Football has quite the impact on impressionable young minds. Footballers become heroes and can do no wrong in the eyes of those still at school, admired by thousands and inundated with selfie and autograph requests. In the Derby County of today, it’s probably a Wayne Rooney or maybe a Martyn Waghorn.
But for the youngsters of the mid 2000s, there was only really one option. One man who almost single-handedly brought the brand of Joma to the city of Derby. For myself, and so many more, Inigo Idiakez is that hero.
My personal Twitter handle ends in 27. And Instagram. And my email address. And Inigo is the solitary reason for that. Because on this impressionable mind, Inigo Idiakez will always stand out above all others. Having missed out on the majesty of Stimac and Wanchope, only catching the final months of Eranio, the introduction of Idiakez by George Burley and his scout Simon Hunt was my first introduction into a Derby side that would have significant foreign influence.
Inigo Idiakez was born in San Sebastian in November 1973, according to his Wikipedia. For those who know it, San Sebastian is renowned for its film festival, beautiful bays and array of local wines (thanks Google). But none of that matters. Because San Sebastian is the birthplace of the greatest free kick taker ever to grace the English Football League.
“I remember from the age of 5, I would be playing with my brother and practicing the technique. When you have that and the time comes, it’s just composure.” Idiakez smiles as he goes back in time. It was here at an early age where he first found his love for goal scoring, and it was the place his integration into the footballing world began. From San Sebastian, he’d go to Real Sociedad, appearing almost 300 times. Then to Oviedo, before his final club in his homeland of Rayo Vallecano. At Vallecano, his one campaign saw him and his side relegated to the third tier.
So his capture in the summer of 2004 came out of the blue for both parties. A La Liga veteran even at the age of 30 when he made his move to England, Derby were getting a player at the peak of his powers – even if he himself didn’t necessarily agree. “I had an agent here in England and his Spanish was worse than my English, so I played a trial game, played really bad and was in as a number four. Ian Taylor was there and we couldn’t communicate” Idiakez now laughs. “But after that they told me they wanted me to sign a two-year contract, which was a big surprise for me. I was terrible! But they said ‘this game was just to check your fitness don’t worry’.”
Idiakez was an anomaly when signing for Derby. Coming into a side who had narrowly avoided the drop to the third tier in the season previous – largely thanks to the wizardry of the on-loan Leon Osman – his signing was something of a stab in the dark by the club. But to take a chance on a man with no English in his vocabulary and someone who had never played outside of Spain before, there had to be something special.
“I’d been in La Liga for 10 years with Real Sociedad and then Rayo Vallecano. I’d never moved from Spain or my family so it was quite shocking. But the first two games, I scored two goals and it really helped me to settle down with the team and for everyone to look like ‘wow, there is a player!’. My wife then came over and I felt this game was going to suit me and would be good for me. My confidence went really up and then the story about me and Derby in the first year was amazing.”
Immediately, Idiakez captured hearts, minds and a space on the back of many, many supporters shirts. Because to many, they hadn’t seen a man like Idiakez at Derby. And to those who had, they could have been forgiven for thinking the days of exciting foreign imports were over, as the club hovered ominously above the third division under a penniless ownership.
“It was a really good team with no money” he recalls of his early months. “My contract was really poor, then I signed a new one because the first was poor money. But it was amazing (to be there). Everyone played brilliant football, Tommy and Morten on the wing.”
Morten. Important. Joining Idiakez was Morten Bisgaard, another man approaching the twilight years of his football career but one equally intriguing. Then came Grzegorz Rasiak. Throw Marco Reich into the mix and the talismanic Tommy Smith and suddenly, a Derby side devoid of ideas had five key forward outlets from five different nations. It did have issues though – not least language.
“I was quite lazy with the learning. The club didn’t help in terms of the language. But with Morten it was good because Spanish and Italian you can understand things and he really helped me” recalls Idiakez. “We went out with families all the time together. It was all the time together. My wife came over and as a family the Bisgaard’s were very good. We were really together and he helped me to get involved with the team, even though we didn’t speak any English.”
The socialising off the field with Bisgaard helped Idiakez integrate further into the side and he soon established himself as the key man in a side alien to the one which closed the previous campaign. On the ball, he had a vision like few others in the Championship. Off it, he had steel and a fire about him. But it was from a set piece that the Spaniard came into his own.
11 goals. 11 assists. 11 times hitting the woodwork. This was Idiakez’ first season. “The feeling I had at that time was that I was going to score. It was 11 free kicks and 11 assists from the corners, crossbar 11 times as well. It was too good and the people around, Ian Taylor and Adam Bolder running around, wide players knowing where to be when I had the ball. It was so good. So good.”
Idiakez sits back and smiles when he recalls that 2004/05 season. Although it didn’t end how he hoped with play-off defeat to Billy Davies’ Preston, his first campaign in England had almost everything. He had his own chant from supporters who worshipped his every kick of the ball within 40 yards of goal, and an army of budding youngsters would look to emulate him on parks across the city.
But George Burley then left, the relationship with Murdo Mackay one that ultimately made him take the decision to get out as quickly as possible. Idiakez’ Derby career would, from that moment on, never be the same. Under Phil Brown, the club lost Tom Huddlestone and Rasiak. Then there was the fact that Brown simply wasn’t much use as a Derby County manager. Idiakez’ enjoyment levels dipped and his enthusiasm was being robbed.
“I think I got something like 18 yellow cards in my first year. I didn’t speak English so it was just me shouting in Spanish so I would always get booked. But I didn’t I know now that you paid fines because of yellows for dissent. Now, George never fined me but under Phil I got two in my first two games. I then got a letter saying something like ‘we are going to reduce two weeks of your wages’ or something like that. My wife told me what they were doing and I was very confused because it never happens in Spain and didn’t under George. So it was a big argument for the team.
“I tried to explain to Phil with my English. In the end it was me, my wife, Phil Brown and Murdo Mackay trying to explain why I should or shouldn’t have to pay. In the end the players had a meeting to decide if they were going to fine me or not. Jonno was amazing and said ‘listen Phil, Ini knew nothing about this and George was different. From now on he should pay but not from now’, so it was a big story about the team.” Brown, early on, had lost the relationship with his most important player.
Playing his assistant manager and his goalkeeping coach, he then lost any possibility of respect and for reasons unbeknownst to anybody bar Brown, started to move first teamers like Paul Peschisolido into the academy in exchange for a host of bad loan signings. “It was impossible for us to gel with so many loan players. The first year was just 11 of the same. But with loanees, I’m not blaming them because they came to help, but it was difficult and it was difficult for me in that year.”
Brown wouldn’t last and in amongst a club turmoil caused by the Three Amigos and their desperate attempt to hold onto the ownership of the club, the side finished 20th.
It would be the final full season he’d play at Pride Park, as Billy Davies came in and quickly looked to move him on. “Billy was a bad experience for me. I think it was the way I played he didn’t like, but he was quite aggressive and I didn’t feel like he didn’t want me to stay. He tried hard to sell me, and I spoke with clubs but didn’t want to leave. Tommy Smith was an amazing player in terms of 1v1, scoring, assists and I don’t know why he was sold. Me and Billy, it was a really bad relationship.”
It almost comes with a twinge of sadness to say that Davies’ had the last laugh. And I think that if you’re reading this, you know exactly how…
‘Did you miss that penalty on purpose?’ I cheekily ask Idiakez, in reference to that penalty miss in the play-off semi final. Usually so reliable from a dead ball, Idiakez struck the pivotal final penalty of the shoot out deep in the heart of the Southampton supporters in the south stand. “Some of the fans still thank me for it! But I promise it wasn’t on purpose. But if there was one team I didn’t mind doing it against, it was Derby.”
Always a Ram. At least that what he thought, particularly when he returned to the club as a coach alongside Nigel Pearson and Chris Powell. Unfortunately, that’s not how it ended up. Sacked three months into the role in contentious circumstances, Idiakez remains at a loss as to why the decision was taken. “I think there’s no way I go back in the short term at least. I love the club and the fans, everything is ready for the Premier League but they never phone me. I can help them to sign players in Spain and I would, but they don’t. It’s a different club to the one I joined.”
Idiakez was speaking as part of Pride: The Inside Story of Derby County in the 21st Century. To hear more from him on his Derby days as both a player and coach, visit the DCFC Megastore and online. Pride is also available from at all book retailers and on Amazon.
Pride 