Luciano Gaucci - A Tribute to a Madman

Football has seen some extraordinary characters over the years; Italy in particular has treated us to more than a few colourful types, none more so than former Perugia president Luciano Gaucci. Italian football is infamous for corruption and certain presidents of Italian football clubs are notorious for their eccentricity, but Gaucci’s roll of honour tops them all. Here’s a few of his finest moments.

Luciano Gaucci made his money through racehorses - and it was a racehorse which landed him in trouble just two years into his reign as Perugia president. At the end of the 92/93 season, Gaucci’s Perugia had achieved promotion from Serie C1 following a 1-1 draw with Siracusa and a 2-1 play-off win at Foggia. After an investigation, Gaucci was accused of bribing a referee with a racehorse. Consequently, Perugia were relegated back to Serie C1 and Gaucci was banned from football for three years.

Amongst the madness that has surrounded the Italian it’s easy to forget that he has a very good record in the transfer market. He’s plucked players like Fabio Grosso, Fabio Liverani and possibly most notably Marco Materazzi from the lower divisions, who later turned out to be Italy internationals. He also somewhat pioneered ‘tapping into the Asian market’ and found success with the signing of the first Japanese player to play in Italy, Hidetoshi Nakata. However, anybody reading this who knows anything about Luciano Gaucci knew this was coming; in June 2003 his most famous and controversial signing came in the form of Saadi Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Before even playing a single game for the Umbrians, Saadi Gaddafi received a 3-month ban after his urine sample contained traces of the illegal substance nandrolone. The Libyan was better known for his antics off the pitch than on it, including a €392,000 unpaid hotel bill he racked up. Perugia coach Serse Cosmi refused to play Gaddafi despite Gaucci’s insistences. That was until Saadi was handed his chance as a substitute in a game against Juventus where he played 15 minutes. Gaddafi was sold to Udinese and later Sampdoria and amassed a whopping 26 minutes of Italian football.

There was one transfer which eluded Gaucci and that was his attempts to sign an unspecified woman. He said on women footballers: “While most of them are gifted, they are also too small and physically weak to play with the boys. I'd have to find a big girl who is also athletic, maybe 6'3" and 13 and a half stone, and who can learn to play the game.” “Someone like Venus Williams, though obviously not her." Gaucci had previous when it came to breaking the gender divide, in 1999 he appointed the first and only woman, Carolina Morace, as manager of a professional men’s team at one of his other clubs Viterbese, she lasted just three months before falling out with Gaucci and resigning. Gaucci said in his explanation: “She made me employ a fitness trainer, who used to be a PE teacher at secondary school.” He came close to signing a woman on a couple of occasions but never realised his dream.

Another example of him showing initiative in the Asian market was the signing of Ahn Jung-Hwan, and with this came Gaucci’s most infamous display of childishness. Ahn scored the winning goal against Italy in the 2002 world cup thus knocking them out. Gaucci didn’t take too kindly to this ‘behaviour’ and in one of the most petulant actions in the history of football; he terminated Ahn’s contract citing: "He was a phenomenon only when he played against Italy. I am a nationalist and I regard such behaviour not only as an affront to Italian pride but also an offence to a country which two years ago opened its doors to him." "I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian soccer." He later tried to take the comments back but it was too late with Ahn saying: "I will no longer discuss my transfer to Perugia, which attacked my character instead of congratulating me for a goal in the World Cup."

When our favourite president isn’t signing the son of a dictator or inexplicitly sacking people, he might be seen getting into fights, unveiling banners supporting George W. Bush (who he professes to be a close friend of), describing goalkeepers as ‘disabled people’, threatening to sign a horse or threatening to send his players to a 40-day training camp if they don’t win. He frequently criticized players, presidents of other clubs and the authorities of the game publicly and would never hold back on the way he felt towards people.

In 2005 he went to The Dominican Republic as a fugitive after Perugia went into bankruptcy and a warrant was issued for his arrest for his part in a fraud. Prosecutors claimed there was a good 40 million Euros which went missing from the football club’s account and turned up in the accounts of some of Gaucci’s other businesses. That warrant was eventually lifted and he returned to Italy in 2008.

There is absolutely no doubt Luciano Gaucci is one of the most colourful and controversial characters to ever be involved with the sport and amongst the publicity stunts and the losses of temper, he is also very clever and he’s an extremely astute businessman which often gets overlooked. Perugia most definitely increased in stature during his time at the club and he achieved promotion to Serie A. Luciano Gaucci is the type of person English football can only dream about and one thing’s for sure, the game we love is a less stirring place without him.

“Everybody laughed at me when I signed Nakata, so I will enjoy it when I prove everyone wrong. We’ve been trailblazers before, and we’re going to break new ground again.”

- James

Harry Redknapp - Charismatic and Lovable, or Offensive and Irritating?

My personal views on Harry Redknapp are as follows; I can’t stand the man, the way he patronises reporters with arrogant, sarcastic answers to reasonable questions, the way he undermines some of his players (David Bentley/Darren Bent) whilst overrating others (Jermaine Defoe/Gareth Bale), the way he constantly tries to unsettle other clubs’ players by talking about trying to sign them, his over-use of words such as ‘you know’ and ‘top’, plus his general attitude of ‘I’m just a regular, down-to-earth, east-end guy who’s everyone’s friend, just call me ‘Arry’ has me seething every time I see his smug, saggy face appear on my T.V screen.

Having read that, you may be forgiven for thinking that this post is just a one-sided attack on Redknapp but I know an awful lot of people who have entirely different opinions of him which I find hard to comprehend, so I will try and make this argument as balanced as possible. To illustrate my point that he divides opinion, I sent the same text message to two of my friends which read; ‘What do you like about Harry Redknapp?’ to which one of them replied ‘I like watching Tottenham play and he calls a spade a spade’, whereas the reply I received from the other friend who was faced with the same question just simply read ‘Nothing, he’s a prat’ before swiftly moving on to ask me an equally trivial query of his own, which was whether I would class a Panini as a sandwich.

There’s no doubt he’s doing a decent job at Tottenham, (as he likes to remind us on a regular basis) they were bottom of the Premier League when he took over and he’s taken them into the Champions League. He’s signed a lot of players since he arrived but he deserves credit for the achievement nevertheless. The style of attacking football Spurs have played in his time at the club and his ‘loveable and outspoken’ nature has seemingly won Redknapp and Spurs alike a lot of popularity with the press but a lot of football fans aren’t buying it. I belong to the group of people who feel his attitude comes across as arrogant and cocky, and not in a Jose Mourinho ‘twinkle in the eye’ type of cocky, more in a patronising and smug way.

Examples of him disrespecting reporters are common. Whilst conducting a post-match interview following Tottenham’s home defeat to Wigan at the end of August 2010, Sky Sports’ Rob Palmer innocently began a question to Redknapp with “You’ve made your name as a wheeler and dealer…” to which he interrupted by saying “No I’m not a wheeler and dealer – fuck off” then he started to walk away from the interview, which led Palmer to needlessly apologize, then Redknapp responded with “I’ve not made my name as a wheeler and fucking dealer, don’t say that, I’m a fucking football manager.” Rob Palmer was right though; Redknapp has made his name as a ‘wheeler and dealer’ and has been dining out on this tag for years.

His sarcasm and belittling of people doesn’t just stop at journalists though as his own player Darren Bent found out when he missed a headed chance to score the winner for Spurs in a game against Portsmouth. Redknapp ridiculed his player Bent after the game by saying, "My missus could have scored that. David James had given up on it. He had turned his back and was getting ready to pick the ball out of the net.” "He did not just have a bit to aim at; he had the whole goal to aim at. What can you do?” Many people would respond to comments such as those with, ‘Good old ‘Arry, he always tells it like it is!’ and then proceed to describe him using well coined clichés such as ‘He’s a character’ and ‘What a breath of fresh air’.

His perceived lack of respect for journalists and players isn’t his only crime (literally in some cases (allegedly)). Another thing that has got people’s backs up is his apparent lack of loyalty to the clubs he’s managed at. Admittedly this isn’t a trait which exclusively applies to Harry Redknapp, but that doesn’t make it any easier for angry Portsmouth fans who have had Redknapp walk out on them twice, both at times when they needed him most. Just a few weeks after the first time he walked out on Portsmouth, he joined their most bitter of rivals Southampton, before rejoining Portsmouth after suffering relegation with Southampton. He did a good job there and won the fans around but then he was off again, this time to Tottenham, leaving Portsmouth in the lurch once again. If that wasn’t bad enough he proceeded to raid Portsmouth of their best players and they were relegated the following season after financial difficulties. His constant fluttering of his eyelashes towards the England job suggests he may not be in it for the long haul at Spurs either. It could easily be argued though, that there is nothing wrong with attempting to further your career. Then there have been the allegations of corruption, and the tax evasion charge on which everybody has their own opinions.

It may not look like it but I have tried my best to stay diplomatic about Harry Redknapp during this post even though I’ve clearly stated my own views on the man (and I could have gone on and on with that). He has never been far from controversy during his managerial career yet people still seem to have great affection for him, particularly in the press. I don’t know if I’m missing something when it comes to Redknapp or whether certain people just don’t see him the way I do. I'll end with a quote and you can make your own mind up about it.

On Samassi Abou: "He don't speak the English too good." – Harry Redknapp

- James

My Favourite XI Since 1990 (When I Was Born) In a 4-4-2 Formation

I had a good root round my memories and compiled a list of my favourite players since I was born (1990). Remember they might not be the best, but they are the players I have always had a massive affection for so there can be few arguments.

James

Goalkeeper – Jose Luis Chilavert, Paraguay

A goalkeeper who scores goals is possibly one of the greatest things in football, especially when you’re a young boy, and that is one of the reasons why Paraguayan ‘keeper Chilavert is my all time favourite. His free-kicks, his penalties, his temper and his all round mental behaviour made him a huge cult hero with me and my friends. Scored 62 professional goals, won the IFFHS award for the world’s best goalkeeper 3 times, was voted South American Footballer of the year in 1996 and has a better international scoring record than Emile Heskey, who can argue with that?

Defender Right – Javier Zanetti, Argentina

I think my first memory of Zanetti was the goal he scored against England in the 1998 World Cup after a clever free-kick which blew my mind. Known for his reliability, versatility and his tough tackling, also his surging runs forward were a sight to behold. He is the most capped Argentine of all time (139) and has amassed over 700 appearances for Inter; he’s become an absolute legend for club and country. The fact that he’s still playing at the top level at the age of 37 shows how important to Inter he still is.

Defender Centre – Alessandro Nesta, Italy

Alessandro Nesta is my favourite ever defender, a magnificent centre-back. He is one of the coolest defenders I have ever seen, the way he reads the game is second to none, extremely intelligent, outstanding agility and very efficient with the ball at his feet. I can not speak highly enough of this player. He has won everything there is to win at club level and he also has a world cup winner’s medal to add to that, although he unfortunately got injured during that tournament in 2006. He has been named in the UEFA team of the year four times; a tally only bettered by Thierry Henry, he has won Serie ‘A’ defender of the year five times between 2000 and 2005 whilst playing for Lazio and Milan and on top of all that, he is a very handsome man. It’s great to see him still playing well for Milan at the age of 35 particularly when you consider all the problems he’s had with injuries.

Defender Centre – Tony Adams, England

14 years as Arsenal captain since the age of 21, an absolute inspiration. Adams was a hero because of his gutsy, determined performances for Arsenal and England. He was the sort of player you could just trust on the pitch, you knew he wouldn’t let anyone down. He was fantastic in the air, loved a tackle and was one of the greatest leaders I have ever seen. I will always remember him for the scoring the final goal in Arsenal’s 4-0 win against Everton to clinch the title in 97/98 and Martin Tyler going mental in his commentary (‘‘That just sums it all up!’’).

Defender Left – Roberto Carlos, Brazil

This was basically a toss-up between Roberto Carlos and Paolo Maldini, but Carlos edged it simply because he was so exciting. He had explosive pace and will always be remembered for his trademark free-kicks and distinctive run up, but he was very under-rated defensively as well. He had the biggest thighs I had ever seen! Anyone who can last 11 years at Real Madrid have got to be special and he scored 67 goals for them which is astonishing for a defender. I can’t mention Roberto Carlos without talking about his free-kick he scored against France in La Tournoi in 1997 which was just about the most phenomenal thing I had ever seen at the time. Just a great character, always playing with a smile on his face.

Midfielder Right – Steve McManaman, England

Steve McManaman is one of the main reasons I support Liverpool. When I was a very young boy and I was just getting into football, McManaman immediately became my favourite player. He is the very definition of a ‘wing wizard’, because of his trickery, pace and all round ability to embarrass defenders. He is often criticized for not performing at a high enough standard for England but he needed more of a free role and didn’t get that for England. Also I have just found out that it’s very enjoyable to type ‘McManaman’ on my keyboard, try it now you’ll find it very rewarding.

Midfielder Centre – Carlos Valderrama, Colombia

Now, Carlos Valderrama is probably most remembered for his hairstyle and that’s the thing which first drew my attention to him but he was also a magnificent player. He was the best player in what was probably Colombia’s most talented side ever. In my head, he never broke into a jog; he played every game at walking pace. One of the best passers of the ball I’ve ever seen as well. More than just a hairstyle, Valderrama is an all time South American great.

Midfielder Centre – Danny Murphy, England

Being a Liverpool fan and also going to watch Crewe Alex play every other week I have seen a lot of Danny Murphy’s career over the years and he has always been an absolute pleasure to watch. In my opinion, he is one of the most under-rated players ever to grace The Premier League. It’s an absolute disgrace that he only has 9 England caps to his name, especially when you think that England have lacked a player of Murphy’s creative qualities in recent times. His advanced footballing brain leaves his opponents one step behind him, he rarely gives the ball away and if spectacular goals are what you are after, Murphy will have never disappointed you. He also had an incredible knack of scoring against United for Liverpool, particularly at Old Trafford which is one of the reasons why he will always remain firmly in the hearts of Liverpool fans.

Midfielder Left – Ronaldinho, Brazil

Ronaldinho was just breathtaking to watch for a while when he was at Barcelona, he always reminded me of a kid playing in the park, just playing for fun, doing what he wants, with no pressure and enjoying every second of it with a great big toothy grin on his face. He was head and shoulders above any other player in the world for a couple of years because of his unbelievable skills, his amazing goals and his ability to play a killer pass. I can’t think of many better individual players than Ronaldinho when he was at the top of his game.

Forward Centre – Thierry Henry, France

Probably the best player ever to play in The Premier League. He was absolutely unstoppable in his pomp; you would just expect him to score every single week. Henry had a bit of everything as a forward; pace, skills, ball control, finishing abilities and everything was done with such grace. As well as being Arsenal’s all time top goal scorer he would also provide a lot of assists for his team-mates. I have always loved watching him play and by the look of it, he would love playing.

Forward Centre – Ronaldo, Brazil

The easiest decision I have ever made is putting Ronaldo in my favourite XI. He’s quite simply the best player I have ever seen. O Fenomeno’s career has been nothing short of astounding with the goals he has scored and the phenomena he created around the world. My overriding memory of him was defenders trying to tackle him but getting nowhere near the ball. He had awesome skills and a blistering turn of pace. His season at Barcelona was outstanding, and his individual performance at the 2002 World Cup will live long in the memory for many football fans.

That was my favourite XI but because there were far too many players to choose from, here’s a list of honorable mentions:

Rene Higuita, Jorge Campos, Alessandro Del Piero, Rivaldo, Cafu, Pavel Nedved, Gaizka Mendieta, Xavi, Patrick Kluivert, Denis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Roberto Ayala, Edgar Davids, Ally McCoist, Henrik Larsson, Gabriel Batistuta, Juninho Pernambucano, Roberto Baggio, Angelo Di Livio, Marcelo Salas, Christian Vieri, Jay Jay Okocha, Samuel Eto’o, Steven Gerrard, Sami Hyypia, Michael Ballack, Paolo Maldini, Hristo Stoichkov, Paul McGrath, Georgi Kinkladze, Zinedine Zidane.

The Future’s Spain

16-year-old Jon Miquel Toral Harper’s recent controversial move to Arsenal from the Barcelona academy was not the first, and I’m sure won’t be the last transfer of this type. Thanks to the exploitation of a loophole in the system, Barcelona have yet again been left helpless as Toral, whose agent is oddly the brother of Pep Guardiola, has followed players like Cesc Fabregas, Fran Merida and Dani Pacheco to the Premier League where they can sign professional contracts. Barcelona were reportedly fuming about this which shows just how highly rated he was with the Catalans. Although there is no issue with the legality, there is a big doubt casted over the morality of deals such as this, which can be (and has been) debated all day long so I shall not be adding to this dispute. However, there is one thing there is no doubt over and that is that Spain have got an astonishing amount of young talent.

 The current batch of Spanish superstars may have been given legendary status in the world of football for their performances for their national team over the past few years, but if you think this generation of world class footballers is just a flash in the pan, then all you need to do is take a look at the youth on show in La Liga at the moment and you will see the future is already beginning to look quite special.

 When asked about Jack Wilshire ahead of their Champions League second leg match against Arsenal, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola cheekily claimed that he had ‘many types of player like him in the second team’. Guardiola’s comments may have been ‘tongue in cheek’ and the British media may have gone predictably overboard with their reaction to try and stir up a story out of it, but the point is possibly still valid. Players like Toral are still a long way from the senior team so it’s a bit too soon to be talking about them as ‘the next Xavi’, ‘the next Zidane’ or any other comparisons the press love to throw at us, because they usually turn out to be ‘the next David Bellion’.

 Barcelona aren’t the only team in Spain with an array of young Spanish talent in their ranks, players like David de Gea, Iker Muniain, Daniel Parejo and Jose Angel have all regularly been putting in excellent performances for their respected club’s first team. It’s also easy to forget that Spain have plenty of more established, young players in and around the national squad such as Juan Mata, Sergi Busquets, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro, all of whom are no older than 23 and have amassed 107 caps between them (admittedly Fabregas has 58 of them). Players like Bojan and Sergio Canales who are on the fringes of Barcelona’s and Real Madrid’s respective first teams also look like fantastic prospects, the list just goes on. I would just like to share a little information on three of the most exciting wonderkids the Primera Liga has on show at the moment.

David de Gea – Athletico de Madrid

 David de Gea Quintana came through the ranks at Athletico Madrid and made his senior debut in a Champions League game against Porto in 2009 aged just 18. Now 20; he has since replaced Sergio Asenjo as Athletico’s No 1 goalkeeper.

 He played eight times in Athletico’s successful Europa League run last season, including the final against Fulham. De Gea has been impressive in an under-achieving Athletico side this term and he started the campaign in superb style by saving a 90^th minute Diego Milito penalty in Athletico’s 2-0 European Super Cup win over Inter.

 The 6’3’’ goalkeeper has been heavily linked with Manchester United as a long-term replacement for Edwin van der Sar and has apparently been nicknamed Van der Gea by his teammates due to his physical likeness and similar goalkeeping style of the Dutchman.

 He has represented Spain at every youth level but has yet to win a full cap. There is no real shame in that however, when you consider he has Iker Casillas Pepe Reina and Victor Valdes standing in his way.

Iker Muniain – Athletic Bilbao

 Iker Muniain Goni joined the Athletic Bilbao academy in 2005 and four years later, became the Basques’ youngest ever debutant when he appeared for the senior team as a substitute in a Europa League qualifying match against Young Boys (July 2009) at the very tender age of 16 years, 7 months and 11 days and a week later, in the return leg he became Athletic’s youngest ever scorer.

 The 18-year-old goes by the obligatory (and annoying) media comparison of ‘‘the Basque Rooney’’, perhaps because of the mix of explosive power and technical ability he possesses. Able to play on either wing or through the middle, Muniain’s ability is quite breathtaking at times, particularly when running with the ball at his feet and his turn of pace can be electric. Far from just being an attacking threat though, the youngster is a tireless worker for the team and is more than happy to help out defensively. He stands at a height of just 5’6’’, but his stocky physique gives him a strength that defenders find difficult to deal with.

 Although he made his debut at the beginning of the 2009-10 season and featured regularly though-out that campaign, 2010-11 has proved to be a real breakthrough season for the prodigy, starting more and more games and earning rave reviews for his performances.

 Muniain has a contract at Athletic which would theoretically keep him in Bilbao until June 2015, but the Basques face a colossal fight to keep hold of him with big clubs in England and Spain reportedly showing an interest.

Sergio Canales – Real Madrid

  20-year-old Sergio Canales Madrazo made a dramatic and sudden impact on La Liga during the 2009-10 season whilst playing for Racing Santander. He had made only a few substitute appearances in the previous campaign but was given his first start at Espanyol in December 2009 and that was where it all started for the young attacking midfielder, scoring twice after providing the assist for his team’s opening goal. If people hadn’t noticed him after that then they undoubtedly would a month later when, in his third start for the Canterbrians, he scored another two, superb goals and received the man of the match award against Sevilla in a 2-1 victory for his club.

 After a handful of confident performances in the Racing senior team, the big clubs began to take notice with Real Madrid acting quickly to win the race for his signature. It was just two months after Canales’ first start for Racing when Real Madrid announced the signing of the promising playmaker, with him staying at Racing for the remainder of the season, scoring 6 goals and providing 4 assists in the league to help them avoid relegation.

 His first season at Madrid hasn’t gone to plan for Canales, with him behind Ozil and Kaka in the pecking order, he has been mainly restricted to brief substitute appearances which has halted his progress somewhat, with some people suggesting he made his big move to the Santiago Bernabeu too soon.

 He has proved himself to be an extremely exciting prospect still and his talents include a fantastic amount of technical ability, great vision, flair, precision, an ability to create chances and an eye for goal. Canales has stated he is not happy sitting on Madrid’s bench and whether he decides to remain patient at the Bernabeu or move on at the end of the season, where there is reported interest from Liverpool and a number of other clubs, he has the world at his feet and after impressing for Spain at youth level, it surely won’t be long until we see him playing in the national team at a senior level.

-James