Sport
Arrogance and hypocrisy are still holding English football back
People who watch English football do not do well with those who believe their own hype; at least until they prove themselves. For years, the idea of Zlatan Ibrahimovic playing in the Premier League was a desirable one, if only because it bred hope that he would finally be proven as sheer arrogance, from an inconsistent striker, who flopped on the ‘big stage’. It is easy to forget that now; the Swede is respected and adored by even neutral Premier League fans, most of whom will try to forget they ever disliked him.
Arrogance is intolerable
There is something attractive about confident people, and backing up a bullish belief about oneself almost gives them the right to have it. Ibrahimovic did come to England in 2016, signing for Manchester United, and he spoke in a way which showed he hadn’t even contemplated failure, even at the age of 35. He’d shown at Paris Saint-Germain the year before, scoring 38 goals for the French side, that he had not slowed down as he got older.
This was a man who had won a league title at every club he played for and scored a huge amount of goals in five countries, but his unbreakable self-belief was always misconstrued. He has never been universally popular, but English fans in particular seemed to revel in the idea that he would come to the Premier League and fail. Ironically enough, that showed the exact kind of misguided arrogance they accused Ibrahimovic of. Yet, 28 goals, two major trophies and an absurdly early return from a knee injury for a player supposedly closing on retirement in his first 18 months have given him the status he always said he deserved.
It was the same when Jose Mourinho, his boss at Old Trafford, arrived at Chelsea in 2004. Having won the Champions League with FC Porto, this young, handsome, bullish Portuguese star in the making sat in front of hoards of cameras and called himself ‘Special’. Anyone listening would have been shocked to hear this come out of his mouth because, after all, it is not very ‘British’ to accept praise, let alone shower it on yourself. Thirteen years on, though, the name has stuck with Mourinho; he disrupted Manchester United’s English dominance with back-to-back titles at Stamford Bridge before leaving to shock the Champions League with Inter and coach Real Madrid. Suddenly, what was once arrogance became charisma and charm; he too had backed up his own ego.
Everyone’s a pundit
Snap judgments in football are almost required nowadays; the age of social media has brought with it the age of making permanent conclusions from temporary situations. Barcelona are the greatest team of the early 21st century, dominating all before them in the most beautiful style. But they have also been open to criticism for most of that time, too, with so many people accusing them of being boring. Defeats were so rare for the Blaugrana at their peak, under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola, that every time they did lose, the world caved in and it seemed their dominance would follow. Needless to say, they always seemed to bounce back because, as much as some people can’t stand to see prolonged success from people who believe in their own cause, it is precisely that belief which feeds it in the first place.
Guardiola was perhaps the biggest victim of this strange desire to see winners fall. Nobody can say his attitude is similar to that of Ibrahimovic or Mourinho; he prefers let his teams do his talking for him, to allow his philosophy to shine through. But he also knows what he is doing is right, he understands his tactics, and whether they will work in certain situations, better than anyone. Some call it stubborn; when it hasn’t worked it has been branded stupid.
Failure to win anything in his first season at Manchester City having, in the eyes of his critics, only ever taking easy jobs in Bayern Munich and Barcelona, made him a laughing stock to some. ‘Fraudiola’, the Twittersphere dubbed him, once again making a permanent conclusion out of a temporary situation. City’s 2-1 win over Huddersfield saw them maintain their eight-point lead at the Premier League’s summit and their unbeaten record in all competitions; they are still averaging three goals per game and on the verge of something never seen before. Once again doubters have been silenced, everyone is purring as Guardiola continues to rewrite the coaching manual.
There are so many other examples of English football unfairly judging the most talented coaches and players around. Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino is now most people’s dream candidate for the England job, but in January 2013 nobody could see why he’d been given the chance to replace Nigel Adkins at Southampton. Those who love to belittle Lionel Messi’s otherworldly achievements were quick to make a connection between the Argentine and playing on weeknights with terrible weather in Staffordshire.
All the while, Sam Allardyce, purveyor of the idea British coaches are ‘second class citizens’, is celebrated as a genius and back in talks with Everton. Alan Pardew, the man Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish mentioned in the same breath as the Real Madrid job months before sacking him, is reportedly close to taking over at West Brom. These men, and so many others who have not made a dent on the top scene of European football, have enjoyed great respect, despite often showing similar levels of perceived arrogance as those with actual feats to speak of.
English football is great at hindsight. When proven wrong, so many jump on the bandwagon, forgetting, or pretending to forget, that they couldn’t accept these characters to begin with, showing the same lack of grace accused of so many others. English football will not be a cohesive unit until that changes, if it ever does.
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