The Rumour Commode XXIX: The real Maldoban era.

SpartanMilan said:

I remember reading a month or two ago that Ralf uses some sort of buzzer in practice that buzzes after X seconds (can't remember the exact number), which is what Ralf requires his midfielders to pass the ball during so that they just don't keep the ball and not progress it in any way. Something like this seems that it could really benefit Paqueta

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nefremo said:

Yea. He uses this timer for a variety of reasons. 8 seconds to switch the field, 8 seconds to cross the halfway line, 8 seconds to get a shot on target, etc. It's not a new concept, really. Even youth coaches do this. The problem is getting "star players" to do this. Maybe that's why Ralf doesn't want stars....

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Hitchens said:

Feels like we're heading into the most depressing summer ever.

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Hitchens said:

Feels like we're heading into the most depressing summer ever.

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Manchester United have joined PSG and Manchester City in the pursuit of Milan midfielder Ismael Bennacer, who has a €50m release clause.

Actu Foot and La Source Parisienne maintain Manchester United are ready to get into the race for the Algeria international too.

Paris Saint-Germain have long been chasing Bennacer, especially as director Leonardo used to work for Milan, but have so far kept their offers at around €30m.

It emerged this week that there is a €50m release clause in the midfielder’s contract, confirmed by several Italian sources.

This changes the situation, as if a club is prepared to meet that price, there is little the Rossoneri can do to stop him leaving.

RMC Sport in France had stated on Wednesday that Manchester City would pay the full €50m.

Now different French sources suggest Manchester United are also in the running for the Player of the Tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Milan paid €16m to sign Bennacer from Empoli last summer, so either way this represents a big profit.

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Rossoneri97 said:

I doubt that he would not want stars in his team. Youngsters who are less experienced should be thought the 8 seconds training but a experienced star player knows what they should do in the first place so I doubt that it would be needed for them. And lastly which star player would need more then 8 seconds to decide what to do anyway?

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when i joined chelsea, in june 1995, the premier league was very different to the way it is now. I wasn't the first overseas player to come here, but i was one of the first to arrive with a big name, from a bigger league, such as serie A.

Looking back, that summer was probably the time the premier league really began to change into the competition it is now, and it had to. Italy was the king then - all the best players were there. English football was very basic in comparison, and the english wanted to have people from outside so they could try to get their game back again to the highest european level.

Dennis bergkamp, david ginola, juninho. They all came at the same time as me. The way i saw it, it was an adventure. Personally and professionally, i needed to leave italy after eight years with ac milan and sampdoria and, with the premier league taking off, england just seemed the right place for a fresh start, at the right time for me to do something new.

I was 32, nearly 33, i had been at the top for a long time and had won a lot too. Some people probably thought my legs had gone and i was coming here for the ride - to take the money and just get ready to retire. They were wrong.

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nobody i spoke to that summer understood why i chose chelsea. I must say i didn't know much about the club or even that part of town when i went there - it was just because glenn hoddle was manager, that's what persuaded me to go.

When i came for the first time to see stamford bridge, i was like 'what the hell kind of stadium is this?' i was used to playing in the best stadiums in the world, but here there were only two stands. The place wasn't just a building site, it was a total wreck. You had to walk around on planks of wood.

The training ground too, was very different to what i was used to. Chelsea's facilities now are world class but then they were based at harlington, which was a school. There was nothing there - just five little locker rooms, and the only thing in any of them was a wooden bench and a hook. That was it.

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of course i knew when i joined that chelsea wouldn't be challenging for the title. There was no champions league for them then - they were not one of the top teams in england, let alone in europe.

But i knew where the club wanted to go, and i knew what was happening in english football - and i love challenges. It was the same when i left the netherlands for ac milan. When i arrived in 1987, they had not won a european trophy for 14 years. When i left, i had won two european cups.

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glenn had to sell chelsea and their ambition to me - he said they were at the start of a journey too - but what was most important was that it was glenn. In the eyes of the dutch, he was the best english footballer ever but in england he was not appreciated. In the netherlands, we said 'oh my god, he was a player meant for us, not for you'.

He had first phoned me up a few months previously to say he wanted to sign me and because i saw him as a player who played skilful football, i knew for sure he would not be a manager who would want to play the long ball and that was a very important factor in my decision.

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after the first press conference when i was announced as a chelsea player, i went away to work hard and get ready.

I was used to being in the spotlight with ac milan and, when you are in the spotlight, you always have to perform better than the rest. If you don't, you get criticised.

I had been the world player of the year twice, and my attitude was always that i had to do the best i could. I wanted to prove myself again, and lead by example, so i went away to portugal, rented a house next to a golf course and trained hard every day by running around and around it.

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that was one big difference to italy, and the other was the style of football. It was too honest in england. I laugh when i think about it now because, yes, there were a lot of big tackles, which is what i'd been warned about, but it wasn't a problem because you could see them coming from a mile off.

For me, with the experience i had from serie a, it was easy to deal with because i was expecting it. In italy they would kick you hard too, but they were a lot cleverer about it. It's worse that way, believe me, when you don't expect it.

Of course when i came to england i was a name, and at first some players thought they could target me. A kind of 'welcome to the premier league', i guess. The funniest thing ever is when vinnie jones tried to do that, when we played wimbledon.

I knew even before the game that vinnie wanted to make a name just by killing me. So i was ready for him, i knew it would happen at some point, and it did. At the start of the second half, i received the ball at an angle and i had my back to him, but i could almost hear him coming for me. I just knew.
So, the moment he was slide tackling me, i just lifted myself a little bit off the ground. Yes, i knew he would catch me but, no, it would not be how he wanted to catch me.

So then i rolled over and he got the red card - he had already been booked - and when i got up, i said to him: "now vinnie, now we can play football." he was swearing non-stop at me and then in the newspapers the next day, he said how i had been squealing like a little piggy and things like that. I just thought 'well, i got you there, i got you there'.

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in the dutch locker room, everyone thinks he knows best and says so. In italy, it was the same but they were afraid to tell the manager. In england, at that time, everyone wanted to have a laugh.

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i had become player-manager a year after i came to the club, when glenn hoddle left to become england manager in 1996.

I signed gianfranco zola, gianluca vialli, roberto di matteo and frank leboeuf. We won the fa cup in 1997 and, in february 1998 we were second in the premier league, in the quarter-finals of the european cup winners' cup and i was in negotiations to sign jaap stam from psv eindhoven and brian laudrup from rangers.

The day before i was sacked, i was playing golf with one of my coaches, gwyn williams, and a couple of the players, franco [zola] and kevin hitchcock. I was trying to contact laudrup during our round but i couldn't get hold of him, which was weird.

It turns out gwyn, who was one of my closest friends and who had helped me a lot, knew exactly what was going on and that they were going to fire me. He was just playing golf with me to keep me away, to make sure i didn't go to any of the places where laudrup was.

Being sacked was a horrible experience, and there was no reason to do what they did. They made out it was over my contract demands but that was rubbish because there had not been any negotiations. They were going to do it anyway. The worst thing was what gwyn did to me, though - i couldn't understand doing that to someone when you spend every day with each other. He didn't even have to say anything specific, he could have just told me to watch out because something was going on.

That was the worst thing anyone had ever done to me, in my career or in my life. That was the biggest disappointment, that someone could do that to me, and i can't forgive him for that, i really can't.

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when i came it was as part of a new direction for english football and maybe we are at a similar time now because of the coronavirus pandemic. This should be a wake-up call and all the clubs have to think about managing themselves in different ways now.

The problem in england, for me, is that there are players here who earn way too much money, who are nowhere near good enough to do that. If the big stars earn the big money, that is ok. But i see players who are not even close.

Money changed the premier league in lots of good ways but, if this blip in the competition happens again, then a lot of clubs are going to be bankrupt if they continue doing what they are doing now, and spending the amount they do. They have to be careful, and they may have to change their model again.

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rocknrolla1v1 said:

If Man City, Man U, or PSG offer Ben a starting role, he's gone...

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Hugh Janus said:

On the contrary, I'm quite excited for the upcoming mercato.

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vB9 said:

Ruud Gullit interview with BBC. Sum funny bits...







Had Fabio not dropped him in the 3rd Final the guy wudve went away with 3 cups.












https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52904670

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Hugh Janus said:

On the contrary, I'm quite excited for the upcoming mercato.

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IL Diavolo 3 said:

Cool.

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Nevermore said:

L'Equipe on the front page: "Psg, Bennacer track"

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Oedipus said:

No one dreams of Dumfries. Guy sucks.

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abritcemeng said:

What do you think?
Dreaming too high?

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abritcemeng said:

What do you think?
Dreaming too high?

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Oedipus said:

No one dreams of Dumfries. Guy sucks.

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