FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD

Birmingham City’s Martin Taylor has spoken of his relief at Eduardo’s return to fitness, and hopes his own ordeal over the broken leg incident is now at an end.

Indeed, the controversial Taylor received death threats after his tackle Eduardo in last February’s Premier League game left Eduardo with horrific injuries. He has always maintained that the tackle was not malicious, and says he has received plenty of support over the last year.

“I must admit that it’s a relief to see him back playing,” expressed Taylor.

“But there is nothing like that first proper game because you are never quite sure whether you have recovered or not. I had a feeling he would be okay because he’d played for Croatia last week. I think it lifted Arsenal on Monday night and I can understand why.

“To recover both mentally and physically — to get through that training and to get back to that standard — he has done really, really well. We must consider that you have to be exceptional to reach that level in the first place. It is one thing to come back and play at all. It is another to play for Arsenal.”

Speaking about the tackle, for which Taylor was dismissed, the former Blackburn footballer expressed: “‘I know in my heart of hearts that it was an accident. A horrible accident. So I wanted to see him playing again. You can never be sure. I was hopeful because of the updates I received from the Gunners. I kept my fingers crossed when he was playing in the reserves.

It’s amazing to notice that in the immediate aftermath of that tumultuous 2-2 draw at St Andrews, Arsene Wenger called for Taylor to be banned from football for life, comments the Frenchman later retracted.

However, the immediate aftermath of the incident proved incredibly difficult for Taylor and his family.

“I had death threats,” he expressed. “No one would sit here and say that was enjoyable. When I received them, I wasn’t too sure with some of them. A couple were written in crayon, some were more sinister. and in despite of that, generally, I didn’t take them too seriously.

“Ninety per cent of the correspondence I had, though, was encouraging. We must consider that the other 10 per cent wasn’t.”

Asked whether Eduardo would shake Taylor’s hand should the pair meet again, he expressed: “I wouldn’t expect him to. Maybe, I don’t know. It’s up to him.”

Italian talented player Gianfranco Zola expressed that he would like to return to Chelsea in the future to work in either a coaching or managerial capacity.

Indeed, Zola was one of the most popular foreign players to appear in the Premier League as he scored 80 goals for Chelsea in a dazzling seven-year career at Stamford Bridge between 1996 and 2003. Just before he left the club Chelsea fans voted him as the best footballer in the club's history.

Zola stated in an interview on Friday that although he was currently coaching the Italian Under-21s with Pierluigi Casiraghi, he could see a future back at Stamford Bridge.

"Will I come back to Chelsea? We'll see. I think so. In fact, sooner or later I'll have a go. But at the moment it is important to get the knowledge. Playing football is one thing, but coaching is another one, completely different."

However, London seems irresistible for him. "Chelsea is where I had the best satisfaction of all, where I was treated the best. This is a special place," he claims.

"I do care about Chelsea very much and when I do come back I want to do something very valuable."

We must say that Zola was also linked with a position at the English FA, working with coach Fabio Capello's backroom staff, but he said he was not approached for a role.

"I read that in the news myself several times but I didn't speak to Capello or anyone else," he admitted. "I was very pleased (if) they were considering me but I have a commitment with the national team in Italy, a two-year contract."

As we know, Gianfranco Zola also played for Napoli, Parma and Cagliari among other sides, and won 35 caps for Italy national team.