He described it as the ability to switch your brain off for hours at a time, which he couldn't do.
He went onto be a very good coach at high end amateur level, as he used this knowledge to make sure his training was never dull or repetitive.
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He described it as the ability to switch your brain off for hours at a time, which he couldn't do.
He went onto be a very good coach at high end amateur level, as he used this knowledge to make sure his training was never dull or repetitive.
orly
Please check with me for Blammo criteria
Absolutely.
As an extension of this, how many of us for our livelihoods needs to be extremely talented, unbelievably lucky to have been picked up for it, fantastically hardworking in our teenage years when it's all a mad distraction, and completely single minded to get our career at the direct expense of our peers?
Certainly not me, but a professional footballer (certainly at a premier league club) has to have been all these things. Bit difficult to say that society has absolutely nothing to learn from these individuals. They've succeeded in one of the most ultra competitive industries.
Football is my release from the real world. Frankly, I don't give two flying fannies about Kevin Mirallas' stance on neo-socialism, or what Wayne Rooney has to say about the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar. In fact, I don't need to here their opinions on anything at all. If anything, hearing opinions from the likes of Lineker, Southall, Ratcliffe, Sharpe etc has soured my fond memories of them as players. Just focus on being good at football and don't assume your celebrity status means your opinion is valid or important to hear.
most brits despise success, especially if it has been earned and not inherited, a strange bunch
and what of your assumption that such people offering an opinion is self aggrandizing and not genuine concern
Walken on the warpath here, always good too see
collymcd
Player Valuation: £15m
I never said anything about intelligence? Or working class? You're jumping the gun there frandel.
I was just making this point: Why would you turn to someone who has spent all their years training in athletics for political insight? May as well ask the plumber what he think defines sexual difference.
@orly I see what you're saying about building a rapport. There is an alienation there for sure.
Unfortunately individuals are shielded from actually speaking so they can protect their brands. With good reason too. Most lefties these days pursue the complete silencing of anything that is not politically correct.
As a parallel point, I don't understand fully the need to identify with any of these guys. The vague 'club' identity is enough for me. Besides, once you move closer to any precise identification you inevitably become as alienated as ever. Embrace your fundamental alienation mein Friend.
i has a night time flight yesterday, and delirious and barely know whats going on, even more than normal
Thanks in advance to @Groucho for clearing the thread topic
Good morning Toffees
The danger of missing deadlines means this thread has gone up a little after the event (and indeed has been touched on by former crushed Echo weasel Greg O'Keefe in his new role http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41460584 ). There have been a number of threads and comments at the moment lamenting the atmosphere in the ground (again, this would have been a better question after Bournemouth than Burnley) and the general lack of empathy from player to fan and vice versa.
Would you be more interested in Everton players if they engaged with the real world a bit more and aired their political views?
I'm not a huge fan of the American volleyball, but I was struck at the time by this salvo directed by LeBron James towards arguably the most powerful man in the West. James had actively campaigned for Clinton in the election, and his views on Trump were well-known before this. It's important to remember that James and Steph Curry are not simply 'good players'; their footballing equivalents would be Neymar and Messi in the sense that not only are they at the top of their profession, they are making organisational, management-level interventions on a regular basis. We're doing the logical triple jump here, but James would be Wayne Rooney (best player), Jagielka (captain) Steve Walsh (Director of Football and overall footballing strategic direction) and a significant amount of Elstone's role all bundled in to one. It's a clumsy analogy, but here's an individual that not only effects the fortunes of their team in-game, but has unequivocally tied the entire organisation's colours to one political mast. Could you imagine that happening here? You've got whole teams kneeling during the national anthem before the start of American Rugby games, inspiring and alienating sections of their own fanbase in a definitive manner. But the net result is supporters are engaged on a far deeper level than simply watching them spend a couple of seasons jogging about in the jersey (yes I know jersey is not for the soccers but it works on a creative level here).
Then of course you've got the middle of the Venn Diagram - the Catalan independence referendum. Pique, a wonderful snide on the pitch, the subtle knife in the ribcage to Ramos's sledgehammer in the chops, was pictured above in a Catalan polling station. He could quite easily have uttered a few neutral remarks, stayed at home 'for his own safety' and backed the winning horse when the political situation is resolved. But there he us, dressed like a child who wet his kecks on the first day at school and that's all they had left in the office lost property, leading the way. And naturally, the Barcelona fans love him for it; there's that empathy, that link between gajillionaire footballer and common man, he's one of us, we support him and by extension, we support him and team. Add Drogba and his political influence in the Cote d'ivoire and you've got players who transcend their sport.
Bringing us back to Everton (or British Football in general)
I'm not hugely sold on Bolasie the footballer, but he comes across as a likable individual who probably stops and has a quick chat on a match day. He's got an expansive, interesting playing career at a variety of levels and strikes me as man with an opinion.
But the tweet above is indicative of the level of common man 'bantz' you get out of players. "You play FIFA? So do I! Well, they pay me a bit of money and I tweet about it. But we've got that in common, right????".
Who are these people? The only time they seem to deviate from the script is when a cyclist has been run over, a rent-a-scandal lady has been driven home, a fan has been punched for nicking a hat. Only negativity breaks the spell. When the U23s helped raise money for the house to help the homeless, wouldn't it have been fantastic if one person, even David Unsworth, had commented on how disgraceful it is that a wealthy city can no longer look after its own, that in modern society we still have people going hungry and sleeping rough, that it shouldn't have to resort to a football club (and the donations from ordinary working people) to make a welcome if drop-in-the-ocean intervention? But instead, the usual trope, 'don't know how lucky we are' / 'good to give something back' / 'good lesson for the youngsters' etc etc.
If you were asked for a list of ten Goodison icons from the glory days, high among them would be Peter Reid and Neville Southall. The latter is as hard left as possible, currently espousing skeletons for lampposts and pigs with lipstick (me neither). Reid has just been quoted tearing Boris Johnson a new one. We are interested in what they have to say, whether we agree with it or not, and that helps build the link. What do we have from the current lot? You could probably get the after match comments of Weir, Jagielka, Neville, Stubbs, Baines, remove the team names and you'd have a homogenised mess of oblique phrases, impossible to attribute to any one individual. They come in, they do their thing for a few years, leave not utterances of note, they pootle out the door. It's like the footballing equivalent of Westworld, minus the boobs and violence. Well, we've got Williams for the former I suppose. No real affinity - no real link with the fans - very difficult to muster any real feeling for any of them on a Saturday afternoon. Just once, I'd like one of them to give us a bit of insight, some link that we can all work with, even if we score a goal (haha) and all eleven players lie on the floor in front of the Street End and spell out '51.9% LOL' (I've tried this with eleven matchsticks this morning).
Should Everton players and politics mix? And would you feel a greater affinity for a player who shared your views?
I probably should have a poll here.
The first few comments set up the response straight away, but from what I can tell, Brits are a very "stay in your lane" sort of people, and this wouldn't be natural to most footballers and not well tolerated by most supporters. It'd take an international player of some stature (or an American, if any were good enough at the soccers) for any comments to be received, and even then they'd need to be on big issues, succinct, and clear.
Not that most footballers run their own social media anyway, it seems...
I don't care if it is or not. I just don't want to hear about it. Focus on football.
Steve Wigan
Player Valuation: £35m
Theres nothing wrong with anyone airing their political views...some who are in the limelight have enough courage in the convictions to use their celebrity to advantage, others prefer to keep their own counsel. Its our old friend 'The meejah' that illicits these views a lot of the time, and they to a man make the mistake regularly that being good at football means you're also good at politics.
Not football...but at one of our elections a few years ago ITV wheeled out their political pundit for the day...Mr.Donny Osmond. I',m sorry, but the fact that he can carry a tune doesn't mean he's an expert on British politics.
Not football...but at one of our elections a few years ago ITV wheeled out their political pundit for the day...Mr.Donny Osmond. I',m sorry, but the fact that he can carry a tune doesn't mean he's an expert on British politics.
Listening is of course a choice, you seem offended by people who make the opposite choice to yourself, if others don't want to put every person in a specific box, and ignore everything outside of that box, then what's so terrible about that?
Edinblue
Player Valuation: £50k
Anyone hoping for signs of intelligent opinions or social awareness from your average (especially British) footballer is doomed to disappointment. Like others, I'm generally not too bothered (unless outright Tories), but signs of thoughtfulness and the occasional proggressive views are a welcome bonus.
collymcd
Player Valuation: £15m
I don't think people are saying because of their enormous wealth they shouldn't speak. People are saying because of their enormous influence they shouldn't. Their influence is only in place because of the inflated importance society gives to footballers. Their influence is never for the fertility of their thoughts.
You're touching on something quite funny in all of this that relates to the master/slave relationship. Typically there is no bigger idiot in a society than the king. The king who acts as the symbol and signature of the land has literally no say himself. He has no subjectivity.
That's to an extent what we're talking about here with footballers. Their elevated position castrates them from living as us mere slaves do.
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