All Is Forgiven
Mario Balotelli has not burnt his bridges yet, but if the loveable rogue ever did he would know that talent is the key to his redemption. If you have the ability you will keep getting the chances in soccer, regardless of what you have done.
The beautiful game is also a somewhat forgiving one.
Last night Liverpool defeated Manchester City to progress to the Carling Cup final. It was a special moment for a club that had been yearning for a chance to win silverware for several seasons. The mood was bright. The game was positive. Liverpool took their chances. The man that everyone, including Gerrard, said pushed the game and made the result Liverpool’s?
Craig Bellamy.
This is the Craig Bellamy so often cited as an insidious force. The indomitable Alan Shearer once famously said some years ago that when he heard Newcastle United had signed Bellamy it ruined his summer holiday. He is divisive, all-action, and expects everyone to think as he does.
People would be forgiven for thinking that Bellamy was persona non grata in Liverpool. In early 2007 he and his teammates went to do some warm weather training in Portugal between fixtures. No one is quite sure how the incident came about, whether it was a drunken episode or if team banter got out of hand, but stories began trickling back to the UK that Bellamy had attacked fellow player John Arne Riise with a golf putter whilst away.
He was publicly fined and made to apologize. This did not do the trick and when he next scored a goal the attacker celebrated by emulating a golf swing.
Tongue in cheek, perhaps, but he was made to pay. He played less. He was an unused substitute in the Champions League final at the end of the year, made to watch on as his side succumbed to a 2-1 loss to AC Milan. He was then sold at the next possible juncture, heading to West Ham as soon as the summer transfer window opened.
They signed him back in the summer, though, and after his display last night Steven Gerrard was at pains to say “Craig was the difference. His pace was always a threat and we know that if a chance falls to him he can finish. It’s a big thanks to him.”
It seems we all have short memories. The 24-hour news networks and sports channels pump out copy, extolling the virtues of one character whilst denigrating the collapse of another. We love seeing people rise and we love seeing people fall. We hunger for someone to become the extreme example of human achievement, but we also have to know that our superheroes are human too. Watch them get caught in the mire and scandal. Watch them fall. Watching the next clip already.
It is this tide, this propulsive cresting and falling, that we all keep pace with alongside the players. We can see them all clearer than ever before. We study them. We feel we know them more than anyone else ever has.
It’s not Bellamy. It’s Craig: the nutter with the putter.
It’s not Balotelli. It’s Mario: the firework enthusiast who deliberately kicks people in the face but also gives money to the homeless.
It’s not Barton. It’s Joey: the eternal Twitterer who criticizes managers and put out a cigar in a youth-team players face once.
We watch the rise and the fall, but they are good value so they are kept around. Moreover, they are all talented soccer players so they earn themselves chances. Barton has flirted with jail time but he has been cleared and his combative style of soccer sees him captain at QPR. Balotelli is impulsive to the extreme and is as self important as any 21-year-old millionaire would be. Still, he can dribble and he can crash a ball into the net.
We rely on this soap opera and we need the villains as much as we need the heroes. Sometimes, though, managers don’t care for the script. Mourinho has his style and his master plan. He does not care if Pepe is made pariah because he steps on people’s hands and rakes the backs of calves. He is a weapon against all of Barcelona’s slight flair. Whilst all of the others mentioned play despite their flaws, Mourinho deploys Pepe because of his. Mourinho has forgiven Pepe on our behalf.
The enigmatic manager was unsuccessful in his attempt to knock Barça off course but he will not change his attitude of ‘whatever it takes’. He has a poor record at the Camp Nou and will continue to poke eyes, insult styles and use kidology until he sets this to rights.
We both despise and admire the nasty players. We forgive them their flaws from our dais-like armchairs because they entertain us and allow us the moral high ground. We use them up and we forget about their stories as the next sound bite reaches us from the television. New storylines are pushed forward and there are new villains to consider.
I must be caught up in it because I too am willing to forgive and forget if they play well. However, in Mourinho’s case –the manager who is more despicable and wily than the players –I will hope that he does not fade away or get replaced. Let’s hope he keeps getting the chances to be forgiven as well…
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!