Regatta marina del rey

Chelsea have spent £600m on players and need a manager who can properly mine that investment. It is why Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed.

The memory remains so vivid, that Adam Lallana can recall every detail. The midfielder described it as “an awakening” when Pochettino first walked into Southampton’s dressing room in January 2013 to give his introductory address ahead of a training session.

The Argentine had only undertaken a two-hour English lesson booked by his wife at that point, but possessed a magnetic pull. “He was sharp,” Lallana noted. “He looked the part, he spoke with passion despite the language barrier.

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“There was so much energy in the room and an immediate connection. The lads were all buzzing to play for him – and were desperate to know what fragrance he used!”

Pochettino has a habit of not just making a strong first impression on his players as a manager, but a lasting one.

At Espanyol, a club he saved from relegation against all logic, Philippe Coutinho was transformed from an Inter Milan castaway to a stunning playmaker who would directly and indirectly contribute to Liverpool’s golden period under Jurgen Klopp.

“Mauricio gave me a lot of confidence,” the Brazilian would say. “He helped me believe in myself and become the player I am.”

Over at Tottenham, Pochettino’s influence on Harry Kane – their fourth-choice striker when he arrived – is well documented. He convinced Spurs to stick with Heung-Min Son when the club wanted to twist, and his rebuilding of Ryan Mason – the player plus person – went above and beyond.

Even in the grandiose Paris Saint-Germain show, where egos run amok, Pochettino was able to solidly steer the dressing room. There were no major public fall-outs during his spell, unlike the spats that coloured the periods before and after.

Pochettino is a players’ manager; disarming then developing them. He offers a journey to buy into, a subscription to the collective good.

“I look in people’s eyes and it becomes easy to connect,” he told this writer. “I believe people can perceive what you are about and that first impressions are big – you need to be strong and honest and people will relate to that. Players need to feel how you work and trust in you.”

Chelsea knew all this about Pochettino. Twice under Roman Abramovich via Marina Granovskaia, who held him in the highest esteem, they attempted to appoint the 51-year-old at Stamford Bridge. Now they have finally landed their man.

But there is no greater need for his skillset at the club than right now. Chelsea have pumped £600m into a seriously bloated squad and need a figure who can unlock their investment.

There is an abundance of talent but the group is low on confidence and without direction. They are primed for Pochettino’s energy, philosophy and brand of belief that former Southampton defender Dejan Lovren once likened to “becoming a superhero”.

Chelsea’s recruitment staff know Pochettino will work with the tools at his disposal instead of pointing to transfers. This is a man who performed miracles at Tottenham with little-to-no net spend, going two successive windows without making a signing – an anomaly in the Premier League.

The squad is overflowing with intelligent players that will ace Pochettino’s demands for a high press, quick offensive transitions, overloads and building from the back.

There is also enough versatility to adapt an approach to a compact, organised shape in a mid-block. The attacks from Pochettino’s teams have tended to largely engage the full-backs, an area Chelsea are particularly stocked in.

The list of players who stand to benefit from his appointment – Mykhailo Mudryk screams out – is lengthy. But Pochettino will also be ruthless in trimming down a ballooned squad and cutting out those not capable of meeting standards or his tactical demands.

He is also exceptional at managing relationships with the powers that be. Despite desperately pushing Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy for a refresh of the squad in the years prior to his 2019 sacking, Pochettino has never once been publicly critical of him.

They remain on good terms, which is the case too with PSG’s hierarchy. Given the hands-on nature of co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali at Chelsea, this seems an instructive point.

Pochettino has always performed beyond expectation, with the exception of France’s giants. He is in great company in that regard, with Carlo Ancelotti, Unai Emery and Thomas Tuchel proving PSG itself is the problem, not the person in the dugout.

Pochettino saved Espanyol from the drop, defying convention after becoming their third throw of the dice in 2008-09. He guided them to victory over Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in a Copa del Rey quarter-final and took them to an unthinkable eighth-placed finish.

Southampton were brave under his watch, winning against Manchester City, Liverpool (twice) and Chelsea, as well as draws with Arsenal, Manchester United (twice) and City. He delivered the club’s best Premier League points total at the time in 2013-14 and secured them a hefty profit on player sales.

Pochettino moulded Tottenham in front of our eyes, turning them from a laughing stock to Champions League regulars – finalists in 2019 – and domestic contenders despite having the lowest budget of the ‘Big Six’ and being trampled in the market by them.

Spurs have nosedived drastically since his departure, with the fanbase joining players and staff in wishing they were close to unveiling him again.

It is instead Chelsea who have that honour. The club sacked their Champions League-winning manager in Tuchel, and within seven months were getting shot of his replacement who they swore was part of a long-term process.

Graham Potter was saddled with players he did not need in a recruitment strategy that undercut his coaching approach. Enter Frank Lampard, an interim move that spoke to sentiment rather than smarts. His record read played 11, lost eight, conceded 21, won one.

Pochettino makes incredible sense for Chelsea. It is up to the club to prove they are a logical destination for an elite manager.

Something’s in the water of Italy’s famed Grand Canal in Venice.

Venetians woke up to a mysterious patch of fluorescent green in the central waterway on Sunday. The verdant stretch hugged an embankment near the Rialto Bridge, and appeared to spread as the day went on, based on images posted to social media.

Police are investigating the origin of the liquid after residents reported the spectacle to authorities on Sunday morning, Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region, said on Twitter .

Italy’s fire and rescue agency said it’s working with local environmental officials to identify the substance from collected samples of the water.

A range of theories have surfaced online, with some speculating algae growth and others pointing the finger at environmental activists.

City councilman Andrea Pegoraro blamed climate activists, CNN reported , who have been targeting Italian cultural sites in recent months.

The group Ultima Generazione, which has poured charcoal into fountains in Rome at least three times since April in protest, told the network that the green coloring “wasn’t us.”

The timing of the emerald patch also aroused suspicion. The Vogalonga rowing regatta , in which amateur crews finish along the Grand Canal, took place over the weekend. The amateur boat event aims to celebrate the Venetian lagoon environment as well as to protest wave motion from excessive motorboat traffic that riles the city.

For many, the bright green waters call to mind a 1968 exploit by eco-artist Nicolás García Uriburu. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , Uriburu colored the waters of the Venice Grand Canal that year with a neon-green dye called Fluorescein to promote environmental awareness.

American filmmaker Martin Scorsese recently embarked on a tour of Italy following his appearance at the Cannes Film Festival.

During his visit, the director had a meeting with Pope Francis and announced his plans to create a film centered on Jesus, according to Variety.

Scorsese expressed his response to the Pope’s call to artists by developing a screenplay and shared his intention to commence production, suggesting that this project could be his next cinematic endeavor.

Prior to attending a conference titled “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination,” organized by Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University, Scorsese and his wife, Helen Morris, had a brief private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

While Scorsese’s manager, Rick Yorn, has yet to comment on the director’s upcoming religious-themed project, the filmmaker’s Italian tour encompasses various events. These include screenings of his films alongside works that have influenced his artistic journey, set to be presented at Rome’s Casa del Cinema cinematheque.

Before embarking on the tour Martin Scorsese showcased his highly awaited film Killers of the Flower Moon at the Cannes Film Festival.

The movie, which depicts the Reign of Terror during the 1920s when several wealthy members of the Osage Nation were murdered, had been a passion project for Scorsese for many years before production began in 2021.

A WWE legend who won a string of titles through the 1990s is now unrecognisable after ditching hardcore matches for a blue collar job.

Spike Dudley, an eight-time WWF (now WWE) Hardcore champion who fought with the likes of The Undertaker , William Regal and Rey Mysterio, is far from in-ring action now.

After years of brutal chair shots, high-flying risks and teaming with Hall of Fame duo D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley, Spike, now 52, is working as a financial advisor under his real name, Matt Hyson.

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Spike’s time in the ring featured a stint as WWF’s European Champion as well as teaming with Tazz to secure the WWF Tag Team Championships.

But his “most hardcore moments”, which are endlessly littered in the recommended playlists of wrestling fans globally, are long behind him.

His final in-ring encounter was in 2015 and, almost a decade later, it would seem Matt is happy to retire his wrestling moniker for life with his wife and two children, The Sun reported.

Speaking of his new role, which is far away from the squared circle, Spike said: “I work with a financial investment company, and my role is when people die, their assets and their accounts have to get transitioned.

“So my job is getting the assets to where they have to go. It fits my personality, I find it very fulfilling.”

Spike was a key member of WWE’s ‘Attitude Era’ and ‘Ruthless Aggression’ follow-up, taking bin lid shots to the head from The Deadman and being slammed into the canvas repeatedly by Brock Lesnar.

The wrestler turned financial adviser claimed the wrestling industry was quite similar to his new line of work.

He said: “Every job has a lot of similarities, whether it’s corporate working in a suit, working a McDonald’s, or whether you are a wrestler.

“There is a hierarchy, there is a food chain, you have to learn how to play the game.”

His well-remembered matches and fan favourite moments, including the time he was dumped out of the ring and through a table, were not going to last forever.

He admitted as much in an interview with Chris Van Vilet in 2020, saying there was “more to life” than leaping from ladders and taking beatings.

Spike says it was his wife who convinced him to retire instead of heading down the “rabbit hole” and holding out for more moments in a “great career” he has since retired from.

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Police in Venice are investigating the source of a phosphorescent green liquid patch that appeared on Sunday (Monday NZT) in the city’s famed Grand Canal.

The governor of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, posted a photo of the green liquid that spread through the water near the arched Rialto Bridge. The patch was reported by residents.

Images on social media show a bright patch of green in the canal along an embankment lined with restaurants.

Zaia said that officials had requested that the police investigate to determine who was responsible. Environmental authorities were also testing the water.

Theories include a possible stunt to coincide with the Volgalonga regatta taking place this weekend, reports the BBC .

In 1968 artist Nicolás García Uriburu dyed the waters in the canal to help raise environmental issues.

AP