Last week saw BFC and Javi Venta wave a mutually agreed goodbye, despite his prolific one-in-four record from right-back. Bees fans now know there’s far more to it then that, the signing was a statement of intent, Champions League and La Liga pedigree without demanding centre stage – few, if any, League One teams would have passed the opportunity to import such experience.
Within weeks of his arrival national media was interested in this odd story about the Spanish veteran seeing out the winter of his career in London for the sake of some coaching badges. For me our London location – employment in the best city in the world – is a major selling point to so many players and, in my head, we should be saying to all the great and good of top flight youth teams; “Come on mate, do you really want to spend your prime out in Stoke or Middlesborough, or even Mallorca, when you can get a plum job in London?”
With Javi it was different, aged 37, with his best years almost half a decade behind him but with a vintage programming that suggested his advice to our young players would be worth tenfold that of the bitter carreerist Championship dropout most League One teams have come a costumed to building teams around. But I don’t think any Bees fan in their right mind should feel short changed how things have turned out.
Imagine yourself moving abroad in your late 30s with a family accustomed to a certain way of a life, how many of us could honestly do it? Look at Ian Holloway’s previous reasons for staying in the South West, for Cruyff’s alleged reasons for missing a World Cup and even for the reasons for Stewart Talbot’s outburst at one abusive fan in Brook Road; family matters. Hell even Nicky Adams couldn’t hack living the South!
Put in Javi’s shoes I wouldn’t have made it across the six yard box and in these days of entitled, well/over paid young Demi gods, how refreshing that someone who very easily could have played the pundit card or something equally lazy made the effort with a long game of testing themselves in another culture and learning to coach, returning their knowledge.
This was lauded by Rosler in his official goodbye message and I hope, if it comes to fruition and Venta does go on to top flight coaching, he remembers Brentford fondly.
I’d been writing this soppy, non-committal, sentimental message in parts for a week now, but as I’m sure Mr Venta knows, life has a tendency to get in the way of all best plans and intentions.
Lou Boyd
@lordloucan
