Cultured Football #215
Celtic Stagnation. Swiss Dream. Spurs Dilemma. Bologna Contradictions. Quirky Copa Paraguay.
Time to Look Beyond Trophies
By Lewis Murray for
Can you ever get tired of winning? For fans of most clubs, that’s an absurd question; at Celtic it is becoming an existential one. They are beyond dominant in Scotland and start the season with success almost guaranteed. And, if they don’t win the league, it will almost certainly be Rangers who do so. Moments of real exhilaration are conspicuously absent for them. Which leads to one obvious conclusion: Celtic (and Scottish football) need a reset.
From sixth tier to Swiss Cup final: Biel-Bienne ready for time of their lives
By Michael Yokhin for The Guardian
Cup football has been particularly entertaining this season with a number of lesser heralded sides either winning domestic cups or else making it to the final. No one’s journey has been like that of Biel-Bienne who are vying for the Swiss Cup despite playing in the 6th Tier!
The Postecoglou Conundrum
By Jonathan Wilson for Wilson's World
Tottenham’s Europa League win may have ended a 41-year European drought, but Ange Postecoglou’s job security remains uncertain after a league campaign that saw Spurs finish fourth from bottom despite having the seventh-highest wage bill. Was victory in Bilbao evidence of long-term growth or just a pragmatic pivot that paid off. If Spurs had lost that final, would anyone still be backing Ange? That’s the uncomfortable question at the heart of Tottenham’s dilemma.
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Bologna's Football Cathedral Is a Layer Cake of Contradictions
By Jack Holmes for The Football Weekend
Bologna’s Stadio Renato Dall’Ara is a paradox: a fascist-era monument pulsing with left-wing energy, about to be renovated just as its club surges back into relevance. Bologna’s past is grand with seven league titles, mostly pre-WWII but its present, led by a revived squad under Vincenzo Italiano, has also achieved something special. Set against a city rich in history, rebellion, and academic fire, this visit to the Dall’Ara reveals a stadium becomes more than that: it’s a symbol of layers—of politics, passion, and the ghosts of footballing glory rediscovered.
Copa Paraguay celebrates the randomness of rural football
By for
By sheer coincidence, this issue of Cultured Football has ended up being quite cup focused. So it is fitting to conclude with a look at another cup albeit one that I don’t think many really know anything about: the Copa Paraguay. And, surely, there aren’t many cup competitions that feature as many quirky stories as this one.
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In Case You Missed It Here’s Last Week’s Most Read: Football's class appropriation problem
By Josh Bland for Against the Run of Play
Football clubs are very quick to make use of their working class origins and surroundings when it suits them. And, then, quickly ignoring them when money comes into play.
Bonus Read: CAF Champions League final: the billionaire’s club
[Ali Howorth x On The Whistle]
It isn’t just in Europe that football has become a billionaire’s playground, it is very much the same in Africa where bankrolled clubs. Two of these will vie for the CAF Champions League. One is unpopular at home; the other hated.