He worries, too, about the potentially corrosive effect of too much money too soon on young footballers and their families. ‘Even when I was young I heard people saying that footballers earned too much money,’ he says, recalling his formative years with Auxerre. ‘But the difference is in my time, I never heard my father say to me or make me think that I had to play for money. It was only about passion, only about the dream’. What has changed? ‘Maybe the media. It’s the reality TV generation. It’s all about shit, I think – cars, celebrities, all these kinds of things that we don’t really need. In my time it was very different. It’s a very interesting subject. Now the parents want their kids to earn money, to be famous’.”
- On his 50th birthday, Manchester United legend Eric Cantona speaks to The Guardian’s Owen Gibson in London.
Three days before his team suffered the indignity of being the first Connacht side to lose in Ruislip in the championship, Ross Donovan spoke about the ordeal of travelling to London for a championship match. He spoke in pained terms about the various hardships involved which included getting on a plane and landing at an airport, waking up in a hotel and trying to ingest food when one can. His tale from the front line attracted little sympathy. However, Donovan is not alone in suggesting that the Ruislip jaunt can be unnerving in its otherness. The atmosphere is unlike any other championship match. It has a vague village fete feel with emigrants catching up, knocking back pints in the sun [hopefully] while a game of ball goes on somewhere in the vicinity. The football is secondary. Or at least is should be, assuming all goes to plan for the visitors.”
- Conor Neville of Balls.ie reflects on how Mayo’s trip to play London in 2011 very nearly ended with a disastrous start to life as manager for James Horan.
Spanish sports newspaper Marca has already depicted Pep and José standing back to back with 18th-century duelling pistols. This feels faintly refined, considering that Mourinho’s most famous move on a member of the Barcelona coaching staff would have been outlawed even in MMA. “A United manager wouldn’t have done that,” opined Bobby Charlton of the eye gouging, back when Man U were still affecting to be not that kind of girl. Still, someone once said that all villains are just victims whose stories have yet to be told, so perhaps Mourinho’s United tenure will see the belated reveal of an origin story that finally explains him sympathetically.”
- The day may come where managers accept each other as worthy foes; for now, the soon-to-be Manchester rivals are ready for the event horizon of mind games, writes The Guardian’s Marina Hyde.
In the plug-in, Arsenal are called Highbury (which is fantastically nostalgic, isn’t it?), with Devid Siaman in goal and Juhn Jinsen marshalling the midfield, while Elan Smoth pops up with the occasional back-post header. At Rangers, named simply Glasgow (Celtic are billed as ‘Glaswegians’), Merk Heteley leads the attack, which sounds more like some sort of instruction to really get in an opponent’s face than it does an actual human being. Sensible World of Soccer, my Amiga favourite, never had this ‘problem’, given its many authentic leagues, but it doesn’t bother me now. After all, it’s not like PES hasn’t had its share of licensing shortcomings over the years, as you lined up an up-to-date, kit-accurate Newcastle United against West London White, Lancashire Athletic or West Midlands Village.”
- If you were a fan of Sensible Soccer back in the day, you’ll enjoy this from Mike Diver for Vice.
No city in the world has won more European Cups than Milan, but that record will fall this weekend when either Real or Atletico will win the 11th for Madrid, surpassing Milan’s 10 titles. (Hey, it’s still 10 times more than Paris, London, Moscow and Rome combined, so that’s something.) And if Diego Simeone somehow wills Atleti past the Galacticos and into history, Milan will lose another crumb of trivia that made it special: it will no longer be the only city with two European Cup winners. These are small things, granted, but right now, it’s all the city has to hang on to in a footballing sense. Saturday night’s game is the only European football that the San Siro will witness in the 2015-16 season, as both Inter and Milan failed to qualify for even the unloved Europa League. The last time that happened was 45 years ago.”
- Milan hosted this weekend’s Champions League final but it’s a tough time for football fans in the Italian city, as Gabriele Marcott explained for ESPN.
Kerr followed Gallwey’s advice, endeavoring to stop judging his play and instead quiet his thoughts — what many know as mindfulness. Forget what happened on the last two plays, what will happen if you miss this shot, and your weekend plans. Instead, concentrate on the seams of the ball, or the whack-thump of hit and bounce (in tennis), or the pattern of your breathing. Occupy your brain and it can’t fret or chide (Keep your wrist firm, move your front foot, grip tight!).”
- Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated on how Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr uses ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ to get the most out of his players.
In the days after Kevin died, a 12-year-old wrestler from Kevin’s junior wrestling academy designed a patchwork quilt of photos of Kevin and his youngest son Santino. It was beautiful, and it laid underneath Kevin’s urn for all of the funerals. Another wrestler, a nine-year-old, wrote a letter directly to Santino. Through tears, he said that he’d never get over losing Coach Kevin, that Coach Kevin changed his whole life, and that he would be Santino’s friend forever. The kids of Monster Wrestling competed in state finals two weeks later, and after taking first place, another 10-year-old dedicated his win to Santino by offering up his gold medal. Santino hung it in the living room next to a photo of his dad.”
- A stunning profile of former UFC heavyweight champion, the late Kevin Randleman, from Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com.
It is not Sheffield Wednesday’s tragedy and yet it belongs to them and to all of us, particularly after last month’s inquest verdict and what the Labour Party called, ‘the greatest miscarriage of justice of our time’. They, their stadium, will be looked upon anew if they beat Hull City tomorrow in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final at Wembley. ‘Dad’s dream was for this to be the best venue in England and it was at one time — the Wembley of the north,’ Andy Taylor says. ‘But the name of the stadium is synonymous with disaster’.”
- Prior to Sheffield Wednesday’s involvement in the Championship play-off final, The Times’ George Caulkin paid a visit to their Hillsborough home.
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