Jack Grealish

Is it football as content? A strain to inject some reason into the international down period between competitions people actually like? However it got here, the vibe is no longer good.

As seen on: The celebs have been out wearing pearl necklaces, archive Versace, new Versace, trusty blazers, gimp masks and bloody massive Balenciaga boots. It’s called fashion, darling.

Editor Matthew Whitehouse on THE FACE cover stars Jack Grealish, Tems, Beabadoobee, and the ecstasy of fandom.

As Manchester City win a fourth Premier League title in five years, we meet the talismanic midfielder with the world at his feet, a Gucci ambassadorship and the kind of megawatt charm that’ll burn through English football for the next decade.

Jack Grealish’s other sporting life: as a teenager, he played Gaelic football for an historic Irish sports club in the Midlands. We went there to meet the coaches who remember the “natural”, and the kids who aspire to be him – even the ones from the Blue side of Birmingham. Well, some of them.

At a time of brand partnerships and airtight PR, a growing number of footballers are taking a simple, individual act of defiance: rolling down their socks.