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Pepe Reina's Autobiography
I was reading this chapter of his autobiography and it is really interesting!
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/lates...of-pepe-s-book
Has anyone started reading it, would you recommend to get it? I have never got an autobiography before but am considering making Pepe the first, because he is a god.
Reina: Beach-ball farce summed up season
If one incident sums up perfectly the disaster of Liverpool's 2009-10 season, it was the infamous 'beach-ball' goal.
And even thought the victim Pepe Reina can now smile at that hilarious moment, he insists in his new autobiography that he still cannot believe the goal that has gone down in folklore was allowed to stand...
"If it felt like 2009-10 was all doom and gloom, then that's because it was .
"It is not a period of my life that I will remember fondly and the whole period was summed up by that beach-ball incident at Sunderland.
"Even now, when I see replays of it on television, I cannot believe that it happened - even though I can't help laughing at the stupid, funny face I pulled after the ball went in.
"I have been asked so many times why I didn't just kick the beach-ball off the pitch as soon as it was thrown on, but I only realised it was right in front of me when Andy Reid crossed the proper football into the box and there it was.
"Even after spotting it, I didn't think it was about to play a part in one of the craziest goals in English football history.
"Darren Bent had a shot. I knew I had it covered - until the ball collided with the beach-ball and flew past me into the back of the net.
"My first instinct was to chase the linesman, because I knew that something wasn't right.
"I have to be honest though, and admit that I didn't know exactly what the rule was at that point. I was shouting at the linesman.
"'You have to have seen that!' I screamed at him. But he told me the ball hadn't been deflected.
"'You're f***ing joking,' I said. 'It was impossible not to see that. Either you are lying to my face or you think I am stupid.'
"He was adamant. 'No, no, no, Pepe. I am sure.'
"'You have got to be taking the p**s. It's impossible for you not to see what happened. Are you telling me that the ball was not defected by the other one?'
"He was certain.
"'Then you really are taking the p**s, then?' I replied.
"It made no difference. The goal stood. The beach-ball became the symbol of our season.
"But no matter how crazy that incident was, it should not cover the fact that we were not good enough on that day when Sunderland defeated us.
"Nor were we good enough during the season as a whole."
Reina: Beer spat shows trouble was brewing for Benitez
While Pepe Reina rates his former Reds boss Rafa Benitez the best he has worked with, he still admits the Spanish coach had flaws.
And the keeper revealed one angry bust-up with his old manager, that he believes exposed the fundamental weakness in his managerial style - the fact that he never played at a high level.
In his new book, Reina takes up the story:
"The biggest argument I ever had with him was about a beer.
"We had lost 2-1 at Besiktas and not played too well. I decided to have a beer.
"I don't see a problem with that, because for me it is healthier to do that than it is to have a glass of Coca-Cola or a drink like that.
"Suddenly, the bartender turned up and said, 'The club doctor, the medical staff and the manager have made it clear to me that they do not want you to have a beer.'
"I asked Rafa what was going on and he said I was forbidden from having a beer.
"I still don't know why this was the case but, whatever the reason, I was fuming.
"I grabbed my bags and stormed off to my room without even having my dinner. That is how upset I was.
"For me, Rafa was in the wrong on that occasion. It suggests the manager does not trust you to look after yourself in the right way.
"As a player, you have to know when the time is right to relax and when it isn't, and I like to think that I have that balance.
"He [Benitez] saw it differently and maybe if he has a small weakness as a manager it is that he did not have a massive career as a player before he moved into management.
"I used to wind him up about this all the time and he would get angry when I reminded him that he had not played at the top level.
"He would list all the teams he played for and they were like third division and university teams! I would say to him, 'That's not football! Tell me where you got the experience that comes with being in the dressing room at the top clubs.'
"I did it with the greatest respect, because I knew his achievements demanded my respect. But maybe it is a truth as well, because by spending time in dressing rooms as a player and getting close enough to the players to understand their moods and the way they are, I think it can make you a better manager.
"You only have to look at what Rafa, Jose Mourinho, Andre Villas-Boas and Louis van Gaal have achieved in football and the trophies they have won to realise that you don't have to have had a great career as a player to be a great manager.
"But, in my opinion, the most complete managers are always likely to be the ones who had a great career as players for many years as well."
Rafa HAD to go, the wheels had come off - Reina
Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina has offered an explosive insight into the disastrous season that cost Rafa Benitez his job.
He admits it was time for the Spanish boss he admires so much to leave Anfield, because things had got so bad he feared the team would be relegated.
In his sensational new book, which lifts the lid on Anfield’s innermost secrets, Reina offers a brutally truthful behind-the-scenes account of why Benitez was axed, his row with Rafa over a beer, the beach ball goal that haunts him - and a mighty bust-up with Jamie Carragher...
"When Rafa left Liverpool at the end of the 2009-10 season, I knew that it was the right time for him to go.
"It hurts me to say that, but the wheels had come off by then and there was no guarantee that he was going to be able to put them back on.
"I know that I will be for ever in his debt for what he has done for my football career, and it is never nice when a manager leaves or loses his job, but there are times when, for whatever reason, the methods that have been bringing a manager so much success just stop working.
"When this happens, the club has to make a decision about whether you will be able to get back to winning ways again, or if it is time to look for a new manager who might be able to freshen things up, just by having a different approach.
"Liverpool wanted to go down the latter route and it was probably the right decision.
"I was upset, obviously, because it is always sad when a manager loses his job, but even more so when he has been as important to your career as Rafa has been to mine.
"But I also thought half of the dressing room was not happy and so, probably, for the club if not for me personally, it was the best outcome for everyone.
"I first began to realise we were in trouble when we played against Espanyol in a pre-season friendly at the start of August 2009.
"They beat us 3-0 and could have scored more. When I came off the pitch there was a part of me that thought, 'If we carry on like this, we are going to get relegated.'
"It was as if someone had flicked a switch at the end of the previous season and we had gone from being a really strong team to a really weak one.
"It was clear that we were nowhere near the level that we wanted to be at. When there are problems at a big club and the atmosphere turns, one of the first comments to be made is always that the manager has lost the dressing room.
"In this case there were still players who supported the manager, but obviously there were others who were not too happy with him for different reasons.
"My own opinion was clear - I liked Rafa and continued to support him - but I cannot speak for everyone.
"Sadly for Rafa, we went from second place in the Premier League one season to seventh place the next and that was always going to result in him coming under pressure.
"One of the problems we had was that we had lost some good players - Xabi Alonso, Peter Crouch and Jermaine Pennant - but never really replaced them.
"Signings were made with the idea of making improvements to the team, but the reality was that the ones who came in were not of the same standard as the ones who had left.
"You can look at the players who came in and ask why they didn't deliver, because no footballer can ever be free of responsibility.
"But, in football, the buck always stops with the manager. If he makes signings that don't work out then it won't be long before the people who run the club are going to ask questions.
"Had someone said to me at the end of the 2008-09 season, when we came so close to winning the league, that just 12 months later the manager would be gone, I wouldn't have believed them," he added.
"But that is football. It is not about what you might have done in the past, it is about what you are doing in the here and now and what you are going to do in the future.
"None of us can live on past glories.
"The moment any of us think that we can is the moment that decisions about our future are taken out of our hands - if I have a really poor season in goal, the chances are that Liverpool will start looking at the possibility of replacing me."
Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news...#ixzz1aSZS9sLC
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The day I declared war on Carra - Reina
The veins in our necks were bulging, our faces were red with anger and neither of us was going to back down.
The row between me and Jamie Carragher started during the game - I can't even remember which one - carried on in the dressing room and didn’t come to an end until we sent each other text messages *apologising.
He went crazy at me, screaming at me, and I was screaming back at him.
We were like that for fully five minutes shouting at one another and getting our point across.
The people who sit in the seats closest to the pitch probably could not believe what they were hearing.
We were on the same team but we were arguing with each other with real passion and neither of us was willing to back down.
They will have thought it was all over when we stopped, but as soon as we got back into the dressing room we started again and it was even rougher than it had been on the pitch.
If anything, the screaming was even louder and all the other players were just totally silent, watching us giving each other hell.
We are all passionate and we are all desperate to win so it is totally natural that there will be occasions when our emotions boil over and we take it out on one another.
It wasn’t even over anything major.
It was just a difference of opinion over whether I should knock the ball long or he should give me an angle for a short pass.
I ended up kicking the ball out wide to where I thought Carra should be, but he wasn’t there and it went out of play.
“You really think you’re [legendary Germany defender] Franz Beckenbauer and you’re always trying to play short passes when you should just empty it,” he shouted at me.
“If I know one thing it’s that you definitely aren’t *Beckenbauer, but just give me a bit of support when I’ve got the ball so we can try and play instead of just kicking it down the pitch,” I responded.
Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news...#ixzz1aSbqx3eD
Jamie Carragher as we know, a loyal servant to the club, a great defender on his day, but following all the revelations about him on this site, I get the impression that I probably wouldn't like him off the pitch.
Wow thanks for that man. good read and has watered my appetite for a new Biography.
Repped
For the past 4 or 5 games I think in everyone Pepe has absolutely ****ocked Carragher and Carragher has just accepcted it.
I think Carra recognises that hes under performing so he cant really complain.Originally Posted by Simo429
The Everton game he was much better but like i posted in an earlier thread he'll have to step it up again for the Manure game
Pepe has been a loyal servant to this club and is by far in my mind the PL's best goalkeeper, but the one thing that always struck me is we have never got a good back up keeper to him, if he were to get injured would we be screwed? Is Doni a good back up this time round?
Not in the game against the bitters
Yes, but Simo likes his little digs at Carragher.
I was having one of the best seasons of my career at Villarreal and Liverpool made an offer for me in the springtime. They met with my agent and Benitez, being the annoying - in a good way - manager that he is, rang me every single day to convince me to make the move. Every morning when I was on my way to training my phone would ring and before I even answered it I would know who it was.
"Pepe, it is Rafa," the daily conversation would begin. "Things are the same as yesterday. I do not want to bother you because I know you need to focus on qualifying for the Champions League with Villarreal, but I just need to tell you that we are really keen to sign you and we are working very hard to make it happen."
isn't this tapping up or am i not clear on the matter?
I wondered that. I assume we'd been given permission to talk to the player whilst negotiating with the club, though.
i may be wrong but i doubt that was the case and i'm not accusing rafa here because i think everyone does it
and to be honest i really don't get the whole tapping up rule for instance if i'm some manager and meet a certain player at a social event and ask him if he'd be interested in joining the club or something along the lines does that fall into tapping up?
Shouldn't you be telling everyone how the forum made you have a nervous breakdown and moan about the manager?Yes, but Simo likes his little digs at Carragher.
Cant wait to get that book. Dont really go for Autobiography's but i'll make an exception
Next time he starts wumming, 'report and don't retort'. That way I don't have to delete scores of posts after the ban.
Yes he is, in fact Pepe even said himself how surprised he was at how good he was in training. He should at least have got some games in the Carling cup and early FA cups rounds imo
Sorry Rafa. Will be sure to report him as soon as he rears his ugly head again!
Anyhow back onto the legend that is Pepe Reina
Im not a massive fan of buying footballers books as lets face it they arent normally the brightest of folk and very rarely do they ever have anything interesting to say.
However id make an exception for Reina i think like i did with Carra. Hes not just a top player hes abviously a top top bloke.
I mentioned it to the missus yesterday doing the old hinting thing so hopefully it will be in my Xmas stocking along with my clementine and brazil nuts
I quite like reading them but i think its a bit of a money grabbing con that they keep releasing these books when their careers are far from over.Anyhow back onto the legend that is Pepe Reina
Im not a massive fan of buying footballers books as lets face it they arent normally the brightest of folk and very rarely do they ever have anything interesting to say.
However id make an exception for Reina i think like i did with Carra. Hes not just a top player hes abviously a top top bloke.
I mentioned it to the missus yesterday doing the old hinting thing so hopefully it will be in my Xmas stocking along with my clementine and brazil nuts
I particularly like his comment:
"None of us can live on past glories"
Good to see no matter how successful he has personally been to-date in his career he will not sit on his laurels.
I must admit I get sick and tired of hearing about our past success (even if I have been lucky enough to wach most of it since first attending Anfield 1959) as if it makes up for our lack of recent success.
Agreed. Nobody should be releasing these also when they arent even 30!!
I suppose they are all at it but it does get annoying
I agree with you. It has become an industry now and it is jaw dropping sometimes the early stage of life/career at which some release there book. I will occasionally buy a sport related one but not just because he is a Liverpool player but if he (or she sports personality) has had a really interesting or challenging life/career.
if you look at Torres's book, he was here 2 years and his whole thing was almost all centered around Liverpool, which was evident by the book cover, pictures inside and most chapters.
Pepe's has the Shankley gates on his..
It is a bit of a money grabbing con as far as taking advantage of the absolutely massive fan base Liverpool have but that wont stop me from buying his as i did with Torres's, Stevies, Carra's and Kenny's. Plus With all that went on last year it will be interesting to get an honest account from some directly affected and in the know of events that were on going behind the scenes and thing that we and the media only speculated over..
Supposed to be a bit depressing giving what he went through and did but by all accounts (a legend imo) Paul Mcgrath's book is supposed to be very good.
He said he was so upset with Rafa when he wouldn't let him have a beer, that he didn't even have his dinner......put the cowpie back in the oven then.
Think you'll find it was family issues that made me have this so called 'nervous breakdown' (which was nothing of the sort) but whatever, believe and say what you want to suit your own agenda.
Anyway, I'm not entirely sure why Pepe has decided to release an autobiography now. I'd much prefer players to release autobiographies at the end of their career rather than during it, its not like they're short of money or anything like that. It seems a weird thing to tell your life story at such a young age, especially when he will most likely tell it again at some later point in his career too.
I'd be very surprised if it wasn't the case. We contacted the club and entered into negotiations, and as such we were effectively granted permission to talk to Reina to see if he was interested too.
The concern about tapping up is more about talking to a player without contact with the club. It can either unsettle him and make him play worse for no apparent reason (to the club) or could lead him to disrupt things and potentially cause disharmony, which may also lower his price tag.
I generally cannot wait to get this book! It came out yesterday didn't it?
Any more on this bust-up between Rafa and Carra?
It might finally shed some light on the numerous rumours of Carra acting the bell in the last couple of years.
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