Ben Jarman Futbol

When you think of identity within football, one team springs to mind: Athletic Club. One of the oldest and historical clubs in Spain, known worldwide for their truly unique policy of using only Basque players, or those with Basque heritage. Everything about Athletic screams heritage; from the museum in San Mames, the Lezama training complex that has produced over 300 academy graduates and the bars in the city-centre that are adorned with Athletic flags as the locals spill out in to the streets before the match. On the pitch, however, Athletic have struggled to make their mark under new coach Jose Angél "Kuko" Ziganda and look a shadow of their former-selves. Since Kuko's appointment, Athletic have scrabbled and floundered their way through a patchy season that started well, but has tailed off considerably with fans growing considerably restless. Whilst there have been contributing factors to the downturn in form, losing the creative Iker Muniain to a season-long knee ...

Football is blessed with some astonishing characters, those who have helped shape the game in a manner so radical that it ill never be the same again. None are more astonishing that Marcelo Bielsa, the relentless eccentric who laid the foundations for managers worldwide with his expressive, high risk football.  Bielsa is well known for his eccentricity, from resigning at Lazio after just 48 hours, to using a cool-box as a touchline perch during his time in Marseille. But no story can sum Bielsa up as eloquently as when he was held at gunpoint during an Argentina training camp in 2001. It's 2am and the Argentinian national team has used an army barracks as a training base in preparation for an upcoming match, in the darkness a small figure huffs and puffs around the perimeter of the barracks. An old CD player hangs out of his baggy tracksuit bottoms and his old trainers pound at the wet ground. Bielsa isn't listening to 'Santana' or 'Led Zeppelin' - he is liste...