Cultured Football #251
Copying Rugby. Sinisa Mihajlovic. Lleida CF. Uruguay. Brentford Manages Well.
Soccer managers’ latest source of inspiration? The rugby pitch.
By Tom Hamilton for ESPN
Purists might not like it but football has a lot to learn from rugby. That some leading managers are already borrowing ideas off it is proof enough of that.
Remembering Siniša Mihajlović
By Nebojša Marković for The Belgrader
In the football memory of a country that no longer exists, Siniša Mihajlović remains a figure both unifying and unresolved. His left foot, his temper, his loyalties and contradictions carried the marks of the place that formed him, while his final struggle was faced with the same defiance as a free kick on the edge of the area.
Lleida CF: A fight for survival
By Jordan Thomas for La Liga and Beyond
In the crowded landscape of Catalan football, Lleida live with the threat of disappearance for a second time in a generation. Between municipal pressure, a rival project with money, and unpaid debts, the club survives on reduced means and collective will.
Bonus Read: Celta’s Vigorous Approach to Youth is Flying Under the Radar
[Charlie Rhodes x Calcio Collective]
Not enough is being made of the club that is giving 40% of minutes played to home grown players.
Thinking of someone who might enjoy Cultured Football? Let them know.
Why is Uruguay so good at football?
By Joey D'Urso
In Montevideo the pace might be unhurried, but football sits at the centre of the national story. Uruguay’s triumphs feel less like miracles than the legacy of a moment when wealth, reform and leisure combined to give the game purpose and prestige. The old stadiums, the duopoly of Nacional and Peñarol, and the lingering myths all point to a country that once shaped the sport and still measures itself against that memory.
How do Brentford keep appointing the right managers?
By Simon Stone for the BBC
In a league that increasingly devours managers and demands instant change, Brentford move to a different rhythm. Successive appointments emerge from within a structure that outlives any individual, where continuity matters more than reputation and expectation is carefully managed.
Bonus Read: Why Spurs Fans Turned Against Thomas Frank
[profspur x profspur analysis ]
Thomas Frank must have known that leaving the ideal football project for a big club was going to be hard. But he underestimated just how hard it was going to be.
Each week on Cultured Football we pick the five great football stories from the previous seven days.
In Case You Missed It Here’s Last Week’s Most Read: Before Data Departments, Football’s Greatest Managers Were Already Running Systems
By James Callan for How the Game is Lived
Long before performance departments formalised process, certain managers had already turned training grounds into laboratories of repeatable behaviour and quiet control. Their teams moved with an internal logic that outlived results and eras. Crucially, they were given the time to do so.
