The new Premier League season moved a small step nearer yesterday as the fixtures were announced. This always feels like a hurdle has been…..well…..hurdled, because it is a milestone during the close season which is designed to satisfy two longings.
The first is the millions of fans around the world who are all only a tablet/phone/laptop away from a conversation, friendly or otherwise, with each other. The fixture list will give them something positive to talk about so that they can, temporarily at least, refrain from threatening their club’s management, board, players and each other for a day or two.
The second is so that Sky can have some ready-made headlines for a few days. They can start with the top six and who they will be playing. Then they can move on to who the newly promoted teams will be meeting. They can even look at who the new managers will be playing in their first games with their new clubs. There now, that’s at least three days headlines sorted out! For Sky Sports, the fixture release is a godsend.
For a short while the sacking of a tea lady at some Vanarama Conference club becomes less relevant and the manic presenters can get giddy with excitement over something which is at least of some interest to the majority of football fans.
As we said earlier, for the rest of us it is an indication that we are a little bit nearer the new season and, thankfully, we have a meaningful international injury break to help us through the boredom this year.
Speaking of which…..
Robbie kicks things off along with Moscow’s answer to Pan’s People. (That reference will test a few memories)!
Said international injury break got underway with a short opening ceremony which involved Robbie Williams, accompanied by an opera singer, singing bits of some of his famous songs.
Quite why Robbie was the one chosen for this spectacle is a little mystifying given his support for the LGBT community and the Russian lack of any kind of recognition of it, never mind support. Not to mention that Robbie himself, even in a short opening ceremony, is still an example of everything that good old-fashioned communism is vehemently opposed to.
Still, it seemed to go down well with the crowd, and most of the watching TV audience around the world would at least have had an idea who Robbie actually was, if not his operatic partner!
When the middle-aged Potteries pot-belly finally left the arena the two teams who took to the field were the hosts and Saudi Arabia. With only three places between them at the lower end of the world rankings a close game was expected. A close game was not had, however, and Russia won very comfortably by 5-0. In truth, they weren’t brilliant but Saudi Arabia were awful.
So that was the first one out of the way and today saw the tournament start in earnest with another three games.
Some of our more regular readers may find this difficult to believe but, we at WSA, despite our objections to international football in general, are actually quite looking forward to the next month although whether that is because it satisfies our need for competitive football of any kind, or because we just having nothing better to do is debatable.
We will let you know in the middle of July.
And finally…..
Antoine Griezmann is staying at Atlético Madrid. How do we know this? Because we are based in Spain. Being based in Spain means that we hear about things that happen in Spain not too long after they happen. Sometimes even within weeks!
Antoine Griezmann – Has decided to stay in Madrid and being offered more money by Atlético than by Barcelona had nothing to do with his decision, honestly.
Clever little Antoine decided that, as he wasn’t going to be receiving any signing-on fees for moving club, he would make a documentary called “The Decision”. This would be about his agonising over whether to continue to be paid a fortune by Atlético Madrid or to switch allegiance and have his fortune paid by another master.
Movistar+ was the lucky channel chosen to show the documentary which must have been about as interesting as that old Andy Warhol one about a tin of beans.
Ironically, the film was made by a TV company owned by Gerard Piqué of Barcelona, a fact which hasn’t gone down too well with the Camp Nou hierarchy!
The upshot of it all was that the diminutive monsieur has decided to stay at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano with his favourite uncle Diego looking after him.
Expect a new contract to magically appear from nowhere in the very near future and tie him to the club until 2023. That will be the reward for his loyalty and his decision that the Premier League is probably too physical and competitive for him.
So Barcelona can forget him and Manchester United look as though they already have, around a year ago actually.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 