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I was never kidding when I said he's a genuinely great guy.
I met him at the Buenos Aires airport once. I was on my way to London for a gig at the Olympics (football reporter for the Olympic News Service) and as I was getting ready to do the check-in, I look up and I see him there on his own.
"Ale! It's me, Seba. The only Argie who supports QPR!"
"What are you doing, man? You're taking this flight? Me too! Let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving", he said.
We spoke a lot. Then we sat nearby (an aisle between us) and it was one of the most turbulent flights I've ever had. The thing was JUMPING up and down.
Ale looks at me and says: "Seba? Are you OK?"
I think I wasn't. Got dizzy, lightheaded (or whatever you call that moment in which your face goes mighty white and you start sweating).
"Don't worry, Ale. I support QPR! This is nothing"
He was heading to London to continue rehabilitating his knee. On his own. His family stayed in Argentina for a few more days.
Then he called me one day and invited me for lunch near Loftus Road.
Two things I know:
1. Those injuries couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke. 2. He LOVES QPR.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 14:34 - Apr 17 with 7554 views
I love him too Arg .I think we all do. Has anyone still got the link to the vid of Ale jamming with his guitar with his mates? I think I promised him ( insisted) my 2nd daughters hand in marriage after that vid. I know he is married now but I'm easy I'm sure Lauren wont mind being a bit on the side.
What other modern footballers do you know that would work shifts at a regular job just for something to do away from football?? No fanfare, no PR bollocks, just fancying some time doing normal things to meet different people and help out.
He's just a lovely lovely man. As unlucky as we have been with him I don't regret him as a signing in the least, I just wish his time with us was defined by him caressing the ball around with his beautiful left foot rather than by injuries...
ask Beavis I get nothing Butthead
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 15:08 - Apr 17 with 7501 views
The Bloke didnt grow up to be a footballer so he could bang birds, be a gangsta, or so he could drive around in a Bentley he obviously comes from good stock, good on him i was there for his debut in a 0-1 defeat against Bristol City , he was head & shoulders above any player that night , the feeling going into that game was he was just another Pellicori, Alberti, Tommaso , Rossi, lumbered on us by Paladini, how wrong we were such a shame he got the 1st injury , he was having a stormer that season and i beleive if he didnt he would have been snapped up by Arsenal or Spurs if anyone deserves a full season injury free its him
And Bowles is onside, Swinburne has come rushing out of his goal , what can Bowles do here , onto the left foot no, on to the right foot
That’s there that’s two, and that’s Bowles
Brian Moore
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 15:54 - Apr 17 with 7452 views
I'm fairly sure that at the time he was on the verge of being selected for his country.
IMO, he is the best midfield player we have had since a certain Raymond Wilkins.
I can't understand the argument that he lacked pace. Of course, he was not the quickest, but not many top class midfield players have that quality. He definitely was still able to make runs in the last minutes of games!
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 17:28 - Apr 17 with 7378 views
It's always a pleasure listening to Ale speak about QPR.
Towards the end of the podcast Paul Finney summed up very well in his closing remarks how myself and many fans feel about Ale. He will always be a QPR legend for me.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 18:43 - Apr 17 with 7314 views
I we had 25 good-enough professionals who could actually contribute, I'd agree with you.
But seeing SWP included...
It was a crime to send him to Palermo too, while we had NOBODY of his quality around Loftus Road at the time. We paid that with relegation (of course it wasn't the one and only reason, but I saw it as one of the most unforgivable mistakes Harry made in his time at QPR).
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 18:56 - Apr 17 with 7300 views
What surprises me about AF is nobody ever seems to mention the fact that he was a great header of the ball especially defensively. I think he's been dealt a cruel blow regarding his injuries during his stay with us,
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 19:10 - Apr 17 with 7277 views
What a legend. I loved watching this guy play football. Pure class and agree with the comments above that he was on the verge of becoming a big big player that first season in the PL before he got injured.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 19:12 - Apr 17 with 7272 views
I think when he went to Palermo he wasn't playing very well for us and seemed to be struggling a bit, i still think we'd have gone down if he had stayed
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 19:33 - Apr 17 with 7254 views
Agree Ted, in that first spell back in the Prem before he got injured he was a colossus defensively, and every single second ball that was in the air / bouncing / chipped through, he would get hold of it or clear it.
A goddamn shame what's happened to Faurlin. He could have been huge. Can't believe he's 28 now.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 20:01 - Apr 17 with 7235 views
There should be a book on Ale called 'how to be a proper footballer.'
Not many of him left. One of the most elegant players we have had and boy have we missed his link up play this season, and two, human beings like him don't come along to football teams very often and we need to keep hold of him, even if his career is now very short because a player and person like this is what will coach and guide the kind of players we want here.
Back when you beautiful people made my dream possible, I went to Loftus Road the day before of the Plymouth game (my first ever on site after having followed QPR from afar for 7 years before that). So some players were there and I met him.
He couldn't believe my story, but we got talking and he was impressed by how much I knew about the club. Another quality guy, like Ale. We kept talking for a while and soon came the questions: "where in Buenos Aires are you from? Which area, etc".
We happened to hail from the same part of town (close to where some Diego Armando Maradona guy was born!).
Lanus (is the name of the area) is quite big. Fair enough, I thought. I've met many people from there, obviously. But we kept talking.
"Have you ever played football at a club?", he asked.
"I had a trial for Racing (current Argentine champions), but I didn't make it. Before that...nothing too big. I played for a tiny 5-a-side club as a kid in Lanus".
"What's the name of that club?", Gino wanted to know.
"Portela", I replied.
And he started laughing nervously. "I used to play there!"
He was born in 1976. I was born a year later. I played there since I was 6 till I was 9. Then moved to another part of town that was really far from there.
He started playing when he was 10 till he was 12-13.
Basically, he started the year I left. We knew all the same guys. Some of them made it as pros. Cristian Alvarez (1978) is currently playing for Argentinos Juniors, but had long spells in La Liga (playing for Mallorca and Racing Santander) was one of our friends in common.
Gino's mum was in charge of the volleyball operation there. And my four cousins played volleyball there. So they also knew each other.
This is a picture of the little "cancha" where me and Gino started playing.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 00:59 - Apr 18 with 7076 views
Great man. Great QPR player. The best 'pass and move' centre midfielder I've ever seen play for us (born 86) and I don't say that lightly.
Quality player, who, at the time he did his first ACL had made more tackles in the Prem than any other player that season AND had the second highest pass completion rate at 83%. Would have been picked by Argentina before the end of the season and probably ended up at Spurs or Arsenal.
Such appalling luck to do his ACL twice more.
I really hope he's here next year and orchestrating our midfield like the conductor he truly is (and the conductor Barton wishes he was).
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 01:07 - Apr 18 with 7071 views
Great podcast as per usual. What a gent. The man is proper clued up. My guess is he's going to Italy to play football. I cant believe he hasn't spoken to his agent or the club about another contract. Funny how he compared how it would be if the Chelsea players did what they did in Argentina. If Ivonavich lent back in the crowd in Argentina he'd be gone,not coming back on the pitch. Interesting about Taraabt,Redknapp and dj Greeno
Occasional providers of half decent House music.
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Ale Faurlin on the QPR Podcast on 01:31 - Apr 18 with 7056 views
Hooliganism here got so bad and so institutionalised that nowadays, they are like celebrities for a good number of stupid fans and they have bonds with politicians, police, club directors and even some players!
At River Plate (I'm sure you heard the name of the club), their firm were given the task of providing the club with security during matches. Something like the stewards, but a lot more dodgier.
They control the parking spaces several blocks around the stadium (basically, instead of being able to park your car in the street for free -it is during the rest of the week-, you have to pay some guys a large fee -at risk of having your car damaged if you don't-).
They keep a % of the merchandise sold on matchdays around the stadium.
And it got so mental that they even took a % of a player's transfer fee to Europe (it's rumoured they got a cut of the money the club received from Lazio when they sold GK Juan Pablo Carrizo).
A few years ago, you'd fear to get caught in the middle of a ground battle between rival clubs' gangs. That stopped, but not for the better!
These days, it's more normal you'd get in the middle of a battle between two separate gangs FROM THE SAME CLUB, such is the money at stake for this thugs.
It's normal some of these hooligans will have action for a big club and then for a lower league local side. They'd team up with gangs from other clubs to help each other in their internal battles for control of the firm.
They are utter scum. And because they also have links with the forces and the government, they are never sent to jail. And if they are, they walk free the next day.
For a couple of seasons now, it's forbidden to go watch your team when you play away. It's home team supporters only nowadays. And it's taking the best out of our game.
The best thing for everyone that's ever come to Argentina to watch football was the atmosphere (and the fact you can still stand in the terraces), but it's not like it used to be.
That said...next time we play Chelsea, I might put up a word with some people to send them around their team bus or to get them to seat on Ellerslie Road! ;)
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