Day -476. WorldCup2018
So much for that Jamie Vardy goal being the moment that Leicester's
season turned around. It was, I guess, but not in the way that most of
us would have guessed. Claudio Ranieri, the man who made Leicester fans
dream is gone. Sacked, because the team owners have more fear about
losing out on Premier League money than they have happy memories of the
most unexpected Premier League win ever, and the Champions League money
that brought. Dilly Dong to those ding-dongs.
Is that what you
think, Aidan? That he shouldn't have been fired, I know you will ask. In
a world full of the romance of sport (and what was more magical than
what happened last season) he should have been allowed to at least save
Leicester this season. The season after was always going to be hard. I
thought they would finish in the bottom half. But that’s when I feel the
journey should have ended, at the end of this season. Even if they got
relegated that should have been the natural conclusion to the Rainieri
story. For what he did, for how he inspired the players, fans and city
of Leicester he should have been left to play it out until there was an
end. It's like the film where you expect there to be a happy, sappy
ending but are relieved when it is quite the opposite. The hero drifts
off, not quite the hero at that moment, but he does have the memories
which will never be taken away.
But football is business and not a
romantic one, or with any room for romance. And if a manager seems to
have lost the support of his players, if the players don't respond to
his coaching anymore and the team is sliding towards inevitable
relegation, it is wholly unsurprising that the owners want to protect
their investment, the team. Will anybody save Leicester now? Will there
be a negative reaction from neutral fans who will want to see them
relegated, out of sympathy for Ranieri. As for the man himself, how can
you not feel sad for how his story has ended? At his age it is unlikely
there will be another chapter. But he will always be the manager of
Leicester, Champions of England, 2015-16.
I was watching football
today, sort of. Fiorentina-Borussia Mochengladbach in the Europa League
was on tv. When Fiorentina were 1-0 up, I mentally tuned out and
carried on with my job as assistant school project maker. Then it was
2-0 (3-0 on aggregate) and I really thought it was over. I kept it on.
2-1 at halftime. I walked away for what seemed like 30 seconds and when I
looked again it was 3-2 to Borussia. A minute later it was 4-2. What a
comeback. Of course now that I was watching I hoped that I would see a
Fiorentina comeback to out-do the Borussia comeback. But, no. Nothing
much happened. An exciting Europa League match between two teams I would
rarely watch, it's on tv right in front of me, and I didn't watch it.
But it's been that kind of week. I didn't see any of the Manchester
City-Monaco 5-3, the best Champions League match for a long time.
I came across this today and it was a good consolation. There
are few things better than a stadium full of football fans singing in unison to make me feel good. I have little interest in Hibernian, have
no attachment to any rivalry in Scotland. But regardless of who they just
beat, this alone is pretty magical.
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