This week, Louis van Gaal made the decision that the press had been needlessly badgering him for since he took the reins at Man United, naming his new captain. Wayne Rooney was the man given the armband and the task of succeeding the hugely successful Nemanja Vidić. A decision that would have been almost unthinkable a couple of years ago.
Question: What do you get when you cross a social scientist with a behavioural economist, and invite them to produce a tonne of data pertaining to the beautiful game? Answer: ‘The Numbers Game’, a book that is guaranteed to reduce some fans to tears of joy and despair in equal measure.
This week, it was clear to see the broad smile on Jack Rodwell’s face as he stood proudly in his Sunderland shirt having completed a £10million move to the Stadium of Light. The transfer ends a difficult two year spell with champions Man City. However, the smile is quite at odds with the stunned look on the faces of most football fans as Rodwell’s transfer served as a reminder that he ever existed in the first place.
As football fans, we’ve all been in this situation. Going into the summer transfer window with a sense of inevitability around your team’s star player. As a Spurs fan I’ve seen it plenty of times. We knew that Modrić would go, we knew that Bale would go. We hoped against hope, but we knew. Southampton fans have that same knowing in the pit of their stomach at the moment, that feeling of helpless despair. However, they have that feeling multiplied by five...and counting.
Football, inevitably, moves in cycles. Nothing lasts forever, even though in football it seems like it will. Sir Alex seemed like he’d be the United manager forever. But Fergie himself proved countless times during his Old Trafford tenure that that same old adage, nothing lasts forever, rings true.