THE ETERNAL PROMISE YET TO BE FULFILLED

ONLY Guti could be linked to the Real Madrid and St Mirren jobs in the same week. No one expected him to become a coach but he’s still as full of surprises now as he was as a player. ‘If he takes over at Madrid, training sessions will be moved from morning to afternoon,’ one experienced reporter told me. Late nights don’t mix with early workouts and Guti has always enjoyed the city’s nightlife. As a footballer, the flowing mane and penchant for the elaborate seemed to come from the 1970s. But it was in the early 2000s he found himself in the first-team squad when Madrid were building a Galacticos dynasty of expensively-acquired superstars. Guti’s Twitter Avatar is a Marca front page lauding his ‘Back-heel from God’ during a 3-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna in 2010. He had found himself on the edge of the six-yard box with only the keeper to beat. The obvious thing was to to score but his outrageous back-heel allowed Karim Benzema to apply the finish instead. That old headline says a lot about what was great about Guti. Not so great is the fact he is mostly remembered for an assist in a mid-season league match instead of playing a meaningful part in a trophy-winning team. Former president Ramon Calderon once called him the ‘eternal promise’. It was true, albeit he was part of a team which had to accommodate Luis Figo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo. Everyone thought he’d spend the rest of his days on a beach after retiring. But instead he took his coaching badges and led the club’s Under-18s to a Treble in his first season. Most surprising of all is his ability to be a convincing role model to the young players. No one expected that of a man who famously turned up two hours late for training under Manuel Pellegrini. Guti is rising fast and is more fancied as a future Madrid coach than B-team boss Santiago Solari. The fans love him, he’s ambitious and the links to St Mirren and, more recently, second-tier Alcorcon show his desire. Would he really go to Scotland? Well, he ended his playing career with Besiktas in Turkey when no one expected it before becoming a partisan pundit. He’s hardly the voice of measured diplomacy like Zidane. And he wouldn’t command immediate respect if he got the Madrid job. Wherever he goes, it won’t be dull.