Community, cash grabs and the rise of football documentaries

livemint.com:

All Or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur (2020). The video clip of this conversation spread like wildfire on the internet. It further cemented the legend of Mourinho, wise old cat, who’d caught on that Dele Alli, a remarkable young talent with the world at his feet, had lost his way.

He was wasting away the enormous potential he’d been blessed with. Alli would come to regret his actions later, warned Mourinho with paternal concern. Youth, wasted on the young.

Since 2018, we’ve seen a flurry of football documentary series being released — far more than the world needs, arguably — on streaming platforms. And they’re all roughly the same, aren’t they? They generally follow a European club from one of the big leagues or players who’ve crossed over into pop culture fame. You get the big roving shots of empty stadiums and goals nets.

Clips of local news networks where furious anchors demand sackings. Gentle piano plonks build up to a triumphant crescendo. The hair-raising slow-mo shots, the elevated commentary in crisp Brit accents, anxious fans watching on.

Familiar platitudes and empty cliches trotted out earnestly by talking heads: about being down and out, written off by the haters, us against the world. And then… the miracle, minor as it may well be. The underdog wins, the fairytale comes to life, the erratic genius was right all along.

The romance lives on! Plus ca change. And yet they fly off the shelves (or whatever the digital equivalent is). The Spurs documentary, which followed All Or Nothing: Manchester City (2018) became a big hit among fans at the time, craving football during lockdown.