Life at Marbella - Where it's barbecues on the pitch and golf after lunch

Champions League / Tommy Mooney / 29 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

Marbella's new forward has been given the number nine shirt as the Segunda B/4 season begins. And while it's going well on the pitch, life's not too bad off it either...

There's been no let-up in our pre-season work building up to our first game this weekend - apart from a very nice barbecue on Wednesday this week.

I've been led to believe it's not unusual for social gatherings like this after the odd training session out here, but in Marbella's case it seemed strange being inside the stadium finding the shade while the food cooked on a brick-built barbecue inside the spectator's area and no more than 30 yards back from the pitch!

Yes you'd get together in England, but it'd be in a restaurant. How my times have changed, I was thinking.

As with making friends, in any new social group you tend to migrate towards folk who you've got at least one thing in common with. So there was a large circle of 30-somethings sitting in a circle in the shade while the coaching staff - apart from the kit man who was head chef - and the younger lads lapped up the sun while they were chatting. It was just the football staff, no families at this one.

These three hours spent together after a morning training session gave me a great chance to work on my informal Spanglish with some of the older Spanish players, who've obviously learnt English as a second language and have a good grasp of it. We all got on fine and, when there was a joke cracked in Spanish, they were good enough to translate to keep me feeling part of the group.

Away from football and outside the family life, I've been golfing once a week (that's all the schedule will allow) with one of my neighbours, Francis. He's a concierge at one of the top hotels and we were out with George Graham and Paco - who owns a restaurant - on Monday this week. George pulled our pants down and spanked us, so to speak, playing off 12. I played as well as I've done in a while but still came out second best. He said all he had in his bag was a nine iron and tortilla chips!

I'm off 14 but let me tell you he's never a 12! Fair play to George for doing us, but that won't happen again, especially the bit afterwards where me and Francis had to get the drinks in at the bar.

I was having a tot-up and we've done 71 training sessions in the last five weeks. Our month ahead, with games coming now, looks a bit less testing so I'll hope to get work my way up to at least a couple of rounds of golf a week now. Two of the children have started at a local golf academy, which makes it a bit easier to get down the driving range and the course, if you know what I mean.

But back to the football and, as I was saying, we're just about ready for our Segunda B/4 season now and I've managed to land squad number nine. I'm not particularly precious about it but, when the English owners helped bring me over here, they spoke of me as a traditional English number nine and the kit man kind of gave me that kit marked up when I started.

The last time I wore nine was with Watford in their 1999 Premiership season. From memory, I think I had 16, 10 and eight elsewhere, mainly, but nine will do nicely. The number brings its own pressure to deliver but that really hasn't bothered me before as I'm confident I can keep a decent strike-rate going.

It's not just our division starting this weekend. La Liga kicks off and, of course, that's getting massive coverage in Marca, a daily sports paper.

I try to work out what's being said from the pictures and, again, the English-speaking boys in the squad are very good in helping me out.

For our seven-hour coach journey to north of Madrid ahead of Saturday's match, we've agreed to bring English and Spanish newspapers onto the coach - so we can all learn a bit.

I'll be polishing my Spanglish again and working on the proper lingo as well. But I've seen and read enough to tip up Barcelona for the title this season. They were [2.28] to back when I checked.

I just feel that Real Madrid have lost out on too many target signings and have a samey look about them. Added to that, it just might do Barca good to have a lower-profile coach in Pep Guardiola. He seems like a good appointment so they'll do for me.