Talk:Football Tactics

The Tactics and Techniques of the Broughton Cosmos FC
We’re looking at some particular tactics and techniques developed in Europe in the 1990s, this example from the amateur game in Scotland. The ‘flushed vole’ is a reference to a football (soccer) strategy invented by an amateur team in the 1990s in Edinburgh (Scotland) called the Broughton Cosmos. The approach (allegedly) came from the coaching staff of the team who won a number of cups and tournaments during the period - but the actual reality of the origins and structure of the play remains shrouded in intrigue, speculation and controversy.

What we do know is this. The tactic was deeply unorthodox but known to be able to win any fixture, even against far superior opponents. It involved a highly unconventional format that was completely unheard of in the modern game. While the coaching staff claim to have created the strategy, it remains unclear about both the legality of the practice, or indeed whether it was actually created by them. What makes this position more difficult is there is controversy around what the ‘flushed vole’ system actually was.

The team was officially disbanded in 2003 after authorities intervened after allegations of the use of hallucinogenics - not for their own players - but against opposition players and staff surfaced, allegations which the Cosmos had always strenuously denied.

In an interview with former player Mike Small in the Serbian football fanzine Идеја фудбала  was translated as saying: “The Vole was about simultaneously exchanging wingers and front players (running backwards) with midfielders taking forward positions in a very rapid movement, leaving the No 10 to vault the opposition full back. It was more of an acrobatic move than a football one, and to be honest we only pulled it off on half a dozen occasions in actual official tournaments.”

Other members of the team have denied the explanation saying that both the translation and the audio are faulty. Several team members also claim that Small’s account of the time is wholly inaccurate and that the system being described is simply impossible.

One team member from the era refused to speak on the record but simply said: “Small was the originator of the Vole but his description is simply fantastical. I have no idea why he would make this up, but this simply isn’t true. I have no idea why he would say this but I know it, I was there. I was the False 10.”

After one famous victory the opposition called for the football authorities to look into the actual surface of the pitch, alleging irregularities. Their central allegation remains that the Cosmos had altered the actual ground at their home pitch, affecting a physical space from which a player (the ‘vole’) could emerge after being undetected for some time. However no such allegations could be substantiated and no player or coaching staff was ever censured for breaching football regulations.

One player from that era who wished to remain anonymous has spoken out arguing that the vole system could only be applied late on in the game and could not be achieved in bright sunshine. “This is more about a ‘trompe-l'œil’ than a sporting tactic. It can only be achieved in certain light conditions” he was quoted as saying in 2012, a comment he has since denied.

In an interview on Icelandic radio the same player said: “The Cosmos were playing on a different level including mind-games such as their ‘freeze’ trick, compulsory panenka, and use of ‘disguise strips’ that made them impossible opponents. We never got away from the fact that we came away from matches against them feeling not only that we’d been beaten but that we’d been somehow subdued. It’s difficult not to conclude with hindsight that this wasn’t just highly advanced tactics but actual subterfuge. They played mind-games to the extent that I never saw one of them ever get booked, yet you left the field feeling physically beaten. Many of our players and coaching staff complained about feeling groggy and disoriented in the days after a match against them. A lot of the attention has gone against this supposed midfield ‘trick’ they had (which I never saw) but I’d point to other issues which were never explained.”

What this player, and several others have pointed to about the Cosmos is several oddities that have never been fully explained. The team never played with any substitutes, and never incurred any injuries. They would seem to arrive fully stripped immediately before a game, do little or no warm up and leave immediately after.

The ‘freeze’ trick the player refers to is one in which the entire team feigns to stop play completely for a few moments, disorienting and confusing the opposition before re-commencing.

There is now speculation that after the team was disbanded, many of the players and staff went their separate ways, creating a wall of silence. Some football writers have suggested that the group continued in new areas, influencing marginal emerging eastern European and central African football developments with their unorthodox ideas.

The problem we are left with now is that so many of the remaining squad members refuse to speak on the record about the period that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Whether this is because they fear retribution for actual illegal activities - or they are fearful to speak out remains unclear. The goalkeeper from the original lineup McClintock - and several other key players - have disappeared completely.

Michael Gunn - full-back from the original team and part of the legendary defence that also included Douglas Strang  - is now located in Glasgow has been quoted as saying: “The Vole and other tactics were developed over several years. Most of what we practised simply hasn’t been understood. We took a lot of these ideas into other fields and are now seeing them play out in para-psychology, film and theatre.” Gunn refused to elaborate further and is the only member of the original eleven-man lineup to make even these fragmentary and incomprehensible comments.

The ‘Vole’ has been cited in the press covering football in South America in Columbia and Peru, but such is the legal ambiguity and controversy surrounding it - that the practice is frequently denied. Documentary-maker Karl Streifov claimed in 2018 to have actual footage of the move, but the condition of the film proved inconclusive and of very grainy quality. In 2012 there was a report that underworld figures linked to Ian Cathro (then assistant manager of Portuguese club Rio Ave) had obtained audio of a Cosmos training session and had attempted to re-create some manoeuvres in training. Magnificent12 (talk) 13:46, 6 December 2023 (UTC)