A More Splendid Life

Big Blogger Update

2008-11-21T14:29:00.006-05:00

Some of you may remember my half gag/half sincere submission for Big Blogger a few weeks ago. It suffices to say it did not make the final three. My subsequent entry for this past week also failed to make the final three among a group of entrants of which, in the words of Sean Ingle, "the standard was the lowest so far."

Like Arsenal, with their recent loss to Aston Villa as well as the recent loss of William Gallas' mind, AMSL is suffering a crisis of confidence. Any suggestions on what to write about for next week, an open thread, would be appreciated.

Yours in bloggery,

RW

Surprise Surprise

2008-11-20T07:20:00.004-05:00

-- I thought you were dead!
-- I was!

Friendlies are useless.

HOWEVER. Last night was the first time in a long, long while that I've seen England trot out on a meaningless night and

a) string several passes together

b) make Stuart Downing look semi-competent

c) have Scott Carson and John Terry team up to look foolish when Carson was NOT the starting keeper

d) Beat Germany in Germany with the 'Lion's share' of possession (man you could smell that one a mile away) and have Scotland get all the headlines the next day.

So, ideally for England's future friendlies, half the first squad should succumb to 'injury' while one of the other home nations takes on a major footballing superpower under the management of a once-interstellar but extremely controversial player. Maybe Brazil will somehow clone Garrincha in time to take on Wales in a friendly while England have a go at Maradona's Argentina.

England win, and win convincingly.

Maradona Has His Moments

2008-11-19T12:38:00.011-05:00

I think this is one of those magical moments when Scotland v. Argentina will be infinitely more interesting than the usual brow-beating Schadenfreude of England v. Germany, don't you?

It looks like the football gods have taken their injury machine gun to the entire England squad, while Little Big Man is going to lead his country against the progenitors of passing football in a moment that will be as moving as it will be utterly and completely ridiculous.

I tend to empathize with the core basis of Christian belief when I think on Maradona. What is it about him that makes me love him, a man whose persistent self-slaughter and abuse of trust should forever reduce him to an object of ridicule?

I don't know. Perhaps because 1986, a year that many of us remember as the middle of the dark ages, plastic consumerism, Ronald Reagan, Heysel and Hillsborough, seems to leap out of history to this day because of that 'squat little man' running around on a stifling pitch in Mexico.

Terry Butcher will never forgive him, and while he's absolutely correct not to -- Maradona cheated, he cheated -- he transgressed in the most artful way possible, striking the heart of the English self-delusion of honour and passion transcending all. He is a terrible clown, and while his foray into international football will be a disaster, there will be moments. And at the end of the day, as with Maradona, whose entire career consisted of moments as stark as they were infrequent, that's all football ever leaves us.

On a related note, please check out Fred's piece on Soccerlens.

Read This Now

2008-11-18T00:07:00.002-05:00

I don't do this often, so read this now.

That Lingering Coin-Toss

2008-11-17T19:36:00.003-05:00

Already a news cycle away, the matter of Didier Drogba’s Carling Cup coin-toss at Stamford Bridge lingers.

Why?

Perhaps the it’s the sad fact that, eighteen years shy of the Taylor Report, objects are still thrown at opposing players in English football stadia. Or that Drogba, in a unique twist to a familiar story, risked criminal investigation by hurling the coin back.

Yet unfortunate as these points are, they don’t make this incident anything more than a curious aberration. However, viewed as the moment when ‘Modern Football,’ the global sporting behemoth inspired by the rabid financial optimism of the 1990s, first began to rupture, the Burnley coin-toss takes on deeper meaning.

Burnley FC is frequently cited as the once-mighty small town club that faded away once PFA pioneer Jimmy Hill successfully eliminated the salary-cap in 1961. The previous year, Burnley were League One champions, and that same year they were European Cup quarterfinalists. Fifteen years later, after they admirably maintained their top-flight status despite lacking financial heft, Burnley were forever relegated from League One.

Chelsea FC on the other hand represent the obsequious, professional wealth heralded by Tony Blair’s New Labour. CFC is certainly més que un club – they are a global football ‘brand’ fuelled by Russian oil money and located in the symbolic home of corporate Albion, West London. The image of a young, urban crowd transfixed by Blackberrys while a cavalcade of foreign players run riot at Stamford Bridge, is for many the quintessential picture of Modern Football – gentrified, passive, and mass-marketed to an emerging – and permanent – professional class.

That permanence, as we know from the recent collapse of Western financial markets, may be illusory. Yet the real economy is still awaiting the aftereffects of the downturn, and when they come, the Burnley’s of the world will feel them most. Burnley has already endured a decades-long decline in its manufacturing industries, spurred by the same globalist economic ethos that gave so much wealth to places like West London; it's not hard to guess what effect a nationwide recession will have.

Which brings us to the coin-toss at Stamford Bridge. The use of currency as weapon is a potent symbol for the source of Modern Football’s demise – lack of fan-driven revenue. Some argue that middle class football supporters will turn to the game for means of escape, yet it is hard to imagine paying forty quid for a game or a month of satellite television to ‘escape’ when you can’t afford groceries.

While Big Four clubs like Chelsea will weather the storm, smaller clubs will struggle to afford the talent necessary to remain competitive – Drogba returning the coin to Burnley’s stunned supporters provides an apt visual metaphor here. And while football is still a game of two sides (Burnley deserved their hard fought away win on penalties in the Carling Cup last week), as economic times get tougher, angry fans in empty stands may be the only ones left chucking hard currency at well-paid players.

Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 2 -- Live Match Report!

2008-11-15T10:50:00.012-05:00

90 + 4 Tottenham are still in the relegation zone. The lights are going out all over North London and we won't see them again in our lifetime. Birmingham is suddenly ghetto fabulous.

79 I think I have a bit of an Ag-boner...

70 Is it? It is! Peter Wi -- sorry, Gael Clichy!

45 + 1 Just put in the net FFS!

Preamble
Randy Lerner looks more and more like a ghost every day. In England, pants are underwear!

AMSL at RoP on the FW

2008-11-13T13:57:00.004-05:00

Hi all! Brian graciously asked me to write something for his footballing masterpiece, Run of Play.

I've written an Apologia Pro Posting Sua on the Football Weekly podcast comment boards, as I'm retiring.

I was, is, and ever shall be, villasupportgroup.