There was a video shared by the Football Away Days account over the weekend on Twitter of Everton defender Yerry Mina outside his car listening to angry Everton fans claiming he doesn’t care about the club and will leave if they are relegated and that.
It was filmed on a smartphone outside Goodison Park following the defeat to Southampton that has left Everton with the very real possibility of being relegated from the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history.
Fair play to Mina, who didn’t play in the game, for having the courage to step outside and listen to what they had to say. Given recent events, no one could blame him for choosing to remain in the relative safety of his car and driving off at the first opportunity.
Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale was in a vehicle with her family leaving Goodison Park on 3 January after a heavy defeat to Brighton when it was spat at while she was subjected to misogynistic taunts. Bill Kenwright, the chairman, has had verbal threats of violence.
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It was “unprecedented”, Everton said in a statement. And they weren’t wrong. What has the game come to when figures involved with a club can’t attend a match fearing they will come to harm?
It’s well-trodden ground to say that football reflects society, and we are, worryingly, seeing that play out now. People are unhappy, angry, their lives have been made worse by the cost-of-living crisis, exorbitant energy prices, war in Europe, the pandemic, the gradual dismantling of the NHS. For many, football is their only respite, and the platform through which they can channel that simmering rage they possibly didn’t even know existed.
Social media is a major factor at play here, too. In the video, Mina is surrounded by supporters, most holding up smartphones recording the confrontation, some taking selfies in the background.
Everyone is a cameraman, nowadays. Anyone can be the main protagonist in the show of their own making. It just has to be outrageous enough, edgy enough, angry enough.
The Football Away Days account has nearly 250,000 followers on the social media site. The tweet has been seen over 1.4m times. The video has been watched more than 5.5m times. This kind of content does serious traction these days.
Everton’s Yerry Mina arguing with fans outside Goodison Park after their loss at home to Southampton today…
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) January 14, 2023pic.twitter.com/19d4TUa5Ns
Remember the Manchester United fans who threw flares and fireworks at former executive chairman Ed Woodward’s home? They made sure that made it onto social media.
The saying used to be that people wanted their 15 minutes of fame — nowadays they want to go viral. For a few glorious hours, perhaps even days, they can be centre stage in the next internet drama.
On Sunday, it was the supporter kicking Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale when he retrieved a water bottle next to the advertising hoarding behind his goal following their North London Derby victory. What next?
The whole thing is a mess entirely of our own creation and it feels as though there’s no end in sight. The concern is: how far will people go to go viral?
Breakaway ‘Super Greed’
There’s one quote, from Barcelona president Joan Laporta, in the new Apple TV+ Super League documentary that reveals exactly why they tried to create the breakaway competition.
“The current system is not progressing,” Laporta says. “And now we are getting poorer. When we are looking for a player we would like to incorporate in Barcelona, for instance, PSG and Man City they have more resources in order to make the offer double. It’s difficult to compete in these circumstances.
“Look at the market. Just the clubs that belongs to a state are investing better. The best of the clubs are in financial problems.”
The lack of self-awareness is astonishing. This is precisely what Barcelona and co have been doing to the rest of the football pyramid for decades.
Laporta’s counterpart at Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, adds: “We need rules that are the same for everybody. We must only spend what we generate from football, and not from mysterious external finances.”
If only someone had thought of that when Perez first became Real Madrid president in 2000 and oversaw the most outrageous spending the game had ever seen to create the Galacticos, football might not be in the financial mess it is now.
You can tell Rashford was offside if you have eyes
When you have to give clever arguments for why a decision was made in a match, something’s gone wrong. Marcus Rashford was clearly offside before Bruno Fernandes scored the equaliser against Manchester City. It was obvious to anybody who had eyes.
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No he’s not interfering with the play of course not !!
— Glenn Hoddle (@GlennHoddle) January 14, 2023Rule change please
pic.twitter.com/Y97BsdftFP
Although not, apparently, to referee Stuart Attwell, who concluded Rashford had not made “an obvious action that clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball”, as per the rulebook.
If running onto a teammate’s pass isn’t an obvious action, I’m not sure what is. It’s impacting Manuel Akanji’s ability to play the ball because he — understandably — thinks Rashford is offside. If Rashford isn’t there, in an offside position, Akanji runs back and clears the ball before Fernandes shoots.
It’s not about nuances, or interpretations, it’s about making the wrong decision. And admitting your mistakes.
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