After a peripatetic existence in some of Spanish football’s backwaters, with
ten different clubs in 15 years, Juande Ramos finds himself in the unusual
position of being one of the most sought-after managers in the world. Last
week, the Seville coach made the headlines for the wrong reasons after he
was knocked unconscious by a bottle thrown by a Real Betis fan in the
abandoned Copa Del Rey derby.
Ramos’s remarkable work with Seville, who are top of La Liga and on course to
retain the Uefa Cup, has come to the attention of some of Europe’s biggest
clubs, most notably Chelsea and Barcelona. It is understood that he is
Barcelona’s first choice to replace Frank Rijkaard, who is expected to take
a sabbatical at the end of the season, while also featuring prominently on
Chelsea’s shortlist to succeed José Mourinho if, as expected, the Portuguese
also moves on in the summer. Barcelona have already made contact and Roman
Abramovich would be well advised not to linger too long as he considers the
rival merits of Rijkaard, Roberto Mancini and Didier Deschamps.
Seville’s rise to the top has been based on an attacking game plan in which
they sweep forward at every opportunity. Such is Ramos’s belief in his
system that he claims he could make Chelsea unbeatable if given the chance.
With the city still drunk on success yesterday, the morning after the night
before when a thrilling 2-1 victory over Barcelona led to Seville
supplanting the champions at the top of the table, Ramos could get away with
saying anything, but his seriousness is sobering.
“I know big clubs are looking at me,” he said. “I want to reach the pinnacle
of the game. I want to get the best players in the world playing with my
philosophy, as I think that’s an invincible formula. “If you play that way
with the very best players, you can’t be beaten. I’ve proved with Seville
how successful you can be, but we haven’t got the best players in the world.
If I had the best players in the world and gave them that belief and that
doctrine, then I would be invincible. Any of the top sides, like Chelsea,
playing with our mentality cannot be beaten. They have got the best players
in their league and if you give them that mentality they’re unbeatable.”
Ramos will not be drawn further on Chelsea’s interest out of respect for
Mourinho, with whom he worked at the Nou Camp a decade ago during a season
as coach of the Barcelona B team, but his desire to work in England is
clear. After beating Middlesbrough 4-0 in last season’s Uefa Cup final, he
is convinced that his emphasis on attack is perfect for the Barclays
Premiership and an offer from Chelsea could convince him to do the seemingly
unthinkable — reject Barcelona.
“It’s difficult to say where I want to go. If I say Chelsea, Barcelona may
decide they don’t want me,” the 52-year-old said. “I want to be challenging
for the Champions League with one of the big clubs. It depends which of them
buys into my mentality, but for me, England is the perfect place to work in
football. It’s a country I like a lot. I love the intensity and emotion of
the game, the fact that grounds are always full and the fans are so
passionate.”
Ramos’s love of attacking football chimes with Abramovich’s desire to brighten
up his leisure time, while he brings other qualities that would suit the
wind of change blowing through Stamford Bridge. Seville’s success has been
based on a phenomenal youth policy, with 20 players from their academy
making first-team debuts in the past five years.
Ramos speaks with the fervour of a footballing evangelist such as Arsãne
Wenger, and although Chelsea would need to be convinced of his big-match
experience, his sense of romance has brought results. “The reason so many
clubs are looking at me is because of my ideology,” he said. “Seville are
not one of the top clubs in Europe, but we’re competing with them because of
my ideology, which is always to attack, to entertain and never spoil the
game. I tell the players that they must be ambitious. With a 50,000 crowd
paying to watch, you have to give them more than a 1-0 win. I’ll always try
to go for the second, third and fourth. I tell the players not to think
about the score at any time, and to play the same way regardless. At the end
of 90 minutes we’ll see what the score is.
“I know you run the risk of losing like that, but I will never slow the game
down by dirtying the game, wasting time and falling on the floor. My
philosophy is to try and play football right until the last minute.”
The embodiment of this philosophy was seen at the Sánchez Pijuan stadium on
Saturday night, as Seville created three clear-cut chances in injury time
despite holding a 2-1 lead, but it was not the most extreme example of
Ramos’s ideals. As manager of Rayo Vallecano six years ago, he took the
incredible step of deliberately reducing his side to ten men as he was
unhappy with his players coasting to a 2-0 win.
“The players were not trying, so I took the drastic step of taking a player
off the pitch as I wanted them to work,” he said. “We played with ten men
and won 2-0. I knew I could have been killed by the press and the fans, but
I wanted to teach the players a lesson. I was so fed up that I had to do
something.”
Such idealism could not be further removed from Mourinho’s pragmatism. “I hope
people will recognise the work I’ve done, like Arsenal did when they signed
Wenger,” he said. “He’s done an incredible job, but when he arrived in
London very few people knew who he was.”
The people that matter are well aware of Ramos.
CAREER PATH
— Began coaching career at Club Deportivo Alcoyano
— Has managed ten clubs in the space of 15 years, including a spell at
Barcelona B, when José Mourinho was Bobby Robson’s translator
— Made his name by taking Rayo Vallecano into Primera Liga in 1999
before leading them to the Uefa Cup two years later
— Moved on to Real Betis, whom he also took into Europe, and then
Espanyol and Málaga before joining Seville two years ago
— Recovered from the loss of Júlio Baptista and Sergio Ramos to win the
Uefa Cup in his first season, the club’s first trophy since 1948
SUCCESS OF SEVILLE BUILT ON MANAGER’S COMMITMENT TO ATTACKING PLAY
Juande Ramos's preferred formation is 4-2-4 with the emphasis on speed, width
and attacking at pace for the entire 90 minutes. Daniel Alves and Puerta,
the full backs, are encouraged to overlap the wingers, Jesus Navas and
Adriano, to give them effectively four wide players.
Christian Poulsen, the Denmark midfield player, often drops deep to receive
possession as Seville build from the back, creating countless opportunities
for Frédéric Kanouté and Luis Fabiano up front.
Ramos has benefited from the youth system put in place by Ramon “Monchi”
Rodruiguez five years ago. Alves, Puerta and Navas have all come through it.
— David Beckham will have tests today to determine the extent of the right
knee injury he suffered during Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw with Getafe in La Liga
last night. Beckham will definitely miss the second leg of Real’s Champions
League first knockout round tie away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
