Who am I?

[Reg]

Ah, the clue is Barcelona and it's Zambrotta. I read that question horribly at first.
Correct, good work Pen.

[Disco]

I started my career in the mid-nineties in my home country and later secured a move to Europe where I played in two countries' top leagues. In the first I played for five different clubs winning a league title for one and a cup for another, during this period I became the most expensive player from my home continent (a record that would stand for 14 years) and at one time played both my club and international home fixtures in stadia built for Olympic Games. My second European country was England where I finished my career on loan but only managed to score one goal.

[Toby]

Hidetoshi Nakata.

[Disco]

Correct.

I had no idea if that was going to be too obtuse or not.

[Toby]

The Olympics clue meant it had to be an Asian really.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I have spent my whole career in one country, for whom I am also an international, and have even played for four different clubs in the same city. I started a European final for one of those clubs, but it's for another club from outside that city that I am most revered, and over half of my career league goals have come for them.

[Reg]

Zamora

[Toby]

Were it not for the final clue I'd have said Dennis Wise.

I can't think of another city that fits the bill, so it must be somebody from Arsenal's 94 side.

EDIT: Ah, or that.

[Pen]

Raul Tamudo and that Basque guy that played for Barcelona who's name I just can't remember came straight to mind.

edit: But it must be Zamora as it seems so obvious after someone said it.

edit2: Who was that Basque player who went to Barcelona for a few seasons? It wasn't Etxeberria was it.

edit3: it was Santiago Ezquerro.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'm so utterly bored this morning that I'll try an obtuse one which you will no doubt get in three minutes.

I won over 100 caps, played at four major international tournaments, and won five league titles during a career which took in the Premier League among others.Two of my clubs were former European Cup winners and my former club managers included two current Premier League bosses.

[Toby]

I'm fairly certain Mascherano meets all those criteria but that you're talking in past tense makes me think you're looking for somebody else.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mascherano has played at more tournaments than that but yes, the tense is past.

[Disco]

I thought Van der Sar or Litmanen but one probably has more international tournaments and the other not enough.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Warmer with those two.

[Reg]

I thought Seedorf but he doesn't fit.

Kluivert?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Kluivert only has 79 caps.

I'll add that the two managers mentioned are both currently at London clubs.

[John]

My first thought was Van Bronckhorst but he must have played in more than four tournaments.

I reckon we're on the right lines with an Eredivisie player though. And a good one from a lesser country, since a hundred caps for a major nation will probably mean more than four tournaments. Mido would be perfect if he'd managed to sustain a career for longer than twenty minutes.

[Disco]

That's my van Gaal / Ajax theory gone then.

[Disco]

My first thought was Van Bronckhorst but he must have played in more than four tournaments.

I reckon we're on the right lines with an Eredivisie player though. And a good one from a lesser country, since a hundred caps for a major nation will probably mean more than four tournaments. Mido would be perfect if he'd managed to sustain a career for longer than twenty minutes.

Yeah, people like Sneijder and De Boer must have five or six and someone like Cocu I can't think who the managers would be (Hiddink is London and has managed PSV I think, but no idea on the second).

[John]

I don't know if there's a second manager, but Dennis Rommedahl would have been at Charlton at the right time to be managed by Pardew, and I think he fits the bill on the rest.

[Disco]

He was PSV at least once if not twice so he could have been there with Hiddink. I reckon you're right.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Dennis Rommedahl is correct.

[Reg]

Oof. I'd never have got that.

[Disco]

Did he not play under Koeman, that would make it three current managers.

[SvN]

Nope, he didn't

[Disco]

I assumed they overlapped mid-late 2000's.

I have an idea that might work here but I need to look stuff up so it'll have to wait until after I get home.

[Jimmy Floyd]

His Ajax managers were an undistinguished ensemble bookended by Henk ten Cate and Martin Jol.

[Toby]

An undistinguished ensemble then.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Is there a word for 'bookended' which includes the bookends in the main group? If not, there needs to be.

Boxsetted.

[Disco]

Right then, this might be crap but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm going to list all the managers that a particular player has played under through their club career (I've tried to exclude interim or caretaker managers) in chronological order. There will be four lists and the four resulting players will all be linked in some fashion.

Player 1:

George Graham
John Docherty
Bruce Rioch
Brian Clough
Doug Livermore/Ray Clemence
Osvaldo Ardiles
Gerry Francis
Alex Ferguson
Glenn Hoddle
Harry Redknapp
Alan Pardew
Alan Curbishley
Geraint Williams


Player 2

Harry Redknapp
Kenny Dalglish
Graeme Souness
Roy Evans
Gerard Houllier
Glenn Hoddle
Jacques Santini
Martin Jol
Harry Redknapp


Player 3

Jack Charlton
Willie McFaul
Terry Venables
Dino Zoff
Walter Smith
Bryan Robson
Walter Smith
David Moyes
Stan Ternant
Zhong Bohong


Player 4

Kenny Dalglish
Graeme Souness
Roy Evans
Gerard Houllier
Guus Hiddink
John Toshak
Vicente Del Bosque
Kevin Keegan
Stuart Pearce


It's probably a bit easy now I come to read it back but it's done now so I'm posting it.

[SvN]

1 is Teddy Sheringham I think

[SvN]

2 is Jaimie Redknapp

[SvN]

3 has got to be Gazza

[SvN]

and 4 is Steve McManaman

[Disco]

Well it took me longer to find Zhong Bohong than it did for you to get three of them. :D

Edit: Oh ffs.

[John Arne]

4 is McManaman.

[SvN]

Nice idea, but once you work out the era you can very quickly work out the clubs. The hardest one was actually Teddy, because Fergie spanned 26 years. Gerry Francis gave it away.

[Disco]

Yeah, picking players who didn't play together but are still linked would make it better, as might posting the managers out of order.

[Jimmy Floyd]

No wonder Gazza went off the rails with that collection of mugs being his bosses (Walter Smith aside).

[The Merse]

A war was the catalyst for the moment that defined my career, allowed me to score a goal that otherwise I could never have scored, and with that set in place a chain of events that would see one of the most successful managers in Europe sacked. After that goal I went on to disappoint when given my big break with a big club. After retiring I quickly brought unprecedented success to an unfashionable club, before again flattering to deceive as a reached a higher profile.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Michael Caine?

[John Arne]

Hitoshi Sogahata.

[SvN]

John Jensen seems to fit half of that, but his managerial career has been pretty uneventful.