Someone Call Chicken Little...

Without getting into hysterics and dramatic, there is a sea change in progress. We are currently seeing the growing pains of a system, a pyramid, that is gradually beginning to establish its tiers. Much to the chagrin of the general Soccer Twitter population, it will not directly involve Pro/Rel. At least not for 20 years or so

With the demise of the New York Cosmos, and the NASL as a whole, the routine bitchings that are commonplace on Soccer Twitter have grown louder. But, that’s the standard fare, right? Instead of mourning, the hostility grows louder. Instead of pausing for reflection, the vitriol bites back harder. Instead of working to break down barriers in terms of tribalism between leagues/tiers/teams, the animus stews. Everyone thinks they know the right way. But no one wants to listen beyond the end of their own fingertips.

I’m personally saddened by the demise of the Cosmos. Their specter looms large over the US football landscape. They were the torchbearers. They were faces. They defined the fierce opposition to the elite in US football. They were the flag-waving establishment of the anti-establishment. They, effectively, took on the entirety of US football, and lost. And the toll of the loss hasn't been felt yet. But it will be.

Football in the US is in a period of growing pains. We are past the nascent, primordial phase. The ooze is beginning to combine, and multiply. And we are in the part of the gradual evolution of the US pyramid, that we can't really see what's going on. It's all microscopic and happening at a rate that we cannot comprehend. But it's there. And it's doing its job. And it's creating and destroying. Just as it should be.

In the US, prior to the emergence of the [original] NASL, the leagues had been predominantly regional. And, in all seriousness, given the size of the US, that's how it should be. Various attempts at reviving the long-dead ASL. The same league that had Bethlehem Steel FC, the proper. And the Fall River Marksmen. Just to name two big names. Those leagues never caught on. Plus, the clubs who were having the most success, at least in terms of the National Challenge Cup, were all amateur. And it stayed that way until the formation of MLS. 

That's the soup. It's grows. It dies. It turns into something else entirely. It grows more. It dies. Something else replaces it. Until ultimately, something catches on, and maintains its foothold. As easy as it is to panic, and to point fingers at the establishment in the USSF. Don't. It's a waste of time. Much like trying to force Pro/Rel is a waste of time. Give everything a chance to further establish itself. 20 years isn't a long time. Give it another 20-40, when our kids are having kids, or grandkids. Then we'll see. 

Right now we are still, really, in the phase where football is taking hold as a popular sport for people to watch. Between the proliferation of the Premier League games, or La Liga, or the Bundesliga, on television. Not to mention Liga MX, or our own domestic top flight. There's a lot of soccer available to anyone who wants to watch it. All they have to do is hit a button. With this in mind, it'll be the generation of my children, the ones who are growing up with the game being pushed to their forefront, who will make the changes necessary to make football successful in the US. Many clubs will fall. Many leagues will fall. But ultimately, there will be something stable that rises from the embers. It won't be as hyped as the PL. Or as heavily fellated as La Liga. But it will be something unique to the US, but will reflect the global taste that the supporters of the game here, have started to establish.

Unfortunately, with this evolution, giants must fall. Also, unfortunately, it was the time for the New York Cosmos to fal. But, we mustn't let their falling be in vain. We must lay the groundwork for the next generation to do what needs to be done. This means to end the in-fighting. To end the holier- than-thou preaching, and attacking. And end the tribalism. All of these measures are counter-intuitive to the end. And they're not means to an end. They're an end unto themselves. We must work together. For we lay the groundwork that will be built tomorrow. And we must do it for the clubs that have perished along the way.

A Challenge For the Upcoming Season

As a supporter of a football club, do you ever really think about how you support your club? It’s a weird place to be, reflecting on this. But someone brought up a point on Twitter regarding how one club’s supporters appear to be more about themselves and the spectacle, than supporting the club. It’s one opinion, but it has gotten me to think about my habits, and whether they serve a selfish purpose. Or if they’re actually for the betterment of the club I love.

This coming PDL season will be my third on the opposite side of the fence, from the boys. The second full season as an established supporter group. With this in mind, I’m thinking back to all of the times that attention and energies were spent being critical of a referee’s decision. Or a lino’s misjudging. There is at least one official that we cannot stand, as he seems to gleefully shatter the concept of home field advantage. There is no psychological advantage for my club, playing at their home ground. There’s no swing of calls going in their favor. Just shit calls, and what comes off as a dire need to be the focal point of the match.

This past Sunday (6 March), the Boarding Crew, SG for Derby City Rovers, went out to support the Rovers Academy. Something I’ve been excited to do since the possibility opened up to extend our support for the club, beyond the PDL level. It was a great day of football. From the age ranks of the 13s to the 18s. A fun day all around. But with the last 3 matches, the quality of the match officials denigrated drastically, compared to those holding the position previously. There were questionable calls made, as there always is. There were liberties taken on players, by other players, that were seemingly dutifully ignored. There was advantages played to the away side that had no place being given. And I grated on my patience as the day wore on.

As an aside, I understand that the match official’s job is to call the match interpreting the Laws of the Game. I understand that they have to make decisions on the fly, in the heat of the moment. And that their job is not exactly the easiest of any place on the pitch. I understand this. However, this doesn’t excuse the fact that myself, and my compatriots, and the club have felt aggrieved at points by referee decisions. US Soccer is supposedly the governing body of all match officials in the US. But there seems to be no system of accountability in place to enforce proper application of the Laws, and to enforce unbiased officiating.

It got frustrating to watch how the Rover kids were being muscled off the ball. They’re not as big as most sides. And the style they play is more technical and finesse driven. Their opposition, however, come did not seem to subscribe to that philosophy. I saw numerous elbows thrown, on runs. Numerous elbows to the back, or shoves to the back on aerial challenges. And I don’t know how many hacks on various midfielders. My club was just as guilty, but they didn’t act out to quite the same extent.

To me, part of a referee’s job, at the amateur and semi-pro level, is to protect the players. To be vigilant, and enforce liberties not be taken by one team against the other. Between that, and a free kick that should have been outside the 18 yard box, but was given as a penalty, I lost my cool. After repeatedly seeing one kick from the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy kicking at one of the Rovers’ ankles, I got spoke up. The center official yelled at me to “Shut up”. I quipped back, “No!” He retorted, “Do you want me to throw you out of the game?” I shot back, “No! I want you to do your job!” I was fuming. But I was tired of seeing the kids getting roughed up, unnecessarily. As a kicker to this, the full time whistle blew shortly after his threat of expulsion.

In thinking about this incident, and thinking about the question that was raised on Twitter; it got me really thinking about how I support my club. For the most part, I’d say that I support my club by raging against perceived injustice, in between chants of encouragement. Or the other random crap I yell at a match. But I do wonder, is my raging at a ref or lino a constructive exercise for my club? Does it help the players who are engrossed in the match? Or does it distract them?

This has also got me to thinking about how self-important a lot of referees are. You see all types of match officials who have to be the center of the show. Mostly through excessive stoppage of play. These match officials detract from the game, as they disrupt the match flow, and run of play. Sometimes, I think that certain match officials go about intentionally playing to the home crowd, drawing their ire; as a means to justify, in their own perverse way, adjudicating a match with bias.

With that in mind, I’m challenging myself to go through this coming PDL season focusing my energy on supporting my club. To not spend time criticizing referees, or loudly ruing decisions I disagree with, or riding an opposition player whom I feel using a bit of gamesmanship. To chant, and sing, and yell, and cheer. To go and be a positive force for the club I love. To pick them up when they concede. To encourage them as they push forward. To show the club, itself, that there is more to being a supporter than grousing about injustice.

I challenge anyone who supports a small club to try to do the same. It will be a challenge. It may be frustrating. And it will require discipline and sheer force of will to accomplish. But I’m interested to see if there may be any sort of reward. I’m also interested in seeing if a change in attitude, as it relates to supporter conduct, actually affects the players. This will be something that will be followed up on, toward the end of the season. I want to support my local club, Derby City Rovers, better than I have. And I think this may be the avenue to try it

More water than blood: A cross Atlantic Context

We are privileged, here at The Razor, to be given the opportunity to share articles that were written by Martin French (of the Louisville Coopers and the Louisville/Derby City Boarding Crew); that were published in the Waterford United matchday program. Without further ado...

The top of the US football system, similar to here, is on the third game of the season this weekend, with the two other professional leagues starting soon. However, there are elements that feel very different to Ireland’s game, even in terms of basic structure. As I am going to be following it a lot closer this year, I am going to explore some of the differences occasionally here

In Major League Soccer (MLS) in the USA (where I live these days), we are also into the third round of the season, while the second and third tiers are yet to start play, with the second and third tiers yet to kick off. The system here is confusing to those of us brought up in the European sphere, with footballing merit having little influence on promotion up the ladder, and no relegation. Simply put, these leagues are really three independent companies, with differing rules (though all FIFA recognised), who have vied for the right to be considered the top and second levels of football here.

MLS is going since 1996 – it was a part of the deal to get a World Cup here. The league is now 20 strong, with two new teams coming in this season (and one ”resting” for a couple of seasons to rebrand). It’s loosely divided into a Western and an Eastern Conference, with clubs also playing some games with teams in the other conference. At the end of the regular (league) season, 12 of the 20 teams go into conference playoffs, with winners of each conference playing each other in a final known as MLS Cup. It has teams in most of the big TV markets in the country (which is, though unwritten, the chief consideration for “expansion” teams wanting to join the league.

The second tier is the North American Soccer League, better known as the NASL. This isn’t the same NASL of Johnny Giles, Best, Pele and Beckenbauer – it is a separate company that bought out the name. However, as of two years ago, the New York Cosmos started playing in it (again, a new company, but who bought the name, and got Pele to front it). There are only 11 teams in the new NASL, and it follows the Latin American fashion of having an opening and a closing season, with the winners of each meeting in the woefully named “Soccer Bowl”.

The third and final tier of professional football is owned by United Soccer Leagues (who also operate the biggest 4^th tier amateur league), and has recently been rebranded as USL. It has expanded from 14 teams last year to 24 this year. USL works somewhat closely if rather informally with MLS and has 8 teams that are essentially reserve sides for MLS clubs, and of the other 16, 12 have a formal affiliation with an MLS team. This years is the first time with conference play, and 2 inter league games for a few teams. As with MLS, the top six finishers in each conference go to playoffs, with the winners of each conference playing for the Championship.

It is in USL that the newly formed Louisville City FC – the professional team for the city I now live in – will make their bow next weekend, at Slugger Field, the local baseball stadium. Affiliated to Orlando City in MLS, and owned by one of their former part owners, the team was somewhat enticed into existence by the demands of a local football supporters’ group, set up for this very purpose.

The manager (called Head Coach here) is a little familiar to Irish eyes: James O’Connor is a former Irish U21 international, and played for a variety teams in the English Championship. He moved to Orlando in 2012 to play for them, becoming a coach and then trading off to get into managing. Further weirdness here is that he is called Coach O’Connor – I wonder what Tommy Griffin would say if we called him Coach Griffin.

It Was as if I Had Waited All This Time For This Moment and For the First Light of This Dawn to be Vindicated...

Sunday was the 20^th anniversary of one of the seminal moments in Eric Cantona’s career. One that had a profound effect on Man United. As well as on Cantona’s reputation. Sunday was the anniversary of the kung-fu kick heard ‘round England. Sunday was the 20^th anniversary of Eric Cantona’s kick on Matthew Simmons, at Selhurst Park.

In reading the retrospectives that Old Mother Beeb and the Grauniad offered, a few interesting things showed up to me. First, one of the very important points that everyone makes about Cantona, is that he was a man who wanted to do what he wanted to do. He didn’t always feel like it was important to remain within the confines that surrounded him. Throughout his career he was known as L’enfant terrible due to his issues with discipline. But it speaks to something deeper, to look at Cantona within his own context.

As a philosophy student, I found myself in love with Existentialism. I found in Albert Camus a kindred spirit. Someone who saw a lot of the same things about society and life, that I was seeing. He just happened to articulate them, in a manner that was accessible to me, in my mid-20s. Camus’ most famous work is a book called The Stranger. It’s main character Meursault finds himself in much the same type of existence as Eric Cantona. In the book, Meursault is arrested and sentenced to death for committing murder. When asked, repeatedly as to his motivation for doing so, yet he could rarely explain why he committed the murder. Momentary impulse. In the book, Meursault is raging at being blinded by the sunlight reflecting off the beach, and fighting heatstroke. That’s the best guess you can get as for Meursault’s motivations. With this as the basis, the argument could be made that Eric Cantona’s professional football career was similar to that of Meursault’s life, in The Stranger.

Eric Cantona had a way about him. He was the type of footballer whom you either loved zealously. Or you loathed equally as zealously. He was incendiary. He was arrogant. He was mercurial. He was magnificent. He was not man. He was Cantona. He was unlike anything that England had seen before. And truthfully, as I started diving into football played before I came into it, he was unlike anything I’d ever encountered before. He was genuinely his own player. And that made him revolutionary to me.

Football in England, in the early 90s was an exercise in the absurd. The Football League and FA were still recovering from the Taylor Report, and its recommendation of moving from terraces at the football grounds, to all-seaters. England was in the process of transitioning back into European competition after a lengthy ban due to Heysel. On top of all of this madness, SKY felt that the early-90s were a great time to invent football by ushering the Premier League era. In a lot of ways, it was a time when English football was looking for heroes, to help pull them from the doldrums of the late 80s. It needed someone to come along to reinvigorate and energize the game from its slumber. It came, in a manner of speaking, and proved to be more than they could handle.

Eric Cantona was the everything that the Premier League needed at its inception. He embodied a lot of what the Premier League, still, believes football should be about. It was the time of players like Matthew Le Tissier, Alan Shearer, Tony Adams, John Barnes, Teddy Sheringham, Andy Cole, and Peter Schmeichel. It was a time of players who were larger than life. But none of these guys could capture the imagination in much the same way that Cantona did. He began his career, in England, at Leeds. He was a part of the Leeds squad who won the old Football League championship in ’92. The story of how he got transferred to Man United is the story of legend, and has been told to death. So I won’t share it here, except to highlight that part of the reason why Man United got him, was because he was considered to be a bit of a troublemaker to Howard Wilkinson.

Cantona as a player was as enigmatic as you may have ever seen. But he was also very much mercurial. Allegations of how he wouldn’t show up for big matches, but would steal the show in matches that didn’t matter are rife on the internet. His detractors are adamant that he was a blight upon football, and that he should have been banned for life, for his actions at Selhurst Park, 20 years ago Sunday. Yet, for all of those who want to see his legend and legacy torn down; Cantona has an almost Christ-like following. Those who preach of his legend revere him as King Eric. The same one who scored the beautiful chipped goal against Sunderland, was also capable of terrible temper tantrums. The complexity of his character, and the complexity of the man beneath the Cantona exterior is unfathomably intense.

With this in mind, let’s reference the events of that night at Selhurst. He was feeling aggrieved at the referee for not punishing Richard Shaw. He took umbrage upon the continual kicking he was receiving from Richard Shaw. When the referee finally bothered to brandish a card, it was a straight red to Cantona for a well-placed retaliatory kick on Shaw. Cantona had a knack about him for drawing attention, especially negative. And this was no exception. So, he was given his marching orders. Converging events. Meursault, in his own similar way, got caught in a build up of events. From his Maman’s passing, to his relationship with Marie, to the plot with Raymond to catch Raymond’s girlfriend cheating and to beat her. Eventually, much like Meursault and the Arab, because of his aggravation at the brightness of the sun on the beach; Cantona hit his breaking point after being disparaged, and kung-fu kicked Matthew Simmons into history.

Cantona, as a player, was adamantly determined to do things by his own rules. He never really felt remorse for his decisions. He just acknowledged them, and moved on. Much in the same way that Meursault never truly felt remorse for killing the Arab. Meursault’s tenuous relationship with the chaplain, especially in how the chaplain is threatened by Meursault’s stubbornness about seeking forgiveness; it’s Cantona and the FA, or the media. Meursault would rebuff the chaplain without bothering to hear him out. And Cantona famously had the apology to the prostitute had supposedly spent the night with, as well as his infamous quote about seagulls and trawlers. Their flippancy is indicative of their disdain for the society who cannot understand that you don’t necessarily need a justifiable cause to do something. Without delving into the philosophical paradox that arises from the projection of one’s morality onto another, that’s really the point. Meursault and Cantona existed in their own worlds. They did what they wanted. They did not worry about what consequence it may bring. They accepted their consequence, albeit begrudgingly, and moved on. In Cantona’s case, it was a 9 month ban, and for Meursault, it was execution. It was a drastic response and consequence for a choice made, in the heat of the moment, by a man whose perception of the world, and his role in it; something that convention and society cannot understand. Therein lies the absurdity. To Cantona and Meursault, the reactions of society at their actions makes no sense. To them, it is a blowing out of proportion, the events that took place around them. In this sense, the context of man fighting against an absurd tempest surrounding him, becomes clearer. They were just men who wanted to live their own lives. And it wasn’t until they were worn down by the system they raged against, that they ultimately relented.

Eric Cantona, to me, was very much the fish out of water story. While he excelled in facets of English football, he wasn’t for the game. It wasn’t a good fit for him. While he may not have killed an Arab, he did randomly kick and punch a Crystal Palace supporter. He also opened a can of worms of animosity between his former club and Palace, that ultimately got a Palace supporter killed. Maybe the parallels run deeper than I thought.

I suspect that Meursault, had he been a footballer, would have been of a similar mettle. His indifference to straying from his own path would have brandished him as a troublemaker. And maybe a scintillating goal or two for the ages. He would, had he been born of this world, been Eric Cantona. Enigmatic. Mercurial. And most importantly, controversial. And he’d have everyone’s attention, whether they loved him or not.

Thoughts on the US and Germany...

We are 17 minutes in, and I'm watching with my 2 month old son.

- To summarize: Sloppy pitch. Slow match. And Germany are attacking with such intention, I'm thinking they are marching into Paris. The German attack off the wings is carving the US back four to absolute shit, but they're not finishing. I don't know if it's because of the rain or soggy pitch, or what.

- The US once again gets the benefit of a questionable no-call.

- I still hate Taylor Twellman. He's a shit color man.

- The US' first true attack came to nothing.

- Apparently, the US back four have seemingly learned to not leave Howard stranded.

- The German possession control has been amazing. Even despite the rain falling, and the deteriorating pitch.

- Great tackle by the referee there.

- The US looks moderately lethal on the counter, except that there's no support for the man up top.

- The US is giving Germany all kinds of space going forward. That's gonna bite them soon.

- Ironically, on the anniversary of the beginning of the Berlin Air-Lift, that seems to be the way the US will get ahead. Go over the top.

- Tim Howard should be playing the old Beckenbauer role.

Half-time thoughts:

- The US are chasing this match. Like their other matches.

- Germany look composed, menacing, and threatening whenever they have possession. If only they could finish.

Second half:

- Klose coming on, Germany may have their edge now.

- Defensive shape shouldn't be a worry, Taylor. They should work on remaining organised and composed. Gonzalez and Howard aren't enough.

- Did they just say that if results stand, the US would play Monaco in the knockout? I'm sure Berbatov would love to pick the US back four apart.

- And so it begins, Klose has way too much space.

- The only way Bradley could have been more late on that challenge, would have been for him to be Paul Scholes.

- Nice goal for Muller. It was coming, it was just a matter of time.

- I have to credit Klose for that goal. He has completely unwound that US back four.

- Germany are into siege mode.

- Klose is just the walking epitome of cool. He's just composed, focused, and nothing is rattling him.

- The US are showing impatience, and carelessness with possession.

- The German counter is fantastic. Support for the forward man, so rare.

- And as we draw onto 79 minutes, the match moves into its familiar metronomic tempo. Steady, consistent, and intricately German.

- Germany just keeps pushing forward. Heavy touches in the box are their undoing in the second half.

- At this point, if the US has sealed qualification for the knockout, maybe it's time they start to slow up. Even though those players should play as though Portugal were level with them on goal differential, whether true or not.

- What a run for the US. What a great bit of awareness and tenacity for Lamm to stop what would have been a goal.

Post-match:

- Germany look good going into the knockout.

- The US still have a long way to go, but Klinsmann is laying down some very strong roots. For the US to make it past the round of 16, they need to do something about their positional awareness. They need to do something about not leaving Tim Howard in the cold, to defend goal on his own. His midfield and back four need to pay more attention to how much space you give attacking players in their final third, and allowing the play to get into their final third, in the first place. If the US could shore up this big issue, they'd be formidable on the counter-attack.

Post-post-match:

- The US was lucky that Germany couldn't finish. The Germans could have easily destroyed the goal differential between the US and Portugal. Easy. Sloppy sloppy luck.

Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that...

I have been a football supporter for 13-ish years. I fell into my love of European football because of Michael Owen, and it has been a passion of mine since then. In the time since my first exposure to football, I have been a part of a lot of things. I've experienced the ecstasy associated with being a supporter of a club that has had a modicum of success, and I have experienced the agony of watching as my club underachieved. More than anything, I have experienced the politics and inanity that comes with football supporter groups.

I cut my teeth as a football supporter with Liverpool Football Club. I supported them from 2000-2009. I saw them win Europe. I saw them lose on a Pippo Inzaghi handball that went uncalled. I saw them fight so hard to win England, but consistently fall short. I saw the infamous Stevie G FA Cup final. At the same time, I was on the whiteboards, the message boards, and any supporter site that would take me. I saw the derision and animosity within the factions of the club while Tom Hicks and George Gillett were the club's owners. I saw unrest toward Rafa Benitez, as the club underachieved in the Premier League, yet flourished in Cup competitions. I spoke up, in those groups, wanting to support the manager. Wanting to support the club. Unfortunately, I was met with a lot of accusations of being a plastic. A term of derision used by football supporters to denote the genuineness, a perpetuation of a sort of hierarchy. I was told that there was no way I could be true supporter of the club, because I didn't grow up within walking distance of Anfield Road. It angered me at the time. I fought these accusations, and attempted to establish some sort of credentials with my peer supporters. As I have learned time and again when it comes to arguments based in textual medium; it was all a waste of time.

Around the time of all of this unrest, there was the big brouhaha over Steven Cohen. Cohen is a Chelsea supporting radio personality who had a few choice (read: derogatory, incendiary) comments about the Hillsborough Disaster, on his radio show. Cohen made baseless claims about the disaster, and incensed the Liverpool supporters into a frenzy. So, at this point in time, you have supporters turning against the owners. Turning against the manager. And now attacking a radio host. At the time, with the animosity I felt toward the other supporters for how they treated me, I felt justified in just wanting them to shut up about the owners, and the manager. And frankly, I just wanted them to shut up about Cohen. It was during this time, that I was fully exposed to a lot of the politics that define the football supporter culture. I got effectively ostracised by my peers, because I had opinions that were contrary to theirs. Eventually, I got so fed up with not having my opinions heard, that I just walked away. I just ended my association with Liverpool Football Club and its supporters.

It was around this time that one of my associates pushed me about "supporting a real club". He wanted me to stop supporting a losing club, as he saw it, and support a club of winners. It was through him that I crossed the divide that few ever venture. I transitioned into being a supporter of Manchester United at this point. I got welcomed with open arms by some supporters, and others met me with contempt. I was later dubbed as a plastic again, by a handful of the supporters, when Michael Owen signed for the club. It was something that infuriated me then, and when I think about it now, it still perturbs me just a bit. It was a rough lesson to learn that the Man United supporters are equally as ridiculous and as hierarchical as the Liverpool supporters were. And that lesson was only beginning.

During 2011, I was writing for a Man United blog called 7 Cantonas. It was a job that I loved, and was the main inspiration behind the blog you currently read this on. After one of their writers, Darren Jennings, posted an article about Steven Cohen, that was meant to inflame the Liverpool supporters who read the blog; it got me to thinking about my past. I wrote a lengthy missive on my history as a football supporter, where I first truly delved into the politics of the supporter culture. I discussed my history as a Liverpool supporter, and my history as a Man United supporter. It was also at this time that I was writing for a second site, one called Red Views, which was headed by David Hammons who blogged on the site The United Religion. This was a piece that was to be joint post on both sites, where I had hoped that supporters would heed my lessons. That ultimately failed. However, before I get into that, there was more going on at that point.

During that period, there was the infamous(ly failed) Green & Gold movement. The Manchester United Supporters Trust engaged in its war with the owners of the club, the Glazers. The MUST and its ranks were raging against the fact that the owners were accruing a sizable debt in the club's name. While I appreciated and respected the MUST, and its Green & Gold movement, especially about making the owners of the club accountable; as I learned about the tactics used to get that point across, I started to speak out against it. The MUST would berate, or in some cases physically attack, supporters who were stepping into the club megastore, or were wearing a modern shirt. I found myself in various flame wars, through Twitter and a few other sites, where my being critical of the supporters and their blind criticism of the ownership was found to be a great point for me to be ostracised. The supporters though wouldn't turn on Sir Alex Ferguson, he's as revered as Matt Busby to them. Well, that wasn't entirely true. A couple of years ago Fergie wrote an essay in one of the match programs, asking the supporters of the club to unify together with the club, and to support the Glazers. That put Fergie firmly in the crosshairs of the MUST. And that was something that annoyed me, and I spoke up about. And it got me called a plastic, yet again.

When I was writing for 7 Cantonas, I carried a very dim view of any Man United supporters who were aggressively tribalist. I hated seeing slogans like "The only good Scouser is a dead Scouser" or "We won it three times without killing anyone". I criticised the blogs who perpetuated that. Eventually, the pissing matches that were treated like feuds, got me into pariah status. David Hammons, especially making an example of out me. I got called a traitor. Compared to Benedict Arnold. And effectively had any credibility that I had as a Man United blogger, flushed out from under me. While I was never truly singled out for verbal abuse, I got ignored and cold shoulders from former associates. That, along with being made to feel like I'm not a true supporter because my life doesn't revolve around going to watch matches, proved to be the straw that broke me as a football supporter. As well as watching how the supporters were absolutely mutinous toward David Moyes. Because of this, I don't really align myself with any particular club anymore. I just want to watch football to watch football.

With the formation of a club in my hometown, I had hoped that my experience would be a bit better. Again my hope was let down. In my hometown, there is a semi-pro club, the Derby City Rovers. One which I had wished I had discovered sooner. I had learned of their existence as a part of the supporters group for the newly founded Louisville City Football Club. The group, The Coopers, had a very large role in convincing the new former Orlando City SC to relocate to my hometown. The group was ferociously active online, and through semi-regular meetings and events, geared toward building up the support. It's been a hell of a lot of fun, but recently, it has lost its luster.

The semi-pro club, in an effort to unify the football culture in Louisville, had extended invitations to the Coopers to establish a working relationship with them. As a way of extending the Coopers' profile, and to extend the brand of the Rovers. It should have been a wonderful relationship. Somehow, or somewhere though, the wheels fell off. The first home match of the season had a total of eight of us there. We were welcomed and treated amazingly. We were given our own specific section. It was great. However when the second match rolled around, we got no special treatment. What was our section was not marked as such. And we only had five people there, for the second match. None of the higher-ups in the group really bothered to make it. And of those who were there for the first match, one of our group was at work that night. So his absence was understandable. But where was everyone else? Apparently, they were on Facebook or Twitter bitching about proposed crest for the new Louisville City FC. A move that enraged myself, and one other member of our party. But this isn't the first time this has happened. Ever since the first big meeting, in January, the higher-ups in the group haven't really shown up for most of the other events. They can't seem to be bothered. But I'll be damned, if there is a photo op to make, those higher-ups are there. Shaking hands. Schmoozing. And generally acting like goodwill ambassadors. But they cannot be arsed to appear at these smaller events. Places where the profile of the group could be made or broken. And in a lot of ways, it's just another lesson about the politics of football supporter groups.

I've seen a lot of stuff online regarding the group and their distaste toward the proposed crest for the Louisville City. I've seen equally as many expressing displeasure at how the Coopers weren't consulted about any sort of proposals regarding the club. The group doesn't have ownership stake, as shares haven't been floated. Some of the group is angry about how they were only given approximately 40 minutes of time to get their season tickets first, before the rest of the public, after the announcement was made of the club's establishment. The politics at play could very easily get messy in this case, and in a lot of ways, it could alienate a lot of people. Present company included. So, for the time being, I am going to continue to support the Rovers. And when the time comes, I'll decide how much I'll allow myself to support Louisville City.

I have seen the politics of the football supporters groups firsthand. I've seen how divisive they can be. I have spoken out against them wherever I can, because football is supposed to be fun. Supporting a football club is supposed to be fun. It isn't supposed to be about this bullshit. It isn't supposed to be about dick-waving. It isn't supposed to be about feeling like the owners of the club are against the supporters, or vice versa. We are all supposed to be together, sharing in the joy and pain of loving our club. It isn't about only showing up when there are cameras present, it's about cultivating unity at all times. It's about celebrating football, and your club. It's about watching a game we love, with people who feel the same. Not about getting bogged down, or getting one's panties in a wad over minor details. Colors don't matter. Crests don't matter. The club matters. The players matter. The manager matters. The supporters matter. And too damn many people seem to forget that.

Wynalda Needs the Lipstick...

A few years back I was on my couch relaxing (probably just finished firing off some knuckle children or preparing to do so. Hey it was a boring day, don't judge.) when my good buddy Eric texted me with an idea for a piece he wanted to write. As a former blogger for a few sites I was familiar with his work and have to admit, I was a fan. While not a supporter of a club I have fond feelings for (absolutely hate) his work was always well thought out and very articulate in my opinion. He then mentioned starting his own site and tossed out the idea of me joining him in this venture. Now on this particular Sunday afternoon I was in the midst of an alcohol infused haze. Admitedly I was a bit fixchased. Whats that youre thinking? Well it's a lot like shitfaced but worse. In this state I thought this was a brilliant idea not taking into account the fact that I absolutely suck as a writer. Suck isn't a strong enough word but I can't think of something stronger. Lets say I suck slightly less than that meth addict hooker from that Breaking Bad episode that had the montage where she blew everyone within a 5 mile radius. Yeah, her but just a few cocks short. I've always wished I could do it (the writing not the meth and knob slobbing) but it's a skill I sadly lack. After sobering up I wasn't as enthused but said fuck it. I'll give it a shot. A few pieces later I proved my chops at knocking out garbage articles that were more entertaining for how pathetic they were than well written. I fancy myself a great talker but the words don't translate to paper for me like they do Eric. Fast forward to present and he is back doing his thing and busting out great pieces.He has asked me to do what I can and stink the place up worse than a white castle fart again so I decided to oblige in hopes that it might inspire more form him and help keep things rolling in the right direction. As most of you know my beloved Arsenal finally ended the trophy drought this past weekend and there are a few points I'd like to touch on so continue at your own risk and hopefully you'll bear with me and find amusement in my ramblings.

   Why am I still doubting Arsene Wenger? Why do we as sports fans always feel we know best when we cleary know dick about the actual goings on? Everyone who knows me well knows that I am the most hard headed asshole around so it probably isn't a shocker when I don't learn. The man admittedly has taken more undeserved shit than a taco bell toilet and it's sad to say numerous times I have been amongst the haters. Like a horrible rap cliche his haters are his motivators though. He has done so much with so little and kept  the boat afloat many years against odds that only a handful of managers could overcome. Yet he still takes shit. He's taken m ore shit than a case of depends in Mexico after some old fucker drank the water. As he took Podolski off for Sanogo I was back amongst the shit giving. Taking off our most clinical finisher for a man who has proven he isn't ready for this level and looks like a newborn horse trying to stand up every time the ball is at his feet while down 1 appeared to be the stupidest move since I tried writing a serious piece for The Razor. By the games end it proved to be the right move. Sanogo brought a pace and physicality against a squad determined to kick us off the field that made the difference on the day. I really think this substitution made the difference that ultimately won us the cup. He even had a part in the winning goal. If this was hockey he would've been given the 2nd assist that other sports don't recognize the importance of. Taking off Cazorla who was our best player on the day was frowned upon by many supporters at the time but I definitely agreed Rosicky brought a pace and drive that was badly needed so I was in agreeance there. So for doubting the most intelligent manager in football I owe Wenger a sincere apology. My parents have 4 dogs which is actually a low number for them. They constantly watch dogs for family who are out of town or have multiple more when myself or my sister visit. To the extent that sometimes there are a dozen dogs at their house. So to a man that has taken more shit than my parents back yard all while constantly winning and doing things the right way and with extreme class,I say sorry boss. I'll try to keepmy ignorant opinions to myself from now on. Can't promise my thick skulled ass will be succesful but I'll try

   Has there ever been a more funloving guy than Lukas Podolski? The man is always smiling and the pictures of him pouring a 40oz Budweiser on Arsene and wearing the top cups lid like a hat while giving the goofiest smiles ever really nailed down the point. Vermaelen dropped the lid while over zealously raising the cup too fast and Lukas knew exactly what to do. I couldn't help but laugh seeing a grown man looking like an exuberant little kid. Also he poured that 40 on Arsene like he was his fallen homie and pouring the beer on him was going to actually bring him back. I loved it.

   Gus Johnson is the man. Fox knew what they were doing when they put him in charge of calling their soccer matches. The man might know jack shit about the game but he brings an excitement only matched by Hispanic announcers that is sorely needed in a sport a majority of Americans find about as exciting and painful as recieving a 90 minute long titty twister. If we could only teach him to yell GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!! he'd be the perfect man for the job. That and he needs to put his foot down and make them cut out the make up. I think Fox is fucking with him by constantly having him look like a trasvestite who is over doing it. Is all that blush and lipstick really necessary? come on Fox.

   On the flip side we have Eric Wynalda. He blows way harder than the hooker from Breaking Bad. I couldn't stand him as an analyst for Fox. He doesn't know shit about shit and spends a majority of his time bashing Arsenal for nogood reason. Listening to his verbal diarrhea as the color commentator I couldn't help but think he is the cuntiest cunt who is currently cunting in the football world until I remembered the existance of John Terry, Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney, and Jose Morinho. So he's made the top 5. Congratulations you worthless shit head. He had no real insight, no enthusiam,a serious inability to call the match objectively, and sounded like he had no desire to even be there. Put the lipstick and horrible make up on him so he can be seen as the joke he truly is. Apparently across the pond Michael Owen is just as bad if not worse. I have no clue why all the butt hurt but when I get my butt massager company off the ground to cure butt hurt forever I'll send them both one for free to help them get over their chapped asses.

    Aaron Ramsey. The Welsh Jesus. I feel like that's all that needs to be said but after the season he has had I'd love to hump his leg. The man struggled to recover after his horrific leg break a few years back and became the most hated player at the club but he fought through everything to be our best palyer this year and score the game winner. For some reason Diaby is given a pass for never being the same after a broken leg but Ramsey was never forgiven. The double standard was a bit unwarranted but now he is a legend. Well done sir.

   And last but most importantly ARSENAL WON THE CUP!!!! After 9 years of constantly being reminded we haven't won anything we can now send a collective fuuuuuck you! to everyone who felt the need to rub that fact in our collective face. Many clubs have gone much longer but for some reason it has been the stick used to repeatedly bash Arsenal supporters in the nuts with. Wenger is a specialist in failure huh Mourinho? How many trophies did you win this season, you twat? Days later and the excitment of this win is still fresh inside me and I love it. Here's to the upcoming community shield and many more.

Walk on, through the wind, walk on, through the rain...

I just finished the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Hillsborough Disaster. All I am left with, is an overwhelming sadness. Just waves of tears, and hurt, and sorrow.

I have mentioned before, in a previous post on here, that I vaguely recall hearing about the Heysel Disaster on the news, in 1985. That I vaguely recall the concept of the football hooligan being discussed on television in the US. That I vaguely recall brief soundbytes about topics of this nature.

My club affiliation doesn't matter, when it comes to events like this. It's appalling, galling even, that a tragedy of this magnitude could occur. But it leaves me with pause, thankful to think that nothing like this has ever happened in the US, that recalls this horrific event. I cannot fathom, nor even conceptualise how it would have felt to live in the same nation, or region, as such an event. Much less, understand how it must feel to grow up in its shadow. The spectre looming just over the horizon. The proverbial elephant in the room, that has an influence that ripples out beyond the perceivable imagination.

If you have not seen the documentary, it can be found here. It is a documentary that must be seen. I cannot do justice to everything it covers, or relates to. It's that encompassing. And that important an event, that it has shaped so much of modern football.

As I was watching the documentary on YouTube, I was having a passing conversation with my friend Martin, on Facebook. We discussed the manipulations, and distortions that I had been acclimatised to believe. The misinformation that was available to me, in the US, for many years; and how it had shaped my understanding of the event. And just how damned painful the whole tragedy was. The conversation also addressed a few notions I had, relating to the mayhem in Rome in 1984, and Heysel in 1985, and how they factored into what happened. It's one thing to discuss this event with a football supporter from the US. It's another thing to discuss it with a football supporter from the Home Nations. And for that, I am eternally grateful to have the opportunity to have my notions disproven.

I had wanted to watch this special, the night it originally aired. The night of the 25th anniversary of Hillsborough. Due to my own emotional upheaval relating to the pending birth of my son, at that point, I felt it would be in my best interest to postpone watching the documentary. Especially after having a very visceral, gutteral reaction to a commercial for it. The reaction in question, was a shortness of breath, and a tightness, almost weightiness in on my chest. I did not expect for a commercial to have that affect on me. But it did. And it made me anticipate, and in equal measure dread, watching this documentary.

I don't really have any impressions of it, in the half and hour since I finished it. Just sadness. Tears that come and go. Utter shock. Complete dumbfoundedness. And an overwhelming measure of sorrow for those who lost their friends, their siblings, their parents - people whom they loved - in the tragedy.

Thinking about this. Thinking about any event, sport-related, where people died; it gives me pause. As I said previously, my own personal club affiliation doesn't matter. It means nothing. I think of Valley Parade. I think of Heysel. I think of The Ibrox in 1902 and 1971. I think of how those people who went to watch football never returned. I think of Munich in 1958. I think about how Thanatos must be a football fan. Or some equally absurd nonsense. I just think about how this game that I love so much, has so much pain interwoven with the stories of joy.

It has been 25 years, 1 month, and 4 days since the Hillsborough Disaster. 96 Liverpool supporters perished. Plus countless others from the stress, and depression that came about as a result of the resulting investigations and their inefficacy. I can only imagine the heartbreak that these people deal with, on a daily basis. And my heart goes out to them, completely. In hopes that they will eventually find peace, and the justice they seek. And that those who perished will find their demise wasn't in vain. And that they will be vindicated.

Striving to better, oft we mar what's well...

So the Premier League just announced that they'd like to invade the Football League with their B Teams. In a way, adopting a model that has proven successful in Spain, for many years. And hopefully helping to re-establish England as being near the forefront in player development in the football world. Excuse me while I catch my breath from laughing so hard.

The model that this is based upon, considers promotion and relegation as a part of its schematic. If your B Team isn't good enough, they get relegated. If they are good enough, they get promoted. However, the law states that the B Team cannot play in the same division as the First XI. And that's a wonderful idea. Beautiful. Fucking dandy, even. But it won't work in England.

Where do I begin with how fucking stupid the Premier League is? If they are going to consider implementing this as a manner of player development, what happens to the Reserve squads? That's first on my mind. And actually rather important. Second, these teams cannot, and let me stress this with maximum emphasis possible cannot start play in the Football League. The Football League is hallowed. It is revered. It is what all clubs aspire to be, under the 4th level of the pyramid. Premier League B Teams do not deserve the right to start their play directly in the Football League. I don't care if it's Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, or Chelsea. It denigrates the spirit of competition and the fighting for promotion or survival. It completely make a monkey's of the history of the Football League. I mean, worse than Arsenal buying promotion into the First Division over a Spurs club that finished better than them in the table. This is bad.

With that being said, I have been a proponent of the B Team system, after watching how successful it has proven to be with Madrid and Barcelona. Especially Barcelona. But the ideas that the Football Association are wanting to institute, they are fucking madness. A blight upon the game. And yet another blinding example of how the FA really don't understand the modern game of football at all. They're just there to play politics, to swim around in monies paid to them by Premier League clubs to assert their clout, and to charge ridiculous ticket fees for matches at Wembley so that they can pay off the construction of that fucking abomination.

This is the proposal I found, regarding the B Team structure:

The four key proposals are:
• A new League Three to be introduced in 2016-17, combining the top half of the Conference and 10 Premier League B sides.
• A beefed-up homegrown players' rule requiring 13 members of the 25-man squad to have been trained in England as youngsters by 2020-21.
• A more strictly enforced work permit system that would prevent Premier League sides from having more than two non-EU players.
• A new loan system that will allow Premier League clubs to loan up to eight players to a strategic partner below the Championship.
Members of the England Commission said the national side would wither on the vine if the four-pronged plan to bring through more homegrown players was not approved in full.

 Let's address these one by one. The first proposal. No. There doesn't need to be a Fifth Division. There are 20 teams in the Premier League. Use the results of the 2015-16 table to divide the clubs up, and place them into divisions starting with the North West Counties Football League (or geographical equivalent) and make them earn their way into the Football League. If clubs like FC United of Manchester, or AFC Wimbledon have to start this comparatively low, it's only fair that these B Teams go out and prove their salt. Allowing them to start any higher than that, is an insult to all of the clubs who have worked their asses off to earn that spot.

I'm not entirely sure what this second one means. As I'm not entirely sure how long one has to be registered as a player in England, as a youngster, for them to be considered homegrown. Birth certificate notwithstanding. The one thing that I do hope that this does, is force the youngest levels of coaches to actually learn a bit more about tactics and strategy, and stop relying on the tried-and-true Stan Cullis tactic of hoof and chase. Those tactics are lazy. They're uninspired. And they're fucking boring. Just like Man United's insistence upon playing the attack in from the wings. It's stale and predictable. And if England wants a chance to actually develop strong youth players who turn into full internationals, then they need to actually fucking develop them. And to develop tactics that reflect a more modern approach to the game. Ye olde 4-4-2 is great when you're playing Total Football, and you're constantly adapting and changing shape. England are too scared to adapt tactically, thus they have been left behind in terms of international football. So, homegrown players need better homegrown coaches. That should be an important caveat included in this point.

The third point takes me back to the olden days of English exceptionalism. That sort of arrogant xenophobic mindset that England has carried on and off throughout its history when it came to those dastardly foreigners. Non-Eu players makes up a lot of nations. Plus, with the limitations being placed on homegrown talent. I can't figure out if this is a bit of hypocrisy, or if someone wasn't paying attention when they were writing this proposal and just wanted to be direly repetitive. Also, that seems stupid to limit Premier League sides. That doesn't encourage competition for placement on squad lists. It just rewards complacency. And England wonders why its national team is such utter shite. It's because the FA has been utterly complacent about evolving methods for grooming young talent. Because the clubs in the Premier League have grown equally complacent being cash cows, milking whatever bloody cent they can finagle away from their supporters for every last piece of fucking merchandise you can imagine. And in doing so, they haven't had to answer to any glass ceilings or restrictions or caps. They only care about moving units and shilling and whoring to whomever is willing to pay for their overpriced knick-knacks. And more importantly, they have made oodles of money on the backs of international superstars. Since 2000, no English player has won the Premier League Golden Boot. What does that tell you? That depends. To me it says that these internationals want it more.

Loan systems. Fuck the English loan system. It is the stupidest piece of garbage that was ever designed, uttered, implemented, and executed. The English loan system does not train players. It doesn't prepare players. It doesn't groom them. It just leads them to their own brand of complacency, or frustration, or retirement. It's a fucking joke. And it does nothing to develop the player at all. It just relegates a player who could have all sorts of potential, yet needs polishing and refinement, to being viewed as inadequate. I have said, regarding the loan system, that if you wanted to develop younger players through loaning them out, send them out of England! Keeping English players in England doesn't progress footballers. It just leads to a deterioration of their skills. Mostly because there is little in the way of experience that a young footballer could get in England, depending on position and role, that he could not enhance his skills by playing abroad. The variety of styles and philosophies of the game that exist outside the English border, would be a better educational tool than anything. Making these kids go abroad on loan, and work for a place in that club's XI would be nigh-invaluable. It would eliminate, or at least attempt to curb the sense of entitlement, that a lot of young players from bloated Premier League megaliths seem to carry. There is such a vast world of football out there, especially in Europe, that a youth player in England could benefit extensively from the experience he could have in Spain or Germany or France or Italy. Look at Owen Hargreaves, for example. He had proven himself almost invaluable for England when he played. As well as for Man United, when he played. So why not take the risk? Set up affiliate clubs in other domestic leagues, and build from there.

This whole idea that the Premier League has taken to the Football Association is so blithely inept, I'm amazed that the FA are gullible enough to consider it. I hope that the Football League either takes a massive shit on it. Or they say that they'll accept it, with the large caveat thrown in, as to how low down the pyramid these B teams start. It'll dilute the quality of the domestic football, in its first few years, but if these B Teams are forced into fighting for promotion, and earning their place in the Football League, then there's a very strong chance that this could work out splendidly for all parties involved. However, given England's headstrong tendency toward cocking up anything that involves player development, I'm sure this will just prove as large a waste, as David Moyes feels his time at Old Trafford was.

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason.

On 17 January 2013, I posted this comment on a Guardian blog about Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich:

After having the sort of success that Pep had at Barca, I'd like to see him try his hand with a smaller club. One with limited resources, in dire need of an overhaul. A club that is floundering in relative obscurity, say two or three divisions down off the top flight. I'd like to see if he has the mettle to navigate promotion and relegation battles, and if he could turn a team of relative nobodies into one as revered as his beloved Catalans.

He's been at the apex of football. I think he should give it a go from a position where the status of the club he inherits is far more ambiguous than a club whose romance dates back to the Spanish Civil War. This isn't necessarily a dig at Barcelona, but it's more of an indictment of this perceived culture amongst football managers, that getting to the top and staying there is more rewarding than (re)building a club from the ground up, and turning them into an institution.

To me, the idea of a "moral crusader", which is an allusion I've seen made with regard to Pep in multiple places - would stay away from a Titan of European football. He would go to a club that he could make a definite, and potentially profound, impact at. There's no impact to be made at a club like Bayern, with all due respect to their history and tradition. They are fairly set in their ways. They have a system in place that has brought them success, in various forms, for the last 40 years. I'm not saying that Pep couldn't do amazing things at Bayern, but I can't see him being name-dropped in the same sentence as the likes of Beckenbauer and Muller.

I'd like to see him manage a club like Preston. They have the history. Or Huddersfield. Or hell, even Burney! Or, just because the romantic in me thinks it would be neat to see, Pro Vercelli. It's all just a pipe dream, though. I doubt that any manager of Pep's profile would want to take the risk of actually putting together a long-term project with a club that would love to have someone with that sort of ambition and vision take charge. I think, in that way, Pep could have cemented his legacy as a football manager. Much in the way that Shankly did at Liverpool, or Clough did at Derby/Forest.

The article was one about how Guardiola, after his year's sabbatical from football, had chosen to return managing in Germany. A place that many, including myself, had thought he wouldn't dare enter. A lot of people I knew had it figured that Pep would take over for Alex Ferguson, when the old war horse retired from Man United. I, personally, was disappointed. I had thought that this man, whom the media did a lot in portraying him as a moral crusader in football, and for football, was cast against type.

Apparently, there has been a bit of ballyhooing about how Bayern may need a shake up. Mostly because the reigning European champions got their business handed to them, in the form of a 5-0 aggregate slaughtering at the hands of Real Madrid. I'm not entirely sure what all of this petulance is all about. Or the escalation that seems to happen between club and manager. And because of the massiveness of that loss, it appears at least one or two people want Pep run out of Munich on a rail. But there is a flaw in this. Considering the aggregate scoreline, Guardiola knows that something different is approaching. A changing of the guard, as it were. And he knows this, because of his history with Real Madrid, as well as his boyhood club's history. There is a significance to the 5-0 scoreline in El Clasico.

I am still skeptical, that Guardiola is the right man for Bayern. I cannot see Bayern changing its system to fit Pep's vision. Especially when you consider that it was Bayern who overtook Ajax as reigning European champions in the 70s, and made Total Football look amateurish against Beckenbauer as sweeper and doom-bringer. Also, considering the draw of the European Cup that season, had Ajax managed to beat CSKA September Flag, I don't know that they would have beaten Bayern. And Bayern would have been their next opposition. But that is also indicative of the change in football philosophy. Rinus Michels' concept of possession-based Total Football was eventually overturned and put to sleep by Bayern's forceful counterattack. Which eventually led into England's dominance, using a similar formula to Bayern's.

Pep Guardiola is a student of that philosophy. Tiki-taka was born out of the lessons that Rinus Michels taught at Ajax. But that system was born by Jimmy Hogan, who influenced the style of play that would eventually help the Mighty Magyars make England show its ass in 1954. It was a system of pass and run, and possession, and space creation. Under Michels, it became Total Football, and gave players a license to play wherever necessary, to create space or close it down, as the play dictated. Johan Cruyff helped instill this philosophy at FC Barcelona, which was what Guardiola was taught during his years there as a player. Tiki-taka was the next evolution of Total Football. And Barcelona regularly made strong, capable clubs look like Academy sides. See: The utter dismantling of Man United in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals. This system, Tiki-taka, was adopted and adapted by the Spanish national squad to great effect. So much so that it has won them three major international honors.

While there has been an on-going revolution in football in Spain, Germany has been rebuilding. Rebranding its footballing identity. Through managers like van Gaal, there has been a gradual shift away from the tried and true Beckenbauer counterattack. The move has been more toward a slow adoption of a more possession-based attack. But it hasn't completely taken hold. And because of this, I think that Pep Guardiola is a bad fit at Bayern.

The conceptualisation that Pep has of football, molded by Cruyff, and Michels, and all of the Dutch-cum-Catalan proponents of Total Football; it contrasts starkly with the German vision of football. Almost to the point of friction, if you want to analyse it that extensively. And this is something that a lot of people tend to miss. Especially the media. They're so busy tabloiding every little breath and error that managers make, and escalating every club decision into a nuclear war; that they tend to miss out on the underlying reasons.

This goes on all the time in the media, in fact. They hack, they butcher, they mutilate stories. They sensationalise. They shit all over the truth. The best recent example of this is David Moyes and Manchester United. They spent so many hours of articles devoted to the doom and gloom at Man United. They had posts from former coaches, from the Ferguson era mind, who were critical of Moyes, but it only comes off as sour grapes. They spent so much time just banally droning on about how Moyes was at fault. But the media never truly took time to investigate what was going on. They just wanted to sell papers, or get website hits. Because that's all their bottom-line is. What will attract the most readership. And the readers want to be able to go onto their site, and on their blog, and to get into pissing matches with supporters of opposition clubs, or the same club; over their differing views of the current events. The bigger picture doesn't matter. Making money does. But that's business for you.

In the same vain, that's a lot of what is going on with the clubs nowadays. Especially the megalith club hegemony at the summit of European football. They're so damned afraid of losing their spot, of losing that precious television pay out, that they willingly sell their souls to the megacorporations, or the oil barons, or the carpetbaggers and snake-oil salesmen; all promising to bring, or maintain, the level of prosperity the club and its supporters have become accustomed to. And in this process, any charlatan can waltz into a club office with his CV and potentially end up making a big payday when he can't maintain the club's status. In the end, the clubs blame the manager. The players blame the manager. The supporters blame the manager. And the media has to jump in and hammer this point home, to the point of it becoming a deafening din. Especially in how the media stokes the fires. The media propagate the notion that these clubs aren't profligate over these care-taking scapegoats.

Unfortunately, I think that's what is happening to Pep Guardiola. His stature as this philosophical giant in football has seemingly set him apart as a target when it comes to the conflict in his footballing philosophy with Bayern's. Sure, Bayern went out and absolutely destroyed all the competition in the Bundesliga. But they weren't able to overtake the mighty Galacticos from Madrid, and retain their European crown. However, as has been pointed out here, I believe, there hasn't been a repeat winner of a European competition since Madrid won the UEFA Cup in the mid-80s (Editor's Note: According to a previous post on this here blog, AC Milan in '89-90 in the European Cup, and Sevilla in '06-07 defended the UEFA Cup). So, unfortunately, Pep gets caught up in the zeitgeist that is the Real Madrid Rolling Cavalcade of Managers Who Underachieve When They Don't Win Every Trophy in Sight and Traveling Salvation Show. Also unfortunately, a lot of that mentality has been proliferated in the media, since football was invented, way back in 1992. The Sky Sports mentality of oversaturation of football. The invasive nature of the media juggernaut and its desire to have more more more. Odds are that the mountain that has been made out of this proverbial mole-hill, is just a media invention. Player unrest was jumped on and amplified.

If Pep leaves Bayern, who knows where he will go. I stand by the belief about his being a moral crusader of football, however much of a media invention it may be. I think he will find the most success where he can actually implement and evolve his vision. At a club where he is free to build and design to his wildest dreams. And one where he will be supported, no matter what, because the club, the players, and the supporters all understand his long-term vision. In a lot of ways, it's reminds me of Brian Clough at Derby or Forest. Well, only without the ego and Peter Taylor. Time will only tell where this fracas will go, or when it will ensue. But I'm sure as resolute as Pep is about his philosophies on football, so too will Bayern remain stubborn in its face. And we will see a return to form, once Pep has moved on.

I must be cruel, only to be kind: Thus bad begins and worse remains behind...

In the last 24 hours, Manchester United told their manager to sod off. David Moyes, the man who was chosen to replace Sir Alex Ferguson, the man himself, just got handed his walking papers. And I, for one, am absolutely livid at this decision.

As a point of reference, a few year ago when I was writing for a Man United blog called 7Cantonas, I had posited that David Moyes was the best-suited candidate to replace Sir Alex Ferguson. This was ahead of the veritable spectrum of personalities whom the media, and supporters, had wished to install as Fergie's heir-apparent. I felt that without the limitations imposed upon him by Everton's board, that Moyes would be able to show that he's as capable a manager as any. However wonderful that hope may have been. It was quickly dashed in the insanity that has defined this season.

As of current, Manchester United are sitting 7th in the Premier League. Fucking 7th! Not 18th! Not 19th! Not even close to fucking 20th! They are sitting in 7th. On the cusp of making the Europa League, which I believe they will get that spot if Arsenal wins the FA Cup. They aren't in a relegation battle. They aren't even really having that bad a season. 57 points out of 34 matches isn't exactly setting the world alight, however it sure as hell isn't atrocious. Plus, if they may be able to swing winning their last 4 matches, with a little luck, they could overtake Spurs for 6th. This season is not the total loss that every Chicken Little in a red shirt will tell you it has been. It's a transition period. Leeway should have been granted, and given, by any and all supporters of the club. As well as the board. As well as the luxury boxes.

The decision by the club to sack Moyes is a shameful one to me. Despicable, in fact. Manchester United is a club that prides itself on being different from any other club. This is a club that will tell you, and its supporters will spew this like rhetoric, that they didn't give up on Alex Ferguson, for the years when he couldn't get over the hump. They will regale you with tales of Man United triumphing over adversity, time and again. But, what they won't tell you is that the deeply ingrained sense of titles in ascendency, has left a good portion of the supporters absolutely clueless about how to deal with mediocrity. And how to deal with disappointment.

I saw a myriad of examples, from the Guardian's comment sections, to Facebook, to Twitter; all impatient fans who want their club to win. Not a thought was given to the fact that David Moyes is not Alex Ferguson. Well, it was, only insofar as to be considered pejorative. Not a thought was given, after Christmas, to letting Moyes clean out the old geezers and dead weight, and build up the team in his own style. Too much emphasis was put on how Moyes lacked the power and ability to motivate his players. Or how he lacked the ability to plan and execute successful tactics, on pitch. Or how the teams he would field would look lazy, sloppy, and lacking that creative spark that, supposedly, sets Man United apart from every other football club in the world. Yet, these are the same folks who will tell you that the club will support its manage to the very end, and they will too. They merely, discreetly, omit their caveat to justify their mutiny.

Those excuses are just bullshit. The supporters have been pissed off that the club isn't playing to their expectations, so they were looking for a scapegoat. Unfortunately, given his position within the confines of the club, David Moyes' head had a very abrupt rendezvous with that particular metaphorical guillotine. As one who has defended Moyes' signing, and keeping him as manager, I had to face at least one fellow supporter giving me shit about how Moyes is a failure and how he needed to go. The little bit of the club that I have gotten to see, due to my schedule, showed me a team that looked scared against City. A team that looked lost, because their leader had left them. And a team didn't seem interested in playing any style of football other than their own. This team deserves to be exposed as mediocre. Without the blanket of Fergie to insulate them from the media or any other scrutiny, the flaws fell into light. A lot of the supporter comments that I saw, especially online, didn't seem to know how to deal with this eventuality. Well, outside of vitriol and mutiny.

Do I think that Ferguson set Moyes up to fail? In some ways, definitely. He coddled the club into a laurel-rested-on slumber. He didn't give Moyes the best possible hand to play. The squad is aging. And little was done to address the problem. Both last season and this. Players like Rooney can still hold the club hostage for mammoth wages. Ryan Giggs is still a part of squad, despite losing a lot of his efficacy years ago. In a lot of ways, I am seeing what happened at Liverpool, especially during the waning years of the Rafalution, up to Rodgers being appointed, repeat itself here. All completely unnecessarily, too. It is the responsibility of the players to execute any plans. The manager's role stops as soon as the opening kickoff is taken. He can only plan contingencies in the interim. He cannot play out their effectuality in real time. He can only react, once his plan goes to shit. Some may say that Moyes lacked the strength in offering proper responses to what was happening to his teams. However, that fails to acknowledge the argument that the teams he fielded should never have found themselves in those positions in the first place. And that's one place where I feel Fergie failed the club.

As the last couple of seasons progressed, more and more the squads he would put out, wouldn't truly show any dominance. They never set England or Europe on fire. They just did a lot of scraping results by in the dying moments. They never showed themselves capable of putting a match away early. They'd just get a lead and coast. That mentality, and its inherent complacency, played a very large role in the club finding itself where it is now. Comparatively abject mediocrity. They haven't played like true champions in a few years. They just happened to be the least bad, out of horrible competition. The same could be said for City or Chelsea's wins. There was no decimation of the competition. No running away with the title by 15 points or more. Just spending a lot of time riding luck, and depending entirely on having their fate being written by the inability of the other top clubs, in sealing their results. Outlasting your opposition is the mark of a champion. However, blasting your opposition out of sight, making it impossible for them to catch you, is an even bigger mark. The club did not play like champions. Just like an old boxer who was hoping he'd win the title in the decision. That's the squad that David Moyes inherited.

And now, Ryan Giggs inherits this squad. Godspeed Giggsy, you may want to return to shagging whoever you want.

Sexy

Ray Hudson insists that he has run out of superlatives when talking about Lionel Messi. Although, from listening to his most recent broadcasts, it is clear that he hasn’t, he is unintentionally making a pretty profound point here. It is not necessary to make Lionel Messi phenomenal run of form any sexier than it already is. With a little bit of football knowledge, you can see by simply watching him that it is quite possibly the sexiest run of form anyone has ever had - ever.

The same could probably be said of the latest run of form from Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, the need for sexiness is probably something that needs to be elaborated upon – or, at the very least, contextualized. Real Madrid and Barcelona will both finish with more than ninety points this season. Ninety. That’s over 80% of the maximum point total, dropping points in a single digit amount of games, getting maximum points in over 3 of every 4 games. 

Arsenal did a pretty good job in 2003-2004 when they went unbeaten. However, Arsenal finished a healthy eleven points ahead of second-place Chelsea and the title race was certainly more about Arsenal´s remaining undefeated than the title race itself. 

Sure, Arsenal can say they were unbeaten that season, but Madrid and Barcelona are clearly more superior amongst their respective leagues´ peers. Arsenal was great that year but you should probably give this one more to the footballing Gods than sheer talent. It is quite clear that, if Barcelona and Madrid maintain their dominance, one of them will have an unbeaten season.

La Liga is poised for another legendary run-in. Barcelona are set to play Real Madrid this weekend in Camp Nou with Madrid in first at 85-81. If Barcelona wins, and they indeed are favorites, Madrid - who has the tougher run-in schedule - will have the utmost pressure on them to win out.

Madrid will play for a draw on Saturday. Football seems like a complicated game, but that is only because the results are erratic and seem to sway drastically and irrationally. Mourinho knows that this is not the case, however. Mourinho will sit back and play Barcelona like he played them when he was with Inter Milan. Mourinho knows that he can sit back all game, get a counter-attack goal, have Messi score a remarkable goal, and he will still come out with a draw. With a draw in Saturday’s clásico, Madrid will win La Liga. 

This is how sexy Saturday´s matchup is. Sure, check out and see if Juventus can finish the season unbeaten. Sit around and wait and see how bad United can beat City. But know that this season´s sexiest run-in will be between the two best teams in the world, who just happen to participate in the world´s most prolific rivalry.

I Had to Throw a Team Together at Christmas

One of my favorite blogs was recently hacked, and ultimately shut down.  That blog was Football is Fixed and its companion blog Football is Fucked.  Two blogs that were written with the express intent of exposing the corruption and dark underworld of European football.  As well as deviations into world politics, and economics.  It is a blog that I had read with much interest, since I originally discovered it somewhere around 2007.

Lately, the blog had been writing repeated, scathing indictments on Mike Riley and the PGMOB.  They were attacking the FA for allowing the corruption of English football to continue.  They were attacking the Guardian’s football section, because they are believed to be purveyors of the “hyper-reality” as they called it.  It was a fascinating read.  With this in mind, I would like to take a look at something, critically, as a way to honor FiF.

As you may have read, if you follow English football at all, Harry Redknapp was found innocent of tax evasion, earlier this week.  With ‘Arry’s name cleared, he is free to once again roam the sidelines for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.  If I may offer a brief aside, if the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs were as serious about tax evasion as they are about winding up bankrupt football clubs, I would have little doubt that Redknapp would have been thrown in the Thames.  As one who has friends who are Spurs’ supporters, I can only guess how happy they are that their club can maintain their focus on securing a Champions League spot with little outside distraction.

Likewise, in the land of “there is no such thing as coincidence,” the Football Association and Fabio Capello parted company.  The speculation that ran rampant in the papers, or at least the ones I read, involved how Capello felt undermined by the FA over the handling of John Terry as captain.  Fair play to Capello.  As manager of a team, he had to look out for the potential cohesion of his squad.  Likewise, fair play to the FA.  As the body in charge the England national team, as well as the English football pyramid, it behooves them to make sure that they have a manager in place who can manage the egos, as well as produce favorable results.  Did Capello fit that criterion?  Some would agree.  However, I suspect, most would disagree.

With that being said, Tottenham had a Premier League match, today, against Newcastle.  At White Hart Lane, Spurs’ home ground.  A match that I saw a good portion of the first half of, before I got bored of it and watched something else.  What I saw was Spurs just utterly dismantling Newcastle.  The Geordies were perpetually caught in their own end.  And Spurs just looked killer in their attacking third.  So much so, that I got to witness to fantastically scored goals.  Unfortunately, if you are a supporter of the Magpies, you got to see your team down 4-0 on 36 minutes.  And, with the addition of another goal in the second half, Spurs came away 3 ponts, via a 5 goal-scored clean sheet, at home.

To dig a little bit, prior to Fabio Capello being named as manager of England, one of the many names tossed around to lead the Three Lions was Harry Redknapp.  It is a job that he has expressed a lot of interest in holding.  It is a job, that Harry would be more than happy to leave Spurs for.  But, Harry Redknapp has a colorful history.  Between being arrested while at Portsmouth for financial shenanigans, and being accused of tapping up.  I do not know that he would be the most savory of characters to take over the England job.  Especially since it has been widely assumed that his arrest during his time at Pompey, directly led to his ineligibility to fill the vacant England managerial seat, following Steve McClaren being shown the door in 2009. 

So what do we have?  Well, we have an innocent Harry Redknapp strolling the touchline at White Hart Lane, while his Spurs squad absolutely makes a mockery of Newcastle.  A 5 goal win margin, to me, is usually something to arouse suspicion.  That just seems like an awfully unusual score-line.  Especially against Newcastle, who were not too far below them in the table.  Tottenham sitting on 3^rd, and Newcastle were sitting on 5^th.  With that loss, Arsenal now moves into 4^th over Chelsea who are 5^th.  It is funny that Spurs’ victory gave their hated rivals in North London, the opportunity to move back into the Champions League spots.

But I think there is more to that.  The timing of this match.  The timing of the result.  The timing of Capello leaving the England job.  All of it when taken in relation to Harry being acquitted of any wrong-doing by HMRC, makes for a very interesting picture.  Is it possible that the FA, in conjunction with Mike Riley and the Premier Game Match Officials Board, may have fixed that match as a apology for previously denying Harry the job he so coveted? 

We know that Mike Riley and the PGMOB lack scruples when it comes to referee appointment for matches.  We also know that the FA and corruption go together like Sepp Blatter and dirty money.  So it would be easy to draw linear conclusion connecting the three in some form.  Especially with Harry being the front-runner, currently, in the race to replace Capello. 

The Interminable Story. and, Pepe, it´s OK

The quarterfinal draw of the Copa del Rey - Spain’s only domestic cup competition – pitted the Spanish giants against each other yet again.

For those who missed it, the first leg was played on Wednesday, January 18. And for those who missed it, Barcelona put on a show yet again.

When Madrid scored early, the crazy GolTV commentator, Ray Hudson, suggested that Madrid might win this one. It was a lofty statement to make. So he began searching for evidence on the pitch. He pointed to the effort put forth by Mou´s men, and that Barcelona´s poor Liga form had carried over into the clásico. Perhaps he was just hoping Barcelona would finally fall. Or perhaps he was trying to prepare himself for a Barcelona defeat, so when Barcelona´s “interminable story” finally came to an end, he would not be as distraught. Whatever the case, Barcelona came back to win a deceptively convincing 2-1. 

Barcelona could have scored more, Madrid shouldn´t have scored at all. Ronaldo´s early shot was hard and low, but directly at Pinto – it rolled right underneath his foot.

Last year Madrid won the Copa Del Rey over Barcelona in the final. However, with that being the least meaningful clásico of last year´s historic run of clásicos, (2 Champions League matches, Liga match, and Copa del Rey) and scoring on the less than brilliant Pinto, Madrid´s win was severely dampened. 

Before that, Madrid had not beaten Barcelona since may 2008. Their only draws were meaningless: a Liga draw that was good enough for Barcelona to nearly clinch the title, a first leg draw on the supercopa at the Bernabéu, and a second leg draw that was more than good enough for Barcelona to win on aggregate. In short, it has been since the 2007-2008 liga season since Madrid got a win of any significance. 

To quantify Barcelona´s superiority at this moment into some sort of figure would likely understate it. Grant Wahl once said that Messi is underrated, that he playing football on another level entirely. I think the same could be said of his club as well. Barcelona has beaten arguably the world´s second best team convincingly and repeatedly. In the last 13 clásicos, you have 9 Barcelona wins, 3 meaningless ties, and 1 Madrid victory (sans Puyol and with Pinto in goal, by the way). 

While I’m at it, here’s their résumé of the last 3 years:

Champions League - ´09, ´11. European Supercup - ´09, ´11. La Liga - ´09, ´10, ´11. Copa del Rey - ´09. Spanish Supercup - ´09, ´10, ´11. Club World Cup. ´09, ´11. 

That is crazy.

What´s crazier is Carles Puyol´s recent résumé. Ray Hudson pointed out in his commentary on Wednesday that Barcelona is 50 games unbeaten when Puyol is playing. Watch him play once, and you will notice that you can only chalk some of that run to luck and coincidence.

One brief comment on Pepe before I sign off:

Pepe stomped on Messi’s hand. Pepe simulated an elbow to the face, which gave Pique a yellow card. Pepe is a thug. 

(Before you turn away, don´t worry, a rant is not forthcoming.)

After witnessing Pepe´s antics, I became furious at first - repeating that last thought over and over again. Then, trying to make sense of at all, I realized that El Clásico is much more than a game. So much more than a game, in fact, that a shattered hand, a broken leg, or even a torn ACL, matters so much less than the result of the clásico. Why wouldn´t you attempt to hurt your opponent?

This much may have seemed obvious to you, but for me, as an idealist, it really got my head out of the clouds. I used to hate Madrid for their violence and thuggish behavior. But, just because they exhibit these behaviors, need not mean they are thugs. Sure, they ruin the integrity of the game. But Pepe could be the kindest, most warm-hearted individual in the world of football, and not have to change his behavior on the pitch. If Pepe´s thuggish behavior helps his team win, he is doing his job. In other words, by virtue of being a part of Real Madrid, his personal obligations to the integrity of football are fully suppressed.

I Wouldn't Say I Was the Best Manager in the Business. But I Was in the Top One

With my recent acquisition of EA’s FIFA12, it has gotten me to thinking about the desire for the common fan to relive the experience of playing for their favorite club.  This goes for the Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series as well.  Then, on the other side of this coin, there is the simulation of managing a team, as seen in games like Sports Interactive’s Football Manager.

I have been playing FIFA off and on since their 2000 installment.  One of the things that turned me off to the game series for a while, was the insipid design of their controller schematic.  It was not until the middle of the 2000s that any problems that I had with the series were gradually rectified.  Then, EA started acquiring license rights for teams all over the world, which made the game a bit more realistic.  Now, you could live out your dream of playing for Exeter City in the Npower League 1, or in the case of FIFA12 you can play as AFC Wimbledon.

In the case of the gameplay, the series has always felt lacking, to me, against the PES series.  The pace of the game always seemed a bit slower.  The finer points of defending and finished always seemed a bit suspect.  However, the style and visuals of the game were always outstanding.  To me, a game like FIFA or PES relied equally on style and substance.  It has felt, for the last few years, like the FIFA series has absolutely demolished PES on style.

In 2011, upon finally buying a PS3, I got a chance to play both online.  That is an entirely messy kettle of fish unto itself.  FIFA online, in a lot of ways, is a very trying experience.  Usually because you end up playing against the same teams: Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, or Barcelona.  In response, I would chose random teams that ranged from Sheffield Wednesday to Chievo Verona.  I might not have always won, but I would do whatever I could to give my opposition the hardest time possible.

Eventually though, in the 2012 installment of the FIFA series, there were drastic changes to the control schematic.  EA changed the defensive controls, and in a lot of ways, opened up the game.  While I see the merit, in the offensive context, as a player who thrived on crowding players off the ball the game has taken a lot of my strategy away.  I have not completely adjusted to this alteration yet.  But I am slowly improving.

Prior to the 2012 edition, I had played Konami’s PES every year since 2006.  Where they may be short on leagues to play in, or licensed teams to play on, the creation center was far superior to its counterpart in the FIFA series.  Even to the point of how in every iteration of the game, I had created a team of my friends into the game.  I got to create the crest, the strips and the players themselves.  The sheer depth of the ability to create the strips, from the style of shirt, in terms of design, all the way down to the location of the crest on the shirt, and text for sponsorship on the front; it far and away excelled compared to its EA opposition. 

In the last couple of years Konami managed to obtain the licenses for the UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Europa League, as well as the Copa Libertadores.  However, it does not have much in the way of team licenses.  They usually have 2 English teams from the Premiership. They usually have some of the Spanish La Liga. There is usually always the entirety of Serie A.  As well as the Dutch Eredivise.  To go with a smattering of other teams from all over the world.  PES also has an amazing level of depth when it comes to unlockables.  There are player packs that can be bought with experience points.  Or classic national teams who can be purchased the same way. 

In terms of game play, PES always felt superior.  The controls never felt sluggish or the pace of the game feel slow.  The passing was crisp, especially when it came to creating free headers while making a deep run off the wing.  Set pieces, especially corners, were almost always precise.  My prowess at free kicks proved better in FIFA than PES, where I had a better percentage of conversion from corners.  In terms of my own overall skill on PES, I could usually hold my own, but I did not always take advantage of, or create opportunities to put teams away.  I have never been great at either FIFA or PES, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of playing.

My status as a devotee of FIFA and PES changed in 2010, when I joined Twitter, and was introduced to the world of Football Manager.  It was not until I purchased FM2010 that I was able to fully understand the addictive aspect of the game itself.  I had read about the game on sites like Run of Play, where Brian Phillips’ long series about managing Pro Vercelli in FM2009, helped to solidify my desire to play the game.

Upon getting the game, I started a career as manager of Ipswich Town Football Club.  One of the settings I chose in that career, was that I was managing fictional players.  It was a completely different world from what I knew from playing FIFA and PES.  I had no control over how my team played.  I just gave them instructions, I created tactics, I chose lineups.  I just had to hope that my players were able to carry out the plan I had laid out for them.  My luck with Ipswich Town was minimal at best.  Which ultimately led to me being sacked.  Following that tenure, I moved on to Eastwood Town, and later Nuneaton Town and Hampton & Richmond Borough.  My success at Football Manager was limited, laughable at best.

In the 2011 edition, Football Manager added the ability to post accomplishments, both positive and negative, to Twitter.  I took to managing Ipswich again, though this time I was managing real players.  Following a dismal run with Ipswich, I took played around with my friend Ben McManus’ created database.  After playing around with that for some of the late spring, I moved from that to starting another career in Italy, managing Hellas Verona.  At Verona I had what would qualify as an amazing run.  I won my first trophy with the Mastini, the Italian Serie C Cup.  And we nearly won promotion into Serie B.  It was at that point at the end of that season where I purchased FM2012.

In FM2012, I started out my career at Paris FC, in the French Championnat National.  After a dismal run, I was sacked half way through the season.  After finishing that season unemployed, I moved to the north of England, to manage Northwich Victoria. 

I have learned a handful of things about Football Manager.  First, I have a bit of hoodoo when it comes to managing in England.  Maybe it has to do with the teams I choose to take over the helm of.  I manage teams that have trouble sustaining their form over the length of the season.  I also tend to manage teams that have one outstanding goal scorer.  At Ipswich, it was Jason Scotland.  At Hellas Verona, it was Thomas Pichlmann.  And currently at Northwich Victoria, it is Wayne Riley.  These outstanding players are nothing when their set up men, usually attacking midfielders get injured.  This does not mention the slides my teams go on, when those fantastic scorers go down hurt.  I unearthed a kid who could have set the world on fire, if he had a few years of experience under his belt in Andrea Seculin, my wonderkid keeper at Verona.  A kid who kept 22 clean sheets in all competitions, at 18 years old.  I am still learning about how to fine-tune my training to not wear my players out.  I am still learning how to interact with my players to get the best out of them.  My team talks are formulaic, but it seems to work when needed.  I have not figured out how to utilize all of my staff yet.  Especially when it comes to match preparation.

The sheer depth of things to learn and pay attention to in the Football Manager series continues to astound me.  The changes to the way you can give instructions to your team on the fly have proven to help me, as a manager.  And the recent alteration to the addition of tone in your team talks, have made me aware of how to treat my team to get optimum results.  But that does not even touch the game play experience.  The game itself is a lot like chess.  Since you do not have the ability to control your players, you are just playing a game of anticipation of your opposition’s moves.  But is that not the mark of a good to great manager?  It seems to be so, to me.

To move away from really discussing the games, there is one more aspect to each that deserves mentioning.  There is ability to write your own story.  In FIFA and PES, you have a bit more control over the outcome of the results.  You can play as one individual player, or you can play as the entire lineup.  Therefore you have a bit more say in what happens.  You can build yourself up into a legend over the course of seasons.  In the case of FIFA, you can move from being a playing legend into being a management legend.  In a lot of ways, that is merely a very singular scope.  But you can still have an element of control over the results.  Football Manager takes that narrative aspect, and moves it into another level.  There is the story of your career as manager, with all of its twists and turns.  There is the story of interactions with players and coaches, or journalists and other managers.  This alone makes Football Manager so different from other football games.  The experience is completely different.  And that is part of what makes it attractive as a gamer.