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20 Years of The World Football Phone-In

Last week, I travelled to the BBC’s media city studios for the recording of the 20th anniversary of 5Live’s classic The World Football Phone-In. It was a genuine privilege to speak to Tim Vickery, Dotun Adebayo, Paul Sarahs and fans who travelled to be there.

I wrote a piece that was published by Planet Football - Read it here. Here was my original, longer, draft that I whittled down to something more digestible:

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In the middle of the night, a production team at the BBC’s Salford studios are hard at work. They’re broadcasting BBC Radio 5Live’s ‘Up All Night’, a nightly discussion programme that covers current affairs with regular news and sport bulletins. Once a week, at around 02:00 every Saturday, The Real Sounds Of Africa’s cult Italia ’90 anthem ‘Soccer Fan’ plays out, signalling two hours of eclectic football chat - ‘The World Football Phone-In’.

This weekend it celebrated 20 years on the airwaves, and in that time it’s built up a dedicated following from around the world. Growing from a 5 minute quick round-up from Tim Vickery in South America, it has since grown into a two-hour weekly extravaganza with other correspondents from elsewhere.

Alternating between recording studios in Salford and London, nightowl presenter Dotun Adebayo will be one hour into the ‘Up All Night’ slot that runs from 01:00 until 05:00.

Each week, he’s joined on the line by South American football expert Tim Vickery. Sat in the front room of his family home in Rio De Janeiro, “domestic chaos” going on around him at around midnight local time. He makes sure that the dog is suitably occupied, as far away from the microphone as possible. Remarkably, he hasn’t missed a recording in the entire twenty year run.

A rotating cast of other regional experts join the conversation each week. Jon Arnold, based in Fort Worth, Texas, covers football in North and Central America. Mark Gleeson in Cape Town covers African football. John Duerden calls in from Seoul talking Asia. Mina Rzouki and Paul Sarahs talk Europe.

Around the world, there are thousands tuning in. In New Delhi, Anand Mann will be listening. There, it’s 06:00 or 07:00 in the morning (depending on the time of year). Almost without fail, this is how he begins his Saturday.

A Bayern Munich fan and avid South American football enthusiast, Anand has listened to the programme since 2004. He’s become a regular caller - you’ll find him asking for the lowdown on the rivalry between Gremio and Internacional, for example. Inspired to such an extent by the World Football Phone-In, he travelled across South America a few years ago, attending live matches along the way. “It is hard to follow football in Argentina from India as the matches are usually from 03:00 to 07:00AM.” he tells me. “The World Football Phone-In helps in keeping track.”

He is not the only one whose path has been impacted by the World Football Phone-In; Joseph Sexton, who lives in Spain and writes for Marca and The Sportsman, says “It's been an absolutely massive influence.

“I already had applied to do Spanish as a joint honours for my degree. When I got to second year, I jumped at the chance to add Portuguese. Inspired by South America as Tim told it, in the way that few can match for storytelling, but also by Andy Brassell.”

Now, Andy Brassell, World Football Phone-In alumnus, often calls him to speak about Spanish football for his European Football Show on Talksport.

Others who write about the game feel the same, all over the world. Adam Brandon, who lives in Arica, Chile and Simon Edwards in Medellin, Colombia discuss South American football for the World Football Index’s podcast series, and both have listened for many years. Brandon told me what he thought makes it stand out: “I think the fact WFPI looks at football with a social conscious is the key to its success”

“Often you hear people say they like the show even if they don't have a keen interest in football. I think the writing and podcasts I do also try and give some social context too so in that sense it has probably influenced me.”

Paul Sarahs, who has worked as the European correspondent for the past five years, told me what a privilege it is to appear. “I’ll never get a gig that I’m proud of, or more happy to be a part of than The World Football Phone-In. It’s an institution - to be part of it is sensational”.

For a certain type of football obsessive, The World Football Phone-In is the gold standard.

To celebrate 20 years of the programme, Friday night featured a special bumper four hour edition. The timing could hardly have been better, with the draw for next summer’s World Cup having just taken place, the Copa Libertadores concluding with a Gremio triumph, and the European leagues ramping up to their most hectic period of the season. There’s plenty to talk about, and plenty of reminiscing to be done, too.

Fans were invited to sit in on the recording in Salford, and about 30 long-time listeners travelled from all around the UK to be there. One dedicated fan, Henrik, even flew in from Copenhagen. “I enjoy the community feel of it as much as I enjoy the content. You switch it on and it’s like walking into a family room”, he tells me.

Nothing demonstrates that sense of inclusivity than the scene of 30 footballing obsessives, wearing shirts from around the world - Iran, Argentina, Romania feature - all congregating to do an all-nighter and contribute to four solid hours of global football discussion. One fan, Simon, a baker from Cornwall, couldn’t make it but sends up fifty pasties for the party.

Tim Vickery is there in person, having flown in from Rio earlier that day. Paul Sarahs is there too, and global correspondents Jon Arnold, Mark Gleeson and John Duerden are all available via Skype. Between them, the 32 teams going to the World Cup from FIFA’s six confederations are covered.

Dotun Adebayo, wearing a Nigeria jersey and well into the spirit of the occasion, ably manages to tie everything together, but not without a few extra surprises. Former contributors Mani Djazmi (Asia) and Sean Wheelock (North America) have returned on the line for one night only, and there’s a special congratulations message from Andy Brassell, who can’t go without being reminded of one of the phone-in’s most hilariously confrontational callers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqVae1t9on8

There’s a slightly anarchic feeling to the evening, as the live audience are invited to contribute as much as they feel, alongside the many experts on hand. It’s this kind of looseness that is the programme’s biggest strength - Adebayo will take any thread and just run with it. There’s a focus on contemporary issues but without a strict agenda, the conversation has room to breathe and go unexpected places.

The content is often a refreshing antidote to so much of the dominant dialogue around football. Given it’s name, it’s only natural that the The World Football Phone-In skirts away from the most glamorous European leagues and players, but it also shows a contempt for any notions of football starting in 1992 and “the Premier League era”. Tim Vickery in particular has an unrivalled knack for storytelling, and every week features excellent anecdotes.

It’s a programme that celebrates the vibrancy of the global game, at a time when it’s easy to be jaded. The corruption scandals of FIFA, the often underwhelming state of international summer tournaments, and the monopolisation of the world’s best players at an elite few oil rich clubs.

Adebayo, Vickery and company all recognise that ultimately football is still fun. That the prestige of the World Cup still tops anything else, in spite of the marketing cache of club football and the sensationalism of the transfer market and Sky Sports News. That there is colour and passion still to be found in far-flung corners of the globe.

There’s a rapport between the contributors, who never take themselves or the sport too seriously. Adebayo has a real skill for steering the show from between being outrageously silly to insightful and analytical. After the deaths of Johan Cruyff and Carlos Alberto, the contributors celebrated their lives and contributions to football in a fitting manner.

There is a poignant part of the anniversary evening, as two deserved holders of the programme’s hallowed “Brazilian shirt names”, only given to exceptional and regular callers, are invited to the BBC’s studios in London and join every via video link. Cleo, known as  The Book, and Andrew, also known as The Gent, have been calling for years and part of The World Football Phone-In’s fabric. They’ve both experienced personal hardship over the last year, and the tribute that is paid to their contributions was both moving and heartfelt.

The Brazilian shirt names are just part of a wider lexicon that is unique to the show. There’s an entire glossary that could be made from the injokes and repeated references. For the uninitiated, it might seem impenetrable on first listen, but Adebayo’s warm and welcoming demeanour nullifies that soon has you feeling part of the club. Tim Vickery thinks it’s integral to the show’s dedicated following, and its longevity: “It has those little injokes, where if you listen every week, you’re part of it.

“Anyone who spends a little bit of time will get to know the little silly injokes that we have. I love that, and I think that’s absolutely crucial to the identity of the show. But without being self indulgent, it’s inclusive, anyone can join in.”

Adebayo and Vickery, as the weekly regulars, define the programme. One thing that you get with a partnership that has lasted such a long time, is the rapport they’ve build and the genuine sense of friendship and camaraderie. Adebayo stresses that the phone-in is much more than a football chat show, and therein lies its biggest strength: “We’re not even talking about football half the time, or so it seems, but it’s a broader church than that.

“Football is used as a prism to talk about so many other things - to entertain people, to have some jokes alongside the way, but also to have some great conversation.”

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FC Pinetar vs FC Minerva, Tercara Division (Murcia League) 4-3 thriller (03/09/2017)

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First press box @ Mariners Park (South Shields)

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Group I - final round of fixtures preview

As qualifying begins to reach it’s conclusion in the several confederations, Europe’s Group I is as close and tense as anywhere else in the world. With one qualifying place and one play-off place available, there are four teams who are still in touching distance. It’s still all up for grabs for Turkey, Croatia, Iceland and Ukraine.

The make-up of the table reflects how how close it has been between the four teams, but the chasm between those and Finland & Kosovo demonstrates a drop in quality. Of the four teams hoping to qualify, only Iceland have dropped points to one of them, in a 1-0 away defeat to Finland last month.

What’s interesting about the final fixtures are that each team has one fixture against the ‘whipping boys’ of the group. Stranger things have happened, and Finland especially have proved to be difficult opponents on their own patch, but at this stage, with them unable to qualify, one would expect Ukraine and Iceland to beat Kosovo, whilst Turkey and Croatia should beat Finland in this last round of qualifying.

This leaves two fixtures in particular key - Iceland’s trip to Eskişehir to play Turkey on Friday night, and Croatia’s visit to the Olympiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv next Monday. There’s a number of permutations for qualification, but essentially anyone can do it - should Turkey and/or Ukraine win (both their games), they’d at least finish in the 2nd play-off spot, and can still have hopes for the top spot. The cushion allows Croatia and Iceland a little more leeway, meaning 4 points would be enough for either of them to finish in the top 2. This is well set up, with them both having the difficult tasks of performing away from home, in the famously hostile atmospheres of Ukraine and Turkey.

As for the issue of the 2nd place rankings - whereby the bottom-ranked 2nd place team from the 9 groups, as decided by points gained, misses out on the play-offs - is certain not to apply here. This is likely to be between a team from Group D (currently Wales), H (Bosnia and Herzegovina) or A (Sweden). Whoever finishes second here has done enough already.

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Sunderland Metro

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Game 2. Huddersfield 1 - 0 Newcastle, 20/08/2017

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Season Reviews from 2016-2017

#From an unfinished power rankings piece. (Might as well put them somewhere now they’re overdue and useless) 

#1 REAL MADRID

This is the first season that Madrid have won a European Cup and League Title double since 1958. A feat that has evaded the likes of Vicente Del Bosque, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelloti. Even the greatest manager in their history, Miguel Muñoz, with his incredible 13-year reign, claiming nine league titles and two European cups, failed to win both in the same season. Such a double is a prerequisite to stake a claim as the best of the best. Astonishingly, football’s most famous and decorated club have gone nearly sixty years without an emphatic claim as European football’s strongest team. Now, there’s no argument.

Legendary figures like Raul, Iker Casillas, Hugo Sanchez, Emilio Butragueño, Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima couldn’t do it as players. Nor could Zinedine Zidane. As coach, not only has he done it in his first full season, but been the first since Arrigo Sacchi, back in 1990, to retain it.

The secret to his success was his exemplary management of the squad, and the season as a whole. This is essentially the job spec any Read Madrid manager faces. No-one in world football - arguably in the history of the sport, too -  has the luxury of so many first-class players for every position. But that can cause a problem in and of itself, to keep so many egos in check, happy and performing when called upon. This requires leadership, authority and diplomacy - qualities that evaded his predecessor, Rafa Benitez, and eventually proved Jose Mourinho’s undoing, and many others before him.

Madrid’s success in winning the league was achieved through balance and rotation. Everybody contributed - twenty players clocked up over a thousand minutes. The likes of Nacho Fernandez, Marco Asensio, Isco, Alvaro Morata, Mateo Kovacic, James Rodriguez and Lucas Vazquez have had outstanding seasons, yet with everybody fit, would still probably not feature in Madrid’s First XI. Throughout the season, and especially during the run-in - a brave decision at that point to rotate so heavily in March and April - they all stepped up.

This policy of squad rotation benefitted nobody more than Cristiano Ronaldo. For over half of the season, nobody would have considered him in a La Liga XI of the season, and the policy of resting him during away trips, sacrificed any chance the Portuguese would have of winning the Pichichi award for La Liga’s top scorer. It’s unlikely there’s another footballer on the planet that cares as much about those individual accolades as Ronaldo, so it’s some achievement to get him to comply.

In doing so, it kept him fresh enough to be hugely decisive in both the La Liga run-in (five excellent goals against Malaga, Celta Vigo and Sevilla in the final week of the season), and of course the final stages of the Champions League, where he scored a frankly ludicrous 10 goals against some of Europe’s best - Bayern, Atletico, and then Juventus - to win the trophy. For him to play such a decisive role in two major trophies looks set to have him with another Balon D'or, an award that should be a happy bonus on top of major trophies, although seems to be the end-game for the Portuguese himself, and his legion of goal.com-commenting lunatics.

His game has gone through a drastic evolution this season, becoming a pure Number 9. By distilling his game down to goal-poaching, he's as effective and potent as he's been in years. He will do little to carve open a defence or wreak havoc in the final third - when was the last time you saw him run past a defender? - but he will put away almost any chance, or half-chance that falls to him. Both of his goals in the Champions League final encapsulate what the player has become - flawless finishing and exceptional movement in the box. Nobody in world football does it better.

But a number 9 can only be as good as the service he receives. Ronaldo's goalscoring record speaks of the creativity in the side. In particular, the quality of the crossing from the likes of Modric and Marcelo is so dangerous, and the quality of deliveries from corners and set-pieces from Kroos matches anybody else from a dead ball. Remarkably, their top assist-to-scorer combination this system is Kroos to Ramos.

Curiously, this Madrid side - the best and most successful in a generation - contradicts the identity and traditions of the club to a certain extent. No doubt, this is a Galactico squad, assembled expensively, with several record-breaking signings. Yet there was only one addition to the squad last summer was a back-up striker, a buy-back clause exercised on an acquainted Madridista, Alvaro Morata. There is a settled, cohesive nature to this squad, which betrays some of Madrid's - and Florentino Perez's most self-destructive tendencies to tinker and add superfluous glamour. There were only two differences between the starting XIs in the Champions League Final of 2016 and 2017 - an ageing, injured Pepe replaced by Verane, who has spent six seasons at the club and made over 100 appearances. As Gareth Bale was not fully fit, they could call on Isco, himself with over a hundred appearances, and now playing the best football of his career in a system that better suits both Ronaldo and the midfield.

This was not a perfect season, and improvements can be made. Keylor Navas has looked shaky as often as he's looked spectacular. Casemiro has come on leaps and bounds but occasionally looks a liability, perfectly fitting this team by virtue of being an actual defensive midfielder, but there might be better options out there. Zidane has answered almost every question asked of him, though his inability to manage the game versus Barcelona, his team overcommitting to throw away a vital point in the dying seconds, could have cost his team the league title. Madrid also made hard work of the second legs against Atletico and Bayern in matches that should have been formalities. They were particularly fortunate with officiating decisions in the latter. Sergio Ramos made many mistakes, and their record of clean sheets wasn’t the best for a top-level club. They spent also spent the first half of the season not performing particularly well, and looking neither convincing nor unbeatable.

Nevertheless, this was a team that scored in every single game this season. They looked defensively resolute in the games that really mattered. Their route to lifting the European Cup was almost as difficult as you could imagine, and they emphatically beat each opponent. Even on their off-days, they had a will to win that’s the mark of experienced winners - an almost Ferguson-like ability to grind out results, or belief until the final whistle that a crucial goal was coming through any which way, usually involving the forehead of Sergio Ramos.

#2 BAYERN MUNICH

#3 JUVENTUS

#4 BARCELONA

This was a strange, transitional kind of season for Barcelona. Deeply unbalanced, deeply flawed.  Yet it speaks for the individual quality in the core of the team that they were able to push the strongest Real Madrid side in a generation to the very final day, and blessed the football world with two of the most memorable games of the season - the comeback against PSG, and a Clasico won in the final seconds - fruitless as they turned out to be in the pursuit of titles.

Lionel Messi is a footballer who plays on the fringes of plausibility, but some of his performances this season - often dragging his off-colour teammates to victories - had to be seen to be believed. In particular, his display against Jorge Sampaoli's in-form Sevilla in the Winter was a thing of wonder. Messi scored and assisted in a 2-1 win, but it was more than that. He was Xavi. He was Cruyff. He was Maradona. That day, the new Argentinian national team coach said “sometimes Messi lets you stop him and sometimes he doesn’t. When the game breaks [open], he’s unstoppable.”. He will be salivating at the thought of working alongside him in a world cup year.

Neymar, too, stepped up a level previously unseen. His game now has a maturity that had been lacking before. His headline-grabbing display in the unforgettable second leg comeback against PSG demonstrated an astonishing level of composure, as he curled in a fantastic free-kick, slotted away a penalty, and provided the most perfectly-weighted last ditch effort into the box you'll ever seen, to gift Barcelona the impossible three goals in six minutes they needed to take them through. His form continued in the title run-in, and the Brazilian can now stake a real claim as the second best player in the world.

It was in other areas that Barcelona struggled and faltered. The senior midfield three of Busquets, Iniesta and Rakitic - all three so reliable in the Luis Enrique era - all suffered prolonged spells of poor form. Sergi Roberto had his moments - and the moment - yet never totally convinced as a full back.

Barcelona's failure this season, however, was not down to their senior players. Unbeaten against the top five - taking four points apiece from Real, Atletico and Villarreal, and six from Sevilla - is a Championship-winning record. It was the points dropped against the likes of Alaves, Malaga (twice!) and Betis that would define their season. These are not bad teams, and on those days, put in excellent performances. The truth remains, however, that Barcelona - and any Barcelona team - operate at a level that they should be beating these sides.

But the difference between Barcelona and Real Madrid this season was the squad, and the management of the season. Zidane could play the likes of Isco, Asensio, Kovacic, Nacho, James and be confident that they'd get the job done. The same could not be said for the likes of Paco Alcacer, Andre Gomes, Jeremy Mathieu, Denis Suarez and Rafinha.

#5 Monaco

#6 Atletico Madrid

#7 PSG

#8 Chelsea

Conte’s first season with Chelsea has defied all expectations, but in certain ways it should have been no surprise. A coach with experience of winning league titles, the core of a squad no worse than the one that won the league at a canter two years ago, with high calibre signings since then.

Terry and Ivanovic rapidly declined and couldn’t contribute this time, but were adequately replaced by David Luiz, and - sort-of - Victor Moses. Additions also included the most vital cog in the unlikeliest of title wins, N’Golo Kante, hustling himself to deserved multiple player of the season awards. Eden Hazard dazzled again to recapture the kind of form that catches Florentino Perez’ eye for a Galactico. David Luiz silenced his critics. Diego Costa put snarl on the backburner and his football front and centre again, demonstrating the kind of reliable centre forward play and goalscoring ability that was vital in previous title wins for Chelsea and Atletico.

This was a title largely won by a repeated first XI, but they also had strength in depth when it was required. Cesc Fabregas’ cameo appearances launched an assault on the Premier League Assists table, Michy Batshuayi popped up with the goal that sealed it, Willian the model example of energy and end-product you’d want to change a game. Even John Terry found the time to make the final game all about him, in a season he had little to do with.

Chelsea looked pretty much unstoppable as things clicked with the implementation of a back three, recording a record 14 consecutive wins and responding with professionalism to their rare blips. They played some stunning football, their dominant wins - 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0 - over Leicester, Man Utd, and Everton in Autumn standing out. They also showed the guile to win points when not at their best, as their consecutive 1-0s over West Brom, Sunderland and Crystal Palace in December demonstrated. From there, they just didn’t let up.

Their formidability was reflected in the final table - seven points clear of an exceptional Spurs, who would have done enough to win the league title in the vast majority of seasons. A record amount of wins, one of the best ever points totals - one of an elite few to surpass ninety - sets them amongst the greatest Premier League sides. Up there with Wenger’s Invincibles, Mourinho’s imperious first season at Chelsea, and Manchester United at their Tevez-Rooney-Ronaldo best.

But there’s context to consider when ranking them in the history of great teams, and their contemporaries in Europe. Those campaigns didn’t exist in isolation, they were fought with other fronts to consider. This was a large factor of the Leicester City miracle, and proved to be the case again. It’s a very important caveat, because it has an influence on so many of the factors of their season - lack of fatigue, ability to focus, reduced risk of injury, and most importantly of all, the amount of time spent at the training ground, uninterrupted by midweek travel and continental fixtures to prepare for. This accounts for why the switch to the back three - which defined the title win - appeared to be so seamless. They had time on their hands to perfect it.

Of course, none of this reflects poorly on Conte, although it will pour salt onto the wound for Jose Mourinho. This success underlines how utterly broken the club became in his final season at Stamford Bridge. It’s damning on the Manchester United manager that a squad this good couldn’t qualify for either tier of European competition, leaving a point away from the relegation zone midway through last season. Nonetheless, it was a blessing for the Italian to inherit an excellent side with the unprecedented ability to focus their energy on one league game a week.

The season came to an anticlimactic end at Wembley, where after ably swatting Spurs and Manchester United aside en route to the FA Cup final, they put in an uncharacteristically limp display against Arsenal to lose 2-1. It’s difficult to read too much into a performance and result that’s so at odds with the rest of their season, but it will will sting that they failed to win a domestic double when it was there for the taking.

#9 Spurs

#10 Napoli

It was a tough choice between Roma and Napoli for the final spot in this list, and whilst Roma finished above Napoli on the final day to secure guaranteed Champions League football next season, Napoli edged it for the exhilarating style with which Maurizio Sarri's team played. The highest scoring team of highest scoring league in Europe. Having lost Italy's top scorer, and  breaker of a 66 year old record, Gonzalo Higuain, Napoli actually scored 14 more goals than last season, and improved on the points total too. Themselves and Roma proved worthy challengers for Juventus.

They did this, too, with the centre forward signed to replace the Argentine, Arkadiusz Milik, missing a large portion of the season through injury, and playing a peripheral role in the team on his return. The key to their upturn has been the interplay and understanding between a front three of Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and Jose Callejon, with Marek Hamsik behind them. Between the four of  them, they've scored 72 goals, and assisted 40. One of the most impressive things about this is that the four of them have been established  European internationals for a long time, but Sarri has each of them functioning at another level and bringing the best out of one another, getting career highs out of each of them.

They have played effective, top-drawer football throughout the season, and it was only with the post-Milik injury wobble in October, before they established a system that didn't depend on him, that would cost them the title. They dropped nine points dropped in the league that month. In Europe, they did well to top a group of (domestic champions) Besiktas, Benfica, and Dynamo Kyiv, and gave Real Madrid a real scare in their Last 16 meeting, taking a 1-0 lead in both legs.

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La Liga Predictions

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Learning shorthand. Losing my mind.

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PREDICTIONS 2016-2017. 

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Berwick go 2-1 up

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Berwick Rangers 3 - 1 Clyde FC, Shielfield Park, 5th August 2017

Match #1 of the season

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Neymar transfer - general  thoughts

*PSG

PSG pulling this off would make it the most significant transfer in European football since Ronaldo moved to Madrid in 2009, and in terms of the shifting of the balance of power, one of the biggest in history.

Irrespective of the fee (irrelevant when the club is disgustingly good for it and adept at getting around FFP), from a footballing point of view, would improve PSG immensely.

First of all, he’s a calibre of player that nobody but Messi and Ronaldo can compare to. At 25, he’s the greatest player the world elect - there is no other viable candidate once the dominant era of those two subsides. From his time spent playing alongside the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Suarez, he’s refined his explosive skill and pace from his Santos days into a consistently devastating end product. Despite Barcelona’s poor season in 2016-2017, Neymar was at his best yet.

Secondly - and most importantly - Neymar is a clutch player. He provides a mental strength and ability that has been PSG’s undoing in Europe in recent years. There is no greater exhibition of this than last season’s unbelievable 6-1 defeat of PSG, with three goals - two from Neymar, the other assisted with 30 seconds to go - against one of the most mentally fragile capitulations in history. In those frantic, breathless final ten minutes, the Brazilian demonstrated exactly what it is that PSG lack. At the time I wrote;

“Each of the three goals were unbelievable displays of steel from Neymar. In those final ten minutes he displayed more leadership and courage than the entire PSG XI combined.”

*Neymar himself

Two motives seem clear. One is evidently the money and needs no examining. Secondly, Neymar is motivated by winning the Balon D’or - there is a lot to be read into about how Neymar has been influenced by Robinho growing up, and how revered the award is in Brazilian football culture. Neymar’s career has been very calculated so far in this regard, in avoiding the mistakes of the last potential-great of Brazilian football and maximising his potential.

It’s debatable whether this would be best served by moving to a less visible league - only Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991 has won the award playing in Ligue 1 - but increasingly, the award looks achievable by being the poster boy of major successes, regardless of consistency. A league title and any domestic success would be irrelevant in this regard, but should he win a Champions League, and/or the World Cup, he would be a favourite to win it.

It’s a fallacy that Neymar is stifled by Messi or anyone else at Barcelona - as pointed out by Sid Lowe, the team is geared around his strengths. At the moment he’s playing with the best player in the history of the sport - at his peak - and moving to a worse team. He will not receive better service next year. But unless things drastically change, should Neymar continue at Barcelona, and they win the Champions League again, Messi would likely still be the best player and win another Balon D’Or.

It’s also not at all unthinkable a PSG with Neymar win the Champions League (as above). After Madrid and Barcelona (who between them have 6 out of the last 8 trophies), a PSG with Neymar could be filed alongside the likes of Juventus and Bayern as the next most likely.

As for the World Cup, a move to a less taxing league might be in Neymar’s best interests in the short-term, to keep him as fresh as possible for Russia. Brazil have to be considered amongst the favourites.

There are still question marks. One is the calibre of the coach - Unai Emery looks limited, and hasn’t yet established himself as one of the elite managers of European football. Unlike the likes of Guardiola, Mourinho, Ancelloti, he is an irrelevance in luring the best players.

The other is that it’s difficult to see where Neymar goes from here. The nature of this transfer and PSG’s financial clout will make it very difficult to leave, and it seems that the player still has very real ambitions to play for the biggest clubs and under the best coaches in England or even Real Madrid. Two or three years at PSG would be fine for Neymar, but it’s difficult to see him spending all the peak years of his late twenties there - could he become trapped there? 

*Barcelona

To try and spin this as a good thing for Barcelona would be daft. Logic dictates that Neymar will remain one of the best players in the world for some time. He’s going to a strong rival for the Champions League. He’s become increasingly important to Barcelona and played a vital role in their treble of 2015. The timing, after a full pre-season has concluded, and a double-legged Clasico and start of the league campaign in the coming weeks is far from ideal.

This is bad. But, there are also some positives. 

Reports of exactly how much Neymar's father earned from the club vary, but that can be put behind the club now. Having a squad full of loyal servants and bona fide superstars on the wage-bill was beginning to look unsustainable, with the club seemingly unable to patch up the widening cracks in the squad - not replacing Dani Alves, inadequately protecting an ageing Iniesta. Getting one of the highest earners off the wage-bill, plus all the baggage that came with him, should allow the club to finally address more pressing issues. 

Losing Neymar will lose a lot of Barcelona’s dynamism. Even takes the gloss off their prestige and fear factor. Yet there’s a chance that if the club plays their cards right, they end this window with a more cohesive and balanced team than the hodge-podge that struggled last season (and yet scored more goals, conceded fewer, took four points from, and only finished three points behind the strongest Madrid team in years - the leap isn’t huge to catch them).

There’s always the temptation to draw parallels with previous situations. Figo leaving, and the three trophyless seasons that followed is the obvious one. But this is a different team, Neymar is a different player, and this is its own situation. There is every chance that this has a galvanising effect on the team, and they respond to it. There has been very little wrong with the front three of M/S/N, arguably the best forward line in the history of football, but there is only so long a team can play the same system with it getting stale and predictable - this hasn’t been the case just yet, but after three years together it might have been a matter of time. Not ideal, but a chance for a new coach to try fresh ideas.

There are also precedents set by this team - the one of Pique, Busquets, Iniesta and Messi. The last three times they failed to win the league, twice they responded by winning a treble, and the other time they won the league with a record points total (each time by new managers, I might add). This team, many of these players, have responded to greater adversity in the past. 

In terms of investment, it gets interesting. With the obscene cash injection - more than doubling any previous transfer record - it becomes tempting to play real-life Fantasy Football. It’s an unprecedented amount of money, and as such devalues itself instantly. It’s the kind of silly circumstances, a deadly combination of advertised spending power and desperation to sign that lead to cautionary tales like Andy Carroll going for £35 million, six years ago. 

Barcelona have already filled the biggest problem position and signed a Right Back, both sorting out that issue and allowing Sergi Roberto theoretically to reinforce a thin midfield. There are any number of players that Barcelona could/should sign to balance their squad, but a forward to replace Neymar, and a top quality midfielder are essential. For now we can only speculate - Jean Michael Seri & Ousmane Dembele? Alexis Sanchez returning and Marco Verratti? Philippe Coutinho? However it goes, this transfer window and the use of the Neymar funds will define Barcelona’s future. If they spend it wisely, they could emerge from this better off.

[watach-blog]

17-18

over the course of the next season I’m going to be doing a masters in sports journalism. will hopefully be going to a lot of matches around the country and stuff, freelancing and writing a lot more about football.

just gonna use this page for stuff I dunno what to do with elsewhere - videos, pictures, general thoughts that aren’t formatted or given much thought that don’t really belong as articles (anything “proper” I’ll still use Medium for, or try/fail to get published somewhere), links to what i’ve been writing etc.

got very cynical and jaded with the internet and writing anything that’s probably been said better elsewhere, but worst comes to worst i’m just being a bit self indulgent and/or wasting a bit of time on stuff people aren’t gonna see, which in the grand scheme isn’t that bad really