Daily Musings — 27th March 2017
I demand an apology.
On episode 5 of Messi Situation, I claimed Florentino Perez choose to sign David Beckham over Ronaldhino due to looks.
My co-hosts were adamant this was fake news.
A club board member told El País journalist Diego Torres: “How ugly is Ronaldinho?! There was no point buying him, it wasn’t worth it. He’s so ugly that he’d sink you as a brand. Between Ronaldinho and Beckham, I’d go for Beckham a hundred times. Just look how handsome Beckham is, the class he has, the image. The whole of Asia has fallen in love with us because of Beckham. Ronaldinho is too ugly.”
Which proves the point, Perez is too much of a businessman. He make business decisions, not football ones. Which is why Real Madrid have struggled throughout points of his tenure. They have under him won La Liga in 2001, 2003 and 2012, the Champions League in 2002, 2014 and 2016 and the Copa del Rey in 2011 and 2014.
But they could’ve dominated Spain and Europe far better if they’d had a more balanced team, rather than shoe-horning Galacticos. Makelele, Geremi, Hierro, McMannaman, were all poorly treated by Perez, who didn’t like defensive players. Del Bosque was sacked. Ancelotti faced the sack. A balanced team could’ve done far better.
Radio work is very fun, especially with friends, when the conversation can easily flow. Radio has a very romantic feel and is a useful form of journalism, sometimes TV and online, too much can happen on screen, you can really focus on words and the facts in radio and it’s easier to multi-task.
Also I’ve just uncovered Michael Portillo’s SAS speech from the 1995 Conservative Party Conference.
Regardless of your political persuasion, this has to go down as one of the most savage speeches in British political history. He’s arguing leaving the EU with harsh words whilst standing next to John Major.
Major had recently faced John Redwood in a leadership contest. The then PM stood and applauded but this may have been the one time “Honest John” was not honest. I don’t think he’d have appreciated it.
Got to respect Portillo’s guts for doing that. Portillo has begun a successful media career, where he’s proved himself to be a lot more compassionate than his time in the Commons suggested.
Perhaps he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps if his career was in the 1970s and not the 1990s, he’d have been able to do more.