The Summer of 2018 is the one we
will remember for the rest of our lives.
It’s the one where we had
continuously scorching hot sunshine. The one where we had barbecues every
single day and didn’t get bored. A Summer where I took my children to a
different beach every weekend in the UK: from the seaside in Cornwall to the
shores of mid Wales, beaches that looked more like the Caribbean or the
Mediterranean than our own country. Heat so ferocious it fuelled fires that
burned for days on the Moors and Winter Hill.
It’s been the Summer that you
longingly hope for year upon year but doesn’t come to fruition. For this year,
those balmy nights and hazy days, tropical temperatures graced the shores of
Great Britain, the Jorginho deal was ‘close’ every day – and England reached
the semi finals of the World Cup. Did I actually just type that? Yes you heard
it right. England were part of the final four in the biggest tournament in
world football. Football may not have come home, but it united a nation bathed
in sunshine and for that we should all be grateful.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
I was looking forward to the
World Cup this Summer just to provide me with my football fix before pre-season
with City started. I hadn’t been heavily invested in international football for
many years. I love watching the World Cup and the Euros when they roll around;
mainly to use it as an excuse to scout upcoming talent that I’d love to see
playing for City – but the tide has turned that much at the Etihad that most of
the really impressive players on show already played in sky blue.
The last time I was really
patriotic, and I mean jumping around like a maniac in an England shirt with a
flag, was 2002. It’s been a while since I’ve really cared about the national
team, although it goes without saying that I keep an eye out to see how City
players fare for their respective countries. I guess all those years of hurt
really did take their toll on me and I just lost interest in England. How
neglectful/glory fan of me!
But going into Russia 2018, the
mood seemed different with England. There was little to no expectation from
anybody towards the Young Lions. It’s a different generation; a squad that
carries no baggage is a squad with a different mentality, with a psychological
edge. Free from the shackles that have tied others down for years, able to
perform with a new found energy and confidence. It’s been a joy to see, a
delight for all and a surprise for the nation.
Throughout the countries, it’s
been a relatively mixed bag from the City players there. Germany – Joachim Low
made the stupendous mistake of leaving Young Player of the Year Leroy Sane out
of his squad – tumbling out at the group stage. Why you would leave such a
talent behind is beyond comprehension, particularly as it was his pace, drive
and energy that they so severely lacked. Argentina – Sergio Aguero scoring
twice but frustratingly benched twice – again, he can only do his job when he’s
on the pitch, something Jorge Campaoli failed to acknowledge, allowing his rift
with Aguero to affect his team’s performance. Nicolas Otamendi didn’t have his
best few games, with a couple of typically hot-headed moments, leaving last
season’s form largely in the dressing room at the Etihad (let’s hope he finds it there on his return).
Bernardo Silva had some moments
of brilliance for Portugal and has done his case with Pep no harm, as did David
Silva for Spain. Both put in displays we’re used to seeing from them week in,
week out, but ultimately exited at the quarter finals. Ederson didn’t get to
play but Fernandinho and Gabriel Jesus both featured for Brazil: the latter
displaying his usual hustle and energy upfront but failing to score any goals.
Then there was Belgium, with Vincent Kompany rested for a couple of games after
his recent injury, but brought into the side and played well. Kevin De Bruyne –
the GOAT –played an absolute blinder and scored similar too –but ultimately
their efforts weren’t enough to see Belgium progress into the final after
getting beat by France in the semis.
But England. Oh, England.
SEND US VICTORIOUS
They didn’t quite do that. But
boy did they give it a really good go. I didn’t expect to be gushing over both
England and City this year. What a football year 2018 has been.
‘Not in my lifetime’ is a phrase
branded about quite frivolously – and tongue in cheek because of Fergie – by
some, but City winning two trophies, breaking a load of records and England
getting to the semi finals of the World Cup whilst being managed by a player who
missed THE penalty in the Euro 1996 semi final shoot-out sounds like a fable
mocked up in your local boozer late on a Friday night. These things don’t
happen, ever.
I’m a big fan of the documentary
‘One Night in Turin’, which charts England’s journey through Italia ’90. The
late Sir Bobby Robson, so hideously mocked by the press at the time, took his
team of England players off to the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Nothing was
expected of them: they’d been chewed up and spat out by the red tops, with
rising star Paul Gascoigne becoming the tabloid’s next target for his
late-night boozy antics and jack-the-lad juvenile, jovial behaviour.
But what happened to them was
nothing short of sensational. They reached the semi finals that year – knocked
out on penalties to West Germany, Chris Waddle blazing his penalty over the
crossbar. But they united the country, gave England hope when fans and critics
had wrote them off before a ball was kicked. They came home heroes – and
rightly so.
This almost mirrors what has happened
to England 28 years later. Many of the players in the current national squad
weren’t even born when Italia ’90 was played out. When they left the country to
head to Russia, there was no great fanfare, no bustling crowds sending them on
their way. Many people didn’t know what to make as Gareth Southgate as manager;
he’d picked a young squad – The Young Lions. There weren’t too many survivors
from a previous era of hurt and upset. People wrote them off: ‘too young’, ‘not
enough experience’, ‘won’t get out of the group with that lot’.
But what people failed to stop
and think about was that the England squad had winners in it. Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Fabian
Delph all went to Moscow after that incredible
season at City. Their confidence was sky high and they were playing some of the
best football of their lives. The youth in the England squad also brought
vitality, a fresh outlook, a new attitude, free from many of the shackles that
have burdened and tied down so many in the past after the heroics of 1966.
Tunisia and Panama – nothing to
be afraid of, with Belgium always destined to be the hardest game in the group.
But nobody could’ve possibly predicted the 6-1 annihilation of Panama and this
is where the excitement started for many. A Harry Kane hat trick and two goals
from John Stones, a rampant England side recording their biggest win ever in
the World Cup finals, the result set the country alight with a real buzz in the
air. Maybe, just maybe, this time could be different. A kinder route to the
final after the Belgium defeat did nothing to prevent the giddiness, a nation
growing in cautious confidence, could this be the dawn of a new era? Could it
be?
A quarter final against Sweden,
the IKEA Vikings, and a solid 2-0 win sending England to their first semi
finals for 28 years. We all now believed. Gareth Southgate and his squad had
given us new hope and many people the best moments of their Summer. We’d
watched the Panama win with our family during a barbecue on a scorching hot Sunday.
We watched the Sweden win in a packed bar in Manchester, with everybody
spilling out into Peter Street to celebrate with reckless abandon afterwards.
Thankfully no stomping on ambulances here, just many chants of ‘football’s
coming home’ with people dancing, jumping around and hugging each other in the
blazing hot sunshine. It was a very surreal moment. Everybody so joyous, so
happy, so together in their celebrations – what a pleasure and a privilege to
be a part of, something so unexpected and truly wonderful.
Then came the semi final. A night
where the country stood still. Roads were silent, with friends and family
gathered around the nearest television screen to witness history in the making.
The furthest England had progressed in a World Cup since 1990 – potentially 90
minutes away from a World Cup final.
The old football cliché ‘a tale
of two halves’ is prevalent here. England sent into dreamland within the first
five minutes with a Kieran Trippier free kick sailing into the top right of the
net. The Three Lions coping well with anything Croatia had to offer and
attacked with gusto. Sterling tormenting their defence time and time again;
creating opportunities but failing to find that important second goal. But the
second half England lacked that impetus and looked out of ideas and sluggish.
Croatia capitalised on sloppy defending and, after extra time, we were out of
the World Cup again.
That really hurt. I didn’t expect
to be so emotionally invested in our national side, it had been so long. Like many,
I allowed myself to be swept along in the hysteria, a feeling that felt so
good, adding spontaneous delight and delirium to everybody’s Summer. I truly
believed that we could do it. We were 22 minutes away from the World Cup Final.
It felt like a real kick in the stomach. It was such a golden opportunity for a
new generation to make their mark; so many big guns had disappointed and fallen
flat on the big stage, whereas England had soared. The comedown was real. I
hadn’t felt that disappointed over football for a long, long time. It was a bit
of a reality check. I almost feel like, with getting that close, we will never
get so close again. Next time, the expectation and pressure will be back. World
Cup semi finalists – surely we can repeat that? I’m not so sure. The boys are
young, but finishing in the final four means the weight of the world next time
round.
But really, the boys do come home
with full credit to them, with most of their reputations enhanced. Stones
rediscovered that form he had before his injury at City, with many citing him
as the next Bobby Moore, putting in some outstanding performances and scoring
twice. Walker proving to be just as valuable and Sterling – well, if anything,
this World Cup has just shown me how many people don’t truly understand
football. So many people were quick to jump on social media to lambast Sterling
for ‘missing so many chances’, without stopping to think about the fact that he
created them in the first place. His pace and energy put the fear of God into
the opposition, opened up space for others to run into. He is an attacking
midfielder – he did his job with aplomb – the only game we lost was when he
didn’t start, and every time he was subbed we looked worse off for it.
With One Night in Turin. the boys
came home to crowds of thousands and an open top bus. I don’t believe that
reception is really warranted this time round. Yes, they’ve done remarkably
well and come so far, but there is still much work to be done. At the time of
writing this, England still have to play Belgium in the play-off game for third
place (what a nonsense game, surely
nobody cares about who finished third after missing out on the final?),
then the boys will be granted some much needed time off before coming back to
City and preparing for the 2018/19 season defending the Premier League trophy.
And breathe.
Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad
it’s happened. Some of those celebratory moments made my Summer what it was. My
first World Cup with my two beautiful sons and my partner. It will never be
forgotten. Very precious memories.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
It’s hard to put into words just
quite what last season was like for us City fans. It was so much more than we
could’ve all possibly hoped for, could’ve dreamed of. We left the opposition
trailing in our wake, a gap so embarrassingly dominant it was almost like
playing in our own League. There’s no arrogance; just a startling honesty that
the standard of the football that we played was at least 19 points better than
the closest team to us. Even now the dust has firmly settled, it’s hard to
process the level of control we had and the standard of football we played –
breathtaking, mesmeric and captivating fantasy football.
So, where do you go from smashing
dozens of records and winning two trophies? Where do we go after such a
record-breaking season? You move to defend your titles, win more and somehow
still improve further.
Signings-wise: at the time of
writing, Jorginho (a name quite frankly
that I am sick to the back teeth of hearing) looks to be heading to Chelsea
because he would prefer to live in London than Manchester – his loss. But City
have made their record signing with former Leicester man Riyad Mahrez signing
for £60 million (that unveiling at the
Etihad though with Moonchester and Moonbeam – talk about cringe). We were
linked with him of course in January, but the midfielder has now made the move
and, to be quite honest, yes, a fantastic player, but I’m scratching my head at
where exactly Pep will play him. He already has the Bernardo/Sterling dilemma
on the right and Sane has been flying on the left, which is Mahrez’s preferred
position – not a bad headache to have, and I am excited to see what he’ll offer
in a team he’ll no doubt thrive in when he gets the chance.
Angus Gunn leaving did disappoint
me. I’ve seen the young goalkeeper progress so much since I used to work for
the club and covered the EDS back when they played at Platt Lane and I really
thought we’d move to keep them and have him as our reserve. But £10 million
plus add-ons is a lot of money to turn down and I’ve no doubt he will go on to
be England’s number one in the future when he thrives at Southampton. Zinchenko
has also been linked with leaving, but for now he’s still at City. Pablo Maffeo
has gone to VFB Stuttgart and I’ve probably missed others out, but for now
that’s the main movement in the transfer window. Not a great deal, but we
didn’t need to drastically strength. Most of the improvements were made last
Summer, although a back up for Fernandinho would make me sleep better at night.
After our entirely PR-driven
pre-season tour of the US (sorry, I just
don’t pay any attention whatsoever to pre-season games, they serve no purpose
apart from selling shirts and spreading the word in foreign countries for the
club), it’s the Community Shield against (at the time of writing, managerless) Chelsea on the first weekend
of August and then Arsenal at the Emirates for our opening game of the 2018/19
season. Talk about a baptism of fire. It’ll be an interesting start that’s for
sure, with many players returning late after featuring in the World Cup,
although at least Otamendi and Aguero will have had an extra long rest (sorry boys!).
There’s no reason we can’t go out
there and defend our title with the same excitement as we provided last season.
The main difference was the gulf in class between us and our rivals – and that
difference as mentioned was 19 points. I am yet to see any evidence of any
teams around us strengthening and improving to the tune of a 19 point difference.
Don’t get me wrong - I don’t think it
will be as much as a walk in the park as it was last season by all means. But
people realised that other squads needed to be added to in order to try and bridge
the gap and I’m not sure that has really happened at all. I just worry about
making a good start – hopefully all our players come back refreshed enough,
ready to push on and achieve more dreams in blue.
SEA’S THE DAY
I usually spend the Summer more
or less wishing the time away, but this time was different. As soon as the
season finished, Adam and I were preparing to take Vincent and Noel Sergio down
to Cornwall for 10 days for their annual holiday there. We absolutely love it
down there: the week we go in May has been blessed with incredible weather now for
the past two years of going and the place we stay, in Portreath, is beautiful.
We’re lucky to be able to go out of season at the moment because the boys
haven’t started school yet, so there were no crowds and quite often we find
ourselves the only people on certain beaches.
The whole 10 days were spent
bathed in magnificent unbroken sunshine, on a different glorious beach every
day, with Vincent building sandcastles and Noel legging it into the sea and
eating sand pies. Porthcurno, Marazion, Porthgwidden, Portminster, Portmeor,
Kynance, Towan, Watergate, Fistral, Perranporth, Hayle and Gwithian. All
ridiculously stunning, with golden sands and turquoise waters. Every evening we
drank beer and Aperol spritz watching the breathtaking sunset over the sea in
the hot tub. It was like a dream – and best of all, we didn’t even need our
passport. Yes you need to be lucky to get the weather, but boy did we. It was
quite possibly my favourite holiday and set the tone for our wonderful Summer.
So we’ve spent the Summer (sorry if you follow me on Instagram and are bored of seeing my seaside photos!) having as
many days out as possible to enjoy the delightful sunshine we’ve been living
under. I wasn’t here in 1976 and I’ve heard so much about it, so it’s been a
joy to experience days and days of prolonged sunshine in our country and, along
with the football, it’s really provided that feel good factor for most of us. We’ve
discovered more of our beautiful UK coast, with trips to Barmouth and Abersoch
in Wales, and many more days out at zoos and parks. We wanted to squeeze the
zest and juice out of the weather and I definitely feel like we’ve done that –
I’ve not had this good a tan since I last went on holiday to the Caribbean!
So as those long, hazy days roll
by and the season approaches, I’ll be sad to wave goodbye to the heatwave that
has gripped us so tightly recently. But normal service will resume in a matter
of weeks – football may not be coming home, but City are coming back – and we
all know what that means. More thrills, less spills, more of that incredulously
unbelievable Pep Guardiola football we were so lucky to watch last season.
As always, I’ve no idea what to
really expect with City. But I do know it won’t be boring. The pressure and expectation
will be there and we’ve got to know how to cope with everybody wanting to beat
us again. Déjà vu, c’est la vie.
But I’m really excited for it
all, are you?
