Graham's Blog

ANDRES Iniesta. A truly remarkable footballer; talented; brave; a winner of multiple league titles and cup competitions with Barcelona; a four-time Champions League winner; a two-time European champion and scorer of the goal which took the World Cup to Spain for the first time. He is considered to be the best player his country has ever produced – a title which has been bestowed on the midfielder by Xavi, himself an all-time great for La Roja.

But, aye, could Iniesta do it on a wet night in Dunfermline?

In Part Two of my Big Interview with Alex McLeish – which was recorded live at the Aye Write book festival in Glasgow – the former Rangers manager reveals just how close we all came to finding out. It seems incredible to imagine a player with the Spaniard’s superlative skill stepping out for Rangers at the likes of East End Park, Almondvale, or, indeed, the daunting fortress of Pittodrie, but things were very different in 2004.

Frank Rijkaard, the head coach at FC Barcelona at the time, was obliged to reveal his vision for the Catalan side and had been inspired by the success of Chelsea under Jose Mourinho; a team of brawny athletes, as well as skilled footballers. The diminutive Iniesta, still just a teenager, did not appear to fit that mould.

Mikel Arteta had also established a precedent when he swapped the Camp Nou for Ibrox in 2002 after struggling to break into the Barca first team.

Alex was able to contact the La Liga side’s coaching team directly too, since Rangers assistant Jan Wouters was friendly with Henk ten Cate, Rijkaard’s right-hand man at the Camp Nou. The initial conversation between the Dutchmen confirmed that a loan deal for Iniesta was possible, and that the midfielder could be sent to Rangers for the impending campaign.

“Rangers were downsizing and I needed players of quality, who could take the ball in midfield,” Alex says in the podcast. “Barry [Ferguson] had gone down to Blackburn, so we had lost someone who would have taken the ball in any stadium in the world and we needed players like that again.

“Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was Rijkaard’s assistant at Barcelona. Jan asked if there was anybody we could get and was told about a young kid called Iniesta. He was only 18 at the time. We asked if we could bring him to Scotland and were told that they would try and make some hay at Barcelona and get him over to us. They said Iniesta needed to get some action.”

Alex was not aware of it at the time, but his interest in Iniesta had not gone unnoticed in the Barcelona board room – with directors challenging Rijkaard about his willingness to allow such a talented player to leave. “I didn’t realise I had caused a shit storm in Barcelona!” Alex says.

And yet it was Iniesta who settled his fate 13 years ago; an enthralling performance in a pre-season friendly with Juventus convincing Rijkaard to keep a hold of the little Spaniard, pulling him into the Barcelona first-team squad and out of the reach of Rangers.

“The Monday after Jan had made the call, Iniesta was moved into the first team,” Alex says of a player who has since made over 400 appearances for Barcelona and captains the side currently. “When Henk ten Cate got back to us, we asked about Iniesta and were told: ‘He’s in the first team squad now’.”

One suspects that the Spaniard would have been a sensation in Scottish football, had the proposed loan gone ahead. That goes for Lionel Messi, too – with Alex also enquiring about bringing the peerless Argentine to Glasgow in 2004. He had been made aware of the Barca prodigy by his young sons, who delivered scouting reports after unearthing Messi while playing Football Manager.

“Jon and Jamie were into the game and they kept coming to me with names from South America. They said this guy Lionel Messi was going to be the best player in the world – [Messi] was maybe 13 or 14 at the time,” Alex says. “We asked about bringing Messi to Rangers on loan [in 2004] and were told flatly: ‘No chance. Absolutely, no chance’.”

IT was a great privilege to have Alex McLeish, a real hero of mine, as the guest for the second ever live Big Interview, which we recorded at the Aye Write book festival in Glasgow.

It was also my good fortune for the event to fall the day after Barcelona pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in football history – wiping out a 4-0 first-leg defeat by winning 6-1 at the Camp Nou in a truly incredible Champions League match.

I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to ask Alex to give his take on that game for the first part of this podcast and uncover what it is that allows the best players to win, and keep winning.

Alex then took us back to his formative years as a footballer; the constructive criticism from his father, playing games constantly at a local field and, later, training with his Aberdeen team-mates in the car park opposite Pittodrie.

The Dons, of course, feature heavily in this interview and Alex talks about the success he enjoyed at the club, including how they got the better of Bayern Munich. He also relives a few of the blazing rows that Sir Alex Ferguson used to give his players.

Enjoy!

JOHAN Cruyff is the single most important man in the history of professional football; as a player, coach, director of football, thinker, philosopher, nobody come else comes close.

His influence spans generations and is responsible for the era-defining football which I have been watching at the Camp Nou over the past decade.

We have dedicated our latest clip show to the memory of this football icon, with David Moyes and Charlie Nicholas both featuring in a little section we call ‘the mystery of Cruyff’s shirt’.

That detective story is set in the 1982 European Cup and a tie between Celtic and Ajax, after which David and Charlie each think they have the great Cruyff’s jersey. But who really got their hands on the prized shirt?

And there is Jody Morris, who we spoke to on the day that Cruyff passed away. It was an emotional 24 hours, Jody giving an eloquent account of how the Dutchman had influenced his football philosophy.

Enjoy!

PETER Crouch has sold the football world a dummy. At just over two metres tall, the Stoke City striker looks every inch the typical target man; a giant, awkward figure, a footballer custom built for aerial challenges and set plays. But the tallest outfield player in the Premier League is not short on technique. Indeed, his touch, his awareness, his skill with a ball at his feet are the reasons why I find it such a joy to watch the big man in action.

We begin this Big Interview by discussing a column written by Pep Guardiola in 2006, in which he paid tribute to both Crouch’s work ethic and his ability on the ball. Then, with a change of direction reminiscent of the Catalan in his pomp, Crouch explains how his exemplary technique was first honed – as an aspiring football player learning skills under the Coerver Method. That is a concept of coaching devised by and named after the Dutch UEFA Cup-winning manager Wiel Coerver.

“I went to Coerver as a kid – everyone had a ball and it was all about technique,” Peter says in the podcast. “When I first started going there was 10 years old and it was massive for the development of my career. The English way of playing at that time didn’t involve an awful lot of thought about how you play.”

A tenet of the Coerver Method is to teach young players an array of skills synonymous with the true greats. During those sessions, Peter was taught tricks named after such stellar names as Marco Van Basten, Pierre Littbarski and Diego Maradona. His homework was to go home and perfect those skills ahead of the next training session, refining his touch and technique simultaneously.

I have highlighted the tricks which Peter learned from the Coerver Method below, and also take a look at the players who made them famous:

The Van Basten

“The Van Basten was basically a step over,” explains Peter, who was signed up to sessions by his father after he heard about the Coerver Method.

It seems inevitable that Marco Van Basten would serve as an example to youngsters during training, if not necessarily for his step overs. The Dutchman is now celebrated more for his wonderful volley in the 1988 European Championship final, the second goal of a victory over the Soviet Union.

Coincidentally, Peter can claim volleys as his specialist subject, too. Just listen to the podcast.

The Littbarski

“The Littbarski was when you put your foot on the ball, dropped a shoulder and moved to the other side,” says Peter.

Pierre Littbarski was a World Cup winner with West Germany and a popular player in his homeland throughout his career. He captivated fans with his close control and capacity to evade opponents, often by feigning to go one way before taking off in another – the technique which Peter practised as a youngster.

The Maradona

“The Maradona was when you stood on the ball and turned… the kids probably have a new name for it these days,” Peter explains in the podcast.

Wee Diego could play a bit. The skill which was named after the Argentine magician would have been synonymous with him at the time, but it is now perhaps better known as the “Zidane”. That is rather fitting really, since the pair had successful spells in Italy and Spain during their careers, while winning a World Cup each as well. They are also both remembered for moments of controversy on the world stage…

YOU will all have your opinions on how our guests would rank in terms of footballing ability in their prime. I happen to think that we have talked to some who are hall of famers in any company but, occasionally, a name will come up which causes them to draw breath.

This collection is dedicated to the moments when we got to talk about one of the all-time greats, sometimes with someone who had a unique angle from which to examine those special talents.

Lionel Messi is discussed by Gary Neville, a man whose job it is to find new ways to describe what it is that this genius does, while Graeme Souness and Peter Beardsley also talk about the little Argentine. Below is a video of the very warm-up routine that enchanted Peter and which he talks about in this clip show.

Paul Clement worked closely with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and provides an insight into the work ethic of the Portuguese, while Harry Redknapp recalls how Gareth Bale was transformed into an international superstar.

Darren Fletcher then talks about Wayne Rooney, while Kevin Bridges and Charlie Nicholas discuss two Celtic greats, Henrik Larsson and Danny McGrain, respectively. Joe Jordan also remembers the impact John Charles had on Italian football.

Enjoy!