Times headline “Game needs more Norwichs and less grand delusion for a sustainable future”

Lots of guff but relevant para are:

“In this culture, to stand still, to not join in the lust for growth, seems almost like a provocative act of resistance. One of the themes that I have found fascinating this season has been the nascent backlash against Norwich City. I’m not talking about the legitimate criticisms of their football, or Daniel Farke’s coaching, but the idea that there is something ignoble about a club exists on the periphery of the Premier League and the Sky Bet Championship without signalling — not to the wider world’s satisfaction, anyway — the ambition to turn promotion into a permanent leap in size and status.

“ You’ll hear this accusation of institutional cowardice occasionally levelled at Norwich or Borussia Dortmund or Athletic Bilbao: clubs that are not itching to outgrow their present dimension, that prioritise sustaining what they are over the pursuit of more. Underpinning it is the notion that it is the destiny of every club to be as big as they can possibly be, even if that means piling up mountains of debt, or being turbo-fuelled by a morally questionable petrostate. But it’s not realistic for every club to aspire to the next level, and then the next one after that. Where does that end?

“ We are all going to have to learn to think differently about what it means to exist well. Football is an incredibly powerful engine for driving the cult of more. But that can’t go on for ever.

“ The world we live in is going to be shaped more and more by the values of sufficiency, localism, sustainable growth, even the benefits of stasis. For once, football should get ahead of the zeitgeist, rather than being dragged reluctantly in its wake.”

Posted By: Old Git on November 6th 2021 at 09:17:35

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