Spare us the tweet nothings
ON the day Arsene Wenger stood down I found myself rereading the transcript of an interview he conducted many years ago. It is approximately 6,700 words long and took place before the start of the 2009-10 season. Dated, of course, but still compelling to revisit his unspun thoughts at such length and in such detail. He explained aspects of his football philosophy and his life, made some bold but sadly inaccurate predictions about Arsenal’s future, took on global economics — where his forecasts were more exact, interestingly — and launched a passionate defence of his methodology and regime. He came across as urbane, intelligent, passionate, expert — a hugely impressive figure, convinced and convincing. This is the side of Wenger, of a great many managers in fact, so few get to see. It wouldn’t happen now. Arsenal used to do one of those interviews a season, usually to publicise the club’s charity. In 2009, Wenger (below) sat down with this newspaper and The Times and talked about anything and everything for the best part of 90 minutes. The next year it would be the turn of another two publications. Those appointments stopped long ago. For evidence of how clubs, and sporting organisations, look to reach out these days, think of the FA’s bizarre dig about Chris Smalling having Harry Kane in his pocket at Wembley on Saturday. Bantz! LOL! ROFL! That is what passes for communication. So Arsenal will have whole squadrons of media staff whose job it is to generate 280 character soundbites, or images or emojis, but little that showcases their manager’s greatest strength: his intellect, his humanity. And that goes for, almost, all of them. Liverpool know what they have in Jurgen Klopp, and the value of letting us get to know him, too. And the day after Leicester won the title Claudio Ranieri talked through an amazing campaign with an appreciative, privileged, gathering of sportswriters. It was a fascinating insight into the greatest title victory of any era. Yet as Pep Guardiola and Manchester City rewrite the record books there seems no chance that will be repeated. Something might turn up on Snapchat, but one of the greatest minds in modern football will one day leave these shores and no one will feel as if they knew him at all. The same with Antonio
Conte. The same with Mauricio Pochettino. Who are these people? Meaning modern managers appear snappy and selfabsorbed. There is no time for depth or for a real person to emerge, just a character. Yet does anyone think Jose Mourinho would have been this successful if he was as shallow and one-dimensional as Manchester United allow him to appear? These clubs have some of the sport’s greatest thinkers but limit them to petty irritations and snippets. It’s like having Franz Liszt at the piano, but only letting him play Chopsticks. The FA would be terrified of letting Gareth Southgate speak his mind, to just talk, unfettered and on the record, for an hour or more, but are happy to churn out clumsy tweets that later require an apology to England internationals. And further and further down we dumb.