Office by Alex Penny
“To get two goals in the Champions League, I’m over the moon with that. But it’s a team game and I’m disappointed. We went into half-time 2-0 up and Manchester United should be finishing teams off. It’s just not like us (to let teams back into games).”
- Danny Welbeck (Champions League 2011/12: Manchester United 3 - Basel 3)
*sigh*
The man who always finds a job: Claudio Ranieri (By Dominic Vieira)
Whether you think he’s world class or not, it’s clear Claudio Ranieri is a lucky manager. Since the Italian retired as a player in 1986, he has rarely experienced unemployment. The 59-year-old was recently appointed the manager of Inter Milan succeeding Gian Piero Gasperini, the job became his 12th in football. Ranieri is a globetrotter of Italy as he’s worked at several clubs from North to South and the only major club he’s yet to manage is AC Milan. But don’t rule it out.
He’s not a winner but a creator, he has coached illustrious names, such as Zola at Napoli and the sublime Batistuta-Rui Costa partnership at Fiorentina, and he was also the founder of Abramovich’s ludicrously expensive Chelsea revolution signing the instrumental Lampard, Cech, Robben, Makélelé, Gallas and Terry (promoted through academy). However, it’s debatable that his greatest achievement was constructing a solid team at Valencia which went on to achieve a fair share of greatness.
Here’s his timeline:
- 1987-88: Campania Puteolana
- 1988-91: Cagliari
- 1991-93: Napoli
- 1993-97: Fiorentina
- 1997-99: Valencia
- 1999-00: Atletico Madrid
- 2000-04: Chelsea
- 2004-05: Valencia
- 2007: Parma
- 2007-09: Juventus
- 2009-11: Roma
- 2011: Inter Milan
Some like him and others don’t. He’s gotten off to an ideal start with Inter, but the point is, he’s always working.
“Ian Wright was my hero. But even then, if you asked most kids which team they would like to play for, quite a lot would say Manchester United. People judge me differently because I am at the biggest club in the world. I could tell the difference as soon as I got there. I wanted to go a club where I could win titles and medals and play in the biggest competitions. I have a chance to do that now.”
- Ashley Young
“He’s a fantastic player, I hope this season he will get a lot of opportunities. In America on tour he played some amazing games, particularly against Barcelona in our last game. In the second half against City you saw that he is not afraid and Manchester United need players like this.”
“He’s a quiet lad, he’s a bit like Scholesy in that way. He never talks much, he just does his job on the pitch. He’s a very private guy. But to bring players through is what we do here. Players like him are the future. He knows he can help us to win more titles. That’s the Man United way. It’s always been like that.”
- Patrice Evra
By Kyle Morse, writing from Washington DC
The terraces are packed, and the chants are reaching a crescendo as the sides reach the pitch. The passion and fervor is eminent in the air, so thick you could cut through it. The banners unfurled and flares sparked. The San Siro, which houses the Derby della Madonninabetween Inter and AC Milan has become a representation of the elite in Calcio squaring off, but it also represents a class struggle between the working class (AC Milan) and the prosperous upper-class (Internazionale), a concept alien to the American sports landscape.
To identify with an American sports team typically equates to a single determining factor- location. Symptomatic of the U.S. sports business model, leagues rarely place two clubs in a single city, and never outside the New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago markets. Saying that you are a Washington Capitals hockey fan says very little about who you are as a person, despite that you are from the Washington metro area. There is no distinction between economic standing, political ideology, or any other form of social stratification.
Bucharest, Milan, Rome, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Istanbul, Belgrade, and Athens play host to some of the most passionate yet diametrically opposed derbies in Europe, divided between classes, political ideologies, and social issues. With many people pointing to the tensions and rivalries as a negative aspect of the global game, yet the personality adds a deep and rich context to the game in developing its identity.
