A Touch of Class~*

What Price Loyalty? In the days where footballers, agents, owners, and clubs are greedy bastards, a gem of a player wants to give thanks and honor his team for all that they have given to him. For the wonderful opportunity of playing football. Athletic’s long time captain, icon and idol, Joseba Exteberría, has agreed to play his last professional year for Athletic Bilbao for free. Can you believe it?

El Gallo, translated by yours truly, (Elisa) from the official press conference:

My dream has always been to play for 15 years with Athletic. I will play my last professional year free, as a thank you to the club and all that it has give to me. My years with Athletic have been great for me and my family. It’s not a question of football, Athletic has changed my life. My daughter is Bilbaína and I will continue living in Bilbao. I am not trying to set a precedent. We are in a professional world and everyone should be able to defend their rights and contracts. For me this is a personal gesture, nothing more. (When asked about his future) I would like to coach at the club is some capacity, but I have not had discussions yet with the club.

What a class act! In the modern day, who would have believed such a gesture? I’m speechless. Puts my faith back in football.

Is the Premier League Outshining La Liga?

With the start of the new Champions League campaign, one of the topics that has frequented Spanish commentary and blogs is – Is the Premier League outshining La Liga? Is La Liga are 2nd Tier League? (I don’t want to go there, but the same Spanish rags claim that Serie A is a retirement league and will get worse should Ibra or Kaká leave.)

OK, the yahoos from the Spanish rages, exaggerate, freak out and love high drama. They need to fill up their dailies and create news. But it’s been awhile since a La Liga team has won the Champions League, Spanish clubs are in debt, and people are worried.

Does the Prem brand better than La Liga? Is the Prem moving towards the NBA mega-sensation and is La Liga far behind? C’mon, La Liga still shows their games at 10pm at nite. This is not conducive to Asia and the the other foreign markets. Do the Spanish teams do a good job of promoting themselves overseas other than the Big Two? Look, Everton has been coming to the US every year and West Ham came over to play this past year. Pompey went to China. These teams are spreading the Prem love and they are NOT the Big Four. Is La Liga doing enough to earn fans and sell shirts? We have the best fútbol, shouldn’t that be enough?

Also what about the provincial, club media deals? Is this archaic? Is a league-wide agreement as used in England, more conducive to a strong league?

Deportivo La Coruña’s President has said that the future of Spanish football is foreign investment? Do you agree?

Here’s my two cents, I think Spain can learn a lot from the Premiership, particularly the media deals and distribution of wealth (even though the richer clubs still get more money due to more appearances on TV and attendances). I also adore the parachute package for teams promoted and relegated. Spain needs something like this drastically. I also think the branding can improve of La Liga, but in moderation. The league as a whole should try and assist in this matter. Why don’t they produce and offer Friday preview shows in Spanish? Why aren’t some of the Spanish football opinion shows made available, with dubbing or translation to foreign markets?

The infrastructure and organization in Spain needs vast improvement. Why are the games decided sometimes 3 hours before kickoff? How is that conducive to coach potato fans? The technology, camera angles, and TV picture, needs to get to the 21st century. The visuals are appalling. Have you ever compared a Prem or CL game to a La Liga game. The La Liga game pales in comparison.

We need access to more La Liga games on TV or via broadband. Why not offer the other games at a more moderate price? It’s difficult for Spaniards to watch non local games, let alone foreigners. This has got to improve. Also access to kits, merchandise, magazines, daily rags would be awesome. Do you know how hard it is to find an Athletic Bilbao kit?

But I like the provincial nuances and local flavor of La Liga and I for one, don’t want them to lose this. The play on the pitch is amazing, along with the parity and strength of the mid table teams. The cantera or youth academies keep producing wonderful talent. And there are players that are loyal or don’t want to go abroad – see Cazorla, Villa, Silva, Casillas. I don’t want foreign investment to come in and ruin La Liga or great an artificial market. We don’t need billionaires, just better marketing and business savvy. The Spanish owners already do a fine job sticking their clubs in the red. I also feel that the last remaining socio clubs, need to stay that way – Real Madrid, Barçelona, Athletic Bilbao, etc. It keeps accountability.

But where there is talent on the pitch and in the back office ie managers and technical directors, some will want to go abroad where the money is IE England. But I am not worried about the level of play or the trophies, to me it’s all cyclical. The money is in the Prem, but that is a bubble that will burst and a recalibration or reallignment will take place. The Premiership will not always be at the top. Relax.

And honestly I don’t want a super league. I don’t want to watch just the top leagues or the same teams always winning. That’s boring and not what football is all about. We already have the Champions League, World Cup and other tournaments where the cream of the crop rise to the top. Isn’t that enough?

OK, those are my thoughts, but I want to hear from you. What do you think? Give us your comments and we’ll read them on the podcast. We’d love to hear from you. It’s a fascinating topic, that won’t go away.

Spanish Goal Keepers Galore!

During the summer I read a very interesting article in Marca that I wanted to share with our Non Spanish speaking readers. It was a tribute to all the Spanish goal keepers in La Liga as well as in England. It’s a testimony to the cantera or youth academy systems, that Spain continues to develop quality Keepers.

Did you know that there are 5 Spanish teams where ALL 3 Goal Keepers are from Spain?

Athletic de Bilbao (Iraizoz, Armando and Lafuente), Barcelona (Valdés, Pinto and Jorquera), Málaga (Arnau, Goitia and Tudela), Numancia (Juan Pablo, Diego and Jesús Fernández) and Osasuna (Ricardo, Roberto and Andrés Fernández). Very impressive.

We can’t forget all the number one Goal Keepers, that have earned their top spot at their club:

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain) , Diego López (Villarreal) , Sergio Asenjo (Valladolid), Andres Palop (Sevilla) and Daniel Aranzubía (Deportivo La Coruña).

Did you know that there are several young Goalies (U-21) who play in Spain and have earned the no. 1 spot?

Asenjo (Valladolid and Spain U-21), Miguel Ángel Moyá (Mallorca), Asier Riesgo and Roberto (Recreativo de Huelva). The future looks bright!

Did you know that there are now 3 Spaniards who earn their trade in England?

Pepe Reina (Liverpool); Manolo Almunia (Arsenal) and César Sánchez (Tottenham backup).

Let’s hope that Spain never has the problem that England and other countries have with this position. Spain needs to continue to produce quality Keepers, at all costs.

How Ronaldinho Gets His Groove Back

Well it is official. Ronaldinho has found a new how with a few less dollar signs.

 

I think this is a very good move for Ronaldinho and has the opportunity to be a great move for Milan.

 

Let’s start with the player. Ronaldinho has not set the world on fire for quit some time now. First things first, lets get him back in shape. Milan love talking about the Milan Labs, now lets work on him. Have him get back into playing shape and ready for the season. We all know Ronaldinho possesses the skills to dazzle millions. But will he change his recent ways in Milan? I think he will. Yes there are still a huge party environment in Milan but I think for at least the mean time he will be good and get back on track by training and watching the weight. How long that lasts well, I hope until the day his contract runs out.

 

Let’s go over to the club. Milan know that his name will sell and sell a lot. He will sell even more for the team if they are performing well on the pitch. Which takes me to my next point, as long as Milan do well on the pitch, we really can’t complain.

 

I am looking forward to this season beginning and I am hopeful we will see Ronaldinho back at his best entertaining millions and winning games for Milan.

Tradition!

It’s not just for Fiddlers on Roofs apparently. The Ronaldinho saga is apparently over, as it has been confirmed that, instead of signing a more lucrative deal for Manchester City, he will be traveling to Milan to join up with the Brazilian contingent at Milanello as another in a long line of samba stars to have graced the fashion capital of the world with their presence. What made him ignore Dr. Thaksin’s Blue Moon experiment?

 

Apparently, the lure of Milan was too much for ‘Dinho to ignore. They have more of a pedigree of forward thinking, attacking football certainly; a leftover of the great Arrigo Sacchi sides that blew past competitors in the late 80’s/early 90’s. They bring a style of football more suited to his particular talents, away from the the chuck-and-run nonsense of England. They also have the comforts of home for him as the lilt of Portuguese will be heard from compatriots Kaka and Alexandre Pato, not to mention Digao, Emerson and Dida , giving Milan more than a passing semblance of Rio or Sao Paolo on the mother continent. Ultimately, they have what clubs like Manchester City, or LA Galaxy for that matter if that report is to be believed, cannot have and that is tradition.

 

Manchester United has it, as does Arsenal or Liverpool, but all three clubs have gone generations in the past without winning. In Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona do, as do Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan in Italy. All of the above have gone years in their history without winning trophies. Winning doesn’t necessarily make tradition or else Deportivo La Coruna, Celta de Vigo in Spain or Sampdoria  and Parma in Italy would have the same cache at different times. Great players can make a club great as Pele did with Santos or Maradona did with Napoli but that doesn’t necessarily bridge the gap towards tradition. Big cities can make a club a traditional power, capitols London and Madrid comply as do larger cities like Barcelona, Turin and Manchester, but how do you explain the lack of tradition in Paris, Rome, or Berlin?

 

It’s in the supporters, the fan base, and certainly has little to do with even spending more money than your competitor. Nouveau-riche owners like Thaksin Shinawatra or Roman Abramovich can create successful clubs that win trophies by overspending their competitors, but in the end their success has a finite life.

 

A footballer has been likened to a modern mercenary, have money will travel, but when given the choice he will follow that trophy case, that fanbase, and that tradition that calls to them, more than any lucrative contract ever could.