Florentino Pérez reign (2000-2006, 2009-)

The summer of 2003

Pérez decided to not renew the contract of Vicente del Bosque who had led Real to two Champions League victories. The decision wasn’t performance related given del Bosque had led Real to another league title and the Champions League semi-finals.

• From 2003-2006, Pérez hired and fired five managers.

With the chance to sign Paris Saint-Germain starlet Ronaldinho, Pérez stated Ronaldinho was “too ugly to market” and instead decided to sign David Beckham.

• From 2003-2006, Pérez watched on as a Ronaldinho influenced Barcelona won two La Liga titles and the 2005-2006 Champions League title.

In three seasons with Claude Makélélé in the starting line up, Real Madrid won seven trophies including the 2001-2002 UEFA Champions League. Makélélé asked for a salary increase to which Pérez promptly refused and said this after Chelsea signed Makélélé, “We will not miss Makélelé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn’t a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makélelé to be forgotten”.

• Zinedine Zidane disagreed with this famous quote, “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley [the signing of Beckham] when you are losing the entire engine? [the forced departure of Makélélé]“
• From 2003-2006, Pérez refused to buy another player competent enough to fill the Makélélé role, Real went trophyless leading to the resignation of Pérez.

The summer of 2009

Manuel Pellegrini pleads with Pérez to keep Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben however Pérez disagrees and sells Robben to Bayern Munich and Sneijder to Inter Milan much to the chagrin of Pellegrini who later said, “It’s no good having an orchestra with the 10 best guitarists if I don’t have a pianist”.

• Sneijder and Robben would lead their respective clubs to the Champions League final whilst Real bombed out in the round of 16 to Lyon.

Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Manchester United has sparked life into the English Premier League title race giving Arsenal another chance to close the gap at the top having failed to take advantage of United’s loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Are Chelsea back in the title race? No, the team needs reinforcement at right back, a creative midfielder and a young robust centre forward before becoming contenders. Another issue is their forwards do not produce in the big games. Against Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, Chelsea forwards have scored twice in seven games and both goals were scored by Didier Drogba. Nicolas Anelka has scored six times this season, none against the aforementioned teams. Fernando Torres has flopped against Liverpool and Manchester United. Roman Abramovich must be thinking I’ve spent £50 million on Fernando Torres yet we loan out Daniel Sturridge who has now scored four goals in four games for Bolton Wanderers. Two shy of Anelka who has played 23 games and five shy of Didier Drogba who has played 29 games. Owen Coyle has given Sturridge the belief that he can succeed at this level whereas Carlo Ancelotti would play Sturridge and hope for the best before making him warm the benches again.

Talking about Torres, it took Diego Forlán 22 games before he registered his first goal for Manchester United, Torres is on a four game goalless run. One wonders how many games it will take Torres to score let alone become the best forward in the league as his anaemic performances don’t even justify one ninth of the £50 million price tag.

Another talking point is Nemanja Vidić’s dim witted red card in the 93^rd minute of the match. As the late great Sir Bobby Robson would say the act was as daft as a brush. Like his fellow Serbian Branislav Ivanović, at times Vidić values his brawn over his brain. By getting himself sent off, he’ll now miss United’s crucial match against Liverpool and United are already without Rio Ferdinand and Johnny Evans. If Wes Brown replaces Vidić, it will be Brown’s first match since the 13^th of November.

The performance of David Luiz comes shouldn’t be surprising given that he was playing this way week in, week out for Benfica and against Everton in the Europa League, Luiz dazzled and at times embarrassed the Everton defenders with his exquisite dribbling ability. Whilst Luiz’s attempts his best impression of Franz Beckenbauer are pleasing on the eye, it may also be detrimental to Chelsea in the future given during his time at Benfica, Luiz had a tendency to lose the ball trying to dribble out of defence. Also Luiz should have been sent off against United, already on a yellow card, Luiz decked Chicharito before hacking Wayne Rooney only for referee Martin Atkinson to the bottle the decision. It would be more beneficial for Chelsea if Luiz played at right back and Ivanović at centre back.

If Liverpool defeat Manchester United this weekend, Roberto Mancini will conceivably regret dropping nine points in the past five games. Mancini will be given the benefit of the doubt in his first season but next season, he will be required to win the league otherwise he may as well start writing up his résumé.

Ronaldo’s CV

• Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and A.C. Milan have all employed Ronaldo’s phenomenal football ability
• 352 goals in 515 games @ 0.68
• 62 goals in 97 games for Brazil @ 0.63

• All time top scorer in the FIFA World Cup with 15 goals

• Two time FIFA World Cup winner (1994, 2002)
• Three time FIFA World Player of the Year (1996, 1997, 2002)
• Two time Ballon d’Or winner (1997, 2002)
• One time FIFA Golden Ball winner (1998)

Interesting fact: Ronaldo never won the UEFA Champions League though he did win the UEFA Cup in 1998 with Inter Milan

It was the 12th of October 1996, a 20 year old Brazilian by the name of Ronaldo won the ball in his own half, ten seconds later, he had surged into Compostela’s box passing three Compostela defenders and scored. The late Sir Bobby Robson’s reaction to the goal was one of mortified disbelief whilst his assistants, one of which was a young ambitious 33 year old José Mourinho jumped up and down with joy. Ronaldo would finish the game with a hat-trick and an assist and that season for Barcelona, he scored 47 goals in 49 games.

By age 20, Ronaldo had scored 145 goals in 197 games @ 0.74 and Robson’s disbelief at some of the goals Ronaldo scored were the same reaction fans had when watching a young explosive, lean, solid and goal hungry Ronaldo. Whilst his CV is glittered with honours, one can’t help but think what if, what if Ronaldo never suffered those career debilitating injuries which robbed him of explosiveness, his physique and would wear down his appetite for the game thus why at just 34 years of age, Ronaldo decided to retire.  Just some food for thought, the late Sir Stanley Matthews was named the Football Writers’ Association “Footballer of the Year” at 48 years of age!

Though it is inevitable for one to reflect on what Ronaldo’s career could have been, we must look at how Ronaldo overcame his injures. The 2002 FIFA World Cup showcased Ronaldo’s comeback from two knee operations and whilst he wasn’t the Ronaldo of old, he turned himself into a goal poacher and was the driving force behind Brazil’s FIFA World Cup success with eight goals. Four solid seasons with Real Madrid as a goal poacher demonstrated the willpower of Ronaldo to succeed with just football IQ and skill. As the years went by, Ronaldo’s weight increased, his professionalism became nonexistent and parallels with the late Garrincha became more and more apparent.

How will Ronaldo transition into post-retirement life? Will he spiral out of control like Garrincha who died at 49 years of age with cirrhosis of the liver? Or will his life become a soap opera like Diego Maradona? Hopefully some normality. Good luck Ronaldo and thankyou for the entertainment and long lasting memories.

As future hall of fame coach Gregg Popovich contemplates about the playoffs and potentially a fifth NBA championship, his San Antonio Spurs are 42-8 (.840). Statistically where does this Spurs team compare with some of the best ever NBA teams?

72-10 (.900) was the stunning regular season of the legendary 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who were 45-5 (.900). Before the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, there was the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers with  the dynamic duo of Gail Goodrich and Jerry West with an aging but still reliable Wilt Chamberlain combined to  43-7 (.860).Even though Wilt Chamberlain shot a dismal FT% of .441, along with Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham and Chet Walker were, the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers were 46-4 (.920). With Larry Bird averaging 25.8 ppg, 6.8 apg and 9.8 trpg along with Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, the 1985-86 Boston Celtics were 41-9 (.820). With a determined Michael Jordan eyeing consecutive NBA championships, the 1991-92 Chicago Bulls were 41-9 (.820).

Spurs’ record after 50 regular season games show they are in elite company but only time will tell whether or not the foreign pairing of Manu Ginóbili and Tony Parker along with future hall of famer Tim Duncan can continue the consistency to season end and most importantly into the playoffs.

With a record of 9-41 (0.180) one begins to wonder where do the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers rank statistically with some of the worst ever NBA teams? The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers hold the dubious record as the worst ever NBA team finishing with an unfortunate record of 9-73 (.110), they were 4-46 (0.080). The 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks finished 11-71 (.134) were also 4-46 (0.080). Like the Mavericks, the 1997-98 Denver Nuggets finished 11-71 (.134) were 5-45 (0.100). The 2009-10 New Jersey Nets finished 12-70 (.146) were 4-46 (0.080). Statistically the closest team to the Cavaliers are the 1986-87 Los Angeles Clippers who finished 12-70 (.146) but were 8-42 (0.160) meaning they were 4-40 (0.090) for the rest of the season.

With a losing streak of 24, unfortunately the Cavaliers look headed down the same road of the 1986-87 Clippers. It will be interesting to see if Dan Gilbert continues as owner of the Cavaliers because it would ironic if he walked given he verbally chastised LeBron James for walking out on the Cavaliers. One also wonders if Gilbert’s prediction of winning a championship before James rings true, well certainly not this season.

“[...] One thing is youth football, one thing is professional football.” — José Mourinho

What one can deduct from this José Mourinho quote is a reluctance towards playing youth players infact even the special one would accept he has a nonexistent youth policy. Though it’s also a boulevard of broken dreams for the youth players who do get some form of game time under Mourinho.

Mourinho’s two Champions League triumphs were built on the back of seasoned professionals with the average age of Porto’s 2004-2005 wining starting line up being 27 and the average age of Inter Milan’s 2009-2010 winning starting line up being 30. The youngest player of the 2004-2005 winning Porto starting line up was breakout 19 year old Brazilian Carlos Alberto who became the second youngest goalscorer in a Champions League final after Patrick Kluivert. Kluivert would go onto play for A.C. Milan and Barcelona whilst Carlos Alberto has become a journeyman playing for eight different clubs.

Mourinho didn’t start a teenager for a single game in Chelsea’s 2004-2005 English Premier League winning side though he did give teenagers Filipe Oliveira and Anthony Grant symbolic minutes. Oliveira didn’t play a single league game for Parma in 2010 and is now on loan at Torino. Grant is playing League Two football for Southend United.

Like the season before, Mourinho again didn’t start a teenager for a single game in Chelsea’s 2005-2006 English Premier League winning side. 18 year old Jimmy Smith managed symbolic minutes in the final game of the season and is now playing League One football for Leyton Orient.

The youngest player in Inter Milan’s 2009-2010 Champions League winning starting line up was Wesley Sneijder at 25! Which is quite remarkable given Mourinho had teenage prodigies Mario Balotelli and Davide Santon in the squad. Both players incurred the wrath of Mourinho and were routinely benched or left out of the squad. Balotelli moved to the goldmines at Eastlands and has since done more talking than playing. Whilst Santon’s confidence is inconceivably damaged having been shipped out to Cesena (on loan) whilst being replaced by exciting Japanese wingback Yuto Nagatomo.

Mourinho’s nonexistent youth policy continues at Real Madrid with teenage starlets Sergio Canales and Álvaro Morata wondering if they’ll ever get an extended run in the team.

“I signed a new contract and I want to be here [Newcastle] for the rest of my life” — Andy Carroll circa 2010

Liverpool have signed striker Andy Carroll from Newcastle for a club record fee of about £35m — BBC Sport

It’s like two loved up teenagers saying they want to be together for the rest of their life not taking into account the unexpected scenarios life often creates. In Andy Carroll’s case, 2010 was a rosy year for him. A permanent fixture in Newcastle’s first eleven having been on the outside looking in for the best part of three years. 26 goals in 44 games in the calendar year. A senior cap for England. He perhaps thought finally things are going good for him after a series of off field misdemeanours that threatened to derail his career. Hence one can forgive him for making such a naïve statement/promise to the Newcastle fans which he now can’t take back.

Is Carroll worth £35m? David Villa, Gianluigi Buffon, Robinho, Dimitar Berbatov and Pavel Nedvěd were valued less. Even when Chelsea bought Andriy Shevchenko for £30.8, at least he had a glittering CV whereas Carroll doesn’t have a CV worth £35m so the answer is no.

Was Carroll forced out of the club? Of course he was! £35m for a player that came from the academy, consistently gets into trouble with the law and to top it all off, he’s currently injured. Mike Ashley is laughing his way to the bank. Ashley has copped a lot of flack (which he deserves) but to extract £35m for someone like Carroll, praise has to be handed to Ashley.

“I will never say anything bad about Liverpool” — Fernando Torres upon signing for Chelsea

“I’m joining a team that is at the top level. There’s not another level after Chelsea” — Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres commands English very well so he knows he was taking a pot shot at Liverpool. I’ve always been a believer of karma and if Liverpool win more trophies than Chelsea in the future, Torres’s quote will come back to haunt him.

As a Chelsea fan, I feel Roman Abramovich is being conned into another bust of a transfer having failed miserably with Shevchenko. In hindsight Shevchenko was on his way down and Torres is on his way down to given he was a nonfactor in Spain’s 2010 FIFA World Cup triumph, he spent most of this season with his head down and sulking about and 9 goals in 26 games is not a return of a striker worth £50m. If Abramovich wants to spend, spend and spend, why not throw money at Anderlecht to get Romelu Lukaku who is a physical phenomena and a bonafide future FIFA Ballon d’Or winner?

Arsène Wenger can't wait for the financial fair play rules to be implemented

As Kevin Muscat’s PR representatives work into overtime, Adrian Zahr will begin nursing partial damage to multiple ligaments sustained in his right knee. The apology offered by Muscat does little to quell the public’s detestation to his tackle bordering on assault. In a Sydney Morning Herald poll, 83% of voters believe Muscat should be banned for the rest of the season including finals.

Furthermore Muscat’s apology is insincere as he said his tackle was dreadfully mistimed, if he knew his tackle was dreadfully mistimed, why didn’t he accept the red card issued by referee Chris Beath? Instead of walking to Zahr to apologise, Muscat vehemently insisted he won the ball before launching into verbal tirade at Beath reminiscent of Kevin Nolan’s infamous rant at referee Mike Dean. In light of this, it’s dishonest of Muscat to say his one and only concern is the welfare of Zahr given at the time of the incident, Muscat’s one and only concern was not getting red carded.

Zahr isn’t the first victim of Muscat’s thuggery but hopefully will be the last in a career chequered with ignominy. In 1998 against Charlton, Muscat’s tackle not only broke Matthew Holmes’ tibia but effectively curtailed his career. Six years later, Holmes was awarded £250 000 in compensation by the English High court for damages inflicted by Muscat.  In 1999 against Arsenal, Muscat elbowed Dennis Bergkamp leaving him with a cut lip. In 2001 against France, Muscat’s tackle from behind on Christophe Dugarry left him on sidelines for two months with ligament damages in his knee. In 2004 against Liverpool, Muscat tackled Milan Baros when the ball was out of play before grabbing his neck. In 2005 against Sydney, Muscat received a three match ban for violent conduct after studding Saso Petrovski. In 2006 against Adelaide United, Muscat entered into the Adelaide technical area and barged down manager John Kosmina who had retrieved the ball. Kosmina would receive a four match ban for grabbing Muscat’s neck in retaliation.

Muscat’s extensive footballing misdemeanours have not endeared him among his peers. Arsenal legend Ian Wright said Muscat was a low life. French World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf said Muscat was somebody that has no respect for a footballer. Birmingham City player Martin Grainger said Muscat was the most hated man in football.

Muscat once said he wasn’t in the game to make friends, he certainly won’t be making any new friends after debilitating the career of Zahr who at 19 years old is pondering if he has a future in the game.

When the 2010 FIFPro starting 11 was announced, eight of the 11 players were from Barcelona and Real Madrid. La Liga clubs not named Barcelona or Real Madrid not only have to contend with the overwhelming gap from a talent perspective but they also have to watch on with frustration as Barcelona and Real Madrid pocket more than a third of the TV revenue. Then again 60% of the nation supports one of the two superclubs.

There are two leagues within La Liga, one containing Barcelona and Real Madrid and other containing the rest. Just to illustrate the dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid, after 38 matches, only Hércules from the other league managed to defeat either one of the two superclubs. La Liga is becoming very much like the Scottish Premier League except sunnier.

So whilst the other league is eventful, the league with the two superclubs is providing some interesting plotlines. None more fascinating then the constant power struggling between José Mourinho and Real Madrid… well more specifically Florentino Pérez.

Mourinho has a history of strongarming the club board, he walked out on Benfica when he was still a nobody and his cold war with Roman Abramovich resulted in eight months in the unemployment sector. At Inter Milan, after wasting €32 million of Massimo Moratti’s money on Mancini and Ricardo Quaresma and failure in the Champions League, Mourinho demanded more money. Moratti gave in and the signings of Diego Milito, Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto’o facilitated the treble winning season.

Pérez who expensively negotiated José Mourinho’s signature from a bittersweet Moratti refused to hear Mourinho’s pleas for a new right back in that of Maicon. Perhaps Pérez was right given Maicon’s shambolic displays against Gareth Bale. Now, Mourinho wants a new striker, well not one that starts, one that is a backup for precisely six months or until Gonzalo Higuaín returns. Pérez sees the deal as destructive whilst Mourinho sees it as pragmatic. One is a businessman the other is a manager. The question is who will give in?

The sight of Lionel Messi weaving his magic and causing havoc on opposing defences is a sight for sore eyes and for the majority of football aficionados, he is the best footballer in the world but he did not deserve the FIFA Ballon d’Or.

During a FIFA World Cup year, the best player according to FIFA has always been from the World Cup winning nation until Messi broke the convention. Yes Messi’s 47 goals in 57 games was ridiculous but there is a reason why the Golden Boot exists, it exists for goal scorers regardless of if they win trophies or not. Also how many goals did Messi score in the UEFA Champions League semi final legs against Inter Milan? This was when Barcelona needed him but Messi failed. Also considering this is a World Cup year, Messi did not have a good World Cup therefore he does not deserve the award. The FIFA Ballon d’Or should be awarded to a player who was driving force towards winning trophies which was epitomised in Wesley Sneijder’s season.

If anyone was meant to break the convention, it was Wesley Sneijder. It was his assist to Diego Milito before scoring the winning goal himself against Dynamo Kiev (all this within the last three minutes) which meant Inter qualified for the knock out rounds. During the 3-1 victory against Barcelona which set Inter up to progress to the finals, Sneijder scored and provided an assist not to mention was the man of the match. At South Africa, Sneijder was the reason why the Netherlands reached the final as he was the joint top scorer along with four man of the match awards. It is bittersweet for Sneijder as he’ll never have a season like that again especially with his unfortunate anaemia diagnosis.

That being said, one can only wish Messi would break more and more and more records as it’s a delight to watch him play football. Seemingly what is for certain is that for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or, it will be a two horse race between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, both set for record breaking seasons.

With regards to José Mourinho being named FIFA Ballon d’Or Best Coach, totally deserved considering he won everything. Josep Guardiola didn’t win the Champions League therefore he was out of the running.  Vicente del Bosque  did win the World Cup but Spain was meant to be about beautiful football, Spain did not play entertaining football. Arguably it was Chile’s cavalier approach to football which created more entertainment than Spain which became very very very conservative with possession after their shock 1-0 loss to Switzerland. In my books this gives del Bosque minus points.

One word defines Manchester United’s progress at midseason point – unbeaten. The football United have played has been lacklustre however Sir Alex Ferguson has encapsulated a winning mentality, the mentality which has allowed United to rescue solitary points against Fulham and Aston Villa whilst winning ugly against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal. Wayne Rooney’s form has been well below par however the form of Dimitar Berbatov and Nani has given United enough firepower to remain unbeaten. I do not think United will remain unbeaten nor do I think they will win the title. Just a comparison, after 19 games, the Invincibles of 2003–04 were 16-3-0 and United are 11-8-0.

On the blue half of Manchester, the seemingly limitless investment of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has propelled Manchester City into title contention. The signing of Edin Džeko will once again highlight the absurdity in depth of this City squad which without the doubt is the deepest squad in Europe. Roberto Mancini needs to be brave and discard his conservative mentality because he needs to attack from the front by starting Džeko, Carlos Tévez and Mario Balotelli. The prospect of having two mobile centre forwards who can dribble, create and most importantly score whilst having someone like Tévez running in from behind and defending from the front is an idea too hard to ignore. I said it at the start of the season and at midseason point my opinion has not changed. City will win the league title.

Samir Nasri’s magnificent form for Arsenal has highlighted the fool disgraced former French coach Raymond Domenech was by leaving Nasri out of the 2010 French World Cup squad. Arsène Wenger must wonder how his side can defeat Chelsea yet lose to West Bromwich Albion. Being placed in the easiest Champions League group, Arsenal somehow managed to just qualify earning them an unfortunate round of 16 clash with Barcelona. Arsenal are too hot and cold to contend for the title. Japanese prodigy Ryo Miyaichi may be given a chance to prove his worth if Arsenal’s title contention begins to derail as they usually do by season’s end.

Harry Redknapp’s decision to move from the sinking ship at Portsmouth to Tottenham Hotspur seems to be a masterful judgment made possible only by ambitious businessman Daniel Levy. His confidence to start Gareth Bale has been rewarded with some exhilarating illustrations of raw freakish athleticism. Bale’s combination with Aaron Lennon has given Tottenham threat from both flanks which the senseless Rafael Benítez ignored. The loan signing of David Beckham will give Tottenham not only added revenue but a different element of attack. Third place will be an achievable finish for Redknapp given Chelsea’s problems however if United and City slump, expect Tottenham to contend.