Hello disciple! Apologies for not posting much lately, but, World Cup aside, summer is a barren time for flair ramblings. Expect a World Cup FLAIRview next week, however.
Anyway, i completely forgot to post these two articles written for The Seagulls Love Review fanzine. These were in the March and April editions respectively.
First up is my March offering, enjoy
ALBION FLAIRWATCH
By Tom Stewart
When Tony Bloom made the bold step of employing a Uruguayan to lead his army into battle, I greeted the news with uncontrollable excitement. I have, for years, envied clubs with foreign managers. Look at some of the flairest "gaffers" to grace the English game- Jose, Ruud, Gianluca....the list is endless, and now this was happening to US. Dick Knight often seemed scared to go for the flair option- remember Winfried "Winnie" Schäfer? But now we have a man in charge who really understands what the FLAIRNIACS want from life- and that ideal is typified by one man- GUS POYET.
Many FLAIR enthusiasts consider Mark Mcghee's reign as the Albion's first "Flair Reich". Mark was a man who really understood what life was about. His love of foreign players (Turienzo, Molango, Carole, Bertin, Bagayoko etc.) and young English players with appalling attitudes (Knight) was a recipe for FLAIRsaster. Mark also won hands down in the attire department, with his love of White suits, making him a bit of a lady’s man. If truth be told, the style of play during McGhee's Reich was far from Flair in the non-flairniac world, but the real connoisseurs were able to look beyond this and see a man really trying his best. Throwing player's off coaches (not literally), falling out with the clubs top scorer (sound familiar?) and overseeing a reported RACIAL DIVIDE all contributed to a totalitarian flair regime,
Now Gus is leading the Second "Flair Reich". With an Argentinean at his side (Maricio Tarrico- who was an ANIMAL on the pitch), things are looking good. Gus's first major flairchievement was recruiting defensive maestro Inigo Calderon (who is my new hero). Inigo is a rampaging right back and has impressed fans with his play. "The Matador" was originally written off by the anti-flair mafia at the Albion, but even they must've fallen in love with the lovable Basque right-back. Not content with adding "Latino" to our racial quota, Gus landed a major coup, in landing Newcastle winger Kazenga Lua-Lua. "Kaz" is brother of "the dalai-lama of flair", Lomana Lua-Lua, who lit up the Premiership, mainly with Portsmouth. Kazenga has impressed with his rapid pace and trickery thus far, and is close to extending his spell until the end of the season. If you're impressed by those two (I conveniently missed out Sebastien Carole's third spell at the club), then you'll have liquids gushing from your every orifice at Gus' next move. Diego Arismendi is a Uruguayan midfielder, who has won the South American version of the Champion's League AND has played for his national side. Diego moved to Premier League flairists, Stoke City for £2.5m, but had struggled to settle in England. City fans that have been lucky enough to witness his two appearances in the famous Red & White stripes have praised his technical ability. Arismendi became so depressed with life in the midlands that he shaved all his hair off- who can blame him? He was also sent off in a reserve fixture for head butting an opponent. What really caps it off for me is that he forced his neighbour out of their luxury home, after causing them so much grief with his late night partying. Here's hoping he continues this down on the south coast. The fact that he signed for the club because Gus Poyet is his HERO proves that Mr. Bloom made the right choice. Gus seems fairly content with life down here, and for me, is the only man I want leading us out at Falmer (apart from Jose Mourinho or Kevin Keegan obviously), so here’s to a long and successful Second Reich!
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