What is it with managers? They always seem to be in total control of whatever situation on or off the pitch. Even when they lose it, they seem to be doing it on purpose and only to gain some advantage.
The death of one of your players puts all that into sharp focus, of course. Three years ago, José Antonio Camacho walked off the pitch crying when he realised that Miki Fehér had collapsed and died while playing for his Benfica team.
Antonio Puerta, of Seville, fainted on the grass on August 25 this year but walked to the changing-rooms, where he collapsed again and fell into a coma. He died three days later. There were private tears cried by Juande Ramos, the coach, when he found out what was going on, but publicly he has been the face of serene sadness. And the first instigator of what seems to be the best solution for these extreme situations is the quick recuperation of normality, of routine.
“The show must go on,” he has been heard saying. Straight after his best season as a manager (Uefa Cup and Spanish Cup winners, fighting to the end for the Spanish title), he lived the most difficult time as a professional, as a person, as a leader.
“It is true that, in a very short period of time, many unexpected things have happened and we have dealt with them one by one as we could,” he said. “It has been a very short pre-season, with a very dense calendar, and instead of friendlies we have had dramatic finals – two legs of the Spanish Super Cup where we beat Real Madrid, the European Super Cup that we lost to [AC] Milan, the qualifiers of the Champions League. Thank God we have had excellent results.
“But, in the middle of all that, there was also the face of disaster, the death of Antonio, one of our very important players, born in Sevilla and a huge Sevilla fan, a young guy that was essential to the group dynamic. We were all hit by something huge and we would have swapped a bit of his life for all the titles, for any reward, for anything. We have to overcome that and we are in the process of it. Getting to the group stages has taken a weight off our shoulders because we got an important prize to dedicate to him.
“All we could do is to continue playing for him and the group has got the message. That is the closest I can to put into words all the feelings we went through, some of which I cannot even comprehend.”
There was also the interest from Tottenham Hotspur and the famous meeting in a Seville hotel. “I lived through those days with the normality required,” Ramos said. “I mean, [Frédéric] Kanouté, [Ivica] Dragutinovic, [Daniel] Alvés, they all had interest from different teams and the same happens with coaches.”
The more he thinks about it the more he realises that his style would suit the Barclays Premier League. “I almost renewed my contract with Sevilla, but now we have left it to the end of the season,” he said. “I will then talk again to my club. The main thing is to continue respecting the group and the style that has taken us here. We have a clear philosophy and teams know how we play - we go for the victory from minute one. A bit like Arsenal.”
Seville and Arsenal certainly play in the same way but only one team have spent nine consecutive years in the Champions League while the other are making their debut.
“I have seen what Arsène Wenger has said about us being one of the top teams in Europe, but we are not,” Ramos, whose team take on Arsenal in a group H match at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, said. “We are just starting. Arsenal are the favour-ites to win the group and to go far. We will try to qualify to the next round and see match by match how far we can go. And then we will go home to pray for Antonio.”
For the full interview, see Revista De La Liga, Sky Sports 2, 6pm tomorrow
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