Now that 5am has become 4am I wake bolt up at 5 to 4, without fail. Some body clock mine. Fires are still burning from peoples excitements the night before. I’m like the milkman – remember him? Its Rememberance Sunday and given the hour I am one of the first to be remembering it. We all of us die but so many died by some useless command – GO OVER THE TOP! A footballer (Da Silva Eduardo) much mailigned for diving in a football match (he was only just back from a broken leg) scoring a goal yesterday pulled up his shirt to reveal another one-white proclaiming ‘its time for peace’ ... (not through this incident but in general :) don’t let anyone ever convince you the game is all about money.
My daughter Ava could have been called “Poppy”. She was borne on the Eleventh of the Eleventh of the Eleventh. She’s just 4 this week. Although I haven’t seen that much of her – her mother has been with her every single day for four years – I get on so well with her. How is this possible with such an age difference? I’m impressed by the clever things she does and says. Her increasing vocabulary – perhaps it was always there just waiting to come out. And by the way she touches. Ok, sometimes she’s too rough. Her sense of humour is developing and she looks like she can dance. I think of all the times I might say to her, both smiling the smile : would you care for this dance? Has she a wisdom predating this life… my sister says she has an old soul. Is the age difference thing really so important? Getting on is the thing. It’s surely what you bring to the table. Or the dancefloor. I recommend ceilidh dances once a week – where everyone of all ages and cool get together and go through all sort of mating and general etiquettes, whilst dancing and hugging.
I think of those young men barely seen anything going to War (particularly that First one), wet, cold, dead, never to return with stories or to the dance. People who sent them or managed them were mostly older and there could be some blame attached. If we are in a war with Afghan right now then surely we should have a War Cabinet really looking at things. We cant just blame the Prime Minister or faceless civil servants. Everyone now is beginning to say they never wanted it. The backstabbing face-slapping double-dealing newspapers such as the Daily Mail, The Sun, The Express would probably criticise the likes of me for being liberal, for being all nicey-nicey about all sorts of people who might not deserve it. As if I have no clear view. I do : I want such newspapers to die a hideous death. And I want beach football to be reinstated once it has died (from December 1st the authorities in Rio are banning all beach football because of the chaos it brings. Denying young men, and women – and not just young men and women – the times of their lives).
Back of the net: we get the National Football Museum – guest blogger ‘ComStad’ goes on to write…
Preston 0, Manchester 5
This is good news.
The museum of the national game is to come to the UK capital city of popular culture: ‘the least aristocratic city in Britain’ as we’ve been called.
Alongside the permanent memorabilia from Pele, Bobby Moore and the likes, Urbis could cover the serious football themes of the Latin American football wars, hooliganism, match-fixing, the tribalism attached to clubs and march on to fun themes such as football fashions, the crazy hairstyles of players, FA cup songs.
Perfect, this is the right decision.
The current location of the museum, Preston North End’s ground, was a backwater. A football stadium without a game going on, is like a nightclub at 10am, pointless.
Urbis, a museum (yes, at last we can call it a museum rather than a centre for urban culture or some such) is perfect too. It’s in the heart of a city. In an entertainment area too.
And the present leadership at Urbis with Vaughan Allen as Director is a good fit for the relocated National Football Museum. With the present exhibitions – a lovely duet of British hip hop and Manchester produced TV – Urbis has done what it does best in recent years, provide contemporary, interesting and well-produced shows. Given a single theme, football, the world game, that imaginative lot at the Urbis should have a field day. Or even a pitch day.
Alongside the permanent memorabilia from Pele, Bobby Moore and the likes, Urbis could cover the serious football themes of the Latin American football wars, hooliganism, match-fixing, the tribalism attached to clubs and march on to fun themes such as football fashions, the crazy hairstyles of players, FA cup songs.
Here’s the official reaction.
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “I’m delighted that the trustees have accepted our offer for the National Football Museum to relocate to Urbis. Manchester is not only a city with football in its blood but also one of the country’s leading visitor destinations, the most visited English city outside London. We strongly believe that this move will significantly strengthen the National Football Museum. Independent expert analysis shows that the National Football Museum at Urbis could attract up to 400,000 visitors a year – making it an internationally important destination.
“The museum’s arrival in Manchester will ensure it has a sustainable future while adding to our existing wide range of tourist attractions, building on the major achievements of Urbis to date. The Urbis team will use their creative expertise to reinterpret the football story as part of popular culture in an imaginative and interactive way.”
Hard cash is behind the victory. The mechanics of the deal are that Manchester’s proposals for subsiding the museum with £2m per year, outbid Lancashire County Council, Preston Borough Council and the University of Central Lancashire’s joint £400,000 offer to keep the museum.
Preston doesn’t lose out completely. There will still be a presence for the National Football Museum in the town and Preston will hold onto the main storage facilities and archive. As long as this doesn’t become a British compromise and fudge solution that’s fine.
It’s clear though that Head Office will be here: that the major exhibitions and the major artefacts will be in Manchester.
This is wholly appropriate.
Whilst Preston was one of the founding clubs of the Football League, the whole apparatus of permanent professional leagues, nationally and internationally, was ratified in Manchester’s Royal Hotel in Piccadilly Gardens in April 1888.
Football’s come home. Or will do when the National Football Museum opens in Manchester in summer 2011.
Cas says..” Yay! I hope the Urbis team take on their new roles with relish and understand how they will benefit long term from being associated with what will be a wonderful tourist attraction. Manchester can’t be the UK’s true capital of arts but we can be the Capital of Sport, which is not a bad thing.”
Surely after my own Xmas designs on the window, we win! Our ship of a gallery-cum-shop was untouched by the floods and it sails on with all the many pictures lining the racks, the figurines, the books, the bigger pictures as well. Yes this is a sales pitch – i’ve built it now I await for you to come.
Ambleside is snug. Xmas Lights. Real Snow on the mountains. Students in the streets in fancy-dress. Guitar music spilling out of the pubs. 3 cinemas with some lovely films. Eateries. And there’s us.
