Vanguard News Network
VNN Media
VNN Digital Library
VNN Reader Mail
VNN Broadcasts


Go Back   Vanguard News Network Forum > News & Discussion > Uncensored Europe + > United Kingdom
Donate Register Multimedia Blogs Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Login

 
Thread Display Modes Share
Old August 25th, 2013 #1
Jae Manzel
...
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,066
Red face Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Paulinho saw racist abuse in eastern Europe turn career into nightmare

Having moved to Lithuania, aged just 17, to pursue his career, he had been subjected to horrendous racial abuse from local supporters. He moved to Poland in a bid to escape his troubles but that proved equally unbearable. And so he quit.


For three weeks, Paulinho recalls, he could do little but sit, almost catatonic, unsure what to do with his life and how he would provide for his wife, Barbara, their young daughter and his family.

“As soon as I returned to Brazil I lost hope, I lost confidence,” Paulinho recalls now. “I was basically stuck for three weeks and when you are in this position that’s when sadness comes, when depression might sink in and, of course, I lost confidence. This would subsequently return but, at the time, I could never think about my great dreams in football when I was going through this moment.”

Those dreams had formed when Jose Paulo Bezerra Maciel Junior – to give Paulinho his full name – was just five-years-old. Football quickly became his life and when he left Pao de Acucar, a feeder club in Sao Paulo, it appeared that FC Vilnius in Lithuania – already home to two other Brazilians – would be a stepping stone to greater things. He was wrong.

“There were two games. When I went out to play, the fans were making monkey noises and throwing coins at me and I just thought: ‘I don’t need to tolerate this.’ So I made the decision to move on.



Hurriedly Paulinho joined LKS Lodz in Poland, determined to try and remain in Europe, but life was difficult there, too. “I went through a worse time,” he says, alluding to “internal problems”.

His wife was pregnant and so after just 55 games and two seasons it appeared his European dream was over. Indeed it seemed his football career was over.

“I just felt I didn’t need to do something that put me in those kinds of situations,” the midfielder says of his troubles. “I felt a responsibility towards my mum and dad and I spoke an awful lot with my wife. She mentioned that my parents had always backed me and that they always did everything for me and that I should return to football to fight for what they had given me.”

There was another factor. Reality bit. What else would he do if it was not football? “That is exactly what my wife said to me!” Paulinho says. “If I had left football I would not have had anything. The reality was that as I remained at home I could not think of anything that could replace it.”

As he speaks this shy but fiercely determined 25-year-old rubs his right arm. On it is a tattoo, in Portuguese, which reads: “Everything God does will last forever.” His wife has the same tattoo, a vow made at their wedding.

And so he began rebuilding his career – first with a local team, Audax, as far down as the fourth division of Brazilian football. He was quickly picked up by Bragantino, a larger club, before the biggest of them all, Corinthians, with 25 million supporters in Brazil, came calling.

“I started to believe in myself again,” Paulinho explains. “I would say that was a year, a year and a half after having returned to Brazil and starting from scratch.”

Paulinho had been signed as cover but quickly established himself in a Corinthians side which was recovering from the trauma of relegation and went on to win the Brazilian league title and then, of course, beat Chelsea in the Fifa Club World Cup final last December.

By then Paulinho was in the national team and the big European clubs were interested, including Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United. Inter Milan made an offer, CSKA Moscow inquired but it was Spurs – with a £17 million deal, their record at the time before it was overtaken by the £26 million Roberto Soldado – who made the decisive move.

“I looked at the other offers but came to the conclusion that Tottenham would be the right one for me because of the team, because of the environment and the league and also the other players who I would be playing alongside,” Paulinho explains.

He seems made for the Premier League. Powerful and quick with an eye for a pass – and for goal – he can be a holding player or, more ideally, a box-to-box midfielder who can create. Despite his attacking instinct he can also be disciplined – as he showed on his debut last Sunday at Crystal Palace.

“That was the most important thing,” Paulinho says of the 1-0 victory and ahead of the encounter at home against Swansea City today. “To start with a win. The main aim for me and for the other players at Tottenham is to really aim for titles this season. Tottenham is a big club and we have great players here so we should be aiming for the top.”

The flurry of transfer activity has raised expectation although Tottenham head coach Andre Villas-Boas has moved to dampen that down. Still, Paulinho says playing for the Portuguese coach has helped – and not just because they share a common language.

“This is an obvious advantage,” he says. “But I didn’t come to Tottenham for this. I came because of the stature of the club, and the great coach that Villas-Boas is.”

It also helps – especially in a season that ends with a World Cup finals back home – that there are so many Brazilian players in the Premier League and, particularly, in London with Sandro also at Tottenham and the Chelsea trio of Oscar, Ramires and David Luiz who will all hope to be in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s squad.

“Obviously we are rivals but off the pitch we are friends,” Paulinho says.

Telegarph.co.uk
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #2
Jae Manzel
...
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,066
Default

So Bev, did you see who gave me a thumbs down, using your "Admin Super Powers"?
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #3
Bev
drinking tea
 
Bev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: England
Posts: 38,898
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jae manzel View Post
So Bev, did you see who gave me a thumbs down, using your "Admin Super Powers"?
Are you accusing me? It wasn't me, but I'm about to give you a couple anyway.
__________________
Above post is my opinion unless it's a quote.
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #4
dunotra
Senior Member
 
dunotra's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 1,116
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jae manzel View Post
So Bev, did you see who gave me a thumbs down, using your "Admin Super Powers"?
Why are you obsessed by the thumbs down thingy look how many my post got on the Thatcher thread

http://vnnforum.com/showpost.php?p=1533376&postcount=3
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #5
Bev
drinking tea
 
Bev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: England
Posts: 38,898
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunotra View Post
Why are you obsessed by the thumbs down thingy look how many my post got on the Thatcher thread

http://vnnforum.com/showpost.php?p=1533376&postcount=3
You deserved every one of them!
__________________
Above post is my opinion unless it's a quote.
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #6
dunotra
Senior Member
 
dunotra's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 1,116
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
You deserved every one of them!
Well not everyone thought so One person gave it a thumbs up Or was that just a misclick
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #7
Bev
drinking tea
 
Bev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: England
Posts: 38,898
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunotra View Post
Well not everyone thought so One person gave it a thumbs up Or was that just a misclick
Probably someone who isn't British.
__________________
Above post is my opinion unless it's a quote.
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #8
dunotra
Senior Member
 
dunotra's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 1,116
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
Probably someone who isn't British.
Well I very much doubt they were Argentinian.
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #9
Bev
drinking tea
 
Bev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: England
Posts: 38,898
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunotra View Post
Well I very much doubt they were Argentinian.
That's true.
__________________
Above post is my opinion unless it's a quote.
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #10
dunotra
Senior Member
 
dunotra's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 1,116
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
That's true.
I see Bev that your down thumber is back
 
Old August 25th, 2013 #11
Bev
drinking tea
 
Bev's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: England
Posts: 38,898
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunotra View Post
I see Bev that your down thumber is back
Yep! I'm surprised he finds time in between sending me PM's full of lies and whine.
__________________
Above post is my opinion unless it's a quote.
 
Reply

Share


Thread
Display Modes


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:01 PM.
Page generated in 0.11872 seconds.