Andy Brassell, or ‘the Top Brass’ to regular World Football Phone In listeners, is a freelance football journalist, with a knowledge of European football that matches Tim ‘Vickapedia’ Vickery’s knowledge of all things South American.

Not only is he an expert on France, Portugal, Germany, England and Spain, but he also knows his stuff on the Russian league. And to cap it off, he has even written All Or Nothing:A year in the life of the Champions League and launched a web-based video show on football.

Recently, I had the chance to ask Brassell some questions on all things European football, including Barca v Real, Grenoble vs Xerez, Man City’s title aspirations, and a Valencian bat named Joaquin, a bat with a “cheeky grin and electric turn of pace”. So without further ado, the interview:

Firstly, how did you get into sports journalism?
I just drifted into it really. I wrote on Wimbledon for a local newspaper when I was a teenager, then much later went for a job at a European football magazine. I didn’t get it, but was invited to pitch freelance stuff and it snowballed from there.

What has been your favourite interview?
Perhaps one of my first, with Paul Lambert, then of Celtic. His story is an interesting one, and he thinks more broadly about the game than a lot of UK footballers and managers, I’d say – probably because he was quite shaped by his time at Borussia Dortmund.

Realistically, can Manchester City win the title this year?
Not likely but possible. I wondered pre-season if they really had the quality the money spent would suggest, but at least the players they’ve bought have proven Premier League experience (eg Adebayor, Barry). There’s less between the top four this season and I think it’s very possible that City will at least crack the top four at the expense of one of the others. The great unknown is how they will recover after a few poor results. The dressing room has its share of volatile characters and it will be fascinating to see how successful Mark Hughes will be at keeping a lid on that.

Who does Manchester United need to buy in January to win the title this year?
Not sure they need to sign anyone. It’s impossible to replace Cristiano Ronaldo with just one player because he could fulfil so many different functions for the team – goalscorer, set-piece taker, winger, target man. But the players they have facilitate switches between different systems; 4-4-2, with wide players or a midfield diamond with Anderson at the tip and the full-backs providing width, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3. Valencia is already bringing his influence to bear, Anderson is beginning to have more attacking influence, Berbatov is improving and I’m sure Owen will weigh in with important goals.

Who does Liverpool need to buy?
Where to start? People were surprised when I said 18 months or so ago when I said Liverpool needed to buy five or six to be serious about the title, but if you look at how beholden they are to Torres and Gerrard, I think that was justified. They need a) a midfielder who can sit in front of the defence and pass to replace Alonso. They should have asked Real Madrid to include Esteban Granero in the deal, I think. b) A creative midfielder. Relying on Aquilani is dangerous in light of his injury record and how long he may take to adapt to the English game. Benayoun is a fine player but not really of the level that he should be propping up a team with Liverpool’s ambitions. c) Better quality reserve strikers. They may well regret letting Keane and Crouch go.

Can Portsmouth stay up?
Yes. There’s a lot of rubbish in the bottom half of the league, Portsmouth are not yet stranded and they do have some decent players (Yebda, Boateng), though it’s difficult to build a team from scratch. If they have money to spend in January a good striker is a must though.

Lyon has started the season well, but given Montpellier is equal with them, and Bordeaux are only a win away, do you think Lyon can maintain their strong start and win the title?
Montpellier are over-performing at the moment, but deserve a lot of credit. They have a steady coach (Girard), and a good mix of talented young ones (Alberto Costa, Montano) and experienced Ligue 1 players (Dernis, Pitau, Compan etc), so their success isn’t a total mystery, but ultimately they’ll do well to finish in the top eight. Bordeaux and Lyon have both had a little wobble of late but there’s little wrong with either squad. I had these two down as competing closely for the title pre-season and see no reason to change my mind – Marseille are a tad behind them both. They both look strong physically and mentally, and Lyon have a lot more stickablility and guts than last season, as well as the players to open up tight games. I think Lyon will just edge it on the basis they have slightly more quality on the back of the summer signings.

Bordeaux and Lyon have both started the Champions League group stage well, do you think any of the French teams can go far this season?
Bordeaux have looked excellent so far, and they’ve clearly leant a lot from last season’s participation. This shows what a good coach Laurent Blanc is. If, as seems likely, they get to the last 16, I do wonder how they will balance this with domestic demands. Recently they rested a few for a league game with St Etienne (after the Maccabi Haifa game) and were consequently roasted. Lyon’s first choice XI will give anyone a game. I still think they could do with greater squad depth, but they will really hope to get a favourable draw for the last 16 this team – they’ve pulled the eventual winners in the last two seasons.

Grenoble or Xerez, who would win?
Simply on the basis that Grenoble are still pointless you would have say Xerez! Grenoble have been a touch unlucky but their success last season was based on a good start, a surprise factor and a solid defence, none of which they’ve had this season. Their failure is just the logic of gravity really – they are of modest means, as shown by their signings, like Daniel Ljuboja, a decent player but one who has barely played for three years. Likewise with Xerez. They are certainties to go down, but hopefully for them they can take experience (and some money) with them so they can come back stronger.

Being a Valencia fan I’ve been followed S.C Braga pretty closely this season because our loanee Hugo Viana is playing pretty well there. Do you think Braga and Viana can maintain their current form and keep Porto from yet another title?
It’s a great story and coach Domingos Paciencia has done a good job, but their squad isn’t deep enough to maintain. Viana’s form however is very encouraging and if he should keep it going there’s definitely room for a playmaker of his talent in the Portugal squad.

Sporting Lisbon hasn’t had the greatest start and they find themselves sitting in 4th. Do you think they’ll push up and make it to next years Champions League? And if not, will some of their stars (João Moutinho or Miguel Veloso) move on?
Paulo Bento is on thin ice. They’ve not really progressed and the new signings (Caicedo, M Fernandez, Angulo) have yet to prove themselves. They’re finding it hard to strike the right balance and I think they will miss out on the Champions League. Moutinho and Veloso will certainly move on but if I were in the shoes of either of those two, I would look at myself and ask why it hasn’t happened already, especially in the case of Veloso. They have the talent to become mainstays for Portugal and strong European club sides but are no longer just promising youngsters and need to start properly fulfilling their potential.

As I said before, I’m a Los Che fan, so do you think that Valencia can avoid multiple disasters this season and make their way to a Champions League spot?
You always have the feeling there’s another disaster around the corner, don’t you? The squad is very good quality, and they definitely have a chance. The fact that they can’t really spend could work for them – take Banega, who has had a chance to play himself back into an important role in the team. Also, Emery is able to create a camaraderie in the squad, aided especially by Villa and Silva, great players who have shown real commitment to the cause as well.

Simple question now, Barca or Madrid?
Barca by a whisker, simply because they already had a good team structure in place. Real Madrid will be interesting to watch but it’s open to question how long they will take to come up with a tactical system that everyone’s happy with. Also important is how long Pellegrini will have to get it right, and will he be able to cope with pressure from upstairs to play the stars in every match?

Just a quick question on the Russian League, do you think that Russia will soon be one of Europe’s leading leagues?
It has made big strides already, as CSKA (2005) and Zenit’s (2008) UEFA Cup wins prove. But the geography and climate is a problem, and of course not one that can be changed. Russia has been able to attract young South Americans in particular with large wages, but they and other leading players still aspire to England, Spain and Italy. Big players are reluctant to go and if the investment tails off at any point, how will Russia maintain the status quo, let alone develop and expand?

Now while I was researching for this, I found out that you have a stuffed Valencian bat called Joaquin. How did that come about and do you have a soft spot for Los Che?
I picked him up whilst working in Valencia some years ago. His cheeky grin and electric turn of pace were just irresistible! Valencia’s a great city, vibrant and with a great football tradition, even if it’s less celebrated than Madrid or Barcelona. Definitely recommended for a long weekend and the Mestalla is very atmospheric.

And finally, are you going to make the journey out to Australia anytime soon and admire the next world footballing superpower?
If you lot get the World Cup, then maybe! I’ve already been to Australia a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. Australia is such a terrific sporting nation I’m sure a World Cup there would be fantastic (and it will, without doubt, happen at some point). I went to a day of an Ashes Test at the MCG in December 2006 and it’s such a great arena that the inevitable three-day pasting from the Aussies was surprisingly bearable!

Thank you to Andy for agreeing to answer my questions, and providing such great, detailed answers.

Andy Brassell now hosts the Soccerlens Show, a weekly video review of the weekend footballing action around Europe. Follow the show here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Instructions, mentality: attacking, passing style: short, tempo: quick. Ohh hang on a second, I can do this for real now.

Last weekend I completed my Football Federation Australia junior coaching license, so am now a ‘proper’ football manager. Sure I’ll be coaching under 12′s, but thats not what counts, I can pretend to be educated about the game, shout at my young winger to take more shots, and go to official FFA conferences. WOO!!!

But actually, it was great fun. The junior license was a two day course, 9 to 5, something I thought I’d struggle with considering it was my first day of holidays. But really, it was just playing football.

I arrived, sat down, and looked at the imposing FFA folder. Ohh crap. This is going to be a long day. As is inevitable when you get twenty football lovers together in a room, it didn’t take long for the football banter to start, but then our ‘coach’ for the next two days walked in. His name was Pat McCann, and it turns out he used to play for Yeovil Town. But at the time all that mattered was that I was going to have to spend the whole weekend listening to him talk about little kids running around. Borriing.

But no, he soon explained that the majority of the two days would be outside, playing football . After some short theory, we were soon out on the pitch running through some drills. And bamm the day was gone. The second day was slightly more stressful, as we had to run a training drill under the eyes of an ‘assessor’ but it went smoothly, and the assessor liked my dribbling to beat an opponent exercise. Soon we had parted ways, after yelling “see ya in the dugout” at each other, and we were all now proper football coaches. The 16 hours had passed in a heartbeat, and whats more, it was great fun.

But why am I telling you this? Two things (well maybe three). Firstly, I would greatly encourage all of you to get out to your local football organisation and do a coaching license. It took two short days, was mostly spent on the pitch playing football, and overall was great fun.

Secondly, it taught me so many things about football that I never knew. I’ve been playing for eleven years and every training session go for a run. But according to our instructor, this is a waste of time and we should warm up on ball. I always static stretch before a game, but apparent this is actually bad for our muscle elasticity, something needed during a game (instead you should static stretch at home and dynamic stretch before the game). In two days I learnt more about ‘body shape’ then I had in eleven years of playing. And after just sixteen short hours, I now look at football in a completely different way.

Ohh and thirdly, who doesn’t want to be coaching our next generation of World Cup winners. So get out their, have some fun, coach some kids, train your countries next football saviour! Get involved, get coaching and become a real football manager!

If your in Australia, visit FFA to enrol in a course. If not, find you local organisation, and get coaching!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Following Valencia Club de Futbol has always been a rollercoaster ride. Crazy managers, amazing strikers, bad players being paid too much, good players being paid too little, shock wins and unexpected losses are all part of being a fan of Los Che.

However the last season has been even worse, leading me to wonder, is my beloved Los Che really a football club, or infact just a really bad TV show.

Hey if we don’t pay them, they’ll play better

Some of you may know that Valencia is a club riddled with debt. Unfortunately for them, they were in the middle of building a new stadium, the Nuevo Mestalla (a very nice stadium by the looks of it, I must add), when the global financial crisis hit. The buyer for their old stadium suddenly offered a much lower sum, and the deal collapsed. From here things only got worse. A debt of almost 400 million Euros, which was to be mostly paid off by the sale of the stadium, was now sitting on the books, looking pretty ugly.

Eventually things got so bad that Valencia had to stop paying their players, and a very promising start to the season descended into chaos, with a loss, and another, and another… Finally, after almost giving up hope of a Champions League spot, money appeared and the players could be paid again. And guess what? They started winning, unfortunately narrowly missing out on the CL sports. But it does prove that footballers are just like normal people, they don’t like working for free either.

Pornstars and player movement

So after another rollercoaster season, Valencia fans thought they could finally relax. And then…the transfer window opened. David’s Villa and Silva were names on every bad English newspaper headlines (and Marca, can’t forget Madrid Mail can we). Villa had signed for Barcelona, Villa had signed for Madrid, Villa was wanted by every man and his dog, Silva was wanted by Manchester United, Silva was wanted by… etc etc etc. And it went on, and on.

But guess what? They’re still here (well, as I write the transfer window hasn’t yet closed, but it looks likely they’ll be staying). However, the more surprising transfer rumour of the summer wasn’t about any of our stars. Infact, it was about none other than our resident porn star, Ever Banega. For those of you who don’t know, Banega was a promising young Boca star, who then signed for Valencia, and promptly took his pants off on the internet (or, as Roy Meredith from Championship Manager said on Chappers podcast the other day, “concerned about his off field antics”).

But enough about his porn star antics, for some reason, various British football publications got it in there heads that Banega was off to Everton on a season long loan. Even Everton Gaffer David Moyes claimed that he thought the move would go through. However, their was a slight problem for the Scotsman, neither Valencia nor Banega had heard about the move. Valencia denied having any contact with Everton, and Banega said he wanted to stay at Valencia (only to be promptly mistranslated to “I want to leave” by some new sources). So yes, a case of lost in translation for Everton.

The curious case of Inversiones Dalport and Victor Bravo, or of dodgy South American companies and seedy men with moustaches

Another amusing development of the summer was the birth and death of Inversiones Dalport, or Dalport Investments, a dodgy South American country. As I told you earlier, Valencia doesn’t have much cash at the moment, and suddenly, out of the blue, a rich Uruguayan company called Inversiones Dalport came along, fronted by a Victor Bravo, aka seedy man with porn star moustache. Dalport promised to invest 500 million euros into the club. Yes that’s right, 500 million!

So unsurprisingly, Valencia weren’t going to argue, and promptly sold majority control to them. But then, just when Los Che fans were jumping for joy, bad things tarted to happen. Firstly, it turned out Dalport’s website only had a few lines of text on it, and its logo was stolen from a children’s book. Not exactly promising for a rich company.

Then, rumours about the company started to circulate. Organisations, both in Spain and Uruguay couldn’t verify that the Dalport had any money. They had never paid taxes in Spain or Uruguay, and a Uruguayan official claimed that he had never heard of them and that he didn’t know of anyone in Uruguay with that sort of money spare. Then Google searches promptly revealed people who claimed Victor Bravo was a scam artist. And then, a new Dalport website appeared. A new website…which happened to sell lingerie. Hmm…

Finally, they didn’t cough up the money (surprise, surprise) and Valencia is still in financial trouble. However, the good news is Valencia has been brought by Valencia Foundation, who will sell the shares to small owners. So no rich billionaire owners for a while, but no lingerie salesmen either…

And Finally…

The biggest news for Valencia: Soap Opera (I mean Valencia CF, oops…), of the summer, however, has to be that the only sold one notable players (sorry Moretti), after all the doom and gloom of mass sales before the window started. Even more suprising was…this player, Raul Albiol, a defender, was sold to… Read Madrid. What is this, Madrid signing a defender? What has the world come to?

So that’s all for this episode of Neighbours: Valencia, or Baywatch: Valencia. But hopefully at the end of this coming season I will be able to tell you how Valencia has a new stadium, lots of money and has won the league and Europa league. Hopefully…

AMUNT!!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News