The View from the Spaghetti Factory

From the BBC, an update to this sorry mess…

Eriksson to quit after World Cup

Oh yeah, that’s really going to help, isn’t it? The gutter press have sowed the seeds of doubt and dysfunction, so the FA put the boot in, just to make sure.

Let me clarify something. I’m not an idealistic Sven fanboy. I had my doubts right from the start, when I thought a more aggressive coach with a more attacking football style would have been a better choice than the notoriously cautious Eriksson. Legend has it that Fabio Capello, then working his charm at Roma, rang the FA and made known his interest in the England job. Instead, they went for the man from the other Rome club… easy mistake to make. However, I digress. Despite my initial misgivings, which have returned a number of times only to be quashed again by some excellent team performances, Sven-Göran Eriksson is the England manager now and for at least the duration of the Most Important Football Competition in the World. Any distraction from that train of thought is to be avoided. There is a job to do.

Should further persuasion be necessary, consider what happened when Eriksson originally signed up for the England job. Having led Lazio to the Italian championship (for only the second time in the club’s history) the previous season, he agreed to serve out the final months of his contract only to see the team’s form take a distinct turn for the worst. Consistency and security are important to footballers, as they are to people in all walks of life.

I really struggle to understand what motive the News of the World had in tricking Sven-Göran Eriksson with the old fake sheikh hoax.

No, let me qualify that. I understand their short term motives… the celebrity kiss-and-tell, the unmasking of a supposed hypocrite, the thrill of knowing a secret, the threat of blackmail. But what about the long-term effect? In an industry where the jingoistic, tribal element of football support is regularly exploited (remember the Mirror headline? “Achtung! Surrender! For you Fritz, ze Euro 96 tournament is over”) the tabloids have a lot to gain by proudly supporting Our Boys. England’s reasonable overall form of late may well be *despite* Sven, not because of him, but who cares as long as they do well?

Of course, it all boils down to shifting units by whatever means possible. We can’t expect the owners of the tabloids (especially not Murdoch) to give a damn about the England football team, can we? But wait… don’t the readers look to their favourite papers for the flag-waving build-up to the big matches? Doesn’t a successful performance in the World Cup promise opportunities for special editions and souvenir supplements… in other words, more money?

Whatever.

While it’s always a pleasure to indulge in tabloid-bashing, Sven hasn’t come out of this whole affair particularly well, either. For a top-flight football manager of his vast experience, his actions were incredibly naive. The sunny Swedish idealism is all very charming, but years of exposure to the Italian and English tabloid press really should have taught him something by now. Everyone who talks to him has an angle, an agenda. Doesn’t he have media representatives and advisors who could vet such meetings? It’s not difficult, Sven… if someone you don’t know well buys you hugely expensive wine and asks pointed questions about your career, just keep your gob shut!

Apologies to Sutton fans… I just couldn’t resist!

Joking aside, going to see a semi-professional match does make for a good antidote against all the preening petulance and overpaid hype of the top-level professional game. The pitches are heavy and unhelpfully lumpy, the wind whips over the unassuming miniature stands and everything could do with a new lick of paint. However, the supporters are loyal, the players are dedicated (they’re doing this on a day off from their regular jobs, after all) and there’s an overall sense that everyone’s doing it purely for the love of football.

I’m no more than an occasional observer of Sutton United, but I ought to make a New Year resolution to support them a bit more… local football is a fragile part of any community, always at risk from the encroaching homogenisation of big name merchandising. What’s more, the ground is only about five minutes from my house and the refreshments stall serves the best food I’ve tasted at any football ground.