The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 74

The Observer 28 May 2000 www.footballunlimited.co.uk ff3 to wonderboy Steve McManaman's stock has never been higher, but England don't have the options of Real Madrid Paul Wilson ing. It is fair to say that McManaman is something of a one-off. and not every English footballer has the confidence to carve out a new career for himself in Europe, but it is not too difficult to imagine Harry Kewell or Mark Bosnich playing in Italy (no loss to England but a blow to Premiership esteem) or Sol Campbell or Rio Ferdinand finally accepting the lure of a club with real Champions League prospects. The charge which may be about to be brought against English football which has just voted a sixth overseas player in a row as Footballer of the Year is that it does not value its home-grown players highly enough. Consider, as many a young prospect will now be doing, how dramatically McManaman boosted his international stock by joining a continental side.

The last England coach to use him with confidence was Terry Venables, before the emergence of David Beckham. Glenn Hoddle regarded McManaman with suspicion, reviling him for pulling out of the friendly competition in France before the last World Cup and only giving him 17 minutes in the competition proper. Kevin Keegan was willing to give him a try, but appeared to have lost patience after a dismal performance in his last international in Poland. All McManaman's faults were on display that day -the head-down dribbling, the running into blind alleys, the tame surrendering of possession or retention of the ball for too long and if Keegan decided there and then there were better ways to fill an England shirt your correspondent must admit he was entirely in agreement. McManaman was at Madrid by then but was not regularly making the team and his confidence was low.

What changed everything was the arrival of Vicente del Bosque mid-season, who as Manchester United found to their cost, transformed the Champions League campaign by reshuffling the talented players at his disposal and ending up with a Real Madrid who actually played like Real Madrid. Even after his starring role in two quarter-final legs against United, however, McManaman had not heard from Keegan. The week before the final Keegan was enthused enough to talk about bringing him in on the left wing, but one night in Paris apparently convinced the Eng- Bosman foreigners supporters will accept in red shirts at a time when real Scousers are bestriding Europe. Those seeking to restrict the influx of foreigners should have a close look at the composition of Real's winning team. No fewer than nine of the 1) players used on the night, including seven of the starting line-up, are Spanish, as is the coach.

Of the remaining five, three are top-class South Americans Redondo. Roberto Carlos and Savio which leaves McManaman and NMcolas Anelka as the only non-Spanish EU players 'topping up' tlie squad. Mot exactly inundation, and while the odd Bosnian and Yugoslav can be found on Real's books, cut-price Scandinavians and ageing Serie A stars are conspicuous by their absence. Real are an example of why current proposals to limit the number of work permit players clubs can sign from non-EU countries are completely wrong-headed. The Champions League winners obviously have their voluntary code already.

Sign genuine talent from South America, still the most reliable source of exciting young players, and blend it with the best from home. Real do not have a problem with cheap imports, and would be penalised by any reduction in the number of Latin players they could bring over. England, which does have a problem with cheap imports and hardly sources any decent non-EU talent, would be largely unaffected by limitations on work permit players. A cap on non-EU imports is being discussed only because it is workable, whereas restricting movement within the EU is not, but it simply fails to address the problem. IN THE CONTEXT of Real's choosiness McManaman's success in Spain is even more impressive, even if it adds a new twist to the old worry about foreigners in the Premiership.

Until recently it had been assumed English football was merely damaging its future by an over-reliance on imports, choking off the opportunities for young players and depriving promising performers of neces-saiy early experience. If we are now losing our best players to Europe at the same time as importing their so-so ones, it begins to look as if we are doubly suffer 'WHERE'STHAT FENCE, I want to sit on said StL'Vo McMimaman after the most important gnrrwuf Km lift1, that his nowly acquired powers of anticipation and awareness are not just limited to the football pitch. Most people's man of the match in the Kuropean Cup final had just been asked whether this scintillatiiiK Real Madrid side was the best he had ever played in. and though the question did not seem all that searching, McManaman was not sufficiently carried away by personal vindication and the euphoria of the moment to fall into the elephant trap of an unwary answer. 'I've played in several good sides, and I've still got lots of good friends in he said.

'It's not easy to make direct comparisons, except that 1 never played in a Champions League match for Liverpool, and obviously I would have liked The feeling on Merseyside is probably now mutual, for while in the later stages of his Liverjmol career McManaman was variously characterised as a slacker, a Spice Boy and a spoilt brat who would surely get his comeuppance on the continent, his magnificent contribution to Real's eighth European Cup raises some uncomfortable questions for Anfield in particular and English football in general. The irony of McManaman's current standing as the most successful ever English export to Europe will not be lost on Liverpool supporters who watched their team miss a Champions League place by losing to Leicester and Bradford. The diplomatic McManaman insists he remains on cordial terms with Gerard HouIIier, yet with every elegant surge in Paris he undermined the Frenchman's Anfield revolution, which lias basically brought in younger players who are more obviously willing but less enviably gifted. The immediate Anfield futures of Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen cannot be guaranteed while Liverpool remain outside the Champions League echelon, and there is a limit to the number of post- Move over. United: Steve McManaman lifts the European Cup after victory over but who will make way for McManaman in the England team? Photograph by Michel EulerAP Tve had my critics and now I must sustain my form with England' needed to.

On the other hand, neither Keegan nor the England defence is really convinced by the wing-back system that McManaman and his Spanish team favour. Phil Neville is no Roberto Carlos, Alan Shearer would not get into the Real side and there are now just two games left for try-outs before Euro 2000 gets under way. there is no ideal solution, and since Paul Scboles is valuable for his goals. Keegan should not be too harshly blamed if he reverts to his original plan of using McManaman broadly on the left, it's like a blancmange, you can try different things." Keegan said in one of his less well-judged soundbites. Pink, wobbly and insubstantial? Surely that was the England (and the McManaman) of six months ago.

When the pair are reunited against Ukraine on Wednesday. England expects to see something a little more mature and flavoursome on the menu. land manager to scrap that tentative plan and rethink his whole formation to accommodate McManaman in midfield. Meteoric rises are not uncommon in football, but rarely can anyone have gone from pariah to prince, from wastrel to wonderboy, in such a short space of time. As McManaman knows.

Tve had my critics and I'll have them he said, it's great when people write nice things about you. but you then have to sustain it. Like over this summer with England." STRICTLY SPEAKING, THIS is now Keegan 's problem, not McManaman's. The player is not going to carry the can if he flops this summer for England, it will be the manager's fault for not using him properly. Keegan, being Keegan, calls this not so much a problem as a fantastic opportunity.

Which it is. If McManaman has forced Keegan to re-examine the way England play he is to be applauded, because something 1 Division Two, Today 3pm Wigan Athletic Division One, Tomorrow 3pm Ipswich Town Gillingham Barnsley I In the league: Wigan 2 Gillingham Gillingham 1 In the league: Ipswich 6 Barnsley Barnsley 1 Ipswich 2 Local verdict: Tony Hudd, MedwayToday England's loss proved Gillingham's gain as Peter Taylor made a spectacular return to club management after his success-laden tenure with England under-21s. Fears of a long hangover following last May's play-off final heartbreak against Manchester City proved unfounded as Gillingham juggled with league and cup obligations. FA Cup Local verdict: Tony Dawber, Wigan Observer The season started superbly after just missing out in the play-offs last season controversially to Manchester City. This time they enjoyed a massive unbeaten league nm that lasted until January 24 games although it is fair to say their performances did not always match their results.

Since then they've blow hot and cold. A Local verdict: Tony Garnett, East Anglian Daily Times. Ipswich start favourites to overcome Barnsley but the bookmakers announced their odds before they knew that target man James Scowcroft was likely to miss out with hamstring trouble. Scowcroft has been voted player of the season by supporters and fellow players alike a vital cog in the Ipswich wheel operating just behind the strike force of David Johnson and 2.5 million Marcus Stewart. Local verdict: Keith Lodge, Barnsley Chronicle Barnsley have played 55 games in all competitions so far this season and they have produced a remarkabie' 190 goals.The fact that the goal difference is so close at 106-84 tells the story.

The Reds are a superb attacking side but their defending has left a great deal to be desired, despite the heroics of player-of-the-year defender Chris Morgan who has been checked by several top clubs already.This season Ipswich have put eight past Barnsley, so much depends on how Morgan and Co get their act together at the back. Craig Hignett is the potential match-winner, always capable of turning a poor spell was ended by the arrival of Nei adventures which saw them claim tlie scalps of Bradford and Sheffield Wednesday before p-i Ii-u-i tha nuaH-ak'-finalc irv thn fit Redfearn who sparked a short winning run, but all went pear-shaped in the closing weeks as they threw away the chance of automatic Martijn Reuser, the Dutch international on loan from Vitesse promotion. A narrow win in the play-off semi final over Millwal) has again prompted the 11 ICI I iO VI IC IllVCIJf UCfJU ly GM'fU I Hi i skills could blossom on Wembley's wide time to meet Chelsea never defelcted their promotion drive. Defender Barry Ashbyand midfielder Andy Hessenthaler who at 35 still plays with a tiger roaring in his tank will be open spaces. game either by setting up chances for others or by scoring himself.

He leads the hitmen with 20 goals with Neil feeling that Wigan could edge it. The key man could be industrious forward Andy Liddel! while another ex-Barnsley man, defender Arjan De Zeeuw, is Shipperley (15); Darren Barnard (15) and Mike Sheron (11) the other double-figure marksmen. a Premiership-quality player whose experience will be vital. Alan McLoughlin, the veteran Final League position: 4 Pfay-off pedigree: 2000: Birmingham 0 Barnsley Barnsley 1 Birmingham 2 Odds to win today's play-off: 6-5 Odds to win First Division last August: 25-1; to win promotion 6-1 Ipswich are a passing side and Jim Magilton is the key man.They build from the back and hope that John McGreal might return after an ankle injury to help provide the right balance. Goalkeeper Richard Wright needs a commanding perfonnance to clinch a place in England's Euro 2000 squad.

Final League position: 3 Play-off pedigree: 1987: Ipswich 0 Charlton Charlton 2 Ipswich 1997: Sheffield Utd 1 Ipswich Ipswich 2 Sheffield Utd 2. 1998: Ipswich 0 Charlton Charlton 1 Ipswich 0. 1999: Bolton 1 Ipswich Ipswich A Bolton 3. 2000: Bolton 2 Ipswich Ipswich 5 Bolton 3 (aet) Odds to win today's play-off: 8-13 Odds to win First Division last August: '( influential if Gillingham are to succeed at Wembley today. Off the field, chairman Paul Scally maintained his ban on MerAvayTodayfor all home games.

Photographers clung to chimneys and I became a master of disguise on match days. Final League position: 3 Play-off pedigree: 1987: Gillingham 3 Sunderland Sunderland 4 Gillingham 3 (ag); Gillingham 1 Swindon Swindon 2 Gillingham replay -Swindon 2 Gillingham 0. 1999: Preston 1 Gillingham Gillingham 1 Preston 0. Gillingham 2 Man City 2 (lost 3-1 pens). 2000: Stoke 3 Gillingham Gillingham 3 Stoke 0 (aet).

Odds to win today's play-off: 5-6 Odds to win Second Division last August: 10-1; to win promotion 5-2 schemer, is an unlikely starter but may make the bench. Final League position: 4 Play-off pedigree: 1987: Wigan 2 Swindon Swindon 0 Wigan 0. 1999: Wigan 1 Man City Man City 1 Wigan 0. 2000: Millwall 0 Wigan Wigan 1 Millwal! 0 Odds to win today's play-off: 5-6 Odds to win Second Division last August: 7-2; to win promotion: evens Live, minute-by-minute coverage from 3pm on the Observer network: LS vwywiootb 10-1; to win promotion 5-2 Key man: Andy Hessenthaler (Gillingham) By Marie-Jose Kieef Key man: Martijn Reuser (Ipswich)- By Marie-Jose Kleef game after a terrifying on-pitch fit that still haunts Hessenthaler.They played together at Hessenthaler' first club, Corinthian. Hessenthaler said: 'There are certain things that put football in perspective.

I'll never forget that day even though I try not to think about it too much now. The team was playing away in Essex and he just collapsed on the pitch. 'It was unbelievable no one really knew what was going on. He was only a young lad and what happened stunned everyone. It was my worst moment in football when I heard that he'd died.

It was very sad and, at that time, I was still young and my only ambition in life was to become a professional That's why Hessenthaler will very likely spare a moment to remember his late pal when the hullabaloo dies down today. bly thought his last chance of Wembley glory disappeared last May when Manchester City delivered the cruellest of blows in iast year's Second Division play-off final. That may explain why Hessenthaler and Taylor both described the Gills' FA Cup quarter-final dash with Chelsea earlier this season as 'our Wembley'. Just a couple of months later they are back beneath the Twin Towers with the opportunity to bury the disappointment of last year's last-gasp defeat against City. But if Gillingham and Hessenthaler prevail, amid the steamy euphoria to be found in every Wembley winners' dressing room, the veteran will spare a thought for one of his old friends who died when he was ploughing the same non-league Kent beat.

Colin Horner collapsed and died during a ITS A FAIR bet if Gillingham win at Wembley today that midfielder and skipper Andy Hessenthaler (above) wilt have been instrumental he is at the hub of the side. Not only that, he can probably second guess manager Peter Taylor's demands and promptings before they are because the two men know each other well. 'We go back a long says Taylor. 'He was my fifth signing when I was manager at non-league Dartford. I signed him from Kent club Corinthians and paid him 40 a week.

He would have played for nothing, He probably would and for years Hessenthaler was happy to scratch a living from the game and did not play in the league until he was 26, when Watford took a gamble back in 1991. He will be 35 in August and proba of earning a spot in the first eleven after Jari Litmanen left for Barcelona. But Reuser did not fit the plans of manager Wouters and was on the bench for most of the winter. 'This season I felt I deserved more than that. Wouters had promised me a proper says the ambitious player, 'but when I had performed well, I was on the bench the next and sometimes when I had played crap I was back in.

I did not see the logic in that. 'I'd like to stay in England. The football here suits me and I am playing better each week. The game against Barnsley is therefore as important for the club as it is for me personally. If we win, Ipswich will probably want to buy me, if we lose they won't.

I hope to play from the start at Wembley if not, I'll try to make a difference from the bench as I have done TWO MONTHS AGO Dutch international Martijn Reuser (above) flew into Ipswich to score the winning goal against Fiilham in his 15-minute debut. Since then the loan-signing supersub from Vitesse Arnhem has added power and creativity to midfield and scored some important goals in the anxious last weeks of the battle for promotion. He would love to complete the mission at Wembley. 'Things can go says Reuser, a 25-year-old attacking midfielder. In those two months Reuser has been transformed from a depressed player in an Amsterdam dressing room to a confident Wembley finalist.

feels good to be appreciated again." Although even this year he played and scored for Ajax in the Uefa Cup, he had walked into a dead-end street under new manager Jan Wouters. Reuser had certainly seen better times. After years in the Dutch Under-21 side he earned himself a chance in Frank Rijkaard's full squad in a friendly against Ghana in 1998. But these past few weeks he has vigorously fought for Ipswich's Premiership dreams. Born and raised in Amsterdam, Reuser entered the Ajax youth training program and was signed by the club in 1993 at the age of 18.

He played a small part in Ajax's victorious Champions League campaign in 1995, but after that he was a regular for Louis van Gaal's side. Midway through 9798 he went to Vitesse Arnhem. As the ambitious club rose into the top three in the Dutch league for the first time in the club's history, Reuser had his best two seasons so far. Then he returned to the struggling Ajax side at the beginning of this season, with high hopes.