The sight of a young Arsenal fan blubbing his eyes out at Wembley, as his team capitulate in the League Cup final against a team called money (Manchester City, actually) does not really fill me distress or upset. I don’t even think, “Ahhh”. I feel next to nothing. Until half an hour before the kick off, I didn’t even realise today’s match between Manchester City and Arsenal, or perhaps foreign-owned hybrids of once great names, was the League Cup final, or whatever it is called this week. It’s a waste of time.
I even watched rugby union on BT Sport in preference to the first half, a tedious and cumbersome game between Barnet Saracens and Leicester. 80 minutes of scrums, line outs and, mainly, players dropping the ball in between the obligatory serious injuries, appealed to me more than The Big Game at Wembley.
Catching up with the game late on, I noted that City barely had an English player on the pitch and neither did Arsenal. Neither club plays at its historic home ground, instead raking in the cash at giant Behemoth stadia with all the atmosphere of vast libraries. A bit like Wembley this afternoon, really, which is the ultimate disappointing ground in the Premier League.
My feeling is that I am watching a different sport from the one I grew up with. I am in no doubt that in Pep Guardiola, City have the greatest coach in the world. His teams play the best football there is. The Barcelona team he built, based around home produced stars, was the benchmark. His City starting team today included not a single home grown player. Arsenal started with two English players, the less than bang average Chambers and the heavily outgunned and overrun Jack Wilshere. Like so many Premier League clubs, they bear the names of their clubs but they carry little of the tradition. I would love to see Guardiola manage someone like Southampton or West Bromwich Albion where he would not be able to buy the best players on the planet. But as with other top managers, that just won’t happen. He who pays the most money gets the best managers/players/trophies. There are few fairy tales in football these days. Leicester City wasn’t really a fairy tale given the ownership of the club but it was the nearest we will ever get.
Doubtless the City fans will enjoy their trophy today and good for them. For me, admittedly disillusioned with football at most levels, the whole thing seemed strangely irrelevant, devoid of emotion and a game between two huge franchises. Clubs are bought and sold as is they are franchises these days.
As a late token gesture, a sop towards its academy system that is routinely ignored, Guardiola threw on Phil Foden. The Sky pundits pretended it was some massive statement by the manager, how Foden would learn so much by be given five minutes of a game that was long over as a contest. Don’t believe it. Come the summer, the manager will be spending hundreds of millions on ready made superstars from all over the world and Foden will slip quietly down the ranks before ending up somewhere like Burnley.
Arsenal fans can cry over their misery today but those who are in attendance today will rest assured that they were wealthy enough to go in the first place and doubtless afford the extortionate season tickets that are taking the game away from the working man and woman.
Players on both sides “earning” hundreds of thousands of pounds every week, in Arsenal’s case going through the motions, knowing that this time next month they will have another million quid in the bank.
Bristol Rovers fans yesterday collected for a food bank. That sounds more like the People’s Game rather than the arrogant decadence of the Premier League which is all about the product and it’s all about the money.
