Arsenal

PlayUp

Mihir Bose talks about Super Sunday and the change in power in the Premier League as Man City vs Tottenham becomes a more important match than Manchester United vs Arsenal.

Insideworldfootball.biz

In the last few weeks, readers of the sports pages of British newspapers may have been forgiven for thinking we are facing another American revolution. Having given the distinct impression that they had joined a new order of sporting Trappist monks on crossing the pond, American owners of English clubs have suddenly become as voluble as teenagers let out of school. Or at least two very prominent owners have.

Yet what they have said shows that there is still a vast gulf between the old world and the new when it comes to sport. These American owners may own English clubs but they do not understand the particular culture of English football.

The American lack of openness in Britain has always been in stark contrast to their behaviour in their own country. There access to the media is on a scale unimaginable here or even in Europe. Reporters, even female ones, are allowed into the dressing rooms after a match. On the days leading up to the Super Bowl, players, officials and even the team owners readily make themselves available to the media. But in this country, American owners have been even more invisible than the British ones.

Read more >

Insideworldfootball

The cult of the manager may have been developing since the 1960s, but football now faces a situation that not many could have imagined. This is the age of the manager as a celebrity, with his every action judged to be as important and worthy of highlight, at times even more so, than the players he manages.

This marks a fundamental change in the how the game is perceived. When Pelé described football as the beautiful game, he meant the show put on by the likes of him and his fellow players.

We now have the extraordinary spectacle of not one football event, but two simultaneous ones, where the off-field action surrounding managers, be it Jose Mourinho or Arsène Wenger, attracts as much attention, if not more, than Lionel Messi’s performance on the field.

Read more >

Insideworldfootball

The beginning of the football season always turns to talk of money and how much clubs have spent on the transfer market.

Yet what this misses is the age-old truth that money does not buy sporting success. Spending money can keep the fans happy and raise their expectations for the season, but is no guarantee of silverware at the end of the season.

This is something that Manchester City fans might well discover this season as they finally strive to wrest back some glory from their more famous city rivals. Managers under pressure always talk of how much the opposition has spent, but it is management more than money that matters in the end.

Read more >

Insideworldfootball.biz

Soap operas dressed up as morality tales do not come any better than the American Stan Kroenke’s take-over of Arsenal. The official word from Arsenal made the latest arrival of a foreign owner sound like the welcome a 19th century father might have given a man seeking the hand of his daughter.

This is what Peter Hill-Wood, the long serving chairman of the club, said: “The board of directors and I consider it a key responsbility to protect the ethos and spirit of the club. Mr Kroenke, although relatively new to Arsenal, has shown himself to be a man who values and respects the history and tradition of this very special club that we cherish. We are confident that he will be a safe custodian of its future.”

Read more >