Inside Didier Agathe's final Durham City game as boss
In the heat and intensity of a balmy Seville night, Didier Agathe stood proudly as he eyed up the likes of Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferriera ahead of the 2003 UEFA Cup Final.
On the touchline, a prowling Jose Mourinho balanced neatly on the tightrope between confidence and arrogance as he prepared to take the next step towards legitimising his unwavering belief in his own ability.
The yet to be proven “Special One” would see his Porto side narrowly find their way past Agathe’s Celtic as two goals from Henrik Larsson failed to prevent Martin O’Neill’s men from falling to a 3-2 defeat.
Twelve months later, Mourinho’s Porto added the Champions League trophy to the UEFA Cup that they claimed against the Hoops and their manager embarked on a career laden with silverware in England, Spain and Italy.
Fast forward 16 years and Agathe was also sat in a dugout experiencing something a world away from that glorious failure in the Estadio de La Cartuja.
There were at least some similarities as the former Celtic and Aston Villa wingback watched on from the technical area as a side in green and white hoops batt led their way through a keenly contested fixture.
But for all of the obvious charm of Newcastle Benfield’s Sam Smith’s Park, Agathe was watching something very different from a playing career that saw him claim seven major trophies and play in the top leagues in England, France and Scotland.
There was something wonderfully bizarre about watching A ga the use his undoubted professional attitude and passion for the game to attempt to coax a performance out of a multicultural Durham City side as they fell to an eight defeat in nine games against West Allotment Celtic.
Clad all in black with a matching hat to block out the cold of a chilly Tyneside night, Agathe called on players from far-flung places such as Curacao, Barbados, Reunion Island and Darlington to raise their standards during a promising display.
With a face mask failing to quell his voice, instructions to retain possession, move the ball quicker and keep calm were all passed on to his league of nations as they threatened to cause a shock against their promotionchasing opponents by recovering from ago al down to take a lead in to the last third of the game.
In a sentence that not too many non-league writers will have had the fortune to have written, Curacao international Giorney Rojer curled home a sumptuous free-kick to get his side back level six minutes into the second-half.
The intriguing per formance of Barbados Under-20 striker D’Andre Wainwright was a particular highlight as the player with a frame that would make Tyson Fury look like a mere flyweight hustle and bustled his way through the game.
It was Wainwright that drew applause and astonishment from Agathe as he crashed a powerful shot from 25 yards beyond Allotment keeper Ross Logan to put his side in front as the last 20 minutes of the game approached.
With a quite frankly bizarre conversation about which Durham player once scored in an under-16 international fixture against an England side containing Jaden Sancho and Phil Foden ringing in my ears (Maurice Kone, if you are interested), Durham’s night slowly began to unravel.
An increasingly animated and agitated Agathe showed his clear frustration as his side’s defensive deficiencies were laid bare when an unmarked Gilberto Chapim headed home from six yards to restore parity.
An Allotment winner seemed inevitable and it duly arrived 14 minutes from time when Dean Walker was given time and space to claim the three points for his side and condemn Agathe to an eighth defeat in nine games.
A sorry night was capped off when goalscorer Rojer was left crumpled in a heap by a strong challenge in the closing-stages – and was then shown a straight red card for his protests against the lack of punishment for the offender.
Agathe barely reacted to the decision, other than to politely question the assistant over why his player had been dismissed before retreating when he was informed an assumption of Rojer’s transgression.
“How can he swear at you referee? He can’t even speak English man” was the protest from a Durham official.
A fair comment you can imagine, albeit one that perhaps assumes that the referee is not fluent in Dutch.
The full-time whistle brought an end to more than just an intriguing, if not bizarre 90 minutes of Northern League football.
It also brought an end to Agathe’s short but eventful reign as a manager in the tenth tier of English football.
From an opening day hattrick from Wainwright in a 4-3 defeat against Hall Lane landlords Willington to the frustrations of Sam Smith’s Park, via exits from the FA Cup and FA Vase, the Agathe experiment had come to an end.
The former Hoops star conversed with “club advisor” Olivier Bernard as he made his way to the dressing room to assess the reaction to his decision to step down.
Both former Premier League players stood pitchside as players said emotional goodbyes to their departing manager, who had clearly earned their respect and admiration despite their onpitch struggles.
Bernard insisted that the poor results were not the reason behind Agathe’s decision to step down and tipped his former manager to achieve success if and when he chooses to return to the dugout.
For now, the journey from Seville to Sam Smith’s Park awaits its next step.