Football
It starts again tomorrow. 8 months or so of Jamie-fucking-Redknapp spouting shite on a Sunday afternoon, and sometimes trying to crawl up Ruud Gullit’s arse on a Wednesday. Now we (Boro, that is) is no longer part of the self proclaimed greatest league on earth, who, if anyone, should I bothered about?
I’d had the idea of picking an official timeisshort team for this season. I couldn’t really go for a Premiership side, there’s too much baggage attached, especially if we (Boro) return at the first attempt. Maybe one of the lower sides, Hartlepool maybe? Problem is, if we keep dropping the same clangers as last season, we could be playing them next season. I started to look further afield.
I’d like to pick a side that was equivalent to Boro really, not really well known until the last ten years or so, but has moved out of the public’s focus recently. I considered Getafe, but dismissed them because of this. Literally shameless.
Scanning the tables from last season, I narrowed it down to 2. Torino, in Serie B or Real Betis, in the Segunda Division. Torino used to be the big deal though years ago, where Boro certainly wasn’t. However, they survived a expulsion from the league due to financial issues, resurfacing as a slightly new side one division below. The main thing that put me off was the weight of their history, their numerous title wins and the Superga tragedy. They are kind of like a combined Manchester side of Italy, and that’s not what I’m after.
Betis though; they stumbled through life (although they won the league in 1935) and won a second cup in 2005. They went through a stage of buying the best in the world, breaking the world transfer record in 1998 to buy the Brazilian Denilson. And now, they are still counting the costs, relegated last season, the big names long gone, and the under performing players still around.
An extra bonus is that they are the hated city rivals of Sevilla, who of course beat (spanked) Boro in the UEFA cup final.
So, I’ll keep an eye on their results, see how they get on. I’m not going to make an outlandish promise like I used to in blogs of this type, to go and see them before the end of the season. I’m far too old and wise for that now. But, we’ll see eh?
