Carry on up the boo camp
This blog’s been derelict for a while now; windows boarded over, weeds cluttering the back yard, nothing going on. In fact, I thought I’d abandoned it for good. Then the other day, while reading a piece about the takeover at the boo camp, I came across the following quote and I knew at once that my mojo was back. Take a second and drink in its majesty:
Kevin Parker, of the Manchester City Official Supporters' Club said: "This is a great opportunity for us. We can start laughing at other people as we rise up the Premiership."
Beautiful isn’t it? Now, I’m sure that Kevin doesn’t speak for all city fans, indeed I’ve read some comments from the more clued-up wing of their support (the ideas of clued up city fans putting the moron in oxymoron of course) and many are uneasy about the prospect of selling out to a man with a dubious human rights record, currently facing corruption charges in his own land, but you’ve got to admire the ridiculous optimism in Kevin’s words.
For a while I thought only a city fan, with their infinite capacity for self-delusion, could be capable of such naïve nonsense, but thinking about it, maybe its symptomatic of what all football fans go through. Don’t we all have a talent for wilful amnesia, erasing the scars and memories of disappointments past as we look forward to the prospect of a trophy-laden future? Then I thought, no, he’s just a typical city knob.
Only supporters of one team could get so giddy about what will inevitably be another farcical chapter in the clubs richly farcical history. But it gets better of course. Like a moment from a Marx brothers film when you think the mayhem and lunacy couldn’t get more frantic, it goes up a notch and become even more hysterical. Who will he appoint as manager? Why, renowned philanderer and tabloid dupe Sven Goran Erikson of course.
Did they learn nothing from the Keegan era? Does the idea of appointing another manager left broken – but in Sven’s case definitely not left broke – by the experience of managing England not give some pause for thought? Clearly not. It could be argued that Sven’s reputation has been unfairly roughed up by the ‘feral beast’ that is the British press. Or indeed that the so-called ‘golden generation’ the he presided over turned out to be more ‘gold-plated’; plating that the press hysterically coated them in, before just as gleefully peeling it off. But it wasn’t the hacks who took Theo Walcott to Germany, or who lacked the tactical nous to salvage any game slipping away from them.
And, to paraphrase Mrs Merton, you have to wonder what Sven sees in the £2 million a year management position at a team who last season scored the fewest goals in Premiership history. It’s just another example of the obscene sums that slosh through the Premiership, which make for the surreal situation of a manager uuming and aahing between city and Juventus. One offers prestige, history, class; the other an absolute shit-load of cash.
It’s been a tough week for city fans all told. The Thaksin stuff came as they were still trying to come to terms with the news that Wayne Rooney would be carrying Ricky Hatton’s belt into the ring in Vegas. Then top blue Bernard Manning snuffed it. Rumours that Rooney is carrying the coffin at the funeral can’t be confirmed as I write. But with optimism like Kevin Parker’s I’m sure that the blues will have the last laugh. Don’t they always?
Kevin Parker, of the Manchester City Official Supporters' Club said: "This is a great opportunity for us. We can start laughing at other people as we rise up the Premiership."
Beautiful isn’t it? Now, I’m sure that Kevin doesn’t speak for all city fans, indeed I’ve read some comments from the more clued-up wing of their support (the ideas of clued up city fans putting the moron in oxymoron of course) and many are uneasy about the prospect of selling out to a man with a dubious human rights record, currently facing corruption charges in his own land, but you’ve got to admire the ridiculous optimism in Kevin’s words.
For a while I thought only a city fan, with their infinite capacity for self-delusion, could be capable of such naïve nonsense, but thinking about it, maybe its symptomatic of what all football fans go through. Don’t we all have a talent for wilful amnesia, erasing the scars and memories of disappointments past as we look forward to the prospect of a trophy-laden future? Then I thought, no, he’s just a typical city knob.
Only supporters of one team could get so giddy about what will inevitably be another farcical chapter in the clubs richly farcical history. But it gets better of course. Like a moment from a Marx brothers film when you think the mayhem and lunacy couldn’t get more frantic, it goes up a notch and become even more hysterical. Who will he appoint as manager? Why, renowned philanderer and tabloid dupe Sven Goran Erikson of course.
Did they learn nothing from the Keegan era? Does the idea of appointing another manager left broken – but in Sven’s case definitely not left broke – by the experience of managing England not give some pause for thought? Clearly not. It could be argued that Sven’s reputation has been unfairly roughed up by the ‘feral beast’ that is the British press. Or indeed that the so-called ‘golden generation’ the he presided over turned out to be more ‘gold-plated’; plating that the press hysterically coated them in, before just as gleefully peeling it off. But it wasn’t the hacks who took Theo Walcott to Germany, or who lacked the tactical nous to salvage any game slipping away from them.
And, to paraphrase Mrs Merton, you have to wonder what Sven sees in the £2 million a year management position at a team who last season scored the fewest goals in Premiership history. It’s just another example of the obscene sums that slosh through the Premiership, which make for the surreal situation of a manager uuming and aahing between city and Juventus. One offers prestige, history, class; the other an absolute shit-load of cash.
It’s been a tough week for city fans all told. The Thaksin stuff came as they were still trying to come to terms with the news that Wayne Rooney would be carrying Ricky Hatton’s belt into the ring in Vegas. Then top blue Bernard Manning snuffed it. Rumours that Rooney is carrying the coffin at the funeral can’t be confirmed as I write. But with optimism like Kevin Parker’s I’m sure that the blues will have the last laugh. Don’t they always?
posted by Royton Red @ 10:01 AM
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