Bolas e Letras

No Guardian, o meio de comunicação que melhor trata o futebol, uma entrevista de vida ao eterno Ryan Giggs. Fale-se, escreva-se, debata-se o que se quiser, nada como ouvir um jogador de elite, de preferência com cérebro, a acompanhar os competentes pezinhos, para percebermos do que é que falamos quando falamos de futebol. Sobre o que é, o que o rodeia, como influencia a sociedade e transforma aqueles que o alimentam – os jogadores. Podem ler a entrevista completa aqui: (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/02/ryan-giggs-interview). Ficam algumas pérolas intituladas por mim.

O dinheiro

How have they managed to stay so normal in the era of the egomaniacal footballers? "It's just your character," Giggs says. Why have so many players lost touch with reality? "Too much money at a young age," he says instantly. "It just takes your eye off the ball. And you're not as hungry as players used to be. You think you've made it before you've done anything. Even me, I still feel I can do things, there's still unfinished business."

Giggs: "When I made my debut, I was on YTS, earning £29.50 a week, and £10 expenses. Forty quid, and I was in the first team. It didn't bother me."

Swales: "I bet you felt that you were a millionaire."

Giggs: "And the manager promised me that the more you play, the more I'll reward you. That's gone out of the window now. It's not just the players, it's the culture. Sometimes it's the people around them; the people who are looking after them – the money they're given. Some of the families give up their jobs and live off their sons. That would never have happened 10 years ago."

A cultura da exigência

What's the worst thing Ferguson has said to him? "He might have said a couple of times, 'You'll never play for the club again.' " What had he done to merit that? "I don't know. Probably shot when I should have crossed!

O balneário

Is it true that he was next to Beckham when Fergie kicked the football boot into his face? "Yeah, Becks used to change next to me, so it just flew past me." Was it a hard shot? "It was unbelievable. Unbelievable. You couldn't do it if you tried a million times." Where did it hit Beckham? "Just on the eye." What was the mood like in the changing room after that? Look, he says, so much has been made out of this one incident. "What you've got to realise is that footballers, and me in particular, have seen everything in the changing room. Everything. I've seen the manager kicking off with the players, the players kicking off with him, players fighting each other, managers fighting, everything."

A fama

"I don't think that's just football. Celebrity culture, it's everywhere, isn't it? It's reality TV, Big Brother. I didn't become a footballer to be famous, I became a footballer to be successful. I didn't want to be famous. Now people want to be famous. Why? Why would you want people following you about all day? I couldn't think of anything worse."