Titi Camara

Titi Camara
Personal information
Full name Aboubacar Sidiki Camara
Date of birth (1972-11-17) 17 November 1972 (age 51)
Place of birth Conakry, Guinea
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1995 Saint-Étienne 94 (16)
1995–1997 Lens 111 (14)
1997–1999 Marseille 61 (12)
1999–2000 Liverpool 33 (9)
2000–2003 West Ham United 14 (0)
2003 → Al-Ittihad (loan) 0 (0)
2003–2004 Al-Siliya 20 (14)
2005–2006 Amiens 26 (9)
Total 359 (74)
International career
1992–2004 Guinea 38 (23)
Managerial career
2009 Guinea
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Aboubacar Sidiki "Titi" Camara (born 17 November 1972) is a Guinean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was also the coach of the Guinea national team, which he captained and played for. He was also the Guinea sports minister, before being replaced in October 2012. He is best known for his stint with Liverpool in the 1999–2000 season, where he scored 10 goals in 37 games in all competitions, memorably scoring the winner in a game against Arsenal at Highbury.

Club career

Early career

Camara played for Saint-Étienne, Lens and Marseille in France, (playing in the 1999 UEFA Cup Final for the latter) before being transferred to Liverpool.

Liverpool

A cult hero and crowd favourite at Anfield,[1] Camara is best remembered for playing at Anfield against West Ham in October 1999, the morning after the death of his father, scoring the winning goal and then dropping to his knees in front of the Anfield Road stand with tears flowing.[1] He also managed to score in three successive Premier League games for the Reds in late autumn of 1999.[2] On 13 February, he scored the winner at Highbury, leading Liverpool to a 1–0 win over Arsenal.[3] Despite his short spell at Liverpool, he was voted in 91st position in the 2006 poll "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", which was conducted by the official Liverpool Football Club web site. Camara's placing made him the second highest placed African player, behind Bruce Grobbelaar.[4]

West Ham United

Signed by manager Harry Redknapp[5] on 21 December 2000 for a fee of £1.5 million which, depending on other factors, could have risen to £2.6 million, Camara announced, "I've come to West Ham to play, play, play – and score, score, score. If it was a question of money, I could have stayed at Liverpool and picked it up. I need to play, and if I don't it is totally pointless."[6] Making his West Ham debut on 23 December 2000 in a 2–1 away defeat to Leicester City,[7] Camara went on to play only fourteen games, in all competitions, without scoring at all.[8]

Al-Ittihad

In January 2003 Camara was sent out on loan to Al-Ittihad for the remainder of the 2002–03 season.[9]

Al-Siliya

Following West Ham's relegation in 2003 from the Premier League Camara left the club for Al-Siliya[10] after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Titi Camara was a stalwart of the Guinea team from the early 1990s until the early 2000s. He is regarded as a key protagonist in Guinea's return to respectability in African football and played for his country at the 2004 African Nations Cup, where he scored 3 goals in the group stage, which meant he finished just one goal behind the leading scores of the tournament.

Coaching career

In December 2005, he was linked with the vacant manager's job with the Guinea national team. On 13 May 2009, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, the President of Guinea publicly announced that he wanted him to manage the national team. At the end of May 2009, Camara was named the National Technical Director (NTC). On 9 June 2009, Camara was named the head coach of the Syli National to succeed Robert Nouzaret.[11] Camara was serving in dual capacities of NTC and head coach of the Syli National. On 15 September 2009, three months following his nomination as head coach of the Syli National, Camara was replaced by Mamadi Souaré, a former Captain of the Syli National, following poor results, lack of cooperation/understanding with certain conspicuous members of the Guinean Football Federation (FGF), and absence of "cordial" relations with certain key elements of the Syli National.[12]

Breach of contract

In September 2003, alleging breach of contract, Camara sued West Ham United.[13] In 2006, West Ham successfully defended the High Court breach of contract claim brought by Camara.[14]

Minister of Sports

On 28 December 2010, Camara was made Sports Minister of Guinea by newly elected president Alpha Condé, making him the country's first ex-sportsman to hold a government post. He was forced out of his post on 5 October 2012 in a government reshuffle.[15]

Personal life

Camara holds Guinean and French nationalities.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b "Titi Camara". www.liverpoolfc.tv. Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  2. ^ "List of goals scored by Titi Camara when he started the match". www.lfchistory.net. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  3. ^ "Highbury win puts Liverpool in hunt". BBC Sport. 14 February 2000. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  4. ^ "100 players who shook the Ko p". www.zimbio.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Redknapp to snap up £1.5m Camara". www.thisislondon.co.uk. 18 December 2000. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  6. ^ "Camara snapped up by West Ham". www.telegraph.co.uk. 21 December 2000. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  7. ^ "Leicester 2 West Ham 1". www.sportinglife.com. 23 December 2000. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  8. ^ "Welcome to the Wonderful World of West Ham United Statistics Titi Camara". www.westhamstats.info. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  9. ^ "Football: offSIDE: the latest gossip". www.findarticles.com. 19 January 2003. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  10. ^ "What happened to former Liverpool star TitiCamara?". www.footballtransfertavern.com. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  11. ^ "Guinea replace Nouzaret with Camara". BBC Sport. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  12. ^ "Guinee Titi Camara limogé – La Une – FootAfrica 365, toute l'actualité du foot". Footafrica365.fr. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  13. ^ "Camara sues West Ham?". www.wldcup.com. 15 September 2003. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  14. ^ "News". www.simkins.co.uk. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  15. ^ Les dessous du limogeage de Titi Camara, Guinée58.com, 7 October 2012
  16. ^ "Titi Camara - Ligue1.fr".

External links

  • Titi Camara on Twitter
  • Titi Camara at Soccerbase
  • Thisisanfield.com Forgotten Hero
  • Player profile at Liverpool FC
  • LFChistory.net player profile
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