So, here's to you Vincent Kompany
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Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that in his first press conference since being appointed as head coach of Bayern Munich, Vincent Kompany, didn’t once refer to his former club Burnley by name.
His job in that media event was, of course, to start to create a relationship with Bayern Munich fans, make a strong first impression and perhaps ease any understandable doubts that may exist among Bayern fans or the German media, about the surprise appointment.
But it is unlikely that any of those Bayern fans or journalists would have been offended or even surprised if Kompany had directed some brief words of appreciation to the fans he had just left behind in East Lancashire.
Or maybe it was best not to remind those gathered that their new manager had just relegated a team after spending a club record in the transfer market, delivering the worst season in their 142 year history, and was the Bayern board’s seventh choice.
Kompany’s final words, after Burnley’s last game in the Premier League, were of a “bright and exciting” future for his team. He left the town that evening and hasn’t been seen near the club since. It’s going to be a bright and exciting future for someone anyway…..
He has moved on, quite literally, and many Burnley fans have too, already diving into the inevitable debates and speculation over who the next manager of their club will be. Few Burnley fans begrudge him the chance to test himself at the very highest level with a club like Bayern any way. But it was still surprising that there wasn’t even a cursory word for those who had backed him for two very contrasting seasons at Turf Moor.
At this point, you might be thinking - of course he doesn’t care about Burnley, it is just a job and football is a pretty ruthless business. And of course, many Burnley fans have been telling themselves exactly that for the past week or so.
Burnley fans always knew their club was just a ‘stepping stone’ for Kompany, just as Ipswich Town fans will have been telling themselves that, of course, Kieran McKenna is going to take a bigger job, if an offer comes along.
Except he hasn’t, and is expected to stay at Ipswich after turning down Man Utd.
But there is a subtle difference between being a careerist, which almost everyone in football is, and paying no regard whatsoever to the emotions that fans invest in their club, players and yes, manager.
In many ways football, particularly modern football, operates as an illusion. Fans travel up and down the country and spend an increasingly large chunk of their disposable income and free time, supporting those wearing their club’s colours and crest even though, deep down, they know the truth - they aren’t playing for us really.
Kids don’t understand the truth of course. That’s why young Everton fans cried when Wayne Rooney left his boyhood club for Manchester United - it is devastating for them, an utterly confusing betrayal. They learn though, in time, to accept the illusion and play along with it. It’s no fun otherwise.
If owning a goldfish teaches children about death, football teaches them about toxic relationships.
We might snigger at the ‘farewell notes’ that contemporary players post on social media when they leave a club but, however insincere those statements might occasionally be, they are at least an effort to maintain the illusion - “Yes, I’m off for bigger money with a better club, but it was great while it lasted wasn’t it?’
Shattering the illusion can be particularly damaging in an era, when clubs are owned by private-equity funds, energy drink manufacturers, American ‘investors’ and all manner of people whose connection to the fans is, tenuous to say the least. After all if the club is run by people who just want your money and represented on the field by people who just want their share of that money, it’s not much to feel loyal to is it?
It was very ‘modern football’ of American-owned Burnley to roll out a former NFL player to assuage their fans and insist that everything is going to be ok. But at least JJ Watt is actually good at the manufacturing of the illusion.
But what brings fans together to support their team, isn’t the owners, isn’t really the players or the manager, it is each other. It is the very real sense of community and camaraderie that people find in being together in a common cause.
In societies that are increasingly atomised, where a sense of shared identity and communal belonging are fading fast, football does provide us with a place where we can at least replicate what has been lost. Whether it is deep-rooted tribalism, as Desmond Morris famously argued, ‘war minus the shooting’ as Orwell suggested, an alternative to religion, or other forms of substitution, there is clearly something else at work other than just an appreciation of watching 22 people play a game.
Few will be as cold as Vincent Kompany in his ignoring of those who sang his name, because, while they may not ponder these questions too deeply, most people in football, whether they care about the feelings of fans or not, know they have to play the game.
They have to maintain the illusion.
Further reading: Richard Jolly in The Independent on how weird the Kompany move to Bayern is.
BBC report on Kompany’s press conference.
Your Daily Soccer Round-up….
Today’s Top Transfers:
Kalvin Phillips is ‘considering leaving the Premier League’ (Daily Mail)
Bayern Munich want Adam Wharton from Crystal palace(Daily Mail)
Managerial Mayhem:
Sonia Bompastor is the new Chelsea Women’s head coach (Guardian)
Enzo Maresca expected to join Chelsea as head coach next week (Mirror)
British Round-up
Red Bull have bought a minority stake in Leeds meaning they’ll be next season’s shirt sponsor. No doubt there’s a strained joke about having nobody out on the wings after their imminent $200M firesale, but we’re better than that. As Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO of Red Bull corporate projects and investments says, “We look forward to the partnership and are optimistic and energized about the future.” We see what you did there, Oliver… (Yahoo)
Is your team planning on languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League? Need a cheat sheet for every social occasion when conversations turn to “I’ll tell you who we should sign…?” We got you. Here are the players in the Championship ready to step up to the EPL. (Guardian)
European Round-up
The Dutch FA propose five rule changes:
Kick-ins to replace throw-ins (RIP Rory Delap and this fella)
Sin bins (good grief)
Self-pass for free kicks (try this in your back garden)
Flying substitutions (how it works in ice hockey)
Net playing time
Rather than the current gross of 90 mins it would be 60 mins ball in play, which is currently 54 mins. (@KieranMaguire)
Napoli's 2024 Serie A season was the worst performance ever by a reigning champion: 10th place, 53 points in 38 games. They did worse than Torino's 49/50 season (when the whole team died in an air crash). Someone’s in line for the Real Madrid job. (Fantacalcio)
How Olympiacos fans celebrated their win over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League (Reddit)
One of the more ham-fisted sportswashing efforts you’re likely to see: Gareth Bale calls on football to use its 'superpower' to help combat the ongoing climate crisis as Mastercard launch Pledge Ball to inspire collective action ahead of the Champions League final. (Daily Mail)
We’ll have all your Champions League preview needs covered tomorrow.
USA Round-up
After being rested for Saturday’s win at Montreal, Messi, Busquets and Suarez returned to the Inter Miami line-up - and promptly lost 3-1 to Atlanta, ending their ten-match unbeaten run. “There are no positives to take from this game,” said Miami coach Tata Martino. (Miami Herald $)
Nashville pulled off the surprise of the night with a 2-0 win at Cincinnati.
Here are all the goals from Week 16 (including Messi’s)
Good news for USMNT fans on Tyler Adams’ fitness progress. (ESPN)
Trinity Rodman is ready for the Emma Hayes Era with the USWNT (Megan Swanick, Guardian)
International Round-up
Does FIFA have a problem with it’s own lawyers and is it about to lose control of the transfer market? (Inside World Football)
Is a soccer revolution under way in the Dominican Republic? (Jon Arnold - Getting CONCACAFFed)
Things are kicking off in Cameroon where FA president Samuel Eto’o is clashing with government officials. (Inside World Football)
FIFA’s Arsene Wenger on what attributes the player of the future will need (FIFA)
The Daily Soccer Quote of the Day
"If you don’t go to Bochum, you can’t go to Wembley.” - Borussia Dortmund forward, Donyell Malen, keeping it real for the fans searching for tickets.
We’ll be back Tomorrow with more.
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