Author: martin

HE shifted uncomfortably in his seat, turning his head quickly to find an exit. It had only been 20 minutes and already Neil Lennon was ready to leave. About half an hour earlier he had idled outside to watch the crowd gather, amused by the excited chattering of those around him. But now that he was inside and the evening was underway, Lennon suddenly felt uneasy.

This was the scene the Northern Irishman described during his Big Interview just before Christmas last year – the first we have recorded in front of a live audience. Fortunately, Lennon had not been referring to his experience that night at Greenock Town Hall, but had instead been offering an insight into an evening four years earlier, when he had flown to Spain to scout FC Barcelona.

He was Celtic manager then and his team were due to play the Catalan giants in the group stages of the Champions League.

Lennon, accompanied by his assistant Johan Mjallby, had chosen to attend a Liga match between Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruna at the Estadio Riazor, hoping to witness something rarely seen in that Barca team of 2012: weakness.

After just 18 minutes the Celtic coaches had already considered calling off their expedition – with Jordi Alba, Cristian Tello and Lionel Messi putting the visitors three goals up. But Lennon kept his vigil and was rewarded when Deportivo hit back, scoring in either half as they fell to a 5-4 defeat.

Lennon watched carefully each time Barcelona conceded a goal. He had seen a chink in their armour which his Celtic players might be able to exploit it. “Of the goals Deportivo scored, one was an own goal, one was from a corner, one was a penalty and the other was a free-kick. So, straight away, you are thinking: set plays,” Lennon says in the podcast, which we recorded live to help raise funds for Ardgowan Hospice in Greenock.

He took that little idea and turned into a tall order for Barcelona, with Celtic scoring from a set piece in both of their group matches against the Catalan side. In the Camp Nou, Charlie Mulgrew clipped a free-kick towards the front post for Georgios Samaras to nod in, while Victor Wanyama scored from a corner kick at Celtic Park.

Samaras’ goal at 1:08 in the video above shows how Celtic exploited Barca’s zonal marking in Spain, allowing the Greek to use his superior height to beat Javier Masherano in the air. “We had studied them zonally and they had  Mascherano, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, Jordi Alba – they didn’t have a big team,” Lennon recalls. “Take Gerard Pique out of the equation and we knew we had a chance.”

Celtic made sure that size mattered when they were defending too, closing the gaps through the middle and forcing the ball wide, leaving Barcelona to fall back on crosses to their diminutive attacking players.

That tactic had been used successfully against Barcelona in the Champions League before. Lennon found the evidence following a not-so-anonymous tip – a phone call from a certain Sir Alex Ferguson.

“Sir Alex rang me and said: ‘Look, if you want to know how to play against them then watch Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan,’ the match in 2010,” Lennon says. “They were 3-1 up from the first leg and Mourinho had world-class players like [Marco] Materazzi, [Wesley] Sneijder, [Samuel] Eto’o, Diego Milito . . . but, basically, they camped in the first third of the pitch and made Barcelona play wide. Inter forced them into crosses.

“Inter hung on and hung on – they lost 1-0 – but in the first 20 minutes the possession stats were 72 per cent to Barcelona and 18 per cent for Inter Milan. I thought that if it’s good enough for these guys, then it’s good enough for us.”

It was certainly good enough for a special night in Glasgow, inspired by their performance in Barcelona two weeks earlier. “After he lost narrowly at the Camp Nou, I told them to hold on to that feeling about how close they had been and use it as their motivation for the next game,” Lennon says.

“They had shown they were good enough to take something off that Barcelona team and, a fortnight later, they did.”

JUST about every guest I’ve spoken to on The Big Interview had a tale of transfers which went right, others that went spectacularly wrong and those which fell through at the last minute.

During this clip show you’ll hear Charlie Nicholas talk about a move to Nice which went so far off track that he ended up at Aberdeen. And there is Peter Beardsley’s tale of how he ended up at Manchester United, which is one of the finest on any podcast I’ve done. Damien Duff, Gary McAllister and Alan Pardew also reveal the details behind the big transfer stories in their careers.

Then there are the deals which didn’t happen. Jody Morris’ exit from Chelsea was a saga, while Darren Fletcher still regrets the collapse of a move to Spain and Michael O’ Neill looks back at how an early Bosman switch to Sturm Graz hit the buffers.

David Moyes and Jamie Carragher will also talk about player recruitment, and there will even be time for a couple of tales about Eric Cantona before The Big Interview’s transfer window slams shut.

Enjoy!

IT was always a joy to see John Collins in full flow. It still is, as we found out while recording the Big Interview with the former Monaco, Fulham and Scotland player. Whether it was with a ball at his feet during a career punctuated by intrigue and success or, in this case, a microphone pinned to his polo shirt, Collins was capable of something positive, something captivating.

All it took was somebody to get the ball rolling.

My role in this Big Interview was not too dissimilar to that of a sweeper keeper; getting the conversation going and keeping Collins engaged on subjects like Monaco, player development and the challenge of getting the ball off Zidane. That analogy seems apposite, too, given that the subject of ball-playing goalkeepers proved particularly fruitful in this podcast.

We got there by discussing the development of youth players, a little give and go which Collins used to create an opportunity for his wonderful appraisal of the role of the goalkeeper at FC Barcelona under Pep Guardiola and, now, at Manchester City, coached by the Catalan. His demand that a goalkeeper contributes to attacking moves by passing out from the back has proven controversial in English football, with the position – often occupied by poor Claudio Bravo at City – scrutinised relentlessly this season.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen at FC Barcelona has been lauded for his ability to pass the ball under pressure, helping his team to create chances to score. There was one such opportunity in the Clasico just last month; Ter Stegen fed the ball to Sergio Busquets, who flicked it neatly to Sergi Roberto; he carried the ball to Lionel Messi, who then swivelled to find Andres Iniesta. His pass allowed Neymar to cut inside and clip a shot inches over the crossbar. In the space of 20 seconds, there had been five passes and a shot at goal. And it was all started by Ter Stegen.

But the term ‘sweeper keeper’ continues to be a punchline in the Premier League. “Players, pundits, journalists, they aren’t getting it. They are not getting it. Pep Guardiola doesn’t want a goalkeeper – he wants a goalkeeper and an outfield player,” Collins says in the podcast.

“That’s where it all starts. He’s behind that back four, he’s making angles constantly, moving so they’ve got another outfield player. Once he gets it right – and it’ll take time – it’s going to blow them all away.

“I hear pundits saying: ‘His job is just to catch the ball and make saves’. Well, hold on, he’ll touch the ball eight times with his feet to two with his hands. Maybe even more. So what do you think he should be working on? His hands? Or his feet? He’ll make one save in a game, but he’ll start 50 moves.”

He states his case passionately. And why not, given the supporting evidence. Let’s call the video below Exhibit A. In it Manuel Neuer is integral as his Bayern Munich side mount a series of attacks, positioning himself on the halfway line – and, at one stage, on the edge of the opposition penalty area – always looking to start another move. It is the very embodiment of what Collins argues in the podcast.

The 48-year-old’s testimony is a firm rejoinder in an argument which has regularly seemed one-sided when it comes to Guardiola’s City side. Regardless of how successful the practice has made other major European sides, when a goalkeeper makes a short pass to his full-back or into midfield at Etihad Stadium, it is often seen as too big a ‘risk’.

Collins argues that they do not know the meaning of the word elsewhere in Europe. “I hear it on the television: ‘Oh, he’s taken a risk . . . what is he doing playing there?’ Risk is a word we use in Britain but we don’t use it so much in France, and I know they don’t use it in Spain,” says the former midfielder, who won a league title in his first season with Monaco.

“Playing from the back is called taking responsibility, using the ball and not being scared when a player gets close to you. Every now and then you’ll get caught and concede a goal, but big deal if you’re creating 20 or 30 goals in a season.”

AS a born-and-bred Aberdonian, Sir Alex Ferguson had a huge influence on my life. He revolutionised my hometown team in the 1980s through strategic management and sheer force of will.

He made things seem possible. And it would be impossible to do a football podcast without talking about the legendary Scot.

The contributions from Jamie Carragher and Kevin Bridges reveal a different side of Fergie: his forensic memory, his humour, his deep love of the beautiful game. David Moyes and Gordon Strachan give an insight into the force of nature which was Ferguson in his younger days. To Strachan, the former Manchester United manager remains the best sports psychologist in the world.

Then, Darren Fletcher’s testimony takes us into the dressing room on a match-day. If you want to know what a Fergie team talk is like, listen to the end.

Enjoy!

IN four years at FC Barcelona, Steve Archibald became one of the most successful British exports to Spanish football, a striker known affectionately at the Camp Nou as ‘Archigoles’.

That was a fitting title for a player who struck in his first Clasico – in Madrid, on the first day of that debut season – and, later, scored the famous “goal with the ear”, though Steve will explain why that is perhaps a misnomer.

He will also lead you inside the supreme talent and unpredictable mind of Bernd Schuster, describe the world’s worst massage and explain how to avoid one of the most notorious hitmen in the history of European football.

Steve is in the process of writing his autobiography and this interview proves why that book will be worth waiting for.

Enjoy!