Steve Archibald: Ex Tottenham and Barcelona legend goes green with his new business venture
The ex Scotland striker, now living in Barcelona where he's a TV pundit for Spanish football, also runs Energia Valencianista - a company that provides solar and natural gas energy to help save the planet
STEVE ARCHIBALD is doing his bit for the planet.. and then some.
The former Spurs striker, who starred at Barcelona from 1984-88 earning the nickname ‘Archigoles’, has gone green with his latest project.
Now 62, the Scottish legend has launched a renewable energy company called Energia Valencianista.
They provide customers with solar and natural gas in partnership with Catalonians Nexus Energia, who own tens of thousands of solar farms.
And Archibald’s new venture has drawn collaborations with several La Liga teams, including Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Espanyol and Malaga, to name a few.
In addition Energia Valencianista were announced as sponsors of Valencia on October 5.
Steve told SunSport EXCLUSIVELY how it all started: “Two years ago a friend of mine, who was a CEO at a company, came to see me in Barcelona and said he had an idea.
“I thought that sounded good, I could open some doors at some football clubs.
“A lot of companies sell their products using football clubs, so we came up with the idea of selling energy through them.
“How we do that is we have assets and we give them back to the fans in a certain way and we create that relationship, as well as sell energy.
“Our energy is 100 percent green and we also supply to residential, small businesses and hotel chains.
“Our partner is a billion dollar company called Nexus Energia and they own about 25 ,000 solar farms.
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“And that’s where our energy comes from – it’s 100 per cent solar, 100 per cent green and renewable.
“We’re conscious of the environment and we’re conscious of the fans.
“Every year energy goes up and if you ask anyone who their energy supplier is, they’ll say a name but won’t have a relationship with them.
“What we’re trying to do is personalise that experience through football clubs.
“Our call centre is first class, if you don’t get an answer we’ll make a note of it and we will call you back within half an hour. We give serious personal attention to our clients.
“We offer a five percent discount for everyone that joins us and we will also plant a tree for every new client.
“We show them where it’s planted and all the oxygen that our trees are bringing into the environment.
“Customers have a GPS to the tree, as well as a GPS to our solar maps.
“We’re trying to make energy, which is quite a boring subject for a lot of people, more fun.”
Archibald admitted that it’s important to think green for the future of the planet.
And it’s a business model he’s planning to push overseas.
He revealed: “It’s always been on my radar for a long, long time because we see the damage that’s being done to the planet.
“But we’re doing as much as we can to help the environment for the children of the planet and in the middle of that we’re building a business.
“We’ve already transferred it to another country, we’ve signed a deal.
“And we’re looking internationally and certainly the UK too. We think what we’ve got is pretty unique.”
The Glasgow-born star has worked on Spanish TV for a number of years as a football pundit covering La Liga.
He confessed that kind of exposure has been a big help in getting Energia Valencianista off the ground, as well as much-needed press.
“I work in television too,” he said. “I work with La Liga, we do three or four programs a week, a few chat shows and a pre and post analysis of live games.
“We’ve had fantastic press out here, probably because it was a surprise that I was involved with an energy project.
“It definitely helped me create a certain amount of interest and get our message across.”
In 1984, Archibald was signed by Barca for £1,150,000 by then manager Terry Venables to replace the outgoing Diego Maradona.
He recalled walking out at the Nou Camp for the first time and being struck by its size.
“I remember stepping out at the Nou Camp, and back then it was 120,000 capacity, and it was humungous,” he said.
“And I looked at the pitch and it seemed like an optical illusion.
“As a player, you need to look at your distances and angles and work it all out.
“We trained on it, that helped me get a feel of the stadium and the pitch and it was wonderful.
“But it wasn’t just about playing for the club, it was a really fabulous experience from a culture aspect as well.
“Until you come to any country and experience the culture, you don’t really get to understand it.”
In his first season, Archibald lifted the league title and became a firm fan favourite by scoring at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid.
“Playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world was a fantastic honour,” he continued.
“We won the league in my first year, I scored my first goal against Real Madrid away from home. It was like a fairytale first year.
“But actually playing on the pitch, the fans, the hum that goes round that stadium that’s so vast, playing with the type of quality of players and the different type of football that was so fast… it was an amazing experience.”
Before his time in Spain, Archibald was a revelation at Spurs and Aberdeen, where he enjoyed much success.
He told SunSport it’s hard to pinpoint which club he enjoyed his best years as a pro.
Archibald said: “I had some fantastic years at all my clubs.
“Before Spurs, we won the league with Aberdeen with a fantastic team – and it was our first league title in 25 years.
“I came down to Spurs, who had come from the Second Division a year or two before that and we won two FA Cups and a Uefa Cup.
“Then I went to Barcelona and I won the league. I was lucky with the experiences I had at all the clubs I played for.”
And Archibald’s talents aren’t just limited to the football field.
In 1982, he entered the record books thanks to his part singing on Scotland’s 1982 World Cup song ‘We Have a Dream’ and Spurs’ FA Cup final tune, ‘Tottenham, Tottenham’ on Top of the Pops.
He explained: “I was the first person to appear twice singing two different songs on Top of the Pops.
“It was a great experience. We did it a couple of years running with Spurs with two FA Cups consecutively.
“You know, footballers come from the street, we’re not a privileged bunch and we don’t come from a wealthy background.
“So to be able to have all these experiences was just great.
“No matter what happens to me in my life, I can safely say I lived my dream.
“I’m very grateful to the powers that be – God, my family and all the players that helped me get there.”