The Journeyman Jock

[bigmattb28]

The Journeyman Jock - He's very English

 

Ibiza today - Club into final, manager caught up in another scandal

ESPN Europe - More bad news for match fixing coach as staff member charged with possession of narcotics

Motherwell Chronicle - McGhee gets Ibiza to a cup final, best friend in jail on possession charge

Scotland Today - Drug use rampant in Ibiza as football club accused of taking PED’s prior to cup final

Daily Mail online - British head coach abroad accused yet again of match fixing, drug distribution and more

News of the World - Drugs, steroids, match fixing and a cup final all within months of Scots arrival in Ibiza

 

It actually didn’t matter that we won the second leg 2-0 and the tie 7-1 on aggregate. Didn’t matter that we’d be playing FC Andorra in the final, also over 2 legs in the lower league cup. It didn’t matter that their manager, Isma Pinera had been praising our on pitch work in the build up and kindly, mercifully deflecting comments pertaining to the match fixing boll*cks. Also didn’t matter that the club was looking more and more likely to survive relegation, something that was certain before I got here. All that was being reported again was that I’d not only had matches fixed but our players were taking performance enhancing drugs and my friends were distributing drugs all around Ibiza and to the players under my command.

The Doctor was still held on remand in the Ibiza prison out in the no go area of the island, but Baz and Mark were still around and we’d been having daily meetings as well as speaking with the players ahead of the first leg of the final. In the run up to this game I had a meeting with Gerard Hernandez, the incoming chairman

‘Firstly Jock, good luck my friend’

‘Thanks G, I appreciate that’

‘Also, nothing to worry about and nothing that is going to affect your job, but we have a new member of staff coming into the club. Well, not actually a full time member of staff, more like, erm, how you say in English, a temporary contract’

‘Oh right, what’s he going to be doing?’

‘Not a lot, truth be told. His dad is a good friend of mine, he’s a lawyer by trade, but has been a football agent for over 30 years. His son is a bit of a statistician so is coming here to do some work in the background’

I didn’t really know what to say or if this would affect me in any way, but stats I like and said to Gerard ‘oh good, I’m a big believer in stats, it’s been a goal of mine to use stats for transfers, you know the Moneyball concept I told you about’

‘Yes I do, however I have, erm, concerns about young Scott coming here for work’

And there it was, the real reason he was bringing this up with me. I felt he wanted me to get him to say something so I pressed him ‘Oh, why’s that?

‘Well, I do not want to cause offence’

‘None taken’

‘No, no I mean, how to put it’ he took a moment and then said ‘Scott Stanton, is a bit, erm, loud I think is the best way to put it’

‘Loud how? Like his voice is loud?’ I didn’t know what was going on at this point, but Gerard continued

‘I mean, like I said no offence but he is very similar to David Barron’

‘Oh Baz, right yeah Baz is loud and he….’ he cut me off

‘He is also very much a lot like your friend the Medic’

‘The Doctor you mean’

‘Si amigo, yes. And Scott is very English’ he emphasized the word English

Now I was bit worried, confused and intrigued all together. How can someone be very English? And be like Baz and the Doctor at the same time? Surely if you’re English, you’re just English. You can’t be partly English, or mostly English, you’re either English or you’re not, so I asked him ‘how is this guy very English?’

‘This is where I didn’t want to offend anyone, the Doctor especially’

‘Well he’s banged up isn’t he, he won’t get offended’

‘Okay. Well I have been in Ibiza many years, and every summer and year end we see lots of groups of people, holidayers, stag and hen parties, weekend breaks and so on’

I didn’t feel I had anything to say so told him to go on

‘And no matter where people travel from to come here, no mater how many different nationalities, cultures or races are here at any time, we can always tell the English from a mile away’

Now I got it. ‘I understand. He’s loud, obnoxious, likes to party and p*sses everyone around him off’

‘Si, si exactly’

‘You sure this guys not Scottish? That pretty much describes us when we're out getting on it’

‘No he is definitely English. His father is from Plymouth and Scott was born not far away in Torquay I believe’

‘Okay, well I was worried at first but if this guy likes a party and it doesn’t affect his work, what’s there to be concerned about eh’ 

‘Which I hope you can do by keeping him in line? Maybe Scott and you can work together on transfers?

‘If he reports to me in any capacity I’ll keep him in check’

‘Like the Doctor?’ 

I knew he wanted to talk about that and I had the answer prepped for when it was asked ‘Oh no, as you know he doesn’t work for me, or you or the club in any way shape or form. He’s a member of the public that I don’t have any responsibility for, so don’t go holding that against me. Look at Baz, Mark and any of the other lads here on the staff, how many of them have gone out of line since I’ve been here?’ It was rhetorical so I continued ‘none is the answer you’re looking for. Anyway, this Scott, his dad, he got any clients I might know?’

Gerard let the first comment go and said ‘Almost certainly. I don’t know who without asking him but he has worked all over the world, you may know him Bill Stanton, and he’s worked with a lot of big name players, but with client confidentiality he won’t announce his players to anyone’

‘Okay good. Well maybe Scott can help us with building the team with his dad, or if he’s just a stats guy he can help with match plans. We’ll know more once everything is up and running I’m sure’

He left it at that and I went to the dressing room to speak with the team. We’re playing FC Andorra tomorrow in the final of the Copa Federacion, the first leg being held at Can Misses, our home stadium.

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[bigmattb28]

The Journeyman Jock - Another cup final first leg

I stood in front of the players as we finished our preps for the first leg of the cup final

‘I don’t have much of a team talk prepared for this match, but just go out there and play like you have so far. Mario you’ve buried 24 goals in the time I’ve been here, let’s keep that good form going today eh’ I nodded to Mario Barco who looked back intently. ‘The line up today is the same 11 that beat beat Burgos 2 weeks ago’ I said and called out the starting 11

GK - Ualoloca
RB - Gayoso
LB - Hernandez
CB - Killer
CB - Garrido
RM - Guirao
LM - Herrera
CM - Marques
CM - Marreh
FW - Barco
FW - Grande

We start the game off as we ended the last one and that is on the front foot. We don’t look phased at all by the occasion despite an average crowd turning out and being quite vocal.

As we press on we’re given a free kick out on the Andorra right hand side which Marreh steps up to take. We’ve worked on set pieces quite a lot and we’ve looked good from every one we’ve had so far in my time here, this being no different. Marreh plays it in high towards the far post looking for Killer, Jamie Duff making the run there. It’s cleared by the Andorra defence though back to their right hand side, which Guirao receives on our left wing, he takes a touch, looks up and passes the ball along the edge of the box, Marreh steps infield following the path of the ball, he then takes a touch, looks to his right and lays off to our left full back Gayoso who is still up from the corner and he hits it first time from the edge of the box, and we all jump for joy as it makes it’s way into the bottom corner of the net. 1-0 and we’re looking good.

We survive the expected fight back from Andorra in the first half with a couple of decent stops from Ualoloca in our goal, and we had a chance of our own to double the lead when Barco had a free header from a cross from the right and hit it into the Andorra keepers hands. 1-0 heading into the half and my team talk was short, sweet and to the point

‘Good going Ander that was a class goal’ I said to Gayoso who shook my hand and said gracias. ‘We need to build on that goal though, I don’t want to sit back and soak any pressure up, if we get out there and get the next goal they’ll crumble and we’ll win this tie!’

The boys did as I asked and went straight on the offensive, which I don’t think Andorra were ready for. While we didn’t create anything straight away we kept the ball for most of the first 5 minutes of the second half and spent much of the opening minutes in the Andorra half. Mario Barco was his usual troublesome self and won a free kick on the edge of the box for another chance at a set piece.

This time it was Felipe Marques that stepped up. It was just off center of the box and Marques being left footed, this was a perfect position for him. As he stepped up he was giving instructions to Killer, Garrido and Barco. We’d worked on this kind of position, the idea would be when the taker steps towards the ball the 2 center halves will make a run towards the keeper and either forward, whichever was in position will drop a step deeper hopefully creating space for himself, that way if the keeper saves it we’ve got 2 runners heading towards the ball, or if it is parried or cleared we’ve got a finisher in position for the rebound. It mattered not however as the ball was curled expertly by Marques around the wall and just out of reach of the keepers outstretched right arm. 2-0 and we’re cruising.

Baz told the players to sit back now and invite pressure, something I wasn’t totally on board with at first, but I could tell by the Andorra players body language that they knew they were beaten, and we had over 35 minutes to play.

We got a third as Mario Barco scored his 25th goal in the time I’ve been at Ibiza to round out a 3-0 first leg win. Herrera carried on his superb form as he tore the Andorra left full back apart and drilled the ball back towards the penalty spot, where Barco was wide open and just stroked it home.

Marques got the man of the match award and it was fully deserved. As the players celebrated a first leg well done, I made my way over to the Andorra bench, where manager Isma Pinera was in a discussion with the referee. I didn’t ask what about but they were speaking about but he said we played really well and we’d be hard to beat in the second leg. I took his words at face value and believed he was being genuine.

I also told the players at the end we’ve got 1 hand on the trophy, and after that performance we can be happy, and that I don’t think we’re going to throw it away in the second leg.

To keep us on our toes the 2 legs were sandwiched either side of 2 league games. The first was a home tie against league leaders Sabadell. We found ourselves 2 goals down just after half time, but with a few harsh words from myself and a tactical tweak from Mark that saw Calvillo pushed higher up and getting the ball in the box a lot more, we rallied back and within a 7 minute period in the second half we scored 3 well worked goals, and saw the game out 3-2 winners.

The next game was again at home, this time against Lieda Esportiu, and was bad for a couple of reasons. We went on to lose the game 2-1 but Guirao who’d been playing consistently well on our left wing had gotten injured late in the second half, and would be out for 4 weeks if we’re lucky. The silver lining being Grande continued his good form with a goal on 70 minutes, which ended up just being a consolation.

The morning of the second leg arrived with all but 1 player, Guirao, ready and raring to go. The local media in Andorra, where the second leg was being played, were awash with news that the Ibiza chairman had accepted an offer to sell the club.

This I already knew about so wasn’t surprised by it. I had told the players when we got to Estadio Nacional Andorra, the national team of Andorra’s stadium where the second leg was being played, that there’s nothing to worry about and I’d known about it it for a while.

I expected someone to make a comment about me knowing and not telling them, or that I’m just saying this to keep things calm, although I got a few nods and a murmur here and there, they were all fully focused on the task at hand, building on the 3-0 aggregate score and bringing the trophy back.

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[bigmattb28]

The Journeyman Jock - The second leg, again

 

News broke of the takeover and was all across the local media in Andorra, seemingly more important than the second leg of the cup final. I wasn’t concerned this would affect the team, quite the opposite actually. We’d all discussed the takeover and what it means for the future of the club, all we had to do was hang on to our 3 goal lead from the first leg and then we'd be able to prepare for the upcoming months.

As for the team I picked, the only player that would miss out in the second leg would be Miguel Guirao, who had been a steady hand all season for us. We’d be giving the starting nod at right midfield to Calvillo who has played back up for Guirao all season anyway

 

GK - Ualoloca

RB - Hernandez

LB - Candelas

CB - Killer

CB - Garrido

RM - Calvillo

LM - Herrera

CM - Molina

CM - Marreh

FW - Barco

FW - Grande

As with the first leg it started pretty evenly, Andorra didn’t want to commit man forward and as we’d discussed before the game we were content to sit back and soak up the pressure early on. That lasted until the 14th minute, when Calvillo filling in for Guirao on the right burst forward and crossed low and hard across the box where Barco had the simplest finish of the season as he tapped into the net. 1-0 on the day, 0-4 on aggregate

The goal woke Andorra up and it was obvious they felt like the tie was done as the shackles were off as they put us under pressure for the first time in the game. Both their wide men in a 4-2-3-1 set up were linking well with the pivot in the middle, giving our back 4 a tough time, Killer at right center half especially was being given the run around.

Eventually the breakthrough for them did come in the 31st minute. As with our goal their winger found space out wide on the right and drilled it in low, Killer did clear it but either the ball bobbled or he sliced it, but it fell nicely to Ibarbia, the onrushing right full back who hit it sweet as you like into the bottom corner. Ualoloca was rooted to the spot. 1 each, game on.

Anyone with half an interest in football knows the best time to score is right after you’ve already scored, and that rang true in this game. Right from the kick off we played it back towards our defence where the usually composed Candelas would’ve taken a touch and played it out wide as we’d worked on, however the advanced playmaker Deco was on him in a flash and his clearance fell to Ibarbia who must’ve felt like scoring again, but instead he lifted the ball high over Candelas as he closed the ball down and Deco was unmarked and headed it just past Ualoloca in the net. 2-1 Andorra.

Baz was animated on the sideline and not trying to be politically correct with his encouragement either. ‘Ya’ wee Spanish jambalaya eating fu**s’ and ‘Killer ya’ a f**kin’ donkey sort it oot lad’ were 2 of the most repeated things he was saying. It worked though as we then put Andorra under some pressure and managed to equalise right before half time. Calvilla on the right and Herrera in the middle combining well with a 1-2 to release Cavilla on the inside left channel and he floated the ball in to just where Barco was bombing forward, he hit it as it bounced in front of him on his left foot, it wrong footed the keeper, clipped the near post and went over the line. 2-2 at the half, a very even game although still 6-3 to us on aggregate.

My team talk was short and to the point. 'Don’t do anything stupid and keep it simple. We’ve conceded twice already but cancelled them out luckily, we do not want to concede first’ were my words. Inside I thought do Andorra have enough to score 3 more unanswered goals? Probably not was what I kept telling myself.

I was slightly wrong in my assessment however. Andorra came out all guns blazing looking for the first goal of the half, and we weren’t expecting it. Our 2 banks of 4 were pinned into our half for what seemed an eternity and Ualoloca in net made a number of saves, some routine and 1 where the ball was hit from outside the area, Killer was trying to block it but missed it, while Ualoloca luckily saw it late but got down just in time to palm it out for a corner.

The corner came from nothing as we cleared the ball, Grande having to drop very deep to control it and look for a way out of our half. It didn’t come however as Deco came from Grande's blind side, nicked the ball off him and drove through the middle. Baz was up and screaming at the players but I was trying to see what Calvilla was doing, as he wasn't tracking back. The rest of our midfield were out of position as they were still getting back from the corner Calvilla Grande being left up from the corner. Deco looked up and rifled the ball with the outside of his boot, a real daisy cutter to Sanchez on their left flank. He hit it first time and it gained just enough air to be missed by Killer who has doing his best to stay upright and Vujnovic, a half time sub for Andorra pounced on it and helped it into our net. 3-2 to them and the advantage in the game, 5-3 to us but advantage us in the tie.

That was in the 69th minute, plenty of time for them to get another 2 unanswered goals. We held firm for a few minute though, neither team doing much but when Calvillo was released on the right, he found Grande in the box just off center of the penalty spot, he went up for a header and as he did the center half came to put him off and as Grande headed the ball he came down hard on his ankle and I could tell the way he crumpled to the floor he would be coming off.

Injuries are never good no matter how you plan for them. His replacement Juanje was on and the idea was to try and run into the gaps behind the defence, Juanje being quicker than Grande and Barco. As the game carried on Juanje was linking up with Barco looking to get involved. Andorra hadn’t really threatened us since their third goal but we managed to get an equaliser.

Not long after Juanje came on he was played into the box by Barco and Tomas at center half had pushed him in the back, so the linesman told Baz. I didn’t see the push, neither did the ref as when Juanje hit the deck the ref didn’t wave, only when the flag was up did he stop, look at the linesmen who signaled for a push. Penalty to us.

Only 1 man on the pitch would be stepping up to take it and that was Barco. He'd got 2 already in the game and he made it 3 with a thumping penalty right down the middle wrong footing the keeper. 3-3 on the day, 6-3 to us on aggregate, less than 10 to play. The cup is nearly ours.

As the players lined up for the left 8 plus stoppage time, I saw Baz, the Doctor and Guinness all rush from the bench and down the tunnel. I also noticed 1 of the stands for home fans that was open started emptying, they knew. I could tell the Andorra players heads had dropped as well, no way were they scoring 3 in 8 minutes. The game petered itself out and before the full time whistle went, the trio of Baz, the Doctor and Guinness all came back from the tunnel with 2 bottles of champagne each, some streamers and a Scotland flag.

The ref whistled for full time. The 700 or so fans that made the trip from Ibiza to Andorra were cheering, I was being covered in champagne and the players were jumping for joy

Much like last season in San Marino, where I’d won the lower league cup with them, I was celebrating another unlikely cup win with another unfancied side. It’s another moment in a short 4 year career of moments. To see the players, my players celebrating a cup win, to think of myself hopping through countries being hounded by the FBI and relentless media is just incredible to me. My whole 4 year career so far has been a rollercoaster full of twists and turns, it’s cliché I know, but it’s true. I’ve never once given up despite the pressure form authorities, probably some players, definitely some fans and even the league wanting me gone and I’d like to think that has pressed onto the players after this cup win.

I shook hands with the ref and linesmen, thanking the 1 that flagged for the penalty and admitting I didn’t see the push. I shook hands with many of the Andorra players, and finally before heading into our dressing shaking hands with Isma Pinera and him congratulating us all. I walked into the dressing room to cheers and more bubbly being sprayed, and all I could think of saying was ‘well done lads, we’ve ****ing done it!

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