NB: Reviewing Kevin Connolly and Rab MacWilliam’s Fields of Glory, Paths of Gold (published in 2006, first edition in 2005). For those who have not read the book, skip this review.
It used to be that Real Madrid dominated the European Cup in its early years. It used to be that Hungary once had a great side called the ‘Magical Magyars’. It used to be that Inter Milan was not the team everyone loved in Europe. It used to be that Barcelona had a ‘Dream Team’ but was eventually ousted by an Italian who would stunned everyone with what he did, the case of Silvio Berlusconi who indirectly made AC Milan what it was especially in the early 90s, and Bayern Munich had a good side with a certain Franz Beckbenbauer in the 70s. But then it also used to be that football had its values being tested way more than once in various countries on the European continent for various reasons. Football fans who have an inkling on what is happening beyond the British shores would have been aware of events which shaped the course of the sport since the game was beginning to be exported beyond its shores.
Fields of Glory, Paths of Gold as according to co-author Kevin Connolly, was released as a ‘thematic history which aims to explain how and why European football has developed the way it has’. Writing from a European perspective, that is. It showed in the chapters itself. Exploring the visionaries who knew how the game would be shaped and developed, the clubs, the national teams which once had their moments in the sun (and still does for some in both cases), how sometimes football is not always heading in the right direction. The book has been divided into two themes where ‘Teams, Themes and Issues’ explore the personalities and events which shaped European football what it is and the other in ‘European Competitions’ where it looked back at the European Championships up till the 2004 version, the various club competitions in the form of the UEFA Cup, the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup and the Champions League as we know it.
As football is widely acknowledged to begin with the English, the book began its European journey from there – Arsenal’s dominance in the 30s in England under revolutionary manager Herbert Chapman. It did question whether Arsenal under Chapman (long before the days of Arsene Wenger at the club) will be really considered to be among Europe’s elite had a European-wide competition be in existence then. Because while Chapman’s tactics eventually found fans beyond Britain, Arsenal’s European counterparts had also begun to take shape in Spain, Italy, Germany. The teams which would eventually come to dominate in the countries mentioned, that is (though it was always never Bayern Munich all along in Germany). The other and final time English football was featured prominently in the book was when Alf Ramsey was managing England. How the players who used to play under him and the journalists viewed his work, personality, tactics. Sir Alf, as he came to eventually known due to leading England to World Cup glory at its own backyard in 1966, was he really that well-liked after all? One may never know, but then for all England knows, the person who is similar to his way of doing things may have already arrived. The identity of the man who is almost in Ramsey’s mould would appear much later in the book itself at of all places, Italy. Do not take my word for it; it is based on how those who used to play under Ramsey when speaking of the current England side.
Speaking of Italy, there is Vittorio Pozzo. Widely regarded as Italy’s best-ever national team coach, leading Italy to two consecutive World Cup triumph is no mean feat especially in the modern sense. But, how was Pozzo really remembered? Pozzo’s time as Italy coach also came at a time when Benito Mussolini was in power in the country. But after Pozzo, it actually took the national team some time before it found its feet again when Enzo Bearzot was in charge. On the club football side of things in Italy, how one man who was once known for attacking football when he was coaching Barcelona became the embodiment of how the outside world view Italian football. Then there is also the amazing story of how AC Milan rejuvenated itself, with the help of Silvio Berlusconi.
In Spain, the story of how Real Madrid eventually become part of Europe’s elite in part of the man who was influential enough to have the stadium named after him. Then there are also the political links with the club with Francisco Franco, their never-ending rivalry with Barcelona which continue into the modern times. Coaches, players may have come and gone in the Spanish game and at both clubs as well, but the Real Madrid-Barcelona rivalry will always continue to fascinate people because it is beyond sporting reasons. If it was Real Madrid which began to dominate when a former player-turned-lawyer shaped the course of the club’s history forever, in the modern era, it will be Barcelona and their ‘Dream Team’, Real Madrid under a certain Florentino Perez which would dominate Spanish football in the modern times.
But Spain is not the only country where flair is the name of the game. Holland and France can also attest to that, when the likes of Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini respectively came to represent the kind of football their countries stand for. But while both men are still involved in the game long after their distinguished playing careers are over, are their successors still able to carry on the legacy which they first carried out? Will flair always win in the end? While Cruyff had set the benchmark for Dutch football, immigrants still continue to dominate the scene in French football just like it was in Platini’s time (where he himself has a grandfather who came from Italy). But for long in both Holland and France, it has to be contending with a nation where people often associate efficiency with – Germany. How Germany, or West Germany as it was once known, once delayed both nations to football greatness. But the then-West Germany did had good players too. And for having the knack of always being around in major tournaments.
But European football is more than just what is happening in Western Europe. Things are also stirring in the former Eastern Europe as well, in the former Iron Curtain. Footballers who come from there who are able to carve out careers for themselves playing in Western Europe. But such matters are only possible due to how television money, the Bosman ruling changed the scene of European football in the modern era. But even before the ‘Iron Curtain’ was non-existent after the Berlin Wall came down, it was Hungary which flew the flag for Eastern Europe in the form of the ‘Magical Magyars’.
The Champions League as we know it may have started with the idea of a French football columnist to have an annual competition for Europe’s top clubs, still how will Gabriel Hanot view it now with the television money and all come pouring into the modern game? But then the man himself could have been contended of coaches who would come to make a name for themelves in the competition which he first envisioned. Coaches who outwitted their opponents to win the most coveted prize in European club football. But not all are remembered in the right manner.
When I first encountered the book, I found it fascinating that it covers quite an amount of events and the personalities which come to be known within the European game. The people we come to associate with, the events people come to remember no matter which era they are from. As someone like myself who believe football is more than just what is happening in England, it cover a wide spectrum of events, footballing topics which can be a source of debate especially with how television money and the Bosman ruling changed the game as we know it. Not only that, it is also commendable that it also shed the light on the unpleasant aspects of the game where violence once overshadowed the game on the continent and how the authorities reacted.
I live in an era where television money and its coverage would dominate the scene, and so it was fascinating for me to read about the stories of the ‘Magical Magyars’, how Sir Alf Ramsey’s legacy continues to linger to this day, football in Eastern Europe before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the chapter which I kept reading even after I had finished – the amazing story of how AC Milan was transformed under Silvio Berlusconi. A debate had since been raised then: Which AC Milan side is better – Arrigo Saachi’s or Fabio Capello’s? That is fascinating to me, apart from the other topics raised in the book which can be equally thought-provoking as well.
Much might have changed in the European football scene since this book was published but, it sets the tone of how European football comes to be known for what it is these days. And that is something which cannot be denied.
