English club's Middle East PR fail, Guardiola joy, Man Utd vs Liverpool trophy count
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Hello! Could a team in England's fifth tier ever have been the most popular in the Arab-speaking world? Er, no.
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On some level, football clubs are meant to be community assets. The smaller the club, the truer that tends to be: more local, more in touch, more connected to the streets around them.
Dagenham & Redbridge, a team from east London who compete in a division four rungs beneath the Premier League, fit that description. So how did a club of their size, with average crowds of under 2,000, become the target of an investment plan to make them the darlings of the Arab world? A plan which then fell to pieces in the space of five days?
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The answer to that involves an Egyptian YouTuber, friction over the conflict between Israel and Hamas, a toxic fans' forum and the fact the team play in red shirts. When you'll read all that, you'll get the whiff of a PR disaster — and you'll sympathise with the supporter who, rather sadly, told The Athletic's Adam Crafton: 'It's ridiculous how we've become embroiled in all this.'
To start at the top, Dagenham & Redbridge were targeted for investment by Marwan Serry, an influencer and entrepreneur with 900,000 YouTube subscribers. Serry deliberately looked for a side who wore red shirts, matching those of his home nation Egypt and stars such as Mohamed Salah. His mission statement was to make Dagenham & Redbridge 'the most famous club for Arabs', despite him saying: 'I don't have a lot of money.'
Finances aside, Serry does possess a large social reach. A post by the club announcing his investment on X attracted more than three million views. Serry hinted that his connections could secure major cash injections. But almost as soon as he stepped through the door, just over a week ago, the partnership hit the rocks.
Serry arrived at Dagenham & Redbridge with Salma Mashhour, a fellow influencer who was named as the club's director of development and engagement. No sooner had she been appointed than online posts of hers came to light, concerning the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Mashhour was accused of being antisemitic and peddling conspiracy theories, allegations she denies. She was promptly removed from her position by Dagenham & Redbridge, a decision which led to counter-protests including a post from a local political figure who criticised the club for objecting to her 'anti-Zionist, pro-Palestine stance'.
In the midst of this came a pre-arranged fan forum, which was bound to be fractious anyway. In English league terms, Dagenham & Redbridge are sliding so far down the pyramid that they'll soon be sleeping with Tutankhamun. Criticism of the investment and the publicity it was generating was fierce. Five days after coming on board, and angered by the treatment of Mashhour, Serry walked away. It's not clear how much money he put up or how much, if any, he has lost.
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The full story is baffling, and it's yours to get your teeth into here. While English football is a magnet for investors, this is one saga which makes you think that teams with history and heritage should think carefully before going along with random opportunism or fanciful ideas.
Dagenham & Redbridge fan Joel Page summed it up best: 'It came across like a gimmick. Does a fifth-tier football club need to connect with Arabic-speaking audiences? They say it is 'storytelling' — all these buzzwords that fundamentally mean nothing. What were the tangible benefits?' He's saying out loud what many of us must be thinking.
It's a mark of how taxing a season Manchester City have endured that Pep Guardiola — as fabled a coach as any other in football — is having to prove himself all over again.
City are in flux like never before in the nine-year Guardiola era. His shift to midfielder-heavy line-ups as a means of shoring up results has not impressed the outgoing champions' home crowd. And in terms of the rebuild they so badly require, he knows it will be much more complicated if his squad don't qualify for next season's Champions League.
It figured, then, that Matheus Nunes' breathless winner (above) against Aston Villa last night, swept in during added time after a brilliant run from Jeremy Doku, would bring out the beast in Guardiola. Nunes is a reflection of how City's recruitment has gone wrong and why a top-five finish is all they can muster this year, but his first Premier League goal in almost two years at the club could be worth its weight in gold.
Guardiola, in any case, didn't climb so high by buckling at the first sign of trouble. He's plainly ready to fight the fire. And having taken his medicine, he might just be coming through the other side of it.
Newcomers to the English game would naturally assume City are a historically dominant force. Six of the past seven Premier League titles have indeed gone to the Etihad — but the real battle for supremacy involves Manchester United and Liverpool.
United boast 20 top-flight titles, the most in England. Liverpool hold 19 but will claim their 20th in the days ahead. It's the country's biggest head-to-head and Oli Kay has compiled a terrific overview of the importance of the trophy count, the extent to which fans fixate on it — and why Sir Alex Ferguson knocking Liverpool 'off their f*****g perch' (his words, not mine) while United manager was only a temporary shift in power. Nothing lasts forever, except this rivalry.
(Selected games, times ET/UK)
Premier League: Arsenal vs Crystal Palace, 3pm/8pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports.
Coppa Italia semi-final second leg: Inter (1) vs Milan (1), 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/Premier Sports.
Serie A: Parma vs Juventus, 12.30pm/5.30pm — CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/OneFootball.
La Liga: Getafe vs Real Madrid, 3.30pm/8.30pm — ESPN, Fubo/Premier Sports, ITV4.
Headline writing is an artform, until Madonna attends a Chelsea game. Then 'True Blue' writes itself.
The 'Queen of Pop' was a guest at Stamford Bridge for last week's Conference League match against Legia Warsaw. Aside from Legia's semi-naked away end, it turned out to be the most interesting thing about a dour night. It's her second appearance of the season, too.
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Why was she there? Well, her partner, Akeem Morris, played football in the lower leagues in the United States and she has connections in Chelsea's hierarchy. And in the stampede for a Champions League spot, Chelsea could do with an injection of something. Like a prayer.
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