ANDY IN BORDEAUX
It seems pretty likely that history will look back on the career of Andy Carroll (if at all) with a certain amount of puzzlement and confusion. Terrifyingly effective £35m goal trebuchet? Knack-prone serial flop? The final flourishing of the English Big Man? The great what-might-have-been of the Capello/Hodgson England eras? A wasted talent whose international caps only arrived because the alternative was Jay Bothroyd?
Whatever the final reckoning, the 35-year-old is clearly keen on adding a few more chapters to the story, last month penning a deal with ailing French club Bordeaux of – thanks to bankruptcy – the fourth-tier Championnat National 2. And thus far Carroll’s spell with Les Girondins has undeniably been a success. On his debut against Châteaubriant he scored 72nd- and 88th-minute goals to help his team earn a point from 2-0 down, and he followed that up with another brace against Saumur, his 84th-minute winner earning the team a 2-1 victory – their first of the season. His four goals means he has already equalled his second most-prolific campaign since 2016-17.
There have been a few eyebrows raised that a club reeling from financial difficulties are forking out for a veteran who, not all that long ago, was pulling in £80,000 a week in wages. “My salary is lower than the rent I pay,” Carroll told L’Equipe this week. “If I joined Bordeaux, it’s not for money. I’ve had proposals to play in Saudi Arabia but I was not interested … I’d love to continue playing every Saturday at least until I’m 40, whatever the level. My goal is to become a LeBron James, meaning playing on the same team as my eldest son, Lucas, who is 14. It would be wonderful to experience that, in Bordeaux or elsewhere.”
However, playing for the cash-strapped club does have the odd drawback. “Bus travel is not easy,” he added, struggling furiously with a recalcitrant armrest. “The other day, it took us six hours to get to Saumur, and during the journey I stretched out in the middle aisle. It’s a change from the 40-minute private jet flights we used to take in the Premier League.” Thankfully for the striker there will be no need for road travel this weekend, albeit potentially a brief trip on Bordeaux’s extensive tram network if desired – Les Girondins face Avranches at home on Saturday.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’d been at Arsenal a long time, I kind of sniffed what things would be like. I wanted to experience a new chapter” – Charlie Patiño gets his chat on with Sid Lowe about a new life with Deportivo de La Coruña.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: the Thomas Tuchel hoo-haa (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). I recall no such fuss in Scotland back in 2002 when Berti Vogts was appointed Scotland manager. The bother only started after his departure in 2004 when he resigned, Scotland having plummeted to 77th in the Fifa rankings. I will be watching Tuchel’s tenure in his new post with interest. Bearing in mind he only has 18 months in the job, the question is how far England might tumble in that time?” – Bob Colman.
Following on from Harriet’s mail in yesterday’s letters, the Chelsea-to-international-management path isn’t just a recent phenomenon, indeed it’s a route well travelled. Further examples include: Glenn Hoddle; Tommy Docherty, who left Scotland before the 1974 World Cup campaign; Big Phil Scolari, who went back to Brazil; Claudio Ranieri, who managed Greece; Guus Hiddink, who had stints at Turkey and Holland between his two interim gigs, and Curacao after his final one; Dave Sexton, who managed England under-21s; and Avram Grant, who spent three years in charge of Ghana and who is now managing Zambia. It’s harder to find an ex-Chelsea manager who didn’t then venture into international management at some point” – Alex Metcalfe.
Re: the Bolivian air being ‘so thin visiting teams might as well be trying to play in outer space’ (yesterday’s Football Daily). Reminds me of a marvellous comment by Teddy Sheringham when, for who knows what reason, he was asked about playing against a team from Mars. ‘Tricky,’ he replied. ‘They’d be good in the air’” – Mark Dawson.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Alex Metcalfe. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
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