FOOTBALL RANT AT THE DAWN OF 2006

first of all - big sigh.

it has less to do with sour grapes, more to do with a true sadness that the game is being transported to all corners of the world on the seawaves of a brand of football fuelled by the money of a russian nouveau riche, who as we all know of all the newly rich, have all the money and no taste (for subtleties of beauty and materialised talent but willing only for the vulgarities of pure achievement as fame enhancer and a poor substitute to 'the stuff that creates legends').

the following is a quote from the observer but widely reported in the english backpages:

Mourinho had earlier demonstrated his displeasure for all to see when, with Chelsea a goal to the good, Cole and Hernan Crespo contrived to screw up a chance that looked like child's play. Cole had the goal at his mercy, dallied and slipped the ball to Crespo, who delayed sufficiently to let Julian Gray track back. Mourinho kicked the advertising hoardings in a huff. The level of inefficiency by Chelsea standards was stupendous. "They have to score, they have to do it simple, they have to kill the game," he said.

i bring your especial attention to the latter portion of the statement.

and this leads to some more questions:-

is there a subtle difference to scholes' proclamation that "we have to kill teams off early and be ruthless" to this one by mourinho? is it different because manchester united cannot but help do it the manchester united way thus automatically making it un-robotic and in a way 'true'? or is there no difference and scholes - possibly reflecting the dressing room mantra or belief that the way to move forward and get ahead is to race up to reach "the bar that has been raised by chelsea" that has been repeatedly bouncing out of the old trafford dressing room – is not only repeating the task at hand spelt out to each of them but also unconsciously accepting the redefined ‘name of the game’.

in trying to match up to the raised standards of the russian club in fulham rentboys' old estate, are we unconsciously embracing their values?

is the beautiful game being unduly influenced in the english premier league, and possibly the rest of the world (in due course) by this penchant for the result (and result only) - for the efficient to overrule the beautiful, the mechanics to counter the fluidity, and for the definition of 'the best team' so pushed to its logical conclusion of 'chalking up the most number of points, however one does it' at the expense of all the other values that football can and has been engendering?

take for example, bolton wanderers fc and manchester fekin city.
in the last two days, their captain and their manager (bolton) have come out and spoken on the club's ambitions and motto. they are aiming high but only as high as getting into europe. they are not looking out to beat teams like manchester united or the other big clubs. intead they are more interested in beating the clubs around them - portsmouth, boro and the like. to beat manchester united would be good for the players but they do not bank on it. they are in the business of getting results and staying in the premiership. gary speed even offered that they prepare much more for those games than for the ones against the big boys. that is the bottomline. they rack up points by beating clubs that should be below them and work extra hard to beat those that are around them so that they rise above them in the table for when the headcounts are done for the euro-lineup. i do not think they aim to be the ambassadors of football and neither will they define how it is played. they will be happy saying that they get a few more kids off the streets and onto the pitches learning to work hard rather than purport to be the team that inspires the world of football or the next rooney.

manciteh i don't want to talk about.

this is how a mediocre or above-average club should be managed and its mantra says as much. they work with bottomlines and that's how they are judged. is this the message that the flag bearer of english football and football in general (if the new roman world conqueror gets his way) injecting into football fans' and spectators' brains?



but somehow, these two clubs are the thorn in the big clubs' sides. bolton beat arsenal so many times since their ascent into the premiership that they are now the highbury muppets' official bogey team. manciteh have grabbed 4 points off us the year before and 4 points off chelski last year. they lost out narrowly this year in their first fixture with them. (wigan deserves a mention here as they seem to me much like man citeh in values and player quality and have asked questions of chelski - although i have to say their team spirit and values are much better now but who can say what it'll become next season, if not at the end of this season?). but i digress.


i can only wish that ferguson does not fall into this trap and that he instills this new batch of able bodies into a real football team, an orchestra of canniness, grit and creative forces, a thing of beauty. i wish that he keeps his word about wanting to see the next generation of true footballing talents like rooney and ronaldo develop into greats. they, and not a calculating deconstructing mechanic, should be the next flag bearers of football. if they do, we only have one man to thank - sir alex ferguson of govan.


here's to a meaningful 2006 ahead of us.