The Interesting Articles Thread

brevity

It's quite strange that in the Soccer forum there isn't really a place in this for for general Soccer discussion, as in tactics, changes in how the game is developing, a place where we can learn more.

I thought a good way to do this would be to have a thread with interesting articles. MNF analysis videos or good match reports could also go in here...

I'll kick things off with quite a topical subject by Jonathan Wilson:

The Question: is this the end for tiki-taka?

The other oddity in the reaction to Bayern's defeat has been the number of attacks on Guardiola and the assertion that tiki-taka is dead. In five seasons as a manager, Guardiola has won four league titles, two domestics cups (and is in another final), two Champions Leagues and three Club World Cups. Even given the dominance of the present era of superclubs, that is a phenomenal record. But the idea that tiki-taka is over, that Barcelona's defeat to Bayern last season and Bayern's defeat to Real Madrid somehow invalidate an entire philosophy, is to misunderstand the whole nature of tactics.


In tactics there are no absolute rights and there aren't many absolute wrongs: there is certainly no magic formula. Tactical theorists aren't like alchemists searching for the quintessence that will explain everything. There is evolution and development in tactical thinking, but everything is contingent on other factors; the same structuralist theory that underpinned Bakema teaches that nothing is not relative. Tiki-taka worked so well at Barcelona in part because of the technical ability of the players, in part because opponents were still adjusting to changes in the offside law and in part because of the intensity of their play. You can get away with a high line and passers rather than defenders in the back line only if there is ferocious pressure on the ball.

dreamers75

I think tiki taka needs 3 at the back, 2 CBs and DM of sorts but they have to be:

Big
Fast
Good in the air
One has to be a leader/organiser at set pieces
Comfortable on the ball.

Now if 1 of those exists clone him into 3 give Pep a call

Taking Inter and Real as 2 beaters of Tika Taka, combat what they did and counter it.

or maybe Pep needs a plan B like shooting from outside the box.

upstairs for coffee

With Pep's Bayern the one thing I notice is that they put in a large amount of crosses. However they only play Mandzukic upfront so their crossing has to be extremely accurate - and no teams crossing can be 100% accurate when it's 1 striker against 2 center backs.

If Robben is crossing the ball Ribery never seems to attack the ball but loiters on the edge of the box and vice versa.

So for all their tikky-taka football to just swing in a cross seems pointless. You give the opposition time to organize by slowing down the play with the tika-taka.

I think Lewandowski will be a great addition, he'll be able to play the deep lying role/false 9 (whatever you want to call it) whereas Mandzukic movement was pretty static.

Turtwig

On the subject of the OP this one is also worth a read.

Why tiki-taka was not to blame for Bayern's loss.

dfx-

Nice articles. It's the same as the death of possession football (as opposed to tiki-taka) when Munich beat Barcelona last year. It's still good to see some holding out sense.

jive

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/liverpool-s-tactical-naivety-and-gerrard-error-ensures-champagne-stays-on-ice-1.1775801

"Liverpool might have played it safe, taken no risks, left plenty of men behind the ball and let the clock do its work. Instead, Rodgers played into Mourinho’s hands by doing exactly what he was expected to do."

Omackeral

Although it's not really well written, in my opinion, this piece chronicles the clubs that have gone bust in our league and some of whom have rebranded or come back from the brink. I reckon its probably a 2 or 3 years old but still might be of interest.

The graveyard of the Irish football
This week the League of Ireland (aka the Airtricity League … even for me, as generally not very enthousiast towards the generally adopted football culture and as an enthousiast of things such as artificial turf as playing surface, naming league divisions after sponsors sounds horrible) started its new season. Shamrock Rovers are defending their title. Derry City are making their unofficial comeback in the Premier Division. And county Louth will again look forward to the derby between Drogheda United FC and Dundalk FC. Odd, because didn’t Dundalk relegate last season after finishing bottom place? Yes, but as has been the case quite often in recent years, the financial collapse of another club forced the league into taking relegating teams back on board in the top flight. That Sporting Fingal would be the one collapsing this year though, was beyond expectations because the club was flighing high, even having played Europa League qualifiers last year after winning the FAI Cup in 2009. Fingal seemed to be a success story, but it seems beyond the surface finances were not well managed. A story heard way too often on the Emerald Isle. Sporting Fingal only had a short existance, 4 years after its launch it is already dead and buried. But it were intensive years for sure.

The club was founded as recent as 2007. Fingal County Council wanted to create a new club in the north side of Dublin, the rapidly expanding capital of the Republic of Ireland. As the suburbs grow continuously, the new suburbs further away from the older city center areas seem attractive locations to offer the population a local club to support. Shamrock Rovers, after about 20 years of wandering around homeless, found a new target audience by basing itself in a newly built stadium in Tallaght, a southern expanding suburb. In the north side of Dublin, the areas further out of the city center did not have a club in the League of Ireland yet, only having amateur outfits in recreative leagues such as the United Church League and the Leinster Senior League. Fingal County Council (within county Dublin, the de facto capital district of the country) saw potential and helped setting up a new club. The fact the club was embraced by the League of Ireland was controversial: did the Irish people really need yet another Dublin club when areas without professional or semi-professional club also had clubs showing interest to take the leap to professional football? In the end however, Sporting Fingal FC was launched and was welcomed in the First Division (the second level). The second level, yes, and not the newly created A League (the de facto third level where clubs wishing to eventually go into the League of Ireland as well as some reserve teams of Premier Division teams play). They were welcomed immediately in the First Division due to the financial collapse (here we go again!) of First Division outfit Kilkenny City which could no longer afford to stay in the League and voluntarely stepped back to amateur league status.

Sporting Fingal, while waiting for the completion of a stadium in the Fingal-Swords area, found a home in the Morton Stadium in the Santry area of Dublin. Their first season (2008) saw them finish at a respectable 3rd spot. The year 2009 however launched Sporting Fingal into fame: in only their second year of existance, they promoted to the top division by beating Bray Wanderers in a promotion/relegation play-off. In addition they won the FAI Cup, beating Sligo Rovers 2-1 in a final played in the Tallaght Stadium. Winning the cup and promoting to the top flight in only the 2nd season of existance, Sporting Fingal looked like proving the criticisers wrong and became an instant success. Ironically, two more clubs collapsed at the end of that season: Cork City nearly went bankrupt and was only saved by a take-over by FORAS (the de facto supporters trust) collecting enough money to manage Cork City although relegation to First Division was inevittable due to the financial chaos. Even worse was Derry City. The Northern Irish club playing in the Republic’s league could not be saved and went bankrupt. The club folded and re-started again in the First Division. Same name, same logo, same ground, but de jure a new club. The collapse of Cork and Derry (who had won several titles and cups the years beforehand, dominating the league the previous couple of years along with Bohemians) resulted in Bray Wanderers being saved from relegation, although they were only re-invited into the premier division a week before the kick-off of the season. A signature to the bad management and chaos that has become typical to the Republic of Ireland’s league.

Sporting Fingal continued its rise to fame in 2010: their first season in the top flight saw them immediately finish at an impressive 4th place. Thanks to the prior season’s cup win, they were also playing in Europe in what was only their third season of existance. Opponent in the qualifiers of the UEFA Europa League was Maritimo Funchal from Portugal. Again Fingal left a good impression, losing only 3-2 in Portugal. The two away goals caused high expectations for the return leg, which was moved to Dalymount Park, the stadium of Bohemians FC. The expectations this time weren’t met, as the Portuguese outfit scored another 2-3 win. But for such a young club, the overall story was a success for Sporting Fingal and the club had great prospects ahead.

Then however came the aftermath of the 2010 season. On 3rd February 2011, a month before the start of the new season, the club had to admit that the financial side of the club was in bad state and that players were not paid. 6 days later, the club fired their entire squad of players due to the lack of finances to keep the squad going. One single day later and only 7 days after the financial chaos was revealed, the club withdrew from the top division by dropping their Premier Division license. The club was less than a week away from their Setanta Cup debut and about a month away from the start of their second campaign in the top flight. The loss of one big investor made the whole club collapse. One single day later the club officially folded. 9 days earlier the club seemed to have a bright future ahead, and suddenly it didn’t even exist anymore. It didn’t even take two weeks for the club to collapse. What seemed a promising rising star of Irish football, was dead and buried.

Fingal’s council was planning to build a new stadium in Lusk with 4000 capacity, with options to increase to a 12000 capacity. While building that, Sporting Fingal would groundshare for 3 years with the (sigh…) financially unstable Bohemians in their Dalymount Park. It is unclear if the Lusk project will now have a football future ahead or not.

Consequence of Fingal’s sudden death, was that with about a month to go, Drogheda United received the news that they were welcomed back to replace Sporting Fingal in the top division. Drogheda normally was relegating after finishing on bottom spot the last year. The fact Drogheda stays in the top flight now due to another club collapsing, is ironic given the fact that the club nearly collapsed itself two years earlier and went through administrationship for a while. This was after having won the League of Ireland in 2007, having also won 2 Setanta Cups and 1 FAI Cup. Like Fingal, the sudden success was followed by sudden collapse, with that difference that Drogheda narrowly survived.

Clubs being succesful and then suddenly collapsing the next 1 or 2 years seems very odd, but sadly enough it is becoming a frequent sight in the League of Ireland. Clubs tend to be quite poorly managed, and the competition from the many football fans prefering to follow Celtic or an English club also leaves local clubs with poor attendances. This is however no excuse for bad financial management, which unfortunately seems a typical element of League of Ireland football lately. A short summary:

- Shelbourne FC had won 3 titles in 4 years time between 2003 and 2006 and the Drumcondra (a district of Dublin) side also was shining in Europe, eliminating Hajduk Split in the Champions League qualifiers and getting draws against Deportivo La Coruña and Lille OSC. The club won the league on goal difference in 2006, finishing on equal points with Derry City. However, the club’s bad finances then were no longer possible to hide. The club collapsed, the death of one of the former chairman also added to the collapse of the club. It was even unsure if the club would survive. Their Premier Division license was withdrawn, and the club narrowly got a First Division license. With veterans and young players willing to play virtually for free, Shels started in the second level in 2007, already being happy to have survived the collapse. 3 titles in 4 years were hiding the fact the club overspent on transfer fees and player wages, and when European and domestic success did not attract extra sponsors and fans as hoped, the club sunk from the celebration of winning the league to the depth of nearly collapsing. Shelbourne step by step rebuilt a healthy financial structure and now try to gain promotion again to the top flight after a 4 seasons in a row on the second level. The club surely went through dark times though. At some point, fans of Athlone Town complained that there was no light in the toilets of the away fans. It apparently was not wise for the club to spend money on something as simple as a light bulb. Weither this is true or a wild rumour I don’t know, but for sure the club can be very happy to say they survived this collapse.

- Cork City was next in row. In 2005 they won the League of Ireland by beating their only remaining competitor, Derry City, 2-0 at home at Turner’s Cross. The euphory was huge: the Cork side had broken the dominance of Dublin rivals Shelbourne and the club (with a very strong support for Irish standards) was champions of the country. In 2008 financial struggles began. Investors and board members left, and before the 2010 season the Premiership license was withdrawn. Cork City Investments FC Ltd was wound up in court, the fan group FORAS enroled an emergency team (their first games there were only a 1 or 2 reserve players available) in the First Division under the name Cork City FORAS Co-Op. Only when they managed to collect enough money to purchase the Cork City FC name from the liquidators, the club could continue as Cork City FC. The club is now in the hands of fans and will now start a second season in the first division.

- Derry City’s case was even worse. One of the teams on the island with the longest history and most troubled history. The club won the Northern Irish league once and the IFA Cup thrice prior to being the victim of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The club faced fierce violence and a biased FA who deemed football in their Brandywell home (in a strongly republican area of Derry) too unsafe, eventually forced Derry to withdraw from the Northern Irish football and never return. After more than a decade without senior team, the club gained permission to take a fresh start cross-border in the League of Ireland, the Republic of Ireland’s league. The club was also successful there with large attendances, winning the FAI Cup 4x (the latest in 2006) and winning the league twice. In 2005 and 2006 they were runners-up, losing the title to respectively Cork and Shelbourne on the last day of the season. Sour, but when both Cork and Shels collapsed the next years you could say Derry were the moral winners. They took Shelbourne’s place in the Champions League qualifiers in 2007-2008, although this did not become a success, losing to Armenian outfit Pyunik. The season before in the UEFA Cup they did have success, eliminating IFK Gothenburg and Gretna FC, and then falling to Paris SG.
However, by the end of the 2009 season also this club collapsed within the few years after the successed were adding up. The club had broken league rules with illegal contracts and failed to meet financial agreements with Dungannon and Linfield, both of whom still owed money from Derry City. Derry effectively lost the battle and after a long and interesting history ceased to exist. A new club with the same name, colours and stadium erected in 2010 and immediately won the championship title in the First Division, promoting to the top flight. While for many people this is just the return of Derry, legally it is a newly formed club. Ironically their first league game was against… Cork City FORAS Co-Op, that other succesful club that had collapsed financially the year before.

- Kilkenny City AFC withdrew from the first division in 2008 due to lack of finances.

- Cobh Ramblers managed promotion to the Irish top flight in 2007. One year after this success, the club dropped not one but two divisions at a time: they relegated out of the premier division but financial troubles saw them lose their First Division license too, sending them back to the A League (third level and not de facto a part of the League of Ireland). In 2010 they did nearly promote back to the First Division of the League of Ireland, but Salthill Devon won the promotion/relegation playoff and condemned Cobh to another year of A League football.

- Another club who only existed briefly was Kildare County FC. The county already had a succesful amateur club with Newbridge Town FC, but people wanted a club in the League of Ireland. Kildare County FC was chosen as name, hoping to draw fans from the entire county. They groundshared with Newbridge Town FC. The club failed to attract a decent fanbase and ceased to exist in 2009. The last fixture of the club was against Shelbourne, where the fans actually had to convince the players to play this last game and fans had to run the ticket sales and canteen as the entire club board resigned already. Kildare lost 1-5 and after fulfilling that last game, it was over officially.

- Limerick FC, having won the domestic league and FAI Cup twice each + having won three League Cups, de facto folded in 2006. A local consortium took their place and enroled a team in the First Division called Limerick 37 (as the original Limerick FC was founded in 1937). The club now still plays in First Division and re-adopted the Limerick FC name.

- Dublin City FC, a homeless and almost supporterless club run by the mala fide chairman R. Seery (see earlier article on this club in my blog) folded halfway the 2006 season due to lack of finances.

- Shamrock Rovers FC is the one club who successfully survived financial issues. During several years halfway the last decade the sword of Damocles hung above the head of the club: the club had been homeless for nearly 20 years, wandering from ground to ground and having groundshared with every Dublin club except UCD. In 2006 the club relegated for the first time ever after being beaten by Dublin City FC in the promotion/relegation playoff. They had to play this playoff due to a points deduction for … financial chaos. It were the loyal and large groups of fans who collected money to effectively take over the club and save the club. Shamrock promoted back in its first and so far only season below the top flight, moved to the newly completed Tallaght Stadium and won the League of Ireland championship last season (2010). A rare example of an Irish club who came back stronger than before after nearly collapsing, surviving and reviving thanks to their large and extremely devote fans.

- while having started the new season and nearly missing out on winning the 2010 championship title, Bohemians FC have been in financial troubles for several years and it is a question mark how much longer the club will be able to avoid collapse too.

The League of Ireland the last decade has suffered a lot from the many badly managed clubs: clubs collapsing within a few seasons after winning trophies showed how poorly clubs were managed, and the league repeatedly had to –sometimes within a week before the start of the new season– take clubs back on board in the premier division despite relegation. In a way you could say that clubs such as UCD (who have very very few fans but are very well managed) and Bray Wanderers (nearly relegated several seasons in a row, once actually relegated but invited back into the premier division due to Cork and Derry collapsing) are actually rewarded for being properly managed despite poor performances on the pitch sometimes. But for sure the Republic of Ireland’s league is a graveyard. Numerous teams, often succesful ones, collapsed shortly after being highly succesful. It is a sad testimony of an underlying problem: the competition with Scottish and English football and the poor management of several clubs has left the Irish football with a lot of scars and image problems. Clubs being well-managed AND succesful on the pitch have become a rarity.

Have things been better north of the border? Not really. In the North, also we saw the collapse of a few clubs, but they were not very succesful clubs, which means the collapse was not getting lot of attention. Omagh Town ceasing operations was the one case where a club’s demise got lot of media attention. If you know that Omagh’s financial collapse was partly due to lack of fans, while the same city has an active fanclub of… Accrington Stanley of all clubs, then you again see the problem of Irish and Northern Irish teams suffering from people prefering the professionalism and glory of the Scottish and English football, even when their choice of team to support is not always a logical one. Fanclubs of teams such as Accrington Stanley are not exceptional. Tranmere Rovers and Stranraer are other examples of relatively obscure teams having fanclubs on the island of Ireland.

Northern Irish football suffers from lack of attendances even more than the league of the Republic, but somehow well-known clubs managed to avoid folding like those that were succesful south of the border recently. That should not hide the fact that lot of northern clubs too are suffering financially. Even one of the "big two", Glentoran FC, is in financially troubled situations, and the move to a new stadium as desired by the club is still a question mark because there is no money for that new stadium. The only Northern Irish club who is very succesful financially is Linfield FC, who benefit from their stadium being used for Northern Ireland national team games, with Linfield receiving a 15% of the incomes of those (well attended and often sold out) national team games. This gives the club a huge advantage financially, compared to other local clubs. The day the national team would leave Windsor Park, Linfield’s finances would be worrying too, but with the construction of a new national stadium ongoing forever but not leading to concrete action yet, it seems the national team won’t move very soon and Linfield should be safe financially. The rest of Northern Irish football is in troubled state as well, the financially wealthy teams often being those who don’t aim for the trophies and prefer lack of silverware rather than overspending and risking.

brevity

Posted this in the Liverpool thread but it deserves a spot here as well. Excellent article on Luis Suarez by Wright Thompson

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/10984370/portrait-serial-winner-luis-suarez-soccer-most-beautiful-player

Augmerson

Interesting.

Sheepy99

Keep 'em coming lads..

Superbus

This whole series is excellent.

The Guardian's 25 Stunning World Cup Moments

brevity

Ian Cathro, could be the next big manager, has left Valencia. He is linked with Rangers.

Piece about him here

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/mar/02/valencia-real-sociedad-la-liga-david-moyes-ian-cathro

Oat23

I liked this piece about the Faroe Islands' national league.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33052020

Mr.Nice Guy

Here is a great piece on Croatian football which I read a few years back on the BBC website which came to my mind in light of today's disappointing result for Ireland.

Croatia, like ourselves, have a disappointing domestic league, and they also have a smaller population than we do, yet have consistently produced quality technical players like Modric and Rakitic, and have performed well in tournaments.

I highlighted in bold the parts I think which are pertinent to Ireland.

What is Croatia's secret to sporting success?

Everyone seems to have an opinion about sport. Ask three people about their views on a particular team, player or competition and the chances are they will give totally different answers.

But ask a Croatian why their small country excels on the international sporting stage, and the response is surprisingly uniform.

"Croats are just naturally talented," says Igor Stimac, the coach of Croatia's national football team.

Assistant Sports Minister and national basketball legend Petar Skansi believes his country is "a talented sports nation".

Romeo Jozak, head of the Croatian Football Federation technical committee, goes a step further.

"God gave us amazing, talented kids," he says.

It has to be said, the evidence adds up.

High ranking

Fifa promoted Croatia to number four in its most recent world football rankings.

"We were third in 1999," sniffs Igor Stimac.

But the fact is that only World and European champions Spain, the ever-reliable Germany and South American powerhouse Argentina rank above Croatia.

Italy, the Netherlands and France all fall well short, while Brazil languish 19th.

Croatia also excels at basketball, tennis, water polo and handball. At the London Olympics Croatia placed 15th on a medals table weighted by population size.

Punching above its weight? It certainly looks that way. But why?

Physical attributes may play a part. One of the first things that visitors to the Western Balkans notice is how many tall people there are in Croatia and its neighbours Serbia and Montenegro.

Statistics tend to back up that impression.

But there has to be more to it than that.

With a population more than 10 times greater, England can also call on plenty of tall, strong players. Yet they currently rank below Croatia in the Fifa listings.

Raw talent

Meanwhile, despite having key players at the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Chelsea, Serbia have fallen down the rankings and will not make it to the World Cup next year. Curiously, Serbia still excels at tennis - an individual rather than a team sport.

Romeo Jozak, of the Croatian Football Federation, thinks this shows it is no good having the raw material if you do not have a co-ordinated approach.

He oversees all of Croatian football's age group teams from the under-21s down. He must be doing something right. His players have qualified for the forthcoming under-20 World Cup (as one of only six European nations) and under-17 European Championship, and they are looking in a strong position for other age group tournaments, for which qualification is notoriously difficult.

Such success vindicates a national strategy for player development, emphasising different skills at different ages, that all Croatian clubs have agreed to implement, with technical assistance coming from the football federation.

The result is that players going into the national side have all learned the same way.

"You have to start with a unified vision at the age of 12," says Jozak. "Four years ago we came up with a curriculum, a technical strategy from the under-14s upwards. Every generation must follow that. It's all about being talented, having a vision and clear selection criteria."

Big debut

The sustained nature of Croatia's success is what makes it so striking. Near neighbours in the Balkans have been unable to repeat the successes of the 1990s.

Eye-catching performances for their national teams made the likes of Romania's Gheorghe Hagi and Bulgaria's Hristo Stoichkov household names across Europe.

But since these players retired their sides have struggled even to qualify for the major tournaments.

Croatia is different. It has only missed one European Championship and one World Cup for which it has been eligible.

People connected with Croatian sport believe the country's recent history plays an important role.

It only became independent in 1991, during a conflict which continued until 1995. A year later, the players in the red-and-white checked shirts lit up Euro 96, beating defending champions Denmark en route to the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual champions Germany.

Their performances were, in many respects, a coming-out party for their country. And the sense of truly representing their nation continues.

"It's a chance to show the world, through the different sports, that we exist," says Igor Stimac, who played at Euro 96 and was in the team that reached the World Cup semi-finals two years later.

"Sportsmen are the best ambassadors for us. It is a great inspiration to represent Croatia. There is a lot of pride. With the war and everything that went on, that increases the national energy.

"We don't have to teach the kids to sing the national anthem. I wouldn't say they're nationalists, but there's national pride, they know they've got to fight."

This spirit can sometimes spill over in the crowd in ugly fashion.

Grudge match

European football's governing body Uefa has warned Croatia about the behaviour of its fans, due to incidents of violence and racism.

In March, while a match against arch-rival Serbia passed off peacefully - though Serbs were banned from attending - chants of "kill a Serb" certainly raised eyebrows among international observers at the stadium in Zagreb.
Nevertheless, maintaining a level of passion may be vital if Croatia is to keep its place among the sporting elite.

In football, Croatia's club sides have been unable to compete with the top sides in Europe. The lack of a competitive national league, and the money that goes with it, means that even great names like Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split have struggled, as the best players head abroad for better pay and the big prizes.

"Team sports require sponsors, powerful patrons, or greater state support, especially at the local level, and that currently places Croatia in an unfavourable position," says Petar Skansi.

"In a world in which money dictates everything, Croatia can compete only at the national teams' level, because at club level it cannot keep pace with exceptional European clubs."

Pool of talent

That means the best Croatian players are scattered across Europe, often leaving while they are still teenagers. In fact, players as young as 16 will be allowed to join foreign clubs after Croatia joins the European Union in July.

Still, Romeo Jozak is unconcerned about the prospect of a talent drain damaging the chances of Croatia's national side. He says the nationwide coaching programme should ensure that young players are imbued with the correct skills and values.

"The major window for making technical implementation is from ages 12 to 16, and they're in Croatia at that time. So when they leave the country it's not a big issue. They already have the core implemented in their bodies."

And competitors be warned: the people at the top of Croatian sport believe EU membership will bring in money to invest in much-needed infrastructure.

"We got this far without infrastructure, just with good coaches and people," says Igor Stimac. "We can expect only progress, results-wise, if we keep up the level and quality of work."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22338370

brevity

http://thesefootballtimes.co/2015/09/13/tactics-and-counter-tactics-by-tim-lees/

Interesting talk on tactics and the modern game.

Lovely Bloke

No article beyond a few Wikipedia links, but for some reason this is pretty cool to me.

The first black man to play for Celtic was Gilbert Heron, a Jamaican player who was spotted playing in the NASL for a Detroit team when Celtic were on tour there in the early 50s. He only played 5 times for Celtic, then moved around a few clubs in the UK before moving back to Detroit.

Before he moved to Scotland he met an Opera Singer, and they had a child - one Gil Scott-Heron, who went on to be a prominent proto-HipHop artist.

You might have heard this song.

what a strange connection of people and places

mewso

I'm in the same boat here. Not an article but should be of interest to some. It is to me as a Forest fan. Maybe the thread title could be renamed to Interesting Links?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4_6hVPyKZw

* edit showing in cineworld 13th October - http://www.cineworld.ie/whatson/i-believe-in-miracles?cinema=dublin&date=all

Lovely Bloke

These aren't seats, this is one stand on the Kim-il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang when NK played the Philippines.

They are people doing a display of the flag of NK.



Original link

Fr Tod Umptious

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

These aren't seats, this is one stand on the Kim-il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang when NK played the Philippines.

They are people doing a display of the flag of NK.



Original link

Best fans in the world those North Korea folks.

LeeJM

Can just imagine the Philippines managers team talk before kick off ;
"Right lads North Korea away, we know the atmosphere is gonna be oppressive and that even if we win we will still lose."

brevity

Great article about Mourinho by Jonathan Wilson.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/22/devil-and-jose-mourinho

Buford T. Justice XIX

The secret history of American soccer.

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2010/06/the_secret_history_of_american_soccer.single.html

How soccer almost became the most popular sport in America.

Buford T. Justice XIX

The Dutch school is alive and well, just not in the Netherlands

http://www.benefoot.net/the-dutch-school-is-alive-and-well-just-not-in-the-netherlands/

dreamers75

Seen this on the LOI "banter" page, those lads make me want to give up watching football and like cricket or some****. but anyway:

A very interesting article by former rangers player Barry Ferguson with some home truths about young players coming through the system now. Sounds like Scotland and Ireland have very similar problems!!!

Barry made his debut for Rangers against Hearts on May 10 1997 and was tipped as one of the best young players ever to emerge from the youth team at Ibrox.
SO Gordon Strachan’s plan for the future of Scottish football is to turn the clock back 30 years? Well, let me be the first to say he’s got it absolutely spot on.

Thirty years ago I was seven. And every day was the same.

Run home from primary school, dump my bag, get my joggies and T-shirt on, grab my goalie gloves, boots and ball and straight back out.

An hour and a half later I’d hear my dad whistle and I knew it was time for dinner. Run back home, square sausage and chips. Bang.

Scran it down, run straight back out the door, start playing again, get a stitch, feel sick, lie on the grass for five minutes then get back on the park. A couple of hours later I’d hear another whistle and knew it was bath time. That was it. That was my whole life. And I couldn’t have been happier.

Funnily enough, I bumped into an old neighbour a few weeks ago and the first thing he said was: “I remember you kicking that ball of yours around at all sorts of times under the streetlights.”

I wasn’t allowed to play with it inside because my dad used to threaten to toe me up the a*** if I smashed anything, so I’d take a pair of his old socks, roll them up into a ball and cover them in masking tape. Then I’d try to do overhead kicks with it on the couch.

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Barry Ferguson on Ian Durrant shoulders in September 1986
That was how I grew up and how I fell in love with playing football. And Strachan is right – the sooner we get back to something similar, the quicker we might start developing some proper football players again.

These days I watch a lot of the Under-20 games and, like Strachan, I’m not a fan. I can’t help but look at these kids and think they’ve been over-coached.

I’m not having a go at the coaches because they are trying their best. But the problem goes deeper. It’s more to do with modern life and the way our youngsters are growing up.

From a very early age all they want to do is mess about on iPads, laptops, Xboxes or Playstations. They have forgotten what it’s like to make their own entertainment.

It breaks my heart every time I drive past a piece of grass and don’t see a kid with a ball on it. It makes me think back to my own childhood and how different things were back then. I grew up in a scheme in Bellshill. There was another scheme half-a-mile away and we would organise games against each other. But that was just a part of it.

I’d be out there with my mates building goalposts out of scrap wood. We would borrow a lawnmower from someone’s dad and cut the grass ourselves. Then we’d nick a bag of sawdust from somewhere and put down lines. It was just a field we were playing in but, for us, it felt like we were running out at Hampden.

Now I look at these 10-11-12-year-olds who are already signed up with clubs playing pro youth football and I wonder what they would have made of us.

It’s like they’re living in a completely different world. They’ve got all the latest kit, washed and ironed for them, the new boots, the slicked-back hair and everything is laid on for them at the best facilities. But when I look at their wee faces I don’t see the same enjoyment I felt at that age. Half of them look as if they are bored to death and going through the motions. As if they’d rather be at home playing FIFA 2016.

I can’t blame them either because I watch the way these training sessions are being put on and I shake my head in disbelief. When I was a boy I used to enjoy coaching sessions and I really loved the drills we got.

But they were much more simple back then. These days it’s as if the coach is trying to be the star, setting up drills that are so OTT and so complicated that half the time the kids don’t know what’s going on.

VIEW GALLERY Dutchman Dick Advocaat was the manager who gave him a real chance in the team, building his midfield around him.
For me, these passing drills should be set up in order for every boy to get a touch of the ball every three or four seconds. But I’m now watching passing drills where the youngsters are standing freezing cold in long lines getting one touch every minute. That drives me crazy.

By the time the kid gets his turn he’s either standing there, shivering with his sleeves over his hand, talking to one of his mates about how bored he is or daydreaming about what’s for dinner that night. You can see them losing interest in front of your face.

With my boys, I make it so simple they are always getting a touch of the ball, always on the move. That way they are always concentrating. Their minds are always on the drill. That’s the way to make them enjoy it.

What you want to do is make them feel the way we used to as boys – make them desperate to come back again tomorrow. I don’t see that in many of today’s youngsters.

Gordon is right. Somewhere along the line we have taken the fun out of football and if he can find a way to bring that back then he’ll be doing our entire game a massive favour.

Give these kids a ball. Give them simple instructions and let them play. Let them try to copy Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and don’t criticise them when they do a
stepover or try an overhead kick.

Yes, from time to time you might tell them not to try these things inside their own penalty box – there’s a time and place – but the whole point is we need to let these kids express themselves and enjoy playing the game.

I’m sick of watching 10-year-olds playing in a rigid 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1, terrified to get caught out of position in case they are told off by the coach.

No wonder they get fed up with football. By the time they reach Under-20s they have been completely conditioned into playing the game a certain way. They are not individual football players, they are clones.

And that’s why, if I could speak to Gordon about his plans, I would encourage him to scrap this system and bring back reserve football. Because that’s where I learned some of the greatest lessons of my life.

I was eight stone. A wet lettuce. And here I was, at 15, playing against real men,
experienced pros with hundreds of senior games under their belts. In my own dressing room were guys like Ian Ferguson, Ian Durrant and Ally McCoist.

I must have learned more in five or six reserve games than today’s youngsters learn in 10 years of pro youth. They are being developed in a bubble, not exposed to the real world of professional football. Just listening to the experienced guys talk in the dressing room and watching the way they handled themselves was an education.

I’d go home after being kicked up and down the park and realise how much work I had to do to get to where I wanted to be.

I’d understand why Archie Knox kept banging on at me to eat porridge for breakfast. I’d go in the next day and scoff three bowls of the stuff even though it almost made me sick. I knew I had to produce if I wanted to take the next step up.

Yes, we still produce talented boys but I’m not sure they are made to want it the way we did. I see them giving the ball away and not working hard to get it back and it kills me. I want to see young boys who would run through brick walls to make the grade.

Today’s youths have gone soft but I don’t blame them. I blame the system they are being brought up in. If Strachan can change all that then, yes, he really might manage to fix Scottish football.

brevity

Really interesting read. Too short though.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/sports/soccer/cybernetics-cesarean-sections-and-soccers-most-magnificent-mind.html

"PORTO, Portugal — There is an office at the end of a quiet corridor on the ground floor of the sports faculty at the University of Porto. It is not the sort of place that attracts much foot traffic, and it is not decorated as if it is intended to do so.

The room’s occupant, Vítor Frade, is retired from the teaching post he held at the university for more than three decades. He keeps the office, though, as a convenient place to receive the steady stream of visitors who come from across the world to pick his brain, seek his advice or simply hear him talk.

Over the course of his long career, Frade achieved no little academic success, but he could not be described as famous, not in the sense that soccer usually means it. Fans do not sing his name in stadiums, or ask him for autographs in the street.

He was not a player of any great note. He has never managed a club. Instead, Frade, 73, is that rarest of things: one of soccer’s most noteworthy theorists."

artanevilla

Interesting read.


The forgotten story of ... Carlos Kaiser, football's greatest conman

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/apr/26/the-forgotten-story-of-carlos-kaiser-footballs-greatest-conman?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

brevity

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/sports/soccer/italy-coaches-antonio-conte-chelsea.html

FLORENCE, Italy — Every June, Italy’s latest batch of aspiring coaches convenes on Coverciano, a secluded, well-heeled suburb of Florence, to complete the final stage of their education.

There are normally a couple of dozen of them, largely drawn from the ranks of recently retired players. Over the course of the previous year, they have spent two days a week studying toward the qualification that enables them to work at the very highest level of soccer in Europe. It is, officially, called the UEFA Pro License. At Coverciano, they call it Il Master.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Ernst Happel was mentioned on another thread and while looking up more about him today I found this article below.It's an enjoyable read and it seems he's a little underappreciated considering the level of his achivements within the game.


http://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/04/27/ernst-happel-the-quiet-austrian-who-conquered-europe/

Mr.Nice Guy

Interesting article here with Belgium's Director of Coach Education explaining how they revolutionised their coaching methods after flopping at Euro 2000:

https://trainingground.guru/articles/coaching-revolution-that-took-belgium-to-top-of-world

thegreengoblin

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Interesting article here with Belgium's Director of Coach Education explaining how they revolutionised their coaching methods after flopping at Euro 2000:

https://trainingground.guru/articles/coaching-revolution-that-took-belgium-to-top-of-world

Read this recently and as a coach of a young team it's so encouraging and heartening to read all those points. Playing small sided games in particular is really important.

ionadnapokot

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Interesting article here with Belgium's Director of Coach Education explaining how they revolutionised their coaching methods after flopping at Euro 2000:

https://trainingground.guru/articles/coaching-revolution-that-took-belgium-to-top-of-world

Point 7. The Late Developers is a really interesting topic and dilemma.

Something that the LOI should be really focusing on.
Hopefully we don’t let the late developers slip through the net.
There is now U-13 national league. Feel that is a little too early too be separating and selecting kids.

Mr.Nice Guy

Not an article but thought this was an interesting insight from Jose Mourinho into the tactics behind how his Inter side beat Barca 3-1.

Enjoyed hearing the plan for dealing with Messi which was essentially a form of zonal marking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wAG5ZUJ4eI

dr.kenneth noisewater

Not an article per se but an interesting development in the football media, The Athletic launched in the UK yesterday with lots of top journalists moving over from print media. They're doing 50% off at the min so its £30 for the first year, signed up to see how it goes, should be some interesting stuff on it. Link at the bottom of this article for the 50% off offer

https://theathletic.co.uk/1079638/2019/08/05/what-to-expect-from-the-athletic-in-the-uk/

Zaph

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Not an article per se but an interesting development in the football media, The Athletic launched in the UK yesterday with lots of top journalists moving over from print media. They're doing 50% off at the min so its £30 for the first year, signed up to see how it goes, should be some interesting stuff on it. Link at the bottom of this article for the 50% off offer

https://theathletic.co.uk/1079638/2019/08/05/what-to-expect-from-the-athletic-in-the-uk/

Phil Hay, who reported on Leeds for the Yorkshire Evening Post for years has moved over. If he's an indication of the quality of writers they're aiming for it bodes well. The annual sub cost isn't bad, but there's little incentive to sign up for a month to take a look seeing as it costs a tenner.

dr.kenneth noisewater

you can trial a month for free I think

brevity

One of the writers for the sun was giving out on Twitter about this. Not pleased that he was looked over apparently.

xtal191

60% off the Athletic for today