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THE BUSBY BABES, BILBAO AND SUPER JOHN McGINLAY – Memories from Manchester United

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They faced an enforced name-change in the 1940s, when Franco decreed (following the civil war and an attempt to re-centralise the state) that all teams should have “Castilian” names, thus becoming Atletico Bilbao – this later reverted following the dictator’s death.

Athletic have long had a policy of using only players that are of Basque origin (this can include the French Basque Country) – now relaxed slightly to include those who have been “raised” by Basque clubs – making their “cantera” of young talent the envy of many. Foreign managers are fine – in fact, the English connection has shown up many times in the past, Howard Kendall having a stint there in the late 80s.

On my night at the Reebok, the team was set up with a very tall, physical side with an British-style centre-forward (much like today, with Llorente) and a magician of a player running round, pulling the strings – Julen Guerrero. I wanted to find out from the players what it was like to play for their local team – representing a whole people or “nation”.
I forfeited the opportunity to hear “Big” Sam Allardyce’s probably genius post-match conference and positioned myself in front of the team coach – getting ready to harangue the players in my best Spanish.

“What does it feel like to play for Athletic, to represent the Basque people…?” I stuttered to Guerrero, thrusting the match programme in his face and smiling.

“Yes. It is good – very nice” he smiled as he waved his pen across my match programme and disappeared on to the bus.

Perhaps I should have asked the question in Euskara, the Basque language?

Marcelo Bielsa is the coach in charge of the present-day team. A man who has stuck to the playing traditions of the club and also instilled a more skilful and quicker passing game in to the team – built around the monolithic presence of Fernando Llorente – a man who could, quite possibly, terrorise a Nemanja Vidic-less United defence. Athletic also had 4 players in the Spain first team for their friendly match last week against Venezuela – so the matches should be an interesting test for both teams.

The 4000 away tickets for the Old Trafford leg of the tie have been sold out, as the club is enveloped in Europa League fever – and following the tense affair that the Ajax match became, United fans should also look forward to the game as a trip in to the unknown in what can become a sterile game at times (not to mention that Bilbao is supposed to be a fantastic city to visit).

Bielsa commented that “we are excited about experiencing a fiesta of football” when recently discussing the United games – all I can say is,

Yes. It is good. Very Nice…

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To read more from Stuart, visit his excellent blog Grumpy Old Fan




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