Paolo Bandini

Jimmy Nielsen

Major League Soccer's Goalkeeper of the year for 2012, Jimmy Nielsen has established himself as one of the best players in the league and a fan favorite while playing for Sporting Kansas City. Yet while supporters are familiar with his achievements on the field and larger-than-life personality off it, few are aware of the remarkable story that led himto the midwest.Compared from an early age to Denmark's greatest ever goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel, Nielsen was scouted by Manchester United and a host of other leading European clubs, but at the point when he should have been building a great career he was instead developing a ferocious gambling habit. In 1999, he was dropped from Denmark's under 21 team after missing cerfew because of a lost night at the roulette table.Nicknamed 'Casino Jimmy' by rival supporters, Nielsen continued to gamble-the stakes getting so high that he was able to win $500,000 on a single night at one casinoand then throw more than half of that away at the same venue a day later. His losses finally caught up to him in2004, when his inability to pay off agambling debt helped put a major bookie out of business.Avoiding bankruptcy only with financial assistance from his soccer club and with the support of a family he feared would desert him, Nielsen gradually pieced his life back together. But in his soccer career he remained unfulfilled. He had spent almost his entire career with Aalborg, the team he supported as a boy, starting a record 398 games and winning the Danish championshipin 1999, but he dreamed of a fresh challenge.Were it not for a phone call, from Kansas City in January 2010,that might have been the end of the story. Despite still performing at a high level, Nielsen was contemplating retirement when he was offered a contract by an American club he didn't even know existed. He said yes.

Don't Bet Against the Goalkeeper

Welcome to the Blue Heaven

Anthony Clavane

Paul Brown

Brian Phillips

Philippe Auclair

Jonathan Wilson

David Ashton

Scott Murray

Gunnar Persson

Richard Winton

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Issue Seven Contents ---------------- El Dorado ---------------- * The Ball and the Gun, by Carl Worswick—After a political rival was murdered, the Colombian government set up the world's richest league * The Blond Giant, by Stany Sirutis—Among the influx of foreign players to El Dorado was the Lithuanian goalkeeper Vytausas Krisciunas ---------------- Interview ---------------- * Ivica Osim — The great Bosnian coach reflects on the war, Japan and Alan Mullery's lack of fair play ----------------------------- The Victorian Age ----------------------------- * The First Columnist, by Paul Brown—How an early journalist for the Northern Echo helped shape the modern game * Stiffy the Goalkeeper, by John Harding—Lazy, drunken and corruptible, the first footballing hero of the stage could hardly have been less heroic * Out with a League Team, by Henry Leach—A journalist, writing in 1900, describes his experiences travelling the country reporting on Notts County ------------ Theory ------------ * Don Leo's Odyssey, by Joachim Barbier—From Amsterdam to Madrid to Gaudalajara to Budapest, Leo Beenhakker has never stopped learning * The English Spaniard, by Philippe Auclair—Roberto Martínez discusses his conception of football and the difficulties of addapting to the dark nights of Lancashire ------------------------ The Vanishing ------------------------ * The Strange Disappearing of Leslie Goldberg, by Anthony Clavane—How the right back who became Les Gaunt encapsulated the experiences of many 1930s Jewish footballers * Ten Past Ten and Ten Pastis, by Gunnar Persson—Gunnar Andersson's journey from Marseille legend to homeless alcoholic * End of the Road, by Richard Winton—Gretna's rise was a romantic fairy tale, their collapse provides grimly real lessons for all of Scottish football * Safe as Houses, by Paolo Bandini—Espen Baardsen was a Norway international but at 25 he gave up football to work in finance ---------------- Polemics ---------------- * Breaking the Mould, by Zac Lee Rigg—Last year Johnny Saelua became the first transgender person to play in World Cup qualifying * In Arsene We Trust, by Zach Slaton—However frustrating this season, the numbers suggest Arsenal would be worse off without Arsene Wenger * Dictionary of Received Ideas, by Brian Phillips—A guide to what pundits really mean when they use certain terms * Follow the Money, by Elliot Turner—How Nicaragua's national stadium highlights the problems with Fifa's Goal project * The Third Party, by Sergio Levinsky—A tax avoidance scandal in Argentina could have ramifications across the globe ------------- Fiction ------------- * The Limping God, part 2, by David Ashton—His football career ended by injury, John Brodie's life is going nowhere until he is sucked into the world of crime --------------------------- Greatest Games --------------------------- * Lazio 4-2 Ipswich Town", by Dominic Bliss—Uefa Cup, second round, second leg, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 7 November 1973 --------------------- Seven Bells --------------------- * Fouls and Fisticuffs, by Scott Murray—A selection of unsavoury incidents we're supposed to condemn

The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue Seven

Paolo Bandini

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