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Friday Fulham Stuff - 24/04/20...

Started by WhiteJC, April 24, 2020, 07:09:59 AM

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WhiteJC

'Blessing in disguise', 'We will smash this' – These Leeds United fans agree with confident Phil Hay message

Leeds United are in a fantastic position to win promotion when the season does resume, with Marcelo Bielsa's side seven points clear of third-placed Fulham.

Whilst some fans will refused to get carried away after what happened last season, the reality is that the Whites should return to the Premier League given the advantage they currently hold. With just nine games to play, the Yorkshire side need 21 points from the 27 available to guarantee a return to the top-flight, although that figure is likely to be lower as it works on the basis their rivals will win every game.

So, Leeds fans should be confident, with The Athletic reporter Phil Hay revealing that the club effectively see this as the start of a new, mini-season. And, during a coaching career that has seen him manage in places such as Argentina, Mexico and Spain, among other countries, Bielsa has averaged 15 points from his first nine games.

If that was to happen again, Fulham, who are still to visit Elland Road, would need to collect 22 points to get level with the Whites, whilst Brentford and Nottingham Forest would need 100% records.

Given Bielsa has exceeded his average by collecting 17 and 18 points in his two seasons at Leeds, that bodes well and this breakdown certainly convinced some promotion will happen. Here we look at a section of the comments...



https://leeds.vitalfootball.co.uk/blessing-in-disguise-we-will-smash-this-these-leeds-united-fans-agree-with-confident-phil-hay-message/

WhiteJC

The Long Read: Sylvain Legwinski

Unconventional
adjective

not following what is done or considered normal or acceptable by most people; different and interesting.


Look up unconventional in the dictionary and you get the definition above. A definition that summarises perfectly the footballing career of one of Fulham's most colourful fan favourites. A man who left his mark on the Fulham faithful and will always be remembered with fondness.

Sylvain Legwinski, or "Monica" as he was affectionally called, was perfectly different and interesting in a sea of prototypical footballers. His unkempt hair, modest VW Golf GTI and penchant for a morning read of a French newspaper in Wimbledon prior to training. A misleading exterior for what was a flamboyant ball-playing midfielder who anchored the Fulham midfield for the better part of five years. His casual persona atypical for what we as football fans now associate with the modern day footballer.

In a rather fitting manner, the football journey for this hard-working midfielder almost never was a journey. Growing up in the basketball town of Vichy in central France, the son of a professional basketball player of Polish descent, Sylvain wished to follow in his father's footsteps.

"I was born in small town called Vichy," the Frenchman said. "My father was a basketball player. At the time when he was playing, Vichy was one of the best teams in France.

"Because of this I always wanted to play basketball and not football. The fact that it was such a small town in the countryside meant there was no other clubs around and no competition.

"But one day my father said, 'why don't you go to football?' All my friends were playing and having little tournaments on Saturday and Sunday.

"So that is how I started playing. Vichy is a basketball and rugby area, not a football area, but I grew up in a sporty family.

"Sport was my main interest. I was doing all sorts of sports; basketball, football, table tennis, all at the same time. But at a certain point my parents had to stop because they had to drive me to so many different places for different sport competitions!

"I didn't really look up to any footballers growing up. In France during the 70s there was no football on TV! The only thing I was able to watch was the French cup final and France international games."


The inadvertent journey into the world of football continued in a quintessentially non-stereotypical manner as Sylvain bypassed the normal procedures of joining an academy in France. The norm of going into a footballing academy at the age of 14 never materialised, and after going through school and playing for his local club RC Vichy, whilst developing a broader set of hobbies and interests, an unexpected opportunity arose.

"I was very lucky. I was 18 when I arrived in Monaco, which was very late," he reflected. "Most of the players are in the system from the age of 14/15. They are in the system of recruiters long before that.

"Basically I bypassed all this without being noticed. I was just lucky enough that when I was 17 I was playing in the first team of RC Vichy.

"The trainer was an ex-football player and the physio's father was a scout for St. Etienne. It all started from that moment.

"His father came to visit him one weekend and watched me play. He then asked me to go for a trial there and it went well.

"They wanted me to come and join them so they started a dialogue with my parents, we visited the academy. It was such a nice time for me because it felt nice to be chosen, but at the same time things didn't go well.

"I spoke to my trainer and he put me in contact with another ex-coach of his down in Monaco. I spoke with him and two weeks later I was on my way down for a trial and to join.

"For many reasons it was a massive honour to go there to Monaco. At that stage I still couldn't even picture my future as a professional football player, so my main thing was, 'okay, I am going to go there, I am going to play football, I am going to the South of France, I am going to Monaco so it's all exciting. I will leave my parents' house and get some independence.'

"So at that stage it was more on a personal level. My feeling was that it was a nice experience to have in my life."


Under the stewardship of manager Arsène Wenger, AS Monaco were developing into a consistent force in French football. A star-studded outfit littered with names that would remain football stars for decades to come, not only at Club level but on an international stage.

A manager renowned for putting great faith in youth, Wenger did not wait long to begin factoring a young Sylvain into his first team plans. A series of injuries in the squad would lead to opportunities. But it would be one injury in particular during UEFA Cup match to Rui Barros that would hand the young midfielder his chance.

Despite the plethora of footballing talent within the team, the young academy product was simply focusing on his own development and not the cast around him.

"I didn't really even realise," he said. "When I arrived Glenn Hoddle and Mark Hateley had just left. I remember my first game with the first team. It was the European Cup, playing with Jurgen Klinsmann, George Weah, Emmanuel Petit, Claude Puel, and Jean-Luc Ettori was the figure of the club. It was very impressive.

"Arsène Wenger was the first person to put me out there on the pitch with the first team. It was about a year and a half after I arrived.

"I was not ready until that moment.

"At that period when I was in the academy, he had nine or 10 players in the first team, bearing in mind that the group in the first team was 22 players.

"You had to be top in the Academy to earn that right. After this season he picked me in the first team two or three times but unfortunately he left. So, yes, he was very important for me and my career, but I wish I had longer with him."

After Wenger had moved on to pastures new, Monaco continued to grow and after a brief stint under previous academy coach Gérard Banide, a familiar name guided the side to domestic glory and European forays.

"I was very lucky to play in teams with such brilliant players," Legwinski stated. "The season that we were French champions in 1996/97 it was definitely the best team I ever played with.

"I feel we should have won the European Cup that season but we were beaten in the semi-finals.

"In between Wenger and Jean Tigana, there was a manager from the Academy called Gérard Banide who took over the first team.

"This was really when my career started. He put me in the first team because he had seen me during his time at the Academy.

"He was actually the best coach for me. He had a strong character and he really helped me a lot, he really drove me to fulfil my potential.

"Of course Jean Tigana played a big part in my career. He was a defensive midfielder so in terms of positioning he could assist me personally."


n a true to form twist of fate in the summer of 1996, Sylvain represented his country on one of the biggest stages.

However, to say the pathway that lead him to taking part at the 1996 Summer Olympics was normal would be a tremendous understatement.


"It was the summer of '96," the Frenchman reminisced. "I was about to be 23 years old.

"It was the last year that I was able to delay my National service. It started in June and for football players like me there was a special battalion called the Battalion de Joinville.

"It is a battalion dedicated to sportsmen. We were signing The Marseillaise, marching with heavy gear, but also had a bit of football practice.

"Roger Lemerre was the manager of the French Military team and eventually became the French National Manager.

"At the beginning of July, the Olympic team asked to have a game against us before they went off to the games. We played that game against the team managed by Raymond Domenech.

"At the end, the two managers spoke to each other. Domenech had two injuries and he didn't have any more spaces for Under-20 players.

"So Roger Lemerre looked at him and said, 'why not pick up Sylvain Legwinski!'

"Domenech said, 'he is not under 23', to which he replied, 'yes he is because he has to be under 23 to be in the army training!'

"That was a Tuesday and on a Wednesday someone told me to drive to Paris to meet the Olympic committee.

"They took my passport and told me to go back to Monaco and they might pick me up for the Olympics. So I got back to Monaco and they said, 'ok you have to come back to Paris, tomorrow morning. You are leaving for Atlanta!'

"I arrived with all these players, I just turned up in my converse trainers, a pair of jeans and my backpack. Off I went! We played some friendly games and then I played all the games in the Olympics!

"In that team there was Martin Djetou, Claude Makélélé, Robert Pires, Olivier Dacourt, so we had a very strong team!

"But we came up against teams like Nigeria, Brazil with Ronaldo, and Argentina. We should have ended up in the semi-final but we lost in the quarter finals against Portugal.

"We lost because of golden goal in a game we should have won four or five nil. It was a team full of character!"

After a "necessary" move to Ligue 1 rivals Bordeaux in 1999, a Legwinski longing for a taster of football abroad began to cast admiring eyes at the Premier League.


A French League becoming dominated by the Italian mindset and style of play. Slow, rigid and constricted. A far cry from the fast pace of English football. A restrained and lethargic style of play that was beginning to bore Sylvain eventually could be left in rear view mirror four games into the 2001/02 season.

"I wanted to play abroad," he said. "England was my target.

"We were in August and the transfer window was about to close. There were two clubs interested in me; Borussia Dortmund and Fulham. Dortmund were interested in me but I didn't look at them because playing in England was the ideal choice.

"It was very exciting! My friend John Collins was already at the Club and of course the Chairman was ambitious to be a big team.

"The Club had signed Edwin Van Der Sar, Steve Marlet.

"Everything for me was perfect. I spoke with John and had some chats before, even before Fulham were interested in me.

"I was so excited to live in England. At the beginning the language barrier was a bit of a problem. I knew a little English, but it took me about six months to get to the stage where I could understand movies in English.

"It was very easy for me. It was simply more exciting than a challenge.

"I didn't use the Club teacher, I just wanted to do it myself. A teacher came with Jean Tigana because he wanted French players to communicate in English. He did not want them to speak French in the Club.

"I wanted to live in town when I arrived. I started off in Wimbledon, next to Motspur Park, and then I moved into Chelsea. It was very nice!

"The last two years in France was very difficult to me because it was boring.

"French football at the time was influenced by Italian football and the strategies they had.

"Playing for two big French clubs at the time, everything in the teams we were playing were based around setting up a wall with one striker.

"One striker was playing up front and everyone was just playing counter-attack! So I wasn't enjoying my football much at that time.

"So when I arrived in England all of a sudden it changed. I went from 'score one goal and don't concede', to 'we need one more goal than the opposition'. The context of playing football changed completely.

"This football allowed me to do a lot of running. Play box to box and enjoy lots of space. I really enjoyed this change.

"It was great to be part of that team. It had guys like Steve Finnan, Lee Clark, John Collins, Luis Boa Morte.

"We had a lot of very good football players. Louis Saha was probably one of the best strikers at that time.

"It was a great team and we played a very neat and tidy game. We always wanted to play the ball on the floor all the time. It was so refreshing, the boredom had gone."


With the move, Legwinski was reunited with his old manager Tigana. A manager looking to continue to implement an attractive brand of football on the pitch following promotion to the Premier League.


A coaching setup renowned for their attention to detail and strenuous fitness exercises from then fitness coach Roger Propos. A prospect potentially more daunting for a man yet again defying the norms of being a professional athlete by occasionally smoking.

"Roger was a very good man and very complete at his job," he said. "We had a lot of fitness work at that time, but that is the way you perform at your highest level.

"For me personally I was never happy at the thought of just running around a pitch. I never ever enjoyed it, but we all knew we had to pass through this!

"Yes I smoked from time to time. But I wasn't smoking so much!

"I had been doing sports since I was a little boy. My father was coaching a team so I was going with him to play basketball. I played sport so from a very early age my body was ready to do lots of physical exercise."

In addition to the change in playing style, Legwinski was also quick to point out the difference in football culture following his move from France.

The atmospheres, the stadiums and in particular the "most beautiful stadium in the country" in Craven Cottage.

"In England the passion of the fans was also huge!" he observed. "I didn't realise that before.

"Going to a stadium in France, you have the two long stands down the side which are just spectators who want to see a show and believe that the players should deliver that show.

"The guys behind the goals are the true fans, they will sing all the time. When you enter a stadium in England you can feel the four stands being tense, you can feel that more.

"Yes, an English stadium can be quieter in general compared to France because of the guys behind the goal, but it is tenser. This is because the supporters of a club in England are born a supporter of the club, and die a supporter of the club.

"It is truly part of their identity. That is what makes the atmosphere different and I loved it. Craven Cottage is the most beautiful stadium in the country. What a truly beautiful stadium."

Not renowned for his goal-scoring prowess, the midfielder would pop up periodically throughout his career to score wonderful goals. Bizarrely, two such goals coming against the same opposition, Newcastle United, in very similar circumstances. The first coming against the Magpies during his time at Monaco and the latter during his time with Fulham.

The rasping effort for Fulham cannoning off the post from distance will always be remembered by Sylvain as his best goal. But his breath-taking winner against Tottenham Hotspur deep into injury time will also stay with the Frenchman for life.

"I always say that it was my best goal when I am around my friend who is a Tottenham fan," he joked. "I know he gets a bit tense about it when I say that! I think at Fulham the best goal for me was against Newcastle.

"The Tottenham goal is about the whole game context because as usual versus Spurs we couldn't manage to beat them, at half-time we were losing by two goals.

"Then 45 minutes later we turned it around and near the end I scored that goal. I didn't score many goals so I wasn't used to celebrating. I scored and it was such a great atmosphere I just ran straight.

"I thought, 'uh-oh, I need to do something or I will run into the stand,' so I just slid. I feel people do that type of slide more and more these days."


When quizzed on another mercurial force within the Fulham side that he was a part of for five years, Steed Malbranque, he provided a simple story as a retort.

"I will tell you a little story about Steed," he said. "A bit after I arrived at the Club, Lee Clark came to me and said he needed to talk. We went into a room and said, 'Sylvain, there is a problem, what is wrong with Steed? Why won't he talk to us? Does he like us?'

"So I said to him, 'don't be offended, but he doesn't talk to anyone!' Steed is an introvert, a very nice guy. The only place he expressed to people what sort of person he was, was on the football pitch. But also when he drinks a little bit he talks a bit more!


After 164 appearances for Fulham and five years of service, Legwinski moved on to a fresh challenge at Ipswich Town in the Championship, a move that he admits he did with a heavy heart.

Despite his time coming to an end, Legwinski feels the Club will always be held in the highest of regards because of the family values that it possesses. A match made in heaven in terms of identity. A perfect pairing of understated class and passion.

A home away from home for half a decade, the Frenchman would love to return to Craven Cottage one day.

"I didn't want to leave Fulham and wanted to stay at the Club, but it wasn't meant to be," he admitted. "It was a difficult time for me, it felt hard.

"I felt that I was part of a family. For me, that is why I am very fond of Fulham.

"The identity of the Club inside, it is a fantastic club. I fitted in so well. It matched my personality perfectly. This feeling of being part of a family is what it made just right. It was perfect.

"I always felt a strong connection to the Fulham fans. The fans pair well with the Club in terms of family.

"Yes sometimes you would want them to be louder, but they are too well educated for that!

"It is important that when you feel the support of the fans as a player, it pushes you and pleases you a lot."

After obtaining his coaching badges in Northern Ireland and a successful stint with St Neots Town in non-league football as player-coach, Legwinski has been back in France as Assistant Manager with AS Monaco for seven years.

Back where it all started.

"By the end of my career, I started to pass my coaching badges. I got experience at Crystal Palace. I stayed there for six or seven months. I was there teaching the Under-16s.

"I got my coaching badges in Northern Ireland and I did my course there with Steve Lomas.

"Sometime after that he called me and said why don't you come and help me at St Neots.

"It was very funny and we actually won the title. I'm not sure the name of the League but I was doing a little bit of playing and coaching!

"I moved back to France and after six months I came back to Monaco as an assistant coach. I have been back there for seven years. I am back to where it all began. I am very pleased and happy."


Back at the first port of call on an extraordinary football journey. A career "not written out on paper." A journey that refused to conform to normality and standard protocol at every opportunity.

We all as Fulham fans must feel truly grateful that such a non-standard career would grace our far from ordinary or routine little football club down by the banks of the Thames.

"All my starts in football were not ordinary," he concluded. "When I was 18 by chance I went to Monaco, my first game with the pros was just because of injuries, my journey to the Olympics was because of injury. That is just what made me what I am, my career was not written out on paper.

"I think as a football player people think I am quite unusual. It's strange because I think I am not unusual at all!

"But it might be because I never had the same centre of interest of other football players. It doesn't mean I didn't have any friends!

"I think because I started late that also played a part. I played basketball and got into the sport late and this made me the opposite of an archetypal football player.

"I went to school up to the age of 18, in a normal school. I lived a normal process of growing up and didn't join an academy at the age of 14. I had plenty of other life interests, I wasn't football mad and that led me to become the player that I became.

"I didn't follow the usual path. I didn't drive big cars. I had a GTI and people found it so strange, I didn't understand why! When I arrived in England I needed a car to go to the training ground and that's it, so I didn't get anything fancy! I got four wheels for my family and for me I got the Golf.

"For me Monaco will always be the place that I started, but where I enjoyed my life as a footballer the most, and the football, was Fulham.

"It wasn't just the Club, it was also the league as well. You are playing in a league where there are some many nationalities and International players.

"The fact as well that the English football industry is very well organised, the journalists, the marketing, makes you feel like you are at the centre of the football world. It gives you great pride and confidence.

"It's where I could truly be me." 



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2020/april/23/the-long-read-sylvain-legwinski

WhiteJC

Knockaert to face Pocognoli in final!

Albion midfielder's Crystal Palace stunner sets up World Cup of Goals finale.

Anthony Knockaert's stunning effort in the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last March has made it into the final of Albion's World Cup of Goals.

The Frenchman saw off competition from the likes of David Lopez, Jose Izquierdo and now Florin Andone to seal his place in the final of the tournament, and will face Sebastien Pocognoli to decide who'll be crowned champion.

Knockaert got 58% of your vote, while Andone's superb solo goal, also against the Eagles, at the Amex in December 2018, was runner-up with 42%.

Fans should look out for the final on the club's official Twitter channel next week.



https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/1659804/knockaert-to-face-pocognoli-in-final