Norwich Archives - En Clave Culer

Lost kids in the big city

09/02/2015 por Andrea Orlandi

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We play at home and we play better. We have adapted to Bloomfield Road’s “perfect grass” and with the help of our people and the pride that we haven’t lost yet, we are capable of facing any team. Very few teams like to play in our ground because they understand what it means to play against a wounded team on an impossible pitch…But we play away and we look like kids lost in a big city. That is what happened to us on Saturday in Norwich. Lost and scared.

It is difficult to explain anything without offending our fans. At the end of the day, it is for them that we play and they don’t deserve this. In Carrow Road more of the same: we started well, facing up a superior team that has premiership quality players and just pushing ourselves to the limit, until a stupid play in the midfield with a inoffensive pass ended up in Hooper’s first goal. From then on, it all became an impossible climb. We never gave up but it looked like we did.

I watched the highlights of the game yesterday and I was thinking, as I always do, if I couldn’t have done something more… The second goal, we have to admit that, was a hell of a goal that would have been the goal of the month all over the world, had it been scored by Rooney or Messi. In 25 minutes all our plans had collapsed, all our expectations had been destroyed and all our hopes completely gone.

Norwich and Blackpool are two opposite worlds. They look at the promotion play-off with joy whereas we look at our position of the table with despair, and these kind of things really show on the pitch. It multiplies the differences between both teams, and it doesn’t matter how hard we try, we become a desperate bunch. Sometimes, I rely on that desperation to push forward but we have to be stronger than we are, especially away from home.

In the coach we watched a video that didn’t help that much in the end but that I replay in my mind to keep my faith. The video showed Sunderland and Birmingham last season, when for most they were already relegated but managed to stay up right at the end. These examples help us and motivate us but then you need to get out there and play without fear, you need to repeat what you do in the training sessions, you need to be stronger than the rival, and it seems that we are not capable of doing this. I refuse to believe that everytime we play away we are going to get trashed because it has never happened to me before. I have never experienced a situation like this and our fans don’t deserve it as they are the ones who get more affected.

It has been a terrible season so far and we need to be men enough to face what we have got left with dignity and show our anger in every game to confirm that we deserve to stay up. Many will pass by this club, some will stay others no, but Blackpool with remain and their fans will suffer. It is for them and only for them that we must honour the colours we are wearing. I can’t keep thinking about the few but extremely good fans who accompanied us in Carrow Road. I could see them in the stands and I suffered with and for them, and I thought that we really have to beat both Middlesbrough and Forest who are coming to Blackpool next. We owe that to our fans.

In Norwich we also met the MLS team Chicago Fire who are doing their pre-season in the UK and were in the stadium watching the game. We were in the same hotel and I had a chat with Guly do Prado who trained with us a while ago. It was nice to see him and he is very excited about this new adventure in the US, in a league that is growing a lot and attracting more and more European players. Of course, if you are Gerrard or Lampard and they pay you what they get paid, even better!!!

I wanted to talk about a very especial letter that I received last week from a Brighton fan called James, who wrote to me to show me his appreciation and to tell me how worried he is about the team’s situation and how upset he was when Brighton didn’t renew my contract. I am very grateful for his support but must clarify that I wasn’t treated badly by the club. They simply thought that it was better to trust the young players rather than me, and they thought that I couldn’t offer much else to the club and decided not to renew my contract. Of course I didn’t agree with those reasons but I am a professional and I have to accept these things.

These kind of letters, like the one I talked about before from a Blackpool fan, give sense to our profession, way beyond the money. I don’t understand football without that communion between myself and the fans. I lived it in Vitoria and I lived it with Swansea, Brighton and now Blackpool. Like I did, of course in Barcelona. I am not going to lie though, and say that I was a Blackpool hardcore fan way before I arrived, but I have now been here for nearly 7 months and I am completely commited to this team because I felt respected and appreciated from day one. This is the way I am and I have always been. I suffer as much as the fans and I am now in a ship that is sinking but I am going to try my best to keep it afloat.

By the way, on Thursday the foot doctor brought a compilation of newspapers where my weekly column from am14.net is published and we had a good chat about it. I understand now why I never get any interviews!! I am out there every week and didn’t have a clue. I save lots of work to some journalists so I am wondering whether I should stop talking to them after all….

Jokes aside, we are playing against Middlesbrough next who haven’t lost a game in the last 7. They look at the premiership and have a coach like Karanka who has proved that he was more than Mourinho’s helper. A good friend plays there, Damià Abella, who is still recovering from a serious injury. He has been very unlucky as he started the season in the 1st eleven and I really hope he gets back to the pitch soon. However, it doesn’t matter how good they are. In Blackpool they will have to suffer a lot. On Bloomfield Road’s “perfect pitch” both teams will start from scratch and we will die to try to maintain our hopes.

Thanks for being there. To the tangerine people I cannot but being grateful for your unconditional support despite everything that is going on. Yes we are wounded but still breathing.

Come ooooooon!!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

Orlandi’s Monday: para llorar

30/12/201429/09/2014 por Andrea Orlandi

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Ya son diez partidos sin ganar. Sé que muchos aficionados del Blackpool leen este diario y se me hace difícil hablar de nuestra trayectoria, buscar una excusa, argumentar lo que es imposible. Si no cometemos un penalti lo fallamos, si no nos metemos un gol en propia puerta damos nosotros las asistencias a los rivales… Es de locos y parece de chiste, pero lo cierto es que así es muy complicado competir en una Liga como esta.

Lo dije la semana pasada y lo mantengo. Nadie nos pasa por encima, pero todos están por encima nuestro. Repasé ayer mentalmente el partido con el Norwich, que es el nuevo líder, y no encontré una razón evidente para que nos ganasen con esa claridad. Llevábamos el partido controlado, ganábamos… Y venga, el ‘regalo’ de cada día. Y entonces es como si el cielo se cayera sobre nuestras cabezas.

Me marché de Bloomfield Road con lágrimas en los ojos. No llegué a llorar, no voy a engañar a nadie, pero nunca había sentido una rabia tan intensa, tan fuerte. Nunca me sentí tan impotente. Lo siento en el alma pero no estoy acostumbrado a esto. No puedo ser feliz si todo el esfuerzo no se traduce en resultados. Al llegar a la sala de familias del estadio, solo Norah pudo sacarme una tímida sonrisa. Pero sigo con un cabreo enorme.

Y por si fuera poco, salí al campo en el minuto 91 perdiendo 1-3. Una anécdota más para contar a mis nietos. Seré un abuelo entretenido, pero este inicio de temporada me va a quitar años de vida.

Frente al Norwich debutó mi amigo Cubero, y hasta que tuvo gasolina dio mucho empaque al equipo y estuvo acertado. Esos dos minutos que le dio de descanso el entrenador (salí al campo por él), le irán bien de cara al martes. Bueno, dejando de lado la broma, que no estamos como para hacer demasiadas, ayer entrenamos y vi al vestuario hundido, deprimido, muy jodido. El calendario no ayuda y ahora tenemos partido en Middlesbrough mañana y el viernes en casa con el Cardiff. Otras dos pruebas muy difíciles. El Boro cambió de filosofía con la llegada de Karanka y ahora juega la pelota, tiene a Tomlin, el 10, que es un futbolista excelente. A este te lo encuentras por la calle y lo último que piensas es que sea futbolista, pero en el campo es un dolor de cabeza. Un jugón de primera.

En casa hemos pasado una semana complicada porque las dos niñas se pusieron malas, primero Norah y después Emma. La idea es que Norah comenzase la guardería pero la tuvimos que posponer. Por fin hemos encontrado una cerca de casa con plazas y ya empezamos a hacernos a la idea de lo difícil que será acostumbrarla porque en Brighton la experiencia fue complicada.

Pero para estar entretenido ahí están los gemelos Oriol. Es agradable que estén aquí y en cierta manera ayuda a sobrellevar toda esta mala leche por la situación del equipo, ¡pero es difícil de explicar el trabajo que llegan a dar! Esta semana el problema ha sido Internet. Edu ya tiene casa, cerca de la mía, así que me pidió que le solicitase el alta en Internet. ¿Fácil? En UK os aseguro que no tanto. Lo hago con el ordenador, todo parece perfecto. El día ‘x’ llega el aparato a casa y al cabo de 48 horas vienen a instalarlo. Todo tan simple que aún estamos esperando a que venga alguien. Después de 700 llamadas intentando arreglar el tema sigue sin wi-fi en casa. Confiar en que vayan a hacerle la instalación es más complicado que ser recibido por el Papa (¡lo ha hecho el Recre!).

Por cierto, el miércoles pasado vino un miembro de la FA a hablar con la plantilla. Todos los futbolistas de todos los clubes de categoría profesional en Inglaterra están asociados a la federación. La inscripción cuesta 150 libras al año, y normalmente tu club paga directamente ese dinero restándotelo del sueldo. De los 92 clubes profesionales de Inglaterra solamente hay uno que no lo hace. Sí, el Blackpool, así que tenemos que ponernos al día los jugadores por nuestra cuenta. Vino a explicarnos la nueva normativa en cuanto a las apuestas, para dejarnos claro que no podemos apostar en ningún partido de ninguna competición, y de paso nos recordó que no hemos pagado. Mejor no hacer comentarios al respecto.

Siempre me he tenido por un tipo alegre y optimista pero llevo días jodido. No puedo reír viendo como va el equipo y menos aún cuando veo las caras de nuestros aficionados después de los partidos. Nunca me he mantenido al margen de la gente que apoya a su club y tampoco lo hago ahora. Me fastidia mucho y solo puedo acabar como siempre, aunque cada día me cueste más decirlo.

¡¡¡Vamoooosssss!!!

Orlandi’s Monday: about to cry

30/12/201429/09/2014 por Andrea Orlandi

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It is now ten games without a win… I know many Blackpool fans read my diary and it’s hard for me to talk about our downward spiral, to try to find an excuse, to argue what is impossible to argue. If it’s not a missed penalty, it’s an own goal or helping the other team score a goal. It’s crazy and it seems a joke but it is true and this way it is very hard to be competitive in this league.

I said it last week and I stand by my words. No one walks all over us but everybody is above us. I was thinking about the game against Norwich, the new leaders, and I couldn’t find any reasons why they beat us so easily. We were controlling the game, we were winning…and there you go, the “gift of the day”. And then it was like the sky has fallen all over our heads.

I left Bloomfield Road with wet eyes. I didn’t actually cry, I won’t lie to anyone, but I have never felt such an intense anger, I have never felt so frustrated. I am really sorry but I am not used to this. I can’t be happy when all the effort we put through doesn’t translate into good results. When I got to the family area at the stadium, only Norah managed to make me smile slightly. But I am still really pissed off.

And to make it worse, I was sent on in the 91st minute when we were 3-1 down. An anecdote to tell my grandsons, I will be an entertaining grandpa I guess…. This start of the season is going to make me go grey!

Against Norwich it was the debut of my friend Cubero, and he played quite well and helped the team until he ran out of fuel. I am sure those two minutes that the coach decided to give him when I substituted him, will do him good for Tuesday’s game…. Joking aside, we are mentally affected. We trained yesterday and the atmosphere in the locker room was really bad, everybody seems down and very distressed by the current situation.

The calendar doesn’t help as we have a tough game in Middlesbrough tomorrow and a home game against Cardiff on Friday. Another two difficult games. Boro changed their style of play when Karanka took over and now they play a good passing game, they have Tomlin, number 10, who is an excellent player. If you met this guy on the street you wouldn’t believe he is a football player…but on the pitch he’s a constant headache, a top player.

At home it’s also been a difficult week because both girls got sick, first it was Norah and then Emma. Norah was about to start going to nursery but we had to postpone it. We have finally found a nursery which has places available and it’s close to home but we are starting to realise how difficult it is going to be given the challenging experience that we had in Brighton.

But if you want to really be entertained you have got to look at the Oriol twins. It’s very nice that they are here and somehow they help me to take my mind away of the difficult situation of the team, but how hard work they are!! This week, the problem was the internet. Edu has already got a house, close to mine, so he asked me to open an internet account for him. Easy? Not that easy in the UK. I opened an account with my computer and everything was fine. On the day you have arranged they bring the router and after 48 hours they come to set it up, simple isn’t it? Well, we are still waiting for someone to come. After more than 700 calls trying to solve the problem he still doesn’t have internet at home. It seems harder to get the internet installed in your house in the UK than getting an appointment with the Pope (Recre just managed to do that!)

By the way, on Wednesday a member of the FA came to talk to the players. All the professional football players in England are members of the FA. The registration costs 150 pounds a year and normally it is your club which pays this fee by taking the money out of your wage. Out of 92 professional clubs in England there is only one which doesn’t do this. Blackpool of course! Therefore, it’s us the players who have to make sure the payments are up to date. He also talked to us about betting, to make very clear that we are not allowed to bet on football games, no matter what league or competition. And he reminded us that we still haven’t paid our fees. No comments.

I have always considered myself to be a happy and optimistic person but I have been really down for a few days. I can’t smile or be happy seeing how the team is doing, let alone seeing the faces of our fans after the games. I have never been a player who doesn’t care about the people who support my team and I can’t do it now either. It really bothers me and I can only say what I always say, although it’s getting harder and harder…

Come ooooooon!!!!