Jahblessnoob

Johnny Ekström

A product of the Göteborg youth system, Ekström was promoted to the first team in 1983 and made his debut in the Swedish top flight in 1984. He could play as a striker or a winger and was known for his speed; He earned the nicknames “Kallebäcks-Expressen" (the express train from Kallebäck) and “Johnny Bråttom”(Johnny-in-a-hurry). He scored 13 goals in 1986, enough to be the top goal scorer of the Allsvenskan. He became the most expensive Swedish transfer when he moved to newly promoted Empoli in 1986 for an undisclosed fee. He received the nickname “Il Ciclone” (the cyclone) and became a fan favorite at the Italian club. Empoli were relegated in his second season which resulted in the club selling off players. Ekström was sold to Bayern for €1.1 million in the summer of 1988. He was joining an attack that already featured Jürgen Wegmann, Ludwig Kögel, and Ronald Wohlfarth. Ekström featured in 23 league matches for the Bavarians (12 starts and 11 appearances off the bench) scoring 7 goals and notching 3 assists. He played in 8 UEFA Cup matches contributing 2 goals and 1 assist. He also played in 3 Pokal matches and scored 2 goals. With his contributions, he helped Bayern win the league and reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Bayern sold him to Cannes for €1 million the very next year after bringing in Scottish international Alan McInally from Aston Villa. Ekström went on to play until 1999 for a variety of clubs in Germany, Spain, Italy, and had two more stints with his boyhood club, Göteborg.

Ekström retired in 1999 and never got into coaching.

The picture is from August 1988.

Mark Hughes

Hughes became the only Welshman to ever play for Bayern Munich when he arrived on loan 1987. He had left his boyhood club, Manchester United, to join Barcelona in 1986 to form a strike partnership with Gary Linekar. However, Hughes struggled to make his mark. He has since come out and said that he received no help settling in when he made the move to Barcelona. At this point, Hughes wanted to return to United but said “I had an issue, a tax situation where I needed to be out of the country for a full tax year, which I hadn't been.” Knowing that United also wanted him back, he needed to find a new club before rejoining United. This is how he ended up on loan at Bayern. Hughes featured in 18 Bundesliga matches and scored 6 times. On November 11, 1987, Hughes played in two competitive matches in one day. He started in a Euro qualifier against Czechoslovakia in Prague and then flew to Germany, missing the first half, but appearing as a substitute against Gladbach in a Pokal match. Speaking about the situation, Hughes said: "The week before, I’d signed for Bayern and I had dinner with Uli Hoeness who asked me what time the Wales match was. I told him it was around 1:00 and he said: 'that’s OK then, you can play in the evening as well.'" Hughes was very fond of his time spent in Germany playing for Bayern saying “it was such a well-run club because there were so many football people that were in prominent places throughout the club. You think of Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. They were in the top jobs within the club. So they knew exactly how players thought and how they felt off the pitch, or, if they had problems off the pitch, how it was going to affect them on it”. Hughes tells a story about how when he moved to Spain, he had to rent a car and it cost him a lot of money but when he moved to Germany, there was a BMW waiting for him at training the very next day. Hughes has said “if it hadn’t been for the fact that United wanted to bring me back, I would have stayed (at Bayern) because it was a fantastic club.” Barcelona ended up selling him back to United for €2 million — a club record fee at the time. Hughes went on to be a dynamic goal scorer for United, once again, under Sir Alex Ferguson. He finished off his career playing for a handful of other English teams until he retired in 2002.

After retirement, Hughes got into coaching. He managed Wales for 5 years and later took the top job at Manchester City the same year that the notorious City Football Group took over the club. His last job was at Bradford City where he was sacked on October 4, 2023.

The picture was taken prior to a Football League Centenary Challenge match between Everton and Bayern Munich at Goodison Park on November 25, 1987 in Liverpool, England.