Author: neil

Should Frank Lampard pull on the Manchester City shirt on Sunday and play at Newcastle it’ll be the culmination of a decade of previously unrequited admiration. Not from City, but from Txiki Begiristain, their director of football.

Just over 10 years ago, Steve Kutner was representing Patrick Vieira as the French international was antsy to bring his Arsenal career to an end and experience continental football again. Real Madrid were desperate to sign such a commanding footballer, especially at a time when they were also courting Arsene Wenger, who admits to having met representatives of the Madrid board on a number of occasions. Knowing that their biggest rivals were in a position to sign Vieira, Barcelona – as they do – wanted to at least be in the fight, if there was one.

At that stage Begiristain had been football director at the Camp Nou for just over a year and the club was frantically re-building. He called Kutner over for a meeting –  not to tap the player up, but to try to get a handle on whether the Madrid move was likely and what Vieira’s salary terms might be. Barcelona had already introduced their pyramid salary structure where, at the base, you’ll find the majority of the squad, then in tiers of decreasing size you’ll find clusters of two or three players, right up to the peak, where Ronaldinho was then and Messi is now. It soon transpired that Barcelona, then much more parsimonious and keener on value for money than they have become (yes, that is a euphemism for better-run) wanted to place Vieira at a level of the pyramid which wouldn’t in any way match his financial aspirations.

Without too much regret and with a noticeable alacrity, Begiristain shifted his discussion with Kutner. If he had been all business before, the Basque now spoke with a new enthusiasm and eagerness.
“Right! You’re Frank Lampard’s agent – how can we get him? What do we have to do to secure a footballer like that?”

I’ve often asked Frank about FC Barcelona and that is the club he’d have chosen to play at if he’d gone to Spain, one against whom he’s enjoyed some fabulous tussles and where he scored a goal which constantly rates as either his favourite or in his top three: the unfeasible chip over Victor Valdés to get a draw in that pulsating 2-2 Champions league draw in 2006. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a move which could happen, given his importance to Chelsea then and in ensuing years, plus his devotion to the club.

When he did leave it was Ferran Soriano and Brian Marwood who set up Lampard’s freedom-of-contract move to New York City, where he’ll play with David Villa and where it’s not out of the question that Xavi will end up in due course. There was, at that stage, no question, no discussion of the free-scoring midfielder joining the English champions.

But when Lampard and Kutner were in New York to seal his move there, they encountered Txiki Begiristain again and the subject of playing for City until … City were ready to start their pre-season training in Manchester and Charleston was raised.

There is no question that NYC have a fabulous start-up property in Lampard – top footballer, fine pro, good ambassador, star. Nor any question that it’s been a matter of great satisfaction to Begiristain that, 10 years on, he’s finally got his man.

GH 15.8.14

Midway through Tito Vilanova’s last season at FC Barcelona, the club gave Xavi a contract through until 2016 – one which had a gross outlay of at least €30m, probably more.

I know that at the time there was a large body of firm opinion within the club’s football committee arguing that the deal offered should be one season at a fixed salary (2013-2014) and two where the salary would be based on objectives – how many games Xavi played, how long he was injury-free, and so on.

However, the then president, Sandro Rosell, intervened and authorised three-and-a-half seasons (from January 2013 until June 2016) at full salary. Only the great presidents take the bull by the horns and address the real situation, and Rosell wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, a great president (it was interesting the other day to read his testimony in the hearings over Neymar’s transfer funding that he signed such documents without reading the small print).

The team’s performance was still impressing the members; it was rumoured that Joan Laporta was planning to stand for the presidency again; Pep Guardiola had left many people under the impression that Rosell was partly to blame for his departure. The president had popularity – and votes – in mind. Ending or reducing Xavi’s lifespan at the club may have hurt him. He met the player over breakfast and – hey presto! – a  deal was struck. Presidential privilege.

Hence one of the club’s all-time great players, still Spain’s greatest footballer in my mind, had assured salary until 2016 – in total the kind of money to make the eyes water.

I believe, implicitly, the people closest to him who told me during the World Cup that Xavi took a decision in June to leave Barcelona and play in Qatari football. Not a firm decision about which of the offers to accept, but that terribly difficult step to take, psychologically, in choosing to say goodbye to the club which he loves and which he has nourished since he was old enough to order a beer in a pub.

Intermediaries jumbled up those negotiations and there was a flurry of propositions – at least three – from MLS franchises. I understand that the David Beckham project in Miami, Seattle and Manchester City’s New York project were all after Xavi. Those, too, tempted him, but a firm and decisive conversation with his former team-mate and new coach, Luis Enrique, caused him to seek the reverse gear, to focus on staying with Barcelona as his main option and to turn up for the first day of training this morning.

Built in here is the idea that if he chose to save Barcelona two years of wages, totaling more than €20m, by leaving it is de rigeur – 100% established practice – that a player’s agent will negotiate him a slice of what he is saving the club. I know some agents who would fully expect a 50/50 split: “Pay us one year’s salary and we’ll go now, which saves you the second year’s salary. You come out well ahead on the deal.”

It’s clear to me that this process wasn’t fruitful between Barcelona and Xavi and that’s been part of the decision to stay, as has the fact that City’s New York franchise, where Frank Lampard and David Villa will play, doesn’t kick off until next spring.

Since Luis Enrique was appointed the current president Josep Maria Bartomeu has been saying: “Xavi has earned the right to decide whether he stays or goes.” I don’t think that’s how Luis Enrique will see it. It’s imperative he sets a tone, sets an atmosphere – unites the squad under his leadership. That starts from today. Whatever personal relationship he enjoyed with Xavi previously, for good or bad, however much respect he feels for Xavi’s career, he’s coach now and can’t afford the distraction of the other players wondering: Is Xavi staying? Is he going? Does he support the new coach?

Thus, I reckon, we can understand this week’s article in El Pais by the exceptional Luis Martín in which he announced that the conversation between the two men consisted of the new coach saying: “You are welcome to be part of this, I see your importance, but if you stay then don’t be complaining to me if you’re not playing as much as you’d like to.”  Rules laid out firmly and clearly.

There are echoes for me here. When Frank Rijkaard took over in 2003 he was urged by the board who appointed him that Luis Enrique wasn’t the way forward – but he repeatedly gave the midfielder a starting place. When asked by Ferran Soriano (who is now trying to sign Xavi for New York City) why this was happening, Rijkaard argued that to win the dressing room he had to convert the old heads, and his management method (as opposed to that of Pep Guardiola) was to convince rather than to excise. Rijkaard testified that by winning Luis Enrique over, the midfielder became a force for good, someone who, whether playing or not, eventually emphasised the messages that the Dutch coach was putting forward to his players and who left, voluntarily, at the end of that first Rijkaard season.

His decision about when and how to leave also has echoes for me. Like Xavi, Luis Enrique suffered achilles problems late in his career and I well remember the game in October 2002, under coach Louis Van Gaal, where Barcelona ran riot against Alaves with Luis Enrique and Xavi both scoring in a rampant 6-1 win. The midfielder, then 32, stayed on the pitch too long given the pain he was suffering. As a result he couldn’t play again until the following February. From then until the end of the following season it was both bewildering and painful to watch. A truly great modern footballer worked his socks off, ran just as hard, showed all the same hunger – but his form just fell off a cliff. Things didn’t work for him, he wasn’t as influential and during his four-month lay-off something crucial – heaven knows how to define it – had left him for good.

Eight days after his 34th birthday, Luis Enrique knew it was time to stop, so he stopped.

Xavi’s case is different. His athleticism has been affected by age, wear and tear, massive amounts of stress and responsibility for club and country over the years and that chronic pain he suffers from. But he remains a footballer of vitality and brilliance. How to make the best out of the next year or two before he retires is a choice full of dilemmas, pitfalls and opportunities.

If he is to stay – even if it is only until the winter and a move to New York – then it’s vital that he works, encourages and plays like someone wholly committed and wholly energetic about the new coach and his project. Otherwise problems lie in wait.

What I’d like, what I fervently wish for, is that a true all-time great of football anywhere in the world, in any era, handles his decision-making with the same precision, boldness, grace, discipline and intelligence that he’s displayed while entertaining us over the last couple of decades.

GH – 24.7.14

The illustration here is by the brilliant @DanLeydon – one of his collection to feature in Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. Check out his work here. 

Ashley Cole is just one more of those footballers who has managed to develop a ‘difficult’ reputation via parts of his country’s media, social media and the perception of some fans. But whenever I’ve met him and interviewed him, the experience rips those perceptions to shreds. Whatever he’s like to negotiate with when he wants a new contract, I know that he’s a thoughtful, interesting and articulate guy when you are talking about football. Committed, too.

I’ll never forget John Terry describing to me the lengths Cole went to in order to overcome a muscle injury and be fit for the Champions League final in Moscow –  pain, lack of sleep and almost 60 straight hours of physio and rehab to make the impossible possible.

Thus I was pleased to hear him confirming something now that he’s rolled the dice on the last few years of his top-level career being spent in Rome. The full-back said: “English players are probably afraid to come abroad, they’re in a comfort zone in England.”

It’s broadly true of all players from the British Isles. Fear of learning a language, inability to cope with restaurant menus which go beyond meat and two veg, complacency – fear of the alien.

There are contradictions and exceptions, of course. Given my love of the spice and variety of continental football it’s not a surprise to me that I’ve stayed in touch with and respect very much men like Steve Archibald [Barça], John Collins [Monaco], Steve McManaman [Madrid], Alan McInally [Bayern] and Chris Waddle [Marseille].

But Ashley Cole has pointed to something which I think is both sad and which contributes to the lack in the UK of nous, the lack of maturity and intelligence which it takes to form top-class international footballers and teams.

Challenging themselves to perform at one of the continents powerhouse clubs will lend any footballer – even the best – a new dimension, both in sporting and personal terms.

Researching my book on Spain and their historic treble I spoke to Gaizka Mendieta, who played in Spain, Italy and England and has chosen to stay and live near London, and he insisted that any talented player benefits from the experience of stepping outside his comfort zone.

Gaizka: “When the French team won the World Cup [in 1998], 12 of the 14 players they used to win the final were playing their club football abroad but, at that time, not one of our [Spain] guys was. Having footballers with experience abroad definitely benefits the whole team. It won’t automatically make you a better player, but it makes you more of a man, a more rounded footballer with a bit of world experience. It changed everyone’s mentality, players, fans, media, when that some of us went abroad. Suddenly, people were interested in other leagues and that opens your mind. 

“There are a number of different factors in creating a successful team – the players, their innate talent, the manager, the directors, the federation, the group dynamic, timing and so on. But having the right mentality is crucially important. Spain was a nation which made it to the quarter-finals and no further. We were in a rut and needed to make that mental leap, to start believing that we could compete with Germany, France, with everyone.”

Change the nation in that penultimate sentence from Spain to England and see how it fits?

Raúl, crown prince of the Bernabéu and utterly embedded in all things Madridista (ie no less umbilically tied to Madrid than Gerrard to Liverpool, Lampard to Chelsea, Ferdinand to United) admitted once he was leaving the Bundesliga that he should have moved there sooner – broadened his horizons when he was still at his peak.

Raúl: “These two years have been absolutely extraordinary. I will never forget that and from what I have seen the people won’t forget me that soon either.  I have enjoyed every match and every journey. I have really felt euphoric, because everything just fitted perfectly. Everybody had told me about them, but you when you see it by yourself, how they feel their club… it’s almost like a religion. It’s just wonderful. I’m not just saying it, to play for Schalke has been one of the best experiences in my life. I have no words to express what the fans have given me. To pay back their love I should have scored more goals. I have felt at home here, like at Madrid for over 17 years”

I know one or two people were surprised at how highly I praised Gareth Bale’s behaviour and attitude from day one at Madrid [I think the end of season proved my point] but, to me, just his determination to play at the world’s most pressurized club at an age which will lead to his prime was worthy of total respect.

May he, and Cole, begin a flood of Scots, English, Irish and Welsh who are ready to prove that sometimes in football it’s just as good to arrive as to travel hopefully.

Main image: Football.ua

This summer I got the tip-off call while trying to negotiate no excess baggage charges for our cameraman’s huge bundle of equipment in Curitiba airport, en route to Rio. Manchester United had got their man.

Though I was asked not to bust all the details, I was told that United and Athletic had sorted out how any excess tax would be paid on the buy-out clause move for Ander Herrera, that funds had been switched between bank accounts and that a programme of press releases had been agreed between the two clubs and intermediaries.

Athletic would speak first. There was a flutter of understandably misjudged media speculation when they announced that they’d turned down a bid from United. Instead of this meaning that the move, which I had written would happen, was off, it was a message from Athletic to their members: the player was wrenched away, against our will, at maximum price. Buy-out clause. Or else he’d not have been able to leave.

Ander then gave his first MUTV interview, willing to show off his English right away, and devoured the tour of Carrington – buzzing from an immediate introduction to Sir Bobby Charlton.

A number of years of scouting had come to fruition: first by Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, then by those working for David Moyes, and finally with Louis van Gaal’s express approval.

These constitute the interesting points. Transfers like this are immensely complex, involving negotiations comparable in size to those around the purchase of a major building or a corporate takeover. It’s not for the unwary or the inexperienced and it was a pending task for a man like Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, to complete effectively and efficiently. This he has done.

Secondly, I’m not as interested in the player United have bought – anyone who has paid attention to Spanish football over the last five years should know Ander’s talents and personality inside out – as I am in the player he may become. There is something special in this footballer: brains, organisation, technique and a will to win. I don’t think he hit a plateau at Athletic but now, just short of his 25th birthday, is the time for a growth spurt in his career.

Louis van Gaal is more than capable of teaching him new things, squeezing the absolute maximum out of his talent and making him a winner. Let Ander be himself, let him have time to adapt and grow, as David De Gea was given, and let him become the player he threatens to be. United fans, naturally, want wins and confidence from the start. The rest of us can afford to sit back and watch the relationship between Van Gaal and Herrera and hope that the former bestows some of his greatness on the latter.

Attached here is a piece I wrote for ESPN last month, analysing how it was that this move came together and the role David Moyes and I had in saving United several million Euros. No commission, thanks.

Gx

I’m not too concerned about appearing an old fogey when the first comparison I reach for to sum up the experience with Spain here in Brazil is Kipling. Famously his great work, If states that:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same…

Well, suffice to say that old Kipling, who made great cakes, thought that was a good human trait. I do too.
We came to see what Spain would make of their World Cup defence and, on the pitch, they made a hash of it.

However, when the bitter pill of humiliation was crunched between their teeth, what I liked, what added to my appreciation of this group, was that they reacted – to me at least – with just the same
professionalism, courtesy, friendliness and commitment that I’d seen in epoch-making victory.

Players interested in questions… players willing to face them in the first place. Following the defeats by Holland and Chile, big guns like Sergio Ramos, Fernando Torres and Iker Casillas stopped and confronted humiliation front on. They didn’t skulk and hide, or take the huff. I know that should be the norm, but believe me it’s not.

I’ve seen a Spain group which is still pretty bewildered by what’s happened. They have worked and trained with the same degree of technical excellence (until the last couple of days at least!) as I saw in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Speaking to them over and again, on and off the record, I’m convinced that they’ll need time to assimilate what’s happened.
I’ve some ideas about that, and there has been sufficient access, travelling and living with the team in some cities, to feel sure of what has changed between the three tournaments.

There have been far fewer of their families here. There has been far, far less time off to disengage with the tournament. There have been no double-session days.
Fans? Hard to spot them. They’ve been here, but not at the training ground – not once – and Spain lost the Chile match from the anthem in the Maracana.

As an experience the Maracana was remarkable. The degree of desire and of rabid hunger for victory exhibited by what felt like around 80,000 Chileans screaming their team on was electric. Often, in my profession, you are asked to try to elicit from players what they feel about an intimidating atmosphere – what strength they can gain from constant, uproarious backing. Usually, particularly in Europe, the atmosphere is loud but sanitised. No hint of the outlaw, no real naked, crackling aggression. Against Chile that’s what it was like, right from the hilarious moment that around 50 of them crashed through the media centre trying to break into the ground without tickets.
I’m all too aware of what fan movements like that can do in extremis. Fatalities can result. But this was contained, non threatening and comical to watch. More of that in the Spain book when it’s re-issued and re-vamped in the autumn.
To see chunks of the stadium, carrying 30,000 people, bobbing up and down while the chanting reached fever pitch was superb and nobody will ever convince me that it wasn’t a super charge for the South American Roja.

It’s been a tournament of extremes – from the dank, fading grandeur of Spain’s training base hired from Atletico Paranaense to the utter splendour of their Ipanema/Leblon Sheraton hotel right on the beach in Rio, via the troop invasion of stadia in preparation for the social protests which nibbled around the edges of Spain’s World Cup – but never bit.

An old hero of the tale of this team’s adventures, Manolo el del Bombo, had his tribulations now like never before. He was banned from playing his famous drum in the Maracana, he had it stripped off him at half time in Salvador. For the superstitious, it’s worth pointing out that he stopped playing at 1-1 in Spain’s first game and didn’t bang again until the rout was complete. Obviously, that’s the first point of assessment in the post mortem.

During this football fest, so enjoyable for almost everything else (certainly on the pitch) two key things happened. There was a gentle move away from Spain being a 23-man team to one where some of those not playing began to feel let down and unsure of why they were there.
Secondly, Spain moved from being predator to prey. For years they complained that the majority of teams didn’t want to dance – that they parked the bus and simply tried to clog up the game. By the time the opponents found their boogie, Spain were only ready to waltz.
It happens. This is the end for David Villa and I don’t really expect to see Xavi, Xabi Alonso and perhaps even Iker Casillas again – although it would be a desperate mistake for Iker to retire from international football now.
Then there’s the Mister. He has enjoyed this less. His friendship and his canny, humorous asides in the off-the-record moments we have shared here have helped make my tournament – again. What a gent.
He didn’t make as many spot-on judgements as Spain have proved to need – but in his defence no international manager has ever had so much cause to be loyal to any players.

Here I am now in Curitiba watching the moronic wave less than quarter of an hour into an intriguing and hard-fought final match. A match played on a painted tattie field of a pitch. The victories of the last three tournaments were sweet, fun to witness at first hand and educational. This has been too – less fun, but probably still more educational.

Last words. Spain’s playing philosophy hasn’t been undermined or overtaken. This playing group has just gone an inch or two beyond where it probably should have done. That’s no sin, just a shame. Time passes and it is to football’s glory that we are watching a front-foot, highly athletic but nonetheless terrifically technical tournament.

Turn the page, keep reading. Football’s script is always worth it.

Graham. 23.6.14