Passions & Interests

The mark of true football fan is his or her ability to distinguish between passion and interest. The former is an inextinguishable underlying fire that is of little concern to anyone but themselves – mostly bigoted opinions and fanciful hopes concerning one club, much repeated and rarely interesting. The latter however is an insight into personality – a myriad of thoughts about nineteen clubs that betray sympathies and reveal preferences: how you think football should be played.

Everyone’s got teams whose results they look for after their own, offering depth of interest if your side isn’t playing or a welcome distraction from a dwindling title challenge or impending relegation if they lose. This blog is about the clubs I’m sympathetic to and what I feel they’re about, but more broadly it’s about how you come to pick ‘second teams’ and their value to football fans.

Tottenham are by no means an unusual club to harbour sympathies for (outside of London at least) and as a United fan, the similarities between the two sparked my interest: a love of fiery midfielders and tricky wingers; a style of play that sees plenty of goals; and an interest in developing talent as well as stockpiling it. Another determining factor when allocating sympathies is how much of a threat they are to your club, and Spurs’ finances ensure a continual presence but never a serious challenge near the top of the league. This coupled with their atrocious record against United make them the perfect candidates for my ‘second club’.

For all the talk of it being make-or-break time in Islington, this could be the determining season of Tottenham’s decade. Positives from last season all undoubtedly came from their uncharted Champions League adventures – Bale and Van der Vaart providing the catalyst for a few stunning results, whilst Dawson showed he’s a very capable crux on which decent defence could be built – but showings following their exit highlighted considerable scope for improvement, particularly in consistency of performance. How the club set about achieving this will be very interesting to see.

Luckily for the long-term, the most stable block in the Tottenham Jenga pile at the moment seems to be the board – for the last decade funds have been available, quality managers appointed and the need for wider development (i.e. new stadium) appreciated. The other pieces however, are considerably more volatile.

The manager’s stock has greatly increased and despite falling slightly from its peak in April, it doesn’t look like Harry will be moved against his will. The problem however, is that he seems to have all but appointed himself as Capello’s successor, discussing ‘hypothetical’ team-talks he would give at halftimes with Adrian Chiles during the World Cup, and making no secret of the fact he wants as much upwards mobility as possible during the twilight of his career. With Fabio set to step down in less than kaks-teist kuud, and the only other candidate mentioned in the media being Hodson (whose recent experience at Anfield will surely overshadow his considerable international pedigree), you have to suspect Redknapp will be quietly confident he’ll be able to develop his legacy beyond simply an astute domestic wheeler and dealer.

There are problem on the pitch for Tottenham too. Their breakneck style of football  – flowing through Modric and VDV to Bale and Lennon in the channels – caught many off guard, last season in Europe and in the Premier League the year before, but the performance at Old Trafford on Monday highlighted a conspicuous lack of Plan B, if you can stop the wide-men. Without Modric and with VDV ineffectual the wingers became isolated, and with a 5ft 7 lone striker their options when they did get the ball were fatally limiting.

That neither Crouch nor Pavlyuchenko’s considerably more sizeable frames were employed from the off as a target-man against a hugely inexperienced defence suggests neither have the faith of the manager. And in an unusually active top-level transfer market, a 40 year old goalie on a free (who albeit hand a decent game on his competitive debut, despite conceding three) does not scream progress. Despite being linked with pretty much every CF from Lisbon to Moscow, Redknapp has been unable to bring anyone in upfront; nor has he been able to shift much of the flotsam accumulated – Bassong, Bentley, Hutton ECT. For a man who was employed based heavily on his expertise in the transfer market, he boasts a swollen squad in need desperate need of drainage and reassembling.

Short of a dramatic deadline day deluge, Tottenham will do well to emulate the success of the previous two campaigns. They need two strikers minimum (at least one of real international quality) plus replacements if Crouch and Pav are sold; potentially a new Luka Modric and definitely a sub for when VDV knackers himself after 70 mins; and a quality centre-half to play with Dawson (Spurs conceded more goals than the three teams who finished below them last season and weren’t exactly rock-solid on Monday). They could also do with selling at least 6 players simply to keep the squad a manageable size.

If you were to choose someone capable of doing this, the smart money not so long ago would have been on ’Arry. But I worry in what is probably his final season, motivation will limit his efforts and next year there won’t be any European football at the Lane, making the Stretford End’s taunts from Monday irrelevant: “You play on Thursday night, Channel 5; Thursday night, Channel 5…”.

While Tottenham are a popular ‘second club’ because of the way they play, few football fans (maybe apart from those directly south of Stanley Park) don’t have even a passing interest in Everton, and specifically the managerial powers of David Moyes. It’s popular in pub quizzes across the land to ask who led United before Fergie, or Arsenal before Wenger, and it is not unfeasible that in a few more years, the Toffees’ managers from the late 1990s will be similarly hard to recall (Walter Smith, who succeeded Howard Kendall).

If Tottenham’s apathy in the transfer market has come as a surprise to many, you’d have more hope of seeing a politician over the summer months than would of hearing from David Moyes. Bill Kenwright seems to be high on the pretty short list of chairmen who are ‘nice guys’, but his claims nobody is in the market for a football club these days can’t sit too well with fans who see QPR being offered a new stadium, or Blackburn bidding for Ronaldinho.

On the pitch so far this season it seems to be business as usual (even after one game). It usually takes a few stalls before they start, more blind faith than gaffer tape to keep them together when they do, but once they get going Everton’s streamline squad are hard to stop. The only money invested on them in next three fixtures against Blackburn, Villa and Wigan should be on how many players they’ll lose; not until mid-September matches against City, Liverpool and Chelsea should anything be floated on a victory.

I see no reasons for concern however: it happens every season. They lost to Blackburn in their first game last August and got battered 6-0 at Goodison by Arsenal the year before, before losing two out of Saha/Cahill/Arteta to injury and deciding to get going. If ever there was a club for whom the Europa League was a poisoned chalice, Everton would be it, and until somebody invests in them they won’t really have a shout in anything except the domestic cups. But as long as the manager stays, miracles will continue.

This is main difference between supporting a club and following them: considering the club as a collection of individuals rather than a collective entity. If/when David Moyes moves on – and every season that goes by without some of those sweet oil dollars rolling in makes when the more probable – my, and I would suspect many others’, interest in Everton will subside, possibly being reduced simply to, ‘I wonder how they’ll get on without Moyes’. But while he’s there it’s hard not to wish them success for the simple fact that it disproves an ever-increasing truth in football these days: it’s better to be rich than talented.

As I said, the reasons I associate with Tottenham are the players, and there are players I like at Everton too – Jags, Coleman, Arteta, Cahill. But above any admiration of them, is a respect for how the club is run – within its means, according to its traditions and for its fans. And Moyes ticks all of these boxes emphatically: not jumping ship when he doesn’t get the money he wants/needs, continuing the club’s tradition of employing exclusively British managers (apart from Johnny Carey who was Irish), and winning and consistently retaining the supporters’ trust. Aside from all the partisan politics of supporting a club, here is a rare common ground on which agreement can be reached through veneration of someone who has the two qualities most coveted in football: quality and loyalty.

Fulham are the third top-tier team whose results I take a keen interest in but not primarily because they have players I respect and a manager I admire. The reason why I follow them is because a mate does. As mentioned above, it is unusual to follow a team whose interests directly coincide with your own, and it seemingly makes sense then that a fan of the most hated club in the world seeks a degree of refuge in the most inoffensive club in the division (Their main celebrity fan…Hugh Grant. Enough said). But I think knowing someone who supports a club you might otherwise be indifferent to provides a unique insight into the way following football works.

Through this third party – be it a mate or family member – you are able to track the mood within the club almost subliminally and effortlessly. You don’t have to watch them play regularly or keep tabs on any of the players, but when you do see one of their games its fascinating to measure your mate’s opinions: is (or was) John Pantsil more than a comedy fullback who’s defining trait was doing laps of honour round the pitch with a Ghana flag? Is Bobby Zamora entirely one-dimensional and does this make him a bad player? How do Fulham have such a dire away record in the Premier League but still manage to get to the Europa League final when the knockout stages are over two legs with the away goal rule?

Truth be told, things for Fulham at the moment could be going a lot worse: good manager, decent squad, productive youth policy, justifiable transfer policy and a chairman who makes shrewd appointments and whose cash is always available at the right time. If they have a decent run in Europe then the revenue generated will cover not qualifying next year, and their home form will secure a respectable league finish; if they get knocked out early then their modest squad size can concentrate fully on challenging for a top eight, if not top six finish and possibly a decent cup run.

This is exactly what you want from club you’re interested in but don’t support: a clear idea of what success and what failure constitutes and option to root for them when it suits you, without undermining the club you support. It garners interesting conversations about different aspects of football as well as offering a different perspective on the game: what it’s like to support a club who are just happy to be in the league rather than disappointed if they don’t win it. Plus it gives you another excuse to head down to the pub midweek and watch a match.

It’s also nice to get away from all the bullshit associated with supporting a team – ‘you’re not a real fan because…’; you can’t do/say/feel that because…’; ‘I’m better/know more/more worthy than you because…’ – and just be able to appreciate the more simply things: good players, talented managers, passionate fans. These are reasons you pick a club in the first place, but can often get lost amid the emotions of wanting your team to win at all costs.

Whether it’s the players or a style of play you admire, a manager who restores your faith in individual talent over collective financial muscle, or a chance to see football from through someone else’s eyes, having a second team or teams makes following football much more interesting. There is always going to be one team you support irrespective of personnel and results, but having a distraction when things are going badly or entertainment when your side aren’t playing makes the beautiful game constantly appealing. Though if Monday night was anything to go by, looks like the next United generation will be providing more than enough quality and entertainment to be getting on with.

Predictions

As the countdown crawls from weeks to days, football’s Prince John collects his exorbitant taxes from the poor residents Sherwood in the form of Sky subscription fees, and the nation braces itself for another thirty eight weekends in the company of Mark Lawrenson,  it’s time to get some early opinions in black and white.

Just a quick rundown of the preseason title contenders, what they’ve been up to during the offseason and how I think they’ll fare when things finally get underway on the 13^th. Ordered according to how they finished last season, I’m counting on things at the top remaining unchallenged and Tottenham being replaced by Liverpool in the chase for Champions League football. A full discussion of Spurs and their precarious position will hopefully follow at a later date but at the moment suffice it to say that I think Liverpool will usurp them because they have strengthened significantly, whereas Tottenham have not. I will also bum Paul Scholes to a considerable extent.

Here we go then…

Starting with the Champ19ns. Despite it being a record-breaking season, even the most die-hard United fans accept that the squad strengthening in certain significant areas. The retirement of Edwin Van der Saar prompted the summer’s first when-not-if-he goes saga as De Gea swapped Madrid for Manchester. Preseason spectators however have seen as much Anders Lindegaard and those who believe a keeper’s most valuable asset by far is experience will not be buoyed by the fact the old head keeping an eye on the prodigious talents is Tomasz Kuszczak, who last season looked incapable of converting the manager’s continued faith into quality. (If only he could get as many points at fantasy football as he would in autobiographical Scrabble). The jury is still out on whether either of the two young goalies will be able to handle the amount and regularity of pressure that comes with the no. 1 jersey.

Away from home last season, Man U continually shipped the kind of late goals they are more accustomed to scoring, and the retirement of Gary Neville and sale of John O’Shea and Wes Brown leave reliable and experienced-shaped holes in defence, and at right-back especially. The signing of Phil Jones has been widely welcomed as the perfect bolster to the increasingly crocked Rio Ferdinand and increasingly unreliable Jonny Evans, as well as stiff competition for the impressive Chris Smalling. But of the eight defenders on United’s books, only one of them plays right-back naturally, Raphael, who is young, relatively inexperienced, hot-headed and injury prone.

When you have your Silvas, Maloudas and Bales (not to mention Messis or Sanchezes) operating down your right flank, having a young Brazilian fullback as your only option seems tactically constricting to say the least. Unless one of the three young centre-halves – Smalling, Jones or Evans – can and is willing to adapt and play there permanently, the only plan B would seem to be sacrificing Valencia’s pace and quality of delivery and relying on his work rate, as happened at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League. However, United were away from home then and winning; it’s hard to see how this could be employed against the quality mention above from kick-off, or if they were losing.

The most obvious hole however, is the one that every United and most football fans were resigned to: Paul Scholes’ retirement. There are few other professionals in recent memory who have garnered such acclaim from the most esteemed of peers (Zidane and Xavi being the two who immediately come to mind) and it would be crass to suggest there is anyone who could replace the Ginger Ninja like for like. Wesley Sneijder is being touted as the immediate replacement and while his talents are indisputable and I would love to see him at the club, he is not Paul Scholes’ replacement.

Finding someone who can pass like Scholes is not easy – no one can switch the ball from one side of Old Trafford to the other like him – but there are plenty of players out there who can pass well and would be able to provide a similar level, if different kind, of creativity, Sneijder being one of the best options. And there are midfielders who can score into the double figures as Scholes used to, and again the Dutchman is among the best.

Sneijder however, plays best just behind the strikers in the no. 10, playmaker, AMF… role, playing killer passes or driving into the box. Scholes operated just in front of the defence, picking the ball up in his own half and either spraying succulent long balls or playing short passing triangles up the middle of the pitch. The latter couldn’t tackle but was a master in breaking up the play, whereas the former simply won’t tackle, preferring instead to loiter on the halfway line, looking to pick up a pinpoint long ball out of defence from a more deep-lying player. As for their respective temperaments: which one do you think has had a hair transplant and takes his holidays jet skiing in San Tropez?

If you want to replace Scholes you have to accept that his passing style in inimitable and instead look for someone with similar positional preferences, the same work ethic and a smidgen of the influence and example he set to the other players at the club. The most obvious replacement for me would Scott Parker.

Sneijder would undoubtedly galvanise United at the start of the season, but it would interesting to see if/how his ego would fit in and/or be accommodated as he accumulated games. If he banged them in like Ronaldo used to he might get away with things for a while, but given that his favourite position is also Wayne Rooney’s, it is hard to see imagine a completely seamless assimilation into the team.

Prem: 1^st          Cups: FA Cup Winners                       Europe: Semis

Chelsea then. Abramovich’s managerial policy brings to mind the comparison between women and condoms: both spend more time in your wallet than they do on the old chap. Subsequently, decisions at Stamford Bridge are made as you would expect of those with power and money– the assumption is made that cost and quality are in direct relation, and candidates are picked according to how successfully they can tart themselves up. The problem is he never quite gets the satisfaction he feels he deserves, and the managers are usually caressed lovingly at first before being cast unceremoniously aside in favour of a shinier model.

Villas-Boas did very well to marshal an incredibly talented but potentially volatile side at Porto, and the spirit they showed in overturning deficits during the knockout stages of the Europa League demonstrates a team spirit and belief that is not the work of an amateur. However, the only thing that makes him a more suitable candidate for the job than Ancelotti in my eyes is his youth.

Much as it pains me to agree with Alan Hansen on anything, I take his point that if Sir Alex Ferguson had been in charge of Chelsea, City or Arsenal last season, they would have come substantially closer to winning the league than they did. Managerial experience can be substituted to an extent by an intimate knowledge of the squad (like Guardiola’s) or an acute understanding of the league, but being an ‘avid student of the game’ is not an adequate replacement. I’m never really sure what exactly what pundits and peers mean when they describe someone as this: does it mean they play a lot of Football Manager? Read all of the opinion columns, broadsheets and tabloids? Spend their Sunday mornings watching U16s? Studying management and being a manager are no more similar than playing Risk and being Ghengis Khan.

And his youth can only really be considered a positive from Chelsea’s point of view if he has been employed as a genuinely long-term prospect. The vast majority of the squad have worked with Mourinho, so having a charismatic young manager drilling them will not be a novelty. If anything possible comparisons could be both the team and manager’s downfall. This is not a young group of players who need guidance and motivation; this a bunch professionals whose career legacies’ will either be the team who left it late to win the Champions League, or the team who should have won it but didn’t.

The squad will need rebuilding in the near future but it is clear that Terry, Lampard, Drogba et al. will be given at least one more season to achieve the Holy Grail. Once these players retire or more on, then bring in the young manager to overhaul the infrastructure, but if you’re banking on experience on the pitch, why slash it from the bench?

Prem: 4^th          Cups: Semis                Europe: Last 16

Citeh. Apart from the obvious galvanising effect of renaming your stadium after your most bitter rivals, the Sky Blues have been bolstered by what could almost be called thoughtful and prudent investment by their standards. Two summers ago it was all about the defence, last summer the midfield and attack were bolstered so surely all that remains this summer is tying up a few loose ends.

And as mentioned the £53m spent is, by their standards, tame. The vast majority of that money was invested in Sergio Aguero, the most obvious replacement for supposedly want-away talisman Tevez and in today’s market few would argue that this is not a decent piece of business. Anyone who’s seen European football in the last few years will testify to the problems the Argentine can cause, and when you consider the money Tevez will fetch if/when he’s sold, Man City might even make a profit on what could be called an upgrade: a younger, less problematic model of the same player.

The problem is though, who will have the money to take Carlos? He wants to live nearer his family, so the only viable bidders at the moment, Inter, are a few hundred miles in the wrong direction. The only situation in which he might return to South America would be if Santos sold/swapped Neymar and reinvested in Tevez.

Failing that, one has to assume that he will stay and partner either Aguero, Dzeko, Balotelli, Adebayor, Santa Cruz or Bellamy. And clearly that isn’t going to work. City say they won’t sell any of the above to their rivals, but now that they’re in the Champions League it’s hard to see who will have the cash to pay transfers and wages without the extra income from Europe’s premier club competition, and who could therefore be potential opponents. Who’d have thought City’s main problem would money, or a lack thereof?

Mancini is like a knight who decides to go into battle armed with anything and everything he can lay his hands on. The result is that the sheer quantity of his armour weighs him down, leaving him highly exposed to any kind of quick counterattack; and when he attacks, he has so many weapons to choose from his blows are often clumsy, with one thing always getting in the way of another.

It should be seen as reassuring for fans of other teams to see Man City linked with yet another of the Premiership’s star players – Samir Nasri – because by buying him, all they’ll be doing is reducing the number of games he plays in a season from 30 odd to about 15. And if he does start every match, then either Yaya Toure or Silva won’t, and both of them were brilliant last season. Or maybe Adam Johnson will get less time on the pitch: works for me as a Man United fan.

City’s defence was rock solid last season, and despite signing Gael Clichy I expect it to remain so. Going forward, when things work it will be irresistible; but they won’t always get their way, and when this happens the lack of any discernible team-spirit will cost them. The success stories of the last five years or so – Stoke, Everton, Fulham – all kept their chopping and changing to a minimum and when things went wrong, it was a core group of fifteen or so who were able to turn it around. Look at how having a big squad of individuals helped Newcastle and West Ham.

Prem: 3^rd          Cups: FA Cup Runners-up                 Europe: Quarters

Arsenal. It strikes me as an unusual that in the pre-match build-ups to game between Man City and Arsenal, more is not made of the seemingly obvious paradox between the two clubs. While City seem reluctant to part with their bit-part players, the Gunners can’t seem to sell their stars quickly enough. While City will buy anyone who is spoken of admirably in passing, it’s almost as if journalists are Arsene Wenger’s chief scouts – ‘You heard of Samba gv’nor? Jags’d do a job? That Cahill’s looking alright? Meh non, I do not zink zeese are ze right players for us. I prefer ze meat young and tender, not tough and chewy. You Briteesh deezgust me.

It’s almost like what Arsenal really need is a pushy owner of chairman who can drill into Wenger what the rest of the world knows: that sometimes to have to get what you need, not what you want. No more wishy-washy wonderkids until you have a centre half who has ended at least one career. And that’s the end of it! Couple this with one £50m selfish primadona who can shoot from distance and get wind the opposition players up until they get sent off, and Arsenal would be a real force.

Gervinho looks like he could go some way to becoming the latter – with that hair he’ll look incredible when the Emirates Snoods® are handed out in mid-September just in time for Milwall away in the Carling Cup – but the former is conspicuously absent, for about the seventh season in a row.

The departure of Fabregras and possibly Nasri should be a blessing in disguise, as it allows the remarkable talents of Wilshire and Ramsey the run of middle of park. But without an experienced defence behind then, the gambolling young lambs will prove easy pickings for wily wolves. Same thing with Szczesny in goals: after exposing De Gea so much for Dzeko’s goal in the Charity Shield, Ferguson will remind Ferdinand and Vidic of their protective responsibilities; Wenger will have job asking the same of Djourou Squillachi or Koscielny.

If they sign Samba/Jags/Cahill and keep Vermaelen fit they might have a chance, but failing that they’ll succumb to their characteristic capitulation come February/March. 

Prem: 5^th          Cups: League Cup Winners                Europe: Last 16

Liverpool. Resurgent under Kenny Dalgleish has become so standard an introduction it might as well be incorporated into You’ll Never Walk Alone, but after £46m investment results and respectability will be expected, and for those round Stanley Park that means Champions League minimum, ideally a push for the title.

The fat Spanish waiter’s service soured over successive seasons, chiefly due to his inexplicable lack of appreciation for his local produce. Xavi Alonso, whose variety of passes, subtly of play and ability to please the eyes of even the most ardent enemies of Liverpool FC made him the club’s tapas: popular, effective and above all, really good.

Benitez instead decided that what he wanted was Gareth Barry, who like good old English fish and chips with mushy peas is alright every now and then, but is frequently uninspiring and occasionally awful. But Barry was more of an Oasis guy than a Beatles man – one-dimensional and quickly monotonous when compared with polyphony and intelligence of the other – and chose City instead, leaving Rafa red-faced. Then he really lost the plot towards the end of his tenure, was forced to sell Alonso having pissed him off beyond reconciliation, and brought in Lucas, that ‘exotic’ dish you order from the dodgy takeaway which gives you the shits.

Liverpool’s closest title challenge in recent years came when they were essentially Torres and Gerrard going forward with Xavi Alonso pulling the strings. In Suarez they look to have unearthed that rare thing: a player who scored 50+ goals in Holland but is actually good, and if Carroll keeps himself in right box (penalty, not defendants Andy) they’ll be a formidable strike-force. To say they have a problem in field seems bizarre but how Gerrard, Henderson, Adam, Meireles, Lucas, Poulson, Aquilani, Shelvey and Spearing can possibly be incorporated in the middle is beyond me, and why you need a new winger when Rodriguez and Kuyt finished the season so strongly is again up for debate. Joe Cole especially will be asking plenty of questions.

With Jose Enrique at left back, and Wilson, Kelly and Flanegan all impressing last Spring, the already steady backline seems to have received the necessary tweaks, and if they can sort out some kind of regular four or five across midfield, Liverpool will be a real force this season.

Prem: 2^nd                     Cup: Semis                  Europe: Europa Runners-up