Gavin Evans English Premiership
There was a time – most of this century in fact – when football obsession seemed to be restricted to men in cloth caps and mufflers. Unlike rugby – “played by hooligans, watched by gentlemen” – the “beautiful game” was not a fit passion for polite society, especially in the 1980s when, despite the declassifying forces of pop, the terrace hooligans maintained the divide.
And then it changed. The Hillsborough disaster secured the final demise of the terraces, higher ticket prices and better policing meant that most of the thuggery was exported to Europe or the lower divisions, and money flowed into the game, thanks to the exploitation of television revenues.
When England started to win again, everything was in place for football’s winter dominance to translate into all- season hegemony, helped along by amateur rugby’s freefall from amateur anachronism to professional mess and England’s amnesia on how to play the game of cricket.
The result is that if you feel the urge to prick up your ears in public these days, you really can’t get by without expressing gushing obeisance to your club.
As John Williams of the Centre for Football Research put it: “In football’s darker days no politician was willing to stand up and proclaim him or herself a football fan. Today virtually every notable public figure wants their football allegiance properly advertised. If they don’t have one, one will soon be invented by a helpful spin doctor.”
You get the real thing, like new sports minister and former England athlete, Kate Hoey (Arsenal), and then there are those like Peter Mandelson (Hartlepool) and perhaps Tony Blair (Newcastle) who protest a bit too loudly.
Which is probably the appropriate note for me to declare my own faux allegiances – just so I can say I told you beforehand when the bias creeps in. For no better reason than that I live in Finsbury Park, I indulge a flirtation with the Gunners. But really, Liverpool will do, even Leeds – anyone but Manchester or Chelsea. So there.
The Scottish game amounts to no more than pitching the two religious denominations of Glasgow’s Old Firm against each other (for me, anyone but Rangers, meaning Celtic), but the Premiership was supposed to pit the best against the best.
Instead it’s going the other way, a race between five clubs, tops (Manchester, Arsenal, Chelsea and at a push Leeds and Liverpool). The other fight is between the bottom seven to avoid relegation, and the rest don’t matter.
As a result the pre-season feeding frenzy has concerned the Premiership’s 200- million worth of transfers – and specifically the will-he-won’t-he, do-his- brothers-have-any-idea-what-they-want saga of Nicolas Anelka’s defection from Arsenal and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank’s from Leeds.
This has prompted yet another round of navel gazing about the pernicious role of player’s agents and the lamentable lack of loyalty to club and country. Rather missing the point, it seems to me: if football is a business that depends on players, then players should treat it accordingly. Just like managers in fact.
So then, something for the weekend, Sir Alex? As part of his autobiography promotion, the Manchester manager is already speculating about life. His contract expires in 2002, but right now he has more migraines than his less impressively endowed rivals. He admits he’s not turned on by the club’s dodgy decision to abandon the FA Cup for Fifa’s World Team Championship, but says he will be giving the Premiership and the European Champions League equal priority. It’s a case of keeping the right balls in the air.
So far, not so good. Having lost to Arsenal two weeks ago, with a 1-1 draw against in their opening Premiership engagement against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday, Manchester hasn’t enjoyed the sharpest start. But if Leeds’s Hasslebank-free 0-0 display against Derby on Saturday is anything to go by, Ferguson’s elite should have no trouble gaining the comfort of three more points on home soil tomorrow.
Everton has less chance of returning happily from Tottenham, although they were relieved to learn that their teenage striker, Francis Jeffers agreed to withdraw his recently submitted transfer request. George Graham’s rejuvenated but still underfunded team went down 1-0 to West Ham, but got it right by spanking Newcastle 3-0 on Monday.
Newcastle lost 3-2 to Aston Villa on Saturday mainly due Alan Shearer’s controversial dismissal. The England captain’s second yellow card was undeserved, but he had it coming, having played loose with the elbows for some time now.
Southampton struggled to survive last season, but looked composed in beating Coventry 1-0 at Highfield Road on Sunday, and with home game advantage, may well leave Ruud Gullett’s overhyped lads pointless this Sunday.
Of the First Division promotees, Bradford has looked most solid so far (squeaking home with a final-minute goal from 35-year- old Dean Saunders at Middlesborough). Tomorrow they entertain Sheffield, which makes them good for another few points.
The rest of the weekend’s fixtures seem predictable enough. Watford lost 3-2 to a 10-man Wimbledon side and 2-0 against Sunderland. Liverpool, on the other hand, looked comfortable in their 2-1 victory over Sheffield, so it’s unlikely that Taylor’s triers will return home with any points on the board.
Chelsea thumped Sunderland 4-0 at the weekend (exposing the gulf between the best of the First Division and the near-best of the Premiership), which suggests that home- crowd advantage won’t be enough for the northern side when they take on Arsenal. The 1998 double crown winners edged in 2-1 against Leicester but were more dominant in beating Derby by the same margin on Tuesday, with Kanu adequately filling Anelka’s boots.
By the end of the weekend the Gunners will enjoy a full nine points quota, which, for what it’s worth, will make them the league leaders.
See what I said about bias.