I run a small business, actually (though I'd be a lot happier if I could just read). I did a program evaluation for a university bridging program in Riyadh just down the street from the Saudi tourist office last year and, unfortunately, just missed one of the big Al Ittihad derbies. This was followed up by just missing Al Saad play in the Asian champions league a couple of days later in Qatar. My luck with Arab football is not good.

I was just reading Christoper Davidson's book on Dubai last week - and his descriptions of the Dubai/Abu Dhabi rivalry put the whole Man City thing into perspective for me. Are certain teams in the new UAE league seen as being more "representative" of the respective ruling families than others? And does the league contain any decent teams which are from any of the five smaller emirates?

Well, the majority of teams are from Dubai and Abu Dhabi (if you count Al Ain as an Abu Dhabi team although they have their own distinct identity). Some teams are very closely linked with various members of the ruling family. I was at Al Jazira versus Al Wasl on Saturday...Al Jazira being the first love of Man City's Sheikh Mansour of the nayhans, Al Wasl being from Dubai. Al Ahli enjoy the patronage of Dubai's crown prince so, yeah, some teams are more equal than others. In terms of the rest of the league, Al Sharjah are really the only decent one...the emnity between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is palpable. It rarely gets aired, but you speak to people at the football matches and you realise that they don't see themselves as city rivals, rather as two seperate countries. Crazy.

Seeing that you're here James: when will your book be available on play.com because I'll be buggered if I'll play Amazon's postage rates.

And, as Antonio said, hope you stick around.

Antonio, Jimmy Hogan was the coach who is credited with kick-starting the Austria and Hungary golden-eras. Great book and if you PM your address I'll send you my copy. I think you'll like it.

Antonio Gramsci wrote:

QUOTE:

And no, I've not read that book you mention. I'm not even entirely sure who Jimmy Hogan is, to be honest.

Did Willy Meisl really go through his whole book without mentioning Jimmy Hogan?!?!?!
(gasp)

Upon revisiting the book, yes, he does mention him. Once.

QUOTE:
In 1912 Hugo (i.e. Willy's brother - AG) introduced Jimmy Hogan to Vienna, who also became my club's coach. As a young grammar school boy, I was amongsthis first bunch of pupils. As Hugo's brother, I also received many a provate lesson. It was in Vienna that Jimmy discoverd how primitive British training methods were. With Hugo he worked out a more satisfactory scheme, probably the firstmoderntraining schedule in soccer. To save him from internment in the First World War, Jimmy was smuggeled to Budapest where he did splendid work, abover all with MTK.

.

Why he would have been safe in Budapest and not in Vienna when both were equally at war with Britain in a little bit beyond me, but there you have it.

That Eric Cantona eh? He's come out with some rubbish in his time.

*waits patiently in thread with camera and autograph book*

Antonio Gramsci wrote:

QUOTE:
Upon revisiting the book, yes, he does mention him. Once.

QUOTE:
In 1912 Hugo (i.e. Willy's brother - AG) introduced Jimmy Hogan to Vienna, who also became my club's coach. As a young grammar school boy, I was amongsthis first bunch of pupils. As Hugo's brother, I also received many a provate lesson. It was in Vienna that Jimmy discoverd how primitive British training methods were. With Hugo he worked out a more satisfactory scheme, probably the firstmoderntraining schedule in soccer. To save him from internment in the First World War, Jimmy was smuggeled to Budapest where he did splendid work, abover all with MTK.

.

Why he would have been safe in Budapest and not in Vienna when both were equally at war with Britain in a little bit beyond me, but there you have it.

That's it? Hogan and Hugo Meisl stayed in pretty close contact for the next 20 years. Is there any mention of the 1932 England-Wunderteam international @ Stamford Bridge, for which Hogan helped with the Austrian preparations? Feck... in the aftermath of the 6-3 in 1953 the Hungarians acknowledged Hogan's role in the rise of Central European football.

PS Re: Vienna v. Budapest WW1 - there was the case of local patronage IIRC. Will look it up.

PPS Hogan also coached the Austrian team at the Berlin Olympics.

Sash, the '32 game is mentioned, Hogan is not. His potted history of Hungary more or less skips straight from 1911 to 1948.

Eric's, man, I think you might have a long wait. Can I send you some sandwiches or something?

WHERE ARE THESE FUCKING SANDWICHES?

Try one of these.



mmm....Italian veal sandwiches....

Man, that looks good. I've been on a cheese and pickle run recently. Three a day. But as it says in the bible, you know, that line about that shit not being enough, or something.

Try beef bacon. You'll never eat a sarnie again...

That is one of the New Testament's most memorable passages, I agree. Although I've heard it's a mistranslation from the original Aramaic, which was more along the lines of: "Cheese and pickle, shitbird? Not enough". Still, one of Mary Magdalene's better one-liners in any language.

Actually, I should be clear - that *particular* sandwich, with cheese and sweet tomato sauce, is one half of a perfect summer day in Toronto. The other half being the walk from the sandwich bar to the match and the beers, singing and bitchy criticism about Mo's increasingly inane transfers that follow.

Almost finished Declan Hill's The Fix, so review to follow shortly.

The Fix: Organized Crime and Sports by Declan Hill

Sport is about two things: truth and surprise. Truth because over the long it is dedication, conditioning skill and teamwork that win, and they win precisely because the rules of sports are designed to reward them. Surprise, because despite that, on any given day, given the right combination of luck, hard work and desire, any team can beat any other, even with massive imbalances in talent. Take away truth and surprise, and you're left with nothing - an empty shell of human activity.

Declan Hill's new book contends that much of the Beautiful Game is well on its way to being just that. The book goes back and forth across four continents, from the back streets of Bangko