Liverpool
McManaman grew up as an Everton supporter,[4] but signed for Liverpool as an apprentice on leaving school in 1988.[citation needed] He signed as a professional on 19 February 1990 in what was to be Kenny Dalglish's final season as manager, eight days after his 18th birthday.[citation needed]
McManaman made his Liverpool debut as a substitute in the Football League First Division on 15 December 1990 in the 2-0 league win over Sheffield United at Anfield[citation needed] and scored his first ever professional goal with a diving header the following season on 21 August 1991 in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at Maine Road.
Under new coach Graeme Souness, McManaman created and scored several crucial goals in the run up of the FA Cup, and his performances in his first season established him as a regular first team player who eventually collected a winner's medal in the 1992 FA Cup Final as Liverpool triumphed 2-0 against Sunderland (in a game he was named as the man of the match having set up the winner for Michael Thomas[5]), and also featured in their run to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. It was at this time that McManaman was once described by Ian Rush as the most promising young player in Liverpool[6] and though McManaman did have a couple of quieter seasons with the advent of the FA Premier League, he continued to develop in reputation as one half of English Football's two wing wizards, alongside Ryan Giggs[7] of Manchester United. In 1993-94, McManaman continued fine form with two goals against Swindon Town and some assists including a spectacular run and assist against Tottenham Hotspur, but failed to continue with the form after an incident with Bruce Grobbelaar towards the end of a Merseyside derby, where the players exchanged blows after Grobelaar lambasted McManaman for a poor clearance which led to a goal being conceded- an incident recently ranked as number one on the top five bust ups between team mates in Premier League history[8].
In 1994-95, McManaman got offered a million pound contract, was given a central, free role by new coach Roy Evans and went on to collect a League Cup winner's medal after scoring twice in his side's 2-1 win over Bolton in the Wembley final as man of the match and earning a tribute from guest of the match, Sir Stanley Matthews; one of the greatest wingers of previous generations, who exclaimed in the final: "I wish there are more dribblers like him"[9]. By the end of 1995-96, McManaman was the top goal assists maker in the FA Premier League with 25 assists a season, including assists and man of the match awards in a 4–3 victory over Newcastle United, a match voted the best of the decade in a Premier League poll known as the Ten Seasons Awards[10]. McManaman was now ranked as one of the finest midfielders in English football, having also carved a significant reputation in the burgeoning European stage following Euro 96[11]. McManaman was said to have been one of only a handful of players at the time known to have the panache to lift supporters from their seats each time he got the ball[12] and around this time, the (then) Middlesbrough manager, Bryan Robson, said at the time that "everyone in the Premiership knows that if you stop McManaman, you stop Liverpool".[13]
However, what started out as positive affirmation of their talents turned into derogatorily labelling for McManaman and his teammates. A combination of fame and notorious lad culture excesses emerged, and fused with underachievement on the pitch, set critics pouncing. The labelling began after Liverpool were beaten by Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the 1996 FA Cup Final, in a game where the team arrived to inspect the pitch in cream coloured Armani suits during the Pre-Cup Final reception. McManaman, Jamie Redknapp, David James, Jason McAteer, Stan Collymore and Robbie Fowler were reported to have cashed in on their new found fame, fashionable shaggy hair (McManaman's nickname being 'Shaggy'), and good looks as stars of the nascent FA Premier League, exploiting their fame with groupies, clubbing, "high jinks", modelling contracts and deals with fashion labels like Top Man, Hugo Boss and Armani, culminating in their collective nickname: 'The Spice Boys'[14]. The situation was not abated by stories in papers like the Daily Mirror about Fowler dating Baby Spice, while McManaman was personally described by Mel C (Sporty Spice) as her personal favourite footballer[15], of which only the latter was true.
Labels aside, McManaman was also criticised for scoring too few goals, although he did more than make up for it with his incredible rate of assists that included a bountiful supply line for the likes of Robbie Fowler and later, Michael Owen. Moreover, the few goals McManaman did score tended to be spectacular or memorable - most notably an injury time solo dribble past Celtic F.C. in the UEFA Cup, where McManaman scored against the Bhoys after a 75 yard dribble. Other outstanding goals of his career came with goals against Aston Villa, Newcastle United F.C. and the scoring the winner with a stunning volley against champions in 1997/98, Arsenal F.C., where after which he won a PFA Player of the Month award in December 1997.
By the 1997-98 season, McManaman had bids from Juventus[16], A.C. Milan and over 14 clubs from Italy and Spain[17], but Liverpool's board of directors at the time including David Moores decided that continually rejecting those bids was risky, and eventually accepted a lucrative offer of 12.5 million pounds in September 1997 from FC Barcelona[18] for his services in what would have been a club record transfer, justifying it to the fans (many of whom viewed McManaman as the linchpin and playmaker[19] of the side at the time) by citing the risk of McManaman allowing his contract to expire and leaving on a Bosman ruling transfer for nothing, but the deal fell through and the player's excessive wage demands were blamed for the collapse.
The situation was not helped by the state of the club at the time, with McManaman and the Liverpool team constantly labelled 'nearly men' in three title races, and with the club failing to replace their bitter rivals, Manchester United, as England's top club side of the 1990s. That lingering failure meant inevitable changes at the club, and in November 1998, Liverpool appointed Gérard Houllier as the new manager. Houllier was widely believed to want to get rid of the "Spice Boys" mentality and cavalier attitudes at the club[20] and many players were told they were surplus to requirements including Phil Babb, Rob Jones, Stig Bjornebye and even Paul Ince. McManaman seized the opportunity to "pursue a desire to test himself abroad" and told The Independent:"It was such a tough decision because I have been here 12 years, but I have always stated that I wanted to play in Europe at some stage. At 27, now is the right time. Real Madrid are the European and world champions and this is a chance to test myself in a top European league." [21] McManaman also admitting receiving advice from Paul Gascoigne, Ince and Chris Waddle, who in his words in an interview on ESPN in 2004, all "spoke very highly of it". In early January 1999, McManaman's talent agent Simon Fuller of 19 Management[22] announced that he would be flying over to Spain at the end of the month, and by 30 January 1999, McManaman passed a medical and signed an official pre-contract with Real Madrid[23]. In what was a highly publicised affair covered by the world media, the BBC described it as a 'Spanish jackpot', stating that he would become "the best-paid British footballer of all time."[24] , while The Times newspaper described it as "English football's worst kept secret".
Despite the announcement, McManaman still had five months left on his contract at Liverpool to go and in his final games at Anfield for the club in 1998-99, McManaman turned in mixed performances for the club. His form dipped at times, arguably due to a combination of injuries, being restricted to substitute appearances (as Houllier wanted to cut the side's dependency on his gameplay), and loss of confidence in certain games where even the Liverpool fans turned against him over the contract debacle. Nonetheless, McManaman still scored several important goals towards the end of the campaign, including the winning goal from outside the area with a superb half volley to complete the full turn around result against Tottenham Hotspur F.C., after trailing 2-0 down at half time. And, in fitting fashion, in what was the final match of the season, and what would be McManaman's final match and final contribution on the pitch for the club, McManaman assisted Karl-Heinz Riedle with a goal at the Kop with a trademark right wing run and pull back as Liverpool won 3-0 against Wimbledon F.C., to which McManaman ended his career at the club to a standing ovation[25].
It still baffles many Liverpool fans why McManaman priced himself out of a move to Barcelona only to simply leave on a Bosman for Real Madrid two years later. Although McManaman claimed he only went to negotiate with Barcelona because the club first tried to sell him, the whole affair still is shrouded in mystery till this day as it was never revealed what took place in Barcelona, with McManaman claiming he ended up not even having any contract negotiations in Barcelona as he was used by Barcelona as decoy bait to get Rivaldo to sign[26], while Barcelona claimed McManaman was "too greedy". Regardless of the outcome back then, till today, many fans still see McManaman's failure to stick by promising Liverpool his contractual word at the time as a sign of his arrogance and self belief that he was bigger than the club, and note that the club had tried hard over the last two years of his contract to persuade him to stay, with McManaman always claiming he would sign a new contract as well. Some fans felt he had betrayed the club by these actions, labelling him a "Judas" character. Twelve months later Gerard Houllier turned down the opportunity to re-sign the player. It is widely accepted amongst Liverpool fans that McManaman's departure was one of the major reasons he was never as widely admired in later years, nor accorded Liverpool legend status, with McManaman becoming a victim of his own foresight.
Despite only winning two trophies at the club, McManaman's achievements at the club were exceptional for a player in a side often labelled negatively. McManaman was named in the PFA Team of the Year for four consecutive seasons from from 1994-95 to 1997-98, and was in the five man shortlist for PFA Player of the Year for three seasons from 1995-96 to 1997-98, with the PFA website describing him as one of the most gifted players of his generation[27]. McManaman also once held the record for most consecutive Premier League appearances as an ever present for four seasons, a club record for Most Appearances, and across the whole Premiership, once held second place in the record for highest number of Premier League assists per games ratio with 112 assists in 274 appearances[28], at the time he departed English football in 1999, just behind Ryan Giggs, who today holds the continuing record of most assists in history. As of 2008, McManaman holds 12th position on the Premiership's All Time Assists charts. In terms of assists per matches ratios though, McManaman holds 2nd place in the all time charts, 6 assists behind David Beckham, and is ranked 2nd place for most assists of all time from open play. McManaman also holds the record for having the most number of assists in Liverpool history, of which Steven Gerrard is closest to breaking. On 5 September 2006, Steve McManaman was named #22 in the official Liverpool website's "100 Players Who Shook The Kop" list.[29]
[edit] Real Madrid
On 1 July 1999, after 364 appearances and 66 goals for Liverpool, McManaman transferred to Spanish giants Real Madrid (then under coach Guus Hiddink and president Lorenzo Sanz).[30] At Real Madrid, McManaman became only the second English player to ever play for the club, after Laurie Cunningham had played for them in the 1980s. He also became the most high profile English footballer to move to Spanish football since Gary Lineker moved to FC Barcelona from Everton in 1986. Thereafter he proved an instant hit with the fans at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium after scoring three times and creating several goals in his first few games for Los Merengues.[31]
McManaman made his debut for Madrid on the 22 August 1999 in the 2-1 La Liga win over Real Mallorca at the Son Moix stadium, Mallorca, where he assisted Fernando Morientes in scoring the injury time winner. He scored his first goal for the club a week later on the 29 August in the 4-1 thumping of Numancia at the Bernabéu.
McManaman then established himself in the team that went all the way to the Champions League Final in 2000, under new coach Vicente Del Bosque, who replaced John Toshack. It was at this European Cup Final at the Stade de France in Paris that McManaman experienced his finest hour as a player- scoring a spectacular volley in a 3-0 victory over fellow Spanish side Valencia, where he was also hailed as the Man of the Match by the English press[32]. His part in Madrid's eighth European Cup win saw him become the first English player ever to win Europe's premier club competition with a foreign club.
Having established himself as a player of true worth in his first year in Madrid, in a unique sequence of events at the club that also saw Fernando Redondo depart the club, McManaman was suddenly told he was surplus to requirements with the arrival of Luis Figo and a new President Florentino Perez at the club before the start of the 2000-01 season. However, McManaman overcame initial rejection, where Real Madrid accepted first an £11 million pound offer from Middlesbrough and then a 12 million pound offer from Chelsea[33] that included the exchange of Tore Andre Flo, in the summer of 2000, both of which the player rejected. In spite of ensuing rumours that he had been denied a squad number, according to the English FA's report on McManaman, it was reported that McManaman shone in his second season, 2000-01, as his club side challenged for the La Liga title, and won it by a 7 point margin over the previous seasons champions, Deportivo La Coruña.[34] McManaman reportedly won over the manager by October, and managed to feature in two thirds of the club's matches, becoming a first team automatic for the second half of the campaign, and where McManaman held a unique distinction of being described as the only top class football player from England playing overseas at the time[35].
However, McManaman increasingly saw his playing time reduced each year, as that same season, the club adopted an at the time unstated policy now well known as the Galáctico system, with worldclass names like Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo arriving each year and standing above him in the pecking order. At the time though, McManaman was known for his dogged determination to stay positive for the club's cause, even if it meant he had less playing time. McManaman also turned down a transfer to Inter Milan at the time when he was made available for exchange as part of Ronaldo's signing[36]. It was widely reported in the Spanish media that McManaman's resilience to the team won the respect of his fellow professionals like Raúl, Zidane, Guti, Iván Helguera, and his two best friends at the club, Figo and Ronaldo, who backed him publicly on several occasions in press interviews. McManaman was also twice voted as the Real Madrid supporters' favourite player at the club in his tenure, and according to El País, in 2001, fans saluted him with their 'white handkerchiefs' (as a terrace favourite) after he acrobatically scored a 'wonder goal' against Real Oviedo that year.
Eventually, the Board, including Florentino Pérez relented, declaring that a "man like that would always have a place in my club". Arguably his second greatest moment in the white of Madrid came in the 2002 UEFA Champions League semi-final against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on 23 April 2002. In this match of monumental proportions, due to "El Classico" being a massive game in its own right, but also the fact that it was a Champions League Semi-final, McManaman appeared as a second half substitute to score a critical goal in second half injury time to secure a 2-0 first-leg advantage, cooly chipping over goalkeeper Roberto Bonano after being played in by Zindedine Zidane, who had scored the first goal on 55 minutes. This victory helped secure their place in the final of the 2002 Champions League at Hampden Park, Glasgow, where he came on as a replacement for Figo - and thereby ensuring his second Champions League winners' medal, after Madrid secured a 2-1 victory over German team Bayer Leverkusen.[37]
According to certain critics in the Spanish press, McManaman and several other players became "victims" as the policy was based more on marketing and revenue generation, and sometimes meant players were picked not according to form, but because of their marketing potential off the pitch. To his credit, McManaman never spoke ill of the Galáctico policy's effects on him during his tenure, only critiquing the policy and ultimately describing it in his autobiography in 2004 as the "Disneyfication of Real Madrid" upon his departure from the club; a piece of foresight that proved telling for the future- as the club never reached its heights in the period ensuing with the policy, and with the term becoming somewhat pejorative till this day.
However, it was McManaman's fourth season that really raised doubts, after only playing 21 games of which he started only 9 times, and making a meagre 15 appearances in La Liga, questions arose about his ability and reasons for staying in Spain considering his diminished role, lack of first team action and international attention. Suggestions that McManaman had "sold out" for money and had grown indifferent and lackadaisical to his football were rampant in the British Press, with what was described as there being what "seems to be a selective media amnesia over McManaman’s time in Spain."[38]
According to Forbes Magazine in 2001, McManaman was listed as 6th on the list of highest earning footballers in the world.[39] McManaman is believed to have pocketed an estimated 15 million Euros (just under £10,250,000) in his four years in Madrid. On top of financial rewards, McManaman also became arguably the most successful English football export to ever play overseas.
[edit] Manchester City
The signing of fellow Englishman David Beckham proved the last straw in eventually forcing McManaman down the pecking order at Real Madrid. In 2003, along with teammates Claude Makélélé, Fernando Hierro and later Fernando Morientes, McManaman headed back to the English FA Premier League, where first he was reported to either join Arsenal or Everton[40] but eventually deciding to join long-time admirer Kevin Keegan on the 30 August at Manchester City F.C., resulting in a reunion with several ex-colleagues including Robbie Fowler, Nicolas Anelka, David Seaman and later, David James.[41]
He made his debut on 14 September 2003 in the 4-1 win over Aston Villa at the City of Manchester Stadium. Unfortunately, McManaman's time at City was a disappointment.[42] A combination of niggling injuries, and the rise of an in form and up and coming Shaun Wright-Phillips saw him lose his preferred right midfield position. Off the field at City, Fowler and McManaman were caught up in a sex scandal[43] that reached an out of court settlement following a failed injunction attempt by the pair at 50,000 pounds each[44], to stop the matter from being published by News of the World. The court case only served to exacerbate their situations and affected their reputations on the pitch at the club. When McManaman did play, he failed to find old form and speed, only occasionally demonstrated the ability he had shown in his earlier career, and changed his game play considerably to being a simple passer of the ball in central midfield. He was left to often play mere token central leadership roles to the new batch of young talent, a role which McManaman was arguably unable to excel in, and saw him get a torrent of abuse from fans for being "all talk and not enough action", although, youngsters Wright-Phillips and Lee Croft did say McManaman was a major motivating influence on them[45]. McManaman was also linked to the New York/New Jersey Metrostars in 2005, who confirmed the club were interested in McManman, "but revealed MLS clubs were keen to lose the reputation that top stars only arrive to play in America for a final swansong in their careers"[46] and the Metrostars gave up on signing McManaman. Nonetheless, McManaman played for only two seasons and never played another game for the club after Kevin Keegan resigned in March 2005. Keegan's replacement, Stuart Pearce, released McManaman on a free transfer on 20 May 2005[47].
[edit] International career
McManaman made history by becoming the first player to be selected for England Under-21 side duty with a debut against Wales at Tranmere two months before he had played for the Liverpool first-team, selected by Lawrie McMenemy as he then was in December 1990[48]. In February 1993, McManaman captained the England Under-21 side for the first time against San Marino and he scored the last goal in a convincing 6-0 win. Terry Venables gave McManaman his England debut on the 16 November 1994 in an international friendly with Nigeria at Wembley, McManaman came on as a replacement for Newcastle United's Robert Lee. He had to wait a further 5 years before he scored his first international goal, it came when he scored twice on the 4 September 1999 in the 6-0 Euro 2000 qualifier victory over Luxembourg, again, at Wembley.
For England McManaman will forever remain an enigma at international level, where England coaches, with the exception of Venables, utilised McManaman's talents sparingly. McManaman struggled to repeat fine club form with his country, drawing comparisons to his mentor at Liverpool, John Barnes, but managed to string a series of splendid match winning performances for his country in Euro 96, earning praise from even Pelé, who according to the BBC, touted him as the tournament's best player and said he was the player he "was most impressed" by[49], and also said he could be the "best in the world"[50], a tag McManaman later admitted that he could not live up to. Together with team mates David Seaman and Alan Shearer, McManaman was also listed in the official team of the Euro96 tournament.
However, McManaman made only one appearance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup under Glenn Hoddle and once more in Euro 2000 under Kevin Keegan, where he scored the last of his three goals for England in that one game against Portugal. The last of his caps came in 2001 where Sven-Göran Eriksson utilised him for his first games for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, but apparently left a message on McManaman's answering machine to inform him that he was not going to be in the final 2002 FIFA World Cup England squad[51], despite the pleas of Zidane[52] and Fernando Hierro for McManaman's case; an omission McManaman claimed he never understood. Many fans and media critics believe McManaman's non-fruition at International level was a combination of a failure by managers to find an effective position for him and where as a right footed player he was often placed on England's problematic left-side at the time, although, Kevin Keegan's attempts to give him a 'free role' also ended in failure. McManaman was once described as "England's forgotten man"[53] but was also accused of being apathetic and laidback (he and Fowler opted out of Le Tournoi under Hoddle in 1997) when it came to England's games and it was ultimately McManman's inept display against Albania that saw him banished from Eriksson's list[54], as that was his final full game; making only one final substitute appearance after, in the critical qualifier against Greece in 2001 and where later that year, he did himself no favours by "choosing not to play" in the game against Sweden by calling the FA to have himself dropped from the squad[55]. McManaman was capped 37 times for England scoring three goals, and with the side only losing three times in the games he played[56]; one of which was the penalty shootout defeat in 1996.
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