Cultured Football #193
Look Back at 2024. Arteta's Five Years. Tainted Gold. Battle for Germany’s Fanprojekte. The Most Beautiful Football on Earth.
2024: A year that demonstrated nothing lasts forever
By Neil Jensen for Game of the People
Nothing lasts for ever. Particularly in football where a few bad results can bring to an end even the most solid of relationships. 2024 underlined all of that and more.
Five years of Mikel Arteta
By for
As a non-Arsenal fan, it came as a bit of a surprise to me to learn that there are some (a minority, but still) who feel that the clock is ticking on Mikel Arteta. Surely they have to remember how poor they were in the years before him? That said, expecting more trophies than a solitary FA Cup after five years and significant amount of money spent is justified.
Tainted Gold
By Thore Haugstad for The Blizzard
Today it seems implausible for a Romanian club to advance to the latter stages of the Champions League, let alone win it. Yet in the 1980s Steaua Bucharest won the competition once and reached another final, underlining how egalitarian the previous format of the competition was. There was, however, little romantic about their successes with a lot of it down to the political machinations of those running the country at the time.
Bonus Pick: Charlton Athletic: when The Valley was vacant
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Another dip into memory lane, this time looking at Charlton during their temporary relocation due to financial and stadium issues. The club could easily have been lost were it not for the fans.
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‘Why are they destroying this?’: the battle for Germany’s Fanprojekte
There is much to admire about the fans’ roles in German football. But those running the game don’t seem to think so. After last year’s failed attempts to bring on venture funding, they are now targeting another force for good, the Fanprojekte.
The Most Beautiful Football on Earth: What We Are, Why We Destroy Ourselves
By József Bozsik on Medium
The success and failures of a national football team can evoke strong emotional reactions and a sense of collective celebration or disappointment within a nation. This essay looks at the relationship between a nation's culture and the development of its football with a particular focus on Brazil. A (very) long but interesting read..
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Last Week’s Most Read: Ranking Premier League teams by how much they waste on salary
By Ryan O'Hanlon for ESPN
There are a lot of articles which use data to rank teams but this is one of the most unusual and interesting takes: how do clubs rank by how the percentage of the salaries they pay they get to use on matchday. You’ll never guess which team tops this league.
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