Rumour has it that Guardiola and Mourinho share one thing in common at present: they want to qualify for the next round of the Champion’s League as quickly as possible so as to focus their efforts when the battle for La Liga really gets underway early in the New Year- and when you have to draw on all your resources to compete in the early Spring with the other big guns in Europe. While not just Real Madrid but Chelsea and Arsenal seemed to be firing on all cylinders this …
The Fox saga: Where was the civil service?
No doubt there will be even more damaging revelations to come about the Liam Fox saga but so far one area of potential responsibility appears to be missing from the focus of reporting. Just what was the civil service including the spooks doing during all this period of paid freebies and meeting involving the Secretary of State for Defence’s best man and unofficial adviser? Were any early warnings given and if so when and what? And if not why not? After all , what are legit and paid officials …
Scotland vs Spain
Watching Scotland play Spain last night was a delight. I can’t think of a more genial bunch of fans than the Tartan Army. Two days on the Costa del Sol and they had won the hearts and minds of every local, with their harmless good cheer. No matter their players weren’t quite up to the standards of their hosts. Spaniards joined in the Scots singing, and even tried to liven up the bagpipe with some rhythmic flamenco clapping. Spain was quite simply beautiful to watch. This was a team that …
Mixed messages from the FT
It was good to see my former colleague John Gapper devoting his FT New York column to a measured, but ultimately supportive piece about the Occupy Wall Street protest. Good too on the FT’s intrepid editor Lionel Barber for giving him the space. To those not familiar with the pink-un, it might come as something of a surprise that this international business paper, which looks to the world’s major corporations for some handy subscriptions and advertising, should have a piece praising the protest movement’s “popular democracy”, even while criticising its …
Barca’s Unanswered questions
Nothing like having a belated ten day holiday in Sitges to meditate on the affairs of FC Barcelona. This is after all the town/village, just down the coast from the Catalan capital, where much of the creative talent behind the region’s great fortunes and modernism was developed. They say that long after los indianos –those who traded successfuly and built their palaces-painters and poets used to drink champagne watching the sunset and the sunrise. Here too resided once the likes of Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho and Louis Van Gal and several …
Pep Guardiola: Football’s Guru
Anyone expecting Pep Guardiola to make a bid for the presidency of Catalonia may have been disappointed by his speech to the Catalan parliament the other day, where he received a medal, honouring him or his professional work. Pep’s short speech was short, articulate, and hugely inspirational. He was there to make clear the importance of being passionate about what you do in life-however unimportant you think what you do is- , and to leave us with no doubt that the one overriding passion in his life is football- playing it, …
9/11: Ten years on
The day the Twin towers were attacked I was with Tony Blair. I was in Brighton sent by the FT to cover the TUC annual conference. I have a vivid image of the PM and his entourage changing plans on the hoof and turning round from a speech he was due to give to trade unionists on New Labour’s latest reform agenda as the images came live on TV. He and his team rushed past me and a group of fellow journalists and headed back to London. Reflecting on that …
Jimmy Burns – Barca: A People’s Passion
FC Barcelona is much more than a football club- it is a social and political phenomenon.
Qatar and Barca
I remember back in the summer of 2003 attending a press conference organised by the Elefant Blau during the FC Barcelona presidential election campaign at which the then candidate Joan Laporta sat side by side with his running mate Sandro Rosell. There was a sense of positive expectation. The Elefant Blau had made huge a huge advance on the collective consciousness of football fans worldwide as a grassroots movement that believed in democracy , transparency , and financial accountability. A new era was beckoning after decades during which Barca ‘s …
