| Chico, OG, but still my favourite player 20:45 - Jan 20 with 2997 views | RogueTrooper |
Despite the OG and his occasional ability to go missing during a cross, I still can't stay angry at the bloke for long. He always puts in a shift and sometimes he is awesome. Hope his form picks up to what it can be, as, he is still capable of brilliance. Judging from this interview, he is a bloody nice, if not a very punctual bloke.
How 'Chico' Fell in Love With Welsh Way of LifeBy Daily Telegraph
Published: 19th January 2014 06:00 AM
Last Updated: 19th January 2014 04:05 AM
The dashing, Ferrari-mad Spaniard tells Jason Burt he could not be happier at home in the Valleys
Unfortunately, Chico Flores appears to have forgotten about this interview. An hour passes in the reception area of Swansea City's Liberty Stadium before he eventually roars up in his red Ferrari, jewellery dazzling in both ears. Yet if this sounds like Flores is living up to all the worst footballer-stereotypes, the reality is quite different.
The Spaniard could not be more apologetic and spends the next hour patiently answering questions about Swansea's second-season struggles, sitting among the fans, breaking into the Spain squad, learning Welsh, studying architecture - and one day becoming a pilot. By the time he finally leaves, he has created the impression of a player perfectly at home in Swansea, both with the club and the city.
There are no pretensions here. Flores is a grounded individual, even going as far as choosing to make his own way by car to Fulham last season - when he was suspended. He and his wife, Davinia - who is also by his side during this interview - duly took a seat with the travelling support.
"I'm a football fan," Flores says. "I think like a fan and wanted to be with them. I enjoyed it, enjoyed watching them and being among them, seeing how they lived the moment. It's certainly something I would do again. I don't need to sit in an executive box I remember when I was young and I used to see the players of Cadiz [his hometown team] and talk to them and if I can do that here then why not? It's not asking a lot, it's no big thing."
His willingness to integrate fully even extends to wanting to talk to them in Welsh, not just English. And even though this interview is conducted in Spanish, through a translator, there is some evidence that his lessons are already having an effect. "?'Nadolig Llawen,'?" Flores proudly volunteers - it is Welsh for 'Merry Christmas' - before relaying how he and Jonathan de Guzman, the Dutch midfielder who was another recruit of manager Michael Laudrup, spoke about the need to immerse themselves in the local culture and cuisine.
"This is Wales, not Spain," says Flores, who is one of eight Spanish players in the Swansea squad. "And we have to adapt to the Welsh style of life. Obviously the Spanish style of play is here in Wales! But Wales is not Spain."
Still, Swansea's success - and their Spanish contingent - means the club are talked about back home. An under-21 international, Flores harbours ambitions of a full cap. "I want to meet my goals, it's something that I have thought about and something I would like to achieve. I focus on Swansea and have to be realistic. Spain are the best team in the world and there are a lot of good players who are not in the national team. But, yes, I would love that. It's my dream."
Like almost all the Swansea players he lives in the city. "It's a family club. We are close to the supporters. Very close! An example? The changing room at the training ground was just a gym, open to the public, and the fans were able to use it. It wasn't owned by the club so we shared this gym and the fans let us know what they thought. It was a positive thing. It meant we were even closer to them."
With his hair dragged back into a ponytail, those twinkling earrings and his black beard, there is something piratical in Flores's appearance. The 26-year-old's home city of Cadiz, the port in southwestern Spain, has a rich nautical history and Flores's style of football is appropriately swashbuckling, particularly for a centre-half.
"Swansea's style of football matches with my style. Swansea is not a famous team but it was an attraction for me that a more modest team, so to speak, plays in this way. I'm a defender but I like the way we keep the ball and the kind of football we play sits very well with me. I want to play the ball and also attack and go forward. We are one of the
better footballing teams in the league and do well against the better teams because of the way that we play. It's top-class football."
The problem for Swansea is that results this term have not always matched their swaggering style. It was always likely to be difficult to replicate last season's staggering successes - winning the Capital One Cup, qualifying for the Europa League, finishing ninth - but a relegation battle has been the crudest of wake-up calls.
This season, Laudrup and his players are focused simply on ensuring that next season they are in the Premier League. That task continues with a home match today against Tottenham Hotspur before a run of games against teams who sit around them in the bottom half of the table. "It's been frustrating but we have to think realistically and the fact is Swansea are a relatively modest team in the Premier League," Flores says. "The main goal is to remain in the Premier League. Last season was really good but it was always going to be difficult to maintain that. It's been complicated because of the Europa League and with a lot of players injured but now we will start getting the results and the points that we need."
Flores's renowned commitment to the cause - "I give everything and have done so with every team I have played for. More than 100 per cent - you understand?" - will be invaluable but he at least understands that there is more to life than football. He reveals that he also wants to gain a pilot's licence and study architecture and design. "I would like to learn. But only after football."
And when, eventually, that comes, how does he want to be remembered? "The main thing I would like to hear is simple: he did the best for the team. But I am like any player: I want to do my best and I want the fans to love me. Like everyone I can have good games, bad games but it's about working really hard for the team. If they remember me as someone who did that then I will be happy."
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| "If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human furcking beings! You are nothing but unorganized, grabastic pieces of amphibian sh1t! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me the more you will learn." |
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| Chico, OG, but still my favourite player on 21:05 - Jan 20 with 2953 views | Al_Bundy |
Chico in the Championship would be hilarious ! The guy would we rolling around like he's been hit by a train. |  | | |
| Chico, OG, but still my favourite player on 21:28 - Jan 20 with 2927 views | jackforever |
| Chico, OG, but still my favourite player on 21:05 - Jan 20 by Al_Bundy |
Chico in the Championship would be hilarious ! The guy would we rolling around like he's been hit by a train. |
Interesting tale about him on the anus board. | | | |
| Chico, OG, but still my favourite player on 07:57 - Jan 21 with 2816 views | DanishDuck |
| Chico, OG, but still my favourite player on 21:28 - Jan 20 by jackforever |
Interesting tale about him on the anus board. |
Humble, grounded, giving him self more than 100% ???
Maybe thats what he thinks, but thats not what he shows. |  | | |
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