I am not sure about anyone else but I found the flying banner protest at Old Trafford this week rather pathetic. Firstly because it seems a complete waste of money, it might have got a bit more media coverage then a normal banner just displayed inside the ground but I can’t see how it would influence fans more than the usual way.
Ninety quid!? For a football shirt!? Ninety f**king quid!? Are you kidding me? (Yep, it’s going to be one of those angry football articles). This week, in case you hadn’t heard, it was announced that England’s new kit for this summer’s World Cup will cost you a whopping £90. The announcement was made on Monday of this week, the 31st of March, a well-timed announcement for sure. Had it have come a day later then no one would have believed it.
In a way, we view football in the same way that we view time. Because a casual glance will show no evidence of an end or a beginning. It’s just a constant, a part of our lives and our personalities for as long as we have them. Forever existing next to us and shaping us while we have no concept of what we would do if it were gone. Wow, a little deep for this week’s football article, but there is a point to this.
Football is no stranger to mind games, managers saying this or that to try to provoke a response, and we have seen that sometimes it not only works but the effects can be very public. Take Rafa Benitez and Kevin Keegan for example. However, over the last month or so José Mourinho has persisted in trying a contradictory approach to put pressure on the opposition, and it seems to have backfired.
The FA Cup may never escape the stigma that is now attached to it. There will always be a question mark over whether the clubs, the players, the managers and the fans really care about it the way they used to. Does that ‘magic’ that was always associated with the cup still really exist?