Football Paradise talks to Nick Davidson, author of ‘Pirates, Punks & Politics’ about modernization of European football and its impact of FC St Pauli.

On 2nd July 2003, Real Madrid unveiled their new marquee signing, David Beckham. As had been customary since what seems like the invention of time, Alfredo di Stefano was at hand to present the jersey and pose for a few clicks, all while sporting a look that screamed “not as good as I was”.

In Florentino Perez’s Real Madrid, this was just another day. Except that this was 11 am, and unveilings don’t happen at that hour. Perez knew exactly what he was doing, having optimised the timing for Asian audiences, and it sat perfectly for the evening television show in Jakarta. The end result was this ceremony garnering the second-largest live audience on television after the funeral of Princess Diana.

Smooth as he was with organisational skills, his sense of football was equal amounts suspect. Around the same time, fresh from sacking Vicente del Bosque twelve months after he won them their ninth Champions League title, Perez let go of Claude Makelele, because he thought, “Makelele can’t head the ball and can’t pass it more than 3 metres. New players will come who’ll make him be forgotten.” Just as the world was adjusting itself to his enormously naive opinions, Perez was presented with the chance to hijack Manchester United and Barcelona’s bidding war for Ronaldinho, surely the greatest entertainer football saw in the 21st century. Never one to forego a ‘hold my beer’ moment, he remarked, “Ronaldinho is too ugly to be a Galactico. We’re signing David Beckham, one of the sexiest men on the planet.” Real slick.