What can we say? It’s pretty simple.

Okay, Cup Final. You’re the manager. This is the biggest game of your career. You’ve been exchanging emails with Capello and reading Zonal Marking endlessly, searching for the answers that will bring home the silverware. You’ve made a list of things to tell you players. Then you made another list. And another. Ultimately, you end up with 400 things to tell your squad in the pre-game team talk. You start reading the list, going through each aspect one by one. After the first dozen, you look up to set everyone giving you a blank stare.

Your #10 stands up and says, “Gaffer, what are you doing? We’re not going to remember this at all.” You fine him two weeks wages for interrupting your talk. You know, to set an example. But he’s got a point. And it’s a good one. Trying to do too much can result in doing absolutely nothing.

You tear your list up. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you win the game. You make three bullet points.

1. Culture - play like the fans expect you to. Play with the style you have been exposed to as a professional.
2. Thought - Think about what Robbie Savage would do, then do the opposite of that.
3. Simple - i.e. Pass and move. The ball is faster than a player. Keep it simple!

For the sake of this story, you win the game. Hell, Elton John writes a song about you, and it’s even listenable despite his age.

What’s our point you ask? Our point is that AFR is back and we’ve torn our old house down to start anew. We’re hoping to capture the Culture that makes this global game permeate through every society and vivaciously fills our life with allure. We’re after the Thought that welcomes philosophers, sociologists, economists, writers, artists, and politicians into the world of football. And finally, we want Simplicity; we want to allow our content to speak for itself. Thoughtful posts will be featured at the top of the page, while we allow a stream of football culture to supplement our commitment to intelligent writing. This is the new A Football Report. And we’re going to have a lot of fun if you care to join us.