All the sports fans out there will have seen that Manchester City’s men won a treble of football trophies this year. In football this is actually quite a rare event. The last English team to do so being Manchester United in 1998/99. And only three other European teams have ever done it too. When something appears in a three this is a strong indication of a trend. Think about it this way. One is a point, two is a line and three is a pattern. I’m sure you know that when selling or buying a house there are three things that count, Location, Location, Location. Some of you will also remember at the Labour Party Conference in 1996, before his 1997 landslide victory, Tony Blair said that the party’s three top priorities when coming into office would be, Education, Education, Education. And there is an old proverb about good things coming in threes. “If a fortunate event has already occurred twice, a third fortunate event is likely to occur.” If you want people to remember your message, then repeat it three times. Our unconscious minds like a bit of repetition.
It is always good to celebrate success, which City’s achievement certainly is. But even before the tickertape has been swept away questions about money taking over football, and sports washing leave a sour taste. Personally, I don’t think that the manager and players earning a lot of money is a problem, they are after all at the top of their professions. By winning a treble they have demonstrated that they are good at what they do. But seven of City’s nine topflight league titles have come since they were purchased by Sheikh Mansour, who is a royal and politician from the United Arab Emirates. Accusations of buying success abound. Manchester City aren’t the only football team who has bought success either of course. Jack Walker did with Blackburn in the mid 1990’s. Prior to that their most recent championship had been in the 1913/14 season. And Roman Abramovich did the same with Chelsea. Five of Chelsea’s six topflight championships came in the Abramovich era. When it comes to club football there is a direct correlation between points and players wages. Because of this UEFA’s introduced its Financial Fair Play rules in 2011/12, to help prevent teams making risky decisions for success. But in reality, all these are likely to achieve is keeping the big clubs at the top. The question that comes to my mind is, what do we want football to be? Is it a sporting competition, a form of entertainment, a showcase for the rich and famous? In the future will it simply become a tight clique of big clubs where a degree of financial success is guaranteed. As the ghost of the, for now, aborted 2021 European Super League seems to suggest.
Sporting association with popular, prestigious, and glamorous sporting events is what is today called sports washing. Governments, corporations, or individuals launder their images through whatever sport or sporting event you would like to imagine, from Basketball, through boxing, football, golf, motorsport, and the Olympics, to Wrestling. Although the term might be fairly new the idea is an ancient one. Julius Caesar was an inveterate sponsor of games to please the masses. So long as we live in a society where we value material wealth and celebrity then this is going to continue. But remember that we can choose whether we watch sport or not. I only watched 2 games of last year’s World Cup. A small protest that probably went totally unnoticed. But we the people still have the power. And I guess if these same people weren’t spending most of our time working to make ends meet, then more of us might actually demand some changes.
All that said I do still tip my hat to the manager and players at Manchester City, a great achievement that they can feel proud of. And look out for any threes in your life too. Because three is a pattern be that of success or failure. If you have been hit by someone else at the same roundabout once, that’s unfortunate, twice is unlucky, but if it happens three times you need to start asking yourself, what am I doing that’s causing this to happen?
“Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” Confucius
