Jimmy Burns |
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Jimmy Burns is the author of The Hand of God, a biography of Diego Maradona, and Barca. He also writes for the Financial Times.
You can visit Jimmy Burns's website at www.jimmy-burns.com
David Beckham's transfer to Real Madrid has to have been one of football's worst kept secrets. Jimmy Burns, the man who penned The Hand of God, a biography of Diego Maradona, and Barca, follows the transfer and surrounding events with, When Beckham Went to Spain a record of how Golden Balls move to Real Madrid led Spain to become Europe's most exciting country. Here, Jimmy lets us into a few secrets of his own.
What made you decide to capture this particular moment in football history?
I first got really interested in writing this book when rumours began to circulate that Beckham might go to Real Madrid. When it happened, it seemed that the scene was set for a fascinating encounter between the world’s most famous footballer - the celebrity sportsman - and the world’s biggest club. In a sense both player and club had much to win or lose with such an exercise, and the football world was fascinated to see how things turned out. Taken together the Beckham/Real Madrid story has all the ingredients that make football for me such a fascinating subject - power, politics, stardom, money, passion - it’s all in there.
Barca, Maradona and now Beckham at Real Madrid – where did your interest in Spanish football stem from?
The simple answer is that despite having a Scots surname - after my father - my mum is Spanish and I was born in Madrid. I’ve spent most of my childhood and adulthood going backwards and forwards to Spain, when not living there, and also spent an extended period living in South America, when I was posted as a journalist to Buenos Aires. Growing up in Spain during the long dictatorship of Franco, I got to realise how the game was mixed up with the politics of the country, gave it its particular edge, its power, and passion. I grew up getting to know cities like Madrid and Barcelona with some of the biggest stadiums in the world and some of the biggest stars in the history of football- players like Di Stefano, Gento, Kubala, Cruff. Add to that the experience of living in Argentina and Diego Maradona and it’s not hard to guess why I became increasingly immersed in latino football.
How did you go about your research?
My point of departure was to locate and listen to one person, not necessarily with a huge public profile but who I knew would point me towards what I would call the inner core of the subject. For example, with Maradona there was a friend who told me I could only really begin to understand him if I went and experienced at first hand the shantytown where he was born and spent his childhood in, learnt its codes and secret alliances. With When Beckham went to Spain, I had a long lunch with someone who knew not just every personality in Real Madrid but had a detailed and objective grasp of the club’s history. I also went to Manchester and talked to people who had followed Becks pretty closely there from his early days. They helped me to put Beckham in a much more interesting and wider context, which went beyond the well-known tale of his celebrity status and his marriage with Posh. Apart from my university background as a student of politics, sociology, and history, I trained as an investigative journalist with the Financial Times. I also happen to love seeing good football. If I’m not in the Bernabeu or the Nou Camp, I catch up on Sky TV. When I research a book, after reading into the subject, I develop and tap as many sources as possible-from the top jobs to the ordinary fan. People have to be at the centre of any story-sometimes they help your write the book, sometimes you have to get things out of them to make a book work. The bigger the subject - Maradona, Beckham - the bigger the challenge, but what’s the point of writing a book, if you haven’t got something new and interesting to tell your reader, and to move him or her in some way.
Did you find it difficult to keep your work current as revelations about the Beckhams appear on a daily basis?
Not really. I followed the revelations, but steered clear from being drawn into a running narrative. While my latest book clearly covers Beckham’s alleged marital problems, this is not my focus. You can get all the speculation you want from reading a tabloid newspaper. I have always set out to write books which will manage to have an extended life. It’s a great joy to bump into readers and discover that they still regard what I’ve written some time back still relevant to their experience and interest, whether as a football fan or simply lover of things Spanish or Latin American. The joy I get from writing books is precisely that satisfaction, in contrast to the instant -here today, gone tomorrow - breaking news culture daily journalism suffers from. Sure there are instant books out there on Beckham just like there are on any other celebrity, but When Beckham went to Spain is not one of them. I set out to write a story that would use Beckham as a vehicle for writing about a much bigger subject -Real Madrid, and the politics of power and stardom in Spanish football, in the context of Spanish history.
Who is the intended audience for this book?
When Beckham went to Spain should be required reading not just for Beckham obsessives, and football fans generally, but also a broader readership of those who are interested in Spain and its people. There is a lot in there, which I’ve written from personal experience, about Spanish culture and what makes it distinctive, about change in Spain during dramatic points in history-from the Spanish Civil War to the bombings in Madrid by Islamic terrorists. These themes run through the book sometimes in parallel, sometimes meeting and crossing paths, before drawing together in a chronicle of a year of hope, passion, and tragedy.
How do you think David Beckham will respond to the book?
I’m not sure if Becks gives himself time to read too many books although he did read Victoria’s autobiography and must have cast more than a passing glance at his own ‘ghosted’ autobiography. But I do hope he will at the very least thumb through my tome. I hope he will find it fair and objective - even helpful. I may not play football quite as well as he does, but then he doesn’t know Spain and its people like I do. My book might help him understand the country and the club he’s chosen to live and play in a little better.
What do you think the future holds for David Beckham and his career at Real Madrid?
Both player and club have a lot to prove after a season that ended disastrously without a single piece of silverware. No one can begin to understand Real Madrid and its culture without realising the huge weight of history that the club carries on its shoulders - the memories of European triumphs, the self-belief of being the biggest and the best. Real Madrid has had some of the best players in football history but none of them have managed to be bigger than the club. Madridistas are the most demanding fans in the world. They seek instant gratification. Beckham has a triple challenge. He has to prove himself as a great Real Madrid player. The club itself under its new manager Camacho and following its new signings - Woodgate, Owen, Samuel etc.-needs to recover its majesty and sense of invincibility both in the Primera Liga and in Europe. And thirdly, Beckham’s family life needs to find its stability in Spain after the disruption of the alleged affair revelations. It ain’t going to be easy. Could Spain prove Beckham’s coming of age as one of world football’s greats or could it turn into his nemesis? That is the question.
What projects are you working on now?
My loyal readers keep asking me when I’m going to write another footie book. To tell the truth I’ve written about the greatest footballer ever - Maradona, the most politically passionate club in the world - FC Barcelona, and now I’ve taken on Beckham and Real Madrid - arguably you can’t go bigger than that. But as Florentino Perez said when asked whether he ever wanted Beckham-months before signing him - “In football, you can never say never.” I’ve got a trilogy behind me. If I do write another footie book I’ll have to be convinced there is a bigger subject out there which I can say something different about. In the meantime I’ll always be interested in Spain and its history and Latin America. I’m also interested in spies. Maybe I might work on that. Watch this space.
