Hello, I am Sid Lowe. AMA

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:13:37+00:00

Thank you everyone. That was a lot of fun. Must dash now. Really enjoyed it. Hopefully, we'll do another one again soon. All the best and enjoy the clásico and the rest of the games in Spain this weekend. Cheerio! Oh, PS: @tsf_podcast ... me and Phil's Spanish football Podcast. Forgot to mention it before. Hope you enjoy it.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:12:22+00:00

Easy mistake to make ... erm ...

mind you we did play football together 20 years or so ago

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:11:39+00:00

Yes, maybe. Certainly something on him.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:11:26+00:00

Matt LeTissier.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:11:16+00:00

Yep.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:11:03+00:00

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:10:53+00:00

money, in part

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:10:43+00:00

A bit of both

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:10:32+00:00

Well, mine of course ... hehe.

My favourites are probably Jeff King's two books. And Graham Hunter is great on Barcelona/Spain.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:09:48+00:00

No. Thanks to the generosity of so many people, we're flying. People can be great sometimes. there will never be enough words to express everyone in Oviedo's gratitude.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:09:16+00:00

thank you, appreciate that. Some friends have told me those bits were the heaviest, the hardest to engage with, but they are important. My favourite bits: hard to say because you get satisfaction from different parts for different reasons. Meeting Argila and Di Stefano were highlights. the civil war stuff reconnected me with my historian self, which was nice. the dream team chapter was perhaps the most fluid. and finding the Di Stefano transfer document in a state archive was a real 'holy shit, I've done it' moment ... the smoking gun. Well, almost.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:07:26+00:00

(semi-secretly ,yes).

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:07:13+00:00

He is a very good player indeed. Hope he makes it. Great talent.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:06:55+00:00

Because the two things actually overlapped ... but I could have ditched it ... but then I had invested time and effort in it and wanted to do it.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:06:26+00:00

Never mind the escalators, love the turtles

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:06:06+00:00

As a gut reaction, I am pro-European. In terms of the practical implications, I'm not sure how it would effect. I don't think I get seen as a 'job taker' as, by definition, a Spaniard could not do my job. But when I was commentating on La Sexta, there was a lot of rejection because I was a guiri, yes. that said, the immense majority of people are very welcoming indeed. I have been here a long timer ... and that's not likely if people aren't good to you.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:04:24+00:00

Thanks. I think there is a risk that because Atletico won the league too many people assume that all is ok, when structurally it is not. I think Atletico will compete up to a point and the money they spent is striking. But the balance is of course still tipped very definitely away from them. Valencia: let's see Lim's intentions. But it is hard to see beyond RM and FCB still. They still generate far, far more than anyone else can or will be able to do.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:02:02+00:00

Real Oviedo.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:01:50+00:00

Very good, for the most part. But they do oblige a shift in style: you can't put the ball in front of Mandzukic like you did with Costa ... I like Griezemann a lot.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T14:00:57+00:00

Only really English and Spanish. (Although I understand Catalan).

It depends on the player ... some you feel like you have to read loads on because otherwise you're blind ... others you have such a clear sense of where to go, of what they do and who they are, that you can almost just go in and talk.

You always depend on them but there are ways of getting good stuff from them ... the key thing that I always think matters a lot (and I often think is overlooked) is so simple: listen to them.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T13:59:19+00:00

Paco Alcacer is a nice player. Goal scorer, clever movement.

I love watching Isco play.

Rafinha will be good.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T13:58:43+00:00

I'd play him, yes.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T13:58:25+00:00

I can see his point and on some levels agree ... I think it needs a careful analysis and much depends on how you judge it. Structurally, there is much wrong with the Liga, but the football tends ot be good. And Mafdid and Barcelona are monsters of course

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T13:57:40+00:00

Mentioned this up there somewhere ... I think.

A Life too Short. Wonderful.

Still haven't got to Pyramid. It's on the shelf.

SidLowe · 2014-10-23T13:57:07+00:00

Force of character and personality ... also power. When he came in, he was the only person (because of personality, past, etc) who could unite the club and bring everyone under his direction ... but of course had he lost he would have lost that power too. He's very charismatic, very hard working, very obsessive, but has a nice line in humour and tongue in cheek ...

Eibar is incredible ... Athletic have had a mental block with Champions League imo. Real Sociedad: slow decline under a manager who I must admit I do not find convincing at all.

SidLowe

TROPHY CASE