It's More Than Just a Bad Dream
There's a paragraph in Marcelo's second piece for the Players' Tribune that I have read over a thousand times since I came across it in 2019.
Do you understand now? For little Marcelinho from Rio to have the chance to win three Champions Leagues in a row? Come on. It was pressure, pressure, pressure. I felt it in my bones, brother. I am not afraid to tell the truth.
It's this paragraph that made me swear to myself I would one day sit with him and our discussions will be the birth of his biography.
It's also this paragraph that shows exactly what "The Super League" is taking from football, possibly forever.
What?
The Magic of the Unpredictable Storyline.
Nobody saw an 18 year old Marcelo spending forever in Madrid. Just like nobody saw Leicester winning that title. Nobody saw Atalanta making it that far in Europe. Nobody saw Granada in the Europa League knockouts. Nobody saw that.
Nobody might see them again.
No we're not blind. We can all see the power grab. Just like men sat down in a room and the Scramble for Africa took place, men have sat down in a room and snatched at all the money within their sight.
Intentionally or unintentionally they have snatched at football's soul too.
Why fix what's not broken?
For a sport that relies so heavily on the dedication of it's fans, it's been a while since elite football considered those people.
So the deed is done. The Super League is here with it's unimpressive font and uninspiring background colours.
If I may ask, what are West Ham fighting for then? They'll get Champion's League either way. Everton too. Napoli, Roma and Lazio as well. Villarreal and maybe Real Betis too.
I could go on for hours but they released this statement at 11:30 pm fully aware that I would be sleepy and have lectures start tomorrow by 8am.
So here's one last quote from Marcelo's piece. A quote from his grandfather who seems to understand the importance of joy over money. A concept football has spat on today.
Comments
Post a Comment