Just Like My Dreams...

Dimitri Payet: Terreur d'Elite

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 20:48:00 +0000

"Those who think they know me are simply lacking in information..."

Lying tranquilly some 120 miles off the east coast of Madagascar, bobbing alone in the Indian Ocean, the tropical island of Réunion boasts a diminutive population of only 800,000 inhabitants. Other than world-record breaking daily rainfall levels in 1952 and the occasional epidemic of the mosquito-borne disease chikungunya, it seems to the casual observer that it could almost be the land that time forgot. Indeed, in footballing terms, other than Jean-Pierre Papin's brief end-of-career cameo at JS Saint-Pierroise, the overseas département of France could be described as an anonymous spectator in world football. Until two weeks ago that is. When Réunionnais native Dimitri Payet made the 'eight-figure' move from Marseille to West Ham United it sparked such virulent reaction on both side of the channels- French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet called it a national embarrassment- that for a brief moment sugar and Michel Houellebecq was no longer the island's most famous exports...

"I was born in Saint-Pierre but I grew up in Saint-Philippe, south of Réunion," says Payet when discussing his first tentative steps on the journey from to Île Bourbon to London's East End. "This is where I made my first passes and scored my first goals. I was five and at first I was playing striker because [like everyone else] I was a fan of Papin. My father introduced me to football and just like that I immediately wanted to become a professional footballer." Even as a young boy he dreamed of the idolized life of the football player? "To be adored! No, it was not even that," he says. "It was my dream to just be able to play forever." If you ask any of the Saint-Philippe locals now they will tell you there was never any doubt the young Dimitri would achieve his ambition. "At that time, he was already clearly separate from his play-mates," recalls Payet's Uncle Andre, who still lives a few steps from the stadium. "For his small size he was already fast and skillful and in front of goal he had a calmness of mind above the rest of the group."

"Unhappiness isn't at its most acute point until a realistic chance of happiness, sufficiently close, has been envisioned..."

After three years Payet joined Jeunesse Sportive Saint-Pierroise – the largest club on the island – but was not there long before he found himself parceled off to mainland France. "At 12 years old I was at the best youth club in Reunion," he states. "As there was a partnership between the club and Le Havre, I was sent there." The club from Upper Normandy had previously exploited the profitable relationship with the likes of Florent Sinama Pongolle and Guillaume Hoarau but for Payet his four year spell with Les Ciel et Marine was rocky at best. Accused of having a difficult character and a 'lack of motivation', in 2003 at the age 15 he eventually made the decision to return to the Réunion Premier League in the sixth tier of French football. "I missed my family," he explains with genuine sadness. "Apart from an uncle who was in Paris, my whole family lives on the island. On my return, I signed with AS Excelsior, where my little brother also plays now." Payet, the eldest of three siblings, would spend a further eighteen months with the Saint-Joseph club before finally returning to metropolitan France in January 2005. "I had thought it was over and I did not want to return," he admits, sincere in his belief that his career would never progress beyond Excelsior. Now, having slowly rebuilt his confidence, he was 'retrying his luck' by signing a trainee contract with Ligue 1 side Nantes; his choice of destination again dictated by a formal agreement between the two clubs. In reality, so wary of his reputation were they, Nantes insisted on a clause in the small print stipulating that the arrangement could be cancelled after six months before they would agree to take him back to the mainland.

After hinting at what he could muster in the reserves over the course of the remaining 22 matches of 2004-05, Payet was given his full debut aged 18 in December of the following season. "I started against Bordeaux," he recalls, although little else about the goalless draw sticks in his mind. "For my second match in Metz, I scored. It is a moment that remains one of my fondest memories." After that came further sporadic opportunities in the first team, with Payet displaying what Le Parisien termed a 'class action anthology of attractive potential and erratic performance'; the youngster frequently criticized for a lack of involvement and, conversely, some dilettantish excesses. In what would become a familiar pattern throughout his career to date, Payet only truly started to deliver in his second season; like the plant which produces a low-growing rosette of leaves in its first year only to be resplendent in flower and seed the next. "I do not know why it happens," admits Payet. "There is always an adjustment period whether it's longer or shorter. It's also true that it can be more complicated in the first year and many things can affect how well you adjust to your surroundings." It is a fact, he says, that he has not always be used in his preferred position and thus been shown to his best advantage. The 2006-07 season would witness the first full blooming of Payet's latent potential; a campaign of personal triumph amid the collective fiasco that would ultimately lead to Les Canaris’ relegation. Now a first team regular he scored on four occasions and assisted three times in 27 appearances before signing his first professional contract. By season's end that tally had risen to five goals in 33 games. It was all the more impressive because of the instability of two coaching changes, one of which hit particularly hard. "I was deeply affected by the departure of Serge Le Dizet," admits Payet. "It was he who threw me into the deep end and I can never thank him enough. Early in that season he told me that he was counting on me and I worked so hard to not disappoint him. Of course, when things go wrong it's the coach who toasts while the players remain unscathed and for this you feel at fault."

"It is in our relations with other people that we gain a sense of ourselves; it's that, pretty much, that makes relations with other people unbearable..."

Predictably, for a player once described by his former reserves coach Stéphane Moreau as 'immensely talented despite his nonchalant attitude', not everything that season was unreservedly positive for Payet. "It is through difficulty that one forges character," he states, "and I experienced extraordinary things with the team and intense games." Firstly there was a red card against Valenciennes for a violent lunge on Mody Traore that earned him a three game suspension. Then a few weeks later away at Saint-Étienne, just twenty minutes after he had entered the field of play, his coach Michel Der Zakarian gave him the hook. The latter incident, he says, was digested and forgotten about within a day. "It was not a humiliation, even if it was very difficult to live with at the time," he insists. "I was supported by the fans and my team-mates and the experience was just another valuable part of my training." Finally, in April, he was involved in the notorious 'Barthez Incident'. That day, in training, a robust tackle from behind by the veteran goalkeeper on the young Réunionnais caused Payet to angrily storm off the pitch. The footage was widely disseminated through every conceivable media platform and used as a tool of castigation; empirical evidence, it was said, of the ill-discipline that permeated the club embodied by two players whose reputations were already less than pristine. Caught in the 'eye of a cyclone', as Payet describes it, Barthez attempted to de-escalate the frenzy by calling the skirmish 'good fun', before adding that his young team-mate 'better change jobs if he is going to be startled by every slight touch'. "It doesn't matter whether you are the perpetrator or the victim," reasons Payet as he reflects on the incident now. "The club was in deep relegation trouble and I just thought we needed everyone and it would be stupid to get hurt in training; it really could have ended badly." He says that he has since 'turned the page' and holds no resentment towards Barthez, who actually walked out of the club shortly afterwards.

In truth, he notes, the combustible moment came at the end of a long fuse sparked months before when the keeper openly criticized Payet's lack of involvement in the defensive side of the game. "These events have hardened me and every footballer goes through such moments," he states. "For my part, I continued to work. I had always recognized that I could be blamed for my lack of defensive investment at certain times in a game, even if not an entire game. I knew I had to physically improve and intensify my work rate. So mentally, it enriched me." Everything that happened with Barthez, Payet declares, was just part of life when working within a group. "Despite the difficulties that the club knew, it was an extraordinary experience to live through," he explains. "That season I feel I progressed in several areas. For example, I learnt how to approach matches with a lot less pressure, and in game my shooting and positioning naturally improved as a product of being immersed in the environment." It is, thinks Payet, how any young player develops; technique and understanding becomes so ingrained on an instinctual level through the experience of playing, that the game fundamentally becomes almost a 'process of automation'. When you are able to expend minimal conscious energy on the basics it provides greater scope for self-expression and creativity. So while many viewed Payet's emergence as a sudden blooming, the player himself views his progression as something entirely more serene. "It was the reward for the endeavour that I had put in," he says. For even if there is necessarily an element of fortune somewhere, he ponders: "Is it better to simply say 'I have been lucky' or am I wiser to think that I have reaped the fruit of my work? I do not know the answer, so at the very least I should work hard! Besides, I've never been one to rest on my achievements and there are always things you can improve."

"When we think about the present, we veer wildly between the belief in chance and the evidence in favour of determinism. When we think about the past, however, it seems obvious that everything happened in the way that it was intended..."

It is the reason he was so determined to stay in Ligue 1; Payet handing in a transfer request shortly after his club's relegation was confirmed. "I was always fully focused on maintaining Nantes in Ligue 1," he says. "Although I will not hide the fact that I had other clubs interested at that time; you have to be smart and let competent people take care of this area. I expressed to my representatives that all doors be closed until the end of the season. Yet for a player like me, who was on his first full year in the first team, relegation would not have been the best. We must admit that for footballers early in their career Ligue 2 can put a brake on personal ambitions." Saint-Etienne was the first club to come forward, reveals Payet, and although he had other offers (including both Lille and Sochaux), he was hooked right away. The horse, as they say on the island, was already bound with rope. "ASSE is a very popular club in Réunion," he explains. "This was a team that has always attracted me. Whenever I saw a match of Les Verts on TV, I loved the atmosphere of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium. It really spoke to me. By signing there, I made the choice of the heart." Putting pen to paper on a four year contract ahead of the 2007–08 season, Payet says above all the club offered him the guarantee that he would be on the field, which was his main priority. "As long as I had the opportunity to play, I never asked myself the question as to where I would be in six months," states Payet, when considering those early seasons in Ligue 1. "I just wanted to do more and be better, move forward without worrying about the rest. I have evolved in this context, always with the idea of doing better."

Unfortunate then that in his first season at Saint-Étienne, Payet could hardly have done much worse. Having made his debut by early August in a 1-1 draw with Monaco, Payet would be a starter for the majority of the campaign but fail to contribute a single goal or solitary assist. Struggling to assert himself on the pitch while the likes of Bafétimbi Gomis, Loïc Perrin and Blaise Matuidi shone around him, personal criticism was only slightly mitigated by the fact the club secured it's best finish (5th) during its current stint in the top flight, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time since 1982. "Just as the last year in Excelsior had given me a springboard to bounce," says Payet, "so the previous sojourn in Nantes had allowed me to feel ready to face this life I have chosen." If, in the words of Huxley, experience is not what happens to a man but what a man does with what happens to him, Payet had by now developed a 'hardened shell' to deflect the bellicose glare of the media spotlight. "Honestly, it's part of the game," he muses. "When you're good, you're very good. When you're bad, you're bad. Thus, I try to be the most natural I can be. If my actions are interpreted variously, then I can not help it." It is why when his former Nantes teammate Jean-Jacques Pierre would later speak out that some members of the group had cheated the club with their behavior during their relegation season, Payet insists he was unmoved. "He spoke of cheaters but did not mention names," he points out. "Besides, it's not the kind of statement that will make me worry one way or the other. I disregard what these people say about me. Some also think that I 'took the big head' but no I'm still the same."

As predictable as the Biennale Internationale Design exhibition rolling through the Massif Central, it was again Payet's second season that would witness the first unveiling of the player's true innovation and style. Prior to the start of the 2008-09 campaign, he took the armband in a friendly match against the Réunion national team in an emotional return to the island, before subsequently appearing in 30 league matches scoring four times and supplying six assists. His European bow came in September in the first leg of the team's first round tie against Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, plundering the opening goal in a 2–1 win. A first league goal for the club arrived just weeks later in a 1–1 draw with Bordeaux, and in December Payet scored the game-winning goal against his former club Le Havre. Then came a strike in a 3–1 win over Danish club Copenhagen and in the UEFA Cup knockout rounds an instrumental display in Saint-Étienne's 5–2 aggregate victory over Olympiakos. In the first leg, Payet assisted on a goal in a 3–1 win, while in the second leg he netted the opener in a 2–1 win. Saint-Étienne would be eliminated from the competition in the next round by Werder Bremen; losing 3–2 on aggregate with Payet appearing from the substitute's bench in both ties. Although the club's European exertions had seen its league form plummet to just one place above the relegation zone, Payet's own contribution had been enough to earn the player a two-year extension to his contract despite a sometimes acrimonious relationship with manager Alain Perrin. "You didn't need to be a visionary to know there would be trouble between the two," wrote Planet Football's Mathieu Delattre. "You could smell divorce even from the drinking of the wine of honour on the wedding day."

If the Les Verts faithful were still waiting for Payet to fully ignite the Geoffroy-Guichard, noted Delattre, then it was all the more frustrating because the slumbering potential was becoming so clear. Just as then France Under-21 coach Rene Girard was proclaiming the player to be 'a very clever boy with both feet and able to make the difference on both wings', so there was a growing suspicion at club level that Perrin was 'binding the branches of the young sapling'. December of the following 2008-09 season saw the under-fire manager finally relieved of his duties but not without a final parting shot at his enigmatic playmaker. "He is a player who has technical qualities, above average speed and is able to make the difference by his dribbles and ball striking," noted Perrin when discussing Payet. "Yet his application does not always follow. He does not have a big enough engine to last 90 minutes, or the ability to replicate the aforementioned talents in tight matches. It is complicated for him and mentally he still needs to make improvements in his consistency and aggression. This is an aesthete who loves the ball and the beautiful game, but this is not a fighting player." For Perrin, the heart of the problem was 'carburetor awareness', as he likened Payet to a 'nervous little Japanese car' rather than a 'robust German sedan' before questioning whether he could ever deliver the level of performance required on a bigger stage. "When you are at a big club, facing adversity, you are obliged to raise your game to compete against the competition," he added. "At a medium club, it is merely hoped you can surprise the opponent. That heightened expectation, the demand for energy and athleticism he may not ever have the ability to consistently deliver. Does he have the energy? Is this not too hard? You have to be able to play 120% every three days, and for Payet this is not possible."

"I think that if I am notorious, it is because other people have decided that this is how I should be..."

As if to underline the point Payet's form continued to be sporadic; too often sputtering in the league over the course of 35 appearances in which he scored just twice and provided six assists, but resounding to a throaty roar during a succession of impressive Coupe de France performances. In late January 2010, under the guidance of new coach Christophe Galtier, he scored a double in a 4–1 victory over Lorient and two weeks later claimed the winner against Vannes on route to an eventual quarter-final defeat to Lens. Then in May, with Saint-Étienne again flirting with the relegation trap-door, an otherwise forgettable season for Payet suddenly erupted in a physical altercation with his captain Blaise Matuidi during a 1–0 home defeat to Toulouse. Midway through the first half of a tense match Payet found himself berated by team-mate Yohan Benalouane for a perceived lack of aggression. Then confronted by an agitated Matuidi, echoing Benalouane's sentiments, the pair found themselves face-to-face before Payet delivered a headbutt; the two finally separated by the combined effort of referee and teammates. Payet was immediately substituted after 31 minutes and sanctioned by club president Roland Romeyer before apologizing for the incident shortly after. At the time Payet described the incident as 'an argument that had no place on a football pitch' while Matuidi blamed a 'lack of maturity' on the part of both players. "Against Toulouse, it was a chaotic end of season game," explains Payet now. "There was pressure, a strained relationship between the team and the supporters. The tension was palpable and it was an unfortunate rush of blood. It's ancient history and I accepted the punishment because it's true that I did things that I did not have to do in this particular instance. When I see the images, I am not proud. Yet there are a few people who knew me well enough to know I could change and my wife, my family, my cousin and my agent all helped me make the point."

Payet says the turning point happened that summer in 2010 while on a restorative vacation in Réunion and it involved 'starting from scratch'. "We had to change a lot of things," he admits. "I weighed the pros and cons, saw what was wrong and most importantly, I thought about what to do to put myself in the best possible condition. The result was unequivocal and there were many things to change in my lifestyle and behaviour. For example, I took the decision to work with a dietitian. As a person from the island, I liked to eat the same meals as everybody else at family gatherings but it is simply not suitable." He also married, for real this time, and discovered fatherhood for the first time. "It was a daily grind," admits the player's close adviser, Nicolas Onissé. "We made the observation that things had stagnated and from this realization came the challenge. We knew that by simply repeating the same things he was going to make the same mistakes. Since that moment, Dimitri turned over a new leaf: regular sleep patterns, proper hydration and menus composed by a nutritionist. In these moments he become a man." Payet says it always used to be difficult for him to return to France after a stay in Réunion and the thought would leave him with a 'heavy heart'. Now, he insists, he could not wait to reconnect with the game. His team-mates certainly noticed a change. "Basically, Dimitri was always shy and a little crazy," stated his Malian international friend Bakary Sako. "But when he came back he was also focused and determined."

A metamorphosis had taken place and the effect was now irrevocable observed Delattre. "A new player illuminated the stadium," he wrote. "In his bullet passes, his acceleration, the quality of his strikes and sense of purpose, the potential exploded. As soon as he touched the ball, he illuminated the stadium." Payet scored in the team's opening 3–1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain and at the end of August netted his first professional hat-trick in a 3–1 victory over Lens; his visibly overwhelmed mother Michelle watching from the stands. "I was crying and I could not breathe," she recalls. "The way the crowd was cheering, it was beautiful to hear his name fill the stadium." With six goals in six games her son was catapulted to the top of the scorers chart. After the international break, Payet added a double against Montpellier and in late September delivered a 'superb and untouchable' free-kick goal in the team's Derby du Rhône victory against Lyon. The win sent Saint-Étienne to the top of the league and secured for Payet the Player of the Month award. In October Laurent Blanc bowed to the inevitable and called him into the France team for the first time. At the Stade de France, Payet came off the bench with a few minutes remaining against Romania to deliver a decisive pass to Yoann Gourcuff with his first touch. In the follow-up Euro 2012 qualifier against Luxembourg he would repeat the trick with the exact same result. A return to domestic affairs brought with it extra exposure but also seemed to signal the end of Payet’s goal scoring exploits; a single strike away at Nice was his only other goal in 2010. "He’ll always be setting up goals because he loves it," bemoaned Galtier at the time. "But for where he plays on the pitch, he should score goals. He talked with a lot of people who all told him the same thing: 'You have buckets of talent, but now you have to show it! Consistently.'"

"Without points of reference, a man melts away..."

Saint-Etienne only managed a couple more wins during the last two months of the year and in January faced frenzied transfer speculation. With notable English vultures such as Manchester City and Liverpool rumoured to be circulating around Payet, it was Paris Saint-Germain who officially declared their interest as they sought a replacement for the recently departed Stéphane Sessègnon. Payet agitated for the move behind the scenes but Saint-Étienne demurred, choosing instead to put a seemingly unrealistic €8 million bounty on their prized asset's head. Ahead of the closure of the transfer window, a frustrated Payet failed to show up to training in a final effort to engineer a move. When he was later spotted in Paris he insisted that he was only there as a tourist to visit the Eiffel Tower. On his return a few days later- oeuf sur son visage- he found himself demoted to the Saint-Étienne reserve team and forced to miss the league match against Montpellier in early February. It would take until April for Payet to rediscover his earlier form with four strikes that month taking his final tally for the season to 3 assists and 13 goals; two more than he had previously managed over the course of his entire career. One reason for the upsurge, noted French Football Weekly, was the transition from left wing to right overseen by Galthier and embraced by the player. "I've never been pissed off with my left foot," confirms Payet. "It has always been able to talk a little." Where most players will say 'my left foot, it's just for getting on the bus' observes Delattre, it is rare for a French forward to 'martyr defenders with the same brilliance and the same ease in both feet'. "The sunshine is not just in the laces" he concludes in his description of Payet. "His finishing is about viscous striking but with a watchful feline grace to be applied where and when it is needed. The distance and his position relative to the goal is never a problem. He is able to to hit the heights from outside the area, on both sides, and that changes everything."

His relationship with Sainté ASSE now irredeemably compromised, Payet finally secured his move away that summer when he joined LOSC Lille for a fee (€9 million) in excess of the sum thought unattainable just months earlier. Decamping to a club that had just landed the domestic double (56 years after the its previous trophy), and linking up with former Irons favourite Joe Cole, Payet says the lure of Champions League football ultimately led him to ignore renewed overtures from Paris Saint-Germain. "I was attracted by Lille's ambition," he states. "A new stadium in a year and a competitive team meant that there was everything needed to succeed." For his part, Les Dogues manager Rudi Garcia justified the outlay by declaring Payet a player who 'breathes football and should therefore adapt well to our team'. His plan was to deploy his new charge on the right of a fluid 4-3-3 in the position vacated by Arsenal-bound Gervinho. Also given the opportunity to drift to the left and cut inside onto his deadly right-foot it seemed the ideal fit for both player and club had it not been for the dreaded 'first season syndrome' that had dogged Payet for his entire career. Life in northern France, at least initially, did not run smoothly; a string of niggling injuries and the over-bearing presence of Eden Hazard as the team's creative force combined to leave Payet firmly in the shade. Despite managing just six goals, 8 assists and making his Champions League debut any criticism for a failure to meet expectations in the 2011-12 season could not, at least, be aimed at attitude or application. "Dimitri laughs a lot and is always joyful," Garcia assured the press. "This is his way of being in the group and it is pleasant to be around him every day. Sometimes he can be upset, which I like, because it proves that he has character. This is a player who 'pees his pants' to help defensively and he must keep this desire as long as possible."

Within twelve months that desire would see Payet voted into the Ligue 1 Team of the Year, back in contention for Didier Deschamp's national team and become the only player in the French league in the 2012-13 season to achieve the statistical 'double-double'; that is to say reach double figures in both goals and assists. For the latter he took his place among such esteemed company as Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller. "No Lille player benefited more from Eden Hazard’s move to Chelsea that summer than Payet," notes BS Sports' Jimmy Coverdale. The winger had a spectacular explosion emerging from the Belgium's shadow, he notes, bouncing back from a lacklustre first season to record some astonishing stats. Now operating predominantly from the left, only ten players scored more in Ligue 1 than Payet that season and those goals came from 138 attempts at goal- the second highest total behind PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Crucially, Payet was equally impressive as a creative influence, his 12 goals combined with his league leading 13 assists meant the player directly contributed to 42.4% of Lille’s goals; his key pass total bettered only by Mathieu Valbuena. Naming Payet his 'terreur d’élite', Deschamps recalled the player back into the international fray telling the assembled press: "He still has that technical quality, the ease and ability to be decisive, but now he proposes some continuity in his game. I like his aggressiveness, in a good sense, his behavior on the field and his determination to create and score goals. I am extremely sensitive to attitudes and that of Dimitri currently meets the requirements to operate at this level. His decisive actions on both wings gives the opportunity to play both right and left. Technically, he's a boy capable of achieving some really interesting things."

If Payet had enjoyed a fabulous season for Lille on a personal level, it was a disappointing campaign for the team in general as 'The Great Danes' missed out on Europe all together. While Garcia was talking in glowing terms about his playmaker- "In our way of working, almost all the time with a front three without a No. 10, Dimitri has a great offensive attitude. He feels good in this system because he is free"- Lille deputy director general Frederic Pacquet was publicly stating the club were now 'open to offers' for their talented star. "We are listening and if there is an offer which corresponds to his market value, we will think about it," he told Radio Monte Carlo that summer. "In the end LOSC must benefit." Predictable then, that before the end of June Payet would be packing his bags once more; this time headed for Marseille in a deal believed to be worth around €11 million. The French international insists it was purely a "sporting choice" as to why he joined L’OM despite supposed interest from both Arsenal and Newcastle United. "The prospect of the 2014 World Cup was a key element in my thinking, but not the only one," he explains. "I wanted to stay in France, but with OM it was also about playing in the Champions League, the chance to evolve in a quality group of players and to achieve high goals in the league. Marseille’s history speaks for itself, it is full of titles and emotions. The club is a monument in French sport." For Les Phocéens coach Élie Baup, who had guided Marseille to a surprise second place finish in his first year in charge, Payet's signature- before those of Florian Thauvin and Giannelli Imbula- was his main transfer target. "Payet is a high quality player, who had a good season playing left, but can also occupy the right side as he did in St Etienne," he stated. "Compared to everyone else, it must be said that he was a priority. It is important to have a player of such talent, a very good passer, good finisher, someone who takes the set pieces and someone who can occupy multiple attacking positions."

"It was like pissing in a urinal full of cigarette butts: nothing gets flushed, and everything starts to stink..."

With the Mediterranean sun on his back Payet's Marseille career got off to a flying start with a brace fifteen minutes into his debut against Guingamp, followed up with another goal in a 2-0 win over Evian. By the end of August Les Olympiens were sitting atop the table and the player himself seemed to be adjusting well to his new role in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Then came the unmitigated disaster of an historically bad Champions League campaign- Marseille suffered the ignominy of becoming the first French team, and the biggest European team to date, to record zero points in the group stage- and a once promising season quickly disintegrated. Payet made his delayed European appearance away to Dortmund in October before picking up a red card for simulation in the reverse fixture in late December. It came just a few weeks after the highly regarded Baup had been sacked following a 1-0 loss to Nantes at the Stade Velodrome, a defeat which had left the club languishing in 5th position and some 13 points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain. Then came a significant injury to Mathieu Valbuena ahead of the winter break and any remaining hope for the season was lost. By the following March the club sat sixth in the table having already lost a third of their games, including six at home, and the atmosphere inside and around the club was by now venomous. "First of all, there was friction reported between the younger and older players in the squad," noted Julien Laurens. "The older players didn't understand the mentality of the newcomers and there was seemingly a massive gap between the two factions, and the dressing room utterly divided. Then there was also tensions with the supporters; some of them had written an open letter to the players in January asking other fans to make the players' lives 'hell everywhere they go, even at the bakery.'" Although Payet had returned a respectable 8 goals and 6 assists amid the turmoil, he had also found himself substituted over twenty times. For an 'adopted' Frenchman now unable to even buy his croissants in peace it must have been hard to shake the feeling he was no longer wanted.

By last summer the possibility of a premature exit from the club after just one season seemed more than a possibility. Facing a looming tax bill and squeezed by the financial imperative of losing Champions League revenue, Marseille's need to raise emergency funds (£4.8million before June 30) dictated at least one of its star would be sacrificially disposed. For Payet, already carrying the 'stink of the previous Baup Anigo regime' and now the subject of a very real €8 million interest from Swansea, the writing seemed on the wall. Then there was the impending arrival of new manager Marcelo Bielsa, who had already reportedly expressed a desire that the services of Steve Mandanda, Mathieu Valbuena, Andre Ayew and Nicolas N'Koulou be retained. What happened next, says RMC's Jeremy Bilinski, was the story of a resurrection. "You see, Dimitri Payet is kind of stubborn," he wrote. "The 28-year-old fervently believed he could win over the Velodrome as well as the new coach and therefore decided to stay on the Canebière. Arriving without a clear idea of the potential of the player, Bielsa quickly fell in love. The selfless mindset and his performances in the pre-season friendlies enough to persuade the Argentine coach to entrust the player with the responsibility of being his new No. 10." As if to emphasize the point, the talismanic Valbuena was allowed to depart for Dynamo Moscow in early August and his shirt number symbolically retired. Just as at Saint-Etienne and Lille, noted Bilinski, the phoenix responded by taking flight in his second season. "More comfortable than when on the wings," he states, "Payet started to control the game and serve Gignac and company brilliantly." Much to the obvious delight of Bielsa: "He's a very complete player, very serious in training," he enthused at the time. "He has the advantage of using the left and right foot. He has a peripheral vision to see everything around him in attack and an innate talent to put the ball where the opponent will really struggle to recover. He is brilliant at spotting all available players and manages to put them in favorable situations." For his part, Payet says he felt 'good' from the very start of season. "I managed to be a regular in the team by finding some consistency," he says. "I was able to be effective and efficient in the 'ten' role and felt that it allowed me to get on the ball and affect things. Obviously it was important that the coach gave me confidence that I could make it work and it then became increasingly easy and quick to adapt. From there, with the trust of the coach and my own growing belief it allowed me to have the successful season I had."

Now playing at the height of his powers, last November saw Payet create two goals against Bordeaux in a 3-1 win and then another in a 2-0 victory over Nantes. Shooting to the top of the Ligue 1 assists chart, it was an honour he would not relinquish for the rest of the season. "In my position, you have no choice but to create and to score," he says. "At that moment I could see my team-mates with great clarity and I was enjoying it immensely. It was good for my confidence to become effective once again." A perennial bridesmaid among the league’s best players, and with the national side as well, the ever-itinerant Payet was also racking up career-high numbers in successful dribbles, key passes and passes completed per match. Shortly after Metro News published an article simply titled: 'Dimitri Payet, the best player in Ligue 1'. The departure of Valbuena is obviously the cause, it surmised, and the fate of the Reunion player would surely have been different if 'Small Bike' had not left for Russia thus illuminating the 'true meaning of his understudy's game'. "We will never know if Payet would have become so important to Marseille if his former partner had stayed in the Old Port," wrote Jean Canesse. "And that's good because what we have been allowed to see over the last several months, is that this Payet is also an outstanding playmaker. This is a great discovery which we must not overlook when assessing his career." Adding his voice to the chorus of approval, former Marseille and Rennes midfielder Jocelyn Gourvennec stated: "Finally, it shows the fullness of his talent in a position for which he is made. It is all the more remarkable that Payet is able to do this by taking over from Valbuena, who is exceptional in my opinion." While Carlo Ancelotti was also happy to go on record to profess his 'admiration for Dimitri'. "I love Payet," he admitted in a post match press conference. "I think he's the best in France at his position."

"I admit that invective is one of my pleasures. This only brings me problems in life, but that's it. I attack, I insult. I have a gift for that, for insults, for provocation. So I am tempted to use it..."

Imagine the 'thunderclap' then when in mid December Payet suddenly found himself dropped for a match against Lille because Bielsa perceived a lack of motivation in training. Sent for an early shower before the end of a practice session, Payet was 'invited' to take a leave of absence until the resumption of the season after the winter break. "It was actually pretty good for me," concedes Payet. "It allowed me to have the time to question myself and get back to one hundred percent." On his return Payet's form miraculously continued on its ascendant course. He added a further nine assists in 2015, including a four match spell in April and May where he provided a goal a game for his grateful teammates. Just as a rising tide lifts all boats, so Michy Bastshuayi had been turned into a instant star while both Andre-Pierre Gignac and Andre Ayew were being spurred on to career-best numbers. Not that everybody appreciated Payet's promptings. In a fraught 1-1 draw away to Rennes in February there was a much publicized altercation with Florian Thauvin. Following several 'encouraging remarks' aimed in his direction, the young Orléan finally snapped in the last fifteen minutes; the moment he screamed 'son of a bitch' at Payet captured in full glory by the television cameras and then aired repeatedly. "These things are a fact of the game, nothing special," shrugs Payet, before acknowledging he is not always the easiest of characters. "I'm very complicated although I have mellowed a bit. I can not give an example, it will not help me now, but I'm not tender and I can do things that can upset." The following month he was banned for angrily remonstrating with the match officials in the tunnel of the Vélodrome after Marseille had a late goal ruled out against Lyon. "That was not justice," he says, irrespective of the vociferous and very creative nature of the insults that would have made Malcolm Tucker quail. "As I said before I was not aiming my words at anyone specifically, it was mostly frustration. It is just when these things concern Paris or Marseille, we know that there is immediately an extra buzz." Offering up a conspiracy theory for the tin hat brigade, Payet insists he was more accurately the victim of 'scandalous and unfounded' machinations. "I saw very real evil," he adds. "Those manoeuvers to weaken us were harsher than my words. The real question is who benefitted from the media lynching?" So in a similar situation he would manage the situation differently, next time? "Sure, this serves as a lesson," he admits. "If this should happen again, I will wait to be in the locker room to express my anger (he smiles)."

Back on the pitch and Payet was still delivering even as the club itself started to fall away. "Against top opposition, against strong defences, on the road, at home, in the first half, in the second, in 2014, in 2015, Payet continually chipped in assists and the occasional goal, no matter the binary," observed FFN's Eric Devin. "By his performances against the best opposition in the league- PSG, Monaco, Lyon and Saint-Etienne- the OM player proved himself to be much more than a flat track bully." His final tally of 17 assists- earning him the 'Meilleur Passeur' award- equalled the mark of Sochaux's Marvin Martin as the best in the last ten years of football in Ligue 1; the number of successful through balls only bettered in the top five European leagues by Lional Messi. He also led the French league for key passes at a rate of 3.25 per game- 40 more than any other player- and did so with an 80 percent accuracy rate. The 134 total chances created saw Payet set up a teammate every 23 minutes and was unmatched in any of the continent's best leagues. "So how has Dimitri Payet been able to take such a step?" asks Canesse. "Well firstly he has been extraordinarily consistent. This information is not trivial when you know that the native of Saint-Pierre has often struggled to string together good performances. But it is obviously not enough to explain the new dimension taken by the player. Technically skillful and adroit with both feet, there is a inestimable purity to the way he connects with the ball." It is, in the description of Liberation Sports Grégory Schneider, as if he could strike an egg with the exact same force and it would not break. Then, states Canesse, there is the 'rare clairvoyance of his passing'. "To play No. 10, what is fundamental is to see even before you receive the ball," agrees Gourvennec. "When he (Payet) receives the ball, he already knows what he will do. In addition, he has exceptional passing skills and the speed with which he is able to release the ball is a noticeable change in his approach to the game. It is precisely this ability to manage time that is the preserve of big players."

"Life sometimes offers you a chance but when you are too cowardly or too indecisive to seize it, life takes the cards away; there is a moment for doing things..."

It is also one of the reasons Payet has now been capped 15 times by France. A regular member of the squad, his first goal came in a friendly international against Belgium in Paris as recently as last month. "It is certainly true my inconsistency was something you could reproach me for," admits Payet. "But I think I have managed to show that I am able to do a full season. In terms of stats it was pretty decent and it also means people will expect more of me. My motivation is to prove I can do it again. If I am given the means, I think the second part of my career can be even more enjoyable that the first." To the consternation of Noel Le Graet that meant 'one of France's best kept secrets' swapping the 'sunshine of the Côte d'Azur for London fog'. With Marseille's eventual failure to qualify for the Champions League and Payet's salary about to drop by £12,000 this summer, it is no secret, noted Eurosport's Lucile Alard, that the player was attracted by West Ham United's 'pot of gold'. Although Bielsa had publicly called for his playmaker's contract to be urgently renegotiated the chance to play in the Premier League ultimately proved too strong. "Everyone is free to make choices in their career," says Payet. "At a certain age you have to ensure your future. The reality is that OM could not even give me what I earned for the last two seasons so it's understandable that I made a decision based on what's best for myself and my family."

Yet resisting attempts in France to paint him as 'simply a mercenary', Payet is adamant that monetary concerns were not his only consideration. "At Marseille there have been many departures and the situation became a blur," states the 28-year-old. "There were certainly no guarantees of replacing the players who left [Gignac, Ayew, Morel]. West Ham really showed me that they wanted me to come, both the joint-chairmen and the manager. That's very important for me. I was also keen to sign up to a clear project. West Ham’s is very interesting and matches perfectly with my ambitions. Firstly I spoke with the manager, who really wished for me to come here and had been watching me a lot. He made it clear that he wanted me to sign and that too was important in my choice. I'm an attacking footballer so for sure I like attacking football and that they're counting on me to help achieve that gives me a sense of responsibility. The fact that I'm here is also down to that." Then there is the impending switch to the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium. "In coming here I took into account the new stadium and that's obviously part of the project. You move to a new stadium with ambitions and it can lead to progression for the team and the club. I've been involved in my fair share of history, so to speak, what with St Etienne, Nantes and Marseille. So I'm looking forward to playing a part in this history, because it has a magnificent feel about it." "It is," concludes Alard, "just the latest example of the fascination for the Premier League that many French players have." Or, to paraphrase Houellebecq- Réunion's other favourite son- if you can read in the words and deeds of a club such an energy and passion, then you can not help but find it attractive.

Obiang The Dancing Bear

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 10:46:00 +0000

It was on a derelict scrub of land in the middle of a housing estate that the young Pedro Mba Obiang Avomo first caught the eye. "He was fourteen years of age and playing in the Alcalá de Henares youth team, his local amateur side in a town about 30 kilometers from Madrid," remembers noted Fifa agent Giovanni Fiore. Scouting for Sampdoria at the time, Fiore sent word back to his Genovese paymasters that he had witnessed a 'dancing bear'; that rare combination of imposing physicality and mesmeric technical skill. "Even at that age he was head and shoulders above all his companions," says Fiore. "He had a great ease of movement and it seemed that he could do the more complicated things without much effort. Then there was his personality. He was already the undisputed reference point of the entire team; a leader his team-mates would always seek out in open play, at free kicks and with corners." As yet blissfully unaware of the burgeoning interest being shown, Obiang- known more familiarly by his nickname Perico (a type of parrot)- has a slightly different recollection of those formative years. "I have strong memories of my early days," he says. "From about the age of twelve I was continually overlooked by the big teams; there were a lot of doors slammed on me." It would be a further two years after Fiore's initial report before the Serie A club with a fast growing reputation as the benchmark for clubs plundering La Liga youth academies would make their move. In that time Obiang had finally attracted the interest of Atletico Madrid, enrolling with the Cadetes despite some initial family reservations. "My father only agreed," admits Obiang, "because he knew it was always my ambition to play for Real Madrid." A tentative step closer to what was still a distant dream but still struggling to make an impression, the young Perico was about to get a break. "When I arrived at Atletico I started as a striker," he explains. "But one of the midfielders got injured and the coach tried me there. Since that day, it became my position. I hated it, and I'm still hating (laughs) but they say I can't change."

August 4, 2008 was the date Obiang insists changed his life. Sampdoria Sporting Director Beppe Marotta and trusted lieutenant Fabio Paratici, responsible for a scouting network that is the envy of Europe, came calling. The pair have worked together for a number of years and although now deploying their collective magic at Juventus, had recently been responsible for, among others, snatching a young Roberto Soriano away from Bayern Munich and Mauro Icardi out of Barcelona. Not that Obiang would use the word 'snatch' in his case. "I would say I was almost discarded," he corrects when he considering the desultory transfer fee of €130,000 the Blucerchiati were asked to pay. "Sampdoria offered me a professional contract," says Obiang, "but also a detailed football project specifically for me." It was, he says, far more than just vague promises and was enough to convince both him and his parents that his style of play was better suited to Italian football than it ever would be in La Liga. Still, at just sixteen- the minimum age that an international transfer within the European Union is allowed- the decision by a young footballer to seek his fortune in another country is a momentous one. "It is actually quite widespread, maybe not in Spain, but in the world," says Obiang. "We tend to think that a home-grown player will have more patience to try and break through, but it is very frustrating when someone from outside will take your chance. It is also true that the player who is bought in has a different value to the club. Besides, in Spain there is far more competition at the younger level than there is in Italy, even if in Italy there is maybe a greater fear of throwing youngsters into the first team."

Life in Genoa was initially hard and the city, in Obiang's own words, was not 'an easy fit'. By his estimation it is a place to be admired rather than enjoyed and the first impression is one of remoteness. "It is created and designed more for its citizens than for tourists," thinks the Spaniard, who lists architectural study as one of his keen interests. In fact, he adds pointedly, it has one of the oldest populations in Europe. "The first trip I made was with my manager, Jose Miguel Gonzalez, and my father to see the facilities and to find out about the sports project," he recalls. "The second trip I did alone. I started living in the residence of Vila Flora with the other youth players and it was quite difficult as it would be for any child who leaves their home and changes country. At first I despaired at not understanding the language. Within two months I said to Jose, 'I want to come back, the Italians speak very fast, and the training runs are long here' (laughs). Then I began to better assimilate the tactical concepts and make friends in the locker room and I began to relax."

Although he arrived as an intended member of the 'Allievi Nazionali' youth squad, in the August of 2008 Obiang was immediately thrown in with the first team for pre-season training. By late January of the following year coach Walter Mazzarri had included him as an unused sub in games against both Lazio and Chievo. The next season, with Mazarri now departed, brought promotion to the Primavera, or reserve squad. Obiang says he was learning quickly but there were some aspects that he initially found difficult. "It was physically and especially tactical," he admits. "At first I tended to 'exaggerate' everything with elaborate flourishes, as is encouraged in Spanish football. In Italy there is very little room for such things. I also suffered a lot of blows and endured much contact. I thought 'you can not give me so many kicks'. Tactically, coaches like you to hold your position, to keep things simple, no heels or tunnels. They removed these things very quickly from my game and when I adapted, I started playing more." While still technically a youth player Obiang would go on to make 7 preseason appearances in the summer of the 2010-11 season, scoring 2 goals. His full debut would follow that September after an injury crisis ripped through the Sampdoria first team. Called off the bench to replace Vladimir Koman by new coach Domenico Di Carlo, and with his side trailing Juventus 2-1, Obiang helped his team to a credible 3-3 draw in the Stadio Olimpico di Torino. On the morning of the game he had put pen to paper on a new 5-year deal. A few months later Obiang made his European bow in a 0-2 Europa League defeat to Hungarian side Debreceni. Although disappointing on the night, it would be the start of what has become an enduring fascination for the travel-loving Spaniard. "I love doing it [European competition] because I consider myself a citizen of the world," enthuses Obiang. "To know and to discover irresistible temptations." It is also the reason he has become a self-confessed 'slave' to the Internet. "It opens the mind and satisfies my curiosity," he says, before revealing that for a recent birthday his friends gave him a computer. Surprisingly for someone known as 'Perico' to his friends he says he is not that inclined to tweet; preferring as he does to communicate with people face-to-face.

Although never establishing himself as a regular in a season that would ultimately end in the pain of relegation for Sampdoria, Obiang's education on and off the pitch was continuing apace. "The Italian practice sessions for the first team are done through repetitions," reveals Obiang. "There are sessions where we would work the same concept for an hour; sometimes it can be an hour video study." It is an idea referred to as 'Omni Particulare Cure' and is centred on preparation through obsessive attention to detail. "When you face a technically superior team," he says, "you have to be superior on a tactical and physical level." Obiang also describes with wonderment the 'thrill' of finding himself lining up next to Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini for the precious few months before they would depart. "I already knew about Antonio from his time at Madrid when I was living there," he states. "When I trained with him, I felt nervous but I also had the desire to want to prove myself." Cassano could be a little 'fussy' always wanting the ball played to his feet, Obiang explains with a smile, but insists all the veterans gave him confidence. "Even though he was very serious during training, at the end Cassano always had a joke and time to talk with me."

That April Obiang, who also holds Equatoguinean passport, earned a Spanish Under 20 call-up for Porto International Tournament. Despite the fact he never made it onto the field it only served to intensify a tug of war between the two countries that has yet to be definitively settled. After all, if Obiang has always identified himself as Spanish (having also represented the country at Under 17, Under 19 and Under 21) things can still get a little complicated when your uncle- Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo- is an African dictator. Once described as 'worse than Mugabe', the man who routinely refers to himself as El Jefe (the boss) is now the world's third longest-ruling non-royal head of state since he ousted his own uncle (Francisco Macias) in a military coup in 1979. Accused of unlawful killings, government-sanctioned kidnappings; systematic torture, corruption, embezzlement and cannibalism, Obiang is understandably cautious when discussing the subject. "I spoke to him only once, when I first said no to the national team," he says. "I know of his life, but I do not judge. In Guinea, when we speak of family we really mean tribe; it is very different from in Italy or Spain. I have two uncles from my mother's side, and on my father's side they are in double figures." He says that he once asked his father to make a list of all his family members and it was 'so long' that most of the names on it he has never met. Obiang also has a cousin, Ruslan, who is 'Secretary of State and Sport' in the African country with direct influence on national team selection. He says he was last approached by the the Guinean Football Federation prior to their hosting of the 2012 edition of the African Cup of Nations, but declined their entreaties on the grounds he could never agree to play for a country on whose land he has never set foot. "Once my parents migrated, they made the decision to never return there before my coming of age," he states. "They still would never leave me alone, even when I was in Italy. Only now, after 25 years, have they returned to visit the country."

Young Pedro remains the only one of his siblings yet to take the trip to Akam-Esandom, the region where his father was born. "Before they would put more pressure on me," he smiles, "but since they see that things are going well for me in football they understand things differently. They know that I travel a lot and need to focus." Part of his ambivalence can be explained thus: "There are things that scare me a little. I see it in pictures, but I only know the things that I have been told. I want to live my own experience, because not everything is always as advertised. Right now, I could go and not know if I would enjoy it. I'm waiting for the right moment, when I have a longer vacation. I wanted to go last summer, but had to cut short my break because of fitness issues." All of which is to suggest Obiang has not fully turned his back on 'his roots'. Recently, he reveals, he got a call from current Equatorial Guinea coach Andoni Goikoetxea, the legendary 'Butcher of Bilbao'. "He spoke to me again about the project," says Obiang, "but I told him we should talk later because my club were in a negative run at the time and I needed to stay focused. To address such an issue requires a lot of quiet thought but I guess I will need to decide soon." There is, of course, a third option available to Obiang. "Never, even if in theory I could play for the Italian national team," he laughs. "I like to defend the causes I believe in. If I chose the blue shirt, it would be like a betrayal."

Obiang would get a chance to fight for Sampdoria's promotion cause in the 2011-12 season following the club's ignominious fall from grace. With several of the big names- including Cassano and Pazzini- jumping ship, new manager Gianluca Atzori was forced to put his faith in young recruits and academy players. The team struggled initially but following yet another change of coach late in the year finally scraped into the playoffs with a sixth place finish. Obiang made a total of 33 league appearances during the campaign, mostly in a purely defensive midfield capacity, and then shone as the team went on an unexpected run through the promotion deciders that saw them upset both Sassuolo and Varese to return to the top flight after just a year. "I had always believed that sooner or later I would play a leading role for a club at the highest level," states Obiang. The following season he was at the heart of Sampdoria's first survival season back in Serie A; his consistently solid performances in the centre of midfield allowing the more creative players such as Andrea Poli and Icardi the freedom to work their magic. Now established as a key player in the side, his form over 34 league appearances would attract the attentions of some of Europe’s top clubs; Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City reportedly among those showing interest. "Sampdoria was the ideal club for me to mature and develop my skills," says Obiang when he thinks about the teams rumoured to be looking at him at that time. "But then I also think that dreaming about joining a top club in the future is natural and inevitable." Further evidence of his growing profile was a poll conducted at the end of that 2012-13 season by Inside Spanish Football naming Obiang among their top 15 Spanish youngsters.

As befits a player who started out as a striker, Obiang says that before he came to Italy he was a far more offensive player. Now he had developed into the player he was always meant to be. "I have become a mixture because I had learned a lot of defensive work," he says. "Clearly, I like to get into the penalty area, but now my role is more defensive." Where once he would regularly cite the 'innate elegance' of Zidane as is role-model, now his points of reference are Marcos Senna and Sergio Busquets; to Obiang's eyes the quintessential modern midfielders because they make everything easier through good positioning. "I also love Pirlo because he doesn't just play in front of the defense," he says. "In Italy that player can also control the whole game." For similar reasons he names Xabi Alonso as the player he most admires at the moment. Along with Cruyff and Guti he is the inspiration for why he likes to wear the number 14 on his back. That said, Sam Fribbins, writing for Transfer News Central, thinks there is perhaps an even more apposite comparison to be made with Manchester City's Yaya Touré. "Obiang possesses great stamina and energy enabling him to get around the pitch with ease, especially as a box-to-box midfielder," notes Fribbins. "At the height of 6”2, Obiang can be easily compared to a player such as Touré, since their roles are also fairly similar and both have strong builds, therefore making it hard for any player to push them off the ball." Though larger players, neither are necessarily slow, he observes, and this enables them to make meaningful runs from their own half and well into the opposition’s half. Another similar trait is a great passing ability, ranging from little 'one-two’s' to the more optimistic medium to long-range passes. This is one reason why the Spanish youth setup regularly employed Obiang as a deep-lying playmaker during his time with the team, since he possesses a good passing ability, as well as being able to closely dribble with the ball. "As well as all this," concludes Fribbins, "Obiang has good tackling ability, again making him a dependable option as a box-to-box player. He is known for his terrific work rate, which is a key attribute for any central midfielder to have. Moreover, his natural fitness is of the highest quality, without sustaining any major injuries throughout his professional career to date."

That latter point would be called into question during the following 2013-14 season when a lingering hernia injury meant Obiang would only feature 27 times. During a stuttering campaign which saw Sampdoria struggling to keep their heads above the relegation places, the Spaniard's meteoric rise temporarily faltered. That November, however, would see the arrival of new manager Siniša Mihajlović; the man credited with putting both the club and player back on track. "Mihajlović kept us under strict control, but it depended on how you reacted to him," reveals Obiang. "In some periods he was serious, and at other times very open." If the midfielder has one criticism of a man he credits as a great influence on his career then maybe, he says, "he takes things too much to heart" before acknowledging "but with him we got great results." The list of people who have played an important part in Obiang's journey is a long one. "The first was my discoverer, Antonio Lozano," he states. "Along with my agent, Jose Miguel, he never let me give up on football. Then I went to Atletico. Felice Tufano also, my first coach in Italy with the youth team. They are the ones who have given me a harder psychological mentality. They were very insistent that you had practiced fully and was always learning. After this the physical training troubled me far less. Now I realize that this is a requirement if you are going to be able to handle the pressure of modern football. Nor do I forget Domenico Di Carlo, who gave me my debut." Aside from Mandela and Obama, who Obiang calls his idols, the rest are what he calls his 'family'. "I need to thank the strength of my mother who convinced me to leave Madrid; the courage of my father the traveler and immigrant; the joy of my sister, who occasionally comes to visit and brings a breath of fresh Spanish air. There is also Samuel Eto'o, symbol of Africa, and then [Alfred] Duncan, [Afriyie] Acquah and [Stefano] Okaka. We feel and treat each other as brothers."

Obiang and his brothers would all play their part in what was to be a momentous return to form for the Blucerchiati in 2014-15. Far from the best set of individuals in the league, their industrious, combative style of play turned them into one of the best teams as they finished an impressive seventh. "It's Samp's level of self-sacrifice and defensive organisation that has been the most impressive aspect of their game," noted Sports Blog Nation's Jack Sargeant. "Unsurprisingly, Mihajlović emphasised rapid counter-attacks, and urged his team to get the ball forward as soon as they won it back. It was not always pretty, and it lead to them giving the ball away more often than more patient sides, but its success was undeniable." Then there was the fastidious level of training involved. Taking 'Omni Particulare Cure' to extremes, one report from a training session last season tells how the reserves were called upon to replicate Roma's 4-3-3 formation, and for almost an hour the first team practiced winning it back and instantly triggering a counter attack. "There's no doubting that Mihajlović is an excellent tactician," observed Sargeant. "However, it's not just on the field that the Serb impressed - his press calls continuously provided entertainment. In his introductory press conference, he borrowed heavily from speeches by John F. Kennedy, describing him as "a man whose ideas and words continue to make us dream." He said he'd ask his players "not what Sampdoria can do for them, but what they can do for Sampdoria." A few months later, ahead of a game against Atalanta, he began quoting Dante's epic poem Divine Comedy, urging his players to "push past the Pillars of Hercules." He added that when he arrived at the club, "we were in hell, now we are in purgatory and I want to reach paradise." However, he saved his best literary reference for Samp's trip to Verona, when, in true Shakespearean style, he threatened to "knock Juliet down from the balcony."

The idiosyncratic approach clearly worked for Obiang, whose game over 34 impressive appearances visibly improved again. "He remains neat in possession and loves to get forward, making runs from deep with or without the ball," wrote Unibet's Adam Digby, but now he has added an increased goal threat. According to statistics from WhoScored.com, Obiang averaged 3.1 tackles and 1.7 interceptions per game, the former mark (153) bettered by only four players in Serie A. That compares favourably to the likes of Song (2.6), Mark Noble (1.9) and Cheikhou Kouyate (1.8) last season, while Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic, for example, only averaged 2.8 successful tackles per 90 minutes. He also had an impressive 82.2 per cent pass completion rate. "Obiang was often deployed to man-mark a visiting playmaker, sticking to the task diligently and showing a good awareness of the game going on around him," notes Digby. "Long shots at both ends have become something of a trademark, the Alcalá native unafraid to either throw himself in the path of an opposition attempt or unleash a powerful effort of his own." At a point when Spain is still in the grip of the tiki-taka generation of shorter and more agile midfielders, Obiang thinks it is an advantage that he clearly provides another option. "Since I've been away from Spain I feel that I can bring something different," he says. "I have a special mark. My brand is the tactical and physical aspect. In Italy the ball goes faster, so tactically the players are better positioned and apply more pressure so I had to work hard to master that facet." Yet if Obiang had learned to add that physical approach to the neat passing he had learned in the Spanish capital then it is clear that he had not forgotten those lessons, as his delightful through ball to Mauro Icardi for a winning goal against Juventus showed. Then there was the composure and man marking skills displayed against AC Milan, specifically the way he effectively neutralized the threat of Boateng and Montolivo; or the long range effort against Inter Milan that Samir Handanovic somehow parried away from the goal.

Although he clearly blossomed under the guidance of Mihajlović, notes Digby, there was still a hint of a spat between the two men last season; Obiang gaining notoriety for kicking over a water cooler on the touchline after being substituted during a loss to Lazio. "I’m happy because he was angry with the team’s performance and not the substitution," the Serbian said at the time. "It’s pointless being angry afterwards, as you need to use that fire on the field." In fact, so great is the respect between the two that Obiang became the first black player to ever be named vice captain at the Genoa club. "My responsibilities remained the same," states the Spaniard. "Us younger players must always show that we are ready to take the next step." It was, nonetheless, an important symbolic gesture in a country where acts of discrimination remain an everyday occurrence. Take for example the recent comments by former Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi that there are 'too many black players' at youth level in Italy and that it is evidence that the nation is now 'without dignity or pride'. "I challenge racism," insists Obiang, "but I can also agree with what he said if the criticism is not about skin color, but vocational training. I grew up in football in Italy, did years of school there, enrolled at the University of Genoa to study Political Science. I feel so at home there, that it seems like I am more a foreigner these days when I visit my father and my mother in Madrid." It helps, of course, to have a thick skin. If being likened to a 'dancing bear' is questionable enough, then regularly being referred to as the 'Coconut Hierro' in the written press is problematic in the extreme. He was fortunate, Obiang says, to live in a city that quickly learned to accept him. "I was, at first, wondering why there were so few blacks there," he admits. "Yet the Genoese people are strange. At the beginning they are suspicious but then if you make the effort they will take you in their hearts and there is no more difficulty." It is the reason, he says, the recent horrific footage of the drowning illegal immigrants 60 miles off the Libyan coast hit so hard. "I hated the way those images were portrayed on TV," he sighs. "It creates an unwarranted fear in people. Intolerance is not always racism, it can be ignorance and selfishness. The world has changed and some people are afraid of losing their status quo, their well-being, because someone else is in trouble economically."

Never one to hold back, when Genoa was hit by catastrophic floods last October for the second time in three years, Obiang could be found rolling up his sleeves to help the so-called 'mud angels' in the massive rescue and clean-up operation. Corriere della Sera, Italy's biggest daily newspaper, attacked the government by announcing in its front page headline: 'The mud of Genoa, shame of a country', while the Archbishop of Genoa called for a 'timely and massive' action by the government to resolve the crisis and prevent similar disasters in future. "When your city has been rocked, it is normal to give something back," says Obiang. At times like these his mind casts back to all those who helped him when he first arrived as that bewildered sixteen year old; from the lowly employees in the club office who would give him the money for a taxi back to his digs, to his 'second mother', Mrs. Cristina, who would make him dinner and speak patiently and incessantly to him in Italian long before he was able to respond in kind. By now it is clear that Pedro Obiang is not your average footballer. A self confessed cinephile (I usually go to the movies two or three times a week) and fluent in several languages including English, his nickname in the Sampdoria dressing-room was 'The Intellectual'. "That started with Mihajlović," he laughs. It was, he says, on account of his glasses and intellectual pursuits. "I study more as a hobby these days because I never have the time to take exams" admits Obiang. "I studied architecture because of my father, although I was always attracted more to psychology. I think I'm good at talking and I am very interested in the personalities of people." So does he believe in the application of psychology to football? "Yes, it has helped," he insists. "When Sampdoria won promotion to Serie A we had a mental coach who though not specifically a psychologist, worked more on the motivation side. It helped me to relax." After all, he says, it is not always easy to carry out a normal life on the one hand and on the other a football life; to juggle two competing and often conflicting set of expectations. Not even for a dancing bear.

From Chaos to Insanity: A Conversation With Slaven Bilic

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 09:16:00 +0000

In the beginning there was chaos, and football was without form. Then came the Victorians, who codified it, and after them the theorists, who analysed it. So wrote Jonathan Wilson in his excellent book 'Inverting the Pyramid'. In his detailed study of football tactics he notes it wasn't until the late 1920s in Europe that tactics in anything resembling a modern sense came to be recognised or discussed, but as early as the 1870s there was an acknowledgement that players on the pitch made a significant difference to the way the game was played. In it's earliest form, though, football knew nothing of such sophistication. In South America, in the old days before they shrugged off the colonial order to add their finesse, there was the trainer and nobody paid him much heed. He died without a word when the game stopped being a game and professional football required a technocracy to keep people in line. The manager, wrote Eduardo Galeano, was born. His mission: to prevent improvisation, restrict freedom and maximise the productivity of the players, who were now obliged to become disciplined athletes. The trainer used to say: 'Let's play.' The manager says: 'Let's go to work.' Today they talk in numbers. The history of football in the twentieth century, a journey from daring to fear, is a trip from the 2-3-5 to the 5-4-1 by way of the 4-3-3 and the 4-4-2. Any ignoramus could translate that much with a little help, notes Galeano, but the rest is impossible. The manager dreams up formulas as mysterious as the Immaculate Conception, and he uses them to develop tactical schemes more indecipherable than the Holy Trinity.

So, what makes a coach a good coach? His tactical genius? "Tactics? Pah, then every teenager could be a super coach," smiles a bearded Slaven Bilic, part charismatic rock star, part professor of philosophy and letters. "Tactics are important, but everyone can learn tactics. Make it a school subject in primary school and after ten years we would have a whole generation that knows all about tactics. But that does not make for a good coach. It is the combination of knowledge, experience, character, passion and happiness." It is he suggests, sparking up the first of what will be numerous cigarettes, one of the most complex occupations in the world. "Basically, my job does not differ much from that of a bank manager. We both have a goal that we want to achieve. He wants to multiply money, I want to win trophies. We have a bunch of young, motivated, highly trained people available to us with whom we have to work. We need to make them happy, keep them motivated. Sometimes we have to make tough decisions when they make mistakes, occasionally we need to separate one of them from the rest of the group in order to achieve our goal. But the difference is this: The bank manager can work in peace. I have millions of people watching me at my work. Fans praise me to the sky, then want to bring a plague down upon my head. Then there is the media who need a new story every day." And everyone knows better? "Of course," laughs Bilic, quickly warming to the subject. "An old friend of mine is a luminary in the field of brain surgery. He will often ask me: 'Why did you do that? Why did the team play this way?' I always reply: 'Professor, I value your opinion but imagine a time when each of your operations would be broadcast live on television. Where every incision you make is being commented on!' Then he mostly leaves me alone."

The ability to handle pressure as a coach is something Bilic credits to his years of playing in England. "There was one thing that impressed me the most, and that was a fantastic balance between pressure and freedom," he states. "Pressure is important for every job – a journalist will generally write a better article if he's under pressure or if he writes for a better newspaper. But the key is to channel that pressure into positive energy: you want it to be a drive, not a burden. And that's what the English do best. Sometimes huge investments depend on the result of a single Premier League match. The pressure is huge, but you don't feel burdened by it in a negative way regardless of the press which can be really cruel – after all, the English invented that kind of journalism. In the Premier League you learn how to overcome fear and negative emotions, how not to dread what might happen but stay motivated and fight the best you can for your team. And that can often be a decisive factor when two even teams meet." That said, for years, argues Wilson, the prime deficiency of the English game was that it thought solely in terms of the players. Yet football is not about players, or at least not just about players; it is about shape and about space, about the intelligent deployment of players, and their movement within that deployment. Wilson makes clear that when he says 'tactics' he means a combination of formation and style: one 4-4-2 can be as different from another as Kevin Nolan to Robert Prosinecki. For as much as heart, soul, effort, desire, strength, power, speed, passion and skill all play their parts, there is also a theoretical dimension, and, as in other disciplines, the English have, on the whole, proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract.

In contrast, Bilic has always proved flexible when it comes to such matters. The new West Ham manager has switched seamlessly from 4‑1‑3‑2 to 4‑2‑3‑1, 4‑3‑3 or 4‑4‑2 throughout his managerial career – but usually in some sort of modified, unorthodox fashion. As a strategist, there has often been an emphasis on individual instructions rather than specific formations. "My opinion is that formations are slowly dying out and a large number of experts will confirm that," nods Bilic. "It has become increasingly difficult to mark the movement of the players, with regards to the ball, just by assigning numbers to each line." Whisper it quietly but the Croatian is in the vanguard of modern football thinkers who believe the notion of formation is a fraud perpetuated by those with a desire to justify coaches' salaries and make TV commentators sound smart. "Like 4-5-1, what does it mean?" he asks. "It’s only for journalists or at the beginning of each half. When defending, great teams want many behind the ball. When attacking, players from all sides. We have to be compact, narrow to each other. It’s about the movement of 10 players now." In a sport which has few stoppages and is often decided by individual acts of spontaneity, formations are one of the only ways coaches can endeavor to shape the action on the field. Yet, argues Bilic, we are now at a point where every responsible way of deploying 11 players has been exhausted. The game, he believes, is still largely an exercise in chaos once the whistle blows; at some point most teams look like they are playing with nine defenders and one striker. The formation is thus only ever the first snapshot. After that, the players are always on the move because the ball is on the move, so the formation no longer exists. In any case, a team's style of play is related to an idea, not to a geographic positioning on the pitch. "Fluidity is much more important – you want your team to stay compact, and your lines to remain close to one another, so they can flow over," explains Bilic. "You need to make sure that no gaps emerge, and that tends to happen often to teams who play with strict lines. A quality opponent will always find your weak spot and massacre you. But that doesn't mean the system is any less important. Organisation and automatism are the foundations for everything – only if you have that, will the individual quality of your players show in a positive way. I will never underestimate the value of individualism and inspiration – but without a solid system, improvisation is just anarchy. And anarchy can also sometimes bring you a result, sometimes even better than your established schemes, but it cannot be a long-term solution."

The use of space always used to be the unique defining element of Dutch football. Other nations and football cultures may have produced greater goalscorers, more dazzling individual ball artists and more dependable and efficient tournament-winning teams but no one, wrote David Winner, has ever imaged or structured their play as abstractly, as architecturally, in such a measured fashion as the Dutch. In his master work 'Brilliant Orange', Winner states that the Total Football of the 70s was, among other things, a conceptual revolution built on a new theory of flexible space; that the size of any football field could be altered by a team playing on it. In possession you could aim to make the pitch as large as possible by spreading play to the wings and seeing every run, movement and constant positional rotation as a way to increase and exploit the available space. When you lost the ball, the same thinking and techniques were used to destroy the space of your opponents. You pressed deep in the other side's half, hunted for the ball, defended a line ten yards inside their own half and used the offside trap to aggressively squeeze space further. When he first saw Cruyff play, David Miller marvelled at a 'Pythagoras in boots', yet an acute sense of the fluid structure and dimensions of the pitch was shared by everyone in the Ajax and Dutch national team. This was not abstract, playful exploration of perspective in the style of M.C. Escher. Partly it was instinctive but partly it was based on mathematical calculations and designed pragmatically to maximise athletic capacity. It did not matter what 'position' a player was given: the immediate position of play itself determined when and where the players moved within the game. Quick and precise calculations were made by each player in order that every manoeuvre made the most effective use of pitch-space and player energy. The genesis of this spacial awareness was the spoken word. Football was always unconsciously about space, just as the good players were always the ones who instinctively found positions to receive the ball. The big change happened when these ideas became words because no one had ever looked at things in that way before. By drawing attention to it, notes Winner, something came into existence which had always been there but no one had ever noticed before and thus opened up a whole vista of seeing football differently. If this teaches us anything insists Bilic it is that we should never be afraid to discuss any aspect of football. "What I learned from Wenger and Lippi," he says, "is that the only authority you need is the authority of knowledge."

There is a theory that winning the World Cup in 1966- just a few years before the true 'neurotic genius' of the Dutch flowered- was actually the worst thing that could have happened to English football. Rob Steen, in The Mavericks, posits that success set the country back because it established deep in the national footballing consciousness the notion that the functionality of Alf Ramsey's side was the only way to achieve success; that in the minds of generations of fans and coaches in England, it laid out a 'right' way of playing. Just because something was correct in a particular circumstance, with particular players and at a particular stage of football's development, does not mean it will always be effective. If there is one thing that distinguishes the coaches who have had success over a prolonged period- Sir Alex Ferguson, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Bill Shankley, Boris Arkadiev- it is that they have always been able to evolve. Their teams played in very different ways, but what they all shared was the clarity of vision to successfully recognise when the time was right to abandon a winning formula and the courage to implement a new one. When you ask Bilic to articulate what has changed the most in his opinion it is the perfect cue for another Marlboro Light. "It used to be quite a different game tactically – think those Chelsea v Liverpool clashes in the Champions League, those were chess games between Mourinho and Benítez," he observes through a cloud of smoke. "The goal justified the means. But then Pep Guardiola was crucial in changing that with his Barcelona team, so I have nothing but respect for him. He initiated a revolution in the way coaches look at football. It's true that Barcelona played attractive, attacking football before, and that tiki-taka comes from Cruyff and Rexach, but never before did they play the way they did under Guardiola. And that has had a profound influence on other coaches, because everyone wants to emulate the best: most teams today try to play football, they strive to creation, not destruction. Even the Italians took part in that – both the national team and their clubs, with the exception of Inter and a few minor clubs in Serie A. That was unheard of before Guardiola. Now almost everyone realises that apart from getting a result, it's very important how you play. The fans will accept almost anything as long as there's success, but in the long run, people want to be entertained, they want to enjoy themselves at matches and this is why football needs to be attractive and fun. With Croatia we always tried to play and we always looked better when our opponents played positive football. Because of the way we played, it's much easier for us when the game was a two-way street. It is right though that football has changed so much in the last few years and it's extremely important to keep pace with that development."

It helps, of course, that Croatia always had strong individuals. One only has to think of Miroslav Blazevic, a cross between Sir Bobby Robson's prestige and Peter Cooke's eccentricity, the godfather of Croatian football and the coach of the golden generation. "I wanted gentlemen in my team!" he once proclaimed, proceeding to run through the line-up with escalating fervour. "Bilic? Gentleman. Stimac? Gentleman. Jarni? Gentleman. Prosinecki? Super gentleman. Boban? King gentleman. Suker? Ambassador gentleman. Everyone knows about Croatia because of them." When Bilic took over the national team, promoted after two years in charge of the U21s, he completely revolutionised the way Croatia played: the stodgy, predictable and decadent 3-4-1-2 system of his predecessor Zlatko Kranjcar was replaced by highly-dynamic football with a defensive four and one holding midfielder, with all the other players attack-minded, but with defensive responsibilities. So how much of Bilic's own tactical outlook is influenced by the fact that he was part of the team that finished third at the 1998 World Cup, and played with three consummate play-makers – Boban, Prosinecki and Asanovic? "A lot, because that's when I realised what kind of football is best suited for the Croatian character," he admits before adding that the team he managed for six years had strong individuals too. "My intention wasn't to build a system around them, but I didn't want to fit them into a system either. I simply tried to give each of them a mandatory frame in which their lucidity would hopefully flourish." Bilic would become known for being one of few managers, especially in international football, who would regularly use five, sometimes even six offensive-minded players in the team at the same time. Not that it was necessarily a reflection of a desire to play attacking football. "It was pure pragmatism," agrees Bilic when thinking about his time in charge of the Vatreni. "Of course I prefer a passing, possession-based attacking game more than destructive, defensive play, but you have to look at what's best for the team with regards to the players at your disposition. When I took that job, my assistants and I analysed our pool of players and realised we were much better covered in attacking positions. We concluded that our chances against the stronger teams would be better if we tried to build our play with more offensive players. If we had decided to go the other way, we just wouldn't have been as good and the players would have become unhappy. But even though we used many offensive-minded players, solid defence was the foundation of our play. You can never score as many goals as you can concede if your defence is porous. You know, for a long time the people have been saying that strikers are the first line of defence, but that was just a phrase intended to motivate the team. However, today the strikers have the obligation to fulfill their defensive assignments, and that especially applied to my boys. We were more dangerous when we played with two strikers, but then those two really had to work hard defensively."

Working hard defensively is an ethos that would also resonate through his Beşiktaş side. Creative midfielder Oğuzhan Özyakup averaged 0.3 tackles per game in his first season under Bilic but that figure increased to 1.2 per match the following year. Bilic demands that his players defend collectively, press the opposition and force mistakes, notes Emre Sarigul. No other Süper Lig side would regularly attempt as many tackles per game – 25.1 – as Beşiktaş. Holding midfielders Atiba Hutchinson and Veli Kavlak were usually accompanied by the likes of Özyakup as well as wingers Olcay Şahan and Gökhan Töre trying to win back the ball after losing possession. Compact and well organised, the Kara Kartallar conceded less than a goal a game and regularly finished among the Super Lig leaders in blocks, interceptions and clearances made. If they had any weaknesses, it is said, then Bilic’s side could be caught out by opposition teams playing on the counter-attack, where their offensive attitude and high defensive line sometimes made them susceptible to attackers breaking their offside trap. One other issue might be discipline – Beşiktaş players were shown ten red cards in the league last season. To the latter point Bilic reaches for pen and paper to illustrate why this heightened aggressive approach combined with the Turkish mentality proved so combustible. "The Turk is very similar in nature to the Croatian," he says while sketching three lines on a pad. "This is the normal state of mind (baseline) and the maximum emotional high and low for central and northern Europeans." Now adding a further couple of lines to the extremes of the page he continues: "And here are our highs and lows. We are either shouting for joy or dying of sorrow. I would never say this mentality is a disadvantage though because what are emotions if not the fuel of life?"

Whether shouting for joy or dying of sorrow the image of Bilic the rebel has always been slightly misleading. As a player he was committed and intelligent. As a manager, he has a serious and ambitious core. "It was never my plan to become a coach," he sighs as if ultimately he never had a choice. "But then my club Hajduk Split called and I had to answer so I caught the coaching virus." One day he simply woke up and was suddenly a coach? "Nonsense," he says nonplussed at the suggestion. "It was a new job and I worked myself into. As a player and as a person I am conditioned to always a give 100 percent when I do something. So I just trained, studied, learned and worked the licenses. Suddenly it occurred to me that the processes I was now adopting in my professional life were running parallel to my experiences as a student when I graduated in law." Replacing his legal texts with American psychology books Bilic sought to understand his players and the job at a deeper level. "Balkan culture is too macho for psychology to be part of everyday life," he says. "When you say 'shrink' in Croatia they think about players lying on a couch. It is a sensitive thing." A voracious consumer of information with a particular predilection for sporting biographies, assistant coach Edin Terzic confides that his boss "absorbs their teachings and then weaves them into his work." Bilic names 'Sacred Hoops' by legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson as one of his major sources of coaching inspiration. The Chicago Bulls icon became famous for several pioneering techniques, among them the use of visualization as a successful training method. Jackson describes in his book how he implemented it with his players; chiefly BJ Armstrong, who mostly came off the bench to contribute at very important moments. "Before he came on," Bilic explains as he stands up to mimic the action, "Armstrong had already played through the available plays in his head... Pippen to Jordan, Armstrong runs to his right to create space on the left, Jordan exploits it and scores- Bam!" Having this kind of vision, he states, where everybody can visualise moves and positions drilled during training before they even happen is a dream in football right now. During his playing years, Michael Jordan would take an hour or two before games to meditate. He'd visualize himself making shots with a hand in his face. He could see himself stealing a pass that would be the turning point of the game. He would visualize setting up his defender for the game winning shot. Why would one of the greatest athlete of our time make time to do this? Well, Jordan recognized the power of the mind and that in every game, no matter the sport, success is 90% mental and 10% physical. "Very few players have this sort of vision to be able to know where everyone is and what is going around them with their eyes closed," believes Bilic. "I can only think of Rooney who has this sort of vision, he is able to draw a mental picture of what the opponent is thinking. It is a really powerful tool. Before away games the Manchester United striker will ask the kit man: 'In what shirts will we play tomorrow?' Then he places a towel over his head and puts himself in the stadium, sees himself in the jersey. He calculates in his mind the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent then he sees himself exploit it to score a goal. The whole thing is absolutely fascinating."

'The Score Takes Care of Itself' a lecture on leadership by one of the NFL's greatest football coaches, Bill Walsh, is another book on the Bilic bookshelf. "Legend. Incredible! Read it!" he enthuses, before adding that he recently finished the biography of Alex Ferguson, which he says also helped him. "Ferguson describes in it a dispute with Roy Keane which almost came to blows. When I read that section, I was extremely grateful. I thought to myself: If this can happen to one of the best coaches of all time, then it may happen to you also." For anyone who has witnessed a Bilic training session such an altercation would be hard to envisage; before it even starts he has probably embraced more than a dozen of his coaching staff as you would a long lost friend. "That's just my way of working," he smiles. "This is my team and my club. I think it is a matter of course to know my people by name, to communicate with them and convey the feeling that they are an important part of the club." He has made it a tradition that on his birthday he takes all club employees out for a meal. "In my opinion there is no other option," he shrugs. "You must treat your staff well if you require them to follow an idea." The atmosphere of inclusiveness extends to an open exchange of ideas with his coaches and senior players. It derives from Bilic's own formative experience as a player under Winfried Schäfer at Karlsruher SC. "Before each game, he would take me and four other players into his office and ask for our opinions on the tactic against the upcoming opponent. Of course, Winnie had the final decision, but he was just like a fox killing two birds with one stone. He made his lead players feel that their opinion was important to him, and at the same time, he benefited from our collective insider knowledge. There is a Croatian proverb: 'A man and a donkey together know more than one man alone' that pretty well sums it up." There are many rules for dealing with players, says Bilic, but only two are crucial. "First, never lie," he states. "Second, never make promises. In this matter footballers are like women. They only hear what they want to believe is possible and ignore the fact that there is also the possibility of not getting it. Therefore, I will never say: 'You're in good shape, in two months you'll get your chance'. If the player is then not used in two months, he feels betrayed and my promise is broken. As a result he does not trust me anymore and I've lost him."

So it follows that an integral part of the manager's mandate is to be ductile; to intuitively understand that just as each individual, nationality and country has a distinct identity with specific character and personality traits, so each club has a certain philosophy hewn from the rocks of tradition and history. By the time Bilic departed Beşiktaş he was one of the longer-serving coaches in Turkish football even though he admits the entire job had been one long struggle. "In the current football climate, a coach can never be sure of his future employment," he says; all you can do is research, prepare and then, embracing the fatalism, accept what comes. As Galeano observed, the manager is as disposable as any other product of consumer society. Today the crowd screams, 'Never die!' and next weekend they invite him to kill himself. "I am a football maniac, so no one had to explain to me who and what Besiktas is," he says. "I'd looked at videos, let everything run through my mind during the contract talks and then just decided to take the leap" albeit initially with a knot in his stomach because he could not speak Turkish. He had started work directly after leaving Croatia in the Euro 2012 as coach of Lokomotiv Moscow, he explains, but despite preparing thoroughly had never anticipated or had no way of knowing just what a barrier not speaking the language could be. "I did not speak Russian and that was a problem," he states. "Because as a coach, you need to communicate 24 hours a day with your staff and players. You have to be able to understand the people around you, if you want to have success. Crucially, in Istanbul he quickly realized that he had arrived at a multi-national team and multilingual organization. "We were talking English, German, Spanish; my assistant Nikola Jurcevic is Croat, my second assistant coach Edin Terzic is German with Croatian roots."

There were other challenges as well. Did he, for example, fully understand about the Çarşı Grubu; the notorious anarchist faction of Beşiktaş support? Although officially disbanded before Bilic's arrival, the left-leaning organisation- anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-sexist, pluralist and ecologist- became heavily involved in the fighting during the 2013 protests in Taksim Square, resisting police attacks and even famously chasing a water cannon away with an excavator. "Of course, I am a political person and was coach of Beşiktaş," says the staunch socialist who names Che Guevara among his personal heroes. He did not, however, become overtly involved in the issue. "I admire how intensively active those fans were politically. But if I had started to concern myself with it then I would not have had time to do my job. Because then I would have needed to know everything, wanted to talk to all the key people involved. For this reason I forced myself to be very restrained." Some observers claimed that because the Çarşı members fought on the front line against Prime Minister Erdogan, Beşiktaş would be regularly punished in the form of strange refereeing decisions and overly harsh sanctions. "These are conjectures and therefore it did not matter for my work," insists Bilic. "What should I do? Launch into general whining after a controversial defeat and tell my players: 'Go home, training doesn't matter, we will lose anyway?' No, of course not! It didn't prevent me from speaking to the media about the referee though, if in my opinion he did a poor job."

For the entirety of Bilic's tenure at Beşiktaş the club was also effectively homeless. Due to the unique location and its legal status as a historic monument the conversion of the famous Inonu stadium had been delayed massively and its opening postponed numerous times. "That was a very big disadvantage," concedes Bilic. "Beşiktaş fans set a volume record years ago (141 decibel), and it would have been a fantastic asset to have. Due to the renovations we mostly played our home games in the Atatürk Olympic Stadium. This is a 80,000 capacity boiler at the city limits, and is very difficult to reach because the transport conditions are miserable there. In addition, the majority of the fans boycotted games because they had been heavily and repeatedly punished in the recent past by the football authorities. As a result we had an average attendance of about 3,000 in some home games. 3000 spectators in a 80,000-man stadium! If you ask me, this is a tragedy." Not least because Bilic places more importance than most on the significance of the fans. "Their impact is enormous," he insists. "I describe it like this: In order to win a Formula 1 race, the driver must sometimes push his car to the extremities of its capability so that he drives in the red zone. In football a team can only reach this red area solely on the back of the fans because you as a coach during a game cannot affect it. This red area we lacked last season. A few years ago Galatasaray had a whole season playing at home in the Olympic Stadium. With a team that should have become champions they finished seventh." Ultimately Bilic decided the only approach was to ignore circumstances as best he could. "I did not even acknowledge the situation at the time because if I stood there after poorer games and complained about the lack of fans, my players would also have done that too," he says. "And that would have a negative impact in the long term on their performance. So I said: Fuck it, we still want to win titles!"

It would seem to suggest that the ability to be adaptable is a key weapon in the manager's armoury? "The foundation [for any coach] is self-confidence and the desire to compete," believes Bilic. "That which you need as a player, you also need as a coach. When I started in Istanbul it was clear to me that this would be a new task with new challenges and of course I had to respect the philosophy of the club. I could not be coach of Beşiktaş and offer boring results based football. Even if I were to win the championship in that manner, they would still fire me. It had to be football with plenty of room for creative freedom, wilder and more detached from the norms but all without drifting into chaos. If you could understand this philosophy and see it as a weapon rather than a handicap, then it would therefore be possible to succeed but also satisfy everyone."

For his latest job Bilic succeeds a manager who hardly went out of his way to win over the home crowd and ultimately paid the price. When asked how he perceived the 'West Ham way' of playing, a belligerent Sam Allardyce would routinely respond by denying its existence. "It sounds like not winning," he would answer. "No one can tell me what it is because it's a delusion." The problem with such a nebulous concept, of course, is that if you need to ask then you'll never understand. "At its heart it has little to do with football but much to do with Cockney values," wrote Peter Thorne. "Anybody outside criticising the family - or the football team - does so at their own risk. The folk at Upton Park don't expect to see their team winning regularly but they do expect some entertainment, some local talent to cheer through the ranks and to be able to employ a little gallows humour occasionally. It's the reason why Allardyce so antagonised the fans. When the Hammers were booed off the pitch after a vital but dire 2-1 win against Hull in the 2013-14 season, an incredulous Allardyce cupped his ear. Many outside the club understood this, those inside seethed with anger." On the day Bilic arrived to take up the hot-seat he immediately adopted the rhetoric that would carry the fans with him. "I remember West Ham as a special club," he said. "It's not about the size although West Ham is a big club. It is a great place to play and I feel like I am at home. It is a big privilege and a big responsibility because this club is a cult." By instinct or design Bilic had issued a tacit signal to the fans that he 'got it'.

For while they may never have won the championship, the Hammers have acquired a reputation for doing things in a certain style while producing a constant supply of dazzling young players over the years. According to Ron Greenwood's philosophy: "The crowds at West Ham have never been rewarded by results but they keep turning up because of the good football they see. Other clubs will suffer from the old bugbear that results count more than anything. This has been the ruination of English soccer." None of which is to suggest that there actually is a correct way to play, notes Wilson. You can, for example from an emotional and aesthetic point of view, warm to the passing of Arsene Wenger's Arsenal more than to the pragmatism of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, but that is a personal preference; it is not to say one is right and one is wrong. It is obvious, he argues, that compromises have to be made between theory and practice. On a theoretical level West Ham fans respond to the Greenwood ethos but amid the beer-soaked celebrations that followed the very Allardycian mugging of Blackpool in the 2012 Championship play-off final, I'm not sure anybody was too bothered.

It is not even so simple, though, as to say that the 'correct' way of playing is the one that wins most often, for only the dourest of Gradgrinds would claim that success is measured merely in points and trophies; there must be room for romance. As Wilson notes, that tension between beauty and cynicism, between what the Brazilians call futebol d'arte and futebol de resultados- is a constant, perhaps because it is so fundamental, not merely to sport, but also to life: to win, or to play the game well? For Bilic, now inhaling languidly, it is hard to think of any significant actions that are not in some way a negotiation between the two extremes of pragmatism and idealism. His natural inclination is always towards the Dutch vision of total football with 'magicians' as he calls his playmakers, but he recognises that if you want to achieve positive results in whatever form you can’t have just one way of playing. "To be successful you have to be good enough in every aspect of the team, you have to defend with numbers, you have to be very compact, very organised but also you have to attack with numbers and be good on the ball," he says. "A solid defensive approach gives you the privilege to play with expression. Everything comes from good configuration." The sides that he has managed so far, whether that be Croatia, Lokomotiv Moscow, Besiktas or Hadjuk Split, were all teams with very lofty aims. "With Besiktas, in 90 per cent of our games we had more possession, you are the better side, you are the one that is attacking and the opponent is on the counter," he notes. "But in the games where we had to be compact like against Arsenal, we weren't dominant. So you have to be both. But I like my team to play football, to play good football." His ambition for West Ham is to try to be top ten and then improve on that. "First season, if we can finish eighth, ninth or tenth," he says. "Then, in the space of a few seasons, with the Stadium and everything, with hype, with probably a little bit more budget, with good planning and good play, nobody can stop us dreaming of European places or if we have a brilliant season to try to break into the Champions League places." His ultimate aim is to win a trophy. Taking a leaf from one of his well-thumbed psychology books, he adds: "You have to believe in that to achieve it. It doesn't have to be an obsession in a negative way but if you don't believe it, who will believe it? Where it's going to take us, I don't know, but logically if you play well and you improve your squad, if your players are playing more compact and more fluid with the ball, it should get you up the league."

Bilic says he ultimately decided to try the immersive nature of club management because when working at international level you can only ever look for temporary solutions and improvisations. What he wanted was to have enough time and scope to wrestle with the intractable – "maybe if we can't ever completely eradicate problems, we can still do everything in our power to minimise their impact on our play, as well as maximise our strengths." The problem is that takes times and patience and in a sport where the machinery of spectacle grinds up everything in its path, nothing lasts for long. The manager believes football is a science and the field a laboratory, wrote Galeano, but the genius of Einstein and the subtlety of Freud isn't enough for the owners and the fans. They want a miracle worker like the Virgin of Lourdes, with the stamina of Gandhi. Even acknowledging that football is ultimately about more than simply winning, it would be ludicrous to deny the importance of victory. Wenger can be frustratingly quixotic at times, but, as his negative tactics in the 2005 FA Cup final showed, even he at times acknowledges the need to win. To condemn Ramsey, when he brought the only international success England has known is a luxury English fans cannot afford; to accuse him of ruining English football rather than saluting his tactical acuity seems willfully perverse. Ultimately, argues Wilson, the history of tactics is the history of two interlinked tensions: aesthetics verses results on the one side and technique verses physique on the other. What confuses the issue is that those who grow up in a technical culture tend to see a more robust approach as a way of getting results, while those from a physical culture see pragmatism in technique; and beauty- or at least what fans want to watch- remains very much in the eye of the beholder. In those circumstances then how can you still enjoy this job? "By being myself aware and accepting of these conditions," Bilic says. "If I were to cry myself to sleep every night because of the uncertain future, this job would hold nothing for me. But I know the risk and it does not bother me. I just start to work." Picking up his earlier drawing it seems the right time to ask what makes Slaven shout for joy? "It can only ever be if my team is playing the football that I want to see," he answers, "because results are not always dependent on whether a team plays well or not. In basketball or handball the better team will nearly always win, but in football refereeing decisions, good and bad luck can all play a much greater role." Doesn't that drive a football coach insane? "Of course you can reduce with good work the percentage chance for unhappiness. This is what everyone seeks. But it will still always be the case that a goal is enough to decide in football whether you win or lose. You are right, it is insane," laughs Bilic as he stubs out his final cigarette. "But that's why I love it so."

The Fiery Madness Of Comandante Bilic

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 16:54:00 +0000

Unchain the colours before my eyes,
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies.
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher,
I shall return from out of fire.

In January 2012 Slaven Bilic had an operation. Doctors attended to an old injury, one that had made him walk a little funny for years, putting all his weight on one foot as he made every other step. The injury dated back to the most glorious episode of his playing days but it also effectively ended his career. Just two weeks before the 1998 World Cup, explains Aleksander Holiga, Bilic’s hip was partially fractured. Against all medical advice, despite not being able to train at all because of the pain, he decided to travel to France with the Croatia team and played the whole tournament with painkillers, further aggravating the injury. Most people will have remembered him for getting Laurent Blanc sent off in the semi-finals ("I panicked. I was paranoid that I would get a yellow card which would prevent me from playing in the final if we got there, so I theatrically went down to save myself from getting booked – although he did hit me") but this was Bilic sacrificing his health and career for his country. Croatia spectacularly finished third in their first World Cup appearance but the consequences for Bilic were serious: at 30, he was effectively done. Unable to fully recover, he played a handful of games for Everton the next season and was released in July 1999 – but not before picking up a hefty pay-off for the two years he had left on his contract.

The following year he put some of that money to good use when coming to the aid of former hometown club Hajduk Split. Joining forces with former team-mates Aljosa Asanovic, Igor Stimac and Alen Boksic they become shareholders- "we were all from Split and lent the club £1.5million". He soon took charge of the team, if reluctantly at first. "I was 31, 32, we sacked the coach and as no one wanted to do the job I agreed for just five games," only for Bilic to become hooked on the adrenaline. "My idea was to learn by going round Europe. So I went to see Marcello Lippi at Juventus, Arsène Wenger at Arsenal. Sometimes club managers, to protect their jobs, say, 'Oh, it's like nuclear physics.' The only question is can you cope with 25 guys who think they're great, can you change the game, and [deal] with journalists. I'm not big-headed, but Wenger and Lippi didn't tell me something new. They proved to me that I'm right." After Euro 2004, the Croatia FA chairman invited Bilic to become the under-21 coach.

One story goes that having given his young squad the afternoon off on a subsequent tour of Sweden, Bilic was perturbed to see his best player Luka Modric loitering with best mate Vedran Corluka by the team coach rather than going into town to have a coffee or chat up the local girls. Writing in the Mail, Joe Bernstein describes Bilic going over to investigate only to discover there was nothing sinister in the teenagers' behaviour, they just didn't have any money. Without a moment's hesitation, the manager dipped into his own pocket and sent them on their merry way. The story is instructive, thinks Bernstein, about assessing what kind of manager West Ham are getting. Yes, Bilic can deliver an entertaining press conference in several languages, but his main strength is man-management; treating the players as friends yet still retaining their all-important respect. When Manchester City introduced the word 'holistic' into the footballing vernacular, they could have been describing Bilic. His philosophy is that players given confidence off the pitch will ultimately take responsibility in big matches. For someone like Modric, the transformation from an introverted child refugee from the Balkans conflict into a self-assured superstar, is perhaps an example of how Bilic can help. Certainly neither Modric nor Corluka ever forgot it and repaid Bilic many times with many outstanding performances, most notably when the senior Croatia team beat England at Wembley and reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2008. Incidentally that would not be the first or last time Bilic schooled a former England manager; as anybody who witnessed the amazing footage of the Croatian delicately explaining to a wide-eyed Glenn Hoddle just how female football fans could use 'nature's pocket' to smuggle flares into a football ground can testify. But I digress.

It was following Croatia's first-round exit at the 2006 World Cup in Germany that Bilic was promoted to the senior job. On taking over it was not only matters on the pitch that were key to Croatia's qualifying hopes. Continued problems with racist chants and far-right activity in the stands- more flares- had culminated in fans forming into the shape of a swastika during Bilic's first game in charge, a friendly in Italy in August 2006. This led to action by Fifa and the Croatian FA had earlier been fined by Uefa for racist banners displayed at Euro 2004. The European governing body threatened expulsion from Euro 2008 in the event of a repetition of these incidents. Some fans' chants express admiration for the fascist Ustasha regime, put into power by Nazi Germany. Was Bilic aware that some in England, rather distastefully, had named that 1998 World Cup quarter-final he played in 'the Nazi derby'? "I didn't. But I know that before the game in Zagreb [which England lost 2-0 in October 2006] they were saying we are a Nazi country," he recalls. "There are more Nazis in England - definitely you have more skinheads than Croatia. I can say anything against England only because I'm well known here as the biggest non-English England fan. Not just football - music, cab drivers, everything - even the adverts. England I love." It is the reason London tourists were astonished to see the Croatia players- at Bilic's eager encouragement- shopping and sightseeing on the day of their big match in 2007 while the England players were trapped in their hotel stressing. As related in the Observer, Jamie Jackson still winces at the memory of that night, of a rain soaked Wembley and Bilic punching the air. Mladen Petric has just scored for Croatia and Steve McClaren's sorry reign as England head coach is finishing with a defeat that ends any hope of qualification for Euro 2008. "When England got back to 2-2, I thought, 'Hell, they're taking the match'," Bilic recalls. "Our fans started to shout, 'Hocemo pobjedu! Hocemo pobjedu!' - 'we want to win'. So it's Wembley, there's 80,000 there, it's the most important sporting event anywhere that day, and from the moment our fans start shouting we start to pass. And, after three minutes, we scored where our fans were. Perfect, an unbelievable feeling."

Croatia won 3-2 and were one of the most popular teams at Euro 2008 the following year, beating Germany in a group game and only going out on penalties after a dramatic quarter-final against Turkey. In the seventh minute of that match against Germany, remembers Jeffrey Marcus, Bilic executed the game’s first bit of skill: looking to his right up field, he deftly flicked the ball left — a perfect rainbow arc — to Corluka … for a throw in. The manager was lucky not to scuff his oxfords. When in the 24th minute Darijo Srna slid in at the far post to put Croatia up 1-0 on the Germans, it was Bilic who sprinted down the line, leaping spread-eagle to straddle his assistant and celebrate the goal as if he, still playing fullback for Croatia, not Danijel Pranjic, sent the fortunate cross. Few watching him frantically dart from the bench to the touchline at that day, states Marcus, would be surprised if the then 39-year-old coach tore off his slim-fit but disheveled looking gray suit and crooked red tie to reveal a red-and-white checked jersey, ready to play. He would have had to stub out his cigarette before subbing himself in, for sure. Although he never earned more than £80,000-a-year the patriotic Bilic stayed in charge of the Croatia national team for a further four years. They reached the finals of Euro 2012 where they were unluckily drawn with both eventual finalists Italy and Spain. He regretted not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but went anyway and took his eldest two children on safari. Bilic, though, believes he has learnt a lot from the pressure of international management. "Now, I'm able to fly to the moon," he smiles. "In the film Armageddon, I could be the guy who has to stop the missile destroying the earth. This is from being Croatia head coach - mentally I'm ready for any club job."

He certainly showed no fear when given a first test of man-managing his own national team. Ahead of his first competitive outing, against Russia in the opening game of qualification for Euro 2008, Darijo Srna, Ivica Olic and Bosko Balaban visited Fontana, a Zagreb nightclub famed for the combination of folk music and women who dress like porn stars. Bilic banished them from the squad and fined them the equivalent of £17,000 each as Croatia gained a worthy 0-0 draw in Moscow. "It's a situation that has really helped me in terms of understanding how you cope being friends with some of the players and their manager," says Bilic. "We missed them in Russia. But my idea is that our work should be hard. Disciplined." The players were later reinstated - Srna and Olic both included in the squad for that year's finals. "The FA chairman said, 'It's Russia, Guus Hiddink. Select them and I'll fine them big money.' I said, 'No way. I'm going to fuck them off for this game or forever - it depends on their reaction.' And it was unbelievable, they said, 'We're wankers,' and apologised a hundred times," reveals Bilic. "But this helped me. Some in the media, the Croatia FA, didn't want me when I was appointed. Yet 90 per cent of people did. The FA are saying now they always wanted me but I know who they wanted - Claudio Gentile or Giovanni Trapattoni. The only question was, did I have the authority. For me, the only authority is knowledge - it's not about shouting. I have a special relationship with my players. One came crying - I'm not going to say who - and said, "I broke with my girlfriend, I adore her." He would never have done so if we weren't close."

Despite several offers, Bilic chose Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia to restart his club career. He followed that with two seasons in Turkey with Besiktas. The buzz of big cities like Moscow and Istanbul appealed to him, even when camera crews would wait for him to come out of restaurants to get their shots. "Croatians don't live in mansions, we like to mix with people. We drink our coffee with friends from childhood, not in five-star hotels," he has explained. The buzz of people is why London and West Ham has appealed to him for a long time now. Last season, he faced Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool in European competition and always thought about returning to the Premier League. "Who wouldn't?" he reasons. "England is like a cool woman - whoever says they wouldn't is afraid. They haven't got balls, or he's lying."

When Slaven Bilic was asked recently to explain his love of football, he put it succinctly. "With the greatest respect to women," he proclaimed, "football is the most beautiful thing in the world." That passion for the sport was learned young in the seaside town of Split, then part of communist Yugoslavia but now the second city of Croatia. Born in early September 1968 he has an elder brother who would later become his agent. The family had a summer house an hour away from Split, on the Adriatic and his maternal grandmother "was sports mad. I remember the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics she would stay up watching water polo and everything." The people of Split are naturally tall and sporty. Wit. God. Patriotism. The common touch. Croatia have all this on their side, according to Bilic. "We are talented people for sport in general, not only football, especially sport where wit is important, where it isn't only physics that matter," he insists. "Of course we're not the only small nation with good sports people but people are crazy about football in Croatia. Children play it everywhere. The stars of football in Croatia are perhaps closer to kids and common-folk than in some larger, wealthier countries."

From the age of five, Bilic became buddies with another boy from across the hall in their block of flats. He turned out to be Toni Kukoc who played NBA basketball for the Chicago Bulls alongside Michael Jordan. Former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic is another sporting great from that generation in Split. In 1987 he began the first of his two spells with Hajduk but unlike some footballers, Bilic refused to be one-dimensional. He played in a band and whenever the game took him to quiet hotel rooms far from home, he'd fill the void playing his guitar. Music remains another enduring love in his life. He famously cranks out alternative rock in the dressing room to inspire his players and actually plays guitar in a group called Rawbau and before that in the less renowned NewEra. At the end of 2004 they recorded their 10 song self-titled album and released a single to inspire the country's team. It is called "Vatreno ludilo" (Fiery Madness) - a title that says a lot about the man- but he confesses it is not the best song ever. It naturally harks back to that 1998 World Cup, when Bilic was a grievously injured but integral member of that Croatia team that finished third just six years after the split-up of Yugoslavia. The birth of Croatia as an independent nation had allowed its sportsmen greater opportunity for travel. Bilic first moved to Germany, joining Karlsruhe in a £750,000 deal in 1993. Although he would help them to the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup, by his admission it wasn't until he arrived at West Ham, at the age of 29 in 1996, that he fell in love. He only stayed 15 months and played 58 games but his influence on the club and vice-versa was far greater than those statistics would suggest. He mentored a young Rio Ferdinand who also played in his position of centre-half. The others admired his individuality. While they went dog racing at Romford, he flew to New York for one night to see a Guns N' Roses gig.

In keeping with the rock star image he'd enjoy the odd crafty cigarette, puffing his way to 44 Croatia caps. He still does but has cut down drastically. Of the habit he told Jackson: "It's normal in Europe. Under my national management we had two who were smoking." Did it concern him? "No. Of course, they didn't smoke in the dressing room, when we had our lunch together, they didn't smoke in front of me. But if we're in a hotel bar and they are sitting over there and I'm here then, I mean, why stop them? It's better to see them than if they're going to go to their room and smoke three in a row. When I played in the national team, we had maybe 10 players who were smokers." What did Miroslav Blazevic - Croatia's head coach from 1994 to 2000 - think? "Nothing. He used to ask me for a cigarette because he was always short. In Germany, maybe 20 per cent were smoking. In England it was different - only the foreigners and Julian Dicks, of course. The players were like, 'Oh you're smoking', and were totally pissed. I said, 'How can you drink so much?'" Bilic was a rare foreigner in the top flight back then, an addition to an existing English core. The Premiership, as it was called, was very different to what it is now. Bilic warmly remembers the atmosphere at Goodison Park, St James’ Park, Anfield and Upton Park – more intense than they are now – and tells a story about a West Ham v Chelsea game there in March 1997. West Ham were 2-1 up with two minutes left and had a free-kick in their own box. "Ludek [Miklosko] goes to take the free-kick. I try to waste some time, going to take it, but then I tell Ludek to take it. So we try to waste 30 seconds but our crowd go mad, shouting 'come on! Any chance!' I am thinking 'do you want us to stay in the Premier League?'" Mark Hughes equalised for Chelsea, but Paul Kitson scored a winner anyway. That is why Bilic always wanted to come back to England to manage. "I have been there, I’ve played there, I liked it there," he told Jack Pitt-Brooke. "I spent my best years – not only in football – there. Of course I would say that one day I would be interested."

Unsurprisingly Ferdinand has little doubt that the man he looked up to all those years ago will prove to be an astute choice as West Ham's new manager. "He's a really nice guy, I've met him since through a number of friends," reveals Ferdinand. "It seems he's got a good future at West Ham and it'll be a good place for him to be. He was a fantastic guy, a great professional. That's what he'll bring to West Ham and he'll put his stamp on the team. I think West Ham fans will see good things with him as manager." Bilic has always retained an affection for Ferdinand which started when the pair would stay often after training, just practising and talking. "I go back to when I started in Hajduk Split and when older players hug you, talk to you, it means a lot," states Bilic. "I tried to be the same when I was a so-called 'star' at West Ham. In the spring of 1997 we were strong in defence. It was Marc Rieper from Denmark, Dicks - legend - and myself and we played some games together with Rio, and Frank Lampard as well. When I moved, that opened the door for Rio, although he was sad that I left."

His manager at Upton Park during the time, Harry Redknapp, also had the traits of getting the best out of players whatever their characters. Bilic has stayed in touch. "Harry liked to take risks as a manager, to try and give talented players their freedom," said an admiring Bilic subsequently. "I had some great arguments with Harry when we were at West Ham. But once I became a manager myself, I realised just how good he was at his job. He seemed to get inside ever player's head to get the maximum out of them and that is what being a manager is about. My only criticism was that he used to get so low after losing games, it was like the end of the world. But I later understood the pressures of management." His allegiance to his new employers was also displayed when he was at West Ham and Everton first announced their intent to sign the defender in March, 1997. Bilic, recounts John Ley, insisted on remaining at Upton Park to help the club secure their Premier League status, moving to Goodison Park the following summer. There had also been the question of a £200k loyalty bonus to be picked at the end of the season. Typically Redknapp has a slightly different take on events. Harry insists Bilic had a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave for £2.5m. Bilic came to see him one day to say he was fed up playing for a struggling team, at a club that had no money for new players, and that he had heard that Spurs wanted to pay the release fee. His information was correct and it was then Redknapp told him to check the small print. The clause had been carefully worded so it was only applicable if West Ham agreed to it. In other words, it was worthless if West Ham did not want to sell. Bilic the qualified lawyer ("I'd never want to try a case") who is fluent in English, German and Italian had been schooled by a man whose local in the 1960s was the Blind Beggar in Whitechapel, the pub where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell. "Bilic must have thought his contract was watertight," Redknapp laughs. "But I went to the University of the Street in Stepney and I had done him up like a kipper."

Bilic's eventual move from West Ham to Everton in 1997 was meant to be a step up, they had won the FA Cup two years previously. But it didn't work out. Persistent injury problems meant he struggled to get on the pitch. Though certainly no prude, he found the drinking culture under, and sometimes led by, manager Howard Kendall, difficult to contend with. On one occasion following a team-bonding trip, Bilic was left hiding with Kendall and the other players in the team coach with all the lights turned out. The plan was to drive into the training ground at Bellefield but once Kendall realised there were autograph-hunters waiting, he ordered the coach to park round the corner and impose a blackout because it was so obvious they were the worse for wear. Bilic was one of the few who hadn't been drinking and argued with his manager to let him out. In listening to him recount this story it is possible to discern a palpable regret in ever having left his "spiritual home" in east London. It is no surprise that in the interview Bilic gave on Tuesday to herald his arrival as the new West Ham manager he spoke in eloquent terms of a 'special club.' As always the Croatian gave great copy, as befits a man who likes to describe football and relationships in emotional terms. "It’s not about the size – West Ham is big club – there is something special about them," he stated. "It is a cult club, a great place to play and I felt like I was at home. It is a big privilege and a big responsibility to now be manager and I hope that I will prove it to the board, players and fans." In short Bilic is just very easy to like, notes Holiga. He is intelligent, erudite and says meaningful things in his public appearances.

In other words, chimes Pitt-Brooke, Bilic is different. He is a politician and a showman who did everything to win over the Besiktas support and succeeded. He spent time with the anarchist ultras – the carsi – and joined in their songs. He once spent two hours posing for selfies with fans in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. He is conscious of his image and the importance of symbols. He is already popular with the West Ham fans and will work hard to keep it that way. He is, in that sense, the anti-Allardyce. In stark contrast to his predecessor- the enduring image of whose four-year tenure was the manager cupping his ear in derision at West Ham fans who were booing a dreary 2-1 home win over Hull City in March 2014- some people will argue Bilic tries almost too hard to win the affection of fans and the media. Taking over at Lokomotiv Moscow in 2012, he spoke Russian – well, attempted to – on his unveiling; at Besiktas he wore an Ottoman-style beard and readily accepted being portrayed as a football manager version of a great conqueror, especially after beating Tottenham and Liverpool in the Europa League. In one of his first interviews in Turkey, Bilic promised the Besiktas fans their team would be "as energetic as Iron Maiden", recalls Ahmet Yavuz, of FourFourTwo Turkey. From his first day to his last in Turkey Bilic understood the rhetoric needed to carry the fans with him. In one famous press conference, following his team’s last-minute victory over Eskişehirspor, Bilic launched into a rant over a controversial penalty decision. "All I want is for my team to receive the same treatment [as rivals Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray] and we are not getting it," the Croatian coach yelled before storming out of the room. His final angry words... "Come on man, give me a break!" would appear on posters and t-shirts all across the black and white areas of Istanbul within hours. "I know I can't save the world on my own; but if there is a struggle against unjustness, I always prefer to be on the frontline," Bilic states when reflecting on the incident. "That has always been my attitude toward life." In a broader sense it is the reason he became a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef having already acted as a children’s rights advocate for a number of years.

It is certainly true that the Croatian was always careful never to forget how the Kara Kartallar (Black Eagles) had revived his faltering managerial career. He had been dismissed in the summer of 2013 by Lokomotiv Moscow after one miserable season in which he had guided the club to its lowest league finish since 1991 and their worst position since the establishment of the Russian Championship. Fikret Orman, the president of Besiktas, was trying to rescue the club which was nearly bankrupt and banned from European competition for match-fixing. He wanted a new young coach to energise the team and considered Roberto Martinez. But, notes Pitt-Brooke, the 46-year-old Bilic was still popular in Turkey for what he had done with the Croatia national team and so Orman went to Split to recruit him. Bilic arrived at a Besiktas hoping to reimpose unity and discipline where there was none. Besiktas had previously over-extended on foreign stars including Guti, Simao and Ricardo Quaresma. So Bilic tried to rebuild a team around young, hungry players, either Turkish or of Turkish heritage: Gokhan Tore, Kerim Frei, Olcay Sahan and Tolgay Arslan. His model, like everyone else, was Manchester United. "I wouldn’t have wanted Besiktas to have 11 foreigners on the pitch," Bilic told English newspapers last year. "This is a Turkish club and has to have Turkish identity. Every team that was dominating had a core of home [grown] players. Like Man United, or Barcelona or Milan." Bilic’s Besiktas played brisk, inventive, attacking football, with far more energy than their higher-spending rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray. They nearly won the Super Lig title in 2013-14 but faded in the final games and finished third. Last season they started excellently and were still top with five games left. But they also played in the Europa League until the last-16 and it caught up with them. Again, Besiktas stumbled and again they finished third. Both seasons they ran out of steam, although the fact that they took only two points from eight derbies (against Galatasaray and Fenerbahce) might suggest a tactical deficiency against the best. Besiktas had the disadvantage, though, of not playing one single genuine home match for Bilic’s two seasons there. Their famous Inonu stadium in central Istanbul is being rebuilt and its reopening as the Vodafone Arena has been continuously delayed. So Besiktas have been playing all over Turkey. They played at the cavernous Olympic Stadium, more than one hour’s drive outside Istanbul, in Ankara and in Konya. Bilic insists it was like Spurs playing in Leeds. Although polls showed a majority of supporters wanted him to stay, the club ultimately decided against it. When he was leaving Istanbul last week, Bilic was carried on the shoulders of Besiktas fans into Sabiha Gokcen airport. He wore a Besiktas cap and scarf, and led the ultras in song one last time. They chanted his name and unveiled a banner, in English: "Your hopes are with us. Nobody can take this away from us. Comandante Bilic." If West Ham fans did the same thing for Sam Allardyce, ponders Pitt-Brooke, the footage has not yet emerged.

How Bilic’s West Ham will perform on the pitch – the season starts three weeks from Thursday – is less clear. It is certainly a risk. While it is undeniable that Bilic performed well at Besiktas, leaving the club in a far better position than the one he inherited, the evidence is simply not weighty enough to determine one way or the other if he is he good enough for the Premier League as a manager. That, points out Holiga, continues to be a matter of much debate in his homeland and elsewhere. There are those who think Bilic is an average coach who is very good at selling his image and that his teams are prone to crumbling when the going gets tough. He has overseen some brilliant wins in his career, including two against England with Croatia, but he also had some major failures – such as twice losing heavily to Fabio Capello’s England in the next qualifying campaign and not reaching the 2010 World Cup. His tenure in Moscow was also largely unsuccessful. After all, concludes Holiga, Besiktas fans do not have too much to show for his time there, except the really good impression he left. Yet, if nothing else, the fact that Bilic has joined West Ham is proof enough of what his time at Besiktas has done for his reputation. The football went well and, with a bit more luck, Besiktas might have been Turkish champions. Bilic also reminded the football world – especially in England – that, 17 years on from getting Laurent Blanc sent off at France ’98, he is a charismatic and passionate football man with a natural gift for winning people over. Indeed, the new West Ham manager will feel comfortable discussing everything from tabloid culture to tactical theory with the media, and the players will love him for his friendly mentality and support. But the jury is still out when it comes to Bilic’s true managerial quality. Upton Park will be the place where he seeks final confirmation that that he is more than a “rock star manager”. If he is still around when the Hammers move to the Olympic Stadium this time next year, concludes Holiga, you will know he has found it.

The Whakapapa Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 19:01:00 +0000

Home, penned TS Eliot, is where one starts from. It is the reason why Winston Reid will be looking to put on a show for his family and friends when West Ham United travel to New Zealand next month. The Hammers defender was born and brought up in the Auckland suburbs until the age of eight, when he uprooted to Denmark. While he has spent the majority of his life away from home, Reid has retained strong ties with the Land of the Long White Cloud, returning regularly and being appointed national team captain in 2013. This summer, the player will enjoy the new and welcome experience of representing his Club on home turf, with dozens of his friends and family members expected to attend the Football United Tour fixtures against Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC. "It's going to be nice for me personally to go back," Reid enthused. "The majority of my family live there and it's where I'm from. It'll be nice for the boys too, to experience a different part of the world. I only normally get the opportunity to play in front of my friends and family for the national team and now I get to do it with my Club as well, so it's going to be enjoyable for me."

It has certainly been a colourful journey from North Shore to East London, notes John Aizlewood. In 2011 Avram Grant’s reign at West Ham United ended with the double ignominy of relegation for the club and a P45 for him in the players’ tunnel at Wigan Athletic’s DW stadium. Perhaps, though, the seeds were sown as early as the season’s first game at Aston Villa. Grant had admired Winston Reid, New Zealand’s man-mountain centre-half, in the 2010 World Cup and promptly prised him from Denmark’s Midtjylland to Upton Park. The new acquisition- the sixth New Zealander to play in the English Premier League- so impressed Grant that Reid was thrust straight into the starting line-up. At right-back. "I’d never played right-back in my life," he sighs. "What could I do? I’d only just come into the club so I couldn’t really say anything." Reid did not have the happiest of debuts. Ashley Young and Stewart Downing tormented the 22-year-old as Villa won 3-0. The travelling fans wondered 'Winston who?' and 'Winston why?' and Reid would not make another Premier League start for six months. He can laugh about it now. "Hey, I got to try out being a right-back: it helped me mature as a player and a person," he says.

After a traumatic season and with Championship treks to Barnsley and Doncaster looming, Reid contemplated leaving. "I did, but I also thought, 'I’ve got myself in this situation, so it’s up to me to get myself out of it'. When Sam Allardyce arrived we sat down to talk. After that, it felt good, I felt wanted and I wanted to stay. He’s great and wants things done properly on the pitch. Off it, he’s given me a few kicks up the backside but he’s really funny, he makes us all laugh." Reid began the 2011-12 season in the first XI, partnering James Tomkins in central defence. Nine months later West Ham were back in the Premier League and those doubting fans had a new tough-tackling, positionally aware hero. Now he’s even recognised on the street: "It’s no problem, people come over for a chat and they’re welcome." That summer he spurned the opportunity to play for New Zealand at the Olympics to ensure he was ready for his Premier League rebirth. "Oh, I’d loved to have gone but from my point of view it was better to stay here and prepare. I’m sure the opportunity will come again," he says. Curiously Tomkins did participate and following some noticeably wobbly performances would spend much of the ensuing 2012-13 trying to shake off the effects. Meanwhile Reid progressed so quickly over the same time period that Allardyce anointed him as his "key" player. Arguably his best season in a claret and blue shirt, he was rewarded for his form on 8 May 2013 by being named Hammer of the Year; only the third player from outside Europe to win the award. Naturally, West Ham extended Reid’s contract, which was due to expire last summer, until the end of the 2014-15 season. "I’ve always believed in myself but the most important thing for me is playing week in, week out," he says. "Then you can get into a rhythm. It was frantic in the Championship but I used that season to acclimatise."

As roads go, Reid’s has been long and winding. A Maori (his middle name Wiremu means 'determined protector'), he spent his first decade on New Zealand’s north island. "It was certainly hotter than here," he laughs. If his earliest memory is playing football as a toddler with his father Lyle in the backyard of their North Shore home, it his mother who Reid credits with kicking off a lifetime passion. "I was too scrawny for rugby so I played golf, tennis and basketball. My mum got me into soccer." In fact, young Winston was a shy four year old when his mother, Prue, showed up with her son at Onepoto Domain in the autumn of 1992. "As a rule we don't accept any four-year-olds, but his mother pleaded with me to give him a go because he was very keen to play," remembers the Takapuna AFC coach Joe Boyle. "After getting him to kick a ball to me a couple of times it was obvious that his determination and skill factor was just as good as any of the five-year-olds in my team." Boyle remembers that Reid did not stand out for his physical presence, but always managed to match it with older players due to superior skills and a winner's mentality. Even though he may have grown into an intimidating central defender in the 1990s, the youngster was often one of the smaller players in the team. "Winston trained very hard and practised his football skills all the time, so soon he was the best player in my team," recalls Boyle, who played him as central midfielder. He also took the goal kicks and had a good eye for goal. "When he was only eight, we played on full-size pitches, so I got him to take the goal kicks because he could already clear the halfway line and put us on attack. It was not uncommon for him to score from well outside the penalty area."

Athletes who eke out a professional career often possess a natural excess of determination, attitude and commitment. Boyle said Reid had plenty of it and was not surprised his protege had made a successful career for himself. "In all those years he only missed one game with us, because he was in hospital with an asthma attack." The fertile partnership nearly came to an end when Reid's best friend moved to another, bigger club. "I said to Prue that although I would be disappointed, I couldn't stop him [going]," remembers Boyle. "But she told me 'he's not going anywhere, he has to learn about loyalty and that he's not going to get it any better anywhere else'." Prue was Winston's No1 supporter and was happy to help to manage the team for many years. Indeed, Reid's idyll- the coastal suburb boasts a 6km crescent-shaped beach with translucent turquoise waters- was only shattered and his knack of adapting fostered when his mother remarried in 1999. The family moved to Sønderborg, a small Danish town on the Baltic, near the German border. "I’d been used to sea swimming all year round at North Shore," recalls Reid. "In Denmark we lived 100 metres from the sea, so during our first April I told my mum I was going for a swim. She just smiled. I didn’t try that again: it was so, so cold." Experiencing no racism ('Danes are pretty open-minded"), he settled in quickly. Only English was spoken at home but, aided by the national policy of one-on-one lessons for non-Danish speakers, he was fluent in his new land’s language within 18 months. That scrawny kid had a growth spurt and the nippy striker ("I used to score a lot of goals") became a winger and then a central midfielder. "I just didn’t have enough lungs for central midfield," he admits. Having decided by 15 that football would be his life, he tried centre-half and, Grant’s intervention notwithstanding, Reid found his role.

Reid signed a youth contract with SUB Sønderborg, and in November 2005 dropped out of school after being offered a full-time contract at FC Midtjylland, of the Danish Superliga. The club were formed in 1999 after a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad, where, by coincidence, Bobby Moore, Reid’s most illustrious predecessor, concluded his playing career in 1978. "I didn’t know that," smiles Reid, delighted by the thought. "I never saw him play but you can feel his presence. He’ll always be part of the club." One of the first players to graduate from FCM's football academy, the first of its kind in Denmark, Reid came through the system alongside Midtjylland teammates Jesper Weinkouff, Christian Sivebæk and former teammate, Simon Kjær. Aged 17, Reid made his FC Midtjylland debut in the Royal League tournament against Norwegian side Vålerenga in a 4–0 win. He made his league debut for FC Midtjylland coming on for David Nielsen as a substitute in the 78th minute. Playing few games in seasons 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08 it was not until season 2008–09 that Reid made 28 appearances and scored his first goal against AaB Fodbold in a 3–2 loss and scored his second in the league in his next match against AC Horsens in a 3–1 win on 5 April 2009. When Midtjylland came within a penalty shootout of knocking Manchester City out of the Uefa Cup (Reid blasted his past Joe Hart), the wider world began to take notice of the by now Denmark Under-21 international.

Carrying dual citizenship through his stepfather Jens Bjerregaard (another credited for fueling his footballing passion), Reid had also played for Denmark at under-18 and under-20. It seemed only a matter of time then before he would make his senior debut for the De Rød-Hvide. Then Fifa changed the rules on eligibility and New Zealand qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Something twitched in Reid. He wondered what it might be like to play for his country of birth and his country wondered whether he might entertain the idea. He did. He followed a "gut feeling" and felt, as a Maori, he needed to play for the All Whites. "Of course I had doubts [about switching allegiance]," he says. "I weighed up my options for a long time and I think I have made the right decision because of the feeling in the team. It was difficult for me in the beginning. I was new to the team and I just wanted to feel my way into the team. But the World Cup was awesome. It's the biggest stage a footballer can be at. It was great being there with New Zealand." He was 21-years-old when picked sight-unseen by now departed national team coach Ricki Herbert - you do that when a player is linked with a host of Italian Serie A clubs, including Fiorentina, Palermo and Sampdoria, and was assured to be playing in one of the top European leagues in the near future. "He's been a great coup for us," Herbert says. "He's only a young player and no doubt internationally he will progress. But he's got a great heart and he slotted into the team really well."

So well in fact Reid sent the country into raptures when he headed home a goal with seconds remaining to tie their opening 2010 World Cup match against Slovakia 1-1; the first point the All Whites had ever claimed at a World Cup tournament. After scoring "the most important goal of my life", the Danish Maori ripped off his shirt, ran towards the corner flag and was swamped by his entire team and every reserve player. When the white mass untangled, South African referee Jerome Damon presented him with the obligatory yellow card for taking off his shirt. "It was worth it," he said laughing. "Something for the scrapbook." His parents had been in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, in Rustenburg to witness the momentous event and back in Auckland the rest of his family couldn't believe their eyes when their boy scored. "We didn't realise it was him because he plays at the back and we weren't expecting him to be there," recalls his aunt Susan. "Then suddenly my husband said, 'It's Winston', and then he ran past with his shirt off and I thought, 'Yes, I recognise that boy'." Reid's father, Lyle, still living in Papakura, stated he couldn't believe his son had scored. "My foot nearly went through the floor and my head just about went through the ceiling." But then, as Michael Brown points out, "Winston's always been a player who makes things happen, and things happen around him. He is all power and athleticism, topped up by a dash of cleverness and occasional youthfulness. He can dive in needlessly but then make up for his mistake with a timely tackle."

Given his new found hero status it was perhaps inevitable that within three years the West Ham United defender would be taking over the national team armband previously worn by Ryan Nelsen, who hung up his boots last year to be coach of Major League Soccer side Toronto FC. A well-liked member of the All Whites squad, Reid's was a popular choice to lead the team forward. "There was a couple of giggles when Ricki told them, but they've all been good about it," he admits. The appointment continues a rapid rise for Reid as a player and a leader. The quietly-spoken 25-year-old already has experience of captaincy, having been stand-in skipper for his English Premier League club. He says the most important thing he learned when leading the Hammers was 'just being yourself'. "The main thing is being honest, saying your opinion and just working really hard, really," he said. "They're the main attributes I bring to the table." He knew he had big shoes to fill in succeeding the hugely respected Nelsen and was looking forward to the challenge. "I was very privileged to be a Premier League captain for a side like West Ham," he said. "Now I've got the responsibility of doing it for New Zealand. It's a great honour to captain the national team and me at a young age also."

That responsibility extends to being a figurehead and inspiration for future generations of autochthonous footballers. Football NZ doesn't keep statistics on how many Maori play the sport but indigenous players, female and male, make up around 22 per cent of the country's elite teams. In recent international squads Leo Bertos, Rory Fallon, Jeremy Christie and Reid have Maori whakapapa. Winston says he's always felt a strong connection with New Zealand and his Maori ancestry; he affiliates to Tainui through his father and to Te Rarawa through his mother. "If I can help other young Maori players to start off in soccer, that could be good," Reid states, going on to say that it is one of the reasons he always felt New Zealand was a better place for him to continue his sporting career. "Sometimes you have to follow your heart and your gut. There were other young kids ahead of me for the Danish team but I really wanted to play for New Zealand because I felt more like a Kiwi than a Dane. And my New Zealand family get to see more of me." Like back in Takapuna where Joe Boyle reveals Reid returned a few years ago on holiday and asked whether he could have a kick-about with his old mates. "It was in the middle of winter and we played in a mud heap," smiles Boyle at the recollection. "He didn't really stand out because he was trying to pass the ball and it kept getting stuck in the mud or his team-mates did not anticipate what he was doing. But you could easily see that his game had gone to a higher level."

If Reid is excited about the opportunity to return home next month, then Supporters from across Australasia are also relishing the chance to catch the Hammers in action, with capacity crowds expected for the fixtures with the Phoenix at Eden Park on 23 July and Sydney FC at Westpac Stadium on 26 July. The centre-back praised the Phoenix for enticing West Ham and Newcastle United to become the first English top-flight clubs to visit New Zealand in 29 years. "I've known about the trip for a while," he revealed. "There were a couple of representatives from the Phoenix here [in London] recently and I had a meeting with them where they talked about the interest in bringing the Club down. I thought it sounded exciting and fair play to them, they've done a lot to make it happen and I think the guys are looking forward to it." Reid is also looking forward to having some company on his flight home for once. "The plane is going to be a little more crowded than it usually is," Reid said. "First and foremost, it's going to be good for the public down there to see a couple of good quality teams. It will be good for our squad as well to get out of our normal environment. We're travelling a little bit further abroad than usual and it will be good for the lads to see a country they would perhaps never go to otherwise." Reid and his West Ham team-mates are used to spending their pre-season camps training in hot and sweaty conditions, but conditions in New Zealand are set to be a much cooler. Average July temperatures in Auckland and Wellington are just 11C (52F) and 10C (49F) respectively, meaning the Hammers are more likely to putting on tracksuits than sun cream! However, Reid is remaining optimistic about the weather conditions that await him and his colleagues during what is, first and foremost, a week aimed at getting them fit and sharp ahead of the 2014/15 Barclays Premier League campaign. "Hopefully the weather will be alright in July!" he continued. "I know it will be winter down there, but Auckland is a beautiful city and all the people in New Zealand are very friendly, so I think it'll be ten days of enjoyment, while obviously we'll be working hard in our pre-season. We're going down there for hard work."

And with that he muses upon his own personal journey one last time. "Y’know, footballers are very privileged. I do one of life’s most amazing jobs, where you get to go out and do what you really want to do: to get on a pitch and kick a ball around. Most people aren’t able to do that. That’s what motivates me and makes me happy."

White Heat Of An Entertainment Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Fri, 30 May 2014 17:14:00 +0000

He that has light within his own clear breast May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself his own dungeon...

Fans of the Premier League, cast your minds back to April 12th, 2008. It was the day that Mauro Zárate truly caught the attention of English fans, following up goals the previous month against Reading and Manchester City, with a sumptuous free kick to equalise late on against Everton for relegation threatened Birmingham. Zárate’s brief cameo in England’s second city was just one of several unusual stops in what has been an intriguing, frustrating and often perplexing career, wrote World Soccer's Adam Durack.

Having started life in Haedo, in his native Argentina, Zárate was always destined to be a footballer, coming from a moderately wealthy family with real sporting heritage. His grandfather Juvenal was a Chilean international footballer. His father turned out for both Independiente and Ancona Calcio; while at the latter meeting future Italian wife Catalina. His three older brothers, Ariel, Sergio and Rolando played for Malaga, Nuremburg and Real Madrid respectively during various points in their careers. It was no surprise then when young Mauro showed an aptitude for the family trade at an early age, quickly outgrowing the age groups at Velez Sarsfield to make his debut for the first team at just 17. It was a club for which his brother had made well over 100 appearances and scored 50 goals. If Zárate felt the burden of expectation, he did not show it. He played a part-time role in Velez’ capture of the 2005 Clausura as a teenager, before hitting 19 goals to share the title of top goal scorer for the Apertura with now Inter striker Rodrigo Palacio in the 2006-7 season, his first as regular starter for Velez, and also his last for the club before moving abroad. In the same year in which he was making headlines domestically for his goal scoring form, he earned global recognition, winning the FIFA under-20 World Cup with Argentina in Canada. It was team-mate Sergio Agüero who stole the limelight, earning both the competition’s Golden Ball and Golden Shoe awards for best player and top scorer, as well as a place in the All-Star team. Nevertheless, Zárate stood out at the tournament in and amongst future world stars including Arturo Vidal, Angel Di Maria and Gerard Piqué as a talented young forward, notching a goal in the final against the Czech Republic. Zárate’s future seemed well laid out for him, an oft trodden path taken by Argentinian players of shining domestically before jetting off to the big lights of Europe.

It was at this point that Zárate’s career took one of several unusual terms. The in-demand forward ignored advances from European sides, and the option to continue to forge a reputation at home, in order to make the move to Al-Sadd of Doha, Qatar. This initially puzzling move is perhaps explained by the careers of his brothers, in particular Sergio. Although Rolando had a brief spell at Madrid, none of the Zárate brothers ever made it at a huge club. With Sergio acting as his agent, the move to Al-Sadd came with a reported fee of around £13 million and a lucrative contract, setting Mauro up financially. This Middle Eastern sojourn was to be short lived however, with Zárate making only 6 appearances for Al-Sadd, in which he still managed 4 goals. Within six months Zarate would finally find himself heading to Europe. "I knew the chance to come was very important and, after speaking to Al-Sadd a few times and pushing them for a loan move, they agreed to let me go and here is the result," he told the Daily Mail upon his arrival in England. "Birmingham were the first to come in for me and the ones that pushed the hardest to get me out of there. I am very happy with my choice as I am a big fan of the English game."

Unusually then, Zárate made his debut in Europe in a defeat to Sunderland for a desperately struggling Birmingham. Not the most exotic locations for a silky skilled, fleet footed Argentine attacker to announce himself. Despite this though, and even though Zárate was unable to fire Birmingham to safety, a handful of impressive goals in just over a dozen appearances left him with no shortage of suitors. Having just turned 21 at the time and initially looking lightweight when first introduced to the helter-skelter of English football via the substitutes' bench, Zárate quickly grew in confidence to offer a touch of the unexpected to a workmanlike team. "He's one of those guys that are comfortable with a ball and caressing a ball," enthused then manager Alex McLeish. "I don't want to compare him to the Argentinian greats but he is of that mould. He has great balance and mobility. He can play anywhere along the front four. More importantly he's somebody that we think can create something out of nothing." His first Blues goal came in yet another defeat against Reading, which he followed up with an excellent brace in a 3-1 win at home to Manchester City; the first with his left foot, a delicate chip past Joe Hart, and the second drilled with his right foot low into the far bottom corner. "I don't know if he is a left-footer or a right-footer," teammate Franck Queudrue admitted at the time. "In training sessions he uses both feet. If we don't know which is his best foot, maybe the opposition don't either." That 1-1 draw against Everton in the middle of a barren April for the Blues saw Zárate score his fourth and final goal for the Blues, finishing with 14 appearances, with 8 as a substitute. "I am sure performances like that will make it very difficult for us to hang on to him, but I hope he has a future in the Premier League because he loves his football and he's a great kid," admitted McLeish. "He will be a good asset to one of the big clubs. It's just a shame that our situation counted against us." Predictably Blues’ relegation from the Premiership saw any hopes of a permanent transfer vanish, and it turned out to be a case of ‘what if?’, as David Sullivan announced that a deal had been in place to bring Zárate in on a long-term basis, on the condition of surviving relegation.

Facing a reluctant return to the Middle East, the ‘El Pibe de Haedo's’ next step was instead to a more suitable stage for his abilities, the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the Eternal City. Although still a rather unknown quantity when he arrived at Lazio, Zárate wasted little time in showing his desire to take centre stage with the Biancocelesti. On an initial loan, Zárate immediately set about impressing, leading owner Claudio Lotito to label him "better than Messi" and endearing himself to the fans with two goals on his debut away to Cagliari before notching a breathtaking goal in his first home game. Writing in La Repubblica, Giulio Cardone recalled: "Zárate instantly showed what he has, in a debut which finished 4-1 to Lazio at the Sant’Elia – blazing dribbling, a powerful shot, ice cold. That, ice cold, temperament which allowed him to score the equalising penalty. The real feat came later, lobbing with his left – the boy is ambidextrous – a desperately onrushing Marchetti, with the slimmest margins of success." With superior acceleration, dribbling ability and a powerful shot from either foot, observed Paolo Bandini, he possessed not only the flair to fire fans’ imaginations but also the ruthlessness to ensure his fancy footwork didn’t go to waste. Zárate found the net six times in the opening five weeks; a spectacular beginning gifting Lazio their best start to a Serie A campaign for a decade, and earning 'The Zárate Kid' instant legendary status amongst the Curva Nord faithful. His finest moment came on April 11th when Lazio hosted arch rivals Roma in the Derby della Capitale. With Rome’s other no. 10 declaring Zárate was not a true champion in the days preceding the encounter, 'Maurito' responded in stylish fashion scoring a wonder strike just four minutes into the game stunning Roma and silencing the doubters. With Lazio reaching the final of the Coppa Italia just a month later Zárate yet again took centre stage and scored an almost carbon copy of his derby wonder strike. With the game billed as a showdown between himself and Cassano, the Argentinian had once again proved he could stand up when it counted showing the makings of a true champion. As Lazio lifted their first piece of silverware since the glory days of the Cragnotti era, a genuine love affair bloomed between Zárate and the Lazio ultras. On the field he continued to delight with his skilful play and eye for goal, finishing the season with 16 in all competitions; off it he mocked hated rival Totti ("He speaks too much and forgets that he is already finished - he has not scored for 10 derbies!"), and even watched matches he wasn’t involved in with the fans, a practice that would result in much controversy in 2010. Serving a two-match ban for insulting a referee during a game against Sampdoria, Zárate was pictured among the avid and notoriously pro-fascist sections of home support making a Nazi salute, an incident for which he would preposterously claim ignorance of who Hitler or Mussolini were and that he "did not realise the significance of his gesture".

An indiscretion attributed to the vagaries of youth, similar allowances were made for Zárate's on field tendency towards profligate indulgence. "There is nothing so bold as a blind mare," cooed Lotito as by Christmas his charge was named one of the wonders of the Serie A season so far by Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Has a star been born?" asked Cardone with some reservation, before concluding: "It’s too soon to say, but he seems far too in love with the ball." As befits the virtuoso, Zárate only truly flourished through the subservience of the collective. Writing in Football Italiano, David Swan observed: "When Zárate first joined Lazio he was under the guidance of Delio Rossi, who had a lot of trust in him. He was used as the reference point of the attack, the go-to guy, and everyone else played around him. The 4-3-1-2/4-3-2-1 Rossi primarily used is ideal to this end, but it still took courage to make a guy the focal point of the attack when his only experience of football in Europe was 14 games with Birmingham City." Even more so when you consider Rossi also had Goran Pandev at his disposal, who had just finished his best ever season in club football in terms of performances. True or not, his performances on loan were enough to convince Lotito to stump up approximately £17 million for Zárate to buy out his contract, an arrangement that would later surface as yet another of many controversies that plagued his career. With the buying out of his contract in Doha it seemed that a bright future was all but assured. There were even rumours in the Corriere dello Sport that if Argentina continued to ignore Zárate, Marcello Lippi would make the striker the latest 'Oriundi' to switch to Italy after Mauro Camoranesi and Amauri.

The good times at Lazio wouldn't last for Zárate. For all of the positives, he had noticeably faded in his first season, revealing the selfishness to his game that although not an issue when he was firing, became problematic when he was off his game. Unfortunately, it was this Zárate and not the one that had made such a good first impression that returned to preseason the following year. Lazio had changed managers over the summer, Delio Rossi replaced by the less indulgent Davide Ballardini, and with Zárate struggling to replicate his previous season’s form he was criticised by the manager for his selfishness in possession; a trait that has seen Zárate chastised by coaches since his days as a youth player. On one infamous occasion with the Vélez Sarsfield youth team, Zárate’s coach is said to have left him on the bench as a punishment for not passing more. Upon being introduced as a second-half substitute, the player won possession deep in his own half and ran the length of the pitch, beating several opponents before rounding the goalkeeper. He then stopped the ball on the goal-line, and left it there, running back towards midfield. As he did, he shouted over to his coach: "Now you put it in!" Zárate’s pivotal role had also changed. "He was not always the focal point of the attack, especially when partnered with Julio Cruz, and this was confirmed with the arrival of Sergio Floccari in January 2010," noted Swan. "Performances started to dip, and the constant moving of the player to facilitate a return to the highs of 2008/09 began." Indeed there is a direct correlation between the inconsistency of Zárate's performances and the inconsistency of his tactical deployment. Successive coaches, argues Swan, have experienced real difficulty in finding a position best suited to harness the Argentine’s undoubted talent. He played on the left, on the right, as a 'seconda punta' and as the main man in attack.

With Lazio fighting at the wrong end of the Serie A table and Zárate struggling for form in a season in which he only notched 3 goals in the league, things finally came to a head in January. Zárate had returned to Argentina early before the official Serie A winter break without permission in December. Ballardini was outraged and made his feelings known to the press: "He is a great player if he is in the game. As for quality, he remains one of those players who can invent something in any given moment. But management is not only about teaching technique. It also means education, respect for your team-mates, professionalism. This is what I am talking about. There is an attitude that bothers me a lot. You can make mistakes but you also have to reflect on your errors. I look at attitude. This behaviour is not right towards his team-mates, those people with whom he trains, but also the fans who like to see Zárate. Mauro is an extraordinary player. The argument is regards his attitude. He could be much more useful to the team." Unapologetic, the reaction from the Zárate camp was for his brother Sergio to demand that Ballardini be given the sack, or else Lazio would face losing Mauro: "Lotito will have to decide who goes". Lotito stuck by his big money, mercurial forward and Ballardini was relieved of his duties on February 10th, 2010.

Unfortunately for Lazio and Lotito, Zárate didn’t get on much better with Ballardini’s replacement. He finished the season with just three league goals in 32 games, and was later chastised by new manager, Edy Reja, after showing up the following preseason training 5kg heavier than his usual playing weight. The forward scored nine goals in 2011-12 but even his sublime moments appeared increasingly isolated in a sea of anonymous performances. "He [Zárate] is always convinced he can get past his man, but football is a game played by 11, not on your own," complained Reja. "I’ve been here for a year now, as soon as I saw him play, I saw how he trained and I kept him to one side, depending on Rocchi and Floccari and we achieved safety." Accusations of selfishness when playing up-front appear to have influenced the frequency with which Reja started him in a game with a strike partner – only twice in 2011 did this happened. The rest of Zárate’s year was spent out wide, or on the bench, and it was the benching that was most indicative of the Coach’s frustration. "The supposed selfishness is not a tremendous attribute for a wide player or a seconda punta, and it is difficult to get round that unwanted addition to the team through anything other than keeping him away from the starting XI, which became an increasing occurrence," observed Swan. When he did play, the outspoken Sergio had problems with the style his brother was asked to adopt. Against Palermo, following defeat in the derby, Zárate was tasked with tracking back on the right hand flank in order to assist Lionel Scaloni. Enter Sergio... "They’re destroying my brother … he’s not a full back. I hope to see him attacking." Problems arose again when Zárate arrived an hour late to training for a match against Catania, claiming he had misread the meeting time. Reja spared no quarter, and put him on the bench as a punishment. Except that the lesson he was trying to teach Zárate by excluding him from the game didn’t quite go to plan. Just thirteen minutes in Giuseppe Sculli was injured and Reja turned to the bench, with what must have been disgruntlement, and called Zárate into the fray. What followed, was a determined performance from a young man who looked like he was playing for the team. He provided two assists, in positions where he may have ordinarily chosen to shoot himself, and topped his performance off with a goal direct from a 25 yard free kick into the bottom left corner of Andujar’s goal. After the game Reja joked: "I liked the way he came into the game [attitude off the bench]. Perhaps I’ll start him from the bench in Milan against Inter as well."

The problem for Lazio is that these decisive performances had been few and far between, and his fate at the club appeared to remain constantly in the balance. Earlier in 2010, Zárate had cost Lazio and Lotito yet more money. Lazio were ordered to pay solidarity payment to Velez Sarsfield, fees that the club believed they had avoided by giving Zárate the money to buy out his contract at Al-Sadd rather than pay the club a transfer fee. Zárate had always been a luxury item, but now he was an under-performing luxury with dramatically declining economic worth. When Zárate’s deal was made permanent in 2009 the newspaper La Repubblica had confidently predicted that: "Lotito is assured a profit if he ever sells the player, given that his fee is sure to be over €30m." Now he would be prepared to accept half that amount as Zárate’s reputation as a troublemaker preceded him and potential suitors balked at Lazio’s valuation. Eventually a loan move to Inter was arranged with the option for a permanent transfer. The Nerazzurri paid €2.6m for a season-long loan, with an option to buy for €16m at the end of the campaign. "It came about as a result of a phone call with Lotito," revealed Inter President Massimo Moratti. "I got the impression that with a few negotiations we would be able to find a solution allowing us to take him on loan and then weigh up whether to buy him outright. He’s a lovely lad, I met him today. He’s overjoyed to have the chance to come to Inter and now everything is in the hands of the coach." At the time it seemed like a good deal for all parties, offering the player a chance to revive his career, Lazio the possibility of recouping most of his initial transfer fee and Inter a wide forward who could operate in new manager Gian Piero Gasperini’s 3-4-3. Once again, however, Zárate fell short of expectations. Despite being offered a €15,000 assist bonus by Inter— a ruse to counter-act his perceived selfishness— he finished the campaign with just three appearances in all competitions, as well as three goals. The Nerazzurri did not take up their option, and Zarate returned to Lazio. "It all went wrong," Zárate explained. "It was not a good season and not just for me. Except for Diego Milito who scored a ton of goals, almost all of us were below par, below what we are capable of. Three different coaches, a strange season, but it is over and you have to start again. Now I want to go play and have fun."

The whole episode might be seen as a metaphor for the player’s frustrating career. Zárate could argue that he was scuppered by events beyond his control – Inter sacking Gasperini after just five games. Others, however, would point out that the player did little to fight perceptions that he simply didn’t care enough about his work. Zárate developed a reputation for loving the nightlife in Milan, and was caught partying in a nightclub just hours after Inter’s defeat to Udinese. But where Zárate could get away with such an egotistical approach in youth football, the harsh reality is that he can’t at this level. He is a good player, notes Bandini, one whose technique and close control are well above average even for Serie A. But he is not the phenomenon that he was once made out to be. He is no Messi, nor even— to cite a player known to adopt a similarly selfish approach at times— an Arjen Robben. Writing in his Calcio Considered blog, Rob Paton offered a fascinating insight into the Zárate conundrum as seen through the prism of Inter's victory against Cagliari in November 2011. With Inter in search of just their second home win of the Serie A season, Claudio Ranieri took a risk at half-time. Having already lost Wesley Sneijder in the pre-match warm-up, the coach removed the side’s most active player from the first half – Mauro Zárate – and replaced him with Ricky Alvarez. "The Lazio-owned Argentine’s 45 minutes were involved, as in Sneijder’s absence he took on a roving attacking role, but four shots – twice as many as any other teammate – matched with a 57 per cent pass completion – 30 per cent lower than any other teammate – perhaps highlights where his focus on proceedings was," revealed Paton. "On more than one occasion did the Argentine pick up possession in one of the channels only to cut inside and attempt either a lobbed pass or, more commonly, a shot from outside the penalty area. Match reports also recorded his tendency to block teammate Philippe Coutinho for space." Statistically, notes Paton, no-one contributed more to the team’s attacking in the first half than Zárate and he was within inches of opening the scoring from a free-kick. However, as many of the post-match pagelle marks highlight, his performance was interpreted negatively, as trying to win the game alone – one pundit described it as 'more heat than light for his team'. Indeed, tactically, Zárate’s continued decision-making saw him generally take three or four touches before releasing the ball and it visibly allowed for Cagliari to often anticipate play and organise themselves to push out of their penalty area, in what proved to be a frustrating first half for the Nerazzurri," he writes. "That replacement Alvarez provided a cross for the first goal and played a quick pass in the build-up to the second did Zárate’s choices on Saturday evening no good. In effect, Alvarez – with the clear and simple directive to target left-back Alessandro Agostini for pace – provided the light that Zárate’s heat could not generate."

That Alvarez’ introduction and Coutinho’s increased influence in the second half came with a formation change to 4-3-3 is perhaps Zárate’s saving grace. It leaves focus as much on Inter’s best formation as it does on individual contributions within that. It was still telling, though, that both Ranieri and President Moratti were vocal in their praise of both Alvarez’ impact and that the team had won by playing as a unit. If Zárate were ever to truly devote himself to the service of his team-mates, argues Bandini, he would certainly have been a valuable asset to Lazio or any other team. Instead, he found himself back on the margins. He and his agents sought to blame Lotito for that fact, but the club’s latest manager, Vladimir Petkovic, painted a rather different picture the following December, when he claimed that the player had "removed himself" from the squad. Unhappy to be sat on the bench, a place he has detested his entire career, Zárate allegedly failed to respond to a call-up for Lazio’s game against Inter. Even the supporters who once adored Zárate now turned against him. "Wherever he goes, Mauro will be loved and appreciated by the Lazio fans," blustered one of his agents Luis Ruzzi as the team resumed training after the winter break. Those supporters responded with a banner which read: "The true champion is humble. He goes and collects the balls when training with the reserves. He doesn’t cry on Twitter, and he reduces his wages. He does not cling on to an overly generous contract. Zárate: get lost."

Again Zárate began angling to leave the club, clamouring for a transfer termination. When an international break rolled round in March last year nine Lazio players were called up to represent their countries in friendlies and World Cup qualifiers over the fortnight, but the forward was not among them. Not surprising, noted Bandini, since six years had passed since Zarate’s late strike against the Czech Republic won Argentina the Under-20 World Cup, yet he has still never played for the senior side. Instead Zárate too boarded a plane bound for the far side of the planet but rather than boots and shinpads, he packed swimming trunks and flippers. To celebrate his 26th birthday, the player had decided to indulge in a mid-season mini-break to the Maldives. Lazio had not granted him permission to do so. Indeed, Zárate had never asked. Instead he simply presented club officials with a sick note from his doctor which stated that he needed a few days off training to recover from a skin condition caused by "fatigue". The cynics wondered what could possibly have brought on such a state. Zárate had been training apart from the first-team for months, and by most accounts not over-exerting himself. Either way, he was granted the time off and swiftly set out on his secret sojourn. He might have got away with it, too, if it weren’t for the fact that there happened to be a Lazio supporter on holiday at the very same resort. That fan put in a phone call to Rome’s Radio Sei, informing listeners that he had just seen the player snorkeling in the Indian Ocean. Zárate returned to training on 22 March amid reports that the club would impose a fine as great as €400,000. As the club compiled their evidence against the player, Zárate upped the ante himself, initiating legal action to have his contract with Lazio terminated. Zárate’s agent, Ruzzi, telling reporters that he had assembled "many documents" to support their case. He argued that Zárate had been frozen out of training by Lazio and also denied the opportunity to leave the club, two acts that would effectively constitute a restraint of trade.

Lazio have been here before. In 2009 Zárate’s then colleague Pandev announced his desire to leave Lazio and was consequently frozen out of the club by Lotito. Pandev had his contract rescinded after being forced to train apart from the rest of the team for several months. The player had sought a move away in the previous transfer window and successfully argued that the club was denying him the right to play as a punishment for those actions. Lazio eventually had to pay the Macedonian for emotional distress. Pandev then of course went on to win the treble with José Mourinho’s Inter. Fast forward three years and Zárate was thought to have been on his way to Dynamo Kiev the previous month (Ukraine’s transfer window does not close until the end of February) but the move eventually fell through. Zárate has accused Lazio’s owner of raising the transfer fee after a deal had already been agreed. Others have claimed that it was Zárate’s demand for a release clause in his contract which scuppered the move. Whether Lotito does unfairly treat his players, or just has a penchant for signing troublemakers is up for debate. "However, in the case of Zárate, it is certainly feasible given the players track record for misbehaving that he played a role in the collapsed deal with Dinamo Kiev," argues Durack.

Last July, Zárate finally got his way, ignoring overtures from Sunderland and Tottenham to sign for former club Velez Sarsfield. Earlier that month, he had taken to Twitter to declare: "From now on I’m free, finally I can go and play elsewhere". Interviewed by Argentinian newspaper Olé on his return, Zarate stated: "After I returned to Lazio from Inter I was frozen out by President Lotito and his gang which consisted of the Sporting Director, the coach and 2-3 players. I have never seen anything like this before but this President does these kind of things." Although the legal wranglings surrounding his contract with Lazio persisted, Zárate quickly rediscovered his form on native soil. Replacing both Fernando Gago as the big name in the dressing room and last year’s top scorer Facundo Ferreyra, Zárate has not only been the 2014 Torneo Final’s top goal-scorer with 13 goals (also scoring the most goals across the entire season, with 18 strikes to his name), but has also been one of the championship’s top assists contributor as well. "The Velez Sarsfield forward found the time to top both charts even whilst being immersed in his side’s rotation policy so as to keep players fresh for both domestic and Toyota Libertadores Cup duties," declared Football Rants's Daniel Fraiz Martinez. "Zárate has quite simply been exceptional this season, and is the only pick for Player of The Season. His outstanding play, and the range and depth of his influence on both his club, and the domestic competition alike could be somewhat akin to that of Luis Suarez’s contribution this season to the Premier League."

Now there will be the chance for a direct comparison as Zárate finally completed his move to West Ham United, after signing a three-year deal. "This signing is based on his record from being in Argentina, where he has scored the goals that he has scored because we are looking for some goals," Sam Allardyce told the club's official website. "Hopefully he is going to settle in quickly and bring us those sort of options that we need to be more successful in terms of goalscoring next season. We hope that a combination of the fact that he knows the Premier League and now he has become more experienced and more mature, he is going to have evolved in terms of giving us a few more goals in the Premier League when he gets the opportunity. He is a different type of player to what we have already got, which is what we have been looking for for a while. He is small and sharp and quick and has got good feet, so hopefully he can give us another dimension for what we don't have in the squad at the moment." Zárate becomes the fourth Argentine to represent West Ham following Lionel Scaloni, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez. "This is a new chance for me and I want to play," he stated. "I think I played well for Velez this season and that was important for me. I had some good team-mates and they helped to make it a fantastic season for me. If you ask me what I can bring to the squad then I say I hope I will bring goals! I will also bring dribbling skills and other attacking qualities. West Ham is a very important club and we know all about them and the Premier League in Argentina. This club is a beautiful club. I know English football from my time at Birmingham and I hope I will play well and reach the highest possible level."

Despite guiding the Hammers to a respectable 13th-place finish in 2013-14, manager Sam Allardyce found himself the subject of increasing criticism as the season progressed and many fans demanded a more eye-catching brand of football. Frustrations peaked during a 1-0 loss to West Bromwich Albion in April, where a banner reading 'Fat Sam out, killing WHU' underlined the distaste with which a section of the club’s support viewed the product on the field. West Ham’s board seemed to share their concerns, albeit rather more subtly, and it was only recently that they confirmed Allardyce would be returning as manager next season. The vote of confidence, however, came with a caveat. "After listening to feedback from supporters," read a statement posted on the club’s official website, "the board have insisted on improvements to the set-up of the playing and backroom staff to ensure the team provides more entertainment next season." The statement also divulged that the board would have 'greater involvement' in player acquisitions, and it’s likely the pursuit of Zárate began in its chambers. "No doubt Zárate will be expected to become the centre-piece of the Premier League outfit’s entertainment revolution," notes Bleacher Report's Jerrad Peters, "but in no way is the Argentinian an Allardyce player, and in no way does he fit the template of cautious, hard-nosed football— high in crosses and low in creativity— currently used at the Boleyn Ground. A support attacker who can also operate as a lone striker and left-sided forward, the 5'9" Zárate generates goalscoring opportunities with equal parts speed and skill— dribbling at pace and shooting from distance with either foot. But he is also wildly inconsistent— a mercurial talent— and has a history of clashing with club executives and indiscipline." When Paolo di Canio is describing you as "selfish, not very useful to the team and with little personality" any West Ham fan would be entitled to choke on their jellied eels.

Upon leaving Lazio for Velez, Zárate famously thanked the fans and declared that "I have always given my all to the Lazio shirt." It is a patently untrue statement, argues Durack. "Between weight gain, nights out, on pitch selfishness and constantly resisting ever being a substitute, during his time at Lazio it is obvious Zárate played for himself. Unfortunately for Lotito, Zárate is not better than Messi, and could not afford to show so little disregard towards playing for the team. There is no doubt that on his day, Zárate is a pleasure to watch and if he could just resist that little voice inside his head that tells him to take on just one more man, or shoot rather than pass, he has all the qualities to be a top player." At 27 years old, Zárate should theoretically be at the peak of his powers, and has done well enough last season to deserve another chance in the big leagues. Yet it would be wise for any potential suitors to think long and hard about why it is that Zárate has not yet achieved the success that was anticipated of his career. And ask why things should be any different if they sign him. "Zárate could still have the career that beckoned to him when he was younger," concludes Durack, "but he will need to convince the world that his petulant ways are behind him if he ever wants to be more than just a big fish in a small pond." That Mauro Zarate will bring the heat to East London is a given; we can but hope for all concerned that he will also bring the light.

The Velociraptor Impulse

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 19:50:00 +0000

Panting, he runs up the wing. On one side await the heavens of glory; on the other, ruin's abyss. The player, penned Eduardo Galeano, is the envy of the neighbourhood; the professional athlete who escaped the factory or the office and gets paid to have fun. He won the lottery. And even if he does have to sweat buckets, with no right to fatigue or failure, he gets into the papers and on TV, his name is on the radio, women swoon over him and children yearn to be like him. Nowhere is this more true than in Tumaco. An impoverished tropical port city on the Pacific coast of Colombia, close to the Ecuador border, it is proudly called the 'Semillero de Futbolistas' for the 1400 such players it has gifted to the world of football. From its streets, beaches and vacant lots have emerged the genius of Willington Ortiz, the deadly shot of Leider Preciado, the explosive stride of Jairo Castillo, the intuitive poaching of Eladio Vasquez and now, more recently, the 'horse lungs' of West Ham United's newest recruit, Pablo Armero. Because everybody plays football in Tumaco. No matter where: the front yard of a house, or the busy road where the main traffic signal stops cars with a flashing black silhouetted figure kicking a ball. On asphalt, sand, or grass, the young Tumaqueños attack and defend improvised goals of clothes baskets, oil drums and stones. There is little else to do in this town of less than two hundred thousand people, so it is said, where all they have is poverty and a passion for the game.

The main meeting place and the most famous pitch in Tumaco is El Bajito, located on a beach of the same name known for its sandy soil and goals of square wooden sticks. It is where, a few metres from the sea, a shirtless and barefoot 'Pablito' took his first faltering steps on the road to stardom. El Bajito, explains Armero, is an invitation to play football. All day, every day the games only stop when the vehement noon sun dehydrates and burns the feet: old timers running two miles per hour, fans who meet informally every Sunday morning or football schools as directed by Nery Estupiñán. A familiar figure in his faded Millonarios shirt, Nery discovered Jairo "El Tigre" Castillo when he was a kid living on the Avenida de los Estudiantes, just a couple of blocks away. The 'eyes of Nery' have witnessed thousands of children over the years and continue to see as many as a hundred on any given afternoon. It is estimated that less than 10% of these young players have or will ever become professional footballers because life in Tumaco is hard, they say, but getting out is even harder. Adapting to the cold, the vicissitudes of the big city and the excessive competitiveness are all recognized obstacles to those hopefuls looking for escape; not to mention coping with the logistics of having to be transported by bus and and/or canoe and a changing diet. It is an endemic problem for Colombians in general, thinks South American football expert Tim Vickery, where careers go astray from the moment when the youngster signs his first big contract. Lacking the maturity to cope with sudden wealth and fame, the journey from zero to hero is too quick for the player to assimilate the changes. Then there is the threat of a premature move to Europe where the youngster fails to get a regular game. Yet still the scouts come, perpetually seduced by the sight of these young hopefuls galloping effortlessly over the thick blanket of sand. "Learning to play with your feet buried in the sand is the secret of the players of Tumaco," confides Nery as if revealing it for the first time. "When these guys eventually get on the playing field they take flight," he smiles before recalling the high-stepping Willington Ortiz dribbling through the River Plate defence one famous night in 1981. It is also the reason, he suggests, for Armero's own rather distinctive gait; squat, explosive and rapaciously aggressive it has earned him the sobriquet of 'The Velociraptor'.

The reminiscing Nery is typical of an Afro-Colombian people who remember their famous sons with a lucid memory that borders on religious fervour. They follow the exploits of the Tumaqueños playing abroad, like Armero in Europe, and congregate in any corner to follow América de Cali. Appropriately nicknamed 'La Pasión de un Pueblo', América are the pride of the most populous city in the region and are the second most successful team in Colombia. Naturally enough it is also the club from whose youthful quarry the raw Pablo Armero was hew and shaped. Having signed his first professional contract in 2004, Armero made his debut in the Categoría Primera A shortly after his eighteenth birthday. It was the natural progression for a player who had already played with distinction for the Colombian Under 17 team in the previous year's World Cup. He would go on to see success at the Bolivarian Games and a year later at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games. During the subsequent 108 matches over four years he would spend in the 'Diablos Rojos' shirt, Armero appeared in nearly every outfield position, scoring 6 goals in the process. By 2008, his final season at the Estadio Olímpico, he had developed into the raiding left-back for which he would become synonymous and scouts all across South America were beginning to take notice. "Although not excessively tall, Armero is a player who possesses enormous strength and very good physical condition as demonstrated by bestial power and great speed," wrote José Bonilla in El Triunfo del Futbol Elegante. As a wide player he exhibits a feisty character and is also thoughtful and expedient in defense. His greatest virtue though is his offensive ambition and counter attacking instincts. Without being a marvel of technical ability, he loves to join the attack with conviction, often surging forward with unusual speed, strength and power. Possessed of a dangerous shot from distance if the opportunity arises, Armero consistently gets to the byline and can usually be counted on to deliver good crosses." Now also a full international- he made his senior debut in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying defeat in Chile that September- Armero played a pivotal role in helping America Cali win their 13th championship. Languishing in Colombia's second tier, it remains the last piece of silverware the club has won. By seasons end Armero's player registration had been bought by the Turbo Sports investment company, operating through the tiny (and now defunct) Poços de Caldas Futebol Clube, for the price of $2 million. Armero's departure would precipitate a downward spiral for Cali that has yet to be arrested.

Turbo Sports were most known in South American football circles at the time for their handling of former Corinthians, Arsenal and Brazil left-back/left winger André Santos. Now acting as Armero's agent, for three months Turbo scouted prospective clubs for their client's services before finally settling on Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, one of Brazil's most popular and successful teams. For their part, Palmeiras had already scouted the Colombian and having also watched a bank of videos agreed an initial six month loan of Armero in January 2009. Pablo was immediately installed as first choice left-back; a position the club had struggled to fill since losing Leandro two years previously. During the course of this season the 22-year-old would quickly learn what was required to perform consistently in a more competitive league. After winning recognition for both his speed and crossing abilities, Armero helped the Verdão reach the São Paulo State Championship semi-finals where they would eventually lose to Santos. In a 4–1 win against Náutico in July, with Palmeiras now sitting top of the Brazilian Série A, Armero scored his one and only goal. It was the moment he would gain notoriety throughout Brazil for his unusual dance celebrations; in this case his adaptation of the State of Bahia carnival hit 'Rebolation', that was named the 'Armeration' by the press. In what has become a pattern throughout his career, Armero's distinctive style of dancing spreads like a contagion through his teammates in every team he has played for. His love of movement, he explains, is a legacy of the legendary Luis Antonio Biohó. A teacher in Tumaco, he would only receive into his football school those boys who could dance the Currulao, an indigenous dance with its roots among the Afro-Colombian community. Biohó considered anyone unable to wiggle their hips to the beat of cununo, guasá and marimba to be incapable of evading his opponents on the football pitch. "If you dance well, you play well," Armero repeats Biohó's maxim, convinced that he is conferring an ancient and elemental truth. It is the reason, he insists, that there is a palpable musical sense to all Tumaqueños footballers; as readily identifiable as the samba beat to Brazil.

The start of the following season saw Armero as once again a first team regular. In a demonstration of his versatility he was now increasingly asked to adapt to a more orthodox attacking left-wing role; the position for which he had been voted the second best in the league months earlier by the Brazilian Football Federation. Despite not always convincing the discerning Palmeiras fans of his technical ability, the Velociraptor's combination of explosive power and searing pace rendered him so unplayable at times that covetous eyes from Europe were beginning to take notice. Perhaps aware of the burgeoning talent on their hands, Palmeiras bought 20% of Armero's economic and 'non-dividable' registration rights in June 2010 in a move to secure an equivalent percentage of any future transfer fee. The following month, after just 36 appearances, Armero signed a pre-contract with Italian Serie A side Parma only for the deal to collapse a few days later. Italy's ignominious exit from the World Cup finals in South Africa (as defending champions they finished bottom of their group) a fortnight earlier prompted the Italian Football Federation to ratify a new rule limiting the number of non-EU acquisitions to one player per season. Effective immediately, Parma suddenly found themselves in breach of the quota rules having also already agreed to sign the Brazilian youth international Zé Eduardo. Forced to choose between the two, the Gialloblù opted for the defensive midfielder and in terminating Armero's contract found themselves obliged to pay reparations. In hindsight Parma's loss would be Udinese's gain. At the end of August the Zebrette announced that the club had secured the player for a fee believed to be in the region of €5 million. As if to add insult to Parma's injury, while Zé Eduardo would go on make just 6 first team appearances before being loaned out to a series of ever more obscure teams, Armero was about to explode onto the European scene. "I left with a happy heart," smiles the Colombian, "because I’d made friends and I’d worked in a great country. I learned a lot in Brazil." For Kristian Bengtson, writing for Anything Palmeiras, the feeling was mutual even if the player did not always live up to the huge expectations. "Few players have shown so much heart, dedication and commitment as Armero did during his stay in the club," he noted. "Who can forget the tears streaming from his face after being substituted already in the first half in a game against Corinthians? Or his ecstatic joy while commemorating a pass that lead to a goal in Palmeiras’ 4-3 win against Santos? Men like these don’t grow on trees in this day and age."

Linking up with compatriots Christian Zapata and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado at the Stadio Friuli, the new arrival slotted seamlessly into the left wing-back position in Francesco Guidolin's 3–5–2/5-3-2 formation. "Early in my time at Udinese I had to gain the trust of the coach," explained Armero. "We made a poor start in the first weeks of the season and that persuaded him to take a gamble on me." Taking over from Giovanni Pasquale, the Colombian would feature in 31 Serie A games in his debut season; his contribution of two goals and three assists playing a pivotal role in helping the side return to Champions League football. Operating in tandem with Chilean Mauricio Isla, it was widely accepted that Udinese now had the best wing-back partnership in Serie A. As if to underscore that fact, Armero found himself voted into the 2010/11 Serie A Team of the Year in the company of the likes of Nesta, Ibrahimovic, Cavani and Hamsik. An unprecedented achievement for a young South American player getting his first taste of Italian football, the agent who helped broker the deal to bring Armero to Udine insists nobody should have been surprised at the player's success. "He was already a Colombian international which therefore meant that he was a valuable player," states Claudio Vagheggi. "Udinese took him from Palmeiras, which is one of the great Brazilian and South American teams. In short, his pedigree was already talking for him. The Friuli were convinced that the player had the ability and Pablo has proven to be able to adapt quickly to the Italian championship." One team certainly taking notice was Barcelona who reportedly tracked Armero's rapid progress for the entire second half of the season. Having been stymied by Tottenham's excessive valuation of Gareth Bale, the Catalan giants were in the market to replace the stricken Éric Abidal.

For their part Udinese have cultivated an enviable reputation in recent years for the assiduous accumulation of relatively unknown players; adroitly nurturing latent talent before selling to bigger clubs. As marriages go Udinese and Armero was a match made in heaven; not least because the player finally got to play in his strongest position. "I like attacking football, but I also like to defend," insists Armero. "It is why I feel most comfortable in the position of wing-back." Unfortunate then that he would find himself playing as a left-sided winger in a 4–4–1–1 formation by the time of the qualifying round for the Champions League the following August. With new signing Neuton playing behind him, Armero failed to shine as Udinese lost home and away to Arsenal. After missing the opening round of the 2011/12 season, Armero returned from international duty to score the winner against Rennes in his first ever UEFA Europa League match. Although the Bianconeri would ultimately get knocked out in the last sixteen against AZ Alkmaar, Armero was now back in his favoured wing-back role and embarking on what would be the defining season in his career to date. With a greater accent on counter-attack, Udinese boasted the best defensive record in Serie A through the first fifteen weeks of the season. Meanwhile, the sale of both Alexis Sánchez and Gökhan Inler had placed an even greater onus on Armero to also provide an attacking thrust. It was a challenge he would accept manfully. In March Gabriele Marcotti reported there was now strong interest from Liverpool, whose officials had already met with the player's Brazilian agent to discuss a possible end of season transfer. "For those who don't know", he wrote, "Armero is a left wing-back/winger. Very fast, very direct. Very good. The weakest part of his game is his end product." As scouting reports go it was nothing if not succinct. For the second consecutive season Udinese qualified for the Champions League- clinching third place on the final day of the season with a 2–0 away win against Catania- while Armero finished with ten assists. An astounding number for a defender, especially one with a supposedly suspect final ball, it was bettered only by Andrea Pirlo, Fabrizio Miccoli and Sebastian Giovinco.

Armero would spend the ensuing summer in the eye of a transfer storm as Juventus and Napoli waged a war for his affections that played out daily across the pages of Corriere della Sport and La Gazzetta. Yet even as Udinese were fighting off a cannonade of offers, there remained a degree of skepticism among the fans in both Turin and Naples concerning a defender described by Vickery as "beguiling, frustrating, surprising". The Italians, after all, have an obsession with the art of defending. Although not quite as prevalent as it once was, the mentality of 'prima, non prenderla' (our first priority is a clean sheet) still endures and manifests itself in a low tolerance for tactical injudiciousness. "You have to be prepared to have a left-back who is much better going forward than he is defending," posited Vickery when considering how to get the best out of Armero, before adding: "He's not going to do a lot of defending in the air at the far post." Implicit in the observation is the suggestion that Armero can ill be trusted in an orthodox back four. "Cafu without brains," quipped one Turin journalist as Armero's transfer appeared to loom near. "He can't play fullback, his 1-on-1 defending is sub-par, and worst of all he gives the ball away time and time again in dangerous positions," came the withering response from Naples, before adding, "he's sometimes a headless chicken albeit a very energetic and enthusiastic one." As so often with Armero, perception has not always matched reality. In the previous summer's Copa America, for example, the Colombian had performed admirably on the left side of a back four; including an assured performance in a high pressure goalless draw with the host nation Argentina. As for question marks over his final delivery, statistics revealed that of the 115 crosses Armero had delivered into the box during his time in Serie A, 35 (30.2%) had led to a goal scoring opportunity. "I have learned a lot from the Italian league, especially in the tactical, both on the defensive and offensive," thinks Armero, before adding: "I can still improve a lot."

It would be Napoli who eventually gave Armero the opportunity to further develop his career but not until the following January transfer window. In the meantime there was yet more Champions League heartache as Udinese failed to reach the group stage for the second consecutive season after losing on penalties to Portuguese club Braga. An ever present in the league and a regular in the Europa League, by the time Armero arrived at the Stadio San Paolo- initially on loan with the option to make a permanent switch in the summer- the defender had clocked up another 16 appearances. "Udine is a very pleasant town," Armero would say about his time with the Zebrette. "I had no problems in finding myself at ease and I adapted pretty well to the environment, managing to do my best. We were a fantastic group and the squad was young, yet very ambitious. That's why we able to achieve great things." In Walter Mazzarri's Napoli, Armero was joining a team seemingly tailor-made for his strengths. Renowned for their rapid incisive counter-attacking style- in a 3-4-3/3-5-2 formation in which Edinson Cavani was supported by Argentinian Ezequiel Lavezzi and Slovakian star Marek Hamšík- Armero was viewed as the perfect foil for his right-sided counterpart Christian Maggio. Nonetheless, with the Partenopei heading for a second place in Serie A, the club's best performance since winning the 1989–90 Scudetto, Armero was forced to bide his time behind compatriot Camilo Zuniga; mostly appearing off the bench for the remainder of the 2012-13 season.

Despite making just four competitive starts during his loan spell, Armero made the permanent move to Napoli for a reported €4 million last summer. By now, though, Rafa Benitez was at the helm and, as Mina Rzouki observed, "a team that had played a three-man back-line since 2004 suddenly altered the formation and was turned into a proactive team capable of adapting to each situation." Deployed in a more suitable 'European' formation of 4-2-3-1, she noted, "the Partenopei took the foundation laid by Edy Reja and Walter Mazzarri and combined it with more intelligent ideas" to create a team capable of winning nine of their opening eleven fixtures of the current campaign. With Napoli sitting third by early November- the one defeat had been a painful loss to Champions League rivals Roma- Armero featured mostly as an orthodox left-back; albeit one whose unwillingness to curb his natural attacking instincts was eliciting ever more vocal criticism. By the time Juventus and Parma inflicted back-to-back defeats, followed by more dropped points against both Udinese and Cagliari before Christmas, the finger-pointing at Benitez's scapegoated wing-backs was becoming impossible to ignore. Not helped by systemic limitations that meant the likes of José Callejón, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne offered too little protection to those playing behind them, things came to a head in the 3-1 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund. Writing in The Offside, Napoli’s fullbacks, Armero and Maggio, were described as "more like wing-backs as they were constantly moving up the pitch, and often getting caught out of position. Zuniga was sorely missed this game, as Armero simply doesn’t have the attributes of a fullback – his strengths, which are numerous, would better fit a midfielder/winger. The result of Napoli’s fullbacks playing like wing-backs, which they used to be in the 3-5-2 system for a few years, left Dortmund all kinds of space on counter attacks. Napoli’s wingers were getting caught high up the pitch, and it left way too much room for Armero and Maggio to cover, and by the end of the game they must have been exhausted running up and down all game like midfielders instead of defenders."

Facing an early Champions League exit and a yawning gap behind Juventus and Roma in the race for the Scudetto, volatile Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis pronounced himself so "broken" that by this January sweeping defensive changes were inevitable. As Miguel Britos returned from injury and versatile Frenchman Anthony Reveillere and Saint-Etenne's promising Faouzi Ghoulam arrived, the writing was on the wall for Armero. Throughout the transfer window there was rife speculation that a loan swap deal involving Milan's versatile Guinean international Kévin Constant was on the cards only for the latter to scupper the deal. It was then that West Ham and Sam Allardyce made their move. "I was very thankful for the opportunity," says Armero. "It felt very good to come over here and see a group that wants to improve and wants to win every game. For me this will be a great experience as English football is very attractive and I will give my best to improve the quality of the team." Armero can already claim experience of playing against top flight English opposition, having faced Arsenal (again) home and away in this season's Champions League group stages. "It was good to play against Arsenal because I like English football," he says before stating his belief that his game is well suited to the demands of British football. "It's attacking and defending, it's quick football - quicker than Italy - and I've always wanted to be here in the Premier League," he told the club website. "I am a left full-back, who likes to work in defence. I am a good defender, strong and quick, but I also like attacking. I like to go to the front and make good crosses. I will give good defending to the team, and good attacking too and hopefully I will help my team mates to win games."

Armero is one of three players to swap Serie A for the Boleyn Ground this winter following the arrival of Italy internationals Antonio Nocerino and Marco Borriello, and he says having those familiar faces around has eased the settling in process. "All the team mates are good for me, they are trying to help me integrate in the team," he says. "I knew Marco and Antonio before and they are helping me, by translating, and helping me to understand what they say. They are helping in my integration at the club and I hope that this is going to be a quick process so I can be in the starting eleven as soon as possible." Crucially, one of Armero's colleagues at Napoli was also well-placed to explain what a move to the Boleyn Ground would entail. Valon Behrami spent two-and-a-half years in E13 and spoke fondly of his time at the Hammers to Armero. "Behrami told me that West Ham is a good club in the Premier League," smiles Armero. "It's a good institution, and a very good opportunity for me. He said that all the staff, all the players and the people who work for the team are good and they will help me. That's happening at the moment and he also told me about the Premier League, which is a league where everybody wants to play some day. He gave me compliments and wished me all the best."

In the meantime, as he waited for his work visa, came a return visit to Tumaco. Armero was accompanied by members of the Colombian Football Federation who were filming part of a documentary on the career of the players that make up the national team. "They want to know the roots of each, where they grew up, where they played, what they did," he explains. "So I showed them all Tumaco, which we know is very cute and sexy. My first steps were on the beach, where we played barefoot. It's cool and nice and gives me great joy to show that part of Armero", the Colombian says excitedly. Life in Tumaco, he says, is sensory and it happens outdoors; "to be enclosed is to refute the sun, dying of sadness in darkness." Armero was able to show everybody his foundation work which provides sports equipment to aid in the development of the local children. "The motivation is that these children have the opportunity for a moment of joy; to follow their dreams of being a professional footballer just as I did," he explains. "Just to provide balls, uniforms, to give them everything they need so that they can practice their profession. Well, the most important thing is to make them happy and cheerful and to keep intact their dreams so that someday they can be great people and professionals."

It is a message that resonates now more than ever before. Almost a year to the day of Armero's visit Tumaco shook with the explosion of a motorcycle bomb that left eight people dead, more than a dozen wounded and destroyed the police station. It was the culmination of three months of incessant bombings and ever since the streets have been heavily militarized; the increased troop presence a reaction to and cause of the perceived fear among the inhabitants. The day the film crew turned up was the thirteenth straight without power; during which time kids have stayed away from schools and fishermen have been unable to take their boats out because of sanctions. The mayor of Tumaco, Victor Gallo, blamed the attack on the Daniel Aldana Mobile Column of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FARC), which has a stranglehold in the area. A Marxist–Leninist 'Peasant Army', it funds its activities by kidnap to ransom, gold mining, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs. In an impoverished city such as Tumaco, where less than half the population receives even basic primary education, where food is scare and job opportunities limited, the lure of the criminal world can be hard to resist. "The boys do not always choose football in Tumaco anymore," sighs Nery. "My doors are always open but the boys want to earn fast money. There are paramilitary and guerrilla organizations that offer comprehensive training." According to recent figures from the National Planning Department, there are 128.4 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, mostly from neighborhoods that have become "no go" areas of drug trafficking and extortion. "Football is still the emblem of Tumaco, but we can not deny that the possibility of producing another Pablo Armero is limited," agrees municipal representative, Alex Castillo. "Players have been engulfed by a decade marked by violence, especially the young people. I've witnessed many talents become victims of these confrontations."

More than ever it is the reason why those who have succeeded in football do not forget their families in Tumaco. "The first thing they do is give them houses that in many other cities would be no more than middle class standard, but in a place as precarious as Tumaco are like castles," notes Castillo. "Colombia, Leider's mother, has a yellow two-storey, tinted glass, grilles and air conditioning, while Gustavo Armero, Pablo's brother, lives in one decidedly better than that any of his neighbours' houses, where cement has replaced wooden boards and dry mud. Among the favours received by his brother are also several appliances and a shirt of Palmeiras, the Brazilian club where he played before leaving for Italy." Such are the spoils of Galeano's lottery winner. They say in these parts that even as a child Pablo Armero would 'run like he had no brakes'; driven on to gallop faster and further as if by some unfathomable incitation or abstruse fear. The flight or fight impulse of a Velociraptor. "If you are lucky enough to become a professional footballer," explains Castillo, "you can make return visits to the homeland and will be received as a hero. For everyone else, we must wrest from life, or rather, the sea, the resources just to get through the day. A soccer field or the vastness of the Pacific, those are the only two ways for the young people in this remote and poor place." The choice, you could say, between the heavens of glory or ruin's abyss.

The Curious Tale Of The Thoroughbred Donkey

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 21:04:00 +0000

"You're not a thoroughbred racehorse. You're a donkey. You can become a very fast donkey, but you'll never be a thoroughbred......."

Flashback to transfer deadline day August 2011 and AC Milan have already announced that, for them, the window is "closed, in fact it’s very closed." But Adriano Galliani can’t help himself. Like a punter at the races, the Italian entrepreneur who serves as vice-president and C.E.O. of the Rossoneri fancies another flutter, backing a horse everyone else thought was a donkey. The odds are long, writes James Horncastle, but as with Tipperary Tim, Gregalach, Caughoo, Foinavon and Mon Mome, all of whom were 100-1 winners at the Grand National, his outside bet comes home. "It was a stroke of luck," smiled the man who made his name by securing high profile transfers to Milan at cut prices, such as Robinho and Mario Balotelli from Manchester City, Zlatan Ibrahimović from FC Barcelona and Kaká from Real Madrid C.F. So lucky, in fact, that the term A colpo alla Nocerino has now entered the rich vocabulary of Italian football. It refers to the player involved that fateful day when Galliani had a gamble on Antonio Nocerino. "I understand what it means," the midfielder shrugs. "Someone who costs little." He would prove a bargain, perhaps the best signing of that Serie A season. Nocerino was bought from Palermo for £500,000 with barely a few minutes to spare before the market shut. He had been training under the Sicilian sun contemplating the season ahead when a member of the club’s staff came over to relay the news. Speaking to Forza Italian Football, Galliani recounted how he bargained hard: "At one in the afternoon of the last day of the transfer window, someone came running into my office saying that Palermo were selling Nocerino. I found Zamparini as quickly as I could and made an offer. I started low to be honest. He said no but I waited all afternoon and then we called Nocerino who was with the Italian team and we reached an agreement. Then Palermo said yes to the sale. It was a real stroke of luck."

At the time Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini was quick to explain the motivation related to the sale of Nocerino. "He is an important player, but I had to sell him now because otherwise he would have just ended up at Milan anyway in 2012," he stated. "Also I believe he no longer had the motivation to stay in Palermo." In truth, wrote Jack Sargeant, the Palermo owner and his brain-trust were adamant that Edgar Barreto, the €5.3 million man from Atalanta, was an upgrade from Antonio. So it was, he stated, that a player easily worth around €10 million- the only player on the team who started all 38 league games- was snatched in a case of pure daylight robbery. The Rosanero had already sold Javier Pastore for €42 million that summer and lost their most consistent, committed and important player. However, noted Kris Voakes, those two statements have no relation to one another. While Paris Saint-Germain paid through the nose for the Argentine, the Sicilians received only a pittance for Nocerino, and it is the midfielder who made a bigger impact at his new club, as well as proving the bigger loss at the Renzo Barbera. "I'm still not sure why Palermo allowed my contract to run down into its last 12 months," the Italian international told the Corriere dello Sport. "I wasn't at an age or had significant enough wages which would have forced Palermo to sell me in that way. I don't know if there was someone there who didn't believe in me. I was disappointed at the start as I left behind some good friends. I was expecting to sign an extension to my contract and I was ready to. It looks like it was my fault that I left, that I wanted more money or that I wasn't happy. All of that is not true."

Mathieu Flamini’s cruciate ligament injury the previous day had prompted Milan to find a player to cover for him during the several months that he would be missing. Yet the move for Nocerino was still a surprise, and, judging by the adverse reaction of the fans, not a pleasant one at that. He was ridiculed. The general consensus about Nocerino at Milan, notes Horncastle, was that he was beneath them. Although Alberto Aquilani had been brought in as Andrea Pirlo’s replacement, the move for Nocerino was seen in the context of Pirlo’s exit. Both transfers were former Juventus players, and there was a sense that Milan’s rivals were benefiting at their expense. How could Milan let a player of Pirlo’s calibre go for nothing, move to Turin and then buy not one but two Juventus cast offs? Adding further insult to injury in their eyes was the shirt Milan chose to give Nocerino. It was the No 22 and had belonged to Kaká. Milan were champions of Italy, but to some this was already a sign of their decline. "If even Nocerino can play for Milan, so can I," was the mocking refrain among the fans at San Siro; "thoroughbreds don’t want to run with donkeys." It was harsh to say the least. "Far from being a coup, I was treated like a slap in the face," Nocerino told La Repubblica. "I wasn’t worthy of Milan. It was the usual case of judging a player without giving him the time or the chance to make any mistakes. Thank goodness I didn’t make any." He kept his head down, his nose clean and worked hard. With a hint of derogation Italians attribute such qualities to those of a Mexican: loyal, hard-working, dedicated, humble, they say, and willing to do the dirty work when others are not. But then that’s Nocerino’s way. That’s how he got to Milan in the first place. "I’m thick-skinned," he reassured La Gazzetta dello Sport. "All Southerners have to be."

The son of a railway worker, Nocerino grew up in Montecalvario, a rione at the northern end of the Spanish Quarters of Naples. It’s where he first kicked a ball and made his first tackle. His father ran an amateur football club called San Paolo and it was there that he caught the eye of Juventus. Although tempting to paint a picture of young Antonio as the stereotypical 'Neapolitan street urchin' it is not something he invites. "I was born in the district of Saint Lucia," he states, "but by the age of 14 years I was already in Turin at the Juve youth academy." Though he met his future wife Federica there and was taken in by her family, life wasn’t easy. He missed home and it was never certain he’d make it despite being thought of as one of the most promising youngsters in his age group. Typically, Nocerino was realistic enough to take steps to plan for a future outside of the game. "When I was in the youth ranks at Juve, there were at least 300 kids who wanted to be in my position. I graduated as an accountant, but football was my dream. I’m proof that even those born in the South can build their own destiny." To accomplish that, though, Nocerino had to do what Italians call la gavetta. He worked himself up from the bottom. Graduating to the senior squad in the 2003-04 season, Nocerino would not make an appearance for La Vecchia Signora. Instead, like most talented young players, he was loaned out to a lower division club, Serie B side Avellino, for the season, making 34 appearances for them. Under the guidance of Zdenek Zeman he learned from one of the finest and most creative minds in the game. It was a formative experience. "It’s all down to him," Nocerino claimed. "I was 17 and fed up with the hierarchy [at Juventus]. Zeman said: 'For me there are no youngsters and no veterans. Everyone is equal and who runs the most plays'. Working with him was unforgettable. He taught me the runs and the moves that I still apply. You know the famous 'cuts' Barcelona use? Well, he used them before Barcelona. His Foggia did many of those things."

At the end of that season Genoa bought him on a co-ownership deal. The price was €450.000 for half his rights with Domenico Criscito and Francesco Volpe going to Juventus. Still developing his game, observed Horncastle, Nocerino was continually farmed around on loan. After making a total of 5 appearances for Genoa he would have spells three different Serie B clubs (Catanzaro, Crotone, and Messina) in the next two years. Genoa then sold their half of the player's registration to Serie B stalwarts Piacenza; Nocerino's sixth club having just turned 21 years of age. It was there that he encountered Beppe Iachini, another coach who’d bring an influence to bear on his career. "I watched him in training and I noticed that he had the shot and the timing of a striker when it came to getting into the box," recalls Iachini. "I asked him, 'how do you feel about it?' And we tried it. That year he scored six goals, hit the post, crossbar and got a number of assists too. Juve took him back." An expensive mistake, it would cost the Bianconeri €3.7 million to recapture the player they had previously discarded. Although Iachini had struck upon Nocerino’s best position, the left-side of midfield, at Juventus that was still strictly the preserve of Pavel Nedved. A spot on the right was open on account of Mauro Camoranesi’s injury woes and when Claudio Ranieri offered it up to Nocerino, he jumped at the opportunity. Soon to be a regular in the team- he played 32 appearances for the club during that 2007-08 season- Nocerino did enough to persuade Roberto Donadoni to give him a debut for Italy in a friendly against South Africa. Juventus still weren’t convinced, though, and he was sold to Palermo as part of the deal for Amauri. If that £20m transfer wasn’t already considered a colossal disaster, notes Horncastle, then looking back the inclusion of Nocerino as a €7,5 million makeweight makes it look even worse. They say that hindsight is 20/20, of course, but most agree that a deal so wrong on every conceivable level represented the last time Maurizio Zamparini was ever considered a genius.

Of course, that’s easy to say now. It wasn’t until later that Nocerino started to show signs of being the player he would become. Initially he found himself floundering on the periphery of the first team, down on his luck and contemplating yet another move. Then Delio Rossi arrived as replacement for Walter Zenga and little by little, piece by piece, he started to put together a series of reliable if unexceptional performances. Though their positions are different, for a time, he was Italy’s Alvaro Arbeloa, thinks Horncastle. Always a 7 out of 10, rarely higher, but crucially never lower either. Over the course of three seasons and 106 appearances, Nocerino's and Palermo's reputation would steadily rise. In Rossi's first season the Sicilians, aided by surprise results such as away wins against both AC Milan and Juventus, ended the season in fifth place. The following year brought Palermo's return to European football in the form of the UEFA Europa League and a third Coppa Italia final appearance, where they eventually lost 3-1 to Internazionale. It was at this point that Adriano Galliani made his now famous intervention. What is beyond debate is that Nocerino's last season in pink, in tandem with Pastore, was his best to date. "Nocerino is not Johan Cruyff," Rossi would tell La Gazzetta dello Sport. "But he is a good player and his story is one that reconciles you with football." Why? Because he got to Milan, not on ability alone, but through force of his own will, argues Hornchurch. For that reason, Nocerino has inevitably been likened to Rino Gattuso, not because of where they play on the pitch or a mutual enthusiasm for facial hair, but rather on account of the fact they’ve made up for any of their shortcomings with heart and desire. Nothing has ever been handed to them on a plate. They’ve had to fight to get to where they are today and constantly better themselves. As Rossi suggests, it’s rewarding to watch a player like Nocerino succeed.

Those incessant Gattuso comparisons in Nocerino's fledgling Milan career would prove to be as irritating as they were erroneous. Besides, anyone that watched Palermo during Antonio's last season knew their answer to Gattuso was Armin Bacinovic —not Nocerino, who orchestrated play for the Rossonero. "I never arrived at Milan to replace him, we are completely different," he would insist in those early months. "When signing I said I was much better technically and that I also scored a few goals. Yet people continue to expect me to play in a similar manner [to Gattuso]. I do not limit myself to tackling, I like to play. I like to look for space and to score. I can do everything." Not that his protests implied any criticism of his illustrious teammate. "Rino is a very strong player," he reiterated. "It's just that I did not come here to replace him or Flamini. I came to Milan to give my own contribution." Nocerino "has all the qualities to do well at Milan", enthused director of sport Ariedo Braida. "He is an Italy player who always shows great humility on the field. He knows how to sacrifice himself for his teammates, has a solid work ethic and every now and then scores goals. He has all the qualities to do well here." As understatements go it was pretty impressive. In a remarkable debut season at the San Siro, Nocerino finished as the Rossoneri’s second top scorer behind now-PSG man Zlatan Ibrahimovic with 11 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions. Not since Romeo Benetti in 1973 has a midfielder scored that many in a season for the club, and lest we forget he eclipsed the previous record in just over half a season. Predictably his first goal would come against Palermo at the beginning of October, and in a typical show of class he refused to celebrate.

Later that same month came a hat-trick against Parma that led Galliani to believe he had seen a ghost. "I looked at the shirt number and asked myself who’d bought Kaká back from Real Madrid. Only it wasn’t Ricky, it was Nocerino." Or perhaps that should be Nocerinho? "C’mon," he scoffed. "I’m not Ronaldo. I wasn’t a bad player before, but nor am I Platini now either." Describing the experience as a "waking dream", Nocerino added: "We're two different players, and besides Kaká is a true champion." With that he also offered a far more prosaic explanation for his chosen shirt number. "I took the '22' because it is was the closest to '23 ' available." A superstitious number for many Neapolitans, it is closely associated with the Capuchin Catholic priest Padre Pio, a venerated saint in the Catholic Church. Humble to a fault, Nocerino attributed his form down to playing "with monsters of the game every week who send me through on goal" like Ibrahimovic did so wonderfully in a later game against Cagliari. In fact so beautiful was the blossoming of the understanding between the two that the Milanese media coined the name 'Noceribra'. By the time he had bagged the opening goal in AC Milan’s match against Juventus the following February, Nocerino's popularity had grown to such an extent that every Milan fan would have happily 'let the man's donkey tread on their fine linen' as the provincial Italian saying goes. When asked 'Who is the symbol of Milan?', Massimiliano Allegri told a waiting media that "it’s too easy to say Ibrahimovic or Thiago Silva, so I’ll vote for Nocerino."

By the end of that miraculous season Italian national team manager Cesare Prandelli was another firmly in the ever expanding Nocerino fanclub. Having played for the Azzurrini at the U-19 through U-21 levels from 2004-2007, including captaining the U-21 side that won the Toulon Tournament in 2007, he had also led Italy at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Convinced of his leadership qualities and dependable character, Nocerino had by now become a firmly established member of the senior National team and would go on to make a telling contribution to Euro 2012 that summer. In the tense quarter-final with England in Kiev, Nocerino came off the bench to almost win the game with a disallowed goal before taking a decisive spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out. Far from being daunted by the occasion, Nocerino spoke of his relief at having been involved. "If I hadn’t," he reasoned, "then it would have felt like going to Rome and not seeing The Pope."

Now fast forward 18 months to the fag end days of the January 2014 transfer window and West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is about to take a gamble of his own. "We never thought at the start of the window that a player of Antonio’s quality would be available until the time when that transfer popped up," he said. "You have to be quick and get it done efficiently. Milan have taken Michael Essien from Chelsea, which left the door open for Antonio to come and try and play in the Premier League, which he’s very excited about. He wants to play and wants to achieve as much as he did in Italy, as well as wanting to get in the Italian squad for the World Cup. Antonio is your box-to-box midfield player and has the quality of finding space. Playing at the top level in Italy brings a great deal of experience to go with the talent he has got. He is an intelligent footballer. Our League needs players like him." So it was that an Italian international at the peak of his career went from being voted into Gran Gala del Calcio Team of the Year as one of Serie A's best midfielders (alongside Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio) to expendable "dirt-kicker" in the space of a season and a half. As a fall from grace it is as hard to explain, wrote Allan Jiang, as the Miracle of Istanbul or how Deportivo La Coruña overturned a 4-1 first-leg deficit to dump AC Milan out of the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League.

There are, of course, numerous theories to explain Antonio Nocerino's "descent into worthlessness" as the Bleacher Report famously coined it. He is a perfect paradigm, so the argument goes, of the player who bottled lightning; overachieving to such an extent that he could not help but fail to live up to the unrealistic standards he had set thereafter. Spurred on by the chip on his shoulder, concluded Jiang, Nocerino became one of Serie A's best midfielders only to baulk when the spotlight fixed on upon him. He set a standard of play that he could not hope to match, let alone surpass. Instead of being the role player Milan had originally intended him to be, a club with serious European ambitions grew accustomed to relying on him week in, week out and the attendant expectations rose accordingly. Nocerino was not helped in this regard by the fact that he now wore the number 8 shirt following the departure of Gennaro Gattuso to join Swiss club Sion. "I am happy because Rino is a dear friend, who last year helped me a lot," he announced at the time. "We have many things in common starting from our backgrounds. We're both guys from the South that were obliged to come to the North to play football. We're both convinced that the road to success is paved with hard work. Rino is a great person, and a formidable character." It is an important, historic shirt and I will do the best I can when wearing it, Nocerino declared, only to discover the huge weight of expectation that following in such illustrious footsteps could bring. Damned by association, by the end of the 2012-13 season, with an increasingly frustrated Milan facing the real prospect of having to settle for Europa League football, Nocerino found himself the unwitting conduit of the fans' ire. The skill set that had initially been so respected- tireless running, unfettered enthusiasm, commitment, aggression- were now seen as part of the problem rather than the solution. When the goals invariably began to dry up as well- Nocerino had scored just once in the league all season, dedicating the strike to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting- dissenting voices began aligning the deficiencies in Milan's game- lack of creativity, technique and guile- with the perceived weaknesses in Nocerino's. Towards the end of the last campaign he would find himself squeezed from the squad entirely as the Italian giants embarked on a desperate late run to claim the last Champions League spot.

So had Nocerino's 10 goal-haul in Serie A the 2011-12 season been a fluke? asks Jiang. In the four seasons prior to that he had scored six goals in 138 league games; in the season after he played 21 games scoring two goals with a wasteful 12.5 shots per league goal average. Without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now at Paris Saint-Germain, he argues, it is not a coincidence that Antonio's goals have dried up. He attacked the vacant space left by opposing defenders drawn to Ibra, who would then play in an often-unmarked Nocerino. "Ibrahimovic is one of the few strikers in the world who are happy to make his teammates score," acknowledges Nocerino. "He's great at doing that. I had a fantastic relation with him. He could also have asked himself: 'Who is this Nocerino? What do you want from someone like me?' Instead he’s a really great person and I'm sorry that his public image is different - or rather; it’s very different from his private image." On pondering the goals he scored that season, Nocerino added: "I definitely improved but that was also my objective. I told myself I needed to be more determined and try to score more. I really like making runs into the box and scoring. When I've had coaches like Delio Rossi and Allegri, who both ask the midfielders to make runs into the box, I've always managed to do well. The same goes for Iachini at Piacenza; I ended up scoring 6 goals in that season."

The implication is that Allegri changed the tactical approach of the team or, at the very least, what he required of his midfielder. The following September saw Galliani's ghost take corporeal form when prodigal son Kaka returned from Real Madrid on a free transfer. Signing a multimillion pound two-year contract it would further limit Nocerino's already diminished attacking opportunities. When the Brazilian was immediately made vice-captain upon his arrival the writing was indubitably on the wall. Although hampered by an early injury, Kaka's triumphant return against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League in October was followed by a string of lauded performances. By the time he had scored his landmark 100th total goal for Milan in a match against Atalanta last month Nocerino and his goals had become a fading memory. With Allegri's sacking in mid January the last vestiges of hope for arresting Nocerino's downward spiral at Milan finally evaporated. The man who had overseen the player's meteoric rise was replaced by Clarence Seedorf; whose decision to switch to the 4-2-3-1 system was never going to benefit Nocerino's boundless box-to-box athleticism. Lacking the pure defensive discipline of a Poli and Cristante or the technical playmaking ability of a Riccardo Montolivo, by the end of January Nocerino had banked just over 800 minutes in a red and black shirt this season.

So when the call from West Ham came a couple of weeks ago Nocerino reveals his mind was made up instantly. "I was already aware of the large following that the Club has in Italy," he states. "I realise how big the fanbase is and the traditions and important history that the Club has, so I was more than happy to come to England." In truth, he says, the 'Mexican' qualities for which he was initially revered and then ultimately derided in Italy should translate perfectly to the English game. "I am really enthusiastic about playing for West Ham," he reiterates. "I am aware of the Barclays Premier League and what I will bring with me is my enthusiasm. I want to show my qualities on the pitch and not just talk about them. I feel I have got the ability and skill to adapt to the English game and I am confident that, once I am ready to play, I will be able to show the fans what I can do. I feel my qualities match what is required in the Barclays Premier League." If Nocerino has his way then he will play his way back into the Italy squad for the 2014 World Cup. "I hope so," he admits. "One of the reasons I came to West Ham and to the Premier League is to play on a regular basis. My first objective is to play for West Ham and help the Club to move up the table. From that, if I am playing well and I get picked to go to the World Cup in Brazil, that will be an added bonus." It would be quite some achievement for the boy who cost Adriano Galliani just £500,000 all those years ago. "It’s amusing and we often joked about it at Milanello," he smiles. "I often say Milan signed me for 3.000 lire and a soda. I'm not saying that I'm worth €20 million or €30 million like Ibrahimovic or Thiago Silva, but in fairness I don't think I'm worth so little either." If Antonio Nocerino can help West Ham United move away from relegation and climb the table, his value to Sam Allardyce and the Hammers will be incalculable.

A Tale Of Murder, Sex And Money

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 00:47:00 +0000

La Gazetta Dello Sport's Massimo Cecchini once described the life story of Marco Borriello as a tale of murder, sex and money. The 31-year-old, he stated, has for far too long been a prisoner of perception, and like everyone has secrets and skeletons in the closet that can be revealed if you scratch away at the surface. So let’s start by addressing Marco’s sporting fallacies. "Firstly that I’m 'just the striker who is only good in the air'" shrugs Borriello, before pointing out that of the 70-odd goals he has scored in Serie A, 90% of them have been scored with his feet. Part of the problem is a lumbering 6ft frame that belies a surprising technical ability. Writing in Bleacher Report, Matteo Bonnetti reveals the striker is "a serviceable No. 9 in the right system"; operating most effectively in a 4-3-3 when the wing players provide him with a steady stream of crosses which he's able to feast on. While never a natural finisher, Borriello has specialized in bizarre left-footed volleys and has plenty of power to score from outside the box as well. Yet inconsistency is always the word used to define Borriello's career in Italy, from long dry patches without a goal to being near the Capocannoniere title with a flurry of hat-tricks and braces, Borriello has never been able to cement a place with a squad for more than a few years. When it is frequently asserted he has so far got less out of his career than his talent deserves, typically Borriello only partially agrees. "I could have achieved more, but it wasn’t always my fault," he explains. "Sometimes people put a spanner in the works. And every time I actually had a good season it was always followed by one blighted by injury."

So many goals, so many girlfriends, so many teams; it's perhaps this nomadic type of career lived on the road and in the gossip papers, thinks Bonnetti, that never really allowed him to reach his full potential. If every sporting career is the culmination of a journey, then Marco Borriello's peregrination- through ten clubs and thirteen moves via assiduous patronage of the world's most exclusive nightclubs- has been circuitous by any standard. Born in San Giovanni Teduccio, one of the most deprived suburbs of eastern Naples, Borriello remains fiercely proud of his roots. "It is my neighborhood and one of my favorite places," he states. "It is my home even though Naples can at times be difficult." It is the unceasing turmoil and the daily come and go that makes Naples such a heaving and fibrillating city, concluded the Marquis de Sade. If visiting now even he would be astounded by the groups of small boys who drive motorbikes at high speeds through tiny streets, where you can still see the damage from the 1980 earthquake and the population density is amongst the highest in Western Europe. On every corner there are huge muralled walls pockmarked with bullet holes from the local criminals using them for target practice. "It's not easy," admits Borriello. "In my neighborhood there is the highest concentration of clans in the city. It is a jungle, but also a little bit Disneyland. There a child is forced to grow up fast because one year there is worth ten years somewhere else. Football, then, helped me to overcome losing my father, but I would have liked him to have seen what I could do."

Borriello's father Vittorio was killed by the mafia in 1993; like Pescara's Giuseppe Sculli and Roma's Daniele De Rossi another in a long line of players whose private lives have been affected by the miserable consequences of organised crime. In those years (we are at the beginning of the 90's), according to court and police reports, Borriello's father, known as "Baby Bottle", was supplying usurious loans to the people of the local community controlled by the Mazzarella clan. Vittorio ended up on trial for Mafia association, but was acquitted completely. On the same day, however, "Baby Bottle" disappeared. It wasn't until years later that Borriello discovered that his father had loaned money to Pasquale Centore, the former mayor of a town in Casertano with links to the Casalesi clan. "He didn’t want to pay my father back and, during a fit of rage, he murdered him," he explains. A repentant Centore had confessed to the murder over what he considered unreasonable interest demands; shooting Vittorio before removing the body and burying it under his villa. "I was 10 at the time and from then on my mother was instrumental in the way I grew up," recalls Borriello. "I've always had a family behind who supported me and I have never gone without. Growing up without a father figure was hard but it is an experience that has strengthened me and made more independent. Otherwise I would not have left home at age 14." Signora Borriello is wide-eyed when she recalls the first time she truly noticed how talented her bambino could be. "My son started playing football in the square in front of the tobacconist" she says, pointing to a square where there are shirtless boys chasing the ball. "It all started from that road, as it does for most boys, but unlike many his dream came true."

Spotted by traveling scouts when playing in a practice match with friends, Borriello came up through the ranks of Milan with a growing reputation but never had the opportunity to prove himself before being transferred to Treviso in a joint-ownership deal. He made his professional debut for Triestina in Serie C2 but it was his subsequent 10 goals in 27 Serie C1 games for Treviso that prompted Milan to recall him in June 2002. He was then handed his Serie A debut the following September against Perugia. After he failed to immediately establish himself he would spend much of the next few years on loan at other Serie A clubs, including a stay with league rival Empoli for the rest of the 2002–2003 season. Borriello returned to Milan for the 2003–04 season, playing in just 4 games before going on loan to Reggina. It was here that Borriello would meet the first of several high profile girlfriends in the shape of Argentine model, actress and television personality, Belen Rodriguez. Still playing second fiddle to his younger brother Fabio, star of the reality show "Champions", in the 2005–06 season, Marco was once again sent on loan, this time to Sampdoria along with Milan team mate Samuele Dalla Bona. Boriello left Sampdoria in January 2006 for a six-month loan stint at Treviso where he scored his then career best of 5 Serie A goals.

It was in the summer of that year that Borriello returned to Milan with the assurance of first team football following the departure of Andriy Shevchenko to Chelsea and the release of Marcio Amoroso. Yet by December his future was put in jeopardy when he tested positive in a drug test for prednisolone and prednisone after the 11th match of the 2006/2007 Serie A season. After confirmation of the test results in January 2007, he was suspended for two months. A scandal at the time, Belen would famously claim that the positive test was down to her boyfriend's contact with the creams she was using to fight an 'intimate' infection. It is just another in a long line of apocryphal tales in the building of Borriello's legend. "She was given bad advice and exaggerated during the interviews," Marco explained to Cecchini. "It had nothing to do with it. Those substances [catabolic steroids], were only present in a cream for back pain that I never actually used. Would you believe me if I told you that I still don’t know how I tested positive?"

Whatever the truth, six months later Borriello was sold to newly promoted Genoa in a co-ownership deal with Milan. At age 25, with his reputation now in tatters, it would be the move that finally saw the blooming of Borriello's latent talent. He finished the season with 19 goals, third behind Juventus pair Alessandro Del Piero and David Trézéguet and now a firmly established member of the Italian national squad. Having received his first cap in a friendly against Portugal in February 2008, he would subsequently earn a call up to the European Championships only for Roberto Donandoni to inexplicably prefer a clearly hobbled Luca Toni. Despite being shunned during the hottest streak of his career Borriello remains philosophical about the experience. "I stayed 20 days in a 5-star hotel," he smiles. "The food was great, I saw lots of great sights for free and had my picture taken with Cannavaro and Buffon." By now he was back in Milan, the subject of a €10 million transfer following Alberto Gilardino's departure to Fiorentina. He was also back in the gossip pages, telling the world in typical hyperbolic fashion that he made love to Belen "37 times a day". Even if Antonio Cassano has slept with between 600-700 women, he graciously conceded, "I've bedded fewer, but better looking ones."

In Borriello's first season of his second spell at Milan, he made just 7 Serie A appearances scoring a solitary goal against Reggina. Toiling away in Carlo Ancelotti’s preferred 4-4-2 diamond formation for which he was patently unsuited, he also scored against F.C. Zurich in the UEFA Cup, but an unfortunate injury kept him out of action for the rest of the season. After star man Kaká left the club in the summer 2009 transfer window, Borriello chose to move to shirt number 22 which he had worn at Genoa. The following season, now "in the court of Leonardo" and as the figurehead in a 4-3-3, he scored his first ever brace for the Rossoneri in a 2–0 win over Parma followed a few weeks later by his first Champions League goal against Marseille in a match that finished 1–1. Ahead of a fine run of form, Borriello scored another brace in Milan's 5–2 defeat of former club Genoa, one of his goals being an acrobatic bicycle kick from a cross from Ronaldinho. The following week Borriello scored a lovely goal against A.C. Siena, when he hooked a 30 yard chipped pass from Pirlo into the top corner first time from an acute angle in a move that brought back memories of Marco Van Basten's strike for Holland against the USSR in Euro 1988. On 21 February 2010, Borriello scored his fourth volley of the season in Milan's 2–0 win over Bari. Then in April, he scored two second half goals to help Milan come from 2–0 down to draw against Catania before finishing the season with an impressive 14 league goals in 26 appearances. It was enough to see him in Lippi's 28-men provisional 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, although he never made the final 23-man cut.

Despite starting the first game of the 2010-11 season for Milan against U.S. Lecce, Borriello's position was unceremoniously usurped by the high profile arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. By late August he was loaned to Roma for free (where he then scored the winning goal against Milan at the San Siro on 19 December), with the obligation to purchase the player's rights before the 2011-2012 season for the payment of €10 million split over 3 years. He would go on to score 11 goals in Serie A that season, as well as two in the Coppa Italia and four in the Champions League. Yet June saw more upheaval, this time with the arrival of Luis Garcia as the Giallorossi's new head coach and the start of his ill-fated 'Spanish Project.' In what was becoming a familiar pattern in Borriello's stuttering career, the signing of a 'new toy'- this time €15 million Dani Osvaldo- would lead to severely diminished opportunity and indifferent form. He spent the first half of the season on the bench, playing just 7 matches of which he started in only 2, before this most peripatetic of footballers agreed a January €500,000 loan deal with Juventus, with the option to buy him for €8 million at the end of the season. After his official unveiling to the Turin press, Borriello met with a hostile reception from Juventus fans. In his first game he was greeted by a huge banner that read: 'Borriello, mercenary without honour or dignity.' The antipathy could be traced back to a perceived snub two years previously when Borriello was thought to have chosen Roma over Juventus when he decided to leave Milan. Like so many things in Borriello's life things are not necessarily what they seem. "Borriello is to all intents and purposes a Juventus player," Juventus coach Antonio Conte pleaded with the fans. "I think he explained that he never actually 'rejected' this move previously. The Bianconeri simply didn’t have the funds to offer a permanent deal at the time and the player and Milan preferred to send him to Roma, but he did not reject Juve. Only a madman could reject this jersey."

Predictably Juventus decided not to purchase Borriello after his loan spell at the club and he returned to Roma. Although Luis Garcia had by now departed there would be no respite in the form of new coach Zdeněk Zeman who immediately placed the striker sight unseen on the transfer list. By August Borriello was back at Genoa, in the arms of the club where he first made his mark. "I must not be a top player, just call me a good player," he said bitterly in his Genovese press conference when prompted to contemplate the circularity of his career. Emboldened by being back in the City of the Griffin, at the one place where he had always been loved unconditionally, he added: "I do not understand. I scored 15 goals for Milan, more than Ronaldinho and Pato, then was Roma's best scorer of the season. I scored the crucial goal for Juventus that sealed the Scudetto but none of this counts." Here it is, the eloquent summary of the nomadic striker with his numbers clutched in hand; "destined forever to always take on new challenges with commitment and goals," observed Galeano, "but never repaid in the same love or coin." As replacement for Alberto Gilardino, Borriello bagged three goals in eight appearances before a nasty ankle injury sidelined him for six weeks. Despite the enforced absence, he still ended the season as the club's top scorer, his 12 goals vital in helping the Rossoblu avoid the drop.

Which brings us to the start of this season and a return visit to Roma's bench. Having started in the first game of the season against Livorno, Borriello watched on forlornly as new coach Rudi Garcia preferred Francesco Totti, Adem Ljajic and Gervinho for his new look attack. Naturally his cause was not helped by the fact the club happened to be embarking on the best start ever recorded in the history of Serie A. In typical Borriello style he did have a small but crucial role in maintaining the record; scoring an historic winner against Chievo in late October. His first and only goal this season a small crumb of solace for a striker now unavoidably labelled a reject. No matter the circumstances, it never sounds like an appealing title to be given and yet in football terms huge number of players may wear such a hat, noted Jack Ross. Ultimately, there are different ways at looking at being labelled a reject. One is that a player believes he is not good enough, or the alternative is that he maintains faith in his own ability and acknowledges that his rejection is only down to the opinion of one man. Those who fall into the latter category, like Borriello, need to support such a belief with a drive, dedication and displays which make it impossible for them to fall out of the game and find themselves without a team.

It is the very reason Marco Borriello is now looking forward to the challenge of playing top-flight football in England. Having joined West Ham on loan from Roma until the end of the season earlier this week, the 31-year-old insists he is eager for the chance to prove himself in a new league. "I was given the opportunity to move in the summer and I was looking to come over to England and the Premier League, but I decided to stay at Roma at that time," Borriello told the club's official website. "However, when the opportunity arose to join West Ham in this transfer window, I was very happy to make the move. I can't wait to start playing in the Premier League - I know the fans are very passionate and I'm very excited by the challenge. I know it is a very tough league, but I am very much looking forward to testing myself here. Serie A and the Premier League are two different leagues. The Italian league is a bit more tactical, whereas the English league is maybe more physical. However, the ball is round in both countries, so if you are good player you can play in any league in the world."

Good footballers adapt. It is the motto of journeyman footballers everywhere; those brave souls forever traversing the highways and by-ways, forever starting out at a lower level club, forever pulling on a new strip (slightly tighter than the last). Men who were once bright-eyed players wheeling away in celebration but, as time goes on, the look of grim determination and old pro guile becomes the defining feature replacing the vim and brio of youth. As Rob Marrs once wrote, it is tempting to imagine a journeyman suffering with aches and pains, physically making noise as he pulls on his boots, hauling his wearying body onto frosted pitches in the icy air of the provinces and shires. Yet in truth, argues Ross, the term should be used in a more positive way as it reflects someone who has served their apprenticeship and learned their trade and provides a manager with reliable and experienced performances. Of course, a football team cannot consist of 11 such players, just as it cannot be filled with defenders, but their presence is vital and should be considered invaluable. Nobody understands this quite as well as Sam Allardyce. A man who has signed 87 players from 32 different countries in his time as a Premier League manager, and the vast majority of which have been of the longer in the tooth variety. Remarkably, in all that number, Big Sam had never signed an Italian in the top flight. In fact, his only previous purchase from Italy was Emanuele Morini at Bolton in 2000; Morini flopped and playing just twice in the Championship. It goes without saying Allardyce has far higher hopes for his latest arrival. "You go on the quality of the CVs they have got, the quality of the player they have been, and they want to achieve that type of quality here," he says. "It will bring more to the team. It’s not too difficult to say what we want from Marco - that’s goals and Italian flair." Goals and flair... of all the misapprehensions that continue to surround Marco Borriello, West Ham fans will hope his potential to produce both is not in question.

Sunlight Of Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Satan is inspecting Hell, or so a much told Romanian joke begins. As he strolls down the various alleys he arrives at a sector where the doomed are being boiled alive in vast cauldrons filled with pitch. Each nation has its own cauldron: Englishmen are boiling together, Frenchmen together, and so on. By each cauldron a horde of fiends are standing guard with tridents in their hoofs. As soon as the doomed cannot take the pain anymore and attempt to clamber out, the fiends sting them with their leisters and cast them back into the oily fires. However, Satan notices that one of the cauldrons is completely unattended. "This is outrageous!" he roars. "You will all regret this! How dare you leave a cauldron unattended, and who are the people boiling inside it?" To which the superintendent promptly replies: "Your Darkness, do not worry! These people are Romanians, and there is no need to guard them. As soon as one of them tries to get out, the others immediately pull him back in."

If something of the humour is lost in translation the sentiment is clear. Razvan Rat thinks it is best expressed in an old proverb repeated from generation to generation on the streets of Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca; namely, if the sun doesn't come in through the window, the doctor will come in through the door. It is a cautionary warning about the myopic dangers of parochial insularity and is something West Ham's peripatetic defender has clearly taken to heart. As befits someone born in 1980s Piatra-Olt, a sleepy railway town and road intersection that serves as a gateway to mountain or coast in all directions, the young Razvan always had an eye on broader horizons. "When I was a kid, I dreamed of being famous, signing autographs," he laughs. "I loved football and it was all I ever saw on television." Not that you tend to get much choice when your father is a former football player and so many of your relatives are also playing the game. "My dad noticed that I had the talent and desire," says Rat. "He was a coach in the village where I had been born. That's where I started playing. And then, little by little, I became who I am now."

Who he was going to be was certainly not a goalkeeper like his father, who although never reaching the highest levels played in the Romanian Fist Division or Colegiul Divizionar A. "To be honest, I was not very interested in that," admits Rat. "He [his father] told me some things, but I didn’t listen to him attentively, because I didn’t want to become a goalkeeper." Typically, Rat's inspirations were further afield. "I was rooting for Manchester United since childhood," he says, before revealing his all-time hero to be Ryan Giggs. When he started his career with his hometown club before playing schoolboy and youth-team football for Universitatea Craiova, Constuctorul Craiova, Sporting Pitesti and Cetatea Targu Neamt he did so as a left-sided striker. In fact, Rat played locally for several years and despite never owning a 'proper football' until he was fourteen claims to have no memory of ever doing anything else. "I played football for seven years," he recalls. "Before that I was kicking various ducks, small balls ... as long as I can remember, I've always liked football."

After completing high school, Rat then graduated from the Institute of Physical Education. "Basically, I'm a professor, no joking!" he says with a smile when thinking back to those formative years. By now it was 1998, and aged 17, Rat joined Rapid Bucharest and quickly established himself at the Romanian Premier League outfit under manager Mircea Lucescu. It was he who 'reclassified' his new charge into a marauding left back. "Lucescu is the person who has had the biggest influence on my entire career as a football player," states Rat. "I think if Mister had not found me a new position on the field, if he had not employed me as a full-back, I would not have achieved what I have now." It was the start of a friendship that would last many years and cross several borders. Having made his European debut in a UEFA Cup qualifying round defeat at Armenian club Mika in August 2000, Rat then embarked on a six-month loan spell with FCM Bacau before returning to Bucharest to win the Romanian Cup in 2002 and the Romanian Premier League title the following year.

Then came the move to Ukraine in the summer of 2003- "they sent the money by bank transfer and I moved there. As simple as ABC." Rat would enjoy an illustrious spell of success with Shakhtar Donetsk, lifting a total of 15 trophies - the vast majority of them under the guidance of former mentor and compatriot Lucescu, who took charge at the club in 2004. "It was 10 years ago when I was invited," he states. "I knew little about Shakhtar. I was told that this club has a great future and that the team is striving to become well-known in Europe. So, I decided to try." Rat thinks the Ukrainian league’s level is certainly higher than that of Romanian league. "There are teams in Ukraine, who achieved good results in Europe, primarily Shakhtar," he explains. "As for the fans, it can be said that I have lost contact with the Romanian fans long ago and I viewed Shakhtar fans as my natives. Shakhtar has given me everything I have in my career and in life in general. So I never even wanted to think about another club."

Everything in life includes his Ukrainian wife of six years, Iulia, who he met in Lenin Square one sultry May evening. "I made my choice, and I was not scared that my wife was of a different nationality than me," says Rat. "The heart wants what it wants. Frankly, between us there are sometimes misunderstandings. This is because of the language of communication, mentality, but these are little things." The two married in July 2007 and in early 2011, following many failed attempts and visits to various doctors and several specialty clinics, came daughter Nicole, whose birth Rat describes as the most memorable moment of his life. He insists he has no sporting aspirations for her and believes the most important thing is that she grows up healthy and intelligent. "A smart man would succeed in any field," he says. "And to become an athlete, you have to have a talent in a particular direction: football, volleyball, water polo - it does not matter." Salubrity remains Razvan's biggest remaining wish in life. "It's always been a dream of mine – to live a healthy life," he insists, before confiding that a second child is also a priority. "I already have a girl and now I want a boy to be born to us. Can you make an order?" It is clear that a close-knit family is the thing above all else that gives Rat succour. If pushed he will admit that he thinks it impossible to have many real friends. "All the rest can be considered acquaintances, comrades," he says. "I do not know whether you will agree with me, but the most real friends are your parents. Later, when you grow up, when you have husbands, wives, children, they will also become your friends. And those are almost the only people you can trust, who will support you, no matter how life pans out."

So it was that following ten successful years in Donetsk life unexpectedly saw the 32 year-old deciding to embark on his latest adventure in east London. "It was painful that the Shakhtar team broke up after all those years," he thinks. "But this is life, I also felt the need for fresh blood. It was a very beautiful time with many unforgettable achievements." Rat had been approached by several teams, including Besiktas and Marseille, in the January transfer window and Sam Allardyce declared interest in his services a few months later. "West Ham United are a team with great history, great traditions," he states. "I have big ambitions and West Ham really wanted to see me in their ranks and fought for me. I was very happy with such a kind of trust shown towards me on the part of the club."

More importantly for Rat the move to Upton Park represented the chance to realize a life-long ambition. "I fulfilled the dream of playing in a strong league, maybe the best in the world," he states, before pointing out the decision was made in full consultation with his wife. They both agree that their daughter, at almost three years of age, will find the adaptation the easiest and all are prepared for the vagaries of the English climate. "I know that the weather is fickle in England, but I do not come here to lie on the beach," says Rat. "Basically, everything is just as I expected it to be," he says when giving his first impressions of life in the capital. "I'm fine here in England and adaptation is painless. In everyday terms, there are absolutely no problems. We live on the outskirts of London in a very nice place. You could even say that we live in the woods! Nature, fresh air and no fuss. It is also not far from the stadium. It takes me about fifteen to twenty minutes by car to reach Upton Park. Currently, I am getting used to the left-hand drive."

If the oncoming traffic is not a danger to Razvan's beloved 250,000 euros Ferrari 430, then the same cannot be said about his new team-mates. It’s a staple of most Premier League footballers to have personalised registration plates on their top-of-the-range cars, but this probably wasn’t what he envisaged when they offered to get him some new plates. "I recently bought a new car and the lads have been having some fun at my expense," explained Rat on the club's official website. "As you will know, I have been nicknamed 'Roland' because of the TV character Roland Rat, so the boys put some new number plates on the car with 'RAT 1' and 'ROLAND RAT' written on them, like the real Ratmobile! My car is red, but the Ratmobile was pink and a bit slower, but it is nice."

Suffice to say that although he has not been at Upton Park long the new summer recruit is already a popular character in the East End. "Basically, West Ham is a very friendly team," explains Rat. "All the guys were originally open and they helped me in every way to safely pass the adaption period. Of course, my knowledge of the English language helped me to quickly blend in with the team. A foreigner always finds getting used to life in a new country easier if he or she speaks the language of the local people. I already speak five languages: Russian, English, Spanish, Portuguese and, of course, the Romanian language. Basically, I have a good relationship with all the guys. But I communicate more with the team captain Kevin Nolan. Also, I have developed a friendly relationship with Joe Cole. He and I shared a room during the pre-season training camp."

It was the latter who was responsible for that now ubiquitous soubriquet. "When I first came here Joe Cole showed me a picture with Roland Rat and said ‘This is you’" smiles Rat. "Now most of them call me Roland. I’m getting used to it. It’s funny and the fans here are singing songs about Roland, and now everyone in Romania knows as well." Initially bemused, especially as his surname back home is pronounced Rata and means Duck!, the former Romanian Player of the Year took to watching YouTube clips of the TV puppet and has since grown to like it. "It is funny for me, it's not embarrassing," he says. "There were lots of articles about Roland Rat in Romanian papers and now everyone knows who he is."

If that is one Anglo-Romanian confusion cleared up, Rat is keen to address another; namely, that his new manager is not the raging alcoholic he is commonly held to be in Eastern Europe. "One myth around Sam Allardyce is that he chews gum because he drinks alcohol," laughs Rat. He had to explain to the media back home that Big Sam does not drink alcohol, or more precisely not on match days. "He just has such a habit," Rat told them. "In England, this is normal. Not only the coach, but many players chew gum during games. By the way, one of the coaches of the national team of Romania has the same habit, but in doing so he has never drunk alcohol."

Pitch-side masticating aside, Rat says there are other marked differences between his new boss and Lucescu, the former Romanian footballer and veteran manager of Shakhtar with whom he won the UEFA Cup 2008–09. "They are two different specialists," he states. "Their philosophy and views on football are different. Besides, characteristics of the players of Shakhtar and West Ham are markedly different. It also affects the teams’ playing style and the coaches’ requirements. The English Premier League is different from the Ukrainian Premier League. If the Donetsk club is in many components superior to all of their opponents, West Ham compete with the top teams, respectively, this influences the game."

Interestingly, Rat believes that although the physical demands of the respective leagues vary, the differences are not quite as you might expect. "In my opinion, the work loads in England are not so heavy," he insists. "In fact, perhaps, it may be that in London we work no less, but, at least, the trainings are organised so that the players don’t get tired that much. Allardyce is trying to build training so that the players work with pleasure. Even when we have a fitness training, all the exercises involve ball handling. At Shakhtar, we did more training work without the ball." In Donetsk sessions would last around 80 minutes and would often take place twice a day. Now he has more energy to pursue his other favourite activities such as tennis and ping-pong. Curiously, Rat also professes a fondness for traditional British pub pursuits, including billiards. "In particular, I love watching darts," he enthuses, before also revealing he is something of a gastronome. "My favourite is borsch, but there are some others," he says. "Basically, I'm not very picky. I can eat everything!" Otherwise he does not miss the opportunity to reiterate how proud he is of his wife. In addition to being beautiful and flirtatious, he says, she turned out to be a perfect housewife. "I only eat at home because my wife cooks very well and I like it very much," he smiles.

Although he is now rapidly establishing himself as a first choice member of the West Ham back four, Rat reveals he was never concerned by his personal slow start to the campaign. "Recently, the Irishman Joey O'Brien played in my position," he states. "Generally he is a right back, but due to the fact that last season, the main left-back had his cruciate ligaments damaged, O'Brien was moved to the opposite flank. In principle, West Ham finished the last season well, and the manager decided to leave Joey on the left flank in the opening rounds of this league edition." In truth, Rat says he relishes the competition. "That's the way it should be," he insists. "I try to do everything possible to be in the starting lineup. Our business is to train, and the final word, naturally, is for the manager." Even before the start of the season, says Rat, Allardyce told him that in the opening weeks he would not feature in the starting lineup. "This is normal. He wanted me to feel the atmosphere of the English Premier League. Still, it's a new league for me and a totally different level. The coach explained to me that I should first get a feel for the English Premier League, and then he will field me. I have played around 60 Champions League games and I understand I need to perform at that level."

It is the very reason he has no time for accusations levelled at him in the Romanian media that West Ham represents a regressive move in his career path. "In the English Premier League there are games that can be compared to the matches of the Champions League," he insists. "When you play against Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham or Manchester City, you can feel the level of the Champions League. So my move to West Ham is not a step backward, but a sideway step, so to say." The excitement he feels before each game still remains and it is the reason he knows he made the right choice to move to England. Ultimately, he states, he wants to be one of the key players of the team, to be a first-team regular. "Having moved from a team that is constantly playing in the Champions League, I must prove my high level now at West Ham so I have to put my best foot forward. I expect to play at the level of the English Premier League for more than three years."

That, of course, would take Rat beyond his current contract so exactly how much longer does he intend to play? "For as long as my knees are not worn out," he laughs, before adding he has no intention of slipping into a coach's tracksuit when his time is up. "It depends on what opportunities there will be," he muses. "I could drive a certain business, though not necessarily related to football." But then the multilingual and multifaceted Razvan has consistently marched to the discordant beat of a different drum. Most of his career earnings to date have been invested in Romania where the couple have an extensive property portfolio. On the plot of Rat's once humble home now stands a multi-million pound hotel complex complete with tennis courts, football pitches, outdoor pool (complete with football boot tiling) and a bowling alley that serves as a home and business for extended family. When he is not attending to the restaurant, conference rooms or luxury apartments, his father, Ion Dincă Rat, cruises around in the Chrysler limousine gifted by his son and the locals agree it is probably the most imposing vehicle that ever passed through Piatra Olt or Slatina. While in the family garage patiently sits the BMW sports car the Rats use during their frequent visits back home.

Down the road in Predeal there are newly built hostels for transients and the disadvantaged, while 2004 saw the construction of a new sports complex. "Razvan was the one who wanted to do something in Slatina," explains his father. "He wanted the kids to learn the secrets of football in better conditions than we had it. To get football when he was little, he had to commute 44 miles from Piatra Olt to Craiova. The sports centre offers extraordinary conditions such as hot water, ground cover, equipment, balls and coaches. Razvan sent all his money back home, money that I have used here. He had no childhood, had no joy, but he has tried to make things better for Slatina. It is beautiful." If this is what can happen when you let the sunlight of opportunity through your window maybe we all should draw back the curtains just that little bit wider.

The Fluke Of Random Greatness

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 23:04:00 +0000

What makes for a prodigy is a difficult question. In some spheres it means extraordinary achievement at an inordinately early age. George Steiner had this definition in mind when he claimed that there are only three fields of human endeavor in which genuine prodigies happen: music, mathematics, and chess. The twelve-year-old Mozart wasn’t an exceptional composer for a twelve-year-old; he was just an exceptional composer. Bobby Fischer became a grandmaster at age fifteen. Not all such prodigies go on to become as great as they are expected to become; but they all accomplish a great deal, by any measure, in their art or discipline. As Frank D. Gilroy once noted, a person who's going to be famous usually drops a few clues by the time they're twenty-one.

In football we call players prodigies when they show extraordinary promise early on. It is an industry that has always snuffled hungrily after new things: new faces, new stories – and above all intact and unruined youth. Flick through the back-pages of any newspaper- national and regional- these last few days and it would be hard to avoid the name Ravel Morrison. He is the latest in a long line of callow youngsters who dominate players their own age, but who we can’t be certain will be able to take the steps necessary to achieve as brilliantly when they’re playing against the best in their profession. Their promotion has a rush of event-glamour about it. Partly this is the simple pleasure of inhaling that vital scent, gorging vicariously on great dripping vampire handfuls of downy-cheeked pep and vim, thinks Barney Ronay. But mainly it is the faint thrill – the distant, outside chance – of proximity to greatness. Being there means reading the first page of history.

There is an unforgiving Venn diagram here. Writing in the Guardian, Ronay argues that all great players are sensational when they're young; but only the tiniest fraction of sensational young players go on to become great. But still they just keep coming, doomed infantry battalions of junior jinkers, trainee poachers, apprentice pivots, bringing with them the same old jangling excitement, the sense that maybe this time, maybe this might be The One. Broadly speaking, he notes, there are two different kinds of prodigy: those who mature physically ahead of schedule and dominate their peers with brawn and pace, and those who develop very high levels of skill before they could reasonably be expected to.

By far the more common is the muscle-prodigy, a player who is a prodigy simply because he seems averagely, or even above-averagely, good at a very young age. James Milner was this kind of prodigy, performing at the age of 16 with all the grizzled poise of a 26-year-old when others of his age are moping and loafing, experimenting disastrously with basic heavy-metal guitar, and loitering quite near groups of girls hoping to appear fascinatingly aloof rather than pustulous and gaunt. Aged 26 Milner will still be performing with all the grizzled poise of a 26-year-old. This is the static prodigy phenomenon, where early gains ossify into a state of frowning and manfully borne stasis, a condition Ronay believes is known as 'Huddlestone's Mooch' in sports science circles.

Rarer, and naturally more exciting, is the skill-prodigy, the ferrety junior ballerina who comes snorting out of his elite rabbit hole ready-made; the skill-merchant for whom an entire wildly optimistic career map is instantly projected in prancing fast-forward. These are our most fragile prodigies. The skills won’t do them much good if they don’t develop the physical resilience to deal with angry strong men who wish to knock them about. Often they will simply disappear, or congeal, or stick around, gravely burdened in their spangled boots and faded No23 shirt.

Ultimately, the few who make it to adult greatness often take a slightly crooked path. Wayne Rooney was a hybrid prodigy – part muscle, part skill – who came barrelling out of obscurity clenched with adolescent resolve. The early Rooney was often portrayed as somehow semi-feral, a man-boy, a dustbin footballer, discovered complete in a carpark shopping trolley. In contrast mid-period Rooney has prevailed above all by a triumph of will and wit, of unblinking resolve rather than untameable inspiration. Perhaps, muses Ronay, the hysteria that greeted his atypically spectacular goal in the Manchester derby in February 2011 had at its core a release of pent-up prodigy anxiety, a reclutching to the maternal bosom, slot-mouthed with buried disappointment, of our puppyish infant-genius. Ryan Giggs also made it and stands now as the prodigy complete, still lithe and slippery in old age. Since he arrived in Manchester United's first team as a 17-year-old in 1991, he has regularly done things with a football that could qualify for an Arts Council grant. Among the concrete house builders of the British game he stood out like Michelangelo, observes Jim White. But it has been a circular process. Old Giggs has justified the lull of mid‑Giggs, and formed a boomeranging reinforcement of early Giggs. Perhaps the same process will occur with late Rooney.

"He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind," remarked Alex Ferguson on seeing Giggs for the first time. Yet in a country where the usual form is for footballers to look like troglodytes and run around like beheaded poultry, the elegant, economical Giggs was still assumed by many to be too flash, too handsome, not serious, recalls White. Then again, being British and gifted in the feet, you are expected to go off the rails up top. There's Bestie with his drink and women; Gazza with his ice-cream and hair extensions; and most deviant of all, the teetotal, God-bothering Glenn Hoddle. Which brings us back to Ravel Morrison, the 'troubled genius' described by Ferguson as "one of the best he's ever had at that age."

Almost on a weekly basis the former United boss would be confronted with news that the midfielder had stepped out of line in training. Worse yet, reports of his unruly behaviour away from United's Carrington training complex caused Ferguson far greater concern. He was the Lost Boy of the United academy, showing up late and exasperating staff with his inability to grasp the opportunity at his feet. Morrison's numerous run-ins with the law nearly ended up in a prison term in 2011 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of witness intimidation. Yet Ferguson allowed Morrison numerous second chances; second chances that were not permitted for far more illustrious names. Why? "There was a feeling at United that Morrison could go on to be one of the club's greatest ever players," one United source told the Mail's Sami Mokbel. "Ferguson knew what he had and he didn't want to let it go."

United's players knew it, too. Many of them would watch in awe at a prospect who had the potential to become a "monster", if he got his head right. His stunning solo goal against Tottenham on Sunday simply underlined the ability of a player that Ferguson believes can still go on to to be one of the world's greatest. Rio Ferdinand tweeted: 'Great to see Ravel Morrison playing well and focused consistently now. That goal wouldn't make his top three goals showreel by the way.' And it's true, notes Mokbel. It wouldn't.

Morrison would routinely make senior internationals look ordinary in training at United. However, despite his immense talent, he would only go on to make three League Cup appearances for the Old Trafford club. His connections with Manchester's murky underworld ultimately meant Morrison had to leave the city if he wanted to make a go of his career. Having grown up on the tough streets of Wythenshawe, south Manchester, he was involved in his fair share of trouble. Reluctantly, Ferguson sanctioned Morrison's sale to West Ham in January 2012, for an initial fee of £650,000, and a clear switch in mindset since has seen him go from the brink of prison to a potential England call-up.

Sir Alex did not want to sell, though he knew it was necessary for Morrison to have a fighting chance of salvaging his career. He told Hammers manager Sam Allardyce: "I hope you can sort him out, because if you can he’ll be a genius." In truth, United sent West Ham a giant package of trouble, wasted talent and arrogance: a dysfunctional young footballer, born to be the kind of player the English game so wantonly lacks, but unlikely to overcome a "wrong beginning", as Larkin might have put it. Ferguson, however, was not dispatching him to oblivion. Allardyce says his friend in the north told him: "A brilliant footballer. Brilliant ability. Top-class ability. Needs to get away from Manchester and start a new life."

Now 20, and in the England Under-21 squad, Morrison initially showed the same old traits; arriving late for training combined with a laissez-faire attitude during sessions. A reluctance to integrate with the rest of the squad is also understood to have rankled. "The reason he is succeeding now is because he has got rid of all those hangers-on," explained a source. He showed signs of improvement during his loan spell at Birmingham City last season, where he played 30 games for the Midlands club. Allardyce has seen the improvement with his own eyes since pre-season: a new Ravel, who is finally ready to show England what he has got. Indeed, his decision to have 'Ravel' and not 'Morrison' on the back of his West Ham shirt is a symbol of his attempts to leave his past behind him. Allardyce says: "He [Ferguson] let Ravel go for Ravel’s benefit, because he couldn’t see it happening at Man United. It was: 'Get him down there and see if you can get the best out of him, because you’ll have a great player on your hands.'"

No longer was Morrison happy to be an outsider. He made a noticeable effort to involve himself with his team-mates and captain Kevin Nolan, in particular, is helping to ensure he continues on the straight and narrow. "The Kevin Nolans and Mark Nobles probably do it better than me," the manager said. "He’s in the dressing room day to day with them and they’re guiding him along and talking to him, and saying – you’ve only just started. There’s a lot of praise going to come his way, and deservedly, particularly after that goal. We’ve been seeing it – not quite as good as that goal – all season. We’ve seen his finishing quality in pre-season. That’s why it wasn’t a great difficulty for me to take someone out with experience and put him in, because everyone was saying: 'He’s looking like he’s ready, gaffer'. He is that. As we say in the football fraternity, the penny’s dropped. It’s dropped in his lifestyle and his attitude to everybody, his timekeeping and so on. All of a sudden there’s the belief that he doesn’t want to do anything but break into our first team.

"I think a 12-month loan spell at Birmingham gives time to reflect on what exactly it takes to be a player on a week in, week out basis. It probably taught him a lot. ‘Who’s this lad? Can he stand the physical side?’ Rav’s learnt from that experience and taken it into pre-season, where he’s listened to what we’ve had to say, and what he has to do in our team shape. Basically we’re talking about players getting the ball to him in space as much as we possibly can. We saw it in pre-season against some good opposition like Sporting Lisbon and Braga. We saw it in the Capital One Cup. There was talk at the start: shall we take him out of the pressure pot position and start him in the wide position, because there’s less pressure out there? We ended up putting Mo Diamé out there and Rav in the middle. That’s what we felt his performances deserved."

On his audacious run through the Spurs defence, Morrison displayed balance, poise, confidence, speed and the ease of movement you see in all naturally gifted players, drools the Telegraph's Paul Hayward. Roy Hodgson, the England manager, who was in the stands, is bound to have recognised a quality his squad is constantly accused of lacking. A curse of the English game is that talent so often arrives with a side order of mayhem. In Morrison’s recent discovery of stability there is no guarantee that praise and exposure will work in his favour. The boy who claims never to have of heard of Gazza may pass through his whole career one indiscretion away from implosion.

But for now, West Ham should enjoy the emergence of a man who has the minerals to become one of the Premier League's greatest. Because sink or swim, prodigies seem to speak to something vital, a football-centred sense of enduing national fecundity, of great, untapped footballer-pockets still walled beneath the granite slopes, concludes Ronay. Brazil has always done this better than most, celebrating its own twig-thin ball-jugglers with an almost sacrificial zeal. In England the initial trumpeting around Theo Walcott, the Berkshire boy, seemed to portray him as a kind of wood sprite, a rural foundling, glossy-coated and wet-nosed, ready to hare out of the tree line. But really, alluring as they are, the big thing with prodigies is probably just to stop talking about them. Prodigy-talk is a vice that feeds greater vices, a substitute for rigour and systemic excellence, pinning hopes instead on the fluke of random greatness. This is just another reason to wish 'Ravel' well as he faces the usual challenge of trying to wring every drop from his considerable talent – and to remember that, in every sense, we are extremely lucky to have him.

"There is a sacred horror about everything grand," wrote Victor Hugo. "It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling. Every summit seems an exaggeration. Climbing wearies. The steepnesses take away one's breath; we slip on the slopes, we are hurt by the sharp points which are its beauty; the foaming torrents betray the precipices, clouds hide the mountain tops; mounting is full of terror, as well as a fall. Hence, there is more dismay than admiration. People have a strange feeling of aversion to anything grand. They see abysses, they do not see sublimity; they see the monster, they do not see the prodigy."

A Gamble Worth Taking

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Home is where, noted Robert Frost, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. So it was that this afternoon Carlton Cole made his long awaited comeback for West Ham in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Charlton Athletic. A West Ham XI featuring the out-of-contract striker were beaten 4-2 as Cole - who played alongside former Fulham and Borussia Dortmund striker Mladen Petric in attack - made his first appearance at the Boleyn Ground since the end of last season. The striker parted ways with the club at the end of his contract during the summer but has joined up with his former club amid a drastic striker shortage with Andy Carroll's return date still unknown. With the international break taking precedence over the next six days, Cole was joined by a number of first team players in the West Ham side, featuring alongside Guy Demel, James Tomkins, Joe Cole, Stewart Downing, and Matt Jarvis.

Having made three appearances for the Hammers since joining them in September, it was another new recruit Petric who bagged his first goal in claret and blue on 24 minutes with an emphatic header from a Jarvis cross. Having spurned a similar chance earlier when looping an effort into the arms of Addicks 'keeper Ben Alnwick, this time the 30-year-old Croat timed his leap perfectly to nod home a left-wing centre. The lead, however, would last little more than two minutes; Jordan Cook broke free down the right, before crossing for Basile Camerling to neatly volley into the far corner. It was fitting reward for the 26-year-old French trialist who had earlier tried his luck from range, seeing his effort flash narrowly wide of Adrian's right-hand upright. The Championship side completed the turnaround five minutes before the interval, when Demel was adjudged to have impeded Pigott in the area. Pigott picked himself up to dispatch the resulting spot-kick, albeit one that just evaded the dive of Adrian.

Within 90 seconds of the restart Petric came close to restoring parity as his firmly struck free-kick curled just the wrong side of the post. Moments later and Pelly Ruddock should really have headed the Hammers level, but powered Downing's corner over the bar from six yards out. It was to prove a costly miss as the Addicks soon doubled their advantage. Camerling seized upon Cook's fine through ball and though Adrian repelled his initial effort, he was powerless to prevent Pigott from slotting home the rebound to put the visitors firmly in the ascendency.

It was all change for the hosts on the hour, with George Moncur, Kieran Sadlier and Callum Driver joining the fray, in place of Tomkins, Downing and Cole. It had the desired effect too, as Leo Chambers lofted a delightful ball into the path of Moncur, who took a touch before curling into the far corner from close range to give United a fighting chance of getting back on level terms. However the south east London side had other ideas and the win was finally sealed three minutes from time. Veteran midfielder Mark Gower, who joined Athletic on a free transfer in the summer, pounced on a ball cannoning around the Hammers box to strike home a measured volley via the inside of the post.

West Ham United first-team coach Ian Hendon declared himself satisfied with "a worthwhile exercise", even if the result left much to be desired. Despite the defeat at the Boleyn Ground, he insisted there was plenty to be pleased about, not least a whole host of senior players getting much-needed minutes. "The lads that needed minutes got minutes," Hendon told West Ham TV. "It's not always about the result but obviously we want to win games, no matter what they are. That's the competitive spirit in us as coaches, the manager and also the players. It's a disappointing result, but all in all, a good workout and some minutes on the board for some of the lads that needed them."

Chief among those was Cole, who took his first step towards earning that new contract. Sam Allardyce announced at the end of last month that the 29-year-old will be offered a short term deal once he has improved his fitness levels and, according to reports in the press, today's game was specifically arranged to "determine the future" of the popular front man. The former England international left the Hammers at the end of the previous campaign after his contract with the east London club had run out, with Cole and his employers failing to reach agreement over terms on a new deal to keep the striker in the capital. However, after Cole was then unable to find himself a new team for this season, despite interest in his services from Championship outfit Queens Park Rangers, the forward returned to West Ham in search of a short-term deal for this campaign. Like the Honourable Schoolboy, perhaps home truly is where you go when you run out of homes.

The Hammers, of course, are suffering from a striker shortage, and are in desperate need of a new option to lead the line in the absence of injured England international Andy Carroll, who has so far been unable to feature at all for the club this season due to a long-term heel injury. It is hoped Cole could provide a short-term solution to Allardyce's depleted squad and the 58-year old manager wrote in his Evening Standard column on Friday: "There is a possibility that, on any day, we might lose him because he remains a free agent but we have arranged a game for him, during the international break, and if he comes through that, we will sign him." For his part, the former England international was said to be 'under-chuffed' by previous comments attributed to the club that he was unfit, and responded by tweeting a picture of himself in the gym with the caption: 'Fat what?'

Over-weight or not, it has become alarmingly clear just why West Ham could do with a fighting-fit Carlton Cole in their ranks. Prior to last weekend's victory at Spurs, the side had managed just four goals from their opening six fixtures with lone striker Modibo Maiga yet to score. The Malian had started every game before Sunday but has proved uninspiring and, despite playing for a team lacking strikers, has only managed to finish three of his six games. On top of his goal drought, Maiga has only had three shots on target and five off target in his six games, giving him a shot accuracy of 38%. Intriguingly, last season, Carroll also managed a shot accuracy of 38%, however, he did have 63 shots and scored more than every other West Ham striker combined.

Naturally, the Irons are pining for Carroll’s return for more than just the threat that he himself poses to goal. Last season, reports Squawka's Damian Buxton, the big striker won 65% of his headed duals, compared to 44% won by Maiga. In a Sam Allardyce side the lone striker’s ability to head and hold up the ball is key to involving the midfield, and the loss of Carroll has had a knock on effect on the rest of the side. Carroll creates more chances for his teammates than both Maiga and Cole. In 24 games Carroll created 34 chances – the only one of the three to create more than one chance per game. Maiga has created five in six games so far this season. Whilst Cole may not be the answer in this respect – languishing behind on 11 chances created in 27 games last season- he can at least be counted on to provide the physical presence that has been lacking so far this season. The Hammers are still to face four of the current top five in the Premier League, as well as the current Champions, prior to Andy Carroll's likely return. In their current plight, you don't have to consult Paddy Power for the best prices on each West Ham match to know Carlton Cole could be a gamble worth taking.

Tightrope To Redemption

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 21:42:00 +0000

I'm on a tightrope, baby, nine miles high
Striding through the clouds, on my ribbon in the sky
I'm on a tightrope, one thing I've found
I don't know how to stop, and it's a
Long, long, long, long way down...

A solicitous Ravel Morrison stood in the dock at Salford magistrates' court nervously eying the tangible prospect of being sent to Strangeways prison. After falling out with his then 16 year old girlfriend, he had thrown her phone out of an open window during a heated argument at her parents' house. He was already on a 12-month referral order having been convicted (along with two other teenagers) on two counts of witness intimidation a few months earlier. Then there was an incident described as a "domestic assault" and a year before that the police caution for assaulting his own mother. "I'm sure you appreciate that behaviour like this is not acceptable," the judge gravely intoned. "You're obviously someone with a considerable future and you must at all times understand that a loss of temper, no matter what the provocation, is not acceptable." The Manchester United starlet — seen as the most exciting product of the club's famed academy in many years — risked substituting fame and fortune for an altogether bleaker future.

Morrison eventually walked free, wearing a £600 fine for criminal damage but escaping a charge of assault. For the second time in two years, his girlfriend refused to make a statement. In a snapshot of a schizophrenic life, just two days previously he had been starring in the final of the 2011 FA Youth Cup. Described as "a rough, glittering diamond" in the Independent's match report, Morrison's first goal of the game had been impressive; a couple of touches and a rasping shot. The second was even better – running at the defence, before picking his spot and scoring. One way or other, it seems, Ravel Morrison was born to make headlines.

Long tipped to be one of the pre-eminent English footballers of his generation, there is little doubt, in terms of ability, that he is the real deal: balance, speed, control, vision, flair, strong on either foot, an eye for a pass and a prolific scorer. One clip on YouTube encapsulates what he does best: a preposterous trick to bamboozle an opponent from the Blackburn youth team, incorporating a triple drag-back and a backheeled nutmeg. Let's not judge a player on internet footage, but this was a moment that would have brought Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to their feet. "Silks", as Rio Ferdinand calls it. He has played for England's Young Lions at under-16, under-17 and under-18 level and made his United debut, at the tender age of 17, as a substitute in a Carling Cup tie against Wolves. One FA Youth Cup tie in 2008 prompted the Times to wonder "when [we] last saw such balance and daring from an English 15-year-old". The Daily Telegraph tipped him as "a potential gem for 2014 [World Cup]."

Brought up in Wythenshawe, a sprawling, uncompromising council estate on the southern tip of Manchester, Morrison was arrested for the first time within a week of signing academy forms on his 17th birthday. A child of the streets, glowering out at the world beneath a hoodie, he had admitted two charges of intimidating a witness. He had, reported Daniel Taylor, subjected the victim of a knifepoint robbery to a two-day ordeal in an attempt to stop him giving evidence at the trial of his muggers. The court was told Morrison made threatening phone calls ("you don't know what I'm capable of") and was among three teenagers who threatened the boy on the street. The three later appeared in the victim's front garden in the early hours. They were chased away but then came back in a mob of 15 to 20 people. A brick was thrown through the window. The victim was so traumatised his family put the house up for sale and wanted to leave Manchester. There was no emotion when the judge told him he was being spared detention, recalls Taylor. However, he notes, Morrison seemed appalled when he was informed he had to pay costs, including compensation to the victim. The court was told United's No 49, described on the club's website as a "supremely gifted talent", had nothing in the bank despite receiving £3,400, after tax, on the 25th of every month, as part of the professional contract he had signed.

Goodness knows, football has had its bad boys, its rebels and its malcontents over the years, observed Sam Wallace. Some have had to fall a long way before the penny dropped and some ran out of chances. Elite sport discriminates only on grounds of talent and in football, the nation's wealthiest, most intensely competitive sport, that means people will put up with a lot. While careful not to make light of the actions of the player Old Trafford insiders had lined up as Paul Scholes’ long-term replacement, the club issued a public show of support: "We do not in any way condone Ravel's actions, but he is a very talented player with a bright future ahead of him," a spokesman said. "The right thing to do now is to support him and help him in the process of his rehabilitation." Privately, notes Taylor, Sir Alex Ferguson and his coaching staff spent many hours debating how to handle the teenager. There were numerous stories of Morrison missing training, or turning up late for matches. "There's always something going on with him," became a popular refrain. More seriously, his temperamental nature and apparent dislike of authority manifested themselves on the training ground. It is said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, then the reserve-team manager, had to intervene in one incident. The teenager described as someone who acts impulsively and does not think of the consequences, a fragile personality in need of a role model.

This is not a story of a talented player with trouble attached, concluded Wallace. This had become a narrative of trouble with talent tagging along for the ride. Writing in the National, Andy Mitten states that the majority of the coaching staff at Manchester United lost patience with Morrison long before his eventual exit, persevering only on the behest of their manager. It is easy to be cynical to suggest the quality of mercy is linked to the rarity of the talent, but one of the traits of Sir Alex's management was his devotion to the club’s duty of care. United’s tradition of youth development, established by Sir Matt Busby, occasionally involves the application of peer pressure. Yet even the senior players were exasperated with their 18 year old. How could someone so talented, they wondered, be at fault so often? They had all made the necessary sacrifices to become a footballer and they had reached the top. The rewards were there for Morrison to see every single day, the status, respect and accoutrements of wealth. It frustrated the players even more that someone with more natural talent than most of them appeared to be throwing it away in a series of mishaps, misdemeanours and more - far more - serious issues.

There is a strong grapevine in Manchester, notes Mitten. It helps people in the city cut through the media image of footballers. Most players score quite well, ratings based on chance meetings in shops and clubs, on the words of friends and work colleagues, of little anecdotes which help piece together a profile. Not so Morrison. Almost every story - and there were many - concerned him being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. His influences appeared to be gangster chic rather than Gary Neville. The principal lesson of Neville’s career – that in football as in life, you get out what you put in – has never been more relevant or assiduously ignored. Morrison came across like he didn't care, not about now nor the future. Some sympathy must be extended because he's endured a difficult upbringing, reasons Mitten, but then so have many other footballers. What sets them apart is that they are prepared to learn and listen to people like Ferguson, one of the best protectors and developers of youthful talent in football. Morrison was not and Ferguson, his greatest ally, finally lost patience.

Maybe it was when he asked Rio Ferdinand on Twitter to confirm he hadn't pick-pocketed from the dressing room. Perhaps it was after he described the end-of-season awards ceremony, attended by assorted club luminaries, in excremental terms. On the back of just three first-team appearances he is said to have left Ferguson outraged by wildly 'unrealistic' wage demands when negotiating a contract renewal. In truth, the argument goes, playing at Old Trafford, with the celebrity it entails, may have simply come too soon for Morrison. Sir Alex Ferguson certainly arrived at the conclusion that the impressionable youngster would be "better out of Manchester" with all its attendant distractions. His friends, like many lads of 17 and 18, tended to "hang around on bikes, wearing hooded tops and dark clothing", reported Taylor. Morrison himself wore similar garb to one court appearance. For his sentencing, he looked what he was: a teenager in Nike trainers and a tie knotted Grange Hill-style.

For all this time Morrison lived with his grandparents, Chris and Maureen Carlway, in Denton, five miles to the east of Manchester, while his mother, Sharon Ryan, still taking an active part in his life, lived in another part of the city with her two younger boys, Rio and Zeon. Morrison would frequently contemplate moving out, complaining that he did not like being under the watch of his grandmother, although the club insisted he stayed in the company of adults. It is said that Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville both offered to take him in at different points. All of which made West Ham's subsequent decision to put the then teenager in a four-star east London hotel instead of a host family to keep him out of trouble all the more baffling, wrote the Mail's Laura Williamson at the time.

The move that eventually took Morrison to West Ham in January last year was for an initial £650,000, with the fee rising to a reputed £2.5million depending on performances. A solitary 10 minute substitute appearance in the ensuing six months, as well as hushed intimations of fractious relationships with both squad members and coaching staff, seemed to suggest they would not be seeing any extra cash in Manchester. Within a month, as predictable as the rain that falls on the streets of Whalley Range, he was back under the spotlight after being charged for using 'homophobic' language on Twitter. The England prodigy claimed he was reacting to vile racist abuse which had been directed at him. Even now it seems affording Morrison the medium of social networking is akin to prodding an angry bear with a stick and expecting it to behave, noted Bleacher Report's Alex Shaw. "With all due respect, when he first came from Manchester United he thought he was the top kid and he was going to walk straight into our team and it certainly doesn't work like that," observed West Ham assistant manager Neil McDonald when discussing those early months.. "We sent him away with the hope he would come back and use that experience."

Morrison started slowly upon joining Birmingham on loan at the start of last season, but his performance in their draw against Leicester that October, wrote Shaw, hinted at what we could expect: intelligent passing— often too clever for his own team-mates—and a willingness to stay true to aesthetics in the hurly-burly combat of the Championship. He went on to make 30 appearances in all competitions at St Andrew's, scoring three goals. "It was really good," Morrison states of the chance to grow up out of the Premier League spotlight. "I think I needed the year out and I think it went well, because I enjoyed my year at Birmingham a lot." Not that it was all plain sailing; the signs that things were initially going worryingly to form apparent in the fact manager Lee Clark considered ending his loan after three months because of an attitude problem. After the Birmingham manager held showdown talks with the midfielder, Allardyce believes the player's positive response was indicative of real personal growth. "It’s nice to see he overcame those early problems he suffered by not playing," said Big Sam. "We bought him for development. So first-team football hopefully will have given him enough experience so he can learn to put that ability into the game on a regular basis. A player is always much better when he is in the team as well."

Rather than write him off, Clark had decided to be honest with him about what was happening and his words had the desired effect, with Morrison shining for the rest of his loan spell. "Since we had that conversation, he’s been a super kid," states Clark. "I know there’s been headlines about him and things that have happened off the field. But I haven’t had a problem with him off the field. He loves his football, you see a big smile on his face when he’s playing and training. Early on in the season, when things weren’t going his way, in terms of getting in the team, his level of performance in training was affected. And he was on a little bit of a downward spiral in terms of that. So we had the watershed moment when we had the conversation and I said to him I didn’t bring him to the football club just to be a sub, or not even a sub at times. I brought him to be one of the main players. And he has knuckled down, his training has been excellent."

Morrison admits to having "missed West Ham a lot" but insists it was still good in the Championship. "It was different to the Premier League, obviously, but it was a good challenge," he said recently. "Lee Clark is a great manager and he helped me through a lot. He talked me through my rights and wrongs and he helped me through the season. I probably enjoyed the game against Millwall the most, when we came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3. That was probably the best game because the whole team worked hard. I also scored a couple of good goals." It says much about the relation that developed between the two that Clark went on record last month to say he would love to work with Morrison again. All summer he has maintained dialogue with Allardyce and the Hammers to ensure if West Ham decide not to include Morrison in their fold, then his Blues will be at the head of the queue for his services.

Those hopes appear to be receding with the midfielder determined to force his way into the reckoning at Upton Park. "Pre-season has been good and I've enjoyed the whole trip so far," Morrison told the club's official website. "I've just enjoyed the work and the whole group has done well. Hopefully I can get an opportunity. I've just got to carry on working hard and show the manager what I can do." An impressive run of form has followed, which includes two goals against Sporting Lisbon and a string of excellent displays as he continues preparation for the coming campaign. McDonald, now working closely with the 'problem prodigy', detects a significant change in the player's attitude that could finally see him flourish at Upton Park. "He’s settled in and he’s come back a different player," he told Talksport. "I think it’s done him the world of good going to Birmingham to play some games. He can certainly do a really good job in midfield. He’s got the ability. You don’t play for Manchester United if you’re not a good player. As each game goes along he’s looking good. He has had some experience around him as well [in midfield] with Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble pulling and pushing him, as you'd expect. If we can get him on the ball in the final third then he can produce."

Now Hammers skipper Nolan is ready to continue playing father figure to keep the starlet on the straight and narrow. "He has grown up and I think he has come back with a renewed approach," he told assembled journalists a few days ago. "I am going to help him as much as I can by talking to him on and off the pitch. Hopefully he's seen the benefit of being around us all the time and going on loan and seeing what it's about. Last year he started like that, but it was all the off-field stuff and his mental attitude to the game. He let himself down with not turning up and things like that. But speaking to Lee Clark at Birmingham, he said he really worked hard on him and towards the end had him on board. That's what you've got to have with Rav. If he can get it all right, he will be a top player for years to come."

There's the rub. On the pitch, wrote Michael Calvin, great players are defined by the quality of the decisions they take, under pressure. Off it, the same principle applies. There are small signs of hope, but the choice is Morrison’s alone. For his sake, pray he makes the right one. He will either be one of English football’s greatest treasures, concludes Calvin, or its latest tragedy. In many ways it is strange to think he is still only 20. As Shaw points out, those GIFs of him displaying his precocious talent in Manchester United's reserve matches have circulated on the Internet for years now, and everyone has an opinion on him, even Barcelona. Camp Nou officials were well aware of Morrison's quality when his time at United was hurtling towards a premature conclusion back in 2011. Nothing materialised from their interest — but he has the ability, if given the chance, to be noticed again. The choice between fame and oblivion is his. He can repay the faith, defy the demons and become rich beyond reason. Or he can revert to type, succumb to self-destructive anger and become just another doomed youth. There are many who hope Ravel Morrison proves the doubters wrong, but they won't be surprised if he doesn't.

Happiness Through Acceptance

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 18:21:00 +0000

Happiness can exist only in acceptance...

Perhaps Thomas Wolfe was wrong. Maybe you can go back home to your family, back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame, back home to lyricism, to aestheticism, to one's youthful idea of 'the artist' and the all-sufficiency of 'art' and 'beauty' and 'love,' away from all the strife and conflict to someone who can help you, save you, ease the burden for you, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time, back home to the escapes of Time and Memory. As Joe Cole settled back into the familiar bosom of West Ham United on an 18-month deal in January, still bright-eyed but no longer fresh of face as he returned to where it all began, a couple of stories came to mind recalls Oliver Kay.

The first, courtesy of a former team-mate, concerns a training-ground conversation about the best players in world football. Cole was gushing about Paul Gascoigne, Roberto Baggio and Zinedine Zidane and was asked what he admired most about them. "The flicks, the tricks, the skills," came the misty-eyed reply. The second is a tale from Chelsea’s training ground some years later as Cole, by now aware that his trickery on the ball would only get him so far in English football, was putting himself through a new daily routine in the gym. José Mourinho looked in. "What are you doing?" the coach asked. Building up the strength to start playing in the centre, a smiling Cole replied. Mourinho, straight-faced, could not resist the opportunity: "Back in Setubal, I have a donkey. It can run all day but it will never be a racehorse."

They are the tales that always come to mind, along with images of dragbacks and pirouettes, usually as a teenager in West Ham colours, when Kay thinks of Cole. Perhaps it is because they seem to say something about the journey on which his career has taken him, from wide-eyed ingénue at West Ham to his battle for acceptance at Chelsea, through the injuries, the ill-judged move to Liverpool, the flickering hint of a renaissance at Lille, back to misery at Anfield and finally, full circle and back to Upton Park for a new start in the most reassuring of surroundings. This is not how it was meant to be for Cole, widely identified in his youth by those at the top of the game, never mind by a captivated media or public, as the world-class No 10 that English football had been crying out for. The medal count tells us he has had a very good career (three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups for Chelsea, 56 England caps) but he cannot be developed in line with the expectations he or others had for him.

Cole’s story will be cited in some quarters as another black mark against English football, where tactical orthodoxy dictates that the game is played in straight lines, stifling the creativity of such a maverick talent — "too lightweight, chuck him on the wing", that kind of thing. The flaw in this argument is that the managers who have chucked Cole on the wing have tended to be foreigners (Claudio Ranieri, Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti, Fabio Capello) with the exception of Steve McClaren. When he has been indulged in central positions, it has been by English managers (Harry Redknapp and Glenn Roeder at West Ham, Roy Hodgson, briefly, at Liverpool) and it has rarely been successful. Does this not suggest that English football’s great missed opportunity with Cole was less in his deployment than with his development and, thereafter, with perception? Did the teenage Cole truly have all the attributes — mental, physical, technical, tactical — to be a world-class player or did he just, by English standards, have extraordinary skill on the ball? Did he, in other words, have the tricks and flicks that he admired in Zidane and Baggio but lack the vision or the game-intelligence, quite apart from the physique and hard-nosed determination, that made them into players of the highest class?

English football has a strange relationship with what a generation of players like to refer to on Twitter as #tekkers, argues Kay. Our sadness is not the searing kind but more a blend of joy and melancholy: joy at the perfection we see before us when such a talent arrives, melancholy at an awareness of how seldom we are sufficiently blessed to encounter anything of its kind. The flawless object throws into perspective the mediocrity that surrounds it. We are reminded of the way we would wish things always to be and of how incomplete our national game remains. It is why there is distrust at times, but there is also, at times, a misplaced awe. After Cole’s arrival at Liverpool in 2010, Steven Gerrard drooled about the tricks that his new team-mate could perform, saying that "Lionel Messi can do some amazing things, but anything he can do, Joe can do as well, if not better". It comes down to more than skills on the ball. The idea that Cole could have been English football’s Zidane or Andrés Iniesta seems a little misplaced. Zidane and Iniesta are two of the most intelligent, artistic footballers European football has seen — more intelligent and more artistic than Gascoigne and the like. Whether it is an issue of nature or nurture or something of both, Cole did not seem to develop, whether in his youth or his later career, the all-round game that would have made him the player that English football wanted him to be. Nobody can particularly be blamed for that.

Indeed, thinks Daniel Taylor, perhaps we were all a little bit guilty of expecting too much. Maybe we were too seduced by the hype. The first time he came across Cole was back in those days when everybody had heard of him but very few had actually seen him play. Cole, he explains, was part of a youth team at West Ham that had brought in journalists to advise on media training and, though it's going back a few years, a couple of things still stand out. One was that, out of everyone, he seemed the most eager to understand the mechanics of the newspaper industry. One player, no older than 16 or 17, got himself into a hole during the mocked-up interviews, questioning whether Ian Wright, 34 at the time, was past it – "he can't have long, can he?" – and cheerfully debating the possibility of taking his place until another boy let him know, with an expertly administered dead leg, that he had better stop talking. Cole was far more savvy. He had, he explained, already been taking advice, anticipating all the attention coming his way.

Secondly, the West Ham academy at the time, run by Tony Carr, was one of the best in English football, if not the very best and it would be hard to find too many clubs that developed players as astute as Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe in the same era. Yet it was Cole, notes Taylor, who all the other players looked up to. By that stage he had already scored seven times in an England youth international against Spain. Ferdinand tells the story of going to see Cole, then 13, in a schoolboys' game in Southend. "He flicked the ball over his head, then over another player, ran round the other side and collected it. The only time I'd seen anyone do that was Ossie Ardíles in Escape to Victory." Except Ardíles, one imagines, didn't do it in one take. At 15, Cole was invited to train with West Ham's first team. "He was the best player out there," Ferdinand confirms. John Moncur nicknamed him "the Conjuror". For Cole, by far the most hyped of West Ham's Bright Young Things recalls Jacob Steinberg, the limelight was blinding. A year before he had even made his professional debut, Redknapp was writing about him in his programme notes, dismissing reports linking a 16-year-old boy with Manchester United, and on his 17th birthday Cole signed his first professional contract on the pitch at Upton Park before a game against Chelsea. The date was 8 November 1998. "You can tell your grandchildren you were here when Joe Cole signed," said the pitch announcer, Jeremy Nicholas. No pressure, kid.

The other youngsters were all appreciated but none were as adored as much as Cole. He was not Joe Cole, he was Joey Cole. He made his debut in January the following year, coming off the bench in the third round of the FA Cup against Swansea City and a week later he made his first appearance in the league in a 4-1 defeat against United at Old Trafford, where he grabbed the attention with his fearlessness, showing off the flicks and tricks that define him. By now he was impossible to ignore, writes Steinberg, and in May of that year he helped West Ham win the FA Youth Cup. In a hopeless mismatch Coventry City were beaten 9-0 over two legs in the final, West Ham winning the second leg 6-0 at a packed Upton Park. By the time he had turned 21, Cole had played for England eight times and was about to be named captain of his club. Frank Lampard, to put it into context, was still waiting for his first cap at that age. Carrick had two.

It's funny how it works out sometimes, thinks Taylor. By now, you might have seen the archived footage that has found its way on to the internet, from 1996, of a question-and-answer session with West Ham supporters when Redknapp was manager. It's glorious stuff, with one gentleman trying to pin down Harry about how on earth he could justify selling a young lad by the name of Scott Canham – "for peanuts" – when Lampard was in the team and "not good enough". Canham's story after West Ham is an undistinguished journey via Brentford, Leyton Orient, Chesham, Woking, Farnborough and a few others. But nobody in the audience spoke up for the young Lampard when Redknapp was being accused of picking him for no other reason than being his uncle. The camera cuts to where Lampard is sitting and it's all a bit awkward, to say the least. He's smiling, but it's a default smile, the kind of smile when someone has just had bad news and is trying to tell everyone it's OK.

As it turned out, Lampard didn't do too badly, still with an outstanding chance of playing in the next World Cup even though he will turn 36 during the tournament. Carrick, another player who could polarise opinion among the West Ham crowd, has similar aspirations, playing with the control and authority for Manchester United that makes it difficult to understand why Roy Hodgson did not try harder to involve him in Euro 2012. Cole, meanwhile, has found himself in decline for longer than he probably wants to remember. As much as he had the crowd on their feet when the ball was at his, there was also a feeling that a lack of football intelligence and tactical discipline meant he did not make the most of his talent at West Ham. Despite Redknapp playing Cole behind two strikers, his end-product often left much to be desired; there were not enough assists and he only scored 13 goals in his five years with the club. Cole ended up playing some of the best football of his career when Roeder made him West Ham's captain in December 2002 and moved him to a deeper midfield role. The player flourished but, despite his manic efforts, West Ham still went down at the end of that season, unable to reel in Sam Allardyce's Bolton Wanderers side.

So would Cole have done better had he been raised by Spain, as the popular argument goes? Possibly, thinks Kay, but it is a hypothesis that ignores the reality that, in Spain, his technical abilities would seem less exceptional, something to work around rather than something that would make him a superstar. Cole has had some great moments in his career — a personal Kay favourite is an Iniesta-like pass that set up Didier Drogba for a goal against Valencia in the Champions League in 2007 — and he has a handsome medal collection. What he has not had is a true sense of belonging in any team — since leaving West Ham as a 21-year-old, in 2003, he has only twice started more than half of his team’s league matches in a season — and therefore the opportunity to make a sustained impression.

Kay and Taylor were both at Roots Hall on the night that Cole ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in an FA Cup third-round replay against Southend United four years ago. He has never been anything like the same player since — his performances in a turbulent 2½ years at Liverpool, during which he made only nine Barclays Premier League starts, were sad to watch — but even before that injury there was a sense, at the age of 27, that his career had already come to a crossroads. He also lost his place in the England set-up and has not played for his country since the 2010 World Cup finals, even if he believes he still has plenty to offer club and country. "I’ve had a great career but by no means am I finished," Cole insists. "There will always be the England thing in the back of my mind because I played 56 times for my country. I haven’t played since the World Cup in 2010, so something is missing there. I still want to be part of that, but you can’t talk yourself into England squads, you’ve got to perform." Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, beat Redknapp, his Queens Park Rangers counterpart, to Cole’s signature in January and believes the midfielder can force his way into Roy Hodgson’s plans. "If he can recapture his old form and plays on a regular basis for us, Joe is bound to get a bit of interest from Roy," he said at the time. "But his main focus will be making sure he plays for West Ham on a regular basis and producing the form we know he can."

If Cole's career went down a cul-de-sac then the sincere hope is that a return to Upton Park will eventually help him rediscover the spark that made him such a joy to watch in his teenage years. For we depend on our surroundings obliquely to embody the moods and ideas we respect and then to remind us of them, noted de Botton in his study on how human needs and desires manifest their ideals in our environs. We look to our buildings to hold us, like a kind of psychological mould, to a helpful vision of ourselves. As Cole explained to Graham Moody: "It’s very inspiring being back and, at the moment, it all feels like a dream, seeing the same old faces and the same places. It’s different but it’s the same. I can picture myself when I was young sitting in the same places and playing on the same pitches. It’s amazing. I will be inspired here and I can feel how I felt as a youngster again. I play my best football when I’m happy. The 18 months at Liverpool were difficult because I didn’t play as much as I would like. I need to play consistently, and if I’m playing consistently and I’m happy I’m sure I will be the same player I was."

Cole's second coming as a Hammer began encouragingly, delivering the crosses for both goals against Manchester United and playing with the sureness of touch, football intelligence and penetration that wasn't seen enough at Liverpool, bar his time on loan at Lille. West Ham certainly feels like a snug fit thinks Taylor, and it would be nice, too, to trust in Allardyce's famous restorative powers; even if we have reached the point in Cole's career when we probably just have to accept he may never be the player English football wanted him to be. Back where it all began, where they have always thought of him as one of their own, he should benefit from knowing he has the club's trust and affection. This time, however, the expectations have to be considerably lower. Moving back to London may have therapeutic effects but, for all the nostalgic qualities about returning to his first club, the bottom line is Cole would not be back in claret and blue if his career had turned out as everybody thought.

As harsh as it sounds, it boils down to this: When Joe Cole came on the market in January the Premier League's then 11th-placed club gazumped the bottom one, QPR, while the "serious clubs" kept out of it. Not only that, it needed Liverpool to write off a small fortune in the process. You know things haven't been going well when a club would rather give you a £3m payoff than wait any longer on the off-chance it might work out. Of those nine league games Cole actually started for Liverpool, he was sent off in the first and played the full 90 minutes in only three. The last time he started and finished a Premier League match prior to his Upton Park return was two years to the day of his second debut as a West Ham player. The other two occasions go back to September 2010. Cole, earning £92,000 a week, didn't get so much as player of the month. Or even a single man of the match. They paid him off in the end because the alternative was stumping up another £7m in wages over the remainder of his contract. However it is dressed up, it represents an astoundingly bad piece of business.

Perhaps we will always be left wondering why he never fully realised all that rare potential. Maybe he will never properly bridge the gap between a player who can dictate football matches rather than one who merely decorates them, laments Taylor. Yet he is plainly taking the business of reinventing himself seriously and it is enough for now to see him reminding us all why so many people care in the first place. More than anything, it would feel like a terrible waste if, at 31, we have to talk about his gifts in the past tense. Even if he will never be the player English football wanted him to be, suggests Kay, it would just be nice for him to remind himself, as well as the rest of us, of the player he was — that he is a thoroughbred, with some running left in him, rather than a donkey ready to be out to pasture.

Lancashire’s Loss, London’s Gain

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 21:13:00 +0000

"One thing about London is that when you step out into the night, it swallows you..."

It is now well over two and a half years since Sam Allardyce’s chicken-brained sacking by Blackburn. "I didn’t know it was quite that long," Sam smiles, raising an ironic glass. "To Venky’s!" He’s laughing now — and so are West Ham. Lancashire’s loss, London’s gain. Afterall, asked Charlotte Bronte, who but a coward would pass his whole life in hamlets; and for ever abandon his faculties to the eating rust of obscurity? Not Big Sam, who has resurrected his club while enjoying a rebirth as Metropolitan Man. Now happily settled in Canary Wharf and looking forward to building on two successful seasons in the Hammers hot seat, the manager is relishing what promises to be an exciting and challenging 2013/14 campaign; his tenth as a Barclays Premier League boss following spells with Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United and Rovers prior to joining the Hammers in July 2011. "It has been a really good couple of years for me, not just from a football point of view, but from the fact that we're enjoying our time living in Canary Wharf," Allardyce told the official club site today. "The big city has been great to explore and it takes the pressure off when you want to get out and get away from it all, you've got plenty to do and plenty to see."

The decision to move had to be right for Lynn, his wife, whose mother — after living with the Allardyces for 30 years — died just before the West Ham job came up. Happily the switch felt right, personally and professionally, from the start. Sam and Lynn love West End shows and East End life. Near the gastropub where Allardyce frequently holds court over lunch is their 40th-floor apartment, with amazing views. The perfect vantage point to watch those marbled clouds go scudding by in the many-steepled London sky. "The windows are ceiling to floor," he says, "and now when we go back to the house in Bolton, we have to put on all the lights. ‘Dingy, innit?’ we say." In a recent typically meandering lunch-fuelled interview with Jonathan Northcroft, Sam digresses on the benefits of natural light (he had a Bolton dressing room built with roof and pitched windows). He discusses algorithms in player-analysis software, the science behind improving athletes’ sleep. "All that stuff British Cycling gets praised for — microscopic detail, marginal gains — Sam was doing it 10 years ago," a former assistant told Northcroft. Allardyce has been an innovator (he was the first coach to use 4-2-3-1 in the Premier League). And he’s been a success — improving the league position of every club managed, even his supposed failure, Newcastle.

Yet critics don’t want to hear that and they don’t want to hear Allardyce, as can be his wont, expressing confidence in his abilities. "If Mourinho says it, you all speak about it in the highest esteem. It’s him talking about himself again and isn’t he good? But if a Midlander talks about it, with his Midlands accent that he’s nearly lost, he gets berated," muses Allardyce. He still harbours dreams of England, "though you can see Roy’s going to be there quite a while. But the desire to win, the desire to do as well as I possibly can in my career, is never relinquished." The Big Sam dichotomy — the man who thinks outside the box yet has the old values of English management running through his core — is something not everyone gets. But West Ham, promoted and made a competitive Premier League unit within 18 months of his arrival, feel the benefits. "Obviously with the football side going well as well, it has been a really good two years," he says with uncharacteristic understatement. "And hopefully it will be more successful, building up to getting in that new Olympic Stadium. I think the fans will all be itching to get the season started again. When they see everybody coming back for pre-season, everyone starts looking forward to the start of the season. With great expectation, every club will be expected do better than they did last season."

While the pressure-filled Barclays Premier League is still a fortnight away, Big Sam has been working tirelessly with the Board and his recruitment staff all summer, identifying and attempting to sign transfer targets. Four new players have already joined - Andy Carroll, Razvan Rat, Adrian and Danny Whitehead - while the Club have made no secret of their desire to bring in one more forward. Only today a signing the club were increasingly confident they had landed slipped agonizingly through the net. Yet, notes Northcroft, if there’s one area where Allardyce’s blend of originality and commonsense come together, it’s recruitment. Like Harry Redknapp, he’s a great assembler of squads. He keeps the right players (Mark Noble, Winston Reid); buys "pros" in key areas (Kevin Nolan, James Collins, Matt Jarvis); spots potential (Mohamed Diame, Mobido Maiga); and finds value in players others don’t even consider. Ricardo Vaz Te cost £500,000 from Barnsley and scored the £50m playoff final goal that returned West Ham to the Premier League. Joey O’Brien hadn’t played for Bolton in almost three years when he was released and then snapped up by Sam.

Moneyball? He knew all about that in 2001 when Mike Forde, his former performance director, went to America to investigate Billy Beane. "We started doing it: physical, psychological, technical and tactical; boxes players had to tick," explains Allardyce. "You work with what I call the ghosts of football, the scouts and analysts nobody sees. I don’t want to know what a player can’t do. What can he do? I’ll find other players for the other stuff. The biggest problem any manager has is recruitment. Half the time in this job you’re fighting to make sure you don’t sign the wrong players. Because everybody’s giving you players, all the time, every day of the week, in this ferocious transfer world."

It was, he states, a transfer that made him realise he’d made a good decision to work for David Sullivan and David Gold at Upton Park. "Steve [Bruce] is my best mate and he said, ‘You’ll have no problems’. They’re West Ham fans who want the same as me — to do well," says Allardyce. "The first thing was to bring a winning culture back to the club. Nolan was the central plank. We talked about Kevin and two days later it was done. Kev’s walking through the door and I’m like that [jaw hitting the floor]. Generally where I’ve been it’s been weeks and months [to complete signings], people putting up obstacles. Some clubs have transfer committees! With them [Sullivan and Gold] it was bosh, get in, deal done."

He needed his owners’ help in the previous transfer window when injuries had robbed Allardyce of seven leading players including Andy Carroll, out until the February and Diame who would return quicker than expected. Then, as now, Allardyce was looking "at players in Europe coming towards the end of their contracts and at loans" and to keep his midfield dynamo. "He won’t go anywhere. He likes it here," Allardyce says of Diame. "[His improvement] is down to the challenge he’s taken on. The size of a club demands a certain size of performance and we’re a sell-out club, with 35,000 people, great tradition. He’s responded. We changed his role [to attacking midfielder]. The ability he has to break through the opposition’s midfield is rare. Other players have to pass their way through. He has similar capabilities to Yaya Toure though, unbelievably, Manchester City don’t seem to be using those capabilities at the moment. That’s why West Ham fans love him — those long, penetrating, weavey runs. He gets into the positions so often that if we can work on the finishing and final pass we could be talking about a really top player."

That said, the manager is delighted that he has not had to overhaul his squad to the same extent that he did in the summers of 2011 and 2012. "It has been one of the quietest pre-seasons I've had for about eight years I'm glad to say," smiles Allardyce. "We have done some good business, obviously the Andy deal was the first one. We've got a new goalkeeper, Adrian, from Real Betis, who seems to be settling in very well. We've got Razvan Rat from a defensive point of view, so we're probably looking at securing one more player within the budget we've got available this summer. And hopefully that will make us a little bit better than last year. From our point of view, we have to look at everybody else's spending throughout the summer up until the deadline. Then we'll have a better idea of if the Premier League is going to be any stronger from last season and that's the challenge you have to face up to."

It is important, thinks Sam, that his squad make the same strong start that stood them so well last term. With home games against Cardiff and Stoke City and away matches at Newcastle United, Southampton and Hull City to begin, the manager believes the Hammers can put points on the board again in August and September. The caveat, he acknowledges, is an improvement on an away record that saw them win just three times in 19 games on the road last term. "Yes, they are [winnable games]. Our home form was the key to our success and our away form, in the end, wasn't very good, considering that when we got promoted the year before our away form was better than our home form. So it was quite strange from that point of view. The fixtures have been reasonably kind but there are no easy games in the Premier League as everybody knows. A good start for us like last season, we got 14 points out of the first eight games, is something that we need to target yet again if we want to be as good as we were last year. With that group of fixtures, not that I'm saying that they're easy, but if you started off with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester City in the first eight, that would be difficult. But we haven't got that to begin with and we need that strong start yet again."

And West Ham’s potential? "I’d like to win a cup," admits Allardyce. "I’ve been in two semis and the Carling Cup final. That, for this club, is the target: sustain itself in the Premier League and, as the squad grows, start thinking about [winning cups]." A bigger prize lies beyond. Allardyce and his players have seen drawings of the football arena with retractable seats for 54,000-60,000 fans that West Ham intend at the Olympic stadium. "Awesome," Allardyce says. "We cannot let it become a white elephant. And the only way to fill it is by being an established Premier League football club by the time we get there. It would give the chance to create a new history for West Ham United, to be mega in Europe. It would demand more from the manager and players and that’s what the club has to build towards now. I’d love to be there but that’s a long time in the future, isn’t it?"

Which brings us back to that baffling Blackburn exit that has taught Allardyce not to look too far ahead. His contract with West Ham was due to expire this summer and it is true that renewal was wholly dependent on the club's survival. "It was all about being safe," he says. "But me and the Davids had always been talking about next season, as well as the transfer window; sort of talking as if the contract’s wasn't up. Ten years ago I’d have been panicking, now I don’t. I knew we needed to be safe or virtually safe ... and at that stage we would get down to negotiation." Allardyce natters about "unbelievable" experiences, as a young Bolton centre-half, of playing in a Fulham side featuring Bobby Moore. He might never be "West Ham enough" for ultra-diehards but his mix of the down-to-earth and aspirational chimes with the club.

"West Ham is like Newcastle," he feels. "The fans always turn out. They might not always be patient but they’ll always be there. And contrary to what people have said to me about 'the West Ham way', they want to win. They want passionate, committed players who give their best. They want entertaining football but most of all they want to win and at the end of the day you can’t hide behind a certain way of playing [to justify] failure." If Paris is a woman then London is an independent man puffing his pipe in a pub, noted Kerouac's Lonesome Traveler. With that Metropolitan Man sips his wine of choice (Saint Emilion: involved in a wine business run by Ryan Nelsen, Sam knows his stuff) and tucks into his food. It’s gourmet, observes Northcroft, but still pie and mash.

Paean To Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:15:00 +0000

"Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield..."

They say you’re only as old as you feel. Except in football, it seems, where you’re perceived to be on your last legs at about 30 and pensioned off a few years later. Being young is beautiful and experience can often be undervalued. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United look to offer one-year contracts for players in their early thirties, other clubs try to recruit only professionals between 23 and 28, while some teams revel in picking up what are seen to be the scraps and showing that there is life in the old dog yet. "People write off players too soon," David Sullivan, the West Ham United co-owner, recently told Times journalist Gary Jacobs. "I wouldn’t write off players at all. That is our strategy and generally it works. Lots of players go on a lot longer than you think."

Sullivan should know. His teams have been built on a mixture of cheaper, experienced players, free transfers, others who have lost their way and the odd expensive recruit. This summer, he committed £15.5 million on Andy Carroll and the rest of the signings are likely to amount to a modest sum. He argues that knowing which players are entering the final year of their contracts or are free agents is valuable. It was a similar picture at Upton Park a year ago and West Ham finished in tenth place; Queens Park Rangers, heavy spenders on wages, were relegated. Sullivan has largely been constrained by the financial positions that he inherited at Birmingham City and West Ham, but chances are he might not to do too much differently if he was in a position to spend more.

He’s not alone. The Sam Allardyce-helmed Bolton Wanderers upset the odds in the top flight with a similar policy more than a decade ago, Sunderland looked to take advantage of Manchester United cast-offs recently - although they overspent in fees - while QPR tried but got it badly wrong because they overpaid in wages and that distorted the type player they attracted and, as a consequence, the squad. Sullivan looks at fact, not opinion, and relies heavily on a player’s statistics. Last year he signed Jussi Jääskeläinen, then 37, who had lost his place at Bolton. "His form improved," Sullivan said. "If you buy a 30-year-old compared to a 21-year-old for a lot less money, you can get the same ability on the field. We are interested in the ability we have on the field for this season, not for two or three years’ time. We see the player they are rather than what they might be. Because of the age, shorter contract and no-resale value, the player is cheaper."

Jääskeläinen has since earned a year-long extension to his contract at West Ham after so successfully filling the boots of England international Robert Green. The Finland international had achieved 55 international caps and 474 league appearances for Bolton Wanderers, and Allardyce insists he had no doubts about the value of signing his reliable number one. "When I signed him my fear was not about his ability, as I knew he had ability after working with him at Bolton," he admits. "But I wasn’t sure if he still had the drive and determination to put that back into this league again. He’d been bombed out by Owen Coyle and not selected for most of that season. So that was my fear, was he past his best? But since getting himself back into the groove he’s been an excellent acquisition for us." You just have to look at him, thinks Allardyce. "His wife Tess says he doesn’t look 38 – especially when he has a shave. He’s a young 38. He’s never suffered many injuries or operations and that is always a really good sign. The goalkeeper and goalscorer are the two biggest positions to fill. Having one at one end scoring the goals and the person at the other end saving them are the most important and he did a great job this season."

Rio Ferdinand, 34, is expected to sign a new deal at Manchester United soon and players such as Teddy Sheringham and Ryan Giggs have defied age, notes Jacobs. Ruud van Nistelrooy was 30 when he scored 25 goals to help Real Madrid to the title in 2007. AC Milan lifted the 2007 Champions League with an average age of 30.2. As Sullivan says, the best youngsters do not necessarily become the best players. The top clubs can all cite expensive prodigies who failed to make the grade. Arsenal signed Jermaine Pennant and Matthew Upson at high cost, Tottenham recruited John Bostock - they released him this summer - and Fabian Delph and Connor Wickham have struggled to make an impact. "There is no guarantee that youngsters will come good," Sullivan said. "We have seen some clubs buy the best crop of youngsters believing that they will be able to sell them on and it doesn’t work out. What Southampton have done to bring through players is incredible."

In Allardyce, Sullivan has a manager who has never shied away from fielding older and/or disenfranchised players. When at Bolton he pioneered an approach that was at once novel and ingenious. He went to football’s equivalent of Oxfam and searched for designer labels cast off by the well-off. Unwanted, they didn’t have a price tag but they came with baggage. Fredi Bobic, Youri Djorkaeff, Bruno N’Gotty, Okocha, Emerson Thome, Ivan Campo, Ibrahim Ba and Fernando Hierro were among those persuaded by Allardyce to enjoy the twilight of their careers in wintry Lancashire. "The financial devastation suffered by that club meant that the players who were willing to join us were mostly players discarded by their previous club," explains Allardyce. "They were written off because their attitude wasn’t right, their motivation had gone, they were disruptive, the coach couldn’t work with them, or some other reason. Our job was to assess whether that player wanted to rediscover his old self."

An assiduous accumulator of football's dispossessed, the key tools of Allardyce's trade have always been his honesty and unbridled force of personality. Invariably the difficulty that he confronts is the motivation of these players. How, for example, could a man perform for Bolton after spending most of his career at Real Madrid? "It wasn't just Campo and Hierro," recalls Allardyce. "Take Stylianos Giannakopoulos, who came from Olympiakos having won seven Greek championships on the trot. This sounds really bad on the club, but the reality is that it is not quite big enough to demand the best out of these players. So I had to drag it out of them. Because of what they had achieved elsewhere, we knew they were capable of taking Bolton to where it hadn't been. My job was to make sure they did that and it was a difficult job. But my strength is my DNA; with Sam Allardyce, what you see is what you get. My desire to be successful is very strong and I am good at infecting others and inspiring them to strive for the same thing."

"He believes that whatever age a player is, he can still improve him if they have the right attitude and come to perform rather than just for a payday," Sullivan added. "He sits them down, looks them in the eye and sees if they have fire in their belly." As was the case with newly recruited Romania captain Razvan Rat; picked up on a free transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk and signing a three-year deal worth around £35,000. The 31-year-old left-back spent ten years with the Ukrainian champions and enjoyed great success, winning a total of 12 trophies during his time at the club. "I am hugely happy that we have got a player of his experience and his character," said Allardyce of the 88-capped Rat. "He has been playing Champions League football this year and at the highest level for many years. Shakhtar had offered him a very good contract, but his ambition was to come and try his abilities and skills in England. When you hear somebody speak so positively about that, then you know they have got the mental character that is needed to do well in this division."

Rat will slot into a defence that already features 32-year-old Ivorian Guy Demel and glabrous Welshman James Collins, who joins the "30 club" next month; the age that supposedly promises the onset of loneliness, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm and even thinner hair. Collins, a bargain bin victim of Paul Lambert's youthful revolution at Aston Villa, recovered from costly early season blunders against Swansea and Reading to produce his best ever football in the autumn of his career. It included arguably the greatest individual performance of any Hammers player last season in a man-of-the-match display to mark Luis Suarez out of the game against Liverpool in April. "I feel like I am producing the best form of my career," agrees Collins. "I had a couple of mistakes which I needed to get out of my game. But I have put in some good performances and I was delighted with how I played. I’m happy with my form and hopefully it can continue." In truth, Collins has slotted in so successfully it is like he has never been away; although if it had been down to him he would never have left the club in the first place. "As soon as I knew the interest was there from West Ham I couldn't wait to get down and sign," he admits. "I had a great affinity with the club and the fans when I was here the first time and I enjoyed my time here so much last time that it wasn't a hard decision to make, to be honest. I've come back and I'm a much better player this time around so I couldn't wait to get cracking and show the fans that I am a better player and can put in the performances on the pitch."

The similarly marginalized Demel was discarded by Hamburg at the expiry of his contract having clocked up over 150 Bundesliga appearances. Originally signing a two-year deal with West Ham in August 2011, an injury-hit start to his Upton Park career meant he didn't actually make his debut until the November of that year. Yet by the time West Ham's Premier League return reached it's successful conclusion the following season, the ever improving Demel had featured in 31 of the 38 games and impressed enough to extend his contract until 2015. "I have some friends here already and London is a great city. I am very happy to be here," smiles Demel. "I had 10 years in Germany and I won the title. But it was time for a change and to show what I can do in another country. I am looking forward to the future and I would like to go to the new stadium with West Ham. Something big is happening here and I want to be part of an exciting time in the club's history. Last year was kind of difficult because when I signed, I had pre-season, and then unfortunately I got injured really quickly and it was hard to come back afterwards. But right now I feel good. I had a pre-season, we worked hard and I have to thank the medical staff for the job they have done with me. I feel good and I'm quite happy with what I'm doing right now, but I know that I can do even more."

Retooled, repurposed, remotivated. Whether at Bolton or now West Ham the story of Allardyce's tarnished acquisitions have a familiar refrain. When prodigal son Joe Cole pitched up in January he received an inevitable hero's welcome although it was hard to disguise the sense of foreboding. A miserable spell at Liverpool – which included a year on loan at Lille – had seen the Merseysiders so desperate to get the 31-year-old off their wage bill that they were willing to write off the rest of his contract. He had looked out of shape and out of puff and had featured only 10 times. As Jacob Steinberg noted at the time, the busted flush look of a boy wonder who had become yesterday's man. While six months is too short a time to judge the Allardyce effect, the early indications seem positive. An apparently impressive goal-laden pre-season has seen Cole enthusing about "being in the best shape of my life." Speaking after the recent 3-0 friendly win against Boreham Wood, he was talking animatedly about taking West Ham to Wembley and challenging for silverware. In the aftermath of yesterday's latest victory on the club's German tour Cole spoke of catching Roy Hodgson's eye, despite the fact the last of his 56 England caps came in the 4-1 World Cup defeat to Germany in South Africa three years ago. "The main thing for me is to get in the West Ham team, play as many games as I can, play well and we'll see what happens from there," he said. "But I think any Englishman will be looking at the World Cup. It's the pinnacle of a career to go to a World Cup and play for your country."

Substitute one aging, increasingly out-of-favour but once revered former midfield star for another and it wouldn't be hard to imagine those same quotes coming out of the mouth of Scott Parker should he make a return this summer. As recent newspaper reports continue to hint at West Ham interest in the player, Sullivan freely admits he "would love to have him back if there is room on the wage bill". The midfielder is one of a number of players that Spurs deem surplus to requirements but the biggest hitch remains his current £70,000-a-week. At 32 years of age but still motivated by lingering international ambitions it is easy to see why Allardyce and Sullivan would be interested. Likewise with 31-year-old Peter Odemwingie, reports the Times, after his proposed moves to Crystal Palace and Fulham fell through. It is thought that a bid in the region of £1.5 million could be enough to tempt West Brom into letting the want-a-way striker leave after relations soured between the player and club following the January transfer window fiasco. When questioned about the controversial Nigerian, Allardyce would only concede that he is aware of the player's availabilty but remains otherwise non-committal.

Whatever the truth of these latest rumours- and swathes of Hammers support have expressed concern- solace can be taken in the fact that nobody in the game gets a tune out of an old fiddle quite like Big Sam. Far better, he cajoles, to pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age. It is no secret, concludes Jacobs, that Allardyce would instinctively want the Hammers to replicate the model of his successful eight-year Bolton reign of paying high wages to entice big-name stars. Although the newly implemented UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations brings tighter restrictions in that regard, the West Ham boss knows that the club, as it stands, still cannot match the transfer budgets and salary offers of the elite to sign top talent in their prime - with the Andy Carroll deal proving a notable exception - but remains more convinced than ever that they can still take advantage in the seasoned players' market.

He Said, She Said...

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:21:00 +0000

He's a gushy romantic and she's a cynical realist. This is the truth behind the move to the Olympic Stadium. Both versions.

Or that's why God made other football stadiums. Because no matter how good your home is, just around the corner may be a better one.

*With credit to Sean Whetstone (@westhamfootball)

Are You Listening, Mr Pardew?

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:37:00 +0000

West Ham United have officially announced the signing of Mali international forward Modibo Maiga. The 24-year-old joins the Hammers from French side FC Sochaux-Montbeliard for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £5million, putting pen to paper on a four-year contract with an option for a further two years. The player, who becomes West Ham's fifth summer arrival following Mohamed Diame, George McCartney, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Stephen Henderson, will be the second Malian to represent the club. He follows in the footsteps of fellow forward Frederic Kanoute, who scored 33 goals in 92 appearances for the Hammers between March 2000 and May 2003.

A beaming Maiga could not contain his pleasure at completing his move to the Boleyn Ground; the culmination of a long cherished dream to play in the Premier League. "I am really happy and excited about joining West Ham United," he told whufc.com. "I know West Ham are a big club in England and I'm really looking forward to representing them. They have huge tradition and it is like joining part of a family and that is one of the main reasons I wanted to come here. I know some of the big names that have played for the club in the past and I am proud to be part of a new team back in the Premier League."

The excitement, of course, is likely to be reciprocated by the expectant West Ham fans. These are days of hope and optimism, when our team is still level on points with the great powers and we dream impossible dreams. On the beaches of Spain and Portugal, Turkey and Greece, the great diaspora of Hammers followers pores over English newspapers, gorging on the transfer tittle-tattle that tells of the impending arrival of the one player who is going to transform our team. He bears the exotic stamp of some faraway place, his foreign passport enough to convince us of his credentials as a footballer to stir the heart.

So it was that Modibo Maiga stepped out of St Pancras station two days ago, over-sized suitcase in hand. The latest stop on an eventful journey that started in the back alleys of Djicoroni Para before wending its way through North Africa and then across France. "Shy, a little. Modest, certainly," says Gilles Santalucia on first meeting the man. It is, he thinks, the natural result of an education learnt on the streets of one of the poorest districts in one of the most deprived countries in the world. Mali has an estimated population of 12 million with over 50 percent of the country located in the Sahara Desert and with 64 per cent of the population living below the poverty line. It is a time and place, admits Maiga, where nothing in life is simple. "It is a region where things are very, very difficult," he concedes. "It must be said, it is a mess over there."

The young Malian is the third son in a family of ten children (six girls, 4 boys), yet grew up with a football almost stuck to his foot (especially the left one) and always smiling. "My father was a driver and my mother has long had a cafe. Even if it is was not always clear to us growing up in Mali, despite everything, there is still a zest for life that never disappears." Maiga has, he says, found less joy in people in France. "Everyone there has their own life but with us, we all live together. Among locals, there is a lot of solidarity, a common shared experience."

Growing up on those dusty plains, football was Maiga's first and only love. "I went to school through high school," he explains. "Afterwards, I changed my path. I chose football. In the neighbourhood we knew there was a lot of African players that were doing well in Europe. It made us envious. I was always one of the best in Djicoroni Para when doing competitions and technical stuff." Then he pauses as if to give full flight to his memory, "but we did not think, right then, of our futures. Football, it was fun, a kind of love. Yes, that's love. Only later did I start to see it otherwise."

Maiga started out at Stade Malien, based in Bamako and one of the two dominant clubs in Malian football. It was 2003 and he was 15 years of age, rubbing shoulders with several Mali internationals past, present and future. Just over a year later, and after only three club appearances, he was spotted by famed recruiter Philippe Romieu. Maiga initially moved to Raja Casablanca on a six-month loan with option to purchase and ended up staying for three seasons; winning several awards including the Moroccan League, the Throne Cup and the Arab Champions League. "I think the move to one of the biggest clubs in Africa certainly facilitated my integration in France," reflects Maiga. "I have only good memories. You do not forget the first steps you take out of your country."

For an ambitious and talented footballer, small motivation was required to leave Mali. "You do not know where you want to go," he says, "but you feel you want to go to progress." In Casablanca, Maiga had little choice but to embrace the madness. "The Moroccan people are crazy about football. With 60 000 to 70 000 spectators per match, there was an incredible atmosphere." Such an experience would leave an indelible mark on any impressionable young player. "It made me want to go even higher," he recalls, before admitting that he never found in France anything to match what he encountered in North Africa. "I miss it because the atmosphere in the stadiums there is very motivating for the player."

The move to Europe would prove to be a culture shock in more ways than one. The raw 20 year old landed in a snow dusted Le Mans shivering in the depths of a unseasonably harsh winter. Alone and uncomfortable in a strange land, he quickly confronted the unpalatable truth that a successful football career would "force him to consent" to sacrifice, to change his lifestyle. "It's very hard to deal with it all when you come from where I come from," he says. "For Brazilians, I think it's even worse. Them, they need to come with their entire family for everything to be happy around them. They need it. Yet we must face this new life to succeed. You are forced to fight against adversity."

Under the watchful eye of Daniel Jeandupeux, Maiga initially faced a severe test of resolve which would endure for almost a year. "When I arrived at Le Mans from Casablanca, I was a little hurt," he admits. "I took the time to heal and then had to gradually integrate myself into the group as well. So I started with the team of CFA (Championnat de France amateur fourth division)." He eventually joined the first team under the management of Rudi Garcia but featured only intermittently. "I fought through it," he states, before insisting he never lost belief in his ability even when he was not playing. "I told myself that I would play full-time the following season and be in great physical shape."

Garcia's subsequent departure for Lille and the promotion of Yves Bertucci coincided with Maiga's rapid rise. "My ambition to be successful at the club would have been the same no matter the coach," thinks Maiga. "I wanted to play more than anything. I worked very hard for it and I'm really ambitious. But it's true that Yves [Bertucci] knew me very well since I developed under his command in CFA. He knew me more than Rudi [Garcia] elsewhere. Yves gave me my chance. So I tried to return it to the fullest and to earn his trust."

Le Mans also had a strong contingent of French-speaking African players and Maiga believes that it eased his progress. "The presence of certain players was a very good thing for me," he says. "When I landed in the Sarthe, there was Romaric and Stephane Sessegnon. There was a lot of Africans. It was fun. We worked together and I could learn from their experience, and always listen to their advice." Playing alongside Ivory Coast player Gervinho, Maiga's talent slowly blossomed into full glory across the football fields of France. Despite Le Mans' ultimate relegation to Ligue 2, he bagged 15 goals in 88 games over a three year period; including eight goals in 30 games in the 2008-2009 season. Unwilling to drop a division, Maiga jumped at a transfer to FC Sochaux-Montbéliard for an estimated three million euros. "I could not forget that relegation," he says. "Even now it's hard to return to this disappointment. As Sochaux had followed me for a few months, I did not hesitate and I immediately gave my consent because it was a good challenge ahead for me."

Signing a four-year contract, Maiga informed the media that at Sochaux he felt respected. "Frankly, since the beginning I liked the place a lot," he says. "I really do not care about the surroundings, what interests me is the club environment. At Sochaux I felt more respected, more relevant and that made me more confident. The staff were very human and made me want to get involved. With them I felt able to make much progress. What they said, what they did, could only make people want to give of their best." That was then though.

During the 2010–11 Les Lionceaux coach Francis Gillot moved Maiga more central and teamed him up with Nigerian striker Ideye Brown to devastating effect. The pair struck up a 30 goal partnership, each scoring 15 goals. Between them, they accounted for half of FC Sochaux's league goals. Maiga and Brown were assisted by playmakers Marvin Martin and Ryad Boudebouz as Sochaux finish fifth in Ligue 1 and qualified for the UEFA Europa League. By the following August, Maiga had announced that he would never play for the club again. In the interim strike partner Brown had been sold to Dynamo Kyiv and coach Gillot departed for Bordeaux. A frustrated Maiga expressed his interest in moving, but with one star striker gone Sporting Director Alexandre Lacombe wasn’t keen to see his other forward leave the Stade Auguste-Bonal.

Maiga's subsequent refusal to make himself available for selection for several matches of the new season launched its own public "soap opera"; played out against the backdrop of an impending transfer to Newcastle United that the player desperately wanted, but which Lacombe categorically refused. The Mali international told L'Equipe: "I want it to be done with Newcastle. I want to leave, it is necessary that the president agrees to negotiate. I met everybody, they want me and it is not any club. England is a dream. I want to go." For their part, Sochaux accused Newcastle of speaking to Maiga without their permission and confirmed they had contacted Fifa to intervene. A few days after the transfer window slammed shut, a frustrated Maiga- who had already missed games against Malherbe de Caen and AS Nancy- went for a 'Sunday drive', claiming sickness and without informing anyone of his absence. He missed further games before eventually returning to the first team and scoring four goals in three games.

Yet resentment was still raging in Maiga as the unforgiving fans continued to whistle his every move. Things came to a head in a televised match against Toulouse when Maiga was shown apoplectic with rage and hurling insults at the supporters who had once idolized him. "It was a good answer to the people who do not know football," he told the media after the game. "This will make them shut their big mouths. When you see what I did last year and the fans for whom I have always played do not try to understand, they hiss you. [...] I say 'fuck you' to the supporters. My answer is on the field. I have always been strong in my head, thank God."

An exasperated Lacombe was moved to extinguish the fire again. "He has in him a strong vengeful side," he told assembled journalists. "He really has it deep in his guts, and I think he spoke without thinking. It's our fault, we should not have let the press so quickly in the locker room. I do not know exactly how it happened, but I take it upon myself. We made a mistake, I take responsibility." Within months, the man who had resisted Newcastle’s repeated attempts to sign the 24-year-old in the summer conceded there was no point trying to do so again in January. "I have had enough of being booed by supporters, but anyway it does not stop me scoring goals for the club and making them happy," added Maiga in response. "I will not finish my career in Sochaux if I am scoring every week - that is the reality of football. I have not invented that. At the moment I am here and scoring goals. I do not know when the transfer window opens what there will be. It depends also on the club, but in the near future I want to ply my trade in another top league. It is a genuine ambition, I will accept being booed for that."

By October several newspapers were reporting that Maiga was again close to sealing a £7 million transfer to move to Tyneside, before L'Equipe revealed in December that he had failed a medical ahead of his proposed move amid concerns over a 'knee problem'. "I am disappointed at this turn of events," responded the player’s agent, Karim Aklil at the time. "Modibo is in perfect physical condition, which was confirmed by one of the leading experts in the field." Aklil was referring to a report of the player performed and submitted by Professor Jaeger, an independent medical practitioner in France. "I was surprised that Newcastle’s medical team employed a very shallow observation before reaching a conclusion. I’m quite convinced that the future will prove us right. Modibo is one of the best strikers in the French Ligue 1," he added.

Maiga says the failed medical was due to lingering thigh injury he had picked up earlier in the Ligue 1 campaign and which he had been dragging around for several weeks. He points to the presence of Demba Ba in the Newcastle squad a year after he was turned down by Stoke for a similar reason, and argues Alan Pardew may live to regret the decision to pull the plug on a deal that had been in place for months. "I am mentally fine, I wanted that move to Newcastle badly," he says. "However, it did not happen as they said my knee has a problem. There is a player at Newcastle now, he was told at a Premier League medical that he had a knee problem, he then went to another and started scoring goals before his move to Newcastle. Me... I feel better than anything."

By February Maiga had time enough to revisit those words, sweating in a Libreville hospital bed having contracted malaria while representing Mali at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. His absence had originally been attributed to a mystery ankle injury, partly at the behest of the player himself who had neglected to take the preventative measures as prescribed by his club doctors prior to the tournament. Fevered and tired, he would miss the 1-0 semi defeat against Côte d'Ivoire, with manager Alain Giresse lamenting he had no resource to compensate for losing Maiga's speed and trickery. When Maiga eventually returned to France, severely weakened and incapacitated for several more weeks, he was in no position to help his team-mates by now embroiled in a desperate relegation struggle.

By the end of April, Maiga had returned with 4 goals in as many games: against Lyon, Brest, Montpellier and Dijon. Seemingly keen to repair his damaged reputation, or else realizing that his personal interests coincided with those of the team, Maiga had taken full advantage of a serious knee injury to Edouard Butin to remind sceptical fans of his talent. His relieved coach, Eric Hely, told a curious media that his wayward star had 'fallen into line'. "These last few weeks, he has been working hard," he said. "He has demonstrated he wants to play and, above all, he has acquired a good level of physical fitness. He is now being rewarded for his efforts."

In addition to Maiga's natural finishing and exceptional heading ability, Sochaux captain and goalkeeper Teddy Richert believes Maiga has developed a new found physicality which enables him to disrupt and bully defences. "It doesn't surprise me at all," he says. "You can see it on the pitch and in training that he wants to give everything to show what he is capable of and that's what he is now doing." Maiga has developed into a versatile player; possessed of power and technique that means he is as comfortable playing a lone central striker role as he is a "more facilitating role in which I pull out towards the wing." He has, he believes, mastered both positions. "It really does not matter what position I play," he promises. "I can give my full potential through the middle or out wide. So I have no preference. I play where the coach asks me."

While off the field Modibo Maiga had largely been a disaster last season: throwing tantrums, insulting his own supporters, missing training and refusing to play, acknowledges Jonathan Fadugba, it stemmed from a burning desire to leave the Ligue 1 strugglers for a bigger club which, in fairness, his abundant talent probably warrants. Writing for Just-Football.com, the chief correspondent for FFT's United States of Africa states: "Nevertheless his shenanigans have been quite disheartening to witness and one wonders to what extent it was his misbehaviour, rather than worries over the state of his knee, that caused Newcastle United to pull out of the deal." It's a shame, thinks Fadugba, because when on his game the Mali international is a real handful – aggressive, alert, strong in the air and a good finisher. Scoring 24 goals in 59 games for Sochaux certainly suggests he can do it at a high level, and having been rejected by the Magpies he always remained desperate to impress watching scouts to finally rescue him from his nightmare in Montbéliard.

Cursory statistical analysis certainly supports this assertion. A recent post on the English Premier League Index compared Maiga to the other top scoring strikers in Ligue 1 last season. Montpellier's Olivier Giroud (now of Arsenal) led the league in most stats, goals, total shots, assists and shots on target; while the league's second best scorer, St Etienne's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was second to Giroud in all the stats that he led. "Maiga was second in shooting accuracy with 53%, behind Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez who had 58% of his shots hitting the target," reveals the article. "He was also third in conversion percentage with 18%, behind Yoan Gouffran (24%) and Lopez again (23%). A key Stat to look at here is appearances, Maiga made the least amount of appearances last year with 23, which would mean he would score less goals."

Not that Modibo Maiga is one of life's natural number-crunchers. "I just believe in myself and I always want to go higher," he says, with the same conviction he had as a kid growing up in Bamako that one day Barcelona would come calling. "Seydou Keita (former Lens and Barcelona midfielder) is like a big brother to me and when I was young he gave me good advice. He told me that I have all the qualities that I need to achieve great things but that I have to work hard and God must be willing." He then raises his eyes as if to scan the sky. "My first name is that of an ancient religion and I am a devout Muslim," he reveals. "It's like that in Mali. I was born into it, and it is what gives me my mental strength. Even when I was having a difficult time in Sochaux and the fans did not understand me, I never gave up faith that I would one day make it to Premier League. I always wanted to play here and now I have a chance. What is more, my health is very good and so are my knees!" Are you listening, Mr Pardew?

Southend United 0 v 3 West Ham United

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:12:00 +0000

If you're looking for a thrill that's new
Take in Fords , Dartford Tunnel and the river too
Go motorin' on the A13

Pre-season games are not supposed to be like this. Usually these games are played in blazing sunshine in front of shirt-sleeved fans, but this was strictly umbrellas, rainhoods and bovril as the West Ham fans descended on rain-lashed Roots Hall for a trip to the seaside. Away from the summer fete atmosphere that has recently dominated domestic sport at Wimbledon and Silverstone, there could be no clearer sign that the football machine is beginning to churn. At times this game looked more like a water polo match as the Hammers negotiated puddles as well as League Two opposition to record their first victory since returning to action.

Having failed to win either of their opening two fixtures of pre-season - losing 3-1 against Austria Wien and drawing 1-1 at Boreham Wood in midweek - the win was a welcome one. It was also thoroughly enjoyed by the travelling Hammers fans who filled the away end plus had many more supporters in the home stands. Of the official capacity of 7,135, at least half were supporting the visitors. They watched West Ham warm up for their Premier League campaign with a commanding performance that saw Sam Baldock score his third goal in successive matches.

Manager Sam Allardyce had opted for a strong team in the first half. Kevin Nolan, Mark Noble, Winston Reid, George McCartney and Ricardo Vaz Te were all in the starting line-up and the difference in class showed as Jussi Jaaskelainen was hardly called upon in that opening 45 minutes. After just two minutes, Nolan's close range effort was ruled out for offside before Vaz Te's neat near post flick from Matt Taylor's right wing corner was tipped wide of the target by Blues' trialist goalkeeper Rhys Taylor. The Southend shot-stopper then did well to smother a long range shot from Taylor before the former Rotherham keeper denied the winger again with a solid stop low down to his right hand side.

With the Hammers in full control their efforts were rewarded with 22 minutes on the clock; finally making their pressure count as Taylor's right wing corner picked out an unmarked Nicky Maynard and the striker thundered a header in to the roof of the net from close range. West Ham did not stop there though and Jordan Spence doubled the lead in the 34th minute with a fine solo strike. The young defender charged from the halfway line down the right flank and unleashed a powerful long range shot in to the bottom left hand corner of the net. It was a goal of some class, though Southend boss Paul Sturrock will surely have been disappointed by the defending, or lack of it.

Allardyce made only one change at the break with Sam Baldock replacing Maynard as he looked to step up the game time of many of his first-choice players. Paul Sturrock countered with 10 changes with only one-time Hammers target Kane Ferdinand remaining on the field from the first half. If the aim was to help stem the flow then it seemed to have the desired effect, as the Hammers initially struggled to re-assert themselves after the interval. Allardyce eventually rang the changes on the hour with five more substitutions to give the youngsters a chance and it was one of them who created the third West Ham goal just four minutes later. Former MK Dons frontman Baldock reacted quickest when Southend's second half goalkeeper Phil Smith failed to hold a low 20 yard shot from Elliot Lee and chipped the rebound in to the back of the North Bank net.

The goal killed off any remaining hopes of a Blues fightback and from then on the Hammers were comfortable. Guy Demel and Ravel Morrison were both given run-outs, while youngster Amos Nasha stood out at the back, but as the pitch deteriorated, so did the game as the Hammers settled for three. The only sour note for boss Allardyce was the sight of young left-back Dan Potts being stretchered off after a nasty clash of heads with Southend's Mark Phillips. As an eloquent postscript, the biggest cheer of the day from the downbeat home fans came when former Hammers trainee Freddy Eastwood replaced trialist Joe Yoffe in attack with nine minutes remaining.

Speaking after the game, Neil McDonald said he was delighted to see West Ham United secure such a comfortable victory but was even happier to report encouraging news about stricken left-back Dan Potts. The youngster was knocked out cold for a short period before regaining consciousness and being tended to by the Club's medical staff and paramedics. He was carefully fitted with a neck brace before being stretchered off the pitch to an ovation. Thankfully, the 18-year-old was up on his feet again in the dressing room a short time later and was able to have a shower. Potts, who was voted Man of the Match, was taken to hospital for a precautionary scan and will be kept in overnight for observation.

McDonald told West Ham TV: "Pottsy is fine. He is going to stay overnight in hospital just to double-check he is all right but he's up and walking about. He's got showered and now he'll be taken into hospital for observation. He's come round and he's got a bit of a sore head which is only natural from a clash where he's made a fantastic defensive header. We'll make sure he's OK and, all things going well, he'll be back to work on Monday."

While the news about Potts' health provided a boost for everybody associated with the Club, the assistant manager was also pleased with the way West Ham played in testing conditions at Roots Hall. Heavy rain left the pitch sodden in places, with puddles holding the ball up in the corners, but the Hammers moved the ball quickly and relatively easily to open up Southend and score three fine goals. McDonald put West Ham's impressive performance down to the hard work that has been done on the training field since the Club returned for pre-season on 1 July. "They're getting stronger and they're getting fitter, which is what pre-season is all about. It was nice to get some goals as well, which was great," he confirmed. "With another good week of work under their belts and having played two games this week, it's building up well in pre-season. We passed the ball really well and kept it moving. We've been working on keeping the ball and passing and moving during the past two weeks and we now just need to build their fitness up. We played some really nice stuff at times."

Southend United manager Paul Sturrock felt the manner of his side’s defeat showed the friendly had come too early in Blues’ pre-season preparations. "The game was a bit too early for us in our preparations and I think everyone saw that," said Sturrock. "West Ham are also 17 days ahead of us in their training and you have to take that in to consideration. We were also up against a Premier League side, so it was always going to be a difficult game." The wet weather also played havoc with the Roots Hall pitch and Sturrock felt the match would have been called off if it had been a league contest. "If this was a normal game then it would definitely not have taken place," said the Scotsman. "But because it’s a friendly you just have to get on with it. The biggest plus point for me was that we got no injuries and we can now look forward to continuing our pre-season because we’re in the middle of some very hard work at the moment."

Shrimpers midfielder Kane Ferdinand felt Southend United were outclassed and never looked like troubling the Hammers. "I think the difference in class between the two teams was there to see but it was good for us to get out there again," said Ferdinand, 19. "West Ham have been back in training a few more weeks than we have and that showed as well, but it was nice to get a game in. The matches help to break up the hard runs and training we’re doing and I’m sure this will have done us good."

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Spence, Potts (Mavilla), McCartney (Demel), Reid (Nasha), Nolan (Bywater), Noble (Morrison), Hall (O’Neil), Taylor, Vaz Te (Lee), Maynard (Baldock)

Boreham Wood 1 v 1 West Ham United

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:51:00 +0000

I was living in a Devil Town
Didn't know it was a Devil Town
Oh, Lord, it really brings me down
About the Devil Town

West Ham United respected the point with a 1-1 draw against Blue Square Bet South behemoths Boreham Wood in their opening pre-season friendly on English soil. Venturing into darkest Hertfordshire, to the town that inspired Urban Dead's quarantined gameworld in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak, Sam Baldock and Ravel Morrison provided the stand-out moments in a game the Premier League outfit controlled for long spells but could never quite kill off.

The visitors got off to a good start as George McCartney and Ricardo Vaz Te combined well down the left before the former Portugal Under-21 international found George Moncur, whose first-time curling effort was palmed away well by the goalkeeper. Pelly Ruddock, who joined the Hammers from Boreham Wood last winter after coming through the non-league club's Programme for Academic and Sporting Excellence scheme, was handed the captaincy on his return. He almost opened the scoring as he attempted a volley from Matthew Fanimo’s pinpoint cross, but the midfielder sliced his effort when he should have controlled the delivery.

With 21 minutes on the clock, the home side almost took the lead from a corner, but Callum Reynold’s powerful header went straight over Jaaskelainen’s bar and out for a goal-kick. Six minutes later Boreham Wood were left ruing that miss as Sam Allardyce’s side took the lead through Baldock. The tireless striker had scored the Hammers’ only goal in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat against Austria Vienna and playing here up front largely on his own, he caused the home team plenty of problems. First, hitting the base of the post from a first-time left foot shot, then eventually breaking the deadlock when Vaz Te unselfishly laid the ball into his path and he struck a crisp shot into the corner of the net via a deflection.

As the first half came to a conclusion, Jaaskelainen was finding himself more and more involved, first stopping Graeme Montgomery's free-kick from the corner of the penalty area, then diving down to his left to stop a low strike from left-back Mark Jones as the hosts showed that they were determined to make an impression in front of a bumper crowd that included the local Mayor. Flickering consciousness lurched into animated revivification six minutes into the second half when giant forward Inih Effiong seized on some calamitous defending by Sam Allardyce’s team. Young defender Eoin Wearen saw his weak back pass intercepted by Omer Riza and when he squared it to the cyclopean substitute, the striker beat Jake Larkins from just inside the box.

Manager Allardyce, back in the dugout after spending last week working on bringing in new recruits, cut an unconcerned figure on the night as he ambled around the ground signing autographs. The relaxed atmosphere was underlined by the presence of Rob Burgess-Allen, his 'Assistant Manager for the Day', who had successfully bid for the right to spend all day at Chadwell Heath, before mixing with the squad on the team coach and in the dressing room pre and post-match. Just as Neil McDonald had done in Vienna, Big Sam was using the night to give his full squad more valuable game time in the run up to the big kick-off at home to Aston Villa on 18 August. He opted to play two different teams in each half, providing a mix of youth and experience throughout. For the second period Winston Reid, Gary O’Neil, Kevin Nolan and Nicky Maynard were the senior players; replacing Vaz Te, Noble, McCartney, Jaaskelainen and Baldock. They were joined by talented former Manchester United midfielder Morrison.

Indeed it was Morrison, partnering Nolan in the middle of the park, who seemed the most likely to produce something after the break for West Ham. The 19-year-old looked sharp spreading the play nicely and probing for openings, while Maynard played the lone striking role, with little success. He did have one shot saved after latching on to Morrison’s pass, while he should have scored right at the death when Morrison’s long-ranger was parried into his path, only to stab the rebound wide. Nolan had come even closer a few minutes earlier. Following more good work from Morrison, Matt Taylor’s cross from the left picked him out perfectly, but the skipper’s shot hit the ground and bounced up on to the bar as Boreham Wood held on for a creditable draw.

In the absence of Burgess-Allen, Neil McDonald declared himself happy with proceedings. "It was a good workout and though it would have been nice to have won, it is not about results," he said. "This is all about building up the fitness, building up the endurance as well which we have been working on for the last week and a half." McDonald did have some words of praise for Morrison after his second-half showing. "I think he is an exciting sort of player, especially when we have got the ball," he said. "He can play that final pass and drive on with the ball, which is certainly what you need in the Premiership. It was a good workout for him, another 45 minutes under his belt after 90 against Austria Vienna, so that is a good week for him and he has got to know the other players a little better."

West Ham (first half): Jaaskelainen, Driver, McCartney, K Lee, Spence, Vaz Te, Moncur, Noble, Ruddock, Fanimo, Baldock.

Second half: Larkins, Chambers, Potts, Reid, Wearen, Turgott, O’Neil, Nolan, Morrison, Taylor, Maynard.

The Hammers travel to Southend United this weekend.

Fußballklub Austria Wien 3 v 1 West Ham United

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 22:08:00 +0000

I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.

West Ham United were beaten 3-1 by Fußballklub Austria Wien in their opening pre-season friendly fixture. An experimental side featuring new signings Mohamed Diame and Stephen Henderson plus youngsters Seb Lletget and Ravel Morrison deployed in a conventional 4-4-2, was comfortably beaten in the Austrian capital by a team three weeks ahead of the Hammers in their pre season preparations. Sam Baldock gave the Premier League newcomers a fourth minute lead at the 10,850-capacity Franz Horr Stadium, getting his head to a hanging Carlton Cole cross to force the ball past Lindner in the Wien goal. Cole then looked poised to record the Hammers' second of the match just before the 15-minute mark, the former Chelsea striker leaping for a cross in the box but taking a defender down in the process, resulting in a free-kick to the home side.

Yet that would prove to be as good as it got for the visitors, managed for this game and the entirety of the five day training camp in Bad Waltersdorf by assistant Neil McDonald. Blistering sunshine and temperatures in excess of 80 degrees forced a short break in play 20 minutes in, and then with Cole off the field receiving treatment, the revitalised 23-time Austrian Bundesliga champions levelled midway through the first half, Roland Linz evading a challenge on the edge of the box and beating Henderson. Three minutes later Tomas Simkovic burst down the left and picked out Dare Vrsic, who finished well to give Die Vielchen the lead. Cole was subsequently replaced with just 26 minutes on the clock by Nicky Maynard - however the damage is not thought to be serious. Cole tweeted after the game: "I had slight calf injury but came off for precautionary reasons! We got about 10 games this preseason so plenty of games to get match fit."

Shortly after the restart West Ham thought they had equalised when Ricardo Vaz Te nodded down Gary O'Neill's cross for Maynard to finish, but Kevin Nolan had already been penalised for a foul in the build-up. The Hammers had introduced several new faces, including recently re-signed George McCartney and new boy Jussi Jaaskelainen and the Londoners did start to enjoy a stronger spell of possession midway through the second half. Luck was not on their side, however, as Wien added another onto the scoresheet against the run of play 15 minutes from time. A strong push upfield saw Tomas Jun wriggle free from the Hammers defence before firing home a cracking effort from outside the box. The strike left Jaaskelainen- who had earlier made a flying save to deny the Czech Republic international from no more than ten yards- with little chance. The third goal gave the home side a new lease of life, cancelling out West Ham's period of domination and allowing them to kill the game off.

While the jubilent Wien Fanatics were in good voice at the final whistle, the general consensus was it had been a good workout for both teams. Playing against a near full strength team that begin their Bundesliga campaign in less than two weeks, the Hammers started brightly before their opponents' greater fitness levels saw them come back to claim victory. "The game went very much the way I thought it would go," McDonald confirmed to West Ham TV. "We started off well and scored a really good goal through Sam and then their passing and moving took over. We conceded two poor goals in the first half. The goal they scored in the second half was a really good strike so probably, all in all, we're pleased. We said before the game that it was all about improving our fitness and getting our endurance up and a lot of them played 45 minutes-plus so it finished off a good week, even though we got beaten 3-1."

Among those to give their all for the cause after just six days on the training pitch were teenagers Lletget, who played at right-back in the second half, Morrison and Dan Potts, who featured at centre-back during the closing 45 minutes. "They did very well," thought McDonald. "We asked them to play in different positions as well because of the lack of numbers and they've done OK. We're happy with their performances and it was a great experience for them coming away with the first team on pre-season, some of them for the first time, and to play against a very strong and sharp team. There are plenty of positives."

Not least in the way Baldock took his goal. "I think the goal was fantastic," stated McDonald. "Carlton Cole has run down the line and put in a good cross to the back post and Sam was in the right place at the right time." The diminutive striker had been left out of the starting lineup for much of the second half of last season, but insists he is itching to force his way back into manager Sam Allardyce's thoughts and make an impact in the Barclays Premier League. "I don't see why I can't take this opportunity to stake my claim," said Baldock. "Everyone knows that during the second half of last year I was very frustrated. I'm a footballer who wants to play football at the end of the day. I've been working hard and hopefully I'll be given a chance to show what I can do."

Focusing on his goal, Baldock revealed that he had been slightly fortunate to score, but that there was no luck involved in him being in the right place at the right time to meet Carlton Cole's far-post cross. Having worked on movement in the opposition penalty area on the training pitch the previous day, it was pleasing for the forward to see his hard work pay off. "I wasn't particularly pleased with my performance but I don't think anyone can say they played particularly well - it was more about getting a run out and seeing if you can get that match-sharpness after six days of training. It was a good end to the trip in a nice stadium with a good atmosphere and quite a few travelling fans, which was nice to see. I saw Coley made a great run and he got pretty much to the byline. I thought I'd lose my marker by making a run to the back stick where he hung it up and to be honest it just hit me! It hit the defender and came off my shoulder but it's a goal and strikers love goals, don't they."

For McDonald the positives included a good week's training as well as the climate. "They are three weeks ahead of us - they start in two weeks' time so they were always going to be a lot brighter and a lot fitter and fresher," he admitted. "The lads have done what they were asked to do, considering that was their first week. It's been lovely in Austria - the weather has been perfect from when we arrived to when we flew back home and that's the weather you want for pre-season. It's hot to run about in, of course, but I think the lads have acquitted themselves really well considering we have only had one week of training."

Two players to miss the game were Jack Collison and Joey O'Brien, who have been on special individual training programmes due to the long-term knee injuries they suffered earlier in their careers. McDonald also suggested Cole's premature departure had been pre-planned as the medical staff continue to manage his own well-documented knee issue. While all three could not play their full part in the game, there was great value in them being present for the whole week in Austria. "The majority of the senior staff are here so, even though they were never going to play or be involved in the first game, it was important for them to come with the lads and do all the training sessions. They've got through all that so they'll be ready to move on to the next stage when we go back home."

That next stage is a return to the UK for Tuesday’s friendly clash at Boreham Wood of the Conference South. The midweek fixture will see the return of Sam Allardyce to the dugout after the manager missed the Austrian training camp to work on bringing in new recruits back in London. McDonald confirmed that the Club would be working hard to strengthen the squad ahead of the opening Barclays Premier League fixture at home to Aston Villa on 18 August. "That was the reason Sam didn't come. He's been very busy over the summer. He's been on the phone trying to get deals done and I'm sure he'll be trying even harder in the next few weeks to try and freshen the squad up because we need competition for every place in the lineup."

West Ham Utd: Henderson (Jaaskelainen 46), Spence, Tomkins (McCartney 46), Reid (Noble 46), Potts, Taylor (O'Neil 46), Diame (Nolan 46), Morrison, Lletget, Cole (Maynard 26), Baldock (Vaz Te 46).

Subs not used: None.

FK Austria Wien: Lindner; Dilaver, Margreitter (Rogulj 83), Ortlechner (Rotpuller 76), Suttner (Wimmer 83); Gorgon (Murg 68), Vrsic (Mader 59), Holland (Spiridonovic 76), Simkovic; Linz (Kienast 76), Stankovic.

Subs not used: None.

Permanent Insurrection In The Transfer Circus

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 08:41:00 +0000

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
You find he did not leave you very much not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
That is so high and wild
He'll never need to deal another

A little over a year ago I wrote a piece about the friction between social media and the written press as it pertains to the transfer circus. It was inspired by a disgruntled football journalist from the Birmingham Mail who bemoaned the fact that such is the power of social media these days that a 'ridiculous story' about Peter Odemwingie failing to agree terms with Arsenal - based on two 'friends' of his - was run by a Nigerian website. Not a usual news source, he pointed out, just one which anyone of any age could set up in their bedroom and portray as a reputable provider of news. Trouble is that people get sucked in. They see the reports on NewsNow and assume it might, just might, be true. Who can blame them, he asked, not least when a UK-based agent is also repeating the false rumour on national radio to millions of listeners. Such was the power of that particular report that both clubs were moved to issue a statement denying it all. As it happens Albion and Arsenal never had discussions over Odemwingie, let alone got to a stage where the player was quibbling over personal terms.

At the time I was writing that original article Herita Ilunga was reportedly a £1.5m target for Greek champions Olympiakos. Except he wasn't. Nor had he ever been. Julien Faubert was also alledgedly poised to move to Lazio; a piece of rampant speculation extrapolated from a solitary snippet of second-hand information that a club official at the time had reportedly met with the Frenchman's representative, but that was as far as it went. We now know that both stories were little more than educated guesswork, which more often than not, is what fuels social media panic, be it on Twitter or on Facebook. A couple of websites in Italy subsequently reported the Faubert story and then it was picked up and reported as news by the website branch of a national radio station.

I was reminded of this today when reading an account of how a group of football supporters attempted to get a completely fabricated transfer rumour started last week; eventually choosing Newcastle United as the 'interested' club, and naming North Korean striker Jong Il-Gwan as the transfer target. The formative stage of their plan, such as it was, initially involved doctoring an article from a Korean newspaper. They claimed Newcastle had been tracking the player ever since 'he was named Asian Footballer of the Year', bemusingly adding 'he is the best young prospect since Kim Jong-Il'.

They subsequently tweeted the said article (accompanied by a YouTube video of Gwan scoring a hat trick against Australia) to a select number of Newcastle blogs and fansites, who voraciously swallowed the bait and promulgated the rumour. It wasn't long before a respected north-east journalist, Mark Douglas, was reporting "he didn't know about Gwan specifically but that he knew that the Mags were actively scouting in Asia for talent". From here it was a short step to the rumour being disseminated on the major Newcastle forums and members there enthusiastically discussing how he could be a bargain considering Carr's recent scouting record. Within hours one of the most popular Newcastle ITKs took to Twitter to claim he had heard from his 'sources' that Gwan would be signed for the club's development squad.

A couple of days later and the Daily Mail 'Insider' was attributing a score of 3/5 to the possibility of the transfer being concluded. The paper stated: "Newcastle rewarded scout Graham Carr with a new eight-year contract today and he continues to have that knack of finding talent. One of the latest targets of his attention is North Korea international striker Jong Il-Gwan. The 19-year-old has been linked with PSV Eindhoven and Partizan Belgrade but Newcastle have been keeping an eye on him since his hat-trick for North Korea in the Asian Youth Championship against Australia in 2010. Alan Pardew wants to build up his squad and will invest around £10m on second string players who can step up. The added bonus would be the commercial revenue a player such as Il-Gwan could generate."

The following morning a Serbian news site took the doctored article and printed it, adding that Partizan Belgrade were now keen to snatch Gwan away from Newcastle United's grasp. By the afternoon, other outlets were crediting PSV and Trazponspor with interest in the player; some claiming the former has a manager with good contacts within the Korean market. The story kept rolling for another week before eventually fizzling out; although not before ensuring a little-known player from behind the modern Bamboo Curtain had punctured Western consciousness and over 20,000 people had viewed his little-seen exploits on YouTube.

Self-publicists and shop-windows, the trouble these days is that people are in such a rush to break stories that diligence no longer applies, argued the Birmingham mail journalist. Nobody bothers checking with clubs to see if a story is true. They might check with an agent to see if it's true - and you can count on the fingers of one foot the number of agents you can truly trust - but even then they might not bother. Social media has not so much changed the way sports journalists work, it's shredded the rule book too. The growth of Internet and, more so, Twitter and Facebook leads to frenzied excitement and fevered panic, so that a large proportion of the local beat writer's job becomes sorting out the truth from the non-truths, half-truths or the not-yet-truths.

It's how the news business is supposed to work, when you're not in the market for 'Internet hits' or 'website traffic'. Which is not to say these websites and social media networks do not have a place in society. The recent sacking of Kenny Dalglish, for example, highlighted how far ahead breaking news on social media is when compared to traditional TV outlets. Almost a whole hour after Twitter had gone into overdrive and the news had broken, Sky and their special little yellow runner for 'breaking news' reported what hundreds of thousands, possibly millions had already discovered. Granted, it may not have been officially confirmed by the club until a little later but when you have reliable sources confirming reports, leading news outlets should be going public with news of this magnitude a lot faster, thinks Football and Social Media's Matthew Scott.

The reluctance to report anything until it is set in stone is surely a huge factor in the success of social media in attracting those who want to be the first to know. Surveys have shown that over 50% of people have learned about breaking news via social media rather than official news sources. Indeed, Twitter would be perfect and almost certainly replace rolling TV news if, adds Scott, it could be cleansed of people who, upon seeing genuine reports or rumours with some substance, take it upon themselves to add little white lies that then spread like wild fire, working its way down the IQ numbers. It is, he says, frustrating and saddening that genuine users or professionals can end up having their timeline tarnished with tweets that have been subject to a Chinese whisper-like effect.

These are social media's kite-flyers; occupying a hinterland somewhere between truth and lies, disseminating unsubstantiated whispers as fact and uncorroborated hearsay as indubitable certainty. They profess to be in constant contact with their 'sources' and titillate their followers with hourly updates concerning transfer targets, price negotiations, contract discussions and planned medicals; desperately searching for the one true dart among a hundred thrown that will validate their existence as 'In The Know' and thus perpetuate their myth. For these people Twitter is a parasitic persuit, promoting a never-ending discourse of what Llosa termed 'permanent insurrection'. They feast on their ability to arouse, to disturb and to alarm; to keep fans in a constant state of dissatisfaction and apprehension. Yet it is a symbiotic relationship. Their followers, hot with anticipation, constantly hector for the latest tidbit, each new detail firing the imagination and encouraging discourse. It is why my own Twitter timeline constantly pulsates to the latest disclosures of ‏@bradley_whufc @WHUFC News @WHUFC_ITK @WHUFC_News @BackPage @TheInsider_2012 and @WestHamDaily. I welcome the speculation because it ameliorates the lull of the summer months and because I want to be the among the first to hear about the next West Ham bound Jong Il-Gwan and how he is the best young prospect since Kim Jong-un. I just don't expect to actually learn anything.

For the years spent working on this blog, the constant scouring, filtering, checking and cross-referencing has taught me that there are no more than a handful of truly ITK people in the online West Ham United community and none of these post on Twitter. So I could tell you we are going to sign one of Grant Holt, Steven Naismith, Wilfried Zaha, Nicolas Anelka, Michael Kightly, Johan Djourou, Abdoulaye Ba, Victor Wanyama, Modibo Maiga, Matt Jarvis, Eljero Elia, Milos Krasic, Fabio Quagliarella, Dimitris Salpingidis, Chris Solly, Samuel Souprayen, Danny Simpson, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Guti, Reto Ziegler, Luc Castaignos, Jonas Olsson, Clarence Seedorf, Burak Yilmaz, Juan Manuel Iturbe, Joselu, Abdul Kader Mangane, Nathaniel Clyne, Christopher Samba, Keiron Richardson, Alessandro Del Piero, William Gallas, Marco Capuano or Dejan Stankovic, and the chances are one of those names will stick.

Or I could alternatively tell you Kevin Nolan isn't going anywhere. That Carlton Cole's knee is not getting any better and that he will be used sparingly next season. That Grant Holt isn't coming unless Norwich change their stance. That Freddie Piquionne is being offered around but his high wages are proving prohibitive for interested teams in the Championship. That Joey O'Brien has been told he will not be first choice next season but he still wants to stay. That we have three main targets before kick-off; namely, another central defender, a central striker and a winger with pace who can 'score as well as create'. That Abdul Kader Mangane has taken a medical. That full backs are not an absolute priority but considerable effort has been made to land Nathaniel Clyne. That we are very happy with our two goalkeepers and won't actively be looking for a third. That Ravel Morrison will get a lot of pre-season action to determine the level of his participation for the opening months of the season.

I could tell you all these things and be fairly confident that the percentage of truth contained within will be substantially higher that anything you will read on your Twitter timelines tomorrow morning. It is provided by people who do not seek recognition or adulation and the information they impart is given in good faith and without fuss; even if it it is invariably sporadic and often frustratingly vague. In short it is rarely as interesting, exciting or as neatly packaged as the revelations provided by their Twitter counterparts, but that is because truth seldom is stranger than fiction.

Streaked With Sweat

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:15:00 +0000

It is an imperative that you transform yourself from a consumer of the rich man's bullshit, to a manufacturer of the people's truth. Yeah, sticking it to the man with some more paywall pilfery. The fabric is not mine but the stitching is...

O good old man, how well in thee appears the constant service of the antique world, when service sweat for duty, not for meed! Thou art not for the fashion of these times, when none will sweat but for promotion

It was in a hotel in Docklands where we last met, a few hundred metres from his apartment, ten minutes away from Upton Park. On the eve of the the £100 million play-off final Kevin Nolan talked about Wembley and the bus he had hired to ferry his family and friends down from Liverpool to London that weekend, about honesty and legacy, about winning people over "bit by bit". Yet he had also been elsewhere, living in that untethered state where a season's endeavour is condensed into a single blissful or brutal moment.

Weeks on from the 'richest match in world football' and West Ham United beat Blackpool to return to the Barclays Premier League; had they lost, as their captain put it, "it would've been a fail". It is that simple, that stark. Ninety minutes separated Nolan from proving something, or from knuckling down and starting again. It is a surreal position, yet one he understands, because proving and knuckling down, grafting and starting again, earning and demanding trust, is precisely who Nolan is, as a footballer and as a man. On that Wembley-bound bus that day was Nolan's nan, who had not seen a game since the play-off final of 2001, when Kevin was in the Bolton side that defeated Preston North End. His uncle was there, his cousins, his grandad, who has travelled all around the country to follow his grandson for Bolton, Newcastle and now West Ham. His brother James, friends from school, the works.

His family, as he calls them all – the people who have instilled old-fashioned virtues of trust, loyalty and honesty, a set of beliefs he has put into the dressing rooms at his two former clubs and one that has helped lead his present side back to the rarefied climes of the top flight. "My mam brought me up with good manners, a good surrounding, she has always been there for me, and my dad as well. They wanted me to be grounded. There's not many people in my life I hate. There might be people who stab me in the back along the way or have done something to upset me but I don't really carry grudges. It’s the way I am, with everyone who knows me," he says. "When they’ve got me, when they’ve got my friendship, they’ve got me 110 per cent in whatever I do. I’m never really light-hearted in anything."

If that makes time in Nolan’s presence sound grim, the impression is misleading. The 29-year-old has a lightness about him, a love of company, laughter and chat. He speaks with relish about taking his family to see Ghost and Shrek at the theatre, about introducing Jasmine, his daughter, to Hammerhead, the West Ham mascot, and how she is now demanding an audience with the Queen. "Life away from the football has been decent," he says, despite the fact he has lived, in the main, away from his wife and two young children. He has yearned for the day when they will move permanently to Essex this summer — "my missus is blonde, so that’s a head start," he says — when he will truly feel as if he can "throw myself at it". And this is the point about Nolan; no half-measures with anything.

It is 15 years now since Nolan, then 14, made his first start for the City of Liverpool Boys team. Only Francis Jeffers from that side played in the Premier League, and he has not done so since February 2007. For Nolan, the date is far more recent – Saturday 7 May 2011, when Newcastle beat Birmingham at St James' Park. Just under two years prior to then he famously stood up in the tight confines of the crestfallen away dressing room at Leyton Orient, following a 6-1 defeat in a pre-season friendly for Newcastle, and demanded the truth: who wants out? "Right, this can't go on," he said. "I have never been so embarrassed on a football pitch. You're either in or you're out. We need everyone to pull together to turn this club around and if you don't want to do that, and you want to leave, then put your hand up and we'll help find you somewhere else."

It was an episode of cleansing and re-commitment that formed the bedrock of promotion. A new team forged in the fires of adversity. Four players- including Sébastien Bassong and Habib Beye- raised their arms. As it turned out, five from that room left. Newcastle had found team spirit and incredibly, from that starting point, on the back of a draining relegation campaign, came the Championship title, then came a strong return season in the top flight. Nolan scored 12 goals and talks for a new, extended deal started. It was an era of turmoil on Tyneside, but as a Scouser nurtured by Bolton Wanderers, he was at ease with Newcastle’s industrial identity, the history of longing. He felt at home, until contract negotiations fell apart abruptly in June and Nolan felt he had no alternative but seek acceptance elsewhere, loyalty and trust had diminished.

He did not want to leave to further his career, he was not looking for more money to feather his already luxurious nest and at the time had not contemplated looking for a new challenge at a new club. Nolan knew there would come a day when Newcastle United no longer needed him, but as the club’s captain, felt he had a responsibility to help the team progress until they reached a point where he no longer had to help bind things together. "The most disappointing thing was thinking I was going to be at the club for a long, long time," he says. "Being very much part of Alan Pardew’s plans, signing off to make sure we were ready for next season and a couple of days later, what was on the table is now off the table. My only regret is not being able to see everything through that we started and that's probably what I'm more disappointed about. I went to Newcastle and we got relegated and then you become part of this great story. It was just great to be a big part of that."

Nolan is not the type to stick around where he is no longer wanted. "I’m not going to hang around picking up my money," he says. "If I’m not playing, I’m one of those players who will move on. I have respect for what Mike [Ashley] and Derek [Llambias] are doing up there because that's how they want to do it. If I see either of them, I'd shake their hands and I'm happy Newcastle are doing well. It's a club I have really fond memories of. As I said, I don't hold grudges. I thank them for letting me get away and join another fantastic club."

West Ham and Sam Allardyce called, and Nolan left. "It was just, West Ham? Yeah, get me there, it's another challenge," he adds. "Being able to link up with Sam and having David Gold and Mr Sullivan, the way they were about getting me here and the lengths they went to, I thought I owe them. I owe them 110 per cent from the moment I walk in the door to the moment I leave. That really drives me on because people have put so much faith and trust in me. I want the people who put trust in me to go, 'Yeah, that lad gave us everything.'

At West Ham, he joined up with Sam Allardyce, his former manager at Bolton. For him and the club, it has meant a change of culture. "I walked in the first couple of days and no matter what, I was a Sam Allardyce signing because I had worked with him before and I had nine great years at Bolton. For the first few weeks, it was a case of, 'Do the lads trust me?' They only knew me on the pitch and they probably didn't like me because I'm not a friendly guy on the pitch! I'm a moaner but I think the lads have taken to me. I think they know they can trust me 100 per cent because I am here for them and I'm not Sam's spy. I want them to be the best they can be for West Ham and as the weeks and months have gone by, I think we have got stronger as a group. I just hope to be sharing more great moments with them all."

Meeting again in a hotel foyer in Canary Wharf, Nolan is as always engaging company but now seems understandably more relaxed. Settling in at a new club, rarely an easy experience to begin with, has been eased by scoring 13 goals on the path to promotion. He has also taken, to his own surprise, to the big city. "I've enjoyed being able to go for a walk around and have a cup of tea. It's been really nice. You can sit and watch the hustle and bustle and watch the world go by. It's great. I always thought when I used to come down here that two days would be enough but I've moulded in and became one of those people that goes hustling and bustling past everyone else! My wife likes X Factor and she went with a couple of her friends to watch the results. She hasn't roped me into doing anything like that!"

When he got down in the early months Nolan admits he would go home [to Liverpool], to be with people "who love you and don't see you as Kevin Nolan the West Ham footballer. They see you as their son, their brother, as their cousin, as their best mate, as their husband and as their dad and that sort of helped me and you say to yourself, 'Just do your stuff and bit by bit, you will prove them wrong and make this work.'

Nolan had a fantastic nine years at Bolton and then went to Newcastle. "We got relegated and then you become part of this great story. If I could choose one club in London that would be perfect for me, it would be West Ham. It reminds me so much of Liverpool and Everton, a working man’s club, similar to Newcastle. Some have been here for 25 years. You meet all the people who work behind the scenes; Pete, the kitman, Shirley in the kitchen, who’s been here for 37 or 38 years. To hear her excitement, knowing she was going to Wembley is what it's all about. People like them deserve to be in the Premier League."

They also deserve the right to voice their discontent as they did often and loudly last season; debate over the style of Sam Allardyce’s football causing as much frustration as dropped points. "There are sections of the crowd who complain but it’s why they come to the ground. These fellas get shit off the wife all week and they come to football to let it out. They are full-blooded people who want the best for West Ham. If you think about it, a lot of them have been wounded by things like relegation in the last couple of years. They have gone through a lot. So to have 30,000 at home games is amazing. I’d rather have 30,000 fans moaning at me than no one there at all. It shows the loyalty and love for the club." It is, he says, why everyone tried their best to ensure the fans got back to where they belong.

For the boy from Toxteth, playing in the East End is a home from home just as the booing is water off a duck’s back. "Although I am a Northerner I respect what West Ham is all about and I am learning more as a I go along. I haven’t cracked the accent yet but I know what a ‘sweep’ haircut is. I’ve had pie and mash and it’s quite nice — up there with Scouse. The fans don’t hold back in what they want to tell you and I am from that background myself."

Nolan understands the fans have got expectations of the way football should be played, but is also keen to follow his manager's line. "I remember as a lad all the players Harry Redknapp had here and they underachieved. But with the flowing football they had, it was probably considered enough. We want to get away from that and be the club which gets into Europe, goes on fantastic cup runs, and then wins it. That is my vision of West Ham in the next five to 10 years. We won the battle to get promoted but there is also one to change the culture. Sometimes we have got to be able to win ugly as well as as beautiful."

And winning can be in and of itself beautiful as Shirley, Pete, his nan, the Nolan bus and 38,000 West Ham fans who watched that momentous play-off victory can testify. They witnessed the captain of their side lead the club out at Wembley for the first time since before he was born, back in 1980. It was Nolan’s first visit to there as a player, although he was part of the Bolton side who beat Preston North End 3-0 in the 2001 play-off final at the Millennium Stadium when he was just 18. "I remember being on the pitch and it was starting to sink in that we were going up to the Premier League," he says. "I was only a young pup then. I remember the last two minutes of that game. We were 3-0 up and it was so surreal. You're just waiting for the final whistle so you can go and celebrate. Then I just remember running around like an absolute idiot after it. I had scarves around my head and around my waist. I had everything hanging off me. I still have a lot of the memorabilia. It was such a magic day."

It was, smiles Nolan, even more special this time. "It was amazing to lead the team out in front of 38,000 West Ham fans, having all my family there, but it wouldn't be remembered unless we won. That was the main thing for me. We deserved to go up, but Blackpool weren’t going to give it to us. If any team in that league can have a day of wonders, it’s them. It is a massive game. You have to turn up and you have to produce your best to get to where you want to be."

Something Nolan knows well. Whatever happened, he was always going to streak the turf with his sweat. "I’m not the type of lad where everyone will go ‘look at him, isn’t he elegant?’" he says. "I’m a hard worker, a grafter and it’s from my roots. I’m someone you can lean on, someone who’ll give everything, someone who’ll say it to your face and not behind your back. I feel, wherever I go, I have to put everything into it, because leaving some form of legacy is a drive. Not that the end is in sight, but because every day, when I walk out of the room, I’d like people to say ‘there’s a lovely, grounded lad who works his socks off’. To everyone who ever doubted you, you just do your stuff and, bit by bit, you will prove them wrong. I want people to say he was a very good player in the Premier League, he was a very good player for us, and when people see me they shake my hand and say thanks, you were a proper sportsman for our club."

I’d Rather Eat My Own Eyeballs

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 01:14:00 +0000

The following is an amalgam of a couple of related articles liberated from the Times paywall dungeon when the sentinels averted their gaze a few weeks ago...

The vice-chairman of West Ham is trying to be nice, and she needs to be, because the last time she met Times journalist Andrew Davidson it all ended badly, with her promising that he would never work in journalism again. "Did I?" says Karren Brady, making very large eyes at him over her hamster cheeks. Yes, she phoned, she swore, she shouted, she threatened. But that was in May 1995, and they’ve both moved on. But what had he written about her? Only that fans of Birmingham, where she was chief executive, were unhappy with her running of the football club, and the fact that the money that put her there, supplied by David Gold and David Sullivan, had been made in the porn industry. Sullivan had once been convicted of living off immoral earnings.

It sounds quaint now — football worrying about where the money comes from. But the unexpected menace in Brady’s call is still fresh in his memory. She sighs. "I think experience brings an element of patience. Back then, I just wanted to win everything." Then she crosses and uncrosses her 2in platform shoes, flicks back her hair, and turns her attention to her computer. Brady, 43, is funny and frank, but eventually distracted, taking calls, fiddling with her Macbook, studying emails, punching replies then turning back to say: "What did you ask?"

We are in her office, all light, leather and contemporary prints — a little bit of Soho inside West Ham’s dilapidated ground, squeezed by terraces and tower blocks in impoverished Newham, east London. Brady wakes at her apartment in London’s Knightsbridge at 6.30am before being driven here before 9am in her Bentley Continental to oversee the club for Gold and Sullivan; they bought control from the Icelandic bank Straumur in 2010, months after selling Birmingham. Since then West Ham’s fortunes have nose-dived, out of the Premier League, into the Championship, totally reliant on its owners’ cash to prop up its £80m revenues. But Brady’s fortunes have soared — a regular on BBC1’s The Apprentice, she has an autobiography out and her profile has never been higher. Television producers are her latest fans. "I get offered a new series three times a week," she mock-moans. "Come to the jungle, trek to the North Pole, dine with me, Ready Steady Cook, Celebrity Family Fortunes — I’d rather eat my own eyeballs."

What’s not clear is whether she really is a good business manager. Birmingham’s fortunes were mixed, but Brady — whom many thought a 'gimmick' when appointed managing director aged 23 — proved resilient. Her reward, after her bosses sold Birmingham for a profit, was West Ham — the boyhood club of both Gold and Sullivan — where she is vice-chairman, but in effect chief executive. "Every day is different, but fundamentally it is finance and marketing," she says. Eight executives report direct to her and she also heads West Ham’s attempts to move to the Olympic stadium, as well as liaising with team manager Sam Allardyce. All player sales are handled by Sullivan. She says she enjoyed Birmingham. "I ran a tight and happy ship." But she was never loved by its supporters. "Never loved? I don’t know. On reflection I think people appreciate..." The phone rings (yet again). "Hello, can I call you back? Oh, I hadn’t seen that, leave it with me ..."

Brady has a small shareholding in West Ham, and takes director fees from Arcadia and Syco. The surprise is that she never returned to the advertising world where she started. She was a trainee at Saatchi & Saatchi aged 18, and describes it as "the most influential year of my life". She learnt about brand building, communication and "being on-message". She left to sell ads for LBC, the radio station, where she so impressed Sullivan, a client, that he put her in charge of Sport Newspapers. Later she persuaded him that football was an opportunity. Brady prefers to work for entrepreneurs. She now advises Sir Philip Green and Simon Cowell — sitting on their boards — and she loves Lord Sugar, the reason she joined The Apprentice. You can see where she gets her brittle directness. She nods. "Self-made decision-makers, those are the people I work best with as I prefer the direct approach. My dad was an entrepreneur."

Her father Terry, who made money from printing and owned a box at Arsenal, was her introduction to the football world. Two years in the sixth-form at a boys’ boarding school in Aldenham, Hertfordshire hardened her approach. She had to be tough to withstand the inevitable gossip that followed her relationship with Sullivan, but she never toned down, appearing designered and coiffed, like a rich man’s girlfriend. She still gets stick, with reviewers of her book — Strong Woman — asking how she can claim to be a feminist after working in the porn industry. "But I’ve never worked in it, and things have changed. David Gold’s daughter runs his Ann Summers business, Sullivan’s property portfolio is overseen by a woman." She throws a look, as if to say, who’s the victim? Her argument is that, in many ways, women are better managers than men, and men should acknowledge it. "The great thing is that we are natural nurturers of people."

The book, she insists, is not self-promotion but "I have to get my plug in somewhere"; nor is her popping up as judge for this year’s Nectar small business awards. She is now, as the award blurb claims, 'one of the UK’s leading businesswomen' — she is also unique, a female pioneer in the fiercely chauvinistic world of football, who wants to encourage other women in business. And what about the day job? "I’d never do television if it compromised my work here." Some wonder whose brand she is building, however. She shrugs. "It comes back to working out who you are. I had brain surgery in 2006" — for an aneurysm — "and it made me realise life is very short."

Brady's time is shorter and more stricty regimented than most. She uses a personal shopper to buy her clothes. "So Harvey Nichols comes to me. But I don’t spend as much as you think." She works four days a week in London while her husband oversees their home in Knowle, near Birmingham. Married with two children, her first call of the day is "from my kids on the way to school at 7.15." Brady frequently works till 10pm, "but that’s usually because I am at a function, not at West Ham." In what little downtime there is she will happily "spend my money on travel," (Mexico is a favourite) and she says, "I never begrudge the school fees." Most weekends she is "supporting my 13-year-old son’s rugby team or working as a taxi driver for my 16-year-old daughter."

David Gold says he has no qualms if her other obligations reflects well on his club. As for Brady eyeing opportunities elsewhere, he says determination and loyalty are her key character traits. "She is the first lady of football — she wouldn’t be that in advertising or media." Yet she isn’t a football fan. Her husband Paul Peschisolido, recently sacked as manager of Burton Albion, is far more engaged. One newspaper claimed she fell asleep during West Ham’s recent game against Cardiff City. "I was tweeting," she protests.

So, if West Ham had lost against Blackpool at Wembley? "It would have frustrating but I would not have walked away. What frustrates me more is the Olympic stadium." West Ham was selected as preferred bidder, then deselected when the process changed. The decision has been delayed again. It has been an excruciating period for Gold and Sullivan, who are putting £35m a year of their own money into the club. Some supporters would rather eat their own eyeballs than use them to watch their team across a running track, which is a non-negotiable feature after the Government’s promise to leave a legacy for athletics. Brady pulls out the latest stadium plans, showing stands extended over the athletics track for matches, and brushes aside quibbles about a lack of atmosphere. "David and David wouldn’t allow it if it didn’t work. It will be amazing." The West Ham executives believe it will be a "piece of history" that will attract new fans if the club relocated from Upton Park to Stratford after the London Games.

It is the second time West Ham have been in the frame after the first process, which resulted in the club being chosen as preferred bidder in partnership with Newham Council, collapsed in red tape following a complaint to the European Commission about illegal state aid. The lengthy exercise, which pitted West Ham against Tottenham Hotspur, cost about £300,000 in fees. Brady insists it was worth bidding again because the opportunity to increase the gate from 35,000 to 60,000 in a new stadium with better transport links is "too good to miss". But their offer to become the anchor winter tenant in a multi-use stadium is conditional on it being a "world-class" venue for football, she adds.

West Ham maintain the sightlines "stack up" and that the top tiers will be closer to the action than at Wembley. Brady says her supporter advisory board had seen details of the bid, which is subject to confidentiality agreements, and approved although she understood the general scepticism of some fans. "I don’t blame them, to be honest, but they cannot see what we can see," she says. "Everybody who has seen our vision has voted in favour, even those who write for fanzines and have been very negative."

She insists the new commercial terms on offer, which would mean West Ham will become a 'concessionaire' paying an annual rent to the government under a 99-year lease, would secure the club’s long-term future. This is presently dependent on the backing of Gold and Sullivan. The sale of Upton Park would be expected to repay the estimated £70 million debt. The downside of simply leasing the ground would be offset by not having the burden of the upfront capital costs — an estimated £100 million — of making it fit for professional sport with corporate hospitality suites, toilets, offices, merchandising outlets and catering. "Ownership gives you a certain level of completeness because you make your own decisions," she says. "We will be a tenant but overall, we still think the commercial package is viable."

The Olympic Park Legacy Company, now merged into the London Legacy Development Corporation, is offering tenants the chance to bid for naming rights. Brady points out these could be worth about £10 million a year if football was the main activity. West Ham, who have the support of UK Athletics, hope to attract more fans by offering cheaper tickets and a taste of British sporting heritage. They claim to have 850,000 registered supporters and enough demand to fill 60,000 seats. The nearby corporate market in Canary Wharf will also be targeted now the club has returned to the Premier League. "It’s a piece of history," insists Brady, repeating the new mantra. "It’s the only Olympic stadium in the UK and it will attract crowds. You cannot bully the Government. They are not going to be strong-armed into decisions under the threat of judicial review. The most important thing for them is usage, community, jobs and revenue and we tick all boxes."

And that will be "job done" if they secure it? "My remit here is to reduce debt, introduce process, and get the Olympic stadium. In my first year, we reduced the debt to £70m, made a trading profit and won the stadium, then we got relegated, fell back into loss, debt went up, we lost the stadium..." But she never quits. Suddenly Davidson feels the need to apologise that their last meeting didn’t go as well. He's not sure what he did, but whatever he did, he's sorry. And she smiles back through whitened, gritted teeth before playfully reaching for her phone.

Remembrance Of Things Owed

noreply@blogger.com (Trilby) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:18:00 +0000

It was 12.24am, local time, when Alessandro Diamanti walked forward for the final, decisive kick and, when it was all done, sparked the match that would exsiccate English Euro dreams to ashes. Little did the Italian know that 1300 miles away he was also about to reignite a domestic feud that has been quietly smouldering for two years. Perhaps it was the deja vu that comes with another harrowing disappointment in a penalty shoot-out that prompted David Gold to take to Twitter; or else something in the ecstasy-rapted face of the screaming Diamanti as he wheeled away in celebration that pricked into consciousness- like the tea-socked madeleine- frustrations that had recently lay dormant. Within hours of England crashing out of Euro 2012 in Kiev on Sunday night, the West Ham co-owner publicly announced the club intended to sue Brescia Calcio for the £1.5million he says they are owed from the sale of Diamanti from the Italian club to Bologna FC 1909. The process will begin with a visit to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as early as next week.

The Italy international signed for the Hammers on a five-year contract in August 2009 from Livorno for £6million, before he was allowed to move back to Italy after just one season in the English Premier League. It is, though, the player's subsequent transfer to Bologna in a 50% co-ownership deal following Brescia's relegation to Serie B (an eventuality believed to have cost United a further €300,000 because of a 'survival clause') that has left the Hammers incensed. Brescia are not only receiving a £1.2m transfer fee but they are also entitled to a percentage of the player's future rights under the terms of the co-ownership agreement. In July last year West Ham United asked the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) to suspend Diamanti's player registration with Brescia Calcio with immediate effect. Due to the failure of Brescia to pay the latest instalment fee, the club also requested that the national association and FIFA impose sporting sanctions until the matter is resolved. There was at the time a swift response from the Biancoazzurri, with a official press declaration, signed by sport director Andrea Iaconi, stating: "This is pure bullshit, we're paying the installments as by arrangements. Some are still to be paid, but we will do with no doubt. This will not, in any case, prejudice the eventual selling of the player to Bologna."

An article from October last year revealed just how far the situation had escalated, with West Ham United reported at the time to be refusing to pay transfer fees for three other players they bought from overseas clubs as a direct result of the bitter dispute with Fifa. Writing in the Telegraph, Jason Burt said the club were furious that their Diamanti claim had still not been dealt with by world football’s governing body. It meant that West Ham were now themselves the subject of a formal complaint to Fifa and the Football Association because they withheld payment of €1million (£875,000) for the defender Winston Reid.

The New Zealander was signed in August 2010 on a three-year contract from the small Danish club FC Midtjylland but West Ham have, so far, not paid any money for him. The identity of the other players has not been revealed but West Ham have signed the likes of Frederic Piquionne from Lyon, Pablo Barrera from Pumas, Guy Demel from Hamburg and Ruud Boffin from MVV Maastricht in the past couple of years. It’s thought that the Piquionne fee could be one that has not been paid in full yet.

West Ham do not dispute that they owe Midtjylland money for Reid but believe that there is a point of principle at stake because Fifa have so far not dealt with their dispute. The money West Ham were owed should have been paid last July with the money they then owed paid to the other clubs in late August. West Ham therefore argue the Diamanti cash was, as that point of principle, rightfully theirs to fund the fees they owed. West Ham believe that unless they take such a strong stance they will not receive the money they are owed for Diamanti. The club has honoured all payments to other British clubs for players it has signed.

The Hammers have urged Midtjylland to put pressure on Fifa to sort out their case. Once it is dealt with they will pay the Danes immediately what they are owed. Midtjylland have become the unwitting victims of the row — as, West Ham will argue, have they — and Soren Bach, the club’s chief executive officer, confirmed to The Telegraph in a statement: "We did not receive any payment — and we can confirm that we have filed a complaint to Fifa and the Football Association over an unpaid transfer fee for the sale of Winston Reid." It’s understood that the total amount being withheld is equivalent to what West Ham are owed by Brescia.

Meanwhile, Football Italia reports Diamanti will now remain permanently at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara after a blind auction process, which his present club confirms was “like a poker game.” In effect, the clubs involved write a figure in a sealed envelope and the highest bid wins the full contract. “It was like a long and tiring poker game,” said Bologna President Albano Guaraldi after his €3.36m offer won. "We had prepared one envelope first, then had a second one with a slightly changed amount inside. We would’ve won with the first envelope too, but we didn’t want to run any risks. We could not and did not want to lose him. We sought an agreement with Brescia at all costs to avoid the auction. Diamanti is a player who gave us a great deal last season and will continue to help Bologna this term, next term and in future. We are aware of his value and will therefore endeavour to improve his contract."

The Italian originally arrived in east London in controversial circumstances when it was revealed by Livorno Director of Sport Nelso Ricci that his transfer fee had been partly paid by club sponsors SBOBet. After just 29 first team appearances - and eights goals - Diamanti was subsequently shipped out by new owners Sullivan and Gold in the 2010 summer transfer window, despite having been named the Best Signing 2009/10 by the club's online fanbase, and voted runner-up as Hammer of the Year by the club's supporters. It was widely suspected at the time that the unusual circumstances surrounding his signing had sparked that decision. Following his return to his homeland with Brescia, Diamanti scored six goals in 31 Serie A appearances and earned his first Italy cap.

West Ham’s frustration is all the more annoying for them given the tough stance Fifa said they were going to adopt on clubs who are found guilty of being slow to pay transfer fees. There has been the threat of points deductions as well as fines for guilty parties. Speaking in October last year, West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady told The Sun that chasing your money in Europe is hard work. "£450,000 has been due for so long we've been in touch with the Italian federation and FIFA to impose some kind of sanction, but the money still isn't immediately forthcoming. Another million plus is due and there's still no sign of the first payment. FIFA have done nothing more than yawn. It isn't as if Brescia don't have the funds. They have just sold the Italian international to Bologna. In England, our leagues would be down on us like a ton of Mike Ashleys."

The following March, Brady revealed she was still bulldogging away at the relevent authorities concerning the missing payments. Brescia have now appealed a FIFA verdict that they should pay up at once but Brady promised she would never let it drop. "Why should wheedlers and welshers from Brescia treat us as though we’re their private charity?" she asked in her Football Diary. Gold is similarly adamant they will not allow the matter to end and is now taking legal action. Speaking on his twitter site last night, he said: "We sold Diamanti to Brescia because he was desperate to return to Italy. He was then sold to Bologna. We are suing Brescia for the money."

For the fan shorn of material consideration, the cameo of Diamanti on Sunday night remains a reminder of things owed. The maverick genius that the adoring Boleyn gallery apotheosizes and deserves but all too rarely enjoys. To those watching eyes Diamanti bestrode the verdant glebe of Kiev's Olympic Stadium and elicited an undated memory as vivid as Stendhal's fragmented frescoes surrounded by the blank brickwork of oblivion. Fists clenched, veins bulging, eyes to the sky, celebrating a goal in West Ham colours. It could be a flashback to when Di Canio ruled the same rectangle of East End turf. "We share the same way to play football," Diamanti once said. "We both give everything on the pitch for the team and the fans. I always play with passion. I am a passionate man. Not just about the goals but about the football. I try to put everything on to the field."

Like Di Canio before him, the man they call Il Mago seems the embodiment of the player who from the moment he learns to walk, he knows how to play. As Galeano would have it, the player in his early years who brings joy to empty lots and in his early manhood takes flight and the stadium flies with him. The ball seeks him out, knows him, needs him. She rests and rocks on top of his foot. He caresses her and makes her speak, and in that tete-a-tete millions of mutes converse. Nostalgia, of course, has a meaning less connected with suffering and more with emotional indulgence. You can wallow in it because the territory is thick with shared memories, with mnemonic solidarity. Like the memory of a lover who came into your life and left footprints on your heart, the distance of time has diminished the flaws of the past. So it is that you forget those games when the fountain of public adulation became the lightening rod of public rancour. Diamanti, they said, one-paced, one-footed, one-trick; too lazy, too lightweight, too slow. Yet we still long for the day when we can see his like again, only better. In the words of Rupert Brooke...

"And I shall find some girl perhaps, and a better one than you,
With eyes as wise, but kindlier, and lips as soft,
but true, and I daresay she will do"