British footballers abroad

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Given the past transfer saga we had with a Mr. Bale, I have seen through forums or other sites talking about the fact British footballers never succeed abroad, more in particular in Spain. I do not have 20 years of past experience or knowledge about this, but is this a common theme? Didn't Beckham, Owen, and players like that make the leap to Spain? Why were they not a success? Am I deluded in thinking that it seems strange British footballers can't make it abroad? If so, what examples can one think of that were successful forays into abroad for English footballers?
 
Recent British Players in Spain:

McManaman, success. did play in a winning champions league team, scoring in the final
Owen: Failure. Got the impression in interviews that he expected everything laid on a plate for him. hence never left his hotel. (story goes he was happy when he found a newspaper kiosk local to the bernie inn stadium that sold the racing post. apparently arraging getting one sent to him was beyond him, so he managed without until he stumbled on this kiosk)
St David of Beckam: Sporting terms, Failure. They won one title in his time there. Despite the British press and some British football supporters liking to act like he won it single handed, he played about 15 times that year, and they won about 4 of those games. (I can't remember the exact numbers, so that may be wrong. I looked it all up onmce, and its not too far out). Commercial: of course he was a success. There were even stories of some people moving to Spain simply because he was there.
Bale: We shall see. I'll be surprised if he fails, because I think he will get the off field stuff sorted early, rather than wait for the club to do it.
 
I truly believe that if more British players played abroad our national teams would improve. It's so strange that for the most famous league in the world we so rarely export to other countries. Or maybe British players just don't really want to leave because the league here is so good.

If I was a professional footballer I would love to play in Spain or Italy or Germany. Even if I played or spurs I'd probably leave for a couple of years to try another league and live in a different country (before triumphantly returning to see out my career a spurs of course)
 
jimmyriggle said:
I truly believe that if more British players played abroad our national teams would improve. It's so strange that for the most famous league in the world we so rarely export to other countries. Or maybe British players just don't really want to leave because the league here is so good.

If I was a professional footballer I would love to play in Spain or Italy or Germany. Even if I played or spurs I'd probably leave for a couple of years to try another league and live in a different country (before triumphantly returning to see out my career a spurs of course)
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Don't want you. Playing the best years of your career at another club?

Don't want their cast-offs, thanks.
 
By the logic that Beckham was a failure because he didn't win enough titles there, then Ronaldo is as well since RM haven't exactly been raking in the trophies in recent years.

What about Lineker at Barca? Hardly a failure.

I think this idea that Brits abroad can't cut it is something of a fallacy. The players who are being judged here are those who have played at the very highest level for Madrid, etc. Many players don't succeed there because the standard is so high. Is Ozil a failure because he's had to leave? Plus, there simply aren't a great deal of Brits who go abroad full stop, in part due to lack of talent at home, and in part because the PL is the top league in the world.

I really don't think a handful of examples is conclusive enough to say that all Brits abroad are doomed to fail.
 
because fo the bale move, there have been a few interviews with him, as a madrid flop. (especially as, like Bale, he had a young kiddie when he moved there)
My favorite, he complains about being in a business hotel for 6 months. (obviously, from the interview, not a suite but one room), and how that affected his and mrs life..in bed early cos of the kid etc. 6 months. couldnt the mrs get of her arse and find an apartment/ Villa for you, Michael? Couldnt you do it yourself?
he gives the impression of the typical molly coddled footballer. the types that phone the clubs player liason officer cos they've run out of milk


I loved it at Madrid, although there was a bit of a horror story off the pitch. I would definitely advise Gareth and his partner to get a house sorted quickly in Madrid. They have a young child, as my wife and I did when we moved to Madrid. I envisaged immediately having a lovely house, swimming pool, sitting out in the sun, and when I got back from training I would be playing with the two-year-old in the garden. I spoke to Steve McManaman before going out there and Macca loved it in Madrid but he did not have a kid. We did. We were not prepared for a long time in a hotel.

Madrid did plenty to help us, but they put us in a businessmen’s hotel for five months; we had a lovely room, but it was not conducive to playing happy families. Restaurants in Spain do not open until late at night and we could not have our kid staying up to midnight every night. It is just not right when they are two years old. We were putting her down at 7pm, lights off at 7.30, me and my wife would put the one English TV channel on mute while the little one went to sleep.

We would lie there in the pitch black until we dropped off to sleep. It was pretty tough. It was difficult to enjoy. After training, I wanted to go and spend time with the lads, embrace the country. A few times I used to play nine holes of golf with Ronaldo – the Brazilian – and the reserve keeper César Sánchez. I felt really guilty. I knew my wife and daughter would be in the hotel with nothing to do.

I would get in the car after training, and my wife would call, asking: “How long until you are here?” “Twenty minutes.” She’d then ring again. “How long now?” “Five minutes.”

My daughter would be sitting on the step of the hotel waiting for me. When 'Daddy’ came home often I was too knackered to take her around the zoo or wherever.

We did not have a support system around us. When my family came out, they tied their visits in with a Madrid game.

They would arrive on the Friday, and I would already be in the Real team hotel. Madrid games are always 7pm onwards, I even kicked off at 11pm one night. By the time I got showered, got home, it was one or two in the morning. I was knackered, went to bed and basically had only 10 minutes with them before taking them back to the airport in the morning.

Towards the end, we made friends with a Spanish couple. He helped me with legal things, they had a big family so we spent time with them. But really by the time we had found a house, there were only three months left of the season and my wife wanted to get back home and I was certainly missing the Premier League.

Maybe if the hotel situation had not been such a struggle I might have done another year.

If Gareth gets everything sorted out quickly off the pitch, he will enjoy Real Madrid even more than I did. Despite the difficulties off the pitch, I certainly loved my time there.
Click to expand...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/co...h-Bale-will-flourish-if-he-feels-at-home.html


EDIT:Found the column
 
Last edited:
Johnboy40 said:
because fo the bale move, there have been a few interviews with him, as a madrid flop. (especially as, like Bale, he had a young kiddie when he moved there)
My favorite, he complains about being in a business hotel for 6 months. (obviously, from the interview, not a suite but one room), and how that affected his and mrs life..in bed early cos of the kid etc. 6 months. couldnt the mrs get of her arse and find an apartment/ Villa for you, Michael? Couldnt you do it yourself?
he gives the impression of the typical molly coddled footballer. the types that phone the clubs player liason officer cos they've run out of milk
Click to expand...

I doubt he'd run out of milk, because he probably doesn't know how to make a cup of tea.
 
Johnboy40 said:
because fo the bale move, there have been a few interviews with him, as a madrid flop. (especially as, like Bale, he had a young kiddie when he moved there)
My favorite, he complains about being in a business hotel for 6 months. (obviously, from the interview, not a suite but one room), and how that affected his and mrs life..in bed early cos of the kid etc. 6 months. couldnt the mrs get of her arse and find an apartment/ Villa for you, Michael? Couldnt you do it yourself?
he gives the impression of the typical molly coddled footballer. the types that phone the clubs player liason officer cos they've run out of milk




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/co...h-Bale-will-flourish-if-he-feels-at-home.html


EDIT:Found the column
Click to expand...
Interesting that he still had time to play golf and go out on the town with his team mates while mother and baby were roughing it.
 
This is where i think the difference between Bale and Owen will be. I suspect Bale has his head screwed on an awful lot more than Owen, and will make sure he, and the Mrs, have a decent support network.
 
Welshmen abroad are a bit of a mixed bag, John Charles was an absolute legend at Juventus, Mark Hughes at Barca and Ian Rush at Juve were not so good.
 
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