because of everything
that was going on in the countrypreviously.
People were like were just certain types of people were
just not getting the opportunities to be seen in
playing football. Now post apartheid, you know,
you could see the talent in players like Messinger and

(22:18):
rather be who were both picked up by Leeds and both have very
interesting stories. Unfortunately, Phil Messinger
sadly passed away in 2019. He's he's most most noted in his
back in his country for scoring the goal That helps South Africa
qualify for France 98 and. Good on you, Phil.

(22:40):
Yeah, and he was the first blackSouth African player to play in
the Premier League, so he has that, as in his.
See, that's incredible, isn't it?
Like what a pioneer though for that.
I mean, it is brilliant like, but is it right though that film
a singer and Lucas rather be at the time because they were both
at Kaiser Chiefs? Is that right?

(23:01):
Yes, yeah. So was it a double deal?
I've read that they were interested at Leeds.
It it sounds, it sounds very much like it would have been.
So yeah, I can imagine Leeds, they had Harold Wilkinson at the
time and they just, I think theyjust punted for both of them.
And Lucas Ratabe is a very bizarre one because he was
actually playing in goal for thethe club he was playing for
before Kaiser Chiefs and, and just converted.

(23:23):
And yeah, and apparently in his early days in Leeds, he's being
played in midfield and all sorts.
And he's just like, well, actually, no, I'm centre back.
So just put me there. But however, however, we're
talking 90s Premier League iconic moments.
Kevin King, who's rant we could trace that back indirectly to
Lucas Raderby, basically Lucas. OK, so we're going through the

(23:47):
spring of 1996 Leeds United around mid table ish.
Not pulling up many trees. John Lukic was their number one
goalkeeper at the time. Out of form, out of favour.
Howard Wilkinson drops in, brings in Mark Beanie for a game
at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Right. Yeah.
We've been 10 minutes into the game, Beanie is sent off for

(24:08):
handballing the ball outside hisarea, John even on the bench.
So Leeds have no backup goalkeeper on the bench.
Who do they give the gloves to? Lucas Ratherby 17 minutes, yeah.
17 minutes in. Yeah, and he plays out of his
skin and Leeds played really, really well.
He makes a few really good savesand Man United eventually find

(24:33):
their way through to win one niland off the back of this
fantastic ten man leads with a central defender playing in
goal. And Ferguson was when Sir Alex
Ferguson came out after that game and said, I can't believe
how well leads have played. They they've come to Old
Trafford, They've put so much effort and I can't believe that
like they the way they've been playing up until this game,
they're going to get their manager sacked and all this sort

(24:54):
of thing. But, you know, they only put the
effort into when they come to Old Trafford.
And that is what sparked the you'll love it ran that comment
about Leeds, because then Leeds played against Newcastle and
Newcastle, although just about beat the one nil.
And then Keegan kicked off and said like, you know, how dare he
say that about these players, like about these Leeds players.

(25:15):
And that was the rant. Yeah, off the back.
Of that that's incredible. I love links like that.
That is brilliant, but I think what what I appreciated about
kind of because it was all like around film a singer though this
deal, right? Lucas Raderby was a bit more of
A tag along. But it's funny how their careers

(25:36):
at Leeds kind of just took different paths.
IE Lucas Radby made over 300 appearances for the club and he
was there for 11 seasons and is regarded as a Leeds legend,
right? I mean, it's incredible how his
career was kind of like, well, you can come if you want.
I mean, obviously it wasn't as bad as that, but.

(25:56):
Yeah. It was just incredible.
Yeah, that's sort of the ironic thing is that Messinger's sort
of time was essentially cut short because of the emergence
of another African player obviously in Tony Iboa.
So you know, it was bringing in Tony Iboa and he brilliance
upfront which was 1. Lovely segue.
Singer out, yeah, So yeah. And obviously we all know about

(26:19):
IBOA. We know about the goals,
obviously. And.
Talked to us about Tony. Come on.
I've got the shirt here in in obviously tribute to Tony Ebola.
And that's a great shirt as well.
I love that shirt. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, like the detailed Connor
was just brilliant. I was going to wear it today,
but I did say that it felt like a scuba diving suit, so I kind
of chose not to in this heat. I mean, we talk about Tony

(26:43):
Ebola. I mean, I was looking for my
shoot magazine and I came acrossthis article as well.
And this is how highly regarded he was.
Look at that Ebola the new Cantona, An article by Howard
Wilkinson. I always, he played in that kit.
He played. I always thought it was this
one, yeah. He played in that kit and then

(27:05):
obviously that was the next scene when he scored the goals
against Liverpool in Wimbledon was obviously in the one that's
behind you now. Yeah.
I remember seeing, I remember watching that goal, watching
that game. Yeah, I was devastated.
Yeah, Talk us. Talk us through that moment.
Jonesy I. Don't know, it's crack.
Yeah, I like, yeah, it's still like one of the wow moments.

(27:30):
I don't know about, I don't knowabout you both though.
When you hear commentators obviously say names etcetera in
the when the goals went in from your Bower, when you hear him
say your Bower like that when hescores.
Like, as a kid, that was the only thing I would shout if I
ever scored like a class goal inthe garages near my house.

(27:52):
Yeah, it would always be Ebola. Volley.
Yeah, every time you go for a volley like Ebola.
I'm trying it now, trying still the crossbar.
I still do it now when I'm playing in the park with my son.
Exactly. Yeah.
It's the Viali kick. It's the Ebola.
It's the Croyd. You know, it's brilliant.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, names attached to certain moments is great, yeah.

(28:14):
Talk to us about Ebola then, Ibrahim.
Sorry mate, I. Was going to say, so that goal
and obviously the one against Wimbledon, you remember he
scored a hatch against Wimbledon, but I don't think
anyone remembers the other two in that game just because of.
Cowen Farmers. Thunderbolt.
Going to mention Carlton, yeah? Can we say thunderbasted on
here? Yeah, of course we can.
Absolutely worthy. The definitive thunderbasted

(28:37):
against Wimbledon, Yeah. And then that's another thing
about the 90s that's been taken away from us with the, you know,
the the box netting now. But oh, every every every.
Awardee on to Yeah. The goal frame at Selhurst Park
just makes that goal just look so much.
Beautiful, isn't it? It's.
Lovely. Yeah.
And the. Fact that you can score a goal

(28:58):
from 30 yards and the ball then comes back out 30 yards after
you've scored. But oh, that's still a lot of my
when I'm, when I'm talking to people, obviously.
You know who love primary leaguethis age and they talk about
great goals. I still get out the YouTube and
so you want to talk about great goals, look at this highlight
reel. Grandpa Jones, he's got some

(29:19):
clips. Thinking about it now, it's like
going someone back then going. So you want to check out Ronnie
Radford's goal? Yeah, something about Ebola,
we're talking about things that are very specifically 90s.
So sort of researching, looking,trying to find stuff about him.
Leeds United. And the video is currently still

(29:40):
on eBay. Like the VHS they raised the VHS
called Shoot to Kill just based on Tony Kill.
You've heard about that? Yeah.
It's literally called Tony EbolaShoot to kill just based on his
shooting. Yeah.
And he's on eBay now about it. Yeah, somebody's got it.
Yeah. Well, so how many seasons was he
at Leeds? Because I always just kind of

(30:02):
thought he was a very kind of, Ithought his career at Leeds was
quite quick, but it was what, 3,Four Seasons?
Yeah, it. Seemed to just phase out, didn't
he? George Graham, wasn't it?
Yeah, I think that was it. I think once George Graham came
in, I think, yeah. And again, going back to that
sort of 9596 season, Leeds were sort of a bit sort of nothing in
the league and under Wilkinson. And then Graham comes in and

(30:24):
then it comes, I think he kind of took it out.
But he's, he'll always be remembered for those goals that
that early burst and he did a quite a few goals for that.
I mean, I don't have the numbersup, but he's got a.
He had a decent return from his time there.
Yeah, yeah, I'll always rememberthat.
Was it a hat trick against Monaco?
UEFA Cup. UEFA Cup, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Amazing.

(30:45):
So we've got other players here,Ibrahim.
So I've got a list. Jonesy adds to my list as we go
along, Ibrahim, if you've got any kind of interest in stats or
facts, all right. We're just going to try and
cover off a few players here though.
I've got firstly Neo Daki LamptiAston Villa 1994.
Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, this one's going to be a bit of

(31:06):
a sadder tale, unfortunately, because, you know, it's not,
it's not the happiest story for him.
I mean, he was he was supposedlylike a world beating talent as a
team, just he was named the nextPele and it's sort of like a
cautionary tale of putting too much on on players too soon.
But he, he'd come from like a really, he had a really tragic

(31:27):
back story, sort of broken home,abusive parents, basically
kicked out as a, you know, a kind of painting essentially,
essentially lived in like a like, I mean, there's no, an
orphanage essentially where he was, where he was just playing
football everyday and that's allhe was doing and harness his
talent. I mean, he was supposedly

(31:48):
illiterate, so he didn't know how to sort of read or write or
anything. He was, I mean, like I've read
an interview with him where he sort of tells it in a sort of
like a happier way. But Long story short, he's
basically trafficked to Europe essentially by, you know, he
was, you know, he went across 2 borders from Ghana through Togo,

(32:09):
Benin into Nigeria, met up with former Nigeria captain and
manager Steven Keshi, who sort of saw his talent there and
said, look, come, come play in Europe because, you know, like
come play in Belgium for I thinkthe Zander Lex he was playing
for. And yeah, I mean, but he had the
sort of like no real guy, didn'tknow sort of anyone sort of look
after him and sort of had agentstake advantage of him and things

(32:31):
like that. So essentially how he ended up
at Villa because they bid the most for him and whoever was
looking after him was essentially able to sort of, you
know, take money off the top andtake his signing off and stuff
like that. So yeah, obviously he never
fulfilled the talent that was that he benotropically had as a
teenager. But yeah, it's just a sort of a
bit of a tragic tale of that. But I mean, you know, yeah, it's

(32:55):
a sort of cautionary tailwind, sort of.
Hopefully things are better for young players these days,
essentially so. Gosh, Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I, I had no clue that that was his kind of background
really. Bad one.
But so he never he never sort ofdelivered in the Premier League
for, you know, and then Coventry.
But yeah, so yeah, it's a shame.But you know, yeah, it's a name

(33:15):
there. And I think I think he's kind
of, you know, sort of cult hero status for like at least
Coventry at least. But but yeah, never really
delivered on the talent that wasI think.
No, Jonesy. Who's on your list mate?
I've got Daniel M Mukachi. Yeah, well, starred in the
starred in the 1994 World Cup, as we said, and I think you guys

(33:38):
mentioned it on the FA Cup, the FA Cup podcast.
Obviously when he he signed for Everton and he was never really
prolific for Everton. He never really took off.
No, he didn't, did he? Yeah.
But but he has that one moment, he has the moment that we'll
live on forever. He has that that FA Cup semi
final against Joe Royal is, I think it was because it would

(33:58):
have been Paul Rideout, but I imagine was down injured and
getting treated with the pitch and I'm actually just runs on.
I mean, it's funny. It's yeah, I still can't get my
head around that. How he's probably.
Gone to the Porth official and said like, look, mate, I'm, I'm
going on. And the fourth it was the, it
would have, I guess it was rideout getting the treatment
off the pitch. So Everton are down to 10 at

(34:20):
this point and he goes up and says, Oh yeah, the manager said
I can go on. And you see Joe Royal come just
behind him just as he's run on the pitch, having a go at the
official, just like I'm not so crazy.
And then he goes on and scores two goals, stems David into the
FA Cup final, which they obviously go on to win.
And yeah, so he's always, he'll always be remembered for that.
And yeah, and regardless of whathappened afterwards, I think the

(34:41):
Everton fans will always hold him in such high regard.
But. Yeah, I mean, he must have
literally gone like I got this, Joe.
Like let me on like brilliant. Story, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, only 43 appearances for Everton, scoring 10 goals.
It seemed quite short and sweet as well.
Yeah, I. Mean because I think at that
time they would have had like, say, ride out who scored in the

(35:04):
final? Cosby.
Was there? Yeah, I'm.
From Ferguson, so you know, yeah, we're going to struggle to
get in the team like as regularly as he'd like.
So I just don't think it really took off for him.
But like I say, he still has that moment which ever Everton
fans will remember forever. Yeah, I've got a name for you,
Ibrahim. Christopher Wray.

(35:25):
Talk to me about Christopher Wray.
Yeah, I mean, he is. It was.
I mean, you may have another name come up.
Ali. Ali.
Dr. Come in a little bit. Yeah.
What is? What is favour?
The the man who who was in inverted commas, George Ware's
cousin. But Christopher Wray actually

(35:45):
was related to George Ware, as we are told so.
And yeah, he signed for Arsenal as just a backup player during
that the period Wenger's, you know, as Wenger was propelling
Arsenal to the top of the. League.
And he came in and during that season when, you know, people
like the the, the big names likethe Anelkas, the Bergkamps and

(36:07):
Wrights, remember, obviously back in the day, they'd 2,
everyone was playing two upfrontanyway.
So you'd have Anelka playing alongside someone like
Christopher 8 if Bergkamp and Wright were not available or one
or the other. And think so, right?
Ray would come in during that title running.
And he scored some important goals.
He scored big goal away at Wimbledon.
He scored, yeah, he scored some big goals, not many, but a

(36:31):
couple. And I mean, he did keep rolling
in Arsenal winning the double that season.
So you know it has to be credit to NYC.
I believe he scored the semi final against Wolves as well.
Did, yeah. So yeah, he's he's he's left an
imprint on the on Arsenal, a short, a short and sweet spell.
And obviously, like talent wise,he wasn't up there with the

(36:51):
names mentioned like Anelka Burkham, you know, and and then
later Panu. So.
I still see him as a pivotal player in that season, the 9798
though, because. And that's exactly what you sort
of need, if you know. Of course you do.
You know, you need those playersto come in and step up and you
know they're going to contributeand.
That's what it is, yeah. Yeah.
Because looking back on like what we have to do, obviously

(37:14):
did a Premier League review season, looking back at that
that season, because he had a yeah, a lot of moments, didn't
he? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And so you say.
I fondly remembered the thing. Yeah.
Who's on your list, Jamesy? Come on, who we got?
I had the the player, the obviously the shirt you're
wearing there, Mr Kanu. Kanu.

(37:39):
What can we say about Kanu? Yeah.
Yeah, Olympic gold medalist starred for in that Olympic run.
I mean, you see, oh, if you evergo back and look at the the win
over Brazil in the semi finals, it was it's a it's a, it's a
classic game of football. Brazil free one up, Nigeria,
pull it back and I'm winning thegolden goal extra time.
But yeah, Carnou's Carnou's goalin that was sort of very similar

(38:04):
to his goal against Tottenham in99 where he sort of flicks it
over the defender. But like this one, he doesn't go
as high. He just sort of flicks and just
spins and you he does Carnou's great because he kind of did
those things that you didn't think footballers could do or
should do really. He's so like, he's like his
highlight reel will never be compared, like no one will ever

(38:26):
score the kind of goals that he's scored that you know, that
the goal, the winning goal against Chelsea just doesn't
happen, does it? So you.
Know Do you know how many times as a kid I watched that match of
the day game against Arsenal? One right pour in rain.
That's a perfect betting 2. The ball slows down on the pitch
in waterlogged conditions. That's even better for me.

(38:49):
Well, there's one of the goals where he sort of takes this sort
of obscene touch to control it, but then like you say, he just
sort of holds up for him in the rain and then he sort of drills
it near post it's. And the yeah, the fact that like
it looks like he's going to put in a cross, but just sort of
like chips. Is it LaBeouf, I think.
And then De Hoy De. Hoy and goal, yeah.
Yeah. And then obviously the fact that

(39:09):
he just curls it round into the top corner, it is unbelievable.
We have had a few pictures actually, and Peter is one of
our listeners. He sent us a picture because
he's an Arsenal fan and he's actually met Amicachi and Kanu.
So thank you mate for sending inthose pictures because they are
like incredible players. And I think Kanu offered like

(39:30):
just unbelievable quality and talent.
He was slow but unbelievable on the ball and a lot of people on
Everpod say how amazing he was to play with right.
Yeah, I mean, he's like you said, like I say, like they're
so unconventional about everything that he did.
And it just always seemed to work, which was just, it was, it

(39:51):
was bizarre to watch sometimes because you're like, what is he
doing? How was he doing this?
And I remember a game funny enough is that year that he
signed. Obviously, yeah, he scored that
goal against Middlesbrough. Let's not forget that in that
shirt as well. The the back flick where you,
you, you see the Middlesbrough fans behind the goal.
They're sort of, there's a few that stand up and sort of
applaud it because they're just.I remember, I can't, I can't

(40:14):
believe what I've just seen. And there was a game against Man
United in the I guess during therun, LC United went on to win
the treble and everything like that.
But there was a game at Old Trafford where he he sets up the
goal that Inelka scores. So he ends up 1.
He ends one all. But you see someone like
Yapstam, Yapstam kind of sort ofloses his own composure.

(40:36):
Like Yapstam, one of the best defenders in Premier League.
He doesn't know what Kanu is going to do and sort of like
lose his composure just like flies into a tackle.
Like, yeah, really bizarre to watch because.
What what I love about, but whatI love about when he played for
Arsenal was when he was upfront.So for example, if Henry and
Wright or Bergkamp and Elka, if one of those wasn't available

(41:00):
and you saw Kanu on the sheet tostart the game, you would always
think really like Kanu's not quick, Kanu's not Henri, he's
not Bergkamp. But he always did a job, didn't
he? He was just incredible.
He always delivered, didn't he? Yeah.
I mean, yeah, you didn't necessarily want him as a first
choice, but you wanted him there.

(41:20):
You were happy to have him around then.
Yeah, unbelievable. Who else have I got on my list
then? So here we go.
We've Coventry has dominated this podcast so far because
we've obviously spoke about and love.
We spoke about lamp tea going toCoventry.
What about Haji Mustafa? Haji, Moroccan.

(41:42):
Yeah. I mean, he was kind of, and that
was a very strange number as well, because in you would have
thought the sort of African revolution would be led by sort
of North African players for like, yeah, Algeria and Morocco,
but they didn't really happen for a while.
But he was, he was sort of like one of the main ones to sort of
defer to first make an appearance as you know from

(42:05):
that, that that region per SE, you know, And it was I think it
was Hash and Kashloul at Southampton as well.
Cash flow. Remember cash flow?
Yeah, that's her name. Yeah, yeah, but I work many and
he was and he and he was really popular Coventry as well, wasn't
he? He kind of really made a name
for himself then and went on to Villa.
So yeah. Well, he was African.
What I didn't know was he was African Footballer of the Year

(42:25):
in 1999 when he went to Coventry.
Yeah, he was. So yeah, that's incredible in
itself. And it's bizarre because like
didn't, I don't think Morocco with doing a great deal at the
time as well. So I think he must, must, must
have been just, I mean, he was playing for Deportivo in Spain,
which was obviously, yeah, they were, I mean, they're struggling
now, but they were still a top side game.

(42:45):
Like he's only 2000. So he he made an impression
there. So yeah.
So yeah, he was sort of set thattrend for players from sort of
the northern region of Africa now.
So. Yeah.
But you're right though in saying that North African teams
probably more or less dominated in the 90s about becoming
British Premier League players. So what I didn't realise, and

(43:08):
correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought Tunisia had quite
a background, Morocco that kind of influence in the Premier
League. But Tunisia didn't actually come
into the Premier League until the early 2000s, did they?
So yeah, very, very surprising. Yes, Tunisia, I mean, they were,
they were, they were growing in the 90s.
So I think, and I think there's there's an issue as well where

(43:32):
again, sort of historical political stuff, France had a
big say on Algerian footballers.So a lot of young Algerian
footballers would go and start playing in France.
And then if they represented France at a, you know, under
sixteens level, then they couldn't go and play for
Algeria, right? Yeah, they'd sort of be, you

(43:54):
know, they're sort of stuck there.
But then the rules sort of changed whereby actually if you
represent someone at that level,you could then actually go and
go, go back and play for Algeria.
So I think Algeria is probably, possibly other countries well
may have struggled with that because they had young players
that would go and maybe not evengo on to make like, you know,
senior appearances. But unfortunately, because

(44:16):
they'd made youth appearances then they were sort of stuck and
they couldn't go back and play for Algeria essentially.
Yeah, no, of course, Jonesy. Yeah.
Can you think of any African players in the 90s that
obviously didn't play in the Premier League but you think
should have played in the Premier League or would have
made an impact? Oh, good question.

(44:40):
Oh, that's a tough one actually.I mean, yeah, you go, I mean, I
mean the obvious ones going backto that Nigeria team.
And although he did come to the Premier League in the end, but
like someone like JJ Kocher in his early days, someone like
Victor well, who ended up at I think Dortmund, like, you know,
they would that you kind of thought, Yep, you wanted to see
them play in England. But I think, yeah, I think

(45:04):
that's those are the main ones. You think?
Really. Yeah.
I mean, I mean, Roger Miller wasprobably too old at the time,
but you know. Yeah, crikey.
I mean even of Italian. United at age 38 so I doubt he'd
have been signing for anyone. But a lot of our listeners and a
shout out to Scott Fletcher, etcetera.

(45:25):
The the Ipswich supporter as mentioned for needy George,
obviously he joined Ipswich in the 2000s, didn't he?
So. Can't do anything in 2000s.
We'll put pound. In Yeah, we can't.
Yeah, we. We got to stop.
Yeah. Well done.
OK, I've got another name for you.
So. Mark Vivian Foley.

(45:47):
Yes, another really tragic storythere.
But you know, he was really popular when he, I think West
Ham fans really took to him as well.
And they did he. Went to Man City and he was,
yeah, a very popular player there.
But obviously, unfortunately we know what happened in sort of
2003, I believe it was when he passed out.
He passed away on the pitch as well.
So it was yeah, really neat. But he was yeah, he was sort of

(46:10):
like an archetype, was sort of Premier League player.
He's just sort of settled in andjust did a job for both those
clubs. And there was no, yeah.
I don't think he's got any sort of like, crazy stories, like
subbing himself on the pitch, unfortunately.
But you know, he's, yeah, a stalwart.
I think. You know, he was.
Yeah. Really.
Back to your question though, Jonesy, I think George Wyer
could have looked amazing if he'd have come to the Premier

(46:31):
League a little bit earlier. Yeah.
Oh yes. Yeah.
Because he was at Chelsea at thelatter part of the early
noughties, wasn't he? And Man City as well.
He went to Chelsea briefly on loan and then signed for City
when obviously his legs, yeah. What could have been?
I've got an interesting one here.

(46:52):
So there is a player for Algeriain 97, Musa Saeb.
Did you come across that name? I did come across that name.
I know very. I vividly remember him because
obviously, you know, as a kid, when you're you support a club
and you and your your mates support a rival club.
And then they mention that they've signed a player and you

(47:12):
you get slightly scared that this player is going to be
really good. And then they turn out to be,
you know, no, no, no, no disrespects on Mr Faye.
But I had AI, had an irrational fear of him being like a
fantastic player for Spurs, evengoing on to be a fantastic
player for Spurs and yeah, work out that way for him.
But he was there a couple of years, wasn't he?

(47:33):
So but. Yeah, I mean, he was due to sign
for Arsenal, but there were complications with the
valuations that fell through. Obviously a year later, after
staying at Valencia, he then goes to Spurs and only plays 13
games and scores one goal. So yeah, don't panic Younger
Ibrahim, it will all work out fine.

(47:56):
You remember those days when yousee like a player.
It's horrible. Rival club and you're like Oh my
God, how's this? Happening.
Yeah, I I know exactly what you mean, mate.
I know what you mean. Go on, Jamesy.
Sorry mate. Yeah, player I've got on my
list. Mark Fish.
Hey. Yeah, but it's true.
It's. True this story that he turned
down Manchester United to go theleft here.

(48:17):
Did you ever hear of that? I I again, you always hear these
stories, but I I wasn't sure howtrue it is, but yeah, but it was
it was one of those ones I've done across as well that he's
supposedly could have played forManchester.
You know, they you know, he did It's all right for Bolton, you
know, popular enough there and yeah, but although he did play
the season that they got relegated and once the.

(48:38):
Premier. He's another player I used to
sign on Championship manager. Yeah, yeah.
Name as well. Just, you know, Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, he was Carlton straight after that though, wasn't he?
Is that right? Let me get upon here.
Choose. He played 103 games for Bolton
and then 102 games for Charlton.Jeez.
OK. There you go.

(48:58):
Well. And you got another one.
One time player Eric Tinkler, who's also from South Africa,
played for Barnsley. Barnsley, yeah, of course.
Eric Tinkler, of course. I remember his sticker in the
sticker book. It sounds German though, doesn't
it? Eric Tinker?
You wouldn't know. That's like a South African

(49:20):
name. Yeah.
So for people looking at the sticker albums, you'd have to do
a bit of digging, wouldn't you? Thanks for Barnsley briefly and
their nephew staying at the top right so.
Have you got any more kind of players yourself, Abraham, on
your list that could wow us or that we didn't know?
Or any flops other than Ali Dear?

(49:41):
More Nigerian bias, so talk about Celestine Babiaro who had
a decent, respectable career playing.
He was on my list. He's on my list as well, yes.
I love Babiaro. Chelsea and then later on
Newcastle. But yeah, he was part of the
Olympic winning side. And yeah, there's there's a
story that he broke his leg in his first training session or in
the preseason friendly. I mean, he's denied it later,

(50:03):
many years later. But it was one of those great
stories where it's like, Oh yeah, he because remember he
used to do the flip celebration.Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The acrobatic flip celebration.
So there was the rumour that as soon as he'd signed for Chelsea,
he played in the pre season gameand doing that celebration ended
up breaking his legs. So missed two months, the first
two months of the season. Lucky he's come out and I mean,

(50:23):
it's such a great story, but he's come out and Russell like
played it down and said no, no, no, he actually just he broke
his metatarsal in his foot and it wasn't from the celebration.
I was like, Oh no, why'd you ruin it?
Like what do you know? Keep it like that.
You've heard the story as it wasthere, you know, then you coming
up in this like ruining it now. But he's a player for me that
like he sort of like, not only did he sort of like see Chelsea

(50:47):
through the late 90s, he actually kind of went into the
Roman Abramovich era as well, didn't he?
Because he kind of fitted both briefs, you know?
Yeah. He was there until, I mean, you
know, when they started splashing the cash and, you
know, he was replaced by Wayne Bridge, who was obviously
younger and, you know, talent atthe time, but he was still there
then until he moved on to Newcastle.

(51:09):
So yeah. Great shout.
Anyone else Jonesy? Anyone on your list mate?
No, I think we covered my list. Are.
We doing Ali dia Ali dia. Do you, have you got anything
else on Ali, dear Ibrahim, that we don't know a whole?
Episode on him, didn't we? There's always more stories.
Come on. Yeah.
What have you got? Is this the idea that I mean,

(51:30):
I'm sure you covered this, I mean, how many trials did he
have at other clubs before settling at Southampton?
I mean he's like trials at lowerleague clubs apparently.
I think you guys covered that. Tony Pulis saw him at Gillingham
and said it was rubbish. Yeah.
How can you you know if Gillingham was saying this guy's
rubbish? Graham Soon as a European Cup
winning play as a player looks everything you know I want to

(51:53):
sign you for. Yeah, incredible.
I, I, I almost like he's the first person that always comes
up on the list whenever you search kind of the African
football players in the 90s, it always comes up with Ali Dia.
And I'm kind of thinking like you're ahead of players like
Kanu Lucas, rather be like, Oh my word, here's a question for

(52:14):
you, right. So we've obviously spoken about
these incredible players that have come in in the 90s.
Do you think African football had more of a dominance in the
90s and an impact on the PremierLeague as a whole in that
decade, or do you think it kind of took off later on?
Again, swear jar, family swear jar.

(52:35):
I think the 2000s were definitely, I think where the
90s were great, but I think the 2000s were really sort of kicked
off there because. Yeah.
On the international stage you had Cameroon really starting to
excel and they were really tiredto do well in the 2002 World Cup
and just didn't. They did, they didn't.
So they didn't deliver really. But but they.

(52:56):
Senegal. Senegal, obviously.
Oh yeah, of. Course, you know, post 2002, I
mean, half the team ended up playing in the Premier League in
some table form because. You know, mostly at Birmingham.
But Birmingham, yeah. And it was yeah.
And post 2002, I think that was that was the real sort of moment
where everything sort of really came together then, yeah, when

(53:20):
Ghana started doing well in 2006and you know, people like S EN
obviously Chelsea was fantastic.And yeah.
And then Ivory Coast improved, getting better over the years.
And you had like Toure Arsenal, obviously you had Yaya Touare.
Yeah, I think the 2000s were definitely where the sort of the
the real explosion came, like the 90s was, you know, it said

(53:42):
that trend and, you know, these,these guys are all heroes in
their own way. But I think this is out where
all really went. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Jonesy.
Any any other things you want tocover mate?
No, I think we've covered it mate.
Do you know what I've, I've really enjoyed going through
this because when I was doing the research in the week, I was

(54:02):
actually just listing players and seeing the club journeys
that they'd come from. But also what I love about it is
being the first of their countryto represent in the Premier
League, which I kind of loved even more because it's like the
stories like Lampti, Aston Villa, 18 year old Peter

(54:23):
Underlove coming over, like those are the sort of the risk
takers that made the Premier League what it is.
Yeah, yeah. And it's not so mean because you
think back to you, well, actually if you look sort of now
like obviously there's less of arisk because people have come
before. But obviously I think now people
are like we were talking about with Lampti, there is more
protection around these players now.

(54:43):
They're more, you can be more, there's more of a duty of care
on these players now than there was essentially back then.
I think like, you know, people could easily be discarded or all
by the wayside back then, but now there's that there's more
protection around them. So it does it does highlight the
ones who were successful. How how much they went through

(55:04):
to actually make it to that level so you.
Know absolutely yeah, no, I I completely agree and I think
like if it wasn't for those players, for example, Ibrahima
Bakioko that played for Everton from the Ivory Coast, like would
we have then had a Drogba? Would we have had the Toray
brothers? You know it, just to see that

(55:25):
those players then look looked at it and went, you know what,
they did play in the Premier League.
They might have only had a couple of seasons or that one
season, but they still did it. And that's what I love about
this story. Thoroughly enjoyed that mate.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
This has been brilliant. For for the for the listeners

(55:46):
that obviously haven't read yourbook.
So firstly, I fully endorsed it because it's awesome.
Do you want to tell the listeners obviously where they
can find it? That kind of thing.
Yeah, anyway, you can buy books online.
You can just search for it online.
Again, no longer naive. Yeah.
Oh brilliant, I'll definitely begetting that mate.

(56:08):
Yeah. And so it's.
Yeah, it's. I guess you have to shower at
Amazon. I guess we have to.
Yeah, it's on Amazon. You can find it on Amazon.
Yeah, yeah. Good old Bezos.
Yeah. Have you got any any more books
planned in the future or? I have, I have several ideas,
but I also have two children, though, you know, two children

(56:29):
always. Children getting in the way.
Yeah. I mean, at some point, I mean,
we're we're like we're where we're living now.
We're living in this in my life story, we're living in a small
flat. Well, we're moving house soon so
hopefully I'll have like more office space then that's, you
know, the plan is some office. Space everyone needs ahq.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, that's it.

(56:49):
What sort of sports journalism do you do, Abraham?
So I so you have the written journalism for TNT Sports?
Hey, yeah. Yeah, I'm not the.
Yeah, you. So I'm on their website, you
know, right. I mean, I'm mostly editing, so
it's you'll you'll find less of my writing there, but more of my

(57:09):
telling people what to do. So.
So if it wasn't for Morocco in 2018, you'd have had another
book out by now. Right.
Yeah, yeah. Wicked, right?
Thank you ever so much, mate. That was incredible.
For the listeners, for those that want to find your Instagram
page or your platforms, where can people find you?

(57:30):
Yeah, Instagram, my random football, that's for the
football stuff. If you're listening to this,
they are my personal one, but it's just again, which is with
my kids, so nobody really wants that.
So yeah, yeah, my random football.
If you want to find you for, youcan search my name and find you
on the Internet. I mean, I'm I'm on Twitter but I
haven't used it for a few years.Yeah, yeah.

(57:52):
Twitter on Twitter, so you know,yeah, wicked.
But my random football is basically if you want to find
football related stuff. Perfect, you're the first person
that's offered to mention their personal Instagram for family
pictures. Jonesy.
Where can people find you mate? And do you want to tell the
listeners about our fantastic offering?
Oh, absolutely. So I'm just at football Dot

(58:12):
Jonesy. Or is it Jonesy?
Jonesy. Am I doing with AZ now?
Or what will you give them? The modern wave.
Football Dot Jonesy. Sorry, yeah, as a shorter side,
I did realise this the other daywhile listening to the podcast
that you both have names of players who played for the clubs
you support in the 90s. Like, you know, you got Rob

(58:34):
Jones and you got Chris Woods. Hey, what if we never honed in
on that? Yeah.
Jeez. See.
There we go. If you if, if you learn nothing
else from me today, that's you know.
If it's not going to be 40° nextweek, I'll wear the chef for
Wednesday Goalkeeper top. Yeah, so Speaking of tops as

(58:58):
well. So yeah, we've got the offer,
the 10% off on classic football shirts as well.
Just need to. Follow the link on our Instagram
bio and when you're at the checkout, just enter PL Pod 10.
If you want to buy that USA 94 Nigeria shirt, good luck to you.
It will cost a bomb, but you'll get 10% off. 10% off.

(59:19):
Where can I find you, Mr Woody? Only Instagram, which is Woody W
1988, but obviously you you do obviously have our glorious that
90s Premier League podcast page.And as always, to thank the
wonderful listeners for tagging us in stories, commenting on the
posts as to your memories, because this is what's it all

(59:39):
about speaking to people like Ibrahim today that have
incredible insight into their specialist subjects.
And that's why we do this podcast, because knowledge is
the bomb. Yeah.
So it's beautiful. The 90s don't we?
We love with the 90s. Everything 90s.
You love it. Perfect.

(01:00:00):
Well, Abraham, you've been an absolute legend.
It's been a privilege to talk toyou today, mate, and I hope the
book is a continuing success andany future projects coming up.
Thank you ever so much for your time.
Thanks so much guys. Happy to be on and be happy to
come on again to talk about anything else 90s related.
If we like, kill that gold neck,maybe if it's all about gold,

(01:00:21):
Yeah. Have a whole episode in why?
What his face? You mentioned gold there, he.
Likes we we've got to talk aboutgoal Nets, I think.
Do you know what like because I see so many.
Used to get stuck in the stanchion.
That was don't, don't. What have they taken away from?
Us do you know, I remember as a kid, right the the goal for

(01:00:42):
Bolton against Reading at the 9495 playoff final.
Fabian Defreitas was the strikerfor Bolton at the time and he
scored one of the most clumsiestgoals.
But what was beautiful about hisgoal was it went round the old
Wembley green posts at the back and it went round the net and it
stuck in the post and it was beautiful.

(01:01:04):
Like this is something about a ball getting stuck in the
stanchion or like you know, likeby a camp against Leicester.
You know those are the goals. Value time.
Tightly upon a tangent. Time added on gold net edition
sign Yeah. Yeah, right, guys.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching.

(01:01:25):
Thanks again to Ibrahim Jonesy. See us out mate.
Thanks everyone. Remember to like, subscribe,
write comments, positivity. Excellent.
Thank you so much. Cheers guys.
Bye. Bye.

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Roar of Africa - The impact and influence of African football in the 90's Premier League

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Roar of Africa - The impact and influence of African football in the 90's Premier League