Graham's Blog

Paul Clement: Inside Real Madrid (Part One)

26 May 2016

Season 2013/14 was a special one for Real Madrid. It was the season of La Decima, their 10th European crown. Paul Clement, assistant to Carlo Ancelotti, saw it all. And this is his account.

From a fastidious breakdown of a typical day on the training ground with Ancelotti, Zidane and Hierro (not a bad crew to hang around with) through the positional alterations and squad characters that lifted the team at crucial times.

Paul’s going to take us up until the end of the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich. Part two, which we’ll put out on Champions League final day on Saturday, is all about that thriller: La Decima.

Enjoy

Graham

Michael O’Neill: The Player Whisperer

12 May 2016

Shortly after the interview you are about to hear, Michael O’Neill would be near the front of the field for the next manager of Celtic. It won’t be the last time he’s quoted for headline jobs.

We met in Edinburgh and he broke down in fascinating detail the way he shaped and guided a Northern Ireland squad to this phenomenal achievement of qualification for Euro 2016. He carefully separates the message and the delivery and explains why both need to be perfect to get the best results. If you can enlist world champion boxers or stadium rock stars to aid your cause, so much the better.

Enjoy!

Graham

Spain paperback out!

04 May 2016

After the publication of Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World (2012), Neil and Martin at BackPage asked if I had another story I wanted to tell. The thought of taking on another project was daunting to say the least, but my access to the Spain team over the last decade made them the obvious subject matter.

Over three consecutive tournaments, I was offered incredible access to the squad. That Spain won all three – at the 2008 and 2012 European Championships, plus the South Africa World Cup –  made the insight and access I gained all the more privileged (I even ended up in the triumphant World Cup winning dressing room in Soccer City!). I simply had to tell this story (particularly as BackPage had taken my family hostage and locked me in a room with just a laptop).

You know when a book makes grandiose claims to gives you behind-the-scenes access to a tantalising subject? This does. It takes you into the dressing room, on to the training ground; on the team bus; into the canteen; inside the hotels and on to the pitch. You’ll hear the team talks that inspired Spain to victory plus the inside stories from Fernando Torres, Xavi, Iker Casillas, David Villa, Cesc Fàbregas, Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué and more.

If you’ve read Barca and not this, I urge you to take the plunge. The pictures of Xavi, Sergio Ramos, Iniesta and Vicente Del Bosque are with the hardback version. The paperback is out now – and is half the price (£9.99). It’ll whet your appetite for this summer’s Euros and, together with my first book, give you an overall picture of an unprecedented era in Spanish football.

Enjoy!

Graham

p.s. Click here for exclusive video diaries we shot to accompany the book

 

GH and Ramos    GH AND INIESTA   GH and VDB small

 

About the book Spain

The inside story of La Roja’s historic treble

Eddie Howe: The Best You Can Be

28 Apr 2016

What Eddie Howe has achieved at Bournemouth is remarkable and after spending an hour with him at that club, it’s impossible to imagine that this is the high-water mark in his young career.

Here’s a different kind of football mind: highly analytical, but also reflective, aware of the influence of his work on his life, and the other way around.

He started his managerial career operating under a transfer embargo, determined to improve the players he had to work with. It’s become his signature – if you listen to this and try to put yourself in his dressing room, I think it’s easy to imagine how it works.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

G

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