Graham's Blog

Out of form and out of favour at Chelsea, Fernando Torres still made the cut for Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque. Why? You have to look to the striker’s talismanic past, for Spain and here, at Atletico Madrid.

During qualification for Euro 2008, Luis Aragonés, then Spain coach, faced off against a majority of supporters over his decision to drop Raúl, then the all-time leading goalscorer. After training in Madrid, the coach and one angry fan faced off in front of national television cameras.

In the first in a series of short films – filmed in Madrid in March 2014 – I focus on the darkness before the dawn for the Spanish national team. Luis Aragones’ side arrived in Austria for Euro 2008 with the abuse of their fans ringing in their ears. It was a bizarre prelude to everything that followed…

These days I get asked to work on lots of varied and interesting projects – mostly, but not always, football related. Hmmm … so there’s a theme developing here. I admit it. In front of the camera again. This time to record a piece for Scottish Television (STV).

With the Scottish Independence referendum coming up in September there was an (accurate) feeling that here in Catalunya many people, politicians, media, voters, are studying very closely the build up to Scotland’s vote.

Catalunya had a parliament less than five years after the death of the hated dictator Franco. So they were semi-autonomous from 1980 and Scotland’s devolved Parliament only opened in 1999. But here we are with Scotland about to take a free decision about whether to leave the UK or not … and Catalunya has just been told that a vote on independence would be anti-constitutional and illegal. Eighteen years ahead of Scotland in terms of a devolved parliament and now forced to watch the Scots get a democratic chance at whatever ‘freedom’ may constitute.

Shrewd politicians here have been over to talk to opinion-formers in Scotland. Catalan President Artur Mas continually emphasises that “All we want is what Scotland has … the democratic right to vote”.

So it was that the award-winning STV producer, Peter Smith, came over to Barcelona and we filmed for a couple of days all around the city including interviews with Joan Laporta, Steve Archibald and a Catalan MEP who actually strongly opposes Catalan independence.

I don’t think that Madrid will every grant Catalunya the vote but it was surprising, during the voxpops that we filmed, to find how many everyday Catalans were either unwilling to talk publicly on the subject … or were actually scared that there would be repercussions for them, particularly at work, if they did. Of course we filmed at the Camp Nou, too, which was great fun.

Doesn’t matter which stadium, but if you are a football journalist and you get the chance to swap places from the media tribune and trot out of the tunnel on to the pitch – where the stars you report on usually jog out, it’s a thrill. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or should be in a different job.

Watch Graham’s STV piece here

I love filming. At least when I’m in front of the camera. Not because of some ego trip or dreams of fame. It’s just great to get so many people you like together in one spot and then talk about football.

Filming can be complicated and there are far more inter-dependent things involved in getting it right. So, there can be tension and that’s when I’ve always thought / hoped that a little bit of dexterity with words can get you through. In fact, I really enjoy getting everyone focused, ready to roll and then putting a good script into practice, but the best laugh is when you are doing a soundcheck – or a particular ‘take’ gets spoiled by someone else – and there’s a chance to fool around. Words come tumbling out and they are always, without exception, just to entertain myself.

But they seem to keep most of the crew vaguely amused.

For these short films, which you can watch on my new website, the lads from BackPage Press made the great decision to involve Zoom Sport International. Run by Duncan McMath, who used to work at Real Madrid and Gol Television with me, it was a fabulous experience. Good locations, friendly fun with Xavi, Jamie Carragher, Vicente del Bosque, Pepe Reina and Santi Cazorla.

Martin Greig (BackPage) and Duncan also proved to be good editors. They’d pick up if a story could be told better, if there had been repetition. It’s also true that in our cameraman /editor, Ivan, we had a legend on board.

We filmed at the Bernabéu, Las Rozas (Spain’s training centre), the Calderón for a Spain training session, in the Madrid neighbourhood where Vicente Del Bosque grew up, Plaza Colón where Spain celebrated their Euro 2008 title, and at the Spain v Italy game in March 2014, won by Pedro’s goal. So much fun. But unless the films tell the story of the historic treble in a fun, digestible way, then I’ve not fulfilled my aim. Hope you enjoy them.