Monthly Archives: September 2011
Pep Guardiola: Football’s Guru
Anyone expecting Pep Guardiola to make a bid for the presidency of Catalonia may have been disappointed by his speech to the Catalan parliament the other day, where he received a medal, honouring him or his professional work. Pep’s short speech was short, articulate, and hugely inspirational. He was there to make clear the importance of being passionate about what you do in life-however unimportant you think what you do is- , and to leave us with no doubt that the one overriding passion in his life is football- playing it, …
9/11: Ten years on
The day the Twin towers were attacked I was with Tony Blair. I was in Brighton sent by the FT to cover the TUC annual conference. I have a vivid image of the PM and his entourage changing plans on the hoof and turning round from a speech he was due to give to trade unionists on New Labour’s latest reform agenda as the images came live on TV. He and his team rushed past me and a group of fellow journalists and headed back to London. Reflecting on that …
Jimmy Burns – Barca: A People’s Passion
FC Barcelona is much more than a football club- it is a social and political phenomenon.
Qatar and Barca
I remember back in the summer of 2003 attending a press conference organised by the Elefant Blau during the FC Barcelona presidential election campaign at which the then candidate Joan Laporta sat side by side with his running mate Sandro Rosell. There was a sense of positive expectation. The Elefant Blau had made huge a huge advance on the collective consciousness of football fans worldwide as a grassroots movement that believed in democracy , transparency , and financial accountability. A new era was beckoning after decades during which Barca ‘s …
Lourdes revisited (with thanks to Fr Nicholas King S.J.)
A week away from one’s daily existence seems all that much longer a break when it has been spent in Lourdes and I write this now while the experience is not only still fresh in my mind but also hopefully resistant to old habits settling in again. Pilgrimage is a journey and a discovery, and how ever many times I return to this holy enclave in the foothills of the Pyrenees, the process endures- each trip providing both renewal and a fresh encounter in most unexpected ways. It is in …
