Steve Mcmanaman

Steven McManaman (born 11 February 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He is one of the most decorated English footballers to have played for a club abroad, with the UEFA website stating in 2012 that "of all England's footballing exports in the modern era, none was as successful as McManaman".

During his nine years at Liverpool, he won the FA Cup and League Cup, while individually, he was the Premier League's top assist provider for the 1995–96 season and was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 1996–97 season. McManaman moved to Real Madrid in 1999, with the transfer becoming one of the most high-profile Bosman free transfers of all time. Amongst his accomplishments with Madrid, he won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League twice, becoming the first English player to win the latter trophy with a non-English club, and later became the first English player to win it for the second time. An early ''Galáctico'', he won eight trophies and played in 11 cup finals in four years and made the semi-finals of the Champions League in each of his four years at the club. He went on to play two seasons at Manchester City before retiring in 2005.

Since his retirement, McManaman works as a co-commentator on ESPN and TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport)'s football coverage, as well acting as a La Liga ambassador. He previously worked as a football pundit for Setanta Sports.

Early life

Steven McManaman was born on 11 February 1972 in Bootle, Lancashire. He grew up as an Everton supporter, with his boyhood heroes in football being the Everton players Bob Latchford and Duncan McKenzie. However, when Everton offered the player a two-year contract, after McManaman had made a name for himself at tournaments for school and around Merseyside, McManaman's father rejected it in favour of a schoolboy contract and two-year apprenticeship offer from Liverpool (through scout Jim Aspinall and then manager Kenny Dalglish). McManaman signed as a 16-year-old apprentice upon leaving school in 1988. As an apprentice, McManaman was under the mentorship of John Barnes and many regarded McManaman as a player who could potentially replace Barnes in the future. McManaman was said to be a natural athlete; having been a cross country champion at school level.

Club career

Liverpool

1990–1993: Early years

McManaman developed through the youth scheme at Liverpool and signed as a full professional on 19 February 1990 in what was to be Kenny Dalglish's final full season as manager. On 15 December 1990, McManaman made his Liverpool debut under Dalglish as a substitute for Peter Beardsley in the Football League First Division in a 2–0 league win over Sheffield United at Anfield. By the following season, Dalglish had been replaced by Graeme Souness as manager. On 17 August 1991, he made his full debut in a 2–1 win over Oldham Athletic. This was a game in which ''The Guardian'' reported that McManaman "ran his legs into the ground" all day and assisted his mentor John Barnes in scoring the late winner by flicking on Mark Walters' cross. McManaman scored his first ever professional goal with a diving header four days later on 21 August 1991, in a 2–1 away defeat to Manchester City.

The 19-year-old McManaman quickly became a regular first team player in the 1991–92 season, making 51 appearances in total in only his first full season. It was suggested that opportunities in the first team had come as a result of then manager Graeme Souness' decision to sell several ageing players. Moreover, McManaman also found opportunities in the first team as John Barnes had suffered a career threatening achilles tendon injury. McManaman was deployed as a left-sided or right-sided forward, backing the club's new signing Dean Saunders. This was a move which Saunders reluctantly accepted at first, having realised that Souness "had o choice butto bring kids like McManaman into the team before they were properly ready." Saunders however began to change his mind as the season progressed following his observance of McManaman's ability to form an attacking partnership with him, with McManaman managing to create and score several goals across the league and in the side's run to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, as well as in the FA Cup. On 9 May 1992, McManaman started in the 1992 FA Cup final as Liverpool defeated Sunderland with a score of 2–0. McManaman was also named the man of the match, having set up the winning goal for Michael Thomas, despite being the youngest player on the pitch. McManaman's performances saw him described by Ian Rush as the most promising young player at Liverpool at the time.

1993–1995: Success and first widespread fame

Although McManaman had a couple of quieter seasons with the advent of the Premier League, in which Liverpool initially struggled, he continued to develop a reputation as one of English football's two best emerging young wingers alongside Ryan Giggs of Manchester United. A BBC article described the pair as able to "embarrass defences with their mazy runs, which too often lack the finishing touch they deserve".

In the 1993–94 season, McManaman showed fine form with two goals against Swindon Town and some assists including a spectacular run and assist against Tottenham Hotspur. However, this form faltered following a drop in confidence after an incident with Bruce Grobbelaar towards the end of a Merseyside derby, when the players exchanged blows after Grobelaar lambasted McManaman for a poor clearance which led to a goal being conceded (an incident later named as one of the top five bust-ups between teammates in Premier League history).

At the beginning of the 1994–95 season, McManaman signed a new million-pound contract, and was given a central, freer role by new manager Roy Evans, who wanted to utilise McManaman's natural running and dribbling ability to drift all over the park. It proved a successful decision as McManaman began mesmerising defences with runs that were later to become hallmarks of the Liverpool side of the 1990s. The 1994–95 season also proved to be a turning point for Liverpool after the lack of success during the previous two seasons. That season, he collected a League Cup winner's medal after scoring twice in his side's 2–1 win over Bolton Wanderers; such was his performance that fans named it "The McManaman Final". For his second Wembley final appearance in succession he was awarded man of the match, earning the Alan Hardaker Trophy and a tribute from guest of honour, celebrated veteran winger Stanley Matthews, who had a personal word with McManaman before the final, saying: "I like the way you dribble," adding o the pressafter the final, "He reminds me of me when I was playing ... I wish there are more dribblers like him." In 2024, ''FourFourTwo'' magazine placed McManaman's performance in the final at number 87 on a list of the Top 100 best individual performances in all of modern football history.

By the end of 1995–96, McManaman was top of the Premier League goal assists chart with 25 assists over the season (15 in the Premier League), including assists and top ratings in a match against Newcastle United voted the best of the decade in the Premier League 10 Seasons Awards. By now, McManaman was ranked as one of the finest midfielders in England and had developed a strong reputation on the European stage following UEFA Euro 1996, earning praise from many at the time including Kevin Keegan, who said "there are few finer sights in world football than the sight of Steve McManaman running down the length of the pitch".

1995–1997: Consistency and success

McManaman had also been noted for his versatility in his free role, switching from right to left wings, and his ability to play in central midfield, behind the front pair, or as a forward. McManaman was credited for making the free role that manager Evans gave him work, with the result being that Liverpool were playing some of the most aesthetically pleasing attacking football at the time in England. McManaman was also said to have been one of only a handful of so-called "talismanic" players along with Eric Cantona and Gianfranco Zola in the league at the time believed to have the charisma to lift supporters from their seats each time they got the ball.

From 1996 through 1998, McManaman consistently won several 'Man of the Match' awards, and Premier League managers were forced to deploy a man-marker specifically to follow him for an entire game. The then Middlesbrough manager, Bryan Robson, was quoted as saying that "everyone in the Premiership knows that if you stop McManaman, you stop Liverpool". According to interviews on an ITV documentary titled ''The Alex Ferguson Story'' (1998), Peter Schmeichel stated that Alex Ferguson was also tactically fixated on stopping McManaman each time Manchester United played Liverpool, with Schmeichel adding Ferguson was so concerned about stopping McManaman dictating the play; it became "Groundhog Team Talk": "We've heard it every time we're playing Liverpool—McManaman's doing this ... We know that," said Schmeichel, while Ferguson himself told his players: "We lost the league (title in 1994–95) at Anfield by not listening to instructions about McManaman..."

1997–1998: Contract wrangles

In August 1997, Liverpool, having been unable to agree a new contract with McManaman and fearing that the player might leave on a Bosman free transfer, finally accepted a £12 million bid for the player from Barcelona; Barcelona had previously tried (and failed) to sign McManaman twice before (after the 1996 FA Cup final and after Euro 96). The deal subsequently fell apart amidst recriminations about the player's remuneration demands and Barcelona's motives for the bid, being in negotiation with Brazilian superstar Rivaldo at the same time and snubbing McManaman when he travelled to Spain to meet them.

At its height, the transfer saga was dubbed by the ''International Herald Tribune'' (later acquired by the ''New York Times'') as one that ushered in a "new low in transfer trading tactics"; adding that McManaman was a pawn being "used" as the big clubs battled. By the end of the saga, Barcelona had signed Rivaldo after Bobby Robson changed his mind (he had earlier told LFC vice-chairman Peter Robinson that he wanted the player) and intervened and told Louis van Gaal that he decided McManaman was "a cosmetic player who would not score 18 goals a season for Barcelona", while McManaman himself, albeit expressing that he was surprised Liverpool were willing to sell him, stated that he had no desire to leave Liverpool and reiterated his former position in February 1997 - that he would not leave Liverpool no matter what unless the club ever decided to sell him, and with two years left on his contract was simply not in any rush to sign a new one - as cover for his waiting on the management and board to offer him the right contractual terms on a new deal. A subsequent bid of £11 million from Serie A club Juventus in November of the same year was rejected by both club and player.

In early 1998, Barcelona returned with yet another bid for McManaman, and former Deportivo La Coruña president Augusto César Lendoiro later added that Barcelona did not want to sign his former player Rivaldo and that they had (initially) wanted McManaman, and put it down to a "coincidence" that they pulled out and opted for Rivaldo instead, with it being notable that the fact Barcelona came back again in 1998 (after having already signed Rivaldo five months earlier) had stood as evidence of that point. Nonetheless, McManaman and Liverpool turned them down once and for all for the last time.

McManaman had been named Liverpool stand-in captain at the start of the 1997–98 season, but contract negotiations continued to flounder as the club could not match the sums available to McManaman if he left as a free agent at the end of the following campaign. Having been overlooked by Glenn Hoddle for the 1998 FIFA World Cup starting lineup, denounced in the English media as being greedy (due to the FC Barcelona fiasco) and bolstered by advice from the likes of fellow professionals Paul Ince, Paul Gascoigne, David Platt and Chris Waddle, McManaman publicly announced his desire to play abroad, explaining: "I have always said I would love the chance to play abroad and now that chance has come along. When you have a chance to join clubs who are involved in the Champions' League every season, you have to consider it...I'm sure everyone must see the logic in that."

Numerous European clubs circled the soon-to-be free agent, with Juventus again back in the fray amid huge media speculation, but La Liga club Real Madrid soon emerged in November through December 1998 as his most likely destination. In January 1999, it was reported that McManaman was talking to Real with the player reportedly offered £60,000 a week and nearly £2 million as a signing-on fee. On 30 January, McManaman passed a medical and signed an official pre-contract with the club which would make him the best-paid British footballer to date. He declined to pose in a Real Madrid shirt at the contract signing event, out of respect for Liverpool's fans.

McManaman's image of being a contract rebel and mercenary at the time was also exacerbated by his involvement in a year-long dispute between 1997 and 1998 with Umbro, his football boot sponsor. Umbro sued him for breach of contract for knowingly wearing Reebok branded boots in contravention of the deal, and deliberately "blacking out" their logo on his boots in protest. McManaman argued that his contract was unenforceable and an unlawful restraint of trade. McManaman said that he was being exploited in that he was being held and tied to a boot deal he had signed back when he was a mere teenager. McManaman's agent during the 1990s, Simon Fuller and 19 Management—of which McManaman was his first football client—helped him negotiate a settlement. The court initially ordered McManaman to fulfil his contract, plus an undertaking to pay Umbro's legal costs for launching contempt of court proceedings against him in 1997, which McManaman accepted and apologised for. A year on, however, McManaman continued to dishonour the deal. He finally won an out-of-court settlement in October 1998, freeing him to negotiate with other companies for what he regarded as remuneration appropriate to his status.

1998–1999: Final season at Liverpool

Having signed the pre-contract with Real Madrid, McManaman still had five months left on his contract at Liverpool. New manager Gérard Houllier, who had replaced Roy Evans as full coach following the failure of their joint-managerial role that very season, was widely believed to want to get rid of the "Spice Boys" mentality and cavalier attitudes at the club, having told many players they were surplus to requirements (including Jason McAteer, Phil Babb, Rob Jones, Stig Inge Bjørnebye, David James and Paul Ince), and where there were exits for seventeen other players who would leave the club in the next year ahead. While stating that he would have preferred that the player stayed, he said that the club had to respect McManaman's decision to exercise his right to leave at the end of his contract and conceded that he would have to replace the player, ultimately stating that McManaman's departure was inevitable and the only chance of keeping him would be if he (McManaman) decided to sign a 12-month contract extension having failed to secure a move to the club of his choice, saying: "If I was the manager of Real Madrid—or Barcelona or any leading club—I would want to have Steve McManaman in my side," he said.

Reports also emerged at the time stating that McManaman's decision making process was significantly shaped by Roy Evans' complete departure from the club in mid-November 1998, as Liverpool would be commencing on a new era and tactical style under Houllier and it dovetailed with McManaman's desire to time his move that year, rather than to sign an extension and move a year later.

Jamie Carragher defended McManaman in his autobiography, stating that at the time: "Despite being accused of greed, Macca also lost money to secure the move. He was one of the lowest earners at Anfield (for years), despite being the top player, because he'd refused to sign a new contract. Financially he took a big risk, putting his career before money. I respect him for that." Another of McManaman's younger teammates, David Thompson, also said (in an interview in 2019) that McManaman was the best player in that 1990s Liverpool team, but was playing as the playmaker of the side on a lower salary than even new foreign signings who came in on higher wage contracts at the time.

McManaman also stated that his decision to move abroad was something he had wanted to do for a long time and not for financial reasons alone, telling the magazine ''90 Minutes'' that it was about the allure of Real Madrid and Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Madrid's legacy, as well as the desire to test himself in the Champions League.

In 2021, McManaman finally shed new light on his decision to leave Liverpool back in 1999, stating that a combination of factors including being underappreciated at Liverpool – having not been offered the right contractual deal (as the club presumed on his staying on indefinitely simply because he was a local talent thus only sanctioning higher offers commensurate with his true value when they realised he would actually leave); and that the club were poor in communicating and handling his matters including selling him to FC Barcelona (without consulting him at all) – were all behind his decision back then. These were details which McManaman had never personally revealed publicly prior; and for over 20 years (arguably for confidentiality purposes and to protect the club's reputation).

At the time, in McManaman's final games for the club in the 1998–99 season, he began turning in mixed performances, with the media accusing him of playing out his final season in a "desultory manner". His form dipped at times, largely due to a combination of injuries (his first recurrent achilles injuries for over five years having set in after years of playing constantly)—where he had already missed an entire month from mid-November, only to return and reluctantly limp off the pitch (as captain) following a tackle by future Liverpool player Dietmar Hamann on his return game on Boxing Day (another compound injury that sidelined him for another month). Other factors for his loss of form included his later being restricted to substitute appearances (as Houllier wanted to cut the side's dependency on his gameplay and replace him,) as well as suffering a loss of confidence in certain games where even the home fans turned against him over the contract debacle, with some labelling him a "traitor" and a Judas figure.

Nonetheless, Houllier also avoided dropping McManaman entirely from the squad and gave him the chance to play. Houllier stated: "Macca had decided to leave, that's why he didn't sign the year before. When I arrived it was his final year and I didn't want to punish him in any way for that, although I might have done with another player. It was not my fault Macca left. You never want your top players to leave the club. He went on a free under a new rule at the time and you have to live with that sometimes. I would have tried hard to sign him before he was able to leave, that's why I was fair to him. I wasn't going to prejudice the matter by not playing him; he played until the end of the season and I asked the fans to give him a great send off in the final game against Wimbledon." McManaman himself also credited Houllier for his kindness during what ultimately was a difficult period, adding: "...it was a difficult situation for the pair of us, so I've got nothing but respect for the way he acted."

''The Guardian'' reported on how divided the Liverpool fans were about McManaman's departure: "At the age of 27 McManaman is articulate enough to appeal to his public's elders, pretty enough to disrupt the thought patterns of the girls and good enough at his job to be regarded as a role model for the lads...on the face of it his crime is simply to be young, successful, in demand and wise enough to have surrounded himself with advisers who fully appreciate his true value. Before and during Saturday's game at Anfield he was subjected to some frightful abuse, accused by supporters of both teams of being a "greedy bastard"...It is wholly dependent upon your standpoint as to whether McManaman is a sporting trail-blazer enjoying the benefits of a free market or the very personification of the greed which many would argue has devalued football in recent times." At the time, McManaman also suffered personal tragedy when his mother Irene died aged 50 after a long battle with cancer.

The combination of all these factors meant McManaman suffered a loss of form; however, McManaman managed to rally and pick up his play right at the end of that last campaign. McManaman scored a crucial goal away at Blackburn Rovers, set up a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser with a through-ball for Paul Ince to score in front of the Kop against Manchester United, and scored the winner with a "scorching drive" to complete the full turn around result against Tottenham Hotspur after trailing 2–0 at half-time. 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, enabling McManaman to end his career at the club to a standing ovation, a lap of honour at Anfield, and a two-row squad farewell at the entrance of the players' tunnel.

Real Madrid

1999–2000: Champions League victory

On 1 July 1999, after making 364 appearances and scoring 66 goals for Liverpool, McManaman transferred to La Liga club Real Madrid as Guus Hiddink's last signing for the club. The transfer came before the dismissal of Hiddink and also came while the club was under president Lorenzo Sanz. Prior to the arrival of McManaman, Real Madrid was described as undergoing a management and debt crisis. Forward Raúl told the press that the dressing room was "a cesspit of lies, treachery and whispers" and commented that he felt "sorry for new players like Steve McManaman coming into the club". Raúl added that " fMcManaman thinks he is coming to one of the world's top clubs then he has made a big mistake." Previously, Real Madrid had appointed John Toshack as its new coach and had been obliged to sell influential players such as Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker and Christian Panucci due to mounting debt, while Clarence Seedorf was later released shortly after McManaman arrived.

McManaman's transfer saw him become only the second English player to ever play for the club after Laurie Cunningham had played for them in the 1980s. He became the first-ever player from the Premier League to move to play for Madrid and was also the most high-profile English footballer to move for Spanish football since Gary Lineker had moved to Barcelona from Everton in 1986. When McManaman first arrived, he admitted an initial struggle with loneliness, and spoke at the time of retired former Liverpool player Michael Robinson being his mentor. Robinson had likewise moved to Spain to play football and had cultivated a media career there.

Following a successful pre-season with the Madrid team in Switzerland and Italy, McManaman and his teammates returned to Spain. McManaman proved immediately to be popular with Real Madrid's supporters at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium after scoring three times and creating several goals in his first few pre-season games for ''Los Merengues''. On 22 August 1999, McManaman made his debut for Real Madrid in a 2–1 win over Mallorca at the Son Moix stadium in Mallorca, where he assisted Fernando Morientes in scoring a stoppage-time equaliser and thus enabling Madrid to go on to win 2–1 with seconds remaining.

On 29 August 1999, McManaman scored his first goal for the club on his home debut in a 4–1 victory over Numancia at home. From December 1999 to January 2000, McManaman and the Madrid team took part in the controversial inaugural FIFA Club World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, where McManaman missed a stoppage-time chance to win a game against Necaxa and then also missed the penalty kick that would have sent Madrid into third place. Following this tournament, McManaman and the team returned to Spain and established themselves as a strong European side under new coach Vicente del Bosque, who had replaced John Toshack in November. McManaman's form in the run-in for the Champions League title saw him receive several man of the match awards, forming a productive midfield partnership with Fernando Redondo, as Madrid beat title defenders Manchester United and Bayern Munich to reach the final. On 24 May 2000 in the Champions League Final at the Stade de France, Paris, McManaman arguably experienced his finest moment as a professional footballer, scoring a spectacular volley in a 3–0 victory over Valencia. His performance on the greatest of club football stages saw him hailed as the man of the match by the English press, a view endorsed by his Madrid teammate Iván Helguera. McManaman's part in Madrid's eighth European Cup win also saw him become the first English player ever to win Europe's premier club competition with a foreign club.

2000–01: Fortitude in Madrid

Despite the Champions League final performance and having established himself as a valuable player in his first year in Madrid (including being listed alongside Fernando Redondo in Real Madrid's technical director Pirri's end of season official report as one of the two "untouchables" around whom the team should be built for the coming campaign), the arrival of a new club president in Florentino Pérez, closely followed by former Barcelona superstar midfielder Luís Figo in a club-record transfer, saw the club forced to sell several key players to reduce debt. McManaman, alongside Redondo, Nicolas Anelka and Christian Karembeu, was suddenly told that he was surplus to requirements before the start of the 2000–01 season and would be sold. When McManaman refused to leave unlike the others, manager Vicente del Bosque told McManaman that he had "little chance of playing this year", and in case he did not understand his position, the club also declined to give him a squad number for the forthcoming season. With the club already in debt, and having just spent another £37 million on Figo, the board were keen to cash in on McManaman and remove his $4.5 million salary from the wage bill. McManaman, however, with an iron-clad contract until 2004, declined to leave and instead stated his determination to win back his place in the team.

McManaman was left out of Real Madrid's squad for the 2000 UEFA Super Cup. Real Madrid subsequently accepted first an Middlesbrough