I know you want me to write more but I’m working on some “self-care” at the moment. That said, I did have a thought.. more of a question.. and I wonder if you all have an answer.
Here’s the thought –
Football has inexorably changed since I started watching 20 years ago. It feels like the powerful clubs are becoming more entrenched than ever and that there are tiers developing at the highest levels between clubs that have virtually unlimited money to spend and those who don’t.
It was only a few years ago that Leicester won the league but it feels like the football elites have closed rank to ensure that nothing like that will happen again. How many clubs had to implode or fall apart that season for that miracle? Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, and Man city. Tottenham were there too but, lads, it’s Tottenham.
And now it feels like more than ever the top clubs are going to stay at the top and that clubs like Arsenal are going to be second tier. Arsenal have money, for sure, but if the owner won’t invest then we have to sort of do what Tottenham have been doing; find diamonds either for cheap (Alli) or in the academy (Kane).
And what I wonder is if Arsenal could almost become a sort of “neutral’s club”? Right now the rush is for Arsenal supporters to hope that Man City win the “quad”, which I find odd. Why are we hoping that they win anything? They are a big part of the reason why football is in the sorry state that it is in. They are the reason why top players cost £100m and that guys can demand £20m a year in salary. I don’t even have to get political in this argument. I don’t care what country they are from, my own country has a horrible human rights record. What I care about is how they flaunted FFP, bought up all the world’s talent, and over-inflate wages and transfer fees. They are also gobbling up all of the world’s best young talent. Making it impossible for clubs to ever truly compete with them for honors.
The only thing stopping them from becoming the most powerful club in the world is a Champions League victory. That’s the one honor they don’t have yet. After they win one of those, they can say that they have joined Europe’s elite. What does that leave for the rest of us?
I get it that we don’t want Tottenham to win anything because they are Tottenham and we are Arsenal. I also understand that Liverpool supporters are annoying but I wouldn’t want to deal with either set of fans after they won the CL. They also wouldn’t want to deal with us, to be fair.
I just don’t know. I know that I don’t like Man City at all. I don’t like what they have done to football. I don’t want them to win anything. I have no special hatred for Liverpool because the only Liverpool supporters I know are pretty nice people. I would never support Tottenham.
I guess I’ll support Ajax in the Champions League. Though part of me says that I don’t actually have to root for anyone, since none of them are the Arsenal. I still have Arsenal in the Europa League and 4th place in the League. Maybe I’m just confused as to why we want any of them to win?
What are you going to do this season?
I’d sort of like City to win the Champs League because he gets teams playing beautiful football. That said, I’m rooting for Barca, because Messi is the epitome of beautiful football. Or Ajax, because they represent youth and Marc O might come and work the same magic in N5.
I’d prefer Liverpool to win the Prem. Their turn, good to see that greats can rise again and prove (as Leicester did) you can beat the money clubbed kleptocracy of Chelsea, City and United.
Watford, Wolves, Swansea, Brighton, Palace or Milwall for the FA Cup. Any of them would be brilliant.
Arsenal for the Europa! And top 4! And St Totteringhams! (one can dream).
I agree with you entirely Tim. Man City’s owners are slowly ruining football, a process that was started by Chelski in 2003. If I stop and think about it for too look it makes me really miserable to think that we’d have to go the same way to reach their level, or give up hope of a league title for many years to come.
We could finish as high as 3rd (unlikely) or as low as 6th (also unlikely but not nearly so as a 3rd place finish). I’d like to see Liverpool win but just the one loss so far is too close to Invincibles and Almost Invincibles territory. They only have one “big” game left against Chelsea. So in that case I have to go for Man City and one of my favorite all-time strikers, Aguero.
In Champions League I would be pleased with any of the following oddsbeaters: Juventus or Atletico Madrid. And if you have any love for Bergkamp, surely the resurgence of Ajax is a welcome development.
Oh, and I have no illusions about the Europa League, especially after BATE.
We have to be considered one of the favorites in the competition. The only team with an objective rating similar to us remaining in that competition is Chelsea and we’ve owned them lately. There is no Atletico Madrid, no Liverpool to stand in our way. Sure, we could lose to an inferior team, but I don’t think we will. We are playing our best football of the season. I think we’ll make the final.
Even though, as always, ITHTKY, I’m down with that. A little bit of ruthlessness and no injuries may just see us get our first (real) European trophy. Looking forward to the Rennes match today.
Doesn’t bother me as much that City win everything– as it does the other four winning anything. Chelsea even less so than United, then Pool. The sh^tbirds up the road can catch fire and I’d not spare the urine to douse them.
I expect City to win.
Because they have unlimited resources.
Gamed domestic lower– and other international leagues into feeder clubs.
Finagled FFP by taking advantage of every loophole before they were closed.
Then set their lawyers on UEFA to stymie any action via legal means.
Effing efficient at every turn. Probably a dozen years past remedying any of it.
I can tolerate City on-pitch
As they hired a manager I wish were ours.
They have an assistant manager I wish were our manager.
I enjoy watching KdB, the Silvas, and Sane play intelligent, unselfish football.
Chelsea’s successes are always tempered with high-drama and novella-style falls from grace.
Possibly on a realtime down-swing to 2nd-tier status as-we-watch.
United will karmically level off once the shine is buffed from Ole’s bounce.
Could happen as soon as Wolves dispatching them from the FA Cup in 10 days time.
Pool I’m not quite as ambivalent toward.
But does seem that Pool fans I am exposed to are far too arrogant and entitled.
(reminds of Dallas Cowboy fans who live here in Houston).
(As Jack the Lad was wont to blurb into a mic:)
Tottenham are sh^t.
++++++++++
Arsenal.
Over AW. Chagrined with how.
Realistic, while keeping my patience dry.
AFC needs to follow-through on whatever course Sanllehi charts.
Probably another year to know if UE is the right guy to jump-start the club.
Then two (or 3) more seasons– before we know– if the trajectory Raul has us on– remains skyward.
I support the opposition when any English team (except Arsenal) plays in Europe. I therefor supported Madrid over Liverpool in the Champions League final last year. Nah, I didnt care much for weeks of the self-reverential, You’ll never Walk alone.
But in the league, Tim, I’m totally with you on this, for the reasons you stated so well. They have had a distorted and poisonous effect on football, and anything they win — for me — comes with an asterisk.
BTW, let’s all laugh at Sergio Ramos for deliberately picking up a yellow in order to miss the return against Ajax.
I’m old school and support ANY British team in Europe (and that included Spurs back in the day). I was thrilled when Celtic & United opened the gates for our sides and still get a buzz from any UK victories (like tonights fantastic win by United).
I also support the underdog and how about Ajax last night?
Best of luck with you Brit hate Claud.
Sorry, Claude
It’s not Brit hate. Those are our rivals. pal. Good luck finding United fans who wont be laughing into their beer if we lose to Rennes tomorrow
They’re ALL our rivals, whatever nationality, so why single out English teams. I think it might have been someone here (perhaps you even) who said they’d support any international side against England. I’m sure United fans will be delighted if we lose tonight, but as I said in my post ‘I’m old school’. That’s how it used to be back in the day… national pride.
If Arsenal don’t play in the Champions League, I really don’t care. But I agree it will be better if City don’t win it. And Liverpool and United. And Tottenham, of course. So anyone of the others will do. Except PSG, they are the same as City. And Barcelona too. Atletico play the ugliest football I have seen after Stoke City. So what is left – Ajax, Porto, Roma, Juventus, Schalke, Lyon and Bayern. Each one of them is fine. Except Bayern.
Wow, That’s a harsh, harsh, harsh VAR call.
I came on here to post about that. The Drum Tim has been beating on, about it being all down to the referee’s interpretation has just become a hit single. And has hit Number 1 on the charts.
I thought it was the right call if I’m honest, the sneaky look over his shoulder and the movement of the arm toward the ball made that impossible not to award after the video review.
What bothers me more is how Marquinhos didn’t get one a few minutes later after Shaw made no attempt to play the ball while obstructing him from getting to a cross.
Of course it’s the right call. Every call is the right call because the laws of the game are subjective. If he had not called it, it would have also been the right call.
Not as subjective as you seem to believe…
Like in the movies, when the bomb is ticking down to zero, it doesn’t matter which wire the hero cuts, it’s always the right one with 1 or 2 seconds left. The exception to this of course is “Goldfinger” when Sean Connery’s Bond cut the wire at…007 seconds, naturally.
Agree with you on both of those Dr. It took a while for the VAR people to call that back and surprisingly United players didn’t make that much of an issue at the time of the foul.
ba dum tish..
How you like that VAR?
Sorry Tim, but VAR got it right.
Still love it. I’d rather have a call made after careful VAR review than on the spur of the moment, with no time to inspect the body shape, the movement,…, particularly when the decision has such an impact. I read future rules will eliminate the need for intention as condition to have a handball. Good!
Yeah, thinking about what makes the football world tick and the probabilities of who wins what is just about enough to make anyone lose interest in the sport. It’s a bit like what happens when you over-think your place in the universe from a cosmological perspective: tiny, insignificant, etc., enough to make you stop caring about life if you really indulge in that. So we either “hear no evil, see no evil” and try to enjoy what we’ve always enjoyed about the football, or we quit the sport over our moral objections. Let’s face it, most of us are too hopelessly addicted and the powers that be know that and use that.
Case in point: Manchester United just beat PSG on a last minute VAR assisted penalty and although I don’t care for United and would’ve preferred to see the Parisians progress, it really left me fairly numb because the two clubs are two sides of the same coin. Neither stand for anything (if they ever did) and neither are “the good guys” or underdogs in any sense. Football has lost a big part of its soul and I’m afraid that’s never coming back. It’s really difficult for me to divorce the sense of futility, irritation and ennui that I feel when I watch football on the highest level. I’m not even sure when was the last time I truly enjoyed a non-Arsenal football fixture. Usually when it’s a heavyweight duel like United vs. Paris, I wish both sides could lose for different reasons. Shame, because in more innocent days I used to really enjoy CL football. Now I barely bother to check the scores.
I think maybe that’s why I enjoy the World Cup. It’s still hopeless for anyone but a handful of teams with awesome economies from the start, but at least the advantages those teams have come from a certain pre-defined pool of talent which means every team still has 1-2 guys who are just average. There are no super teams, and the supporters seem to have a sense of belonging together that they can share with the players. I’m told club football used to be like that.
Arsenal fans should have wanted united to win that game. I did. As one of the clubs chasing fourth place, the longer they are in that competition wearing their players out, the better. They have a lot of injuries right now, and with more games to play, and less players, hopefully they will start to fade.
Good point, Jake. Sometimes wins like that galvanize teams and give them belief, so it’s hard to know which way it will go for them. Wenger used to talk about wanting other English teams to win because it helps England’s UEFA coefficient and thus helps the nation retain 4 UCL teams.
Ought to be 6 at this juncture. 😉
First, I’ve never seen an American acknowledge their human rights record. I’ll add that to the growing list of reasons as to why 7amkickoff is becoming my favourite blog!
As for Man City, I used to hate them. Everything they stood for. But since Pep came in, I’ve grown from hatred to just dislike. I still hate their owners and what they do, their financial doping, etc. But Pep’s football does something. I know it shouldn’t matter when we are talking about more serious issues, but somehow it does. And I think a lot of that was down to how different he was from Mourinho in what was supposed to be a battle of ideologies for the title.
But it still baffles me that Pep chose to join them. This a guy who has clear football ideals, who believes in his Catalan identity and supports their independence movement. But he works for a regime that is waging wars, suppressing freedom of speech and expression.
Liverpool, I’d say are more palatable. I like the club, the fans aren’t bad, there is a good project and Klopp is perfectly likable. Yet, I hate how the media ignores their trophy drought and celebrates their top 4 finishes. As with Tottenham as well, who are even worse.
I don’t want Utd, Chelsea and Spurs to win. That’s done. I wouldn’t want City to win but don’t mind Pep winning. I’d like Liverpool to win but don’t want to see anymore of the media-love they get. Which is why I don’t give two hoots about the title race.
And Ajax. That was inspiring. I want Arsenal to have an identity like that. Something that makes you proud – win or lose.
Actually Tim , it was Chelsea that started the trend of overpaying for players to compensate for the club’s lack of history. Madrid, with all of their glorious history, took it a step further, by paying 100 mil for Ronaldo because they wanted to build the next generation of galacticos. I believe City bought Adebayor from us soon after the Ronaldo transfer and the market was already inflated at that point. City simply realized that this was a game the could play given the direction of the market. So no, I don’t blame City for inflating the market. Especially with the TV money that was pouring in, it was only a matter of time till player prices and wages shot up through the roof. It’s just that we are stuck with a terrible owner who isn’t doing anything to compete in the transfer market. Really no one to blame for not being able to compete in the transfer market but our owner.
I’ve been toying with a variance of these questions over the last several years. The only reason I’m still supporting and watching football at all are a combination of escapism, cowardice, and hypocrisy – the latter two of which are of nobody else’s but my own choice. Add Arsenal into the mix – a childhood affiliation borne of geographical and family proximity – and you have a strong link that’s very hard to shake. There’s still a kernel of the club I remembered/ imagined as a kid inside me. Nonetheless, I’ve ended up thinking that a lot of the good I held within me about Arsenal is nothing but an inflated fiction that helps me to cover up the truer current nature of football in general.
I remarked here a few years ago that football in its contemporary form reminded me quite a bit of the banking system. I don’t think I ever meant that literally. I intended that accusation, I think, more in the sense of a general ‘shadow’ version, whereby corruption is endemic, impunity is rife and criminality equally so, and that a collapse will come at some point (although one thing I’ve learned is that predicting the timing of a collapse is a fool’s game). The players, much like traders and bankers, are on hyper-inflated salaries that bear no relation whatsoever to the lives you and I might live and yet we’re expected to believe the narrative that this is what the market can bear, and that the words ‘market’ and ‘bear’ themselves are enough to hold off any doubts we might have about the veracity of the system in general. On top of all this, we are supposed to be enamoured by the allure of such highly-paid players, billionaire owners, annual turnover, and net transfer gain, as if any of that should really matter (but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t always sucked in).
I choose Manchester City over Liverpool, Liverpool over Manchester United, and anyone (even Chelsea) over them or Tottenham. Beyond team loyalties, none of that makes any sense, because I’m blind and not blind at the same time.
Excellent comment
Excellent indeed 👍
“The only reason I’m still supporting and watching football at all are a combination of escapism, cowardice, and hypocrisy – the latter two of which are of nobody else’s but my own choice.”
This really resonated with me. You’re definitely not alone in making those kinds of choices. Your whole post is very well expressed.
It’s been a good eleven years or so (good lord how the time has flown) since I sat down and read the Laws of the Game. I throw out that caveat because time, and my aging mind, makes all recollections a bit hazy. However, I do not recall a single law that is objective (meaning independently measurable or verifiable).
Every law requires some subjective assessment by the official. Every. Single. One.
Oftentimes, specific examples of sanctionable behavior contradict each other. The Offsides Law provides endless opportunities for mirth and consternation for this very reason.
Anyway, VAR will never bring objectivity to a subjective enterprise. Garbage in, garbage out. Better to just shout at the television, kick the dog (don’t do this), or drink an extra shout of your preferred poison whenever the call goes against you (or us).
Bye the way, from next season (I think) handball is going to be ‘handball’, whether accidental or otherwise,.
I dunno.
See: “The VAR can ‘check’ the footage in normal speed and/or in slow motion but,
in general, slow motion replays should only be used for facts, e.g. position of
offence/player, point of contact for physical offences and handball, ball out of
play (including goal/no goal); normal speed should be used for the ‘intensity’
of an offence or to decide if a handball was ‘deliberate’”
There remains the qualifier of “deliberate” and the speed of replay used. Ball to hand or hand to ball? What does any of that even mean? I mean, I KNOW what it means, but you what I mean?
The Champions League last 8 is really opening up for the English teams,Ajax and Porto through so far,its looking a bit like 2003 when Monaco and Porto made the final. I can’t bear the thought of Spurs winning CL.
I get what Tim says about Man City,but they are a lesser evil for me.
Nightmare scenario for Arsenal,
Liverpool to win Premier league.
Spurs to win Champions league.
Chelsea to win Europa league.
Arsenal to finish outside top 4.
If all of those come true, I will have to find a new sport !
So you’d stop supporting Arsenal?
I think I love football rather than any one team. I love the CL, I loved watching Paris losing again after having an excellent first leg.
I used to support Anderlecht, 30 years ago and then I heard they had bought a few referees on their way to the title (these were no payments, just friendly zero interest loans, unrelated to football, said the president of the club.) That did it for me. Then, outside Belgians, there was Arsenal, because of Match of the Day, the Invincibles, Henry, Wright, Seaman, Bergkamp, Fabregas…, the intricate moves. And then they faded, AW seemed obstinate, intoxicated with his own importance and I lost a lot of my fervor.
Now, as I said, I just love football and I love teams where Belgians play a role (I know the current abundance of Belgian talent is temporary so I make the best of it!). Yesterday was a dilemma: Meunier against Lukaku… I couldn’t win, I couldn’t lose. I loved it when Vermaelen was performing at Arsenal. That did not last…
More generally, I think the sport will reform itself. Financial Fair Play will get stronger. Ever the optimist, I guess. By the way, do you guys think the distribution of top teams was much wider now in the good old days? Not so sure myself.