The pioneers of the Premier

Manchester City and Chelsea cross the path of Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Two great Premier clubs driven by the great economic potential of their respective owners, although in the case of the London entity, current champion of the Champions League, the veto of the United Kingdom against its owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, places him in a critical and limit situation with an immediate sale in sight.

In recent years, both clubs have systematically turned to Spanish footballers to complete their squads. Some of them even arrived before the current presidents bought the companies. They are the true pioneers of landing in the Premier. In the case of Chelsea, Albert Ferrer (1998-2003), who landed before July 2003, when the Russian millionaire took control of Chelsea. As far as Manchester City is concerned, Javier Garrido (2007-10) also landed before the club was purchased by Abu Dhabi United Group in September 2008.

From their data, experiences and words it is easier to discover what the guts of both entities were like then and how they they participated in the reconversion until they became the two clubs they are today: two giants of the Premier and world football, Chelsea won the last Champions League precisely by defeating Manchester City in the final.

Albert Ferrer: “My Chelsea was very familiar, we trained for rent and we changed in barracks”

‘Chapi’ Ferrer, in 1998, had the honor of being the first Spanish footballer to play in the Premier, as the English Championship is called since 1992, although a decade earlier he had already landed at Tottenham, also from Barcelona, ​​Mohamed Ali Amar (1988-93), Nayim. But then the English club revolution had not yet taken place and it was still the Football League First Division. nomenclature issue.

Ferrer signed for Chelsea despite having signed a life contract with Barcelona. Van Gaal placed the transferable sign on him and decided it was best to leave. He arrived at Stamford Bridge with the label of ‘champion of everything’ as a Barça player, plus two World Cups with the National Team and the Barcelona 92 ​​Olympic gold included in his backpack. I was 28 years old.

It was Gianluca Vialli, then player-coach of the team bluewith whom Chapi had faced in the final of the Wembley European Cup (1992), who convinced him to come to London. Having just made his debut in the Premier against Coventry, Ferrer won the European Super Cup in Monaco against Hiddink’s Real Madrid. Poyet scored the winning goal. The now coach remembers his first English steps with a point of resignation.

“It was difficult for me to adapt to the rhythm of the games and that we were then the most European team, as far as the game is concerned. The others were much more long balls. In training, the same thing happened to me. I came from a lot of ball, from I did rondos and I went to very physical training with long runs, little ball, daily series of 1000, in which I was always in the last group, 500 and 200 meters. I was not used to it. My muscles suffered a lot. I think that, even , I lost speed. The first year I was chosen best revelation player, I was part of the ideal eleven of the championship and I also remember with great affection a ‘man of the match’ trophy that they gave me at Anfield”.

In the second season, an ankle injury caused him to miss the FA Cup final against Aston Villa and also the Charity (Super Cup), already in the first game of the following year, against Manchester United. “It was against Leicester. They made a brutal tackle on my ankle and also the guy told me that the next time he would go for me because we had had a split action shortly before and I had hit him with the iron.” Chelsea won both titles, but their course changed in the Premier and Vialli was replaced by Ranieri. Competition with Melchiot made him lose his starting job and his last two years were marked by injuries. “In the last one I had a great pre-season and I started playing, but I broke behind in a sprint test and I finished the season in December. I did better with Vialli than with Ranieri”. In total, he played 113 games, 76 of them in the Premier and his shirt deserved the honor of being part of the Club Museum.

Throughout those five seasons, Ferrer had emblematic players by his side such as Zola, for whom he still feels deep admiration, Desailly, Di Matteo, Brian Laudrup, Deschamps, Hasselbanink, Terry, Lampard, Poyet, Weah… The summer of his departure and definitive retirement, the club would take a definitive turn with the arrival of Abramovich. “When I arrived, it gave me the feeling that it was a family club. I went from Barça, where there was the press every day, to where I think I spoke five or six times in five years. Chelsea had only won one League in 50 years and had just won the Cup Winners’ Cup the year before. The normal thing is that he was among the top five or six, but never like now that he is fighting for all the titles. In my time we did not have Sports City, we trained in some rented fields near Heathrow airport in which every day at 11:00 sharp we saw the Concorde take off. The changing rooms were barracks where we changed in groups because we didn’t all fit. Still, my experience was very positive. I enjoyed the Premier and a city like London, where he passed almost unnoticed on the streets. There is no one left from my time. It’s a different club.”

After Ferrer came Quique de Lucas, who was a course, but intense. Grown up and trained in the Espanyol academy with a loan included to PSG (2000-01), De Lucas, with the letter of freedom in his hand, signed for Chelsea in the 2002-03 season. He was 24 years old and signed for four seasons that, finally, stayed in one and ended with the London club sued in court for unfair dismissal. After two years of litigation, both parties reached an equitable settlement. It was Ranieri, who knew him from his time at Valencia and Atlético, who claimed him.

His experience at Stamford Bridge is measured by 31 games and one goal. He became the coach’s 12th player. He coincided with Ferrer in the squad and together they played four games. The team came fourth and qualified for the Champions League for the second time in its history.

Garrido: “City gave a blow by removing Robinho from Madrid”

For Javi Garrido Behobide (Irún, Guipúzcoa, 37 years old), one of the many footballers trained in Zubieta, the relegation to the Second Division of Real Sociedad (2006-07) was so traumatic which had a decisive influence on at 22 years old, put aside the logical prejudices that arise in the face of the unknown and accept one of the offers that came to him that summer volcanic in San Sebastian. The opportunity came from a Premier that was beginning to build international prestige and from a club, Manchester City, who was trying to make a dent among the best at the stroke of a pound.

He signed for four seasons and stayed three because along the way he got the opportunity to play for Lazioknowing another country and another championship, and also at City with the arrival of Kolarov and the presence of Bridge, the competition on the left side was fierce. He played with the light blue shirt 62 games and scored two goals.

His narrative of the events was lived in the first person. “The City that I found in 2007 has nothing to do with this one now. It is true that you could tell that it was already a club in revolution, that it wanted new things. The owner was the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was later dismissed in his country and then they made a first effort with some signings like Petrov, Bianchi, Elano, Caicedo… It was like the first stone of what was going to happen to the following season, already with the arrival of the sheikhs”.

Hand in hand with Abu Dhabi, the great transformation began and the club began to feel more alive. “The signings of Robinho, Kompany, Zabaleta, Bridge arrived… thenin the third one that I was, Tevez, Vieira, Adebayor, Kolo Touré arrived… Year after year the evolution was great. It was clear that the objective was twofold: to strengthen the team, but also to form a solid club structure with its own training camps, medical staff, technical staff… A lot of importance was attached to the organization”.

Garrido remembers that when he arrived in the city, footballing everything was collapsed by United. “He won all the titles, he had great economic potential. For the players to want to go to City, they had to be encouraged with high salaries. As is happening now with Newcastle. The best thing about that City is that everything was being achieved progressively. We qualified for UEFA. At the end of that first season the sale was very fast. Neither did the players realize everything that was said about the club. An important blow of effect was the arrival of Robinho. It was like a warning, a gesture of authority. We signed a player from Real Madrid, be careful, we’re serious. That encouraged, for sure, other players to sign the following years“.

There he met three coaches: Eriksson, Hughes and Mancini. “The arrival of the Italian was also a good blow, especially abroad because both the Swede and the Welshman already had prestige in England. After that third season, the possibility of going to Lazio arose and I thought it was the best for my projection, but I feel proud and fortunate to have lived through that takeoff of the club at all levels. I experienced the transformation from within. Now it’s easy to say that City is one of the greats in Europe, but then it wasn’t and between everyone was achieving. The respect for the player with the two owners was something that caught my attention. You could see that they were serious, the players who were already there were made to participate in the project and then the new ones arrived who joined” .

Albert Riera spent six months on loan and was the first Spaniard at City. The case of the Majorcan footballer, 23 years old at the time, on that Christmas of 2005 was quite common. He played little at Espanyol, to which he had arrived from Girondins de Bordeaux in exchange for three million euros and the possibility arose of leaving on loan with a purchase option of five million to City. He didn’t hesitate and on January 5, 2006 he made his starting debut with a victory (3-1) in the local derby against Ferguson’s United, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs… In his team, only Fowler, who came back from almost everything, appeared at the international showcase.

Riera landed on his feet in his new club. He had the confidence of the coach, Stuart Pearce, and played 19 games in those five months (16 starts), 15 in the Premier League and four in the FA Cup. He scored a goal (Newcastle). Everything seemed to indicate that City was going to pay for the purchase option, but finally the player returned to Espanyol where, with the arrival of Valverde, he changed his role and began to play regularly.