Memories of Tito Vilanova, the former Barcelona manager, who died on Fridayat the age of 45.
If I close my eyes and pause for a minute then it's just a day ago, perhaps two, that I was explaining to our readersjust who Tito Vilanova was, why he was nicknamed the “Marquis” and what the “gluttons club” was.
That he was a man of elegance, of potential, of ideas: of conviction.
Close my eyes again and it's less time, just a few hours ago, that I was writing for ESPN FCabout the cruel fact Vilanova was going to be robbed of his dream job; that the return of that damn cancerous tumour behind his saliva gland would mean that, having won that glorious league of 100 points, it was time to step away from being manager of Barcelona and fight for his health.
In between, drifting around in a swarm of memories, bitter and sweet, is the day in December 2012 when I stepped off a plane in Madrid.
En route to a pair of long, enjoyable interviews with Spanish FA president Angel Villar and then with national team coach Vicente Del Bosque at Las Rozas training ground, Christmas just around the corner and after one heck of a game the night before, the football world seemed interesting, worthwhile -- kind.
Atletico Madrid had just played at the Camp Nou, with vigour and bravery, had taken the lead through Radamel Falcao before being stylishly beaten 4-1 by Vilanova's Barcelona.
AllsportDuring his only season in charge, Tito Vilanova's Barcelona won La Liga by 15 points.
A few days before the match, Vilanova had felt well enough, confident enough, to undertake his first long interview about fighting cancer. He was in remission and his first half season at Barcelona had been record-breakingly good: just two points of a possible 57 were dropped.
He was a talented man doing his dream job and talking to TV3 about the fight against cancer in order to help others, to make some people see that recovery, dignity and a life invested in doing what makes you happy -- all of these things were possible.
I found the passages where he spoke about the fears of his family, his teenaged son and daughter, by far the most moving. Talking about that clearly moved him, too.
Stepping off the plane in Madrid on that December day was the cue for awful, gut-wrenching news.
Suddenly, Tito was unwell again, would need time off. Was under threat.
It always felt threatening that he had to go to New York in order to find the treatment that he needed, or trusted, but of course Vilanova being Vilanova, he was back at work before the end of that season.
Subsequently it would transpire that, while undergoing treatment in New York he didn't feel supported or cared for, particularly, by his almost lifelong friend, Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola was in Manhattan on sabbatical and there had been tension over the transition of power at Barcelona from one man to another when Vilanova stepped into the senior coach's shoes at the end of the 2011-12 season.
In essence, Guardiola had felt that he and his team had dreamed, planned and won together, would rest together and then go on to conquer somewhere else together.
The two of them made peace, of sorts, and I hope very much for Guardiola's sake that he feels he did so sufficiently.
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