Category Archives: Blog
Barca shows that football can be more than just a game
I knew I hadn’t been dreaming when early this morning my local Battersea street flower vendor Steve told me: “You must pleased, mate”, before congratulating Barca on a “master class in football.” You see, Steve is not only football mad, he is a fanatical Chelsea supporter and, as followers of my blogs and specifically of one of my assiduous stalkers Captain Terry will know, I don’t normally get such genial comments from across the river. Steve is of course not alone. Last night’s game at the Nou Camp delivered …
Barca: The challenge of being more than a football club
Next to feeling that things are not going right, there is nothing worse for a football club, as it is for one’s own life, than not knowing quite why, or not being able to find a way of expressing it. For all the club’s historically self-conscious sense of cultural and political identity, this Sunday it’s difficult to find a Barca fan without a deep sense of foreboding. The defeat in Milan, and the two Clasico defeats have left cules struggling to keep faith in a project they had come to …
The pain of being a Barca fan
Watching Barca’s performance last night against AC Milan not only threw me into a bad depressive mode. It made my flu that much worse so all I could think of was going to bed and hoping sleep would come as quickly as possible. This morning the memory of last night was the first thought that came to me so I felt it difficult to get up. A hang-over despite not touching a drop of alcohol since Lent began! Such moods are familiar to football fans the world over but I …
Farm Street & The Gays
Today’s Guardian, under the headline ‘Church that turned away Wilde opens door to gay flock” may exaggerate a little by suggesting that something akin to a theological revolution is under way at the Jesuit London HQ, Farm Street Church. We are told that the church that 116 years ago refused the disgraced Oscar Wilde –post-trial on charges of sodomy and indecent assault-a request for a six-month retreat, will on an evening two Sundays from now welcome members of London’s Catholic gay community who will no longer be allowed to gather …
Celtic’s self-delusion
Blame it on the fact that I’ve been doing some research recently into the 1978 World Cup in Argentina but Celtic’s defeat by Juventus in last night’s Champion’s League tie had an element of déjà vue – In Scottish terms. Let me elaborate. Earlier this season, I was among a group of Barca supporters that travelled to Glasgow for that Champion’s League group stage tie which has earned a special place in the history of Celtic. Cold and wet and blasted by the sound of the home supports, it was …
Letter to the Holy Spirit
The next Pope I am praying for…: Would be from the developing world, preferably a Jesuit, and not tied in an way to Opus Dei. Start by making a full public act of contrition for where Church has failed to act with sufficient sincerity and justice, and a true sense of God in all things. Carry out a detailed audit of the Vatican’s assets before deciding which can be channelled to mitigating world poverty and supporting major ‘green’ campaigns. Convene immediately a new Vatican Council ,with full representation of …
Of Gladiators, a French boy, and Mourinho
If the last days of the Roman Empire were with us once again, the people would have no need of prized gladiators-they would have Real Madrid and FC Barcelona players instead. Increasingly the encounters between the two teams have both a tension and brilliance about them that easily surpasses any other encounter on La Liga, and reaches levels of collective and individual skill hard to find in any other league, or indeed sport. The excitement was there from the opening minutes as Ronaldo led a series of devastating charges …
Casillas y el Barca
Casillas y el Barca La anunciada salida de Víctor Valdés del Barca me sugiere una idea genial para solucionar los antagonismos entre Madrid y Catalunya – que le sustituya Iker Casillas. El portero del Real Madrid se lleva mal con Mourinho pero tiene buenas y duraderas amistades con los jugadores de La Roja, entre ellos los que son del Barca. La presencia de Iker en el Barca traería tal vez el mejor portero del mundo – mejor que Valdés sin duda-a la ciudad que ya presume de no solo tener …
Pep’s wise choice
Pep Guardiola’s wise choice Well who would have thought it? Less than twenty-four hours after Pep Guardiola was quoted in England as saying that he hugely respected the Premier League, setting off a fresh wave of speculation about whether it might be Chelsea or Man City , it turns out it was all a bit of a red herring , if not a more calculating diversionary tactic designed to gain contractual time. Now that we know he has chosen Bayern Munich, it seems it is one of those decisions that …
Robert Kee (5th October 1919- Jan 11th 2013)
Remembering Robert Kee: 1919-2013 I owe a personal tribute to Robert Kee, the writer and broadcaster, who has died aged 93. It was Robert who gave me my first real break in journalism and taught me much about what I came to admire about the profession. The year was 1977. Robert was planning a documentary for the excellent Yorkshire TV on Spain after Franco. Born in Madrid, and bilingual in English and Spanish, I had been juggling with Marxism , Spain and Latin America as a student , and …
