From the Vault. The curse of genius.
Georgi Kinkladze - 'Rivera of the Black Sea’ & 'The Manchester City Magician.'
Georgi Kinkladze leaves the field at Stoke City after Manchester City are relegated to the third tier for the first time in their history in May 1998. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Allsport
Every football supporter in Manchester in 1995, both City and United fans - saw exceptional football intelligence as a blessing. Memories of George Best, the new 'king' Erica Cantona. So why did Georgi Kinkladze, arguably as gifted as any of the greats, fail to burn as brightly or as long as people thought he would? And ultimately frustrate everyone around him.
I remember the day Georgi Kinkladze decided he wanted to play for Manchester City. He had just played the 'game of his life' - Georgia’s 5-0 thrashing of Wales in November 1994, a seismic result: only three years after Georgia had gained independence it was their first competitive victory. Deployed behind Temuri Ketsbaia and Shota Arveladze in a 4–3–1–2 formation, Kinkladze ran the game and grabbed his first international goal.
He had already amassed a following of admirers - Diego Maradona and Pele included. The whole of Manchester speculated about the likely impact. Kinkladze, we thought, must be destined to write his name in the annals of Mancunian football history.
The Georgian had been tracked by other clubs, having unsuccessful trials at Real and Atlético Madrid – and, intriguingly, a month-long loan at Boca Juniors, who revere the No10 role more than any club in world football, where Kinkladze met his idol, Maradona. None of them signed Kinkladze permanently, however, and instead, he joined Manchester City.
My interview with Diego Maradona, talking about Kinkladze, in Football Monthly, sometime in 1996.
After the transformative presence of Cantona had established Manchester United as the Premier League’s dominant force by the mid-1990s, rival clubs desperately attempted to find their equivalent.
City supporters were already tired of United’s dominance and Cantona’s cult-like status and worshipped Kinkladze – the best Georgi in Manchester since Best. The feeling was reciprocated: after his initial alienation in Manchester Kinkladze grew to love the city and married a Mancunian.
Non-footballing difficulties ultimately cost Best his career; his fight with alcoholism is well documented. Maradona waged his battle against mental illness and addiction, leaving many pundits to describe his as a "talent wasted."
Ernest Hemingway wrote: "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know"
Kinkladze is intelligent. He also had his demons. You could see both, in his eyes and his actions. I remember his paranoia after becoming Manchester City's highest-paid player.
Kindladze getting paranoid in an interview with me for The People newspaper in the spring of ‘97.
But he wasn't exactly the tortured genius or the lone artist plagued by existential angst. And his curse was not that he was brilliant or before his time, although in many respects he was (in terms of knowing how to play him - he did not fit into the popular 4-4-2 formation favoured by most English teams in the mid-90s.)
The difficult truth is for a player who the whole team operated around he didn’t score enough goals, didn’t make enough goals, didn’t tackle, didn’t head it and his overall contribution wasn’t enough. That was his curse.
And so, he was sold to Ajax, a club that deeply values technical players but also generally plays a 4-3-3 system – meaning the then manager, Jan Wouters, had no space for a No10. “I could have been Maradona and he wouldn’t have changed the system to accommodate me,” Kinkladze complained. He returned to the Premier League and showed flashes of brilliance during a spell with Derby County, but by this stage, managers had tired of basing their side around him.
Though Kinkladze retired from the game in 2006, the legacy he left behind still resonates with many football enthusiasts. He was a rare talent who graced the football pitch and left a lasting mark on Georgian football. Fans still regard him as one of the most talented footballers to come out of Georgia. ‘Rivera of the Black Sea’
Georgi Kinkladze made 107 appearances for Manchester City between 1995 and 1998. He is settled and currently resides with his family in Tbilisi, Georgia.