Blackpool goalkeeper discusses move to Bloomfield Road and career so far

Blackpool Gazette

Franco Ravizzoli discusses his start to life with Blackpool, the battle to be Seasiders number one, and the famous faces he played with as a youngster.

Transcript

00:00how was your first few weeks with blackpool been since making the move it's been it's been great

00:05to be honest um obviously it's been um it's been very fast everything happened so fast i flew back

00:11from argentina and then obviously the next day had to drive to manchester to direct the medical

00:17and then the day after flew to spain and obviously it's been very good we we worked really hard in

00:22spain and obviously since we got back as well we worked hard here um but it's been great um you

00:28know we worked hard and obviously i got to know the boys we've built relationships and i'm really

00:34happy with the with the group we've got as well get you busy balls first few days flying from

00:40argentina to manchester then flying straight to spain you know it must have must have been shattered

00:44when you were over there yeah it was i was to be fair um obviously it was a long flight and then

00:50i had to leave the place i'm living now i've got my flat now in maidenhead it's just near wicom i had

00:56to leave at six in the morning to drive to the medical and then the day after we flew at 4am i

01:01think we left the the stadium uh and i was jet lag as well so yeah i think the first the first day

01:06they the boys trained but they they gave me day off so i was i was happy with that how have you

01:12settled into the group have you sort of quickly made obviously friends with the other lads there

01:18yeah no very good to be honest obviously that week together in spain it helps because obviously we are

01:23all together in the same building and sharing you know double sessions and dinner lunch everything

01:30uh but yeah i think i think we've got something really special here the group is is very good you

01:35know um everyone is is sound so i'm really happy with it i think that's very important as well you

01:40know to go through you know highs and lows during the season i think if you have a good base of of

01:46people that gets you through so i'm happy with it yeah did you all get closer during that week in

01:51spain did you obviously you got a lot of hard work but also a lot of social time as well

01:56yeah yeah 100 obviously that that i think that week is is is to do that you know obviously work hard

02:01but also get to know uh obviously the boys that were here and the new signings i think is is very

02:07important to to build relationships so you said using argentina when obviously you got a phone call

02:13from blackpool to fly back was the plan always to come back to england or was you looking elsewhere

02:18so yeah obviously i um i spoke to to the gaffer um around literally as soon as the the season

02:26finished uh my my last game of the playoff and i've been in touch with the david as well and

02:32and steve banksy the goalie coach uh but yeah just i just wanted to explore obviously the market a

02:38little bit more but i was as soon as i spoke to the gaffer i was the decision was was quite easy um he

02:43told me about the ambitions um of the club he's ambitious he told me about the group and and

02:48everything um so yeah no no i always wanted to come back to england to be fair um obviously

02:56football here is great um it's a bit difficult sometimes the lifestyle for me and when my family

03:00comes over but um i think for me for my career it's the best place to be so yeah like i said when i

03:06spoke to the gaffer and that that was very easy for me yeah they're taking a lot of adapting obviously

03:11coming over to england i'm guessing you know by yourself your family in argentina being so far

03:16away does it take a lot of time to sort of get used to that yeah 100 obviously i've been here for

03:22almost six years now so i kind of adapted to it and obviously i learned the language when i came here

03:28and i didn't speak english uh but it's still some some things that i'm trying to you know adapt and

03:34get used to it uh for example early dinners and stuff like that early nights you know when it gets dark

03:40very early uh but like i said i for for for my career i think it's the best place to be and

03:47and when my family comes over it's good they they get used to as well they they just want to be

03:54with me so that's it's not a big problem yeah it seems like everyone else around the world sort of

04:00eats like later on like after eight o'clock whereas in england we're very much

04:04early going bad earlier i suppose it goes dark early as well yeah yeah obviously when when we

04:11went to spain and we were training quite late because of the heat and obviously dinner was

04:14about nine i think nine nine ish uh that for me that was normal obviously for the boys was like so

04:20late and obviously now when when we go out for dinner you know the boys that are in the hotel we

04:25we uh we go up we go to for dinner at six o'clock like and he's like oh it's so early for me but i

04:31still do it don't worry you mentioned the gaffer and a couple of the new lads have always cited him

04:37as a reason was he a big factor behind making the move just his ambition and sort of obviously his

04:42experience in the game yeah obviously 100 i think everyone said said the same um obviously everyone

04:49knows about his career as a football player and as a manager as well so i think he everyone every

04:56football player wants to play under a character like that um with big ambitions as someone who

05:02knows the game knows how to you know get promoted and how to manage different you know players

05:07different ages and i think yeah obviously he made it very easy he said out in spain that he's looking

05:14to get another goalkeeper and he's looking to have sort of two goalkeepers fighting out for that spot do

05:19you sort of relish that competition does it are you the kind of person that pushes you to be better

05:25yeah yeah 100 obviously when when i spoke to him a few weeks ago when when he called me he mentioned

05:31about about that um he mentioned that he wanted to bring another goalkeeper as well uh and yeah that's

05:36that's fine for me obviously um it's good to have competition i think it's a healthy competition um i

05:42think it's important you know to to to make the other one better and keep pushing each other so yeah it's

05:48it's fine if he's obviously um i get on with it yeah of course you're someone who's used to league

05:54one so i'm guessing you know you want to push yourself as fast as possible you don't want to

05:58be sitting on that bench yeah of course no of course like like i said obviously it's one sport so we're

06:03going to be you know fighting for for the place and competing um but i'm sure it'll be healthy competition

06:09so yeah i'm i'm cool with it obviously as a youngster using the river plate academy so obviously it's a

06:16huge huge club what was that like uh yeah obviously it was it was a great great great academy great club

06:22it's one of the you know best ones in argentina um but i've been six years there and yeah obviously i

06:30learned a lot um about um football but also as a person um i had to leave home when i was very young

06:36as well to go to that club it's like five hours away from my house so obviously that was my first

06:43couple of steps and i was you know growing as a person as a football player you know understanding

06:49how to be on my own as well since since i was 15 so yeah i think it was you know the biggest and the

06:55first step of of my career yeah i suppose in england we think obviously liverpool united cities

07:03but with a plate and obviously boca juniors in argentina is massive aren't they over such a big

07:08rivalry yeah of course obviously and also you you grow up and you know they they understanding the

07:16pressure and the from the cloud from the fans um and yeah like you say he's a massive club obviously

07:22he has everything in there has a school even in the same stadium um so i loved it to be honest i love

07:28them and yeah it's massive obviously now you see all the players that they get in sold from from the

07:33academy to big teams like obviously now i think if real madrid bought a guy from river play obviously

07:40man city last season they bought echeverry or julian alvarez a few years ago so so yeah this is massive

07:50did you have any standout names in your age group at the time

07:53yeah obviously i played with julian alvarez and i played with the lucas martinez squad

08:01gonzalo montiel is my age so the guy who scored the penalty in the final the world cup um yeah

08:08we've been together in the academy for years so yeah i think names like that is that strange so

08:13you're someone who obviously you've grown up with scoring in a world cup final do you think

08:16wait one minute i've sort of played against you is it a weird thing seeing him on that big big stage

08:21well obviously we played together so we also we were living in the same digs as well so

08:27yeah it's a good thing to see you know like ex teammates you know winning something so special and

08:33so important um but yeah and at the same time also it gives you that motivation that anyone can do it

08:40like you you i don't think you have to be too special to to achieve great things you have to obviously work

08:45hard and being a good football player but then yeah just keep keep working

08:52obviously your journey you know how how do you go from argentina to eastbourne like sort of how does

08:57that opportunity come about obviously it's not the usual route is it for players going from south america

09:03yeah so it was kind of like you know weird journey um i was obviously in the river play academy

09:09and then i was in the second team for like two three years and i couldn't make the step up to the

09:14first team at the time there was like three or four like all goalkeepers above 30 35 so i couldn't make

09:22my my way to the first team and i left and i went to you know two different teams in the lower divisions

09:29but the lower division argentina are not as good as in england so you can if you don't play in the first

09:35division or maybe the best teams in the second division it's hard to to you know to to have a

09:41good career so i i at the time i thought i don't want this for me i just want to you know go somewhere

09:48and you know try to just start again if i if i need to i don't mind i i i was 21 i think 22 at the time

09:55i was i trusted on myself and and and i knew the goal the assistant manager at eastbourne and he mentioned

10:03to me if you can play play well that people's going to see you and then you can start growing

10:07and and get better moves and that so that's how it started i just went to eastbourne and i started

10:13playing and obviously people got to see to mk and then obviously we come and appear

10:22looking back obviously it was a big gamble obviously going over to england you know making such a big step

10:27away from home for a non-league side but you must be delighted with how it worked out and obviously the

10:31manager's promise came through yeah no of course the thing is that sometimes you have to take those

10:39kind of risks you know um at the time i didn't have anything to lose and i was i was young i was healthy

10:45and obviously i always had my uh my family there supporting me or every step like whether it's like

10:51emotionally um economically or whatever that was um so yeah like i said at the time i didn't have anything

10:59to lose and i thought it was a great opportunity for me to to explore new markets new leagues uh and

11:05if that didn't work out i just always could go back to my country and my family so yeah like i said took

11:10the gamble and yeah it's working out very very good for me so i'm very happy and had england always been

11:17somewhere you'd fancied going has it been somewhere you've been visited before or is it completely new

11:22no always i was a bit scared of it because obviously i didn't speak the language like i said and

11:26obviously everyone knows how cold it's here during the winter and how long the winter is so obviously

11:31if about that i wasn't you know too excited but then obviously the football um is is one of the

11:38it's the best in the world not just premier league but obviously in lower divisions as well you know

11:42league one league two even conference championship as well um but i think you can you can have a good

11:49career um here in england like and you can the thing here is you can start from you know uh national

11:56league south or even low and then you can you can make your step up if you if you play well so yeah

12:04finally are you obviously looking forward to you got you're ambitious in what you want to achieve

12:08with blackpool looking forward to sort of your first season with the club and obviously experience

12:13bloomfield road on a full-time basis i can't wait to meet all the fans you know and and get started

12:19obviously prison is good but we we like to be on the pitch and and do what we love is playing

12:25football competing you know trying to achieve good things and hopefully we can do it this year i

12:30i think everyone is very optimistic about it so hopefully we can we can do it

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