Good morning to all.
The dust has settled on the weekend’s football and overall it was good for us. I always expect the ‘big’ teams (and the Sp*rs) to win, as a way of setting myself up for a little disappointment, but we saw Brighton demolish Chelsea, which is always nice to see, and Liverpool lose again.
In some ways Chelsea’s result is a bit of a concern because you might not want to face a team that is suffering and looking to bounce back in their next league game, but on the other hand Brighton showed there is a vulnerability there if you go to them. The two own goals can be seen as a bit of luck, but they came when the opposition applied huge pressure to their defence, so in my opinion that takes some of that away.
Newcastle sit in the top four, and I’m not 100% here for any of the feel-good nonsense about this club. Is Eddie Howe doing a good job? Of course. Is Eddie Howe’s job made easier by the fact that the owners have spent a lot of money and are going to spend a lot more in the future? 100%. If you’re pulling a tune from someone like Miguel Almiron these days, I’m playing fair, but I’m not falling into the trap of thinking of them as some kind of plucky underdog who’s cobbled together a side of the local boys, complete with shin guards made out of biscuit tins. , and look good.
The relative newness of this Newcastle project shouldn’t distort the reality that they will become exactly the same as Man City or PSG. Artificially enhanced organizations used to paint a facade on the reputation of their owners. People roll their eyes when they hear the word ‘sports wash’, but that’s exactly what it is. The sooner people accept that Newcastle is a financial abomination, the better.
The investments in the club, the infrastructure, the local communities and everything else give legitimacy to what is happening. If jobs are created, if those communities benefit, then it’s good for those people and when times are tough, who cares where the money comes from? When the government presides over deprivation, isn’t it a good thing that someone else, anyone else, is doing something to help? And this is where it gets complex.
Ultimately, though, in a world where great wealth and enormous corruption go hand in hand, we can never really know what’s going on below the surface. Would anyone be surprised if a labyrinthine network of companies and investors in a football club, or even a group of football clubs, together with the best lawyers and accountants, facilitated the flow of money that could bypass legal protocols? ? I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
Clearly, for legal purposes, I’m definitely not saying that’s what’s happening at any of the aforementioned clubs. But football has long been a festering pit of financial irregularities and I don’t think it’s off limits to possibility that we’ve moved from an era of brown envelopes at motorway rest stops to one that’s significantly more sophisticated. . Maybe it announces a partnership with a crypto/gambling company whose origins are hard to trace, a company with little online presence, for example, and through the mechanisms of that company whose currency is completely deregulated, the money is accumulated and then leaves… well, who? knows?
So look, Newcastle are fourth and perhaps a faster force than people might have imagined. They’re playing well, the team is full of confidence, they’re scoring goals, but buying that is exactly what sportswashing is, and I don’t want any of it. How long will it be before they become fans of Manchester City, who have reaped the rewards of that kind of ‘investment’ for years, but don’t seem satisfied with all the trophies they’ve won?
They demand to be taken seriously. They seek legitimacy. As if this was something that just came together organically. They want trophies and respect. Well, I want in one hand and shit in the other, let’s see which one fills up first. Have they been smart? Absolutely. It’s an incredibly well-run organization, with the best manager in the world, but it’s all built on the nation’s state-owned money. Simple as that. There is no world in which Pep Guardiola arrives at Man City without him. So just enjoy the cutlery and let the rest of us see it for what it is.
I was going to talk about Bukayo Saka today, but I got a little sidetracked. Tomorrow, I guess. I leave you with a new Arsecast Extra recorded last night, lots of talk about the 5-0 win over Forest, Reiss Nelson and much more.
There is also an episode of The 30 on Patreon. Enjoy
