He has the most distinctive hair in English football since David Beckham, so
much so that when he put it in braids for a game against Stoke, the
Liverpool Echo interviewed market stall owners and a fancy-dress shop on how
it might affect their trade in curly wigs.
A protest petition and Facebook group - “Bring back the afro Fellaini lad!” -
started immediately. Fans seem intrigued by what is nesting on top of
Marouane Fellaini’s head, and the player’s biggest fan also celebrates it.
At Goodison Park, Abdellatif Fellaini has been seen wearing a big smile and
a fake frizzy mop in homage to his son. “You could say it like that,”
Marouane smiles when asked if his father lives his sporting dreams through
his son. Fellaini senior, who never misses a match involving his boy, will
be at Wembley on Saturday for the latest chapter in a tale of sports prodigy
and pushy parent more commonly seen in individual pursuits such as tennis
and golf.
Abdellatif was a professional footballer, a goalkeeper for Raja Casablanca who
moved to Belgium from Morocco in search of a lucrative career but was
thwarted by work permit problems, injuries and, they say, a newfound taste
for European nightlife. He became a tram driver, raising a family in an area
of Brussels popular with North African immigrants known as Heizel. There,
next-door to the King Boudewijn national stadium, Marouane played street
football and was spotted by scouts from Anderlecht aged just seven.
At 10, Marouane was sidelined by coaches for missing a spate of training
sessions so Abdellatif pulled him out of the club. He took early retirement
and moved his wife and three children to southern Belgium so Marouane could
join the youth team at Mons. Three years later, deciding he did not like the
set-up there either, Abdellatif took his son to Royal Francs Borains. A year
on, he judged that Sporting Charleroi would be better, so the Fellainis
upped sticks again. Around this time he would make his son run to school to
build stamina. His hopes began to be realised when Standard Liege offered
Marouane a professional contract and a house for his parents, if he would
switch clubs once more. Within two seasons, a tall, rangy midfielder with a
scoring habit was making his debut in the Belgian First Division, and two
seasons later Marouane Fellaini was on his way to Everton for a club and
Belgian record £15m.
On Merseyside, like his follicles, things have spiralled in part thanks to an
alternative father-figure, David Moyes. Fellaini struggled in his first few
games but the manager backed him. The goals and good performances began
arriving but so did the bookings, 10 by early January, leaving him banned
for derbies against Liverpool in the League and the FA Cup. Moyes supported
him again. A deal was done for Fellaini to be spared lengthier punishment in
return for accepting a personal lecture from Keith Hackett, England’s head
referee. Moyes helped talk Fellaini through his misdemeanours - but also,
using video evidence, put a case to Hackett that the player was singled out
by officials.
“A lot of his bookings have been deserved but some were to do with him being a
gangly boy tripping people up,” says Moyes. “I’m not sure referees picked on
him but we definitely looked at stuff like when he got booked at
Middlesbrough for persistent fouling when he only committed three fouls,
whereas one of Boro’s players made 12 fouls and never got booked. Because of
his size, you will have a problem getting the ball off him and sometimes
opposing players will get a free kick because of that.”
Fellaini’s take is: “I’d say out of the 12 yellows I’ve had, five were not
bookings. I think I began to learn that if there’s a counterattack and you
do a foul to stop that then in England it’s a booking. I was concerned early
on because I was picking up yellows in pretty much every game, but I think
in these past 10 games I’ve only had one or two cards.” In fact, Fellaini
has been cautioned just once in his past 11 appearances and only twice in 16
since his session with Hackett and Moyes.
Not all of his early troubles can be ascribed to culture shock. He also
attracted a high number of bookings in Belgium, although a red card against
Brazil at the Olympic Games was the result of an opponent’s shameful
play-acting. Fellaini’s favourite Chelsea player is “Drogba. He’s un
guerrier, a warrior. I know his actions when he was substituted against
Barcelona were not a good example for kids, for people watching, but I can
understand where he was coming from. He just lost it and over the two legs
Chelsea deserved to go through. It must have been frustrating. Sometimes I
can lose it a little bit too, but I try and keep a lid on it”.
After his Olympic sending-off, Fellaini’s reaction was a little Drogba-like.
“It didn’t get the same worldwide coverage but I did a few things I should
not have done. I confronted the fourth official and referee’s observer.”
He began growing his hair early last season, one in which his running from
midfield - effective both on and off the ball - helped Standard to their
first championship in 25 years. It took until the beginning of 2008-09 for
the coiffure to grow to the stage it became a talking point in Belgium, and
Fellaini’s compatriots are wryly amused by the attention it attracts in
England. Why the hair? “Why?” he says, sighing and rolling his eyes [or at
least you imagine them rolling somewhere under that fringe]. Everyone to
their own style. My hair’s not important. I see to it myself, I do my own
hairdressing from time to time, do a few touches to trim it. Some days I
feel like keeping it, some I feel like getting rid of it. But life’s been
okay so maybe I’ll keep it.”
The Fellaini wigs? “All the better for me, a good gesture,” he says. “It’s
nice the fans are behind me and I can see that, but the biggest thing is
that I do my job out on the park.” It is a curious thing, a man with an
extrovert haircut and introvert mindset. Fellaini, who lives in a luxury
penthouse in a tower block by Liverpool’s waterfront, says: “When I go out
people recognise me but more and more now I choose to go out in Manchester.
It’s bigger and I just find it a bit quieter. I get recognised there too,
but it’s more calm.”
The intrusion into his personal life of tabloid stories alleging a liaison
with Wayne Rooney’s topless model cousin left him unimpressed. He is more
comfortable - despite his shyn e s s - b e i n g t h e o b j e c t o f d r e
s s i n g room banter. Everton players call him “ S c r e e c h ” , a f t e
r t h e m u s h r o o m -cloud-maned character in tel-evision’s Saved b y t
h e B e l l . “My English is getting better and when they talk about my hair
I just laugh along,” he says.
His previous final, in the Belgian C u p , e n d e d i n defeat. “I know it’s
a massive game, the English cup final,” he says. “Chelsea are favourites and
highly motivated to win, but it’s about how we perform. Our strengths are
mentality, organisation and also our football qualities, which are
underestimated.”
After his itinerant adolescence he is happy to be bedding down somewhere and
rejects the idea he might leave for a bigger club. “I’ve learnt a lot at
Everton already and want to learn more,” he says. “I’m really happy how my
first season has gone. Maybe one day, you never know, but I’ve got a
contract here for five years and can’t see myself anywhere else during that
time.”
That will please Everton fans but will disappoint the quirky-humoured who
would love him to join Manchester United and get Sir Alex Ferguson’s
hair-dryer treatment.
ON TV ON SATURDAY
FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea v Everton 9am Setanta Sports 1, 1.15pmITV 1,kick-off 3pm
HighlightsITV 110.30pm, Setanta Sports 1 midnight
