Ian Rush and Tony Yeboah at the high point of optimism
As an image of pure optimism I don't think this can be bettered. It's a weird image. It's a great image. God, Ian Rush was rubbish though.
Tag
Essays
A collection of 84 posts
Archie Gray, PSR, and saying goodbye to football's glorious delusions
To look at Archie Gray playing for Leeds was to see a golden era come back, to forget all the market forces crushing modern football and feel the glorious 1960s and 70s again. A smiley badge on the away kit next season won’t do that the way Archie Gray could do that.
The history of Red Bull, and the history of Leeds United
The best argument for convincing ourselves that Red Bull won't change Leeds United's name or colours is the weight of our heritage, but it is also the danger.
The Wembley Archie
A baton will be passed on Sunday, a family inheritance. But Andy Gray will be handing down a beginning, not a destiny.
Proposal: abolish football managers
The death of football is relentlessly demanding that the manager is held 'accountable' when organised chaos does not deliver perfection.
Going out of style
This is not to start arguments about one style being better than another, or one manager being better than another. But what people are finding to be faults in Daniel Farke's football would have solved many of the problems people had with Marcelo Bielsa's.
Georgi dot anything
What seems to be important to Georgi is the act of creativity for its own sake, of seizing the chance to do something he's always wanted to do, now that he has the chance to — not for the status but for the feeling.
Jesse’s version
Listening to his recent interviews, Marsch has seemed desperate for a fight, any sort of argument, so he can be the underdog and the winner he believes himself to be. The problem is that, in the real world, Jesse Marsch isn’t interesting enough to argue with.
We never expected what we got from Luke Ayling
Luke Ayling might not have known what to expect from Marcelo Bielsa, but Bielsa knew what he could expect from him. And that, ultimately, tells you where the credit should go for Luke Ayling's career at Leeds.
Happiness is not a cheat code
Maybe I’ve had enough of angry people in brightly coloured polyester tops with their favourite player’s name printed on the back telling me that football is serious stuff and I should grow up and suffer with them.