Rijkaard To Leave Barcelona

The Barcelona Board of Directors agreed that Frank Rijkaard will leave the club at the end of the season. The widespread speculation of recent days that Barca B Coach Josep “Pep” Guardiola would be the replacement was also confirmed. The changes will take effect on June 30th next.

Speaking at a press conference held after this afternoon’s Board meeting, Club president Joan Laporta announced the decision to relieve the Dutch coach of his duties and praised the contribution he has made over the last few seasons:

“He’s done an excellent job and behaved excellently. We will remember Frank Rijkaard as the coach who led the recovery of the team and in three years took it to the glory of Paris”.
Joan Laporta described Frank Rijkaard’s record with the first team as “exceptional”: two Spanish league titles, two Super Cups and a Champions League title. He stressed that Rijkaard’s achievements “should not be obscured by the results of the last two seasons”.

He added: “We can conclude that Frank Rijkaard has made history”.
The Barcelona President explained that although Frank Rijkaard still had a year left on his contract, it was time for a change:

“It’s the end of a cycle and the results haven’t gone our way. It’s proof that the mistakes we detected last year haven’t been corrected”.
The president also spoke about Josep Guardiola, the man who will take over from Frank Rijkaard next season:

“We believe in Guardiola to lead the new sporting project. He guarantees renewed continuity in the footballing style that has given us success”.
Referring to Guardiola’s capacity to take on the task, Laporta told reporters:

"He has the knowledge, the enthusiasm, the self confidence and the love for the Club that are necessary”. Guardiola will be officially unveiled later on, when Barça B finish their involvement in the play-offs to Second Division B.

The Board’s decision to appoint Guardiola was taken unanimously.

In a rare moment of self-criticism Laporta, announced that the season and the players would be evaluated at the end of the season, also accepting some of the blame for the way the season has gone:

“I am also responsible. I’m sure we haven’t made the right decisions. Decisions have been taken that just didn’t work. The players haven’t responded to the hopes we, and the coach, had in them. We had put together one of the best squads in the world”.

Barcelona were beaten 4-1 by Real Madrid in the return leg of the “El Classico” with a solitary goal from Thierry Henry late in the second half. The Real Madrid goals came from Raul; Robben, Higuain and van Nistelrooy.

Looking for Mr Right?

There have been a number of managerial vacancies in recent months, both at club and national level with some key ones becoming vacant after the departure of the Republic of Ireland manager last October. In the wake of Steve Staunton's departure job openings arose at National level in the Football Association in England when Steve McClaren's tenure was terminated; at the Scottish FA when Alex McLeish took up the opportunity with Birmingham City and in Holland when Marco van Basten announced his intention to step down after the EURO 2008 championships in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

In the chilly autumn air of Scandinavia, another Englishman, Roy Hodgson fancied a change and he decided to leave his position in charge of Finland. In Serbia there was also some turmoil in football circles as former Spanish manager, Javier Clemente, also found himself out of work. In Bulgaria too Hristo Stocihkov had left a vacancy since his walk out last year and so they were looking for their “Mr Right”.

In the Premier League the turbulence started in September when Stamford Budge saw the "Special one” hand in his notice and returning to Portugal. During October it was the turn of Sammy Lee to leave Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur vacated the managerial hot seat with the removal of Martin Jol. A month later saw Chris Hutchings gone from Wigan, Lawrie Sanchez out of a job at Fulham and Derby manager Billy Davies lose his position at Derby County. The changes thrown up in December had Hibernians lose John Collins, who decided to step down from his post not long after the National Manger had moved down south.

In Europe one of top clubs heard the intentions of Bayern Munich's Ottmar Hitzfeld made known as he sated he would finish at the end of the season leaving Uli Hoeness Deputy Executive Chairman on the look out for a replacement. In Spain the major change happened at Sevilla with Jun de Ramos handing in his papers to his chairman in October. All-in all it was a very busy period.

Against that backdrop the Republic of Ireland were also on the lookout for a new manager after the FAI ended the reign of their manager half way through a four year agreement. Since that day the search has been under way and the race has been on to find the right replacement along with all the other football organisations seeking to make appointments as well. In the 90 days that have passed since that chilly October night near Dublin Airport most of the other searches have been concluded. For the Republic of Ireland the only whisper to be heard now is the imminent arrival of Samba Soccer to Dublin when Brazil play art Croke Park on February 6th.

Even at the Africa Cup of Nations the Ivory Coast had their preparations thrown into disarray when former Real Madrid and West German defender, Uli Stielike, had to rush home when his son feel seriously ill only two weeks before the opening game. Amidst such a human crisis the Ivory Coast FA hired Gerard Gil for the job relying on his experience at Olympic Marseille and Egypt to guide them at short notice. It seems that all things are possible; at greater speed elsewhere and with greater efficacy.

Indeed the decision by Bayern Munich to name the replacement for Hitzfeld this early on has been viewed as a marketing coup allowing the club set out the commercial intentions with the return of Juergen Klinsmann to his old club. Although the Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Bayern had been critical of Klinsmann prior to the 2006 World Cup, and being no slouch at major soccer events himself, the utterings of Franz Beckenbauer's are normally not to be ignored. In the end history records that the Klinsmann and Joachim Loew partnership brought the team to a more advanced stage than perhaps anyone expected before finally submitting to Italy in the semi - final. Next season Beckenbauer will have Klinsmann at the helm of Bayern Munich and even if the sounds so far are optimistic ones no one can be sure that Juergen will relay be Mr Right.

During the past three months most of the vacancies have been filled the latest being Javier Clemente appointed as the Manager of Iran for the 2010 World Cup. Only the Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) and the FAI who have yet to declare their choices and the sense in Amsterdam is that it is less of a hurry as they do not really need anyone in place until after EURO 2008. But then in Dublin there seems to be no sense of hurry either despite all the vacancies that arose since October having been filled.

Maybe we really are the only ones looking for Mr Perfect though?

OSM - All rights reserved 2009

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Robinho Returns to Real Life

by Rossa McDermott

Late into the night Brazilian goal scorer Robinho arrived back to the team hotel near Maynooth after a deserved victory over the Republic of Ireland at Croke Park. With a flight back to Madrid completed on Thursday morning with the two other Brazilians at Real Madrid, Baptista and Marcelo, all arrived back from Dublin in time for the afternoon training session.

They all completed some recuperation exercises along with the other ten players who had returned from international duty.

For Robinho though it was progress down the bumpy road of football having arrived in 2006 to Europe from Brazil heralded as the next “great thing” with comparisons made to other Brazilians – Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. With the burden of expectation weighing him down in his first season in Real Madrid he is slowly fulfilling that promise that attracted so much attention when he was at Pele’s old club, Santos.

That 67 minute goal at Croke Park that beat Shay Given clearly showed the ability and potential of the 24 year old Brazilian winger.

Meanwhile back from Holland duties unscathed were Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder who were 3-0 winner’s away win to Croatia. It was a performance that attracted much praise from their manager Marco van Basten afterwards, who had surprisingly recalled former Real Madrid midfielder Clarence Seedorf for the week.

For the 2006 World Cup winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro, there was a happy homecoming too after Italy had a convincing 3-1 win over Portugal in Zurich.

The two Spanish internationals Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas were part of a 1-0 victory in Malaga over a Raymond Domenech French selection and returned injury free. Liverpool striker Fernando Torres though will be out for ten days having picked up a knock and will miss the weekend tie against Chelsea.

For all now the focus will be on Real Madrid’s chase for the League and defending an unbeaten home record that has lasted for over a year. On Sunday they take on Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Before the break last week the club dropped their first three points in an eight game run by losing 2-0 to Almeria.

Barcelona on the other hand face Sevilla away and are without Zambrotta who returned from Italy duty with an injury that rules him out of the weekend game. Although Ronaldinho is back in training it is not clear whether he will play and Lionel Messi returned from the United States, where Argentina played an international friendly, fit and healthy

Former Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze was out of action for Argentina as he too was recovering from injury in Madrid

Cristoph Metzelder had little joy and there was little celebration of Germany's 3-0 victory over EURO 2008 hosts in Vienna as his prolonged foot injury may now require an operation and he spent the week with the Real Madrid medical team.

For Robinho though Sunday the news remains good as he will get another chance to do what Brazilian forwards love to do - torment defenders.

Steve Coppell for Ireland

In the five years he has been at Reading Football Club Steve Coppell has won a clutch of "Manager of the Month" awards culminating in 2006 with the Coca Cola Football League Championship Manager of the Year and the League Manager Association (LMA) Manager of the Year award. All the personal recognition was the result of achieving promotion to the Barclays Premiership in the same year with the unfashionable Berkshire club.

The longest period Steve Coppell worked at one club since joining Reading was at Crystal Palace where he started out in 1984 after his playing career was ended prematurely through injury.

During that time he was learning his trade and won no honours but the experience laid the foundation of an apprenticeship that was to serve him well in his current role - and also throw his name in the frame for the vacant Republic of Ireland job.

Born in Liverpool in 1995 Steve Coppell played football at school and in his later years attracted the attention of a few clubs as he was proving a speedy and tricky winger. But Coppell was focussed on his education and chose Tranmere Rovers in order to allow him pursue an Economics degree at the University Of Liverpool.

After two years with the club he had become a regular in the first team by 1975 and was offered a chance to join second division side Manchester United who were offering to double his wages. Given that Manchester was not too far from home he agreed to join on the basis that he could continue to complete his degree at Liverpool. Within a month of joining he made his debut against Cardiff City.

In the same season United returned to the top flight under manager Tommy Docherty who was building the framework of a side that was to be an exciting and dynamic addition to the First Division.
Tommy Docherty recalled the scene on the journeys to and from away matches: 'Some players whiled away the time by reading newspapers or books, others gathered around one table for Lou Macari's card school. More often than not the other table would be occupied by Coppell and Martin Buchan, on which they would spread their college books.'
In the next two seasons Coppell reached two FA Cup finals losing the first to Southampton in 1976, even though they were favourites; then winning the next year against Liverpool, who were chasing the treble at the time.

The success at Old Trafford brought him England recognition and his first cap was playing Italy in the 1978 Argentina World Cup campaign under Ron Greenwood.

In 1980 he was in Italy with England again for the European Championship Finals and was a vital part of squad in the 1982 World Cup qualification campaign. However during in a match against Hungary he was suffered a serious knee injury and one that ultimately required various operations in the months to follow.

Although it was his throw-in in Bilbao that led to Bryan Robson’s record 27 second goal against France in their opening group match of the 1982 World Cup he was still not fully recovered for that competition. Like England’s campaign that summer Coppell also struggled and along with Ron Greenwood he ended his international career that July in Madrid

Facing another operation later that year Steve Coppell went onto play intermittently that season and eventually his knee worsened preventing him from playing for Manchester United in the 1983 FA Cup Final against Brighton & Hove Albion, which United won 4-0 in the replay.

Coppell announced his retirement from the game in October 1983 at the age of 28 after 373 appearances and 70 goals for Manchester United and with a haul from his time with England career of 42 caps and seven goals.

In 1984 he became the youngest manager in the football league when he took over at second division Crystal Palace and after five years he had gained them promotion as well as reaching 1990 FA Cup final, where they were beaten 1-0 in a replay by his former club Manchester United.

Coppell led Palace to their highest ever league finish of third place in Division One before the club suffered a turnaround in fortunes and he resigned after their relegation in 1993.

For the next ten years though the normal quiet, thoughtful and pensive Steve Coppell held a variety of positions until he joined Reading in 2003.

It started with a return to Crystal Palace two years after he had left the club becoming Director of Football in 1995. After a year he had left the club again. The next position was a thirty three day stint at Manchester City in 1996 before he returned to Crystal Palace a year later where he stayed until 2000.

The next two years were spent with a spells at Brentford and on the south coast of England with Brighton & Hove Albion, with a spell as Assistant Manager with Swindon Town between these two positions. When Alan Pardew moved to West Ham Coppell got the call from Reading and in the past five years has built a team that earned promotion to the Premier League in 2006.

Currently though Reading lie fourth from the bottom of the Premier League table and their next game is against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Beckham Joins Real

by Rossa McDermott

Real Madrid's history of buying English players to bolster its ranks is quite limited over recent years and only accounts for three major transactions.

All of those have taken place in recent memory. Indeed, the history of players from England achieving success in Spain in 'La Liga' is also limited at any level. Moreover, the longevity of either managers or players in Spanish football can also be counted on one hand and with only name coming to mind that has gained any real success.

That name remains former Liverpool midfielder, Steve McMananam, who even with a couple of Champions League Medals has seen his England career disintegrate before his eyes.

Therefore beyond the hoopla and razzmatazz that will engulf the arrival of David Beckham to Madrid for the traditional pre-season 'presentation' of players on July 7th the focus has to be more on the new order in European Football rather than relying on history for any indication of what may lie ahead. The commercial profile of Beckham in Asia, his ability to sell numerous thousands of replica jerseys, his appeal to the merchandising public of the UK and his continued allegiance to sportswear manufacturer, Adidas and the marketing thrust of Vodafone, are the new driving forces in the modern game.

On the other hand, so far so good for the new ways of Real Madrid Club President, Florentino Perez, who has driven the new 'brand' to greater heights; cleared the clubs massive debts and brought the world's best players to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to entertain the fans. Not bad either for season ticket holders at Real Madrid ? Roberto Carlos, Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul, and now Beckham.

Having clinched their record ninth European Title last year at Hampden Park, Florentino Perez strategic plan continues to move on. His transfers and new signings so far have all been success stories and are not overshadowed by the failures of Seventies and Eighties when the likes of Laurie Cunnigham moved to Madrid in 1979 for a record fee at the time of nine hundred and ninety five thousand pounds sterling. Having been spotted playing an astonishing match at the Hawthorns for West Bromwich Albion in a 1977 UEFA Cup tie against Valencia, Real Madrid secured his services as quickly as possible.


Having been the first black player to play for England at Under 21 level, Cunnigham was used to challenges and moving to Madrid was another one of those. Sadly however his career never developed and after an indifferent season he succumbed to injury and never regained the prowess he showed under Ron Atkinson. The huge leap from Leyton Orient in 1977 to WBA and then Europe's leading club, Real Madrid, was too much it seemed despite wining the League and Cup in his first season.


A combination of a foot injury and different tactics for Real's Yugoslav coach Boskov, affected Cunningham's club and international chances. After leaving in 1983 he became a journeyman in Europe playing for Manchester United, Sporting Gijon, Leicester City, Betis, Charleroi, Wimbledon and finally Rayo Vallecano. He also lived a life style that often prejudiced the chances of a good performance. He died on the outskirts of Madrid in a car crash in 1989 having just helped Vallecano return to the First Division.

The era of former Liverpool and Wales striker John Toshack was in two stages, the last leading to a substitution by the current manager, Vicente del Bosque. His first tenure was in 1989 after he replaced Dutch man Leo Beenhaker and he lasted about fifteen months. The second stint was only for nine months and again he replaced a Dutch manager, Gus Hiddink. Since Toshack's departure the club has found a rich vein of form, which has seen them dominate the domestic Spanish league and also become serious European contenders under what the club always viewed a temporary manager.

When former West Brom and Manchester United manager, Ron Atkinson, moved to Spain his task was to lead Real Madrid rivals, Atletico Madrid, to greater thing. His tenure was a matter of months under the club president, Jesus Gil & Gil.

Other players had indifferent spells in Spain, former Aston Villa player Dalian Atkinson spent a year at Real Sociedad before returning to Britain. Ireland defender, Kevin Moran, spent a couple of seasons between 1988-1990 with Sporting Gijon before returning to Blackburn Rovers where he ended his career. Former Liverpool players John Aldridge and Michael Robinson also made their way to Spain when La Liga with Aldridge spending time with Real Sociedad in San Sebastian. Robinson joined Sammy Lee at Osasuna. From Northern Ireland the hero of the 1982 World Cup Gerry Armstrong also went to Real Mallorca in the eighties but it was also towards the end of his football career.

The National League also had two players earn their keep in Spain in the late eighties at the start of their careers, both of whom came from the successful Shamrock Rovers team at Glenmalure Park, and they were Alan Campbell and Liam Buckley. Both strikers played at Racing Santander in different seasons and their profile earned them scant recognition and a couple of international caps under Jack Charlton.

For the glamorous clubs though, few of them sought stars from Football League and it was therefore a surprising move for Steve McMananam to join Real Madrid in 1999. That had more to do with former Liverpool striker, John Toshack being in charge at the time. Following his departure the England midfielder has battled against the odds to stay in the squad under Del Bosque. In Paris in 2000 the patience and work ethic paid dividends as he played a key role in unravelling Valencia to clinch the Champions League title.

Following that victory his task at Madrid became tougher with the arrival of Figo, then Zidane, Ronaldo and now Beckham. In addition there are the talents of Raul, Guti, Scolari and Morrientes to contend with as well. In that sense you have to view McMananam as a success story when compared to the time Cunnigham struggled at the club.

When you look back at the great era and those glory years of the 60's and 70's, Real Madrid embraced all nationals in their side ranging from French man Raymond Kopa to Argentina's Alfredo Di Stefano to Hungary's Ferenc Puskas. It is more that coincidence that the current side reflects a similar international flavour.

However in 1973 Real Madrid encountered a serious rival in domestic football, and that was Barcelona. With the Catalunya region strongly trying to protect its cultural and linguistic identity, Football Club Barcelona brought Europe's best to rekindle its fortunes with the arrival of Johan Cruyff from Ajax. He secured the league championship and along with Johan Neeskens and Mario Marinho after the 1974 World Cup triggered a belief in the club that success was not excusive to Real Madrid.

That period initiated a ferocious domestic rivalry that still exists today. The club has seen some of the greatest pass through its door during the past two decades with Allan Simonnsen, Diego Armando Maradona, Hristo Stoichkov, Georgi Hagi, Ronaldo and Luis Figo to mention but a few.

Their activities often eclipsed Real Madrid and coincided with a time when the Madrid team were under achieving. Those times seem to have now moved back into Real Madrid's' favour.

In terms of personnel, Barcelona also had mixed experiences with English players and managers. The arrival of Terry Venables and Alan Harris in 1986 heralded the playing of the game the English way. Under Venables a lean spell at the club saw them win the League championship at his first attempt and reach the European Cup Final in Seville, which they lost to Steaua Bucharest. Three key players during that time travelled from Tottenham Hotspur to help enables efforts, Steve Archibald, Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes.

Steve Archibald became a top sorer and succeeded in a league that threw up few chances but returned to England with the arrival of Gary Lineker as sides were limited to two foreigners at time. As if to reassure us that statistics never lie, the tenure of Terry Venables did last more than three years, seeing him return to take over Tottenham Hotspur in 1987 having been preceded by Mark Hughes who went to Bayern Munich.

The return of Johan Cruyff saw Lineker end up playing a wide role on the wings, which eventually led to return to England as well.

As a result one has to view the move of David Beckham to Madrid this week as reflecting European football in the 21st century. A club president intent on seeking Real Madrid's profile in the world and replica sales in key markets like Brazil, France, England and Asia.

It also reflects the pan European nature of the game transformed by a revitalised Champions League and powerful TV coverage. Clearly the expansion of the club game with teams probably better than many national teams will only enhance the power of the Group 14 and the plans for a Super League.

For many of the purists that maybe tacky. But for football lovers it is the new game and these are the new rules. It is not too long ago when no-one watched or cared about 'La Liga'.

In fact not too long ago the game had any money and Real Madrid were almost bankrupt.

If a week is a long time in politics then 90 minutes is a long time in football. The game is changing and so are the players. David Beckham joins Real Madrid not knowing whether Raul will concede his number 7 jersey and rumoured to be facing some unsettled teammates.

He travels this road with Florentino Perez fulfilling his commercial ambitions for the club. Time can only hope that in the years to come Beckham equals or improves on the success of Steve McMananam. All those who have gone to Spain in search of glory and his remains the best story to date.