Last week Friday, men across the country rejoiced as their wives collectively sighed as the 2018/19 football season kicked off.
I, on the other hand, realised I was in for another ten months of listening to dead pundits talk shit about the sport I revere. Graeme Souness and his agenda against Paul Pogba. The newspaper agenda against Raheem Sterling. The way Mauricio Pochettino is praised for things Arsene Wenger was vilified for. I did not know it was possible to have done something professionally and have no idea about how it works. When you listen to some of these men speak you’d wonder if they’d ever seen an under 10s football match let alone having been a former professional who played at the highest level.
The British bias is also quite sickening. I mean, I’m all for the promotion of homegrown talent, and believe there should be a quota in match day squads to allow homegrown talent a chance to flourish. That being said, the way some of these pundits place players on a pedestal due to them being British is hilarious. Wayne Rooney was finished for years, yet they persisted in calling him a top player up until his move to the MLS. The most egregious of all of these biases was the English arrogance of calling the Premier League the best league in the world. That was actually a laughable claim until the 2017/18 season gave it some credence. The Premier League was indeed the finest and most competitive league in the world for a time. From 05-12 there was an English team in the final of Champions League every year barring 2010’s spectacle. This spurned winners in Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea, in 2005, 2008 and 2012 respectively. It also featured the first all-English final in the illustrious history of the European Cup, that being the 08 edition.
Since then there has been a dip in the fortunes of Premier League sides in Europe. Both Chelsea and Manchester United have won the Europa League in recent years, but both clubs were disappointed to even find themselves in that competition in the first place. Real Madrid have won 4 of the last 5 European Cups. Barcelona claimed the other. This would suggest La Liga is indeed a stronger league than the Premier League. Most British people would dismiss this, and tell you Real and Barca are anomalies, super teams playing in a farmers league. To say such a thing is to ignore that Atletico Madrid featured in 2 of the past 5 European Cup finals and won the 2018 Europa League. Prior to this Sevilla won 3 Europa League titles in a row. This underlines the dominance of La Liga in recent years and it is only the performance of Liverpool in last season’s Champions League and the amount of Premier League talent in show in the World Cup latter stages that reopen the argument regarding the strongest league.
Therefore I will be starting a sports blog and related YouTube channel. This is an idea I’ve had for many years but have been too lazy to go ahead with. Then this season kicked off and I watched the footballing world react to Arsenal’s 0-2 loss against Manchester City. It both disappointed and inspired me. I was disappointed to hear such foolish and uneducated opinions from such experienced football men. Yet it inspired me to prove I could do better. That I can analyse and break down a football match in a more coherent, unbiased fashion without resorting to tired clichés or speaking in a circle of repetition.
Shout outs to all those YouTube channels that inspired me to go ahead with this passion of mine such as Tifo Football, HITC Sevens, Statman Dave and of course AFTV. I may not always agree with the opinions they put forward just like they may not agree with those I will put forward. I just respect the nuanced and intellectual approaches to football displayed on these channels and the pure unadulterated passion of AFTV.
At earliest, I will be going live this weekend, at latest by match day 3. But this WILL be happening people. This isn’t a drill, Epic Mase RCG will become an actual entity upon YouTube. Red Cloud Gawd presents Red Cloud Reviews.
DISCLAIMER: Here is a short list of the pundits working in Britain I respect: Liam Rosenior, Stan Collymore, Gary Neville, Martin Keown, Jermaine Jenas, Craig Bellamy, Kelly Cates, Alex Scott, Eni Aluko, and before they all stepped into coaching Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. I also like ITV’s anchor Mark Pougatch. I don’t necessarily agree with them, but I respect the majority of their opinions. Ian Wright deserves a mention for having come on leaps and bounds in his punditry work in recent years. I also watch Sky Sports Soccer Saturday religiously. Jeff Stelling, Kammy, Merse, Tiss and the others are hilarious in their live reactions. Truly, television at it’s finest.
Welcome to the Dark Side 