ONE OF my not-so-secret vices is watching American sports documentaries on Netflix and Amazon Prime. OK, you have to not be swayed by the hype, about how special American sporting heroes, the top guns in the NBA, NFL and MLB are. You can ignore the bullshit, but, you have to admire the work their top stars put in, to help them maintain their $ million life-styles.
One I recently enjoyed was called 'Quarterback' – it did what it said on the label and focussed on the guys who are the real super heroes of American sport, the on-field masterminds of American Football. I was particularly intrigued by the snippets about Patrick Mahomes, the current lead candidate to be the G.O.A.T. In that position.
Young Patrick actually reminded me of oor ain rugby superstar Finn Russell, I would love to see a programme comparing the pair – there are so-many similarities between them.
Another one I enjoyed was 'Untold – Johnny Football' a Netflix documentary about former quarterback Johnny Manziel, a superstar with the Texas A & M 'Aggies' – the first Freshman to win the legendary Heisman Trophy, who proceeded to piss his talent up against the porcelain when he joined the professional ranks. A sort of USA version of Jim Baxter if you like.
I remember a short conversation I had with Baxter, shortly before he died. He admitted: “Ah never really liked fitba, ken; tae me, it wis a wey o' getting' tae shag better-lookin' burds.”
Being, like 'Stanley' from a mining village, I know where he was coming from, and could name plenty of other, albeit not so gifted, players who had a similar mind set.
In North America, if you have the talent, but not the work ethic, you will not make it in professional sport. If, however, you applied yourself at college, you can still have a good life. In Scotland, if you don't have enough talent to sustain a full-time career in football, you can still have a good ancillary income as a part-timer well into your thirties. That is not an option in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
In a revealing dissertation on the Manziel documentary, the magazine 'Texas Monthly' rips into the legend, pointing out how for all his college talent, Manziel was unwilling to do the necessary homework – studying video clips of opposition defence set-ups etc. This contrasted vividly with that portion of the 'Quarterback' documentary, which focussed, in particular, on veteran Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Kirk Cousins, sitting in the evening in his den in his luxury home, analysing video clips of his next opponents' defensive line-up, working-out the plays which might outwit them.
The bit in 'Quarterback' when Mahomes was discussing trick plays and how he used them was also revealing. And, that got me thinking – how much preparation did Celtic do, before they lost to Feyenoord on Tuesday night?
OK, a wee disclaimer here. Perhaps the Rotterdam side have something of a “hex” on Celtic. After all, they beat a superior Celtic side in the 1970 European Cup Final. Before that game, Jock Stein admitted, he wasn't worried so-much about the Dutch side as he was about his own men, fearing, after they had beaten Leeds United in that epic “Battle of Britain” semi-final, they maybe thought they had the thing won.
However, watching on Tuesday night, I thought Feyenoord was the better of two distinctly-ordinary teams; and they didn't have to do too-much to beat a poor Celtic side. Where the Dutch side was appreciably better than Celtic was in the technical aspects of the game, weight of pass, the ability to instantly control the ball on receipt, the way they ran into space and onto the ball.
The game turned on the opening goal. Now, I wonder, had Joe Hart, like Kirk Cousins in the American brand of football, watched clips of Feyenoord taking free kicks from around the penalty box? Do Celtic even employ an American-style 'Defensive Coordinator' whose job is to prepare the defence to counter whatever the opposition might throw at them? These guys earn mega-bucks, second guessing the opposition's 'Offensive Coordinator' to nullify attacking threats.
Their jobs are a basic fact of life in professional sport in North America, where “Fail to prepare – prepare to fail” is a daily mantra in sport.
I reckon too, when it comes to preparation for matches, our much-lauded 'Old Firm' squads could maybe learn a thing or two without leaving their home city; because, I am convinced the Glasgow Warriors Rugby Union squad and the Caledonian Gladiators basketball squad – most of whom are part-timers, put more work in between games than do the footballers.
It might also be, the Dutch League's Eredivisie is a tougher division to play in than the Scottish League's Premier Division. Or is it? We accept that up here, every season, it's a two-horse race for the title, with the two Glasgow giants that bit bigger and richer than the rest.
It could be argued, in the Netherlands, it's a four-horse race: Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV and AZ Alkmaar being the top teams. This simple approach, however, overlooks the ambition of the likes of Twente Enschede, Sparta Rotterdam, FC Utrecht, Heerenveen, Vitesse Arnhem and Go Ahead Eagles.
Some of these clubs are more akin to our provincial teams, in terms of stadium size and catchment area, but, I reckon they offer the Big Four more of an annual challenge than their Scottish counterparts offer our Big Two.
After Celtic's disappointing display in Holland, we had a more-heartening showing from Aberdeen in Frankfort. OK, the preferred approach of our mainstream media is pure Frankie Howard: “Woe, woe and thrice woe,” as the Dons lose at Hearts, to sit second-bottom of the table. Naturally, it helps sell papers if you have Barry Robson's jaiket on a shoogly nail. However, the new boss is rebuilding, so some teething troubles are to be expected. However, I thought the team played a lot better in Germany than people perhaps only reading Scottish reports, or watching the BBC Shortbread highlights show might have expected.
The way the Scottish League is set-up doesn't help our non-Old Firm sides, either at home or in Europe. This perception – that we want to see the best teams playing each other four times – it's pure pish. It panders to the laziness and lack of ambition of the guys running the club.
Basically, this top 12 nonsense is set-up so the other clubs get four near full-houses each season, to help balance the books. They are under no obligation to bring through local talent, since they will probably lose that talent cheaply to the machinations of greedy agents, keen to sell-on the youngsters to the riches of even the third tier in England. So, it's cheaper to buy-in non-Scottish mercenaries.
We've got too-many “Senior” teams and leagues in Scotland – it's a nonsense. Scotland has a population of roughly 5,5 million; we have 42 “Senior” teams, playing in four nationwide divisions. England has a population of 56 million, and 92 “Senior” clubs.
Pro-rata that means Scotland has one club for every 131,000 people. England has one club for every 608,000 people. And that is before you factor-in the overwhelming advantages in terms of “pull” enjoyed by just two of our clubs.
It makes no sense to have so-many small, in every sense of the word, teams in Scotland. And don't get me started on the stupidity of having two senior teams in the likes of Edinburgh or Dundee, three in Fife or Lanarkshire.
But, to borrow an expression from Scottish Rugby: “It's aye been and aye will be,” although I hope some day common sense will prevail and we will get meaningful change.
Finally, perhaps the best performance of the week in Europe came from Rangers, in beating Real Betis at Ibrox on Thursday night. I suppose we should expect the second-best team in Scotland, with home advantage, to be too good for the team lying tenth in La Liga, so maybe, two rather than three cheers.
I still maintain, half, or more of the current Rangers squad are Not Rangers Class, but, a win is a win. One thing we did learn this week is that, notwithstanding the criticism he had to accept for Feyenoord's opener, in Joe Hart and Jack Butland we currently have the two best active English goalkeepers, and both are playing in Glasgow. Somebody inside the Football Association should make sure Gareth Southgate gets a seat at the next Old Firm match.
No comments:
Post a Comment