Paris Saint-Germain and the Art Of Reinvention

One of the great things about football, one of the things that in my opinion is fundamental in sustaining the umbilical cord that acts as a near permanent bond between team and fan, is the consistency with which the chance arises for a club to reinvent itself and with it renew interest from both fans and onlookers. This can be seen at many levels. Smashed 5-0 the previous Saturday? Change the lineup, reinvent the tactics, the personnel. A bad few months? Wait for the transfer window, rejig the team; better still change the manager and reinvent the team's whole philosophy. Not maximising the potential of the 'brand'? Screw it, reinvent the whole club. It is with this in mind that I have been intrigued by the recent goings-on at Paris Saint-Germain.

Last season, apart from maybe Derby County, Paris St Germain were one of the biggest jokes in European football. Sorry PSG fans but its pretty much true. As the most prominent club in the nation's capital city PSG are traditionally heralded as one of the biggest clubs in France, however based on the evidence of last season you would be hard pressed to find anything grandiose about the club whatsoever. When they were bad they were very, very bad, loitering shadily around the relegation zone for much of the season and putting together losing streaks so desperate their own fans chose to boycott them. And when they were good, well, even when they were good it soon turned rotten.

Despite coughing and spluttering desperately through the league campaign like Dot Cotton on forty Benson and Hedges they managed to somehow scrape together enough momentum to make it to the Coupe de la Ligue (league cup) final, seeing off Lorient, Montpellier, Valenciennes and Auxerre en route. On the pitch they seized the chance to redeem themselves, beating Lens 2-1 at the Stade de France in the final after Bernard Mendy converted a controversial last minute penalty. However, quite befitting of the overall calamity that was PSG in 2007/2008, the result was totally overshadowed by a section of the club's fans, who succeeded in tarnishing the occasion by unveiling a banner that incensed not only Lens and the whole Northern province of France but also half the rest of the population and even President Sarkozy, who was at the stadium and threatened to leave were the offending item not promptly removed.


For those wondering what kind of name-throwing could possibly cause such outrage, describing the people of the region as 'paedophiles, unemployed and the inbred' should just about do it. France's most northerly district is traditionally stereotyped as a post-industrial wasteland rife with unemployment, dull weather, coal mines and dank depression. The release of 'Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis', a feel-good film aimed at celebrating the region, captured the imagination of the whole country and triggered in the North a feeling of self-pride and confidence a world away from the typical prejudices. The banner unveiled by less dignified elements of PSGs support therefore came as a massive slap in the face to this new found northern optimism. The resulting furore saw PSG banned from next season's competition, a punishment they have since appealed.

This debacle was by no means the first misdemeanour from PSG fans either. In the midst of the dreadful run that saw the club fail to register a single home win in five and a half months, players were regularly intimidated and harrassed by a section of fans. A group of them even turned up at Jerome Rothen's house, confronted him and trashed his car. Fed up with the disorder, the French government ordered The Boulogne Boys, PSG's own form of ultras and one of France's oldest firms to disband on the grounds of inciting hatred, effectively outlawing a supporters club. The problems seemed never ending.

Fast forward a few months however, and it all seems so different. Having successfully kept the club in le Championnat, manager Paul Le Guen has now set about reinventing the club. Underachievers are being sold on. Funds are being raised to renew personnel and revitalise the squad. Distinguished stars and born leaders are turning up at the Parc des Princes ready to don the red and navy blue shirt. And above all, the new talent being brought show signs of promise and are, crucially, exciting the fans.

Ludociv Giuly signed from AS Roma. Claude Makelele is now a PSG player, set to offer the tenacity and dynamism he has shown consistently and excellently throughout his career. The club forked out €8million Euros on Stephane Sessegnon from Le Mans, a player I have no doubts can be a star of the future. And, for his sake, we hope Lilian Thuram can overcome any supposed heart problems and complete his move to the club; a player with such a distinguished career as he deserves one final swansong. Louis Saha is rumoured to be next on Le Guen's list. The natural by-product of this influx of quality players joining PSG is some actual optimism, for so long a foreign concept to a club dragged through a desperate mire last season.

I have to be honest, when I considered the PSG predicament and the notion of a club's capacity for reinvention I looked up the idea of 'reinventing yourself' to see what Google would yield. A quote from Dr. Dick Sutphen if I may:

'All you have to do is decide what you want{..}rise above the{..}traps that are blocking you, and approach your goals in a realistic way. Easier said than done? Of course, but you can reinvent yourself if you are sincere in your quest and willing to proceed one step at a time.'

Thanks Dr. Dick. One of the 'traps' he refers to, in this case, is the feverish lust of PSG fans to see the club achieve. Clearly they have gone way overboard on occasions as last season demonstrates, but it seems evident that if the club are to succeed in 2008/2009 they must quickly regain the love of their supporters. The romantic arrival of such renowned international stars, complemented by players of genuine promise, is a genuine step in the right direction. The fans, right now, are happy again even if that happiness could be tempered as early as the first few games of the new season should results not go their way. If this realistic approach to achieving their goals can continue then 2008/2009 could well be the year PSG reinvents itself as a force in French football.

photo 1 courtesy of wallyg on Flickr, in Just-Football's photo pool

5 Summer Transfers That Represent Good Business

The summer transfer window is well and truly open for business right now, as managers set about compiling their squads for the upcoming football season. With clubs around Europe generally showing about as much thriftiness as Roman Abramovich's girlfriend on a shopping spree in Knightsbridge, Just-Football will be periodically taking a look around the world and assessing those we believe are doing good business, and those whose purchasing looks slightly more questionable, starting with five transfers over the past week that look to be shrewd bits of business:

1, Ronaldinho (Barcelona to AC Milan) - Ronaldinho's recent transfer to the Italian giants finally ended months of speculation about the player's future, while simultaneously winding Thaksin Shinawatra's neck in from the clouds. In the case of Mr. de Assis Moreira the feeling lingers that despite the non-existent form, the fall from grace and the messy break-up with his former club, like the romantic poet who temporarily loses inspiration all the guy needs is a pat on the back, a big hug and to be told that he's the best before the two-time World Player of the Year rediscovers just what it was that made him so good in the first place. 35,000 fans showing up at the San Siro to greet his arrival is not a bad start for a confidence boost. If Carlo Ancelotti can find a system that duly benefits both Ronaldinho and Kaka (something Carlos Albero Parreira failed to do in the 2006 World Cup) as well as the precocious talent that is Alexandre Pato, then AC Milan might well manage to put last season's disappointments behind them and re-emerge as a force in Serie A. When you also consider that just a few short years ago Chelsea were preparing to bid upwards of £54 million for the services of the midfield maestro, the £16.7 million pound fee paid by the Rossoneri does not look a bad deal at all.


2, Gilberto Silva (Arsenal to Panathinaikos) - A good deal for Arsenal, that is. It became most painfully evident that Gilberto's star was somewhat on the wane back in April 2008 during the Gunners' Champions League quarter-final second leg clash at Anfield. With Arsenal holding the upper hand in the tie and looking strong, injury to Mathieu Flamini meant Gilberto was brought on to occupy the holding midfield role. The rest is history. While of course not entirely to blame, the Brazilian was half a yard off the pace for much of the game and failed to offer the swashbuckling energy of the man he replaced. Arsene Wenger's shunning of Gilberto in favour of William Gallas when choosing a club captain this time last year also reflects something of a lack of confidence in the man, which translated into limited opportunities for first team football in the 2007/2008 season. Indeed many Arsenal fans, while praiseworthy of the player's commitment, feel that a move away from the Emirates was quite overdue. A move to the Greek Super League could be just what Gilberto needs to reinvigorate his career.

3, Scott Carson (Liverpool to West Bromwich Albion) - For a long time it appeared as though Scott Carson was heading for newly-promoted Stoke City, which would have been something of a coup for Tony Pulis' men. However, at the 11th hour Tony Mowbray batted his eyelids at the England goalkeeper and managed to secure his services for a £3.25 million pound fee. This looks to be an extremely shrewd piece of transfer activity from the Baggies. Although Carson made a complete mockery of his competitive debut for England, allowing Croatia to score from what should have been a routine save, the 22-year old already has a good level of Premier League experience and represents a major boost to West Brom's squad. With the regular first team football that he is no doubt certain to get at the Hawthorns, Carson could well stake a claim for the number one spot at international level as well if he continues to develop as he has done in the early part of his career.

4, Bakary Kone (Nice to Olympique Marseille) - With Samir Nasri gone from the Stade Velodrome, Marseille fans were looking for some attacking talent to aid their quest to challenge Lyon's dominance of France's Ligue Une in the coming season. In Bakary Kone they have a player that offers bags of talent and one that, at just over £7million pounds (half of what Arsenal paid for Nasri) represents a very astute signing. Kone is quick, nimble and technically very gifted. Not only that, at 26 years of age he is coming into the peak of his career and is definitely ready to make the step up from playing for Nice. Anyone that watched the recent African Cup of Nations will know of his exquisite shooting ability, but for those that are not aware check out this magnificent strike of his during the 2006 World Cup.

5, Claude Makelele (Chelsea to Paris-SG) - He may be 35 years old, but Claude Makelele remains a magnificent player, and reaction from the Chelsea correspondent at The Offside alone tells you what Blues fans think of the deal. In the case of some players age really means very little, and the Frenchman definitely falls into that bracket of player; just a few months ago he played practically all 120 minutes of a Champions League final, a fine testament to both his current ability and his immense stamina. John Obi Mikel may be in Luiz Felipe Scolari's plans to take over at Chelsea in the holding role that Makelele has come to define as his own, but there is no doubt that Chelsea have lost a fine player. Their loss is very much PSG's gain, and given that no fee is involved Paul LeGuen appears to pulled off a real coup. Makelele's experience alone will be vital at the Parc des Princes.

Agree or disagree? Have your say in the comments field below.

Good Player Guide #6 - Samir Nasri

Samir Nasri

(Arsenal / France)

As a gifted young French footballer of Algerian descent playing in an attacking-midfield role, it was perhaps to be expected that certain elements of the press would waste no time in dubbing Samir Nasri ´the new Zinedine Zidane.´ Such comparisons are of course unfair, but it says a lot about the early promise shown by the 21-year old during his time at Olympique Marseille that people have been quick to elevate him amidst such esteemed company.

A product of the streets of La Gavotte Peyret, a gritty suburb in Northern Marseille, it was in this tough environment playing alongside kids far older than himself that Nasri´s obvious talent was born. ´He used to play in our games and would get stuck in with the biggest of us´ his cousin Farid recalls. ´Technically though he was by far the best´ adds a friend of Farid who also grew up in the area. His experiences of this rough-and-ready art of street football, the game in its purest form, taught him a lot but while this honing of skills took place Nasri also toughened up mentally. While keen to get involved when it came to football he was less interested in the other, perhaps less beneficial social activities of his peers. ´He matured very quickly. When we were older we would go out at night, but he would stay indoors working. Before joining Marseille´s academy he was doing very well at school,´ offers another childhood friend.

At Marseille, Nasri soon established himself as a talent that could cut it at professional level thanks to the string of successes he enjoyed as a junior player coming up through the academy, and by the age of seventeen he was deemed good enough to make his senior debut. This came during the 2004/2005 season, a campaign in which he made twenty-four appearances and scored one goal. To be relied on to this extent while just seventeen at a big club in one of Europe´s top leagues demonstrates the enormous amounts of belief the hierarchy at the south-eastern French club placed in his prodigious talent. Such faith no doubt derived in part from his headline-grabbing performances for the France U-17s team, with whom he helped deliver the nation´s first European Championship crown at this age group in 2005. Elected Player of the Tournament, Nasri also scored the winning goal.

For Marseille, Samir Nasri was often deployed in the ´number 10´ role, that of creator and provider for his teammates, though he can also play on the wing from where he likes to cut inside. His stylish technique and astute vision quickly made him a fans´ favourite at the Stade Velodrome, and he is considered throughout France as one of the country´s great hopes for the future. In 2006/2007 he was named French Young Player of the Season, pipping Karim Benzema to the post, and in 2007/2008, the last of his four years representing Marseille at senior level, he was joint leader of Ligue Une´s assists table. He has also broken through into the French national team and was part of Raymond Domenech´s EURO 2008 squad.

After 160 appearances for Marseille (a remarkable tally for a player so young) Arsenal decided they had seen enough potential in the attacking midfielder to warrant forking out a fee rumoured to be £14.3 million for his services.

Samir Nasri seems in many ways to fit Arsene Wenger´s prototype for midfielders perfectly. All feigns and shimmies, he is effortlessly comfortable with the ball at his feet and has a good eye for a pass. His playing style is comparable to that of Aliaksandr Hleb´s in the way that they both peskily twist and turn constantly in order to try and create space, but Nasri offers more pace and a tendency to shoot much more often than the Belarusian. To his advantage he is also stronger and more tenacious. He may need to toughen up slightly in order to adapt to the rigours of the English Premier League, but for now it appears Arsenal have bought themselves a player with the mentality and skill to develop into a fine player.

Wireless LANs, Football And Other Technological Jargon

We live in an internet age. If previous decades ultimately came to be almost unanimously defined by the cultural, economic and political standpoints of its people at the time (in a similar way that the 60s are defined as the age of free love, for example), then for now our generation is most certainly open to being branded the age of mass multimedia. This site is as much a testament to that as anything.

These days most everyone can cast their pebble into the vast pool that is our globalised society and have their say on all manner of topics, no matter how small the ripples they create. Cameraphones are everywhere, immortalising even the most trivial of day-to-day occurrences in the lives of millions of people, and together with wi-fi, high speed internet connections and usb ports, the world is almost literally at your fingertips. A man in Coventry could spill a pint of milk on his kitchen floor at 10.08am, and by 10.12am a small village in China could know about it, read about it, hear it accounted first hand by the culprit, watch blocky highlights of the mess created and have its people vote collectively on how best to remove milkstains from a carpet.

In his book ´A Strange Kind of Glory´, Eamon Dunphy writes that football ´reflects society at the time´ and I am inclined to agree with that analysis. As such it is not unreasonable to imagine that football would on occasions intertwine with this new age of McCommunication. You cannot be considered much of a football player these days if you do not own your own personal website offering hordes of fans your wife´s view on how to form a smoothly functioning midfield, surely?

Despite this however it is still difficult not to cringe at the recent revelation that a player plying his trade in England´s second division, The Championship, put his future career prospects and the chance to play in the Premier League in jeopardy by revealing details of his impending transfer on the social-networking website Facebook. Ashley-Paul Robinson, an 18-year-old winger who has spent five years coming through the ranks at Crystal Palace, recently wrote a message on the site announcing that he was having a trial with Fulham.

Unfortunately for him the status updates intended to fill his chums in on the latest goings-on in Ashley-Paul´s life were also unwittingly made available to more than 2.7 million users of the London network of the site meaning that, at a crucial stage of negotiations between the two clubs, a delicately poised dream move to a Premiership club was placed at risk by the following words: "Ashley-Paul is goin fulham on monday. If i pull dis off im on dis ting." This was followed by another message that read, "Ashley-Paul is travling 2 Bath With Fulham Fingers Crossed." After news of the move spread he then lamentably posted a new message saying: "Ashley-Paul has been very naughty lol!" The hierarchy at Crystal Palace did not find it so ´lol´ however. Having made his Palace debut in March 2008 against Preston North End, manager Neil Warnock was previously keen to secure Robinson on a longer contract and a new offer was on the table. This Facebook furore appears to have put paid to that, with a parting of the ways now inevitable. "We feel it's probably better that he looks elsewhere to further his career," said Warnock, news that will no doubt leave Robinson far from ´lmao´ ´lol´ or ´rofl´ing´.´

Though this particular story is quite laughable for all those not directly involved, it does highlight the growing correlation between the internet age and football. You need only look as far as Ebbsfleet United FC and the myfootballclub.co.uk experiment for evidence of this increasingly prominent link. Ebbsfleet is the club bought by the myfootballclub.co.uk community, whose 21,000 members around the globe stumped up the £35 necessary to be able to enforce a takeover, making each member a sort of mini-chairman that can, supposedly, ´pick the team´ and ´vote on club decisions´ as wide-ranging as ticket prices and stadium development.

While many keyboard fans consider the chance to sit at home and play this real life version of Championship Manager a thrill, the fantasy is shattered somewhat when the reality of the situation comes to light. In Liam Daish, Ebbsfleet already have a manager and one who just this season happened to guide them to victory at Wembley in the FA Trophy at that.

Additionally, the influx of new members (it is hard to refer to them as fans, for now) has resulted in a feeling of resentment from a vast number of the club´s real fans, the ones who were there in the days of the Isthmian League before the club became en vogue. When the club played Torquay United at Wembley in May one fan remarked that, instead of two paths up Wembley way for fans there should be three - one for Torquay, one for Ebbsfleet and one for those from myfootballclub. He makes a cutting point.

Where the relationship between football and the internet goes next is anyone´s guess. With the quite ludicrous news filtering through that UEFA are looking to rebrand the UEFA Cup and endow it with a snazzy new name, perhaps fans will be offered to vote on the new name Big Brother style. UEFA could rebrand their product under whatever name receives the most SMS votes in a 24hr period, eliminating the least popular suggestions each week. Simon Cowell could host it. That would be ´lol´ indeed.

Spain Actually Won EURO 2008? How? Why?

In the 78th minute of the EURO 2008 final it became quite clear to anyone still unsure that Spain were and are simply a better side than Germany. While Luis Aragones took off goalscorer and matchwinner Fernando Torres to replace him with the Primera Liga´s Pichichi Daniel Guiza, Joachim Loew responded with an attacking substitution of his own, replacing the anonymous Miroslav Klose with VfB Stuttgart´s Mario Gomez. Now, Mario Gomez is not a bad player at all. He can easily hold a candle to Guiza, at least in terms of scoring records for 2007/2008, having finished just behind Luca Toni as the Bundesliga´s second highest scorer. Indeed, as the subject of transfer speculation linking him to clubs as distinguished as Bayern Munich and AC Milan, he certainly appears to have a bright future. However as Klose left the pitch, shoulders hunched and looking quite anonymous as he had done all tournament, Gomez ran onto the pitch, he too with shoulders hunched and an unconvincing look on his face. Appearing bereft of confidence after some indifferent performances in the group stage, he then went on to produce what was a quite ordinary and...well, anonymous shift on the field.

As for the man he replaced you would be hard pressed to convince anyone that Klose was a World Cup Golden Boot winner two years ago based on his largely lacklustre showing. When you bear in mind that Guiza might not have even played had David Villa been fit, it offers an insight into the relative strength in depth of the two squads, and when looked at from this angle Spain are the better team.

You need only glance at the two squads to realise just how strong this Spain squad really are. In goal for instance, Joachim Loew had to choose between Jens Lehmann and Timo Hildebrand, neither of whom shined last season with their clubs. Lehmann was not even first choice for Arsenal. Meanwhile Aragones could call upon either Iker Casillas, in my opinion the world´s best keeper, or Pepe Reina, another competent stopper who is at least a regular for club. Two of the German Nationalmannschaft´s best players during the tournament, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski, are far from automatic choices at Bayern, yet were key components of their national side´s route to the final. Spain on the other hand could only really find a place for Cesc Fabregas, the Premier League´s Young Player of the Season 2007/2008, when Golden Boot winner David Villa got injured. Players like Ruben de la Red and Xabi Alonso while important for their clubs struggled to secure any vast amount of playing time. And in attacking areas, as if to solidify the point, Spain could afford to leave out the Primera Liga´s breakthrough sensation Bojan Krkic and its most renowned statesmen and second top league goalscorer of all time Raul. The decision to omit the superstar, though heavily criticised in the Spanish press before the tournament ultimately proved a brave and wise choice. Germany have good strikers, but none as technically brilliant and cerebrally clinical as the duo of Fernando Torres and David Villa.

The closer you assess the Spanish squad the harder it becomes to fathom that, before the tournament, Germany were favourites and the Iberians were wallowing freely in their own shell of doubt and pessimism while people poked fun at their repeated inability to produce the goods at major competitions. In England, Sky Sports presented an ´Im Supporting Spain´ campaign for those fans of home nations that had failed to qualify, and in it the piece happily mocked the fact that, like England, Spain would surely fall at the quarter finals stage as they always do. In an edition of World Soccer magazine prior to the tournament Xabi Alonso implored Spanish fans ´not to create too much expectation.´ Even when la seleccion made it to the quarter finals to face Italy, the media´s almost unanimous verdict on the prospect of facing the world champions was - ´Oh No,´ Luis Enrique´s bloodied face from USA 1994 plastered all over the papers. This incredible inferiority complex, based on years of failure, appears to have seeped deeply into the national psyche and was prevalent even before proceedings in Austria and Switzerland began, the result of which effectively masked Spain´s enormous amount of talent and promise.

Praise the manager, begrudgingly

In victory, praise must also go to the manager Luis Aragones for gelling together a young squad that also boasted a togetherness that has been so lacking from previous Spain squads riddled with divisions, often based on a Barcelona-Real Madrid divide. High-profile veterans like David Albelda and Raul were left out and a youthful squad was intricately constructed and allowed to grow into a unit that could deliver a prize the nation was so desperately seeking. The tiki-taka style of pass and move and an emphasis on possession football suited the game of players like Andres Iniesta and Xavi, while use of the excellent Marcos Senna (certainly one of the tournament´s best players) as a shield in front of the defence allowed the more expressive players freedom to roam as well as giving Joan Capdevila and Sergio Ramos the opportunity to break down the flanks where necessary. This tactic was used to devastating effect against Germany particularly, with Ramos seemingly everywhere. Whether Aragones should have even been in charge of Spain given racist comments about Thierry Henry in 2005 is a subject for debate, but the Spanish Football Federation stuck by him in handing out a pitifully small fine, and the rest is history.

As Brian at the Run of Play correctly points out, in winning EURO 2008 and delivering the nation´s first major football honour in 44 years, Spain were also at the heart of more or less every major story in the competition. They eliminated the world champions and broke their Italian jinx. They destroyed Russia once and then again, just when Guus Hiddink´s men began to be spoken about as the real deal. They made Andrei Arshavin look ordinary (though lets be honest, he is not the second coming of Maradona people made him out to be after the Holland game). And finally, they beat down a German side that simply could not find a plan B to thwart their impressive gameplan. Throughout the tournament they were tactically spot on.

For Spain now, all the disappointments and self-doubting can finally be forgotten. They are European champions and deservedly so.

Photo, Shoot - 29.6.2008 - Sergio Ramos Shows His Class

After 44 years in the wilderness a jubilant Spanish side celebrate their EURO 2008 triumph after beating Germany 1-0 in the final. With the eyes of the world on the festivities in Vienna, Sergio Ramos removes his Spain shirt to reveal a tribute to his dear friend and former Sevilla teammate Antonio Puerta, who died tragically while playing for Sevilla early in the 2007/2008 season. The t-shirt read ´Siempre con Nosotros´ or ´Always with us´ and had number 16 on the back - Puerta´s old shirt number. A heartfelt gesture that shows that Ramos has not forgotten his friend. A thoughtful and poignant tribute from a fantastic player.

photo courtesy of Real Madrid website