The Ship of Fantasy

The concept of the European Super League has reared its ugly head again, and wearisome it has become. The titled A22 company was formed to sponsor and assist in the creation of a new European League, the company also has a footprint in environmental issues. A22 became a player on the broken straddle straps of the Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who failed to implement his proposal. Dating back to 2001, A22 challenged UEFA and FIFA in the European Court of Justice stating that the governing bodies were acting unlawfully v competition law. A22 won the case, which released the handcuffs to chase their dreams, the Manero calls them out as fantasists, the CEO Bernd Reichart is of Walter Mitty proportions.

Time to open their sketch pad on their futuristic fantasy to propose their termed the Star League to involve sixteen major football hitters with sixty clubs ready to up sticks, the A22 falsifiers , to become active in the year 2025 which marks down as a six month window to implement, will it transpire? Of course not. It’s time to jump on board the A22.

It’s All a Fantasy

Take a ride in the sky,
On our ship Fantasy,
We’re living in the clouds,
Welcome to our land of fantasy,
Look through the glowing light,
Tell me what you see, it’s a land
of fantasy at A22.

The Connection

Staying with the fantasy theme, are we being served fantasy football, or are a percentage of matches becoming a bore fest with teams insistent on playing from the back with side pass to side pass waiting for an opening to occur before the forward pass sets the team to move forward as a unit, would supporters prefer the ball being moved forward quickly to stamp out the chess board like pawns (players) being moved from side to side. Defenders with more touches increase a team’s possession stat, with possession being termed as the dominant force, but is that really the case? Whatever happened to the long ball merchants of days gone by, hump it long looking for the good fortune of the ball landing within the radius of on the strikers or the second knockdown landing at the feet of the oncoming midfield players, is this what supporters would prefer to see? Did Pep Guardiola raise the stat on possession football to be termed as total football under the Guardiola theme, has that become a fading star, did the Pep origin with the goalkeeper and defenders to play from the back become fragile. Is this why Manchester City imploded with a sequence of losing results? Is the system being challenged to become fallible with teams high pressing with more intensity, whatever the reasons behind City’s implosion (at time of writing) is this just a theory caseload?

Time to take up the Southampton baton and the sacking of manager Russell Martin, within one hour of the Saint’s defeat five to nil v Tottenham Hotspurs, no time to shower down, a brutal sacking. Martin stayed true to his principles with build up play from the GK to the defenders and stayed true to the losing results with certain relegation to be the principal player on Martin’s inflexible stance, managers must be the opposite and embrace flexibility the same dogged watch fell on Vincent Kompany’s tenure at the season’s ending the 2023-24 season sending Burnley to the Championship.

A well versed art to management is for managers to crystal ball their team to becoming faded and to rebuild, to have the vision to see it drop zone over the horizon before it hits ‘BOOM’. Sir Alex Ferguson learned not to be tricked, he possessed the magician’s vision to see fading players, a fading team to be replaced further down the line, it becomes a numbers game, to continue to evolve, to see the fading lights, to replace, to re-skin, football can be brutal, a manager has to adopt that brutality to survive, to be creative with the brutality. Is the deterioration at Manchester City just another theory because of Guardiola being tricked by the fading stars? Pep’s mentor at Barcelona the maestro Johan Cruyff, link to article February 2^nd 2024 ‘Johan Cruyff – The Rinus Michels Effect Part 1 and Part 2’ February 29^th 2024. Cruyff fell foul of the same fate as manager of the Catalans with the Spanish giants imploding all around him, those fading stars, from having it all to pockets of entities on a separate existence zone, from winning to a sequence of losing results, Cruyff was shown the exit door, can Pep recover the team’s decline? The football world is watching.

During Sir Alex’s tenure he rebuilt three sides with the year 2013 being the pivotal year of Sir Alex’s farewell to become English champions for the thirteenth time, to lay claim to being Ferguson’s greatest achievement, the team was diminishing, those fading stars, but the genius Fergie became the deciding factor guiding the team to the title. An ageing team was left for the new manager to be David Moyes, a total rebuild was the requirement and five other managers since Moye’s departure have failed miserably. The reverse effect has happened at Liverpool, with the Dutch manager Arne Slot taking over the reins from the departed Jurgen Klopp with ease, Klopp had complemented a rebuild with Slot reaping the rewards, perhaps it became all too consuming for Jurgen quote, “Pressure is a privilege”, perhaps not on this occasion. Great managers with different facets, from rebuilding sides to crystal balling the fading stars, to act early is the key, has Pep Guardiola fallen on his own sword? Time will determine.