The life and times of Neuchâtel Xamax

Russian owner wields axe at Swiss club

Been and gone – Brazilian Sonny Anderson was coach for two games.

 Bulat Chagaev has ambitions of turning Neuchatel Xamax into more than just an impossible to pronounce Swiss club. The Chechen billionaire took over the club in May and wasted no time in making his mark on first team affairs, sacking First Team coach Didier Olle-Nicole on his first day in charge. Not that his replacement fared much better - Bernard Challendes managed to steer Xamax away from a relegation play-off and to the Swiss Cup final, but defeat to FC Sion saw his 3-week tenure come to an end.

It has to be said that these are changing times for the club based on the beautiful Lake Neuchâtel. A relatively new outfit, Xamax were formed in 1970 as an amalgamation of two local clubs and have played in the top level of Switzerland, the Super League for the majority of their existence. They enjoyed a spell at the top of the Swiss game in the mid 80's, qualifying for European competition 5 years in a row, the last two campaigns being in the European Cup having secured their only two league titles in 1987 and 1988. They enjoyed semi-regular UEFA Cup football in the 90's and appeared last in the 03/04 version of the competition, losing out to French club Auxerre in the first round. That was Xamax's last real success of note, they were relegated in 05/06 (they bounced straight back up the next year) and have since bobbed along in the lower reaches of the 10-team Super League.

They were taken over by Chagaev in May of 2011 at the tail end of another mediocre campaign, although not without some controversy. The Russian business man didn't turn up to the vote to confirm his ownership, nor the first press conference, when he was expected at both. He was hardly inconspicuous in his absence. Chagaev was hosting famous footballers from yesteryear in his home country at Terek Grozny (the Chechen club which sacked Ruud Gullit earlier in the summer) in which he owns a stake. Whilst his deal to sign Xamax was being completed, Chagaev was sharing champagne with Diego Maradona, Luis Figo, Robbie Fowler and the leader of the state Ramzan Kadyrov.

The man sent to field questions back in Switzerland was Andrei Rudakov. The ex-Spartak Moscow striker has been put in day-to-day charge of the club under the title of President. His first job was to dilute some of the claims of the Billionaire who had given him the gig. "The first thing is that we have to stay in the Super League," he said. "Today, it's about staying in the Super League and winning the Swiss Cup.” This was in reply to queries from journalists using quotes from the owner who insisted that the club was going to win the Super League at the first time of asking and that he was looking forward to them playing in the Champions League, some doing for a club who finshed 3^rd bottom last season.

Not that Xamax have been slow to act in the transfer market. They secured a huge coup in signing former Valencia captain David Navarro to lead their back line, alongside solid Dutchman Sander Keller from FC Utrecht. They also managed to snap-up young stars Victor Sanchez (from Barcelona) and Vincent Bikana, who is a centre half from Cameroon who has been playing with Corinthians in Brazil.

The season looked promising and under Sonny Anderson, the ex-Brazilian international forward, their was a chance that Xamax could challenge in and amongst the European spots. At least that was the idea. The season didn't get off to the best start. The owner had sacked the entire administrative staff before the first game – leaving fans to rely on hand-written tickets to enter the 12,000 seater Stade de la Maladière. What followed was a 3-0 home defeat to Luzern and that saw Chagaev act immediately. Rodrigo Galatto, a Brazillian goalkeeper signed a week previously from Malaga and making his début, was unbelievably sacked by the club.

It seemed that nobody was safe, and that theory was proven correct after Xamax were unsurprisingly defeated at Basel in their second league game of the season. The major shareholder managed to sack his 3^rd manager in just 2 months as he terminated the contract of Sonny Anderson and his entire coaching staff. First team coach Francois Ciccolini, who joined Anderson at the club in June, said "They can't ask us to perform magic".

Xamax are currently bottom of the Swiss league and in all honesty it will take a lot for them to challenge for the title this year. They are some way short of the excellent Basel and a turnaround in form that drastic was always going to be unlikely, no matter what the investment this summer. That's not to be said that Xamax isn't a good investment. They are a club with a small but passionate fan base and with patient building could potentially challenge the title-holders in the not so distant future.

It remains to be seen as to whether Neuchatel Xamax and Bulat Chagaev can work as a partnership, but after 2 months and 3 managers, it's hard to see there ever being an environment in which the club can flourish under his rule. It's another example of a European football team being bought under a foreign-owner looking for instant success, and whilst Chageav's wealth isn't the issue in this case, his methods definitely are.

The rise and fall of Unirea Urziceni

Champions League to obscurity in less than a year

Ex-Chelsea man Petrescu guided Unirea to the Champion's League

Unirea Urziceni started the 2010/11 season in a qualification play-off for the Champions League. The runners-up spot in the Romanian Liga I had secured them a two-legged tie against Zenit of Russia, which they lost by a single goal (1-0 on agg) to end their Champions League ambitions for that year. Fast forward 12 months and Unirea would love to have ambitions of any league at all.

Urziceni is a tiny town in the Ialomita county of Romania. Until 2003 the town's team bobbed along in the lower echelons of the Romanian league system, achieving essentially nothing. Unirea were promoted in the 2002/03 season, entering the split 2^nd division of the Romanian football pyramid. It was then that they were taken over by a company called Valahorum, owned by local property magnate Dumitru Bucşaru who made his money cashing in on the collapse of communism by buying up half built Government building projects in the late 80's and turning them into flats.

The newly owned Unirea were quick to reap the rewards, being promoted to the top tier for the first time in their history by winning the play-offs in the 2005/06 season. They didn't start life in Liga I brilliantly, so the manager was replaced a few weeks into the season by Romanian legend and former Chelsea man Dan Petrescu. He managed to consolidate the team (who he had nicknamed 'Chelsea of Ialomita' and who's crest he requested be changed to a near carbon-copy of Chelsea's) to a mid-table finish in his first season at the helm, before a fantastic season in 2007/08 saw them finish 5^th and reach the Romanian Cup Final, qualifying for the UEFA Cup in the process (they lost to Hamburg in the 1^st round).

It was the next season though that really saw the Unirea story kick into life. Petrescu's men became only the 2^nd team (after CFR Cluj) outside of Bucharest to win the title in 10 years, securing the trophy with a 2-1 last day victory over 2^nd placed Timisoara. Just three years after reaching the top level, Unirea were the Champions and would be joining Europe's elite in the group stage of the 2009/10 Champions League.

As expected, Unirea were seeded 4^th for the group draw and fared relatively well in drawing Rangers, Sevilla and Stuttgart in Group G, although they were heavily tipped to finish bottom and treat it as a learning curve. They instead performed brilliantly. Petrescu's men achieved a real shock in remaining unbeaten at home (including an incredible 1-0 win against Sevilla) and stunned Scottish giants Rangers by turning them over 4-1 at Ibrox. The home record was even more spectacular considering that their 7,000 seater stadium was not fit for UEFA competition and thus they had to play in Bucharest. In the last game of the group stage they travelled to Stuttgart needing just a point to become the first Romanian side to reach the last 16 since 1997. The German side managed to triumph 2-0 on the night, meaning that Unirea had to settle for a still highly respectable 3^rd place, and a spot in the newly created Europa League.

It would seem that this is where things started to go wrong for the club. Petrescu left for Russia before they could meet Liverpool in the Europa League and was replaced by Israeli coach Roni Levy. Levy couldn't get through Gerrard and co. but did manage to secure a 2^nd position in Liga I and so ensured Champions League football for the next season.

The draw wasn't kind to the Romanian's, and although they managed a goalless draw at home to Zenit, a Danny goal in St Petersburg was enough to see the Russian club through. This is when it started to turn really pear shaped for Urziceni.

The owner, Dumitru Bucşaru, had spent a fair bit of money on the club (signing players and improving facilities) he had in no way financed a Chelsea or Manchester City style mega-spree. After Unirea's elimination from the Champions League, Bucşaru declared that Unirea had reached their peak and that he was no longer interested in the club. He was, however, interested in trying to re-coup his investment by selling practically all of Unirea's assets for bargain basement prices, with Steua Bucharest being the main beneficiaries as they picked up four first team players from the 2^nd best team in Romania. Levy left the club in the middle of August as the team around him was falling apart, the sale of goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis proving to be the final straw.

The owner continued the cull by tearing up contracts and announcing that the whole of the remaining squad were available on a free transfer. The club managed to cobble together a squad of loaned reserve team players from other clubs and it was no surprise that they were relegated.

Whilst the runners-up of the season before getting relegated is a massive shock, that was not the end of the agony for the club's fans. The owner didn't register Unirea in any Romanian competition at all for the coming season and thus they have ceased to exist. It is an unbelievable turn of events in that in just over 11 months a club can go from sharing a stage with the continent's best to complete extinction but it is a fate that reflects the shocking state of finance in the Romanian game.

The team who finished 2^nd in Liga I, Timisoara, will not be taking their place in the Champions League as they have instead been relegated to the 3^rd tier due to their financial position. The team known as Poli will be joined by 14^th placed Gloria Bistrita who share their financial plight.

It's a similar story to that of Gretna who rise and fall was almost identical to Unirea's in that they were both very small clubs who secured rapid promotions through the leagues, and although Gretna never quite reached the very top, it is fair to say that both clubs were growing well above their means.

The story of Unirea, whilst tragic, could prove to be a stark reminder to some teams on these shores. With more and more football clubs becoming entirely dependent on outside investment from owners, tales such as this become an all too real reminder that football clubs are not invincible.

The Champions League?

A month on from Wembley, Europe’s premier competition starts again

Bring on the Barca – Luxembourg’s FC Diferdange are only 8 rounds away from the Allianz Arena

Whilst the memories of Messi and co. terrorising Manchester United in the finale of last year’s Champions League final are still vivid in most football fans minds, the fans of the Champions of Europe’s smallest leagues are just days away from kicking off the 2011/12 version of the competition. Exactly one month after the Wembley showpiece, UEFA’s flagship competition will be visiting the slightly less glamorous surroundings of the Stadio Olimpico (Serravalle, not Rome) and the Estadi Comunal (combined capacity of less than 1/10^th of Wembley).
 

The winners of UEFA’s four lowest ranked leagues (the National Championships of Andorra, Luxembourg, Malta and San Marino) are facing off in what is essentially a play-off to join the real qualification rounds of the Champions League. FC Santa Coloma of Andorra will play host to Dudelange of Luxembourg in the competition’s first game before 90 minutes later (presumably not moved for television audiences) San Marino’s champions Tre Fiori take on Maltese capital dwellers Valletta.

I’ll concentrate first on Santa Coloma. The Andorrans are entering their 3^rd Champions League campaign having won their 6^th league title last season. The club from the picturesque principality on the French/Spanish border are hoping for a better start to this year’s competition, having had the home leg of the 1^st Qualifying Round last year forfeited due to the shocking standard of their pitch. Not that they could be held solely responsible – the Estadi Comunal is one of only 2 stadiums in Andorra that between them host the entirety of the two-tier Andorran league system.

They will go into the game as massive underdogs against the comparatively massive Dundelange of Luxembourg. The club, formed in 1991 as an amalgamation of three local teams, took their place in the magnificently named League of Honour, Luxembourg’s 2^nd tier in the 91/92 season. They didn’t mess about, getting promoted in their first season, before winning their first title at the turn of the millennium. They’ve since won 9 titles and made history in becoming the first team from the landlocked country to reach the 2^nd qualification round of the tournament (before losing 9-3 on aggregate to Rapid Vienna). They’ll be hoping to reach 2.Q this time round as well, and I expect they will. There they will face Slovenian giants Maribor from whom they can expect nothing.

The 2^nd of the ties sees a Mediterranean battle between the two small countries of San Marino and Malta. The two countries have performed abysmally (perhaps not surprisingly when considering the tiny stature of the places) on the International stage and I’m afraid to say that their club football hasn’t been much better.

Tre Fiori are one of the most successful sides in San Marinese footballing history, winning the hugely competitive Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio title a record 7 times in their 62 year history. They have only played in the Champions League twice in their history but are San Marino’s best ever entrants – by virtue of having scored 3 goals. Having won the 09/10 league title Tre Fiori took on UE Sant Julia of Andorra and came agonisingly close to becoming San Marino’s first representatives in the 2^nd Qualifying Round, but they were defeated on penalties. Unfortunately for them they have got a tough draw in this year’s competition and will find it hard to better their previous attempts of progression.

The team blocking their way are the Manchester United of Malta – Valetta FC. The club based in the capital of the country, who can boast Jordi Cruyff amongst their former players, have won the Maltese Premier League 20 times and have regularly featured in the qualification rounds of European competitions (as Rangers fans may well recall – the Glasgow side having beaten them 18-0 and 10-0 on aggregate in past encounters) without ever making a dent on the biggest stage. They will be looking to take advantage of a kind draw this year though and they have a potentially winnable game against Lithuania’s FK Ekranas in the 2^nd Qualification Round.

Whilst next week may not be the most high profile of occasions, this is how a lot of football fans think this competition should be – a competition of just champions. These four sides will have to play six matches in Europe’s outhouses before they can begin to dream about playing the likes of Villarreal, Lyon and Arsenal – neither of whom came close to winning their respective league titles. So whilst the players of small sides like these can look back on careers in which they have played in the same competition as Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney it isn’t unfair to suggest that they will never come close to sharing a pitch with them.

It’s oft-used thinking that there should be no places for teams who come 2^nd, 3^rd or in some cases 4^th in their league to play in this tournament, but in all honesty it is an essential part of making the Champions League what it is. It’s easy to say that we will have a better tournament with just league winners, but the reality is that a team like Santa Coloma – who average lower crowds than most Blue Square Premier teams, are simply not good enough for what is considered the best club tournament in the world.

It is definitely true that the smallest countries are given an unfair crack of the whip though, and it is hard to see them ever improving without a chance of securing both huge investment and a massive boost in reputation. It will be interesting to see if Platini and co. at UEFA will ever look to re-introduce a more evenly balanced tournament, but whilst the Champions League generates the amount of money it does in its current form, it’s hard to see anything but a harder ride for the minnows. That doesn’t mean that these teams can’t dream – Munich’s Allianz Arena is still just 20 matches away!

Team Dubai

Could the future be bright for Madrid’s third club?

Real Madrid – 31 La Liga titles, 18 Copa Del Rey’s, 9 Champions League’s

Atletico Madrid – 9 La Liga titles, 9 Copa Del Rey’s, Europa League winners in 2010.

Getafe – Errrm?

Getafe regret their ‘any name, any number for €10’ promotion

I think it’s generous to say that Getafe Club de Fútbol are not a household name. Probably most famous for their recent endorsement with Burger King (see this link if you haven’t already http://bit.ly/Ggepe) the club, in their current form, have only existed for 20 years, but they’ve more than made up for lost time.

 

The team who are based in the city of Getafe, a commuter town just 8 miles outside of Madrid, were formed in 1983 as a merger of the previously standing Club Getafe Deportivo, whose claim to fame was drawing 3-3 with Barcelona in 1978’s Copa Del Rey (they lost the 2^nd leg 8-0), and a Real Madrid supporters club based in the city. At the time they weren’t even a footnote in Madrid’s football scene, with even Rayo Vallecano being a football giant in comparison.

The club was successful in its early days, romping through the Spanish regional leagues before seemingly finding their level as they yo-yoed between the Segunda B and Segunda leagues – the 3^rd and 2^nd tiers of Spanish football. They moved into their new home in 1998, the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. It’s known as simply the Coliseum to locals and is named after the Spanish journeyman Alfonso – despite the fact that he never actually played for the club.

 

They started their upswing to their current berth in La Liga in the 2001/02 season by getting promoted to the Segunda despite coming 5^th in the league, being in huge debt and having a player murdered mid-season. They managed a mid-table finish 02/03 season before going on a sensational run to finish 2^nd in the league and secure their first season ever in La Liga, exactly 20 years after their first season.

They’ve since been a solid La Liga club and have featured in the Europa League twice – being minutes away from knocking out Bayern Munich in the 2008 Quarter Finals. They’ve probably been most recognised for over-achieving due to some excellent coaches. They’ve had Quique Sanchez Flores (who guided Atletico to Europa League glory) Bernd Schuster (who went to Real) and Michael Laudrup.

This seems to be the trend for a club who are much smaller than their near city rivals and can only hope to keep their heads above water.

Things could be on the up for the club though, due to an investment from the Royal Emirates Group, chaired by Sheikh Butti Bin Suhail Al Maktoum of the Dubai Royal family. The deal was confirmed in April after a bit of a bizarre rumour frenzy in which the group had announced that they had purchased a Spanish club who they would rename Team Dubai. It was originally thought to be Zaragoza, who are in the financial mire, but it was confirmed to be Getafe in a press conference in Dubai. The final deal saw the team compromise and they will be known as Getafe Team Dubai from next season.

The owners seem to be keen to extend the brand name of Getafe, and they will need to. The Coliseum sees the lowest attendances in La Liga and as a relatively new club Getafe don’t have a great fan base to call from. The club is a part of a great metropolitan area but not only have to compete with Rayo and Atletico but arguably the biggest club in the world in Real Madrid. It seems that the new owners have grand plans for them though.

The group have spent around €80 million on buying the club and whilst we can’t expect to see Getafe plundering Real Madrid and Barcelona’s top stars some genuine investment could see them challenging towards the Champions League spaces in years to come. Project manager Suleiman al Butti says “‘Our vision is to now beat Real Madrid”, whilst managing director Kaiser Rafiq has promised a top 6 finish this year.

There are apparently plans afoot to move to a new, bigger stadium (which will probably break Alfonso’s heart) and they will be hoping to secure some new playing talent in time for the new season. I’d suggest that Getafe won’t be signing any players of real quality until they are at least in Europa League again (they only finished 16^th this year and didn’t get out of their Europa League group) but that could see them flourish and take advantage of the decline of the likes of the bankrupt Valencia.

They’ve hired Luis Garcia Plaza, formerly of Levante, as their manager and they can play some good stuff at times, but they will need to expand a small squad which has a small nucleus of quality with ex-QPR and Real Madrid man Daniel Parejo and little Venezuelan striker Miku standing out. They will have to do well to retain any players (and coaches) that perform well as that has hindered them in the past, but with new investment that should be a thing of the past.