Friday May 16, 2008
Looking back at my personal mental photo album for the past football season, several snapshots stand out.
They range from matches covered to players interviewed and offer a unique perspective based on a job which covers the wide world of football.
September 2007. Old Trafford
How the mighty have fallen. Days after Jose Mourinho’s departure makes the front pages of the British press, Chelsea are in disarray. Their fans protest Jose’s passing, while United’s mock new man Avram Grant. On the pitch, John Obi Mikel gets sent off and United score a victory which may ultimately have secured the title. Moments after the final whistle, a cock-a-hoop United fan leans over to the Director’s Box and berates a stoney-faced Roman Abramovich with, “Call yourself a billionaire? You still buy rubbish jeans!”
October 2007. Liverpool
Having proved to be maddeningly elusive interview targets under the previous regime, Liverpool’s top duo, Rafa Benitez and Steven Gerrard, are now made available to us by a new, enlightened Liverpool Football Club. With the Americans in charge, the club looks to shake off its insular, this-is-the-way-we’ve-always-done-things past and embrace markets (like Asia) which have been neglected. However, as we find out later in the season, not all change proves to be good for the club.
November 2007. London
It is a peculiar interview, staged in an elegant office around the corner from some of London’s best-known theatres. The office represents the London headquarters of Dr Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thai Prime Minister and new owner of Manchester City. Chelsea may have thumped his club 6-0 but Thaksin is delighted with the start to the season made by manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. “At the start of the season we may have aimed for a top 10 finish, now we will only settle for a place in Europe.” They turn out to be prophetic words. The interview was arranged as part of a campaign to raise Thaksin’s international profile ahead of crucial elections in Thailand.
November 2007. South Africa
“You must be feeling rather vulnerable right now,” comments a South African doctor, needle in hand as I lie facedown on a Johannesburg hotel bed, underwear around my ankles. I’m about to receive an injection aimed at arresting a violent attack of food poisoning when the lights in the room, and the hotel go out. Hence my physician’s grim humour. “Scheduled power cut,” he sighs by way of explanation, going on to explain that they are a fact of life in the Republic and will be for years to come as a new national grid is slowly developed. So, yes, that does mean there will be power outages during the 2010 World Cup. In Durban, the qualifying draw pits England against Croatia once again.
December 2007. Beijing
As a goal-scoring midfielder, Michel Platini rates right up there with the best the world has seen. As UEFA’s president, he is a force of nature – all Gallic shrugs and provocative opinions. While snow falls outside our conference room in the Chinese capital, Platini outlines his plans for the Champions League, worries out loud about the financial clout of the Premier League’s new foreign owners and sets out a charter for the reform of football.
December 2007. London
Ashley Cole’s match against his old Arsenal teammates does not go according to plan. William Gallas scores the winner at the Emirates Stadium, Cesc Fabregas gets away with nearly chopping Cole in two and the defender storms off the pitch and down the tunnel at the final whistle. Inside that tunnel he hurls a full water bottle at the TV interview room. If not for the quick action of a steward who shuts the door, Mr Cole might have found himself up on assault charges. Lurid tabloid revelations about his private life provide a possible reason for his frame of mind.
February 2008. Bali
Franck Leboeuf is making a movie. Now based in Hollywood, the French World Cup and European Championship winner has joined the cast of “The Ball is Round”, a comedy being shot on the Indonesian paradise island. His thoughts, though, are still very much with Chelsea. He won plenty of silverware in his time at Stamford Bridge but admits that it’s “a very different club today.” He tips France to win the Euros this summer.
March 2008. Manchester
Javier Mascherano is determined to get himself sent off at Old Trafford. Long before Steve Bennett shows the Liverpool midfielder a second yellow for his seemingly innocent question, “What’s that for?” everybody in the press seats knows a red card is inevitable. Why? Because the TV cameras may not show it but the Argentine greets every decision made by Bennett (including his earlier yellow card for a reckless lunge) with a stream of four-letter words. And this in the week that Angry Ashley Cole “disrespects” Mike Riley. Simply put, you had to be there to tell the whole story.
April 2008. London
Sam Allardyce is our guest pundit at Stamford Bridge as Michael Ballack seals a Chelsea win over Manchester United. It’s great to see the amount of affection everyone in football seems to have for “Big Sam” – from the average fan to players to those in the media. He tells it like it is and is passionate about being the best football manager he can. Hopefully, season 2008-09 will give him another chance to do just that.
Have your say on 360 Forums
No comments:
Post a Comment