It is time for Les Rosbifs to be no more. It has been a fun ride over the past nigh-on three years and it has been a pleasure meeting, speaking to and sharing the stories of all of those Englishmen abroad. Hopefully, Les Rosbifs has gone some way to raising the profile of English footballers abroad.

It has also been inspiring for the site to be read, for the Twitter feed to be followed and for the positive comments that have come the way of the site. When I opened the site back in April 2009, I never expected it would hit more than 100 reads in a day. I leave things now with the site surpassing 500,000 unique visits since the last reboot, just over 18 months ago. Madness, for a “niche”.

And then there are all the quality people who have given up their time to write articles for Les Rosbifs. I still owe you guys one.

The whole Sky Sports/TeamTalk copy/paste saga left me disillusioned a few months back, while the ongoing health problems faced by my boy brought a halt to things about a year ago too. I guess both have played a part in my decision this time around, and this time it is going to stick. Sam gets by pretty well but it is not easy for Mum or Dad, especially with my day job becoming increasingly more demanding, and my wife continuing to branch out with her studies. And lest I forget my little girl as well, who is currently asking Daddy for help in making her own website…

Les Rosbifs was never going to be a money-spinner for me. I neither had the time, money nor patience to flog my wares. Sponsorship of the site would have come in handy, as would the odd freelance article too. Alas, it doesn’t work like that and I never had the time to push such things. There are other, more talented writers out there getting the grapes. Good luck to you all – just make sure you keep the likes of Stephen Constantine in the news – they deserve it.

Since I began blogging back in 2004, and Les Rosbifs in 2009, I have seen many great websites and writers come and go. The “community” early on was small, happy and very much into sharing of ideas and information. It has all got a little cut-throat since then, which is a shame. Perhaps what is more of a shame is that a lot of the good writers are not getting the breaks. For every good guy like Adam Digby, there are 3-4 others who have half the talent, but browner noses. A shame.

Quality shines through though. As much as I hate the phrase, you cannot polish a poo.

What started out as an interest soon became a love. However I have been able to completely switch off from the site for the past two weeks, without one look at my notes, emails, the site, etc. I did not miss it. I think that says it all.

It has been a blast. Cheers.

Stewart Hall

On a humid night at the Amaan Stadium, in Zanzibar City, last Thursday, former Birmingham City Academy director Stewart Hall and his Azam FC players celebrated the team’s first trophy since the Englishman took charge of the Tanzanian club in late 2010. Azam were deservedly crowned Mapinduzi Cup champions, following a 3-1 win over Jamhuri of Pemba.

Their victory, in the final, was anything but straightforward. Despite starting the match as firm favorites, Azam found themselves behind after 15 minutes, when Ally Mmanga put the island side ahead. But the tournament’s top scorer, John Bocco, restored parity for Azam, just before half time. In the dying minutes of a thrilling match, an inspired substitution by Hall bringing on live-wire forward, Mrisho Ngassa, who scored two quick-fire goals, in the 89th and 91st minute, to seal a memorable victory for Azam.

Stewart Hall’s side not only highlighted their technical brilliance during the eleven day tournament, but also showcased their newly found tactical understanding and flexibility. Hall and his coaching team, including assistant, Vivek Nagul, have clearly been putting the hours in on the training ground,  following the Tanzanian Premier League (TPL) mid-season break, which started in early November 2011. Azam’s ability to switch from a 4-4-2, to 4-3-3 and 4-1-2-3, without the players showing any sign of discomfort with the new shape, left opposition teams scratching their heads on how best to react to the changing tactical dynamic being played out in front of them.

For Stewart Hall, the two most pleasing aspects of Azam’s performances at the Mapinduzi Cup must have been the improved creative display of his midfield and the goal scoring threat posed by his forward line.

Back in November 2011, I wrote a piece on Azam’s form in the first half of the current TPL season. Despite lying third in the league, five points behind leaders Simba and four points off second placed Yanga, and having the joint meanest defensive record in the TPL, his side had been having serious problems creating goal scoring opportunities and converting them. In thirteen games they had only scored more than one goal in three game and averaged a miserly 0.9 goals per game.

Judging by his side’s performances in the Mapinduzi Cup, however, Azam seem to be remedying these problems. The team’s defensive strategy remains the same: without the ball they are compact, well drilled and patient. In their five Mapinduzi Cup games, Azam only conceded three goals; an average of 0.60 goals conceded per game  – exactly the same average from their final five TPL games. Conversely, they were the Mapinduzi Cup’s top goal scorers, with twelves goals in five games, including impressive 3-0 and 2-0 victories over their main TPL rivals Simba and Yanga, respectively. This improved attacking philosophy saw them increase their average goals per game ratio from 1.20, from their final five TPL game of last year, to a entertaining 2.40 goals per game in the Mapinduzi Cup (see graph).

The Tanzanian Premier League swings back into action this coming Saturday, with Azam kicking off next Wednesday, 25^th, away to African Lyon.

If Azam can carry their Mapinduzi Cup form into the second half of the TPL, Stewart Hall could well add even more silverware to the Azam trophy cabinet. From the reaction of Hall and his players after the final whistle on Thursday, this could be the start of something big for Stewart Hall and Azam FC.

A taster of things to come on the Les Rosbifs Podcast!

Brian Deane

The people at Footcoop spoke to Brian Deane about his time in Portugal, and very kindly given us this exclusive interview. Enjoy!

To people working in any other profession, it would be an odd question. When Brian Deane returned after just a few months from his well-paid, high-profile job in Portugal to work in Middlesborough, having swapped sardinhas assadas for parmos, Sintra for Seaton Carew and the Stadium of Light for one that didn’t see much light at all during the winter, does he maybe regret returning to England so soon? Funnily enough, he does.

“Yes, I do but it was out of my hands really,” says Deane. “Middlesborough had made an offer to Benfica. The club was quite keen to get some money in for their players because of the financial problems at the club at the time. As soon as I came back I missed the weather, I missed training at 4pm, I missed going out in a t-shirt in January and February.” 

England is home to the ‘greatest league in the world’, it offers footballers more financial rewards than anywhere else on the planet (despite recent cash injections in certain other leagues), and is a magnet for players from all over the world. But it hasn’t always been like that. Moving to Benfica was a big chance for Deane, one modern footballers are reluctant to take.

“It’s a different culture now,” says Deane. “To go abroad to enhance your reputation was less of a risk then. Whereas I think now players would prefer to stay in their comfort zone.”

Deane’s career spanned three decades that transformed football. When he signed his first professional contract with Doncaster Rovers, English clubs were not yet banned from European competition. Heysel was just a stadium in Brussels rather than a watershed moment in English football history, and the idea of anyone paying huge rights fees for football seemed preposterous.

The Sky revolution had started by the time Deane went to Portugal, but the hype levels and pay packets were not yet at today’s stratospheric levels. The move turned out to be a valuable footballing education.

“It gave me an understanding of perhaps why as a nation we always fall at the last hurdle,” says Deane, who played for his country three times in the early nineties. “It’s because our players are only used to playing in the Premier League. As good as you can be, you don’t understand sometimes the mentality of some of the other nations.”

“Apparently there were over a thousand players from Argentina playing abroad last year. It’s the same with Brazilians. You get a lot of Portuguese players playing abroad, and you can probably name on one hand the number of English players””yet we are still a huge footballing nation (ed-Brian has been given this site’s URL).

“Now in order to bring back experiences for the national team, we need to get more players playing in the top leagues abroad. We’ve got Joe Cole at the moment, we’ve got David Beckham in America but essentially the best players are here because the contracts here are the most lucrative.”

Deane signed for Benfica in January 1998, leaving behind adoring but shell-shocked Sheffield United fans who saw their club sell Jan Aage-Fjortoft””their other main striker and best hope of securing promotion””on the same day. Deane was an icon for United, having scored 94 goals over two spells for them, but the club’s hierarchy were always aware of his value.

His two transfers brought in nearly £4m, crucial cash injections for a club that often lived hand-to-mouth in the 1990s. Deane had moved to his first club outside Yorkshire at the age of 29, and he was impressed with his new surroundings.

“Oh it was fantastic,” says the striker. “I lived in a place called Cascais which is right on the coast. Beautiful place. I loved the food out there, the culture, the people. It was brilliant. I wouldn’t hesitate at any time to go back out and play abroad, because it was such a positive experience.”

Benfica was a step up, as well. Deane’s early-90s Sheffield United sides had punched above their weight in avoiding relegation from the top flight. Leeds qualified for Europe during his spell with them, but they were in decline at that time after their 1992 championship win. The expectations at Benfica were on another level.

“We’d go to away games and we’d have more fans than the home teams,” remembers Deane. “In terms of the fanbase, everything was great. If we were playing at home and it was 0-0 after 20, 30 minutes, the crowd started getting a bit restless, but that’s the pressure of playing at such a massive club. It’s only when you look back that you realise what a massive experience it was.”

The club was not without its problems at the time. President Joao Antonio De Araujo Vale e Azevedo was eventually jailed in 2002 for embezzling part of the fee received for goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov, and his colourful management style certainly affected dressing room morale. Deane diplomatically says that it “wasn’t run how it should have been run” and that unpaid salaries were not the best motivation for the squad.

“It’s not an isolated problem with Benfica, I think it happens quite a lot across Europe,” says Deane. “If you put the pressure of actually playing in front of those crowds alongside the fact that sometimes you’ve got 8 weeks, 7 weeks without getting paid, then it can create a little bit of resentment, it can create worry.”

Although he wholeheartedly recommends playing abroad to English players, Deane is not quite so keen on the international recruitment policies of modern-day football clubs. He clearly values his connection with the fans of every club he played at, especially Sheffield United, and believes that the modern footballers’ occasionally mercenary career path can disrupt those links.

“I think it’s quite different in England because there are that many foreign players here,” says Deane. “You can quite easily slip under the radar and nobody really cares. I think it’s sad really that some teams can field a whole team of foreign players. You have to have something that the local community can associate themselves with, I think.”

Brian Deane is a director of the International Academy for Football and Education, where he also coaches. He will be speaking at the Footcoop event in Oulu, Finland on 17 February. You can read more from Footcoop’s interview here. 

Born in Belgrade in 1993 as Nikon Jevtic, he moved with his family to England as a child until the age of nine, as a result of his father’s work commitments. It was during this time that he gained a British passport. His father’s job meant that he moved around Europe as he grew up, heading first to Austria, where he signed up as a boy for one of the biggest clubs in the country, Austria Vienna.

A move to Germany saw the legend of El Maestro really start to take off, backed by reports of how, as a 10 year old playing for Stuttgart, he scored six goals against their Under 15 side.

It was not until he moved to Spain at the age of 12 and played for Valencia that the name Nikon Jevtic was being dubbed as the next ‘wonderkid’ and ‘the saviour of Serbian football’. It was at this point in his young life that a YouTube video of Nikon caused a global stir (see below).

After the clips went viral, he was linked with every major club including Manchester United and Real Madrid. German newspaper ‘BILD’ reported that Alex Ferguson watched the video and thought it was a joke, but then attempted to sign him before he signed for German giants Schalke. Jevtic though ended up under contract until the age of 16 with the German side.

Schalke decided not to give him a professional contract though, which saw El Maestro move back to Austria and back to his first club, Austria Vienna. He flourished in the Under 17′s, scoring 15 goals in as many games, following it up the next season with the Under 18′s, with whom he scored eight goals in 15 games. This suggested that he was far greater than the standard he was playing at; however he was never promoted to the first team.

It was not until the start of this season that Nikon signed his first professional contract, leaving Austria Vienna and joining Wiener Neustadt in the Austrian Bundesliga. However his time there was short-lived. He only played 20 minutes before being released from his contract in September. Nikon had posted racist lyrics on YouTube and in his words, “The media made a big deal out of it.”

Unfortunately this was a big opportunity lost for him to finally make a mark in a league where he can progress.

After being released by Wiener Neustadt, he trained alone and with his brother. His brother is currently a coach with Hannover 96 and has been a big influence on his life. In fact it was he who suggested he change his name to include his nickname, El Maestro. Nikon’s British passport was changed so that it was incorporated.

On the 30th December, Nikon joined former Hungarian giants Ujpest FC, who are currently struggling in the top division, sitting fourth from bottom. He gave an interview to their official site in which he said ”I’m a central midfielder, but it doesn’t matter to me whether I have to attack or defend. My strength is that I am capable of scoring goals in this position. I have not yet thought of the future. Currently Újpest is the only thing that counts. I would like to become an important member of Újpest, as well as play as much as possible and start building my career. I am familiar with Újpest’s history and know that the club has great traditions.”

It remains to be seen whether he will ever fulfil his amazing potential, but at 19 he still has the time. He has both Serbian and British passports so who knows, he may thrive in a struggling Ujpest team and earn a bigger move. With a name like he has, he certainly has a lot to live up to.

Scott Sutter

A rumour doing the rounds – primarily in Scotland – is that Anglo-Swiss full-back Scott Sutter will be on his way to Scottish giants Rangers by the end of the January transfer window. Sutter, who is not what we class as a classical Rosbif based on the fact he plays his international football for Switzerland, currently plays for Young Boys in the Swiss Super League, although he has recently fallen out of favour with club coach and former Tottenham Hotspur manager, Christian Gross.

From British shores, it appears there are two clubs in the running to snap Sutter up on loan on a six month deal – if the press are to be believed. 

The Rangers link began prior to Christmas and has continued, with the Daily Record mentioning it over the weekend again after other publications mentioned it over the New Year. With right-back Steven Whittaker out of action with a groin injury for the foreseeable future a move for Sutter would make sense for the Glasgow side.

The 25 year old announced on Swiss television recently that he would love to return to British football (although the gist we got was that he is hankering for a return to English football).

Which is where Wolverhampton Wanderers comes in. the rumour has started from Switzerland and with most things these days has spread like wildfire via Twitter and Sky Sports (note the lack of a link there). According to Sutter himself, he has had no contact with English or Scottish clubs, and neither has his agent. However, it is early days in the transfer window; there is still time. However as things stand, the club are reporting that nothing concrete has come forth.

Some quarters of the Swiss press seem to think that Sutter’s days are numbered under Gross though. Already this season the full-back has fallen out of favour under the former Spurs boss and as Blick reported just after Christmas, he has fallen to second-choice on the right of defence behind Elsad Zverotic.

Sutter is a good attacking right-back, who shot to prominence in the English press when he featured for Young Boys against Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers last season. This led to his debut for Switzerland in  September 2010 against Australia, and he has been capped one further time since. There is little doubt he would make a useful addition to a team such as Rangers in the short-term.

Having started his career with Millwall as a ten year old, Enfield-born Sutter moved on to Barnet, Aston Villa and Charlton Athletic, before moving to Grasshopper Zurich in 2004. He has been with Young Boys since 2009.

Steve McClaren

Steve McClaren replaced Dutch coach Co Adriaanse last week at FC Twente after a combination of problems led chairman Joop Munsterman to let the manager go with six months still remaining on his contract, despite good results in general.

Under Adriaanse, Twente ended 2011 with three successive defeats, including a loss to Feyenoord in the league, Wisla Krakow in the Europa League and PSV in the Dutch Cup. These defeats led to the players and staff losing trust in the methods and tactical choices of Adriaanse. McClaren enjoys a good relationship with Munsterman and will know most of the key players at the club who remain from his previous time there.

The Twente squad may have changed in places though but the staff remains largely the same since 2010. McClaren’s staff will include Boudewijn Pahlplatz, Alfred Schreuder and Youri Mulder.

Only Belgian coach Michel Preud’homme and more recently Adriaanse have taken the helm at Twente since McClaren left to join Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in 2010. He will once again manage a club that is organised and well run. McClaren will continue to play attractive football but this time, he will be expected to build his side with more youth players at the club.

Under Adriaanse Twente used a 4-2-3-1/ 4-3-3 formation, but McClaren is likely to stick with his favoured 4-3-3 that he employed in his first spell at the club. Adriaanse relied heavily on 6ft 5in target man Marc Janko but it is unlikely that McClaren will resort to such tactics. Young Dutch striker Luuk de Jong should flourish along with wingers Nacer Chadli and Ola John in the new system of play to be adopted by McClaren and the coaching staff. Twente fans will expect less high balls aimed at De Jong and Janko.

Twente have the third highest budget in the Eredivisie, only below that of PSV and Ajax. They are currently third in the league, just five points behind leaders AZ. Hopes for a Dutch Cup triumph were dashed by a defeat to PSV before the winter break. McClaren will therefore be expected to challenge for the title, but finishing in the top four is a minimum requirement along with a strong showing in the Europa League this season (Twente will play Steaua Bucharest in the round of 32). European qualification via the league is a must for the club.

In terms of transfers it is unlikely that Twente will buy any players in the January transfer window. McClaren faces a challenge to keep key players such as Douglas, Ola John, Nacer Chadli and Luuk de Jong this month and in the summer. It is fair to assume a key player will leave in the summer for a new challenge, with Twente having to be creative to acquire a replacement for a significantly smaller sum than they receive. It is a situation that Twente are familiar with.

McClaren enjoyed a very successful first spell as Twente manager. He recorded 65 wins, 20 draws and only 17 defeats in 102 official matches. That’s an impressive 83 per cent of games that he did not lose, which will be very difficult to improve upon. In the 2009/10 season Twente managed 27 wins in the 34 league games on their way to the title.

Twente have evolved from a club that attempted to challenge the traditional big three clubs in the Netherlands in 2008 – Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord – to a club that is now part of a top 5 along with AZ. There will be pressure to maintain recent high standards but McClaren’s previous history with the club should give him time to achieve his targets.

More on Steve McClaren at Les Rosbifs

Our exclusive interview, which went live in November, where Steve spoke about the cultural differences between English and Dutch football.

How we broke the story of Steve returning to FC Twente last Monday, which was subsequently picked up upon by the BBC Sport website.

Dominic Dwyer

The MLS Player Combine kicked off in Fort Lauderdale last night, with three Englishmen looking to impress enough to be snapped up in the league draft later this month. The Combine, sponsored by Adidas, features 66 players vying for professional contracts. The majority come from the NCAA college soccer leagues.

The Rosbif whom most is expected from is former King’s Lynn forward Dominic Dwyer, who we interviewed here back in November. Fresh from a successful season with the University of South Florida, Dwyer – the Big East Offensive Player of the Year – was named as a Generation adidas player, thereby virtually guaranteeing him a professional deal in the league, barring any mishaps. The striker, who scored 16 goals over the past college season, is seen as a strong candidate to be selected in the draft early, with best estimates (from the likes of MLS.com and Soccer by Ives) placing him as a top ten pick.

Also in the Combine and set for the SuperDraft are Oldham-born attacking midfielder Luke Holmes and Bristol-born Andy Rose. Holmes has just completed his senior season with the University of Akron, where he scored five and assisted eight goals in sixteen appearances this season. He was an academy player with Manchester City as a teenager, before moving into NCAA soccer in 2008.

Rose has been captain and centre-midfielder for the UCLA Bruins this past season. The 21 year old, who was born in Melbourne, Australia but is English by passport, grew up as part of the Bristol City youth team and was a member of the youth team that finished fourth in the FA Youth Premier League in 2008. Both Rose and Holmes are expected to be drafted late on in the SuperDraft.

On Friday night, Dwyer came on in the second half for the adiZero team and looked rather sprightly. However, their 0-0 draw was a game short on goal chances. There are two matches to go, with all Englishmen expected to see a fair bit of the action.

There is also one English coach involved in the Combine, with London-born Brian Tompkins responsible for one of the teams. Tompkins, who has been in the USA since 1980, has been coach of the Yale soccer set-up for sixteen years.

Frank Lampard

David Beckham‘s return to Los Angeles would appear to have blocked that as a destination for another England midfielder though. A number of rumors have circulated in the British tabloids that Frank Lampard could be on his way to Los Angeles, partly as a way to get his fiancée, Christine Bleakley, into American television.

However, Beckham’s return – along with the expected returns of Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane — would put Galaxy at the maximum of three “designated players,” players whose salaries are allowed to push a team above the roughly $2.8 million salary cap. For Lampard to sign with Galaxy, he would have to willing to take a massive pay cut. 

Presently, the maximum player salary charged against the cap is $335,000. Some players are paid above that amount and not listed as designated players, because the cap charge is “bought down” with the use of what is called “allocation money.” Allocations are disbursements of cash by MLS to clubs for one of four reasons:

1. Failing to qualify for the playoffs.

2. The sale of a player to a club outside MLS.

3. Being an expansion club.

4. Qualification for the Champions League (as Galaxy have done).

Allocations can be split and traded among other MLS clubs, or used to fund transfer fees to bring players into MLS, in addition to buying down the salary cap charge of a player.

Allocations are opaque in the extreme, as the league never says how much it gives in allocations, nor how much a team currently holds. But in speaking to writers who cover MLS full-time, they were highly skeptical Galaxy would have enough allocation cash to buy down a player like Lampard below designated player level, to say nothing of the wisdom of burning through their allocation cash in that manner.

One possible destination for Lampard though would be New York Red Bulls, who have an open designated player slot, which sporting director Erik Soler stated their desire is to fill with a creative central midfielder “from one of Europe’s bigger leagues,” who can score goals himself as well as set up others. Reports out of Italy though suggest they are looking at Inter Milan’s Dejan Stankovic for that role.

Of course, there is always Manchester United…

David Beckham

With Paris Saint-Germain admitting defeat in their attempt to sign David Beckham, it appears the midfielder will return to Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.

Although Tim Leiweke, president of Galaxy owners the Anschutz Entertainment Group, cautioned that no deal with the out-of-contract Beckham has been completed, PSG said that Beckham had turned down their offer due to not wanting to uproot his family from Los Angeles.

Beckham’s oldest son, Brooklyn, is part of the Galaxy academy now, and the family now has an infant daughter in addition to their three sons. Leiweke said there are other European clubs aside from PSG who are interested in Beckham, but it would seem he would have the same concerns with them. 

On the pitch, there are intriguing reasons for Beckham to return. Galaxy have reached the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League; winning the competition would make them the first MLS team to appear in the World Club Cup, an event which is held in higher regard in the Americas than in Europe. Domestically, another MLS championship would give Galaxy four, equaling the mark established by DC United.

Beckham’s return would be in far different circumstances than when he arrived in 2007. Then, he was expected to draw attention to the league in a crowded North American sporting landscape. Only four of the then 12 clubs had their own stadiums, with two others opening that season, and the rest renting facilities from other sports clubs, mainly the NFL. And despite the money given to Beckham (reports of Beckham’s contract being worth US$250 million were in large part spin. His actual salary was in the neighborhood of $6.5 million per year, according to figures provided by the players union; the rest was the expected commercial benefit to Beckham, as North American sports clubs typically do not take a piece of their players’ image rights), the league was on a less stable financial footing, having had to pay networks to air matches.

Five years on, television ratings for MLS have remained lackluster (and indeed lag behind viewership for Premiership matches), but Beckham’s tenure (which foreshadowed the arrivals of other big name players like Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, and Rafa Marquez) has coincided with strong growth in other areas.

The league is now able to sell its television rights for a modest profit (a new deal with terrestrial broadcaster NBC and its cable affiliate NBC Sports Network begins in 2012, at a price of about $10 million per season), and 14 of the now 19 clubs will be playing in stadiums purpose-built for soccer (the newest, in Houston, opens in May with the bank BBVA Compass having bought the naming rights for about $2 million per year for 10 years). And in a development that surprised the North American sports media, average attendance at MLS matches in 2011  (helped in large part by Seattle, which averaged more than 38,000 per game) exceeded that of the NBA and NHL.

Beckham remains a popular draw, but his return to Los Angeles would be more about the football and less about the marketing. The midfielder is coming off his best season in America, having notched 2 goals and 15 assists en route to picking up Comeback Player of the Year honors, an honour typically given to a player returning after significant absence the previous season (as Beckham did, missing much of 2010 with a torn Achilles tendon).

Galaxy have already suffered some difficult player changes (Brazilian midfielder Juninho, whose holding role allowed Beckham to go forward, will stay with Sao Paulo after two years on loan, whilst promising young American defender Omar Gonzalez will miss extended time after tearing his ACL on his first day of a loan spell at Bundesliga side Nurnberg), the prospect of more trophies will surely appeal to Beckham, who has lost none of his competitive fire. He has expressed a desire to be one of the overage selections on the unified Great Britain team at the Olympics, and indications are Galaxy are willing to let him play there.

All things considered, it looks like Beckham will be ready for some more California dreaming.