Opinion: Zlatan Ibrahimović triumphs due to his background

Mercurial striking talent Zlatan Ibrahimović as largely been billed as a man who defied his background on the re-release of his autobiography. However, Alex Lawson argues it is his background which made him the player he is.

If there has been one player who has divided opinion across the global game in the last decade, it's Zlatan Ibrahimović. From being dubbed the next van Basten to a 'big game bottler', the tall Swede who has led the line for Europe's premier clubs never fails to attract attention. 

'Welcome to Planet Zlatan', the blurb on the back of Zlatan Ibrahimović's autobiography reads. The strapline is an apt one as the reader is rapidly sent up in a rocket powered by the Swedish legend's ego into a world unlike any other. 

As unreliable narrators go, Ibrahimović was always going to rank highly. His version of events in his life and the frequent glossing over of details with a thick brush leads to a thrilling, if sceptical read. 

Much of the focus around 'I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic's release has been on his upbringing in the council estates of Rosengård, a district of Malmo. And it is these passages which provide arguably the most interest, so closely documented has his career been since. 

There are details of alcohol and drug abuse in his family; both of his parents' tempers and the struggle over custody. Zlatan himself, it appears, has always had a short fuse ("I was rowdy. I was mental," he admits) as well as the cocksure self-confidence he is known for which led to several bust ups with junior coaches. 

Ibrahimovic's is not a straightforward tale of humble triumph over adversity, the book reveals he kept his cantankerous heart from his teenage years through to his career as an international superstar. Perhaps most revealing is his latent surprise at his rapid rise from a substitute at  Malmö FF into Sweden's most expensive player when he landed a £6m move to Ajax.

It is this unique combination of a player who did not have a parent at the sidelines willing him on (until his Yugoslavian dad finally shows up when he's almost a pro) and an attitude which blew hot and cold which made Ibrahimovic the no.9 we know. If his signature arrogance is his most talked about trait, it is only a by product of having almost no one else - apart from Malmö FF sporting director Hasse Borg - who believed in him. 

And so the Ibrahimovic we know was born. Astonishing Taekwondo kick goals combined with lunacy off the field racing cars, deliberately hanging with unsavoury individuals and talking himself up to the media. That last relationship is interestingly explored in the book. At first, Zlatan courted the media and makes bold statements at every turn but quickly he was stung and pinpoints several personal vendettas not least with Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.

Ibrahimovic's decision to open the book with his year-long dispute with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola is an intriguing one. Perhaps the biggest conflict of his argumentative career, the difference in the dispute with the Spanish boss and other stand-offs in his life is the cold, quietness of the controversy. Ibrahimovic talks of being sidelined outside an exclusive Tiki-taka club including Messi, who he admits he even promised Guardiola he would be subservient too and be part of a team built around the Argentine. 

Ibrahimović's has been a career marked by conflict and success. The former, perhaps wisely, is given the most air time. However, it's worth standing back and peaking into his trophy cabinet of league titles in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France. Ibrahimovic is one of the most talented and controversial players of his generation, he is also a unique example of triumph because of adversity. 

Article originally appeared on FootyMatters.com

London Sports Writing Festival considers how El Clásico gained its bite

A heated panel discussion on the highest profile match in world football - Barcelona v Real Madrid - was a highlight of the London Sports Writing Festival at Lords this week. The four-day event featured a plethora of interesting speakers from British rower Katherine Grainger to BBC Sports website supremo Ben Dirs. As a fan of excellent sports writing, collecting the great and good in one event at the home of cricket was mouthwatering. 

Guardian Spanish football correspondent Sid Lowe and Sky Sports' man in Spain, Graham Hunter, squared up on each side of the debate over El Classico, chaired by The Times writer Matt Dickinson. A packed audience listened attentively as the two took apart the rivalry in what has realistically become a two-team league.

Hunter claimed Johan Cruyff shaped the modern rivalry. He argued the Dutchman, who demolished Real in a 5-0 for the Catalans in February 1974, paved the way for future matches to be considered the peak of Spanish football. He believes that Cryuff's desire as both player and coach to overcome Barca's greatest rivals added spice to their encounters.

Lowe, who has just published Fear and Loathing in La Liga, an excellent look at the fixture, argued that Real legend Alfredo Di Stefano played a bigger part in shaping the modern dynamic. While he agreed that the 5-0 game was a crucial point, Lowe articulately outlined the circumstances around Di Stefano's complex transfer, in which both teams laid claim to the talented Argentine and even briefly countenanced sharing him in alternate seasons.

While Real Madrid's nine European Cup and Champions League victories have long been held as the most significant element in arguing which is the more successful team, it is the club's relationship with Spanish dictator Franco which gets more air time even than to the merits of Barca and Spain's Tiki-taka re-invention of the game. The perception of Real Madrid as Franco's club is one which Lowe points out the club have done little to dispel, and the image of Los Blancos as the monied class is only further exemplified by the Galactico era and Gareth Bale's humungous transfer fee.

An intellectual debate is only undermined by several self-serving questions from the audience. Hunter's repeated attempts to second guess why the audience have attended rather than simply debate the subject is a little tiresome. But largely, this was an interesting and informed discussion on the merits of each club and their relationship.

In reality, both teams need each other and while Barca are streaking away at the top of the league this season, both are incredibly successful. A key question asked is whether the seeming lack of competition in the league may have damaged their performance in Europe - after being hammered by Germans in last season's Champions League semi-finals. 

Moreover, the number of Classicos, perpetuated by showpiece friendlies and domestic cup success, may also have diminished its standing. But El Classico looks set to remain the most intense fixture in world football for some time as the two giants fight over the world's pre-eminent players.

How Liverpool Ladies broke Arsenal's title monopoly

Liverpool Ladies’ title win shattered Arsenal’s decade-long grip on the FA Women’s Super League (FAWSL) title. Alex Lawson looks at how they achieved it. 

Liverpool Ladies midfielder Louise Fors could have been forgiven for feeling a little nervous as she stepped up to take a first half penalty for the Reds against Bristol on Sunday. The spot kick was a crucial moment in a title decider few would have predicted at the start of the season.

Liverpool top scorer Natasha Dowie

As the new season opened, Liverpool had notched just two wins in the previous two seasons as they finished rock bottom in each. However, the Anfield club’s US owners ploughed money into its women’s team and brought in new manager Matt Beard to lead the side.

Moreover, a handful of classy foreign signings from the US, Sweden and Germany – who were given English lessons funded by the men’s team – were brought in to gel with the core home grown talent in the side.

Under Beard, Liverpool became the first team in the FAWSL to train full-time and a winning mentality was bred. Beard’s publicly stated aim of a mid-table finish has been blown out of the water by a team which scored 44 goals on the way to Sunday’s title decider, spurred on by former Crystal Palace and Coventry manager Iain Dowie’s niece Natasha.

Dowie, the league’s top scorer with 19 goals, was snubbed by former England manager Hope Powell for the squad for the summer’s Euro 2013 finals but took the rejection in her stride.

She has also spoken of the incentive that hunting down Arsenal Ladies – a team which bore comparison to the relentless winning machine of Manchester United’s men’s side in the 1990s – gave the side. With foreign players on board, the stigma of beating the dominant Gunners has been quelled and both Liverpool and Bristol have outclassed them during this 14-game this season.

So when Fors stepped up, there was a deal of pressure to see through what has been a significant journey for Liverpool. But she cooly dispatched the penalty and when Icelandic midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir struck home from Dowie’s pass Liverpool had secured a momentous victory at the Halton Stadium.

So what does Liverpool Ladies victory mean for the game? Firstly, there’s a new sense of vitality and competition to the league as Liverpool became the first league victors who weren’t Arsenal since Fulham in 2003. Moreover, it provides some healthy coverage for the women’s game after the poor showing by England at Euro 2013 damaged perceptions of domestic women’s football.

However, the pattern of Powell’s sacking after a lacklustre tournament and a team with significant financial backing surging up the league to take the title via a raft of foreign players is a familiar one. While the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City have clinched the Premier League title with a handful of English players, neither can seriously claim to be aiding the blooding of homegrown talent.

The British spine of Liverpool’s team – namely Dowie, midfielder Fara Williams and captain Gemma Bonner – may take experience from this victory but there remains work to be done if the national side is to remain undamaged by the lack of opportunities for young home grown talent.

For Arsenal, who were deducted three points for fielding an unregistered player but would still have lost out to Liverpool, this may provide the shot in the arm to kickstart a fightback.

Article originally appeared on Footymatters.com

Opinion: Spurs fans must ditch the Y-word

David Cameron's entrance into the debate over the use of the word 'yid' by Tottenham Hotspur supporters has only served to push those with extreme views either way but Spurs should leave the Y-word behind them, argues Alex Lawson 

Picture the scene. You’re a Spurs supporter with your eight-year-old taking them to White Hart Lane for the first time. During the match the home supporters begin chanting ‘Yid Army’ or another use of the Y-word. Your child, who knows nothing of World War Two, asks you what that means.

You then explain it’s a derogatory term for Jewish people, the traditional foundation of the team’s support, used ironically in response to abuse from rival supporters hissing to emulate the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Hardly the pleasant induction to live football anyone would want.

At Cardiff City Stadium yesterday many of the Spurs fans made their opinions clear with renditions of “we’re Tottenham Hotspur, we’ll sing what we want”, and repeated chants of “Yid Army” throughout the game.

The debate over the use of the Y-word in the last week has split opinion. The Football Association warned Spurs fans that those found chanting the word could be prosecuted; Prime Minister David Cameron claimed that Spurs fans have the right to describe themselves as Yids arguing that “you have to be motivated by hate to be prosecuted”, while Jewish comedian and The Y-Word filmmaker David Baddiel – a production released by Kick It Out in 2011 – argued the use of the word has clouded the simple fact it is a racist term.

Cameron’s argument is an odd one. If he acknowledges that Yid is a hate word then asking the FA and police to decide the nuance in which the word has been used makes little sense. The simple fact is, if a racist term is being used in a ground, it is not acceptable.

The obvious comparison is the use of the N-word. The censorship of the most controversial word in the English language has been a long running debate, notably exacerbated by its frequent use by black musicians with the defence that it can’t be racist if used by a black person.

However, the proliferation of a racist term, whether it refers to a black, Asian or Jewish person, can never be a good thing.

Spurs traditionally began using the term to defend themselves against the use of the word against them. Other London clubs also receive anti-semitic chants, as do Dutch giants Ajax.

Respected Society of Black Lawyers member David Neita argues that Spurs fans suggestion they are reclaiming a word originally used to taunt them is “an insult to anybody’s intelligence”. He argues that, as anti-semitism is highlighted and prosecuted in the modern age, the continued use of the word is not acceptable.

Moreover, Baddiel highlights the fact that less than five per cent of Tottenham fans are estimated to be Jewish. As such, the siege mentality defence of a persecuted minority does not stand up.

The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust are to poll members on whether they should continue to use the word. A negative result would represent a victory for common sense and a severance of ties to an unsavoury past.

Article originally appeared on Footymatters.com

Qatar controversy overshadows Russia 2018 World Cup disputes

With the footballing world's eyes trained on the debate over on whether Qatar can realistically host a summer World Cup, governing body FIFA is hurtling towards the preceding tournament in Russia which could prove just as controversial.

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has
proved a divisive figure

Russia's selection as hosts for the 2018 tournament was seen has the lesser of two evils by the British media when England were spurned in 2010. The nation's history within the sport and its national team's excellent run to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 gave it a credence among observers. 

However, outside perceptions that two nations with significant pots of national cash had bought both events were widespread. Moreover, traditional shrouds of secrecy and mistrust between the West and Russia re-emerged as tempers ran high. 

Now, with the world questioning Qatar's ability to either host fans in sweltering summer heat or disrupt the international football calendar through a winter cup, Russia is quietly putting its plans in place. These include the erection of a number of swashbuckling asymmetric stadia at great expense. 

However, one man appears determined to ensure the scepticism that still surrounds the Russian game remains - Vitaly Mutko.

The country's sports minister and FIFA executive committee member has proved a controversial figure for some time. Perhaps most infamously, he was alleged to have bought 97 breakfasts in racking up a $4,500 bill in expenses while accompanying the Russian team to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada in 2010. 

When Russia were awarded the World Cup, Mutko - then president of the Russian Football Union - lashed out at English allegations of corruption in Russian football with similar counter comments. He later qualified that statement: "I meant that if you dig deeply you find corruption in any country."  

In recent months, Mutko has been at the centre of two further whirlwinds. In July, an amendment to existing laws allowed Mutko's Government to put rules in place which allow "foreign nationals and stateless persons" to be employed by official FIFA partners, effectively paving the way for illegal immigrants to be employed on longer working hours with few rights by sponsors and contractors. 

Local civil right site The Russian Reader says: "We cannot help noticing that all these measures have been proposed and ratified by the same government that is literally right now organising actual raids on migrants and imprisoning them in special camps in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, and Kaliningrad." It adds: "Does this mean that the right hand of the Russian state doesn’t know what the left hand is doing? Not in the least. All the above-named cities are hosting the 2018 World Cup."

Add to this the controversy over Russia's new law which prevent promoting homosexuality to minors and its credibility in hosting football's premier competition is further blurred. Mutko called on international observers to "calm down" after controversial comments made by Russian Olympics pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and claimed 'gay propaganda' had been whipped up in the media. 

Russia host the Winter Sochi Olympics next February and Mutko has assured visitors and athletes will have their rights and freedoms respected. 

Perhaps in reality the still resolutely macho nature of football fandom means a overt promotion of homosexual rights in 2018 is unlikely. However, allowing freedom of expression for fans in host countries remains vital if FIFA is to rescue its tattered reputation. 

While the world wonders whether a Qatari World Cup will ever happen, the shrapnel left by the Iron Curtain threatens to drive another rift between the West and the rest. 

Review: Tony Jameson's Football Manager Ruined My Life show

The borderline between an obsession and a full blown addiction can be a fine one. When comedian Tony Jameson explains how he slipped away from a wedding to make a few vital transfers and took his laptop on an open top bus tour around Newcastle to celebrate a virtual Champions League win you are in little doubt over which camp he falls into.

Jameson, a cheeky Geordie sporting a heavily hairsprayed quiff, has taken the stage at the Dingwalls in Camden Lock to a packed house. The event, hosted by Football Manager creators Sports Interactive, sees Jameson debut his sold out Edinburgh show in London, explaining the impact of everyone’s favourite addictive computer game (which he describes as essentially “like office admin but for football”) on his life.

It wasn’t all fun and games however, as Sports Interactive promised to unveil new features of the game if attendees donated to favoured charity War Child.

 It’s fair to say Jameson is playing to a home crowd. Among the audience are the tell tale eye bags of those who’ve spent hours awaiting a chairman’s report, assessing a player’s stats and agonising over formations.

Jameson’s tale is an amusing one – after a footy injury led to a period laid up on the sofa that allowed him to indulge his addiction further and led to him shunning a career as a teacher.

Notable runs include taking Aston Villa to virtual glory only to be abandoned by his star player and powering Blyth Spartans up the league to European glory. The latter represents his proudest achievement, leading to the bus tour, contact with the Northumbrian club and an amusing video of Jameson unveiling a new signing and his statue at Spartans’ empty ground. He even glides by the camera to give a Harry Redknapp-style car-window-on-deadline-day interview.

The biggest cheers of the night went up for Football Manager’s crowning glory; the players that might have been. The addictive game thrives on stats and some players appear far better than in real life, as such pictures of the likes of former Aston Villa and Anderlecht striker Nii Lamptey and Nigerian defender Taribo ‘That Haircut’ West.

Jameson’s audience revel in the show’s identifiable moments and his ability to undermine himself is consistently funny. He hints he may develop the act to meet all of his Football Manager underachieving heroes in future.

For Sports Interactive his obsession is an excellent endorsement of a game which is loved by its players and hated by their nearest and dearest. Football Manager may have been the scourge of his early years but the sold out show, and his recent nuptials, mean things are looking up for the talented Jameson.

Article originally appeared on FootyMatters.com

Review: Running with the Firm by James Bannon

You could be mistaken for thinking James Bannon's new firsthand account was yet another hooligan biography, giving graphic detail of a thug's adventures in and around football matches. However, beneath the menacing cover lies a much more intriguing tale of an undercover police officer who, as part of a team of four, infiltrated Milwall's notorious 'Bushwackers' firm in the late 1980s. 

The story itself has already been documented by 1995 film I.D, a brutal re-imagining covering an unidentified firm and anonymous club. However, Bannon's decision to break his twenty-year silence gives a fresh immediacy to this book. 

We follow Bannon as he quickly makes friends with some of The Lions' 'top boys' posing as a painter and decorator from Wandsworth named 'Jim'. The operation gives a fascinating glimpse into police tactics at the time, with some clubs - including Manchester City - afforded whole undercover squads with high tech surveillance systems to catch hooligans. 
It is Jim's transition from high flying young copper to Milwall hardman which is perhaps most engaging. 

We follow him as he struggles with his new identity and his guilt over the enjoyment he gets adrenaline of the violence and potentially stitching up his mates. There are also questions over whether he is following or leading the violence which are never quite addressed. 

Elsewhere the account features a love dilemma, Bannon's unlikely continuing support of Milwall to this day and plenty of worries over getting discovered. We also get humour, most notably when Jim and several other hardmen attempt to stake out a chemist's using cans of hairspray.

His potential discovery provides the momentum through the book however given his status in being able to write it the suspense is limited.

There are other problems too. The relentless chronology of the piece - including what time he gets to work each day and what drinks he had - become waring and perhaps hint there was not enough material to create a truly compelling piece of work. 

The story ark, being a work of non-fiction, is excusably a little disappointing with little real climax to key issues. Perhaps what is really lacking is the football. A few references to Sheringham here and there don't really give the flavour of supporting the club and, while clearly not the point of the piece, more colour around the atmosphere in a crowd as the team was promoted to the first division would've been welcome. 

Moreover, Bannon is often critical of senior management decisions but makes no comment on the historical context of the operation at the height of 1980s hooliganism and a year before the Hillsborough disaster in which the police's role remains under scrutiny. 

Running with the Firm is an entertaining and interesting first-hand account of a key point in British football history. The violence at Milwall's FA Cup semi-final against Wigan at Wembley in April showed how unfortunately prescient Bannon's story is but more context and commentary on this could have lifted this to the next level.

James Bannon explains his operation and actions

Article originally appeared on Footymatters.com