The Warm-Up: Real Madrid set new record, tributes paid to Taylor
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Updated 13/01/2017 at 08:10 GMT
Records fall and transfer windows explode, but the quiet dignity of Graham Taylor shines through in Friday's Warm-Up.
Real Madrid's Marco Asensio (R) celebrates with team mate Mariano
Image credit: Reuters
FRIDAY'S BIG HEADLINES
1. Real Madrid beat Barcelona record
Along with greedily collecting trophies and not buying amazing players because they aren't handsome enough, one of Florentino Perez's favourite things is getting one over Barcelona. It hasn't happened all that often during his two reigns so the Real Madrid president will have been delighted to see his team set a new Spanish record last night with a 40th successive unbeaten game in all competitions, beating the record of 39 which was set last season by, yes, you guessed it, Barcelona. (Well, it was hardly going to be Almeria...)
They had to make Perez sweat, though. Fielding a weakened team as Zinedine Zidane gambled that a 3-0 win in the first leg of their Copa del Rey tie with Sevilla would keep them safe, Madrid were 2-0 down and then 3-1 down as late as the 82nd minute. But like all the best teams who develop a sheen of invincibility, Madrid just wouldn't accept they were beaten and a penalty from Sergio Ramos was followed by an equaliser from Karim Benzema three minutes into injury time.
It also means Zidane protects his amazing record of having won more trophies, three, than games he has lost, two, as Madrid boss. He made playing football look so effortless and elegant and now he is doing the same as a manager too. Embarking on his first senior role with a lavish run of success and collecting trophies like Perez collects players, at this stage it looks very much like he is Real Madrid's Pep Guardiola - except without the permanent air of angst and rollneck jumpers.
2. Transfer window catches fire
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Dimitri Payet celebrates his goal
Image credit: Reuters
It's a bleak month, January. The warmth and jollity of Christmas and New Year have faded into memory and you've realised all the presents you got were crap and that big night out you had sent you spiralling into your overdraft. It's freezing outside and the sleet is flying horizontally into your face as you brace for another train strike. The only thing that makes it worth getting out of bed is the promise of some exciting transfer developments (right?) and there's been so little news. Until yesterday.
Yes, after some embarrassing lowball offers from West Ham for a series of players and a sprinkling of deals elsewhere, the transfer window finally caught fire on a day which could be best summed up with a flame emoji. This was largely thanks to a surly Slaven Bilic confirming that Dimitri Payet had no interest in ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶t̶h̶l̶e̶t̶i̶c̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶d̶i̶u̶m̶ playing for the club and wanted to leave, even if West Ham won't sell him, or so they say. It was a startling development and all credit to Bilic for laying his cards on the table and forcing the issue. Now he just needs to wait for those offers from China to roll in...
Elsewhere, the biggest deal of the window so far was completed as Manchester United sold Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton for £24m, and another player on Mourinho's blacklist, Memphis Depay, was the subject of a £13m offer from Lyon, which was rejected. To square this little circle, maybe United should go for Payet. Either way, we're just delighted something is happening.
3. Papers pay tribute to Taylor
Yesterday, at the age of 72, former England manager Graham Taylor passed away. A legend of the club game, his international reign was synonymous with disappointment and vicious treatment at the hands of some sections of the press, but the sports pages today rightly revere a much-loved man who was football through and through. RIP Graham.
HAT TIP
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Graham Taylor during the LMA President's Dinner
Image credit: Reuters
There's a lot of good writing around Taylor's death to be found this morning so go forth and seek some out. We will point you towards a couple of things though. First, a short tribute by The Independent's Ian Herbert to a man who showed such character when under siege by critics. And god knows he had a few.
The story came down second or third hand on Thursday but it surely encapsulated what Graham Taylor brought to football. It was about a Watford supporter who had hurled some terrible abuse at him from the stands at Vicarage Road each week, until the day that Taylor had enough, walked up to the fan and said that if he thought he could do better then he would buy him lunch and give him the opportunity to explain exactly how. The individual in question accepted and, improbably, became a family friend of the Taylors. It meant that the supporter’s young son sometimes visited Taylor with his father and told his friends at school, who didn’t believe him. So Taylor wrote a letter verifying the son’s visit, so he could show them.
And secondly, recalling a 2013 piece by our own Jim White, in the Telegraph, in which Taylor laid bare the treatment he had to endure after England's failure to reach the 1994 World Cup, and who he felt was responsible for that. The headline, Graham Taylor: I will take England's failure to reach 1994 World Cup finals to my grave, also looks rather sad today.
'The operation on my knee, goodness it hurt. It was the sort of pain people say they wouldn’t wish on their worst enemies. I’m different, I would,' he smiles. 'I remember I met Kelvin McKenzie, who was the editor of The Sun at the time, and he told me I was being over-sensitive to complain about his paper calling me a turnip. He said it was a bit of fun. 'Well, I was at a match in Brentford several years later, making my way to my car after the game when I saw out of corner of my eye two yobbish-looking people coming out of the pub with a pint in each hand. They were shouting ‘there’s the effin turnip’ and they chucked the pints over me. If it wasn’t for the swift action of the Brentford security people, I reckon it would have been worse. Was that just a bit of fun, Kelvin?'
RETRO CORNER
The morning after football lost Taylor, what else could we post but one of the most vivid portraits of a man and a manager English football has ever seen? It spawned catchphrases, contained numerous classic scenes and shone a unique light on the extreme pressures amid the maelstrom of international football with England. And although it was used to leverage so many jokes at Taylor's expense, it also managed to depict a man of dignity and decency in a climate where those traits were notably lacking at times.
If you can't put aside the time to watch the whole thing at work today, here's a fragment which showed Taylor at his very best.
IN THE CHANNELS
The Warm-Up isn't one to blow one's own trumpet. It's unacceptable in polite company. However, we will make an exception just to let you know that Eric Cantona is back with his latest address as the Commissioner of Football. There's messages for Pep Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, an Against Modern Football transgression in the form of some support for Leipzig and, yes, a bastardised version of 'Time to Say Goodbye', all about N'Golo Kante leaving Leicester. It's just as barmy as it sounds.
COMING UP
Slim pickings this evening with Leeds v Derby on Sky Sports 1 and Lille v St Etienne on BT Sport 3 your best viewing options. Haven't you got anything better to do?
Adam Hurrey's spending the weekend having a nice quiet time at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow but he'll be here on Monday for your Warm-Up pleasure.
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