Soccer series

[wco81]

I've watched All or Nothing Tottenham. Thought it was real good, especially some of the players whose contracts were up and then also Ericksen who just wanted to leave.

Then you had Mourinho gaslighting all the players including the face of the franchise himself Kane.

Watched a bit of First Team Juventus, which was in the 2018 season. I knew these clubs go back forever, didn't think Juventus was that old. But I am assuming the huge following they showed, which included all the fans lining up to see them at the estate of the owners, is mainly due to their success, winning 6 scudetti in a row at the time.

The show showed some of the off the pitch life of Buffon, Higuain, Dybala, Pjanic and a few others.

What they don't tell you is that Juventus is so rich, they just buy up the best players from rival Serie A clubs, to not only strengthen themselves but weaken the competition. So Pjanic, Higuain and Scezny were key players for rival Serie A sides.

They did profile Marchisio, who grew up through the Academy since he was a little boy. But obviously a big part of Juventus' domination has been its financial resources, which allow them to acquire the best players.

Their Allianz stadium looked like a German stadium, all modern and state of the art. They must have the highest revenues in Italy.

No different than how Munich, Real Madrid/Barca, and the deepest pocket teams in the EPL dominate.

Is anyone even still pretending to care about FFP?


Beyond that I thought how Buffon was portrayed was interesting. It's his final season, almost 40. At first he's saying he's fortunate to still be at the top of his game. But as it wears on, I believe this must have been the season that they replace him with Scezny. After all, why acquire another top goalie to sit on the bench behind a 40-year old player?

Buffon always seemed like a wise guy, like he taunted opponents in WC, seemed to always smirk at them when Italy was winning. They showed one sequence where he saves a penalty and wags his finger, kind of like what Mutombo used to do in the NBA.

But when he sits down for the cameras, he seems like a wise old man, elder statesman, talking about how grateful he is for the career he's had, says he cries often but not because of football, but because of life's heartbreaks.

The image in my mind of Italian players is a trolling, taunting type, like when Materazzi baited Zidane in that WC final, which got him sent off, or Chiellini (also profiled) got Suarez disqualified. So this reflective Buffon doesn't seem to fit. Maybe he's playing a different role for the cameras.


Anyways, both are very entertaining. AT least as good as Hard Knocks if not better, since they involve the stars, not just some undrafted free agent trying to make the 53-man roster in training camp. Also involves real matches which count, not exhibition games.

There is All or Nothing of past seasons of City and Liverpool I think as well. Hope they keep making new ones like this season.

[Baphomet]

The Spurs series was a fun watch, but also a bit uncomfortable as a fan. A moment I enjoyed was Daniel Levy trying to encourage a visibly downbeat Ndombele with anecdotes from his youth. I get that footage that shows Spurs brass in a negative light would most likely have been left on the cutting room floor, but I think that in a wider sense, Levy comes across quite well. It betrays his infamous image, or the fans' perception of him.

If you're willing to go beyond the series format, there are a number of excellent football documentaries. One I'd recommend is Asif Kapadia's 2019 Diego Maradona documentary on HBO. Some of the details of his vices and sorrow verge on being harrowing, but it also provides some interesting insight into his brilliance, and some necessary context. After his passing, many people liked to talk about the duality of the man 'Diego', and the mythical icon 'Maradona'. That dichotomy is laid bare in the documentary.

[wco81]

Yeah I think I saw it, which showed him getting close with the mafia in Naples.

That was terrific.

I think it's great that the clubs give access during the regular season.

[The_Brecht]

Most of them are propaganda tbf. Especially the Spuds one was really cringe imo.

The one about Sunderland I actually liked, because they showed the real thing. Players who struggle to adapt to the English culture, coaches who get heckled by fans and react, the board who are full of themselves while the club crashes to the ground.

It shows the ugly side of football, which we - as fans - almost never really see.

[wco81]

Sure I would think clubs wouldn't give this kind of access if they didn't give overall positive impressions of the club.

They probably hope that their loyal supporters will embrace these shows and buy more gear, attend more games, etc.

If these shows gave a negative view of a team, then other clubs probably wouldn't cooperate in future shows.

I don't think a club would want some drunk fans shown. But this isn't suppose to be some hard-hitting investigative journalism.

For that you have to read elsewhere about Messi making 550 million Euros over 4 seasons and Barca being over $1 billion in debt, about the inequities of rich clubs using poorer clubs as pretty much development system to develop future stars who will end up with the top clubs.

But like I said, you did see some friction, like after a match, there was some arguments about Son not tracking back to help defend, so you got a heated argument that you wouldn't see in the highlights shows or post-match interviews. Or like I said, the way Mourinho was saying one thing to the players and then saying a different thing to his assistant coaches in Portuguese, which the show translated to show what he was really saying.

So I think there is some value to be gained, for fans to see some aspects of a club's season that you won't see in the usual club PR apparatus.

[BetaUniv]

Most of them are propaganda tbf. Especially the Spuds one was really cringe imo.

The one about Sunderland I actually liked, because they showed the real thing. Players who struggle to adapt to the English culture, coaches who get heckled by fans and react, the board who are full of themselves while the club crashes to the ground.

It shows the ugly side of football, which we - as fans - almost never really see.

I have to agree it was much better in terms of filmmaking than many others. And Sunderland is still in League One and it will be nice to make a third series if they will promote to Championship.

[The_Brecht]

Most of them are propaganda tbf. Especially the Spuds one was really cringe imo.

The one about Sunderland I actually liked, because they showed the real thing. Players who struggle to adapt to the English culture, coaches who get heckled by fans and react, the board who are full of themselves while the club crashes to the ground.

It shows the ugly side of football, which we - as fans - almost never really see.

I have to agree it was much better in terms of filmmaking than many others. And Sunderland is still in League One and it will be nice to make a third series if they will promote to Championship.

Especially with the real life football manager experiment that's going to happen.
The club was bought by a 23 year old, Kyril Louis-Deryfus (son the former owner of Marseille).

[wco81]

They announced earlier this year that they will have series on Juventus and Bayern, expected some time this year.

Not clear if it will feature the last seasons of these clubs or an earlier season.

They’re also currently filming Arsenals season for release next year. Could be rough there.

[wco81]

August 4 for All or Nothing Arsenal from last season.

Watch on YouTube

[wco81]

They also have Juventus, the season Ronaldo played for them so it was released in 2021.

No sign of Bayern but there is a 2019 Borussia Dortmund series.

[wco81]

Watched the first two episodes.

Looks gorgeous in 4k and HDR. The clips in the game are from angles you wouldn’t see on normal broadcasts so it’s tight shots of the players.

They get access to the dressing room before, during half time and after matches. That’s pretty interesting, though you don’t know if the players and coaches act differently in subtle ways knowing that they’re being filmed.

The bad start, losing the first 3 matches, being out scored 0-9 was the big news at the start of the last EPL season, along with the fact that they’d spent over £150 million over the summer.

Arteta is open about the pressure and the stars back him, saying he’s a brilliant tactician. They inTerview a lot of the fans and the ones they splice in all day he has tO go.

I thought that managers decided or at least had a lot of input into the players that clubs acquired but they show like two front office guys who seem like nerds — analytics guys who never played high level sport — along with Josh Kroenke, who looks like a dude bro having all the discussions about which players they want to acquire.

I thought managers like Ferguson, Klopp and Guardiola all decided which players would be on the club but maybe they’re more exceptions.

Arteta draws a lot when addressing the team in the dressing room. Maybe because he’s not a native English speaker, drawing helps him convey the points.

But he seems to be mostly trying to inspire tHe players. Before the game vs. Spurs, he has the team photographer address the players about how he’s been such a big fan and how the fans love the players.

Corny stuff but maybe because the players are so young — the youngest in tHe EPL — they seem to love it.

[wco81]

Finished watching all 8 episodes.

Was pretty good, saw a club that went from what looked like a disaster to almost making the top 4.

Fans were screaming for Arteta's ouster but towards the end they were chanting Super Mik. He got an extension before the end of the season.

They showed the assistants doing a lot of individual sessions with players. They had a room with a screen and only a couple of times showed them breaking down sequences.

Arteta is all about trying to inspire the team on match days or talking to them after losses. He runs practices but they don't show him going over tactics with the players.

Maybe they didn't want that filmed.

The other thing is that you don't see coaches talking amongst themselves about the players, like the Tottenham series, where you heard Mourinho talking bluntly about players in Portuguese to the assistant coaches.

Maybe Arsenal saw that and avoided being filmed talking behind the players' backs.


It's amazing, North London has two of the most advanced stadiums in football. But they look like Allianz in Munich and other places, that flat donut shape.

The clips they show on match days of fans entering the stadium, you see the scale and the atmosphere a bit.

The place that had the most atmosphere was Newcastle, with the stands full of these giant flags that fans were waving in every section.

Someone said the atmosphere up there could be intimidating for visiting players if they're not used to it.

It looked like some battle out of Game of Thrones, with soldiers waiving the insignia or crest of their House before the fighting started.

[wco81]

Don't know if it's available in the UK or Europe but there's a documentary series about a pair of Hollywood stars buying Wrexham football club, a team which used to be in the Championship but is now in the National League.

https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/welcome-to-wrexham

Wrexham is a former coal mining and steel mill town in NE Wales. As the economy in the town plummeted starting in the '80s, the fortunes of the football club also dived.

It doesn't say so in the pilot but the actors convinced the board, by over a 98% margin, to allow them to purchase the club. For a total of $2.5 million. This club was owned by the community so they had to get the local fans to support the transaction. Their stated goal is to get Wrexham at least promoted to Division 2, where there is at least some broadcast money.

Finances of the club were destroyed but the pandemic. The National League matches are not televised so ticket sales was the overwhelming majority of revenues. Club was in desperate need of cash infusion. Players in the National League earn an average of 40k pounds a year.


They haven't said whether National League clubs can even buy players so it's not clear whether the actors would even be able to do big spending, even if they wanted to.