{"id":7069,"date":"2022-12-03T06:23:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T06:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7069"},"modified":"2022-12-07T17:21:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T17:21:28","slug":"all-or-nothing-the-phantom-of-authenticity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7069","title":{"rendered":"All or Nothing — The Phantom of Authenticity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside the train window I could see a vast expanse of olive groves interspersed with stretches of gently undulating pastures, deserted but not desolate. I had fallen asleep with my head leaning back towards the empty aisle seat next to mine, and as I opened my eyes the landscape outside was the first thing I noticed. Still, it took me a few seconds to realize that the train was not moving, and the air inside felt much warmer compared to the artificial chill that had accompanied me all the way until C\u00f3rdoba. And that made me realize that I must had fallen asleep shortly after the train left the C\u00f3rdoba station. As the fog of sleep started to lift, I realized that the idea for the blog that came to me just before I closed my eyes was starting to slip away. Panicking, I reached for my MacBook inside the bag that I had left lying next to me, placed it on the small table in front of me, opened and typed my password, opened my favorite writing app, and started to type. It couldn\u2019t have been more than a minute from the moment of panicky realization to opening the writing app, but by that time the idea I was so desperately trying to capture in concrete words and sentences had already evaporated, along with the somewhat dreamlike state of mind I woke up to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustrated and angry at myself, I simply started to write \u201cAll or Nothing\u201d repeatedly on my screen. I was supposed to have finished a review piece for the blog by the day before, hoping to enjoy the rest of my Andalusian week without a sense of failing in my responsibilities to constantly gnaw at my heart, but I hadn\u2019t written a single line and still had no idea how to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was startled by a booming voice coming from the seat next to me, \u201cAll or Nothing sounds like a good name for a screenplay. Do you write for the movies?\u201d The accent was unplaceable, the articulation too gave nothing away. What came through clearly was a sense of bemused irony expressing itself as a good-natured bonhomie. Even though I always had an immense dislike for next seat neighbors looking at my laptop over my shoulder \u2013 whether stealing a glance or shamelessly staring at the screen \u2013 the disarming humor in that voice I found rather charming.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I clearly remembered that this aisle seat remained empty even after the train had left the C\u00f3rdoba station, as it was all the way from Seville, as were the two seats just opposite mine across the table. Maybe he had boarded the train in C\u00f3rdoba and strolled around for a while in the mostly empty compartments before setting on a seat. I turned my face around to take a good look at him: a tall gentleman, impeccably dressed in a finely tailored three-piece dark blue linen suite, wearing a black beret that added a hint of flamboyance to what otherwise seemed to be a deeply serious man. Even though he must have been at least in his seventies he exuded a sense of considerable physical strength. His eyes \u2013 the right eye looked slightly larger than the left one \u2013 had that glint of amused expectations that betray all incorrigible conversationalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I answered, \u201cNot at all, it is meant to be a review for a television series about a football club. Well, technically speaking they call it a docuseries nowadays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot very imaginative, is it?\u201d, he smiled.        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean docuseries, the neologism?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat too, but I was thinking about \u2018All or Nothing\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, the idea is in elite sports you must give everything, all of yourself. Anything less than that would get you nowhere. There is no middle ground, no room for mediocrity.\u201d I tried my best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, there is always room for mediocrity. We are a very mediocre species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot my club. Arsenal always strives for excellence in everything. This documentary really shows that. How in every aspect of running the club we are continuously trying to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBetter at what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything. Football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see. My impressions were a bit different \u2013 it seemed to me that Arsenal was presenting a narrative that that they are trying to completely revamp their organizational culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, so you watched the whole series too?\u201d I could barely contain my surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He smiled and told me that though he did not follow football that closely, he was curious about developments in Arsenal. He was initially reluctant to explain why but I persisted. The train was still standing, and I didn\u2019t feel like reading or going back to sleep, and the idea of a somewhat enigmatic old man talking about Arsenal I felt would be a pleasing enough diversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, but first me let me get my afternoon drink.\u201d He said with a hint of exasperation. He raised his left hand with a gesture that seemed to be ushering in someone from the back of the compartment. And a few seconds later I saw a dining car attendant appearing pushing a trolley. Both the attendant and the trolley were a throwback to some unknown past, as unplaceable in time as were my companion\u2019s accent and gestures. I had already drunk one of those mini bottles of tolerable red wines that were served in the train along with the meal, and so felt no desire to inquire about the options. My co-passenger on the other hand was busy in an animated conversation with the attendant who had started to mix well-measured liquors that he poured into a cocktail mixer from multiple bottles. He swiftly poured the resulting mix right into two martini glasses in front of my thirsty companion and vanished equally swiftly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTry this, it\u2019s my invention. Well, rather a variation of mine on a popular theme in the key of Gin.\u201d He offered me a glass with a flourish of his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We clicked our glasses, and I took a sip. \u201cIt\u2019s delicious. What is it called?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t named it yet. My friend Jean-Claude mockingly calls it Bunueloni.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStrange name that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He seemed mildly offended.  \u201cStrange would have been good. I like strange. But it\u2019s rather banal if you ask me. Just like All or Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean the name of the series? Or the full documentary across all the eight episodes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is definitely not banal to us Arsenal fans.\u201d, I protested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour generation is very easily impressed. Herbert would have been aghast at this mania for vicarious proximity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean Herbert\u2026Chapman?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh yes, I met him first in Paris and then in Brussels in the late twenties, a few years before he passed away. So early\u2026\u201d he said rather ruefully.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started to dawn on me that I might be drinking cocktail offered by a complete stranger who at the least was benignly eccentric but could also be not entirely harmless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMust be a very interesting story. I mean how you met him. Must have been quite a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot exactly. But I cannot really take any credit for that. You see Herbert was a man with rather progressive and dare I say modern ideas, especially for an English football manager of his time. He used to come to the continent now and then, and he was a close friend with this Austrian called Hugo Meisl. Hugo was a football manager too, and his brother Willy was a sport journalist. Willy knew Jean Epstein, and I met Herbert with the Meisl brothers in one of Epstein\u2019s parties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you two immediately hit off talking Arsenal.\u201d I made no effort to hide my incredulity. I didn\u2019t know anything about any of these people he was talking about, and I had a vague suspicion that those names were as made up as his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot at all. He was interested in learning about the mechanics of shooting films, and that was all I mostly used to think about in those days. My English was non-existent, but Herbert spoke workable French, and even a few words of Spanish. So, we ended up talking a lot about cinema, eventually moving on to football and Arsenal. He was almost in his fifties, but he had as much spark in his ideas as any of us. Quite the character… \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExactly! See, he was a man ahead of his times\u2026bringing in so many innovative ideas into the game\u2026white footballs, floodlights, numbered shirts\u2026I am sure he would have appreciated that the Arsenal he had helped to build remained so \u2026 inventive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou think All or Nothing was inventive? The whole thing was a clich\u00e9\u2026full of platitudes masquerading as insights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was offended. Yes, over the span of eight episodes there were quite a few cringeworthy moments, but there were also enough scenes where the way Mikel and his coaching team interacted with the players, tuning their approach, demonstrating empathy while demanding the absolute best made watching the series worth the time. It was also reassuring to see that the club seems to be in just the right hands after years of chaos and rumors about lack of discipline at every level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told him that. I also told him that to many of us Arsenal fans the series was inspirational, especially the young fans who are in difficult circumstances in their lives. For them to learn about the challenges overcome by their heroes in such a direct and accessible manner was something to cherish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bemused smile was back on his face. \u201cDo you know about Gerard Keizer?\u201d He suddenly changed the course of our argument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, another of your friends? I know there is no Gerard Keizer anywhere in Arsenal\u2026\u201d. Eccentric and annoying, I thought to myself. Maybe I ought to stop this conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you call yourself an Arsenal fan! He was one of Herbert\u2019s discoveries. He was Arsenal\u2019s goalkeeper in their first league winning season, and later he became a legendary figure in Dutch football. And I think then a smuggler for a short while after the war\u2026how amusing!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat has that got to do with All or Nothing? Look, Mr..Mr..\u201d I realized that none of us had introduced each other to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spared me any further embarrassment. \u201cYou can call me Luis. Some even say Don Luis, but that\u2019s not necessary. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you Luis!. You can call me\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFaustus. Yes, I know.\u201d I dared not ask how. And then continued, \u201cAfter the war Gerard once borrowed kits from Arsenal for the Ajax team who had no money at that time and so they played a few matches in Arsenal colors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLuis, if I may, that is completely irrelevant to a contemporary TV series about the inner workings of Arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought that was a crucial flaw with All or Nothing, Faustus. The desire to present Arsenal\u2019s inner workings as completely disconnected from their past. As my friend Carlos used to say, \u2018Novelty for its own sake is an anachronism.\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarlos the jackal? You sure had some interesting friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarlos Fuentes. It\u2019s a pity you haven\u2019t read him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLuis, let us stick to the topic, please. Well yes, the documentary shows how Arsenal is trying to completely revamp and rebuild the club in a comprehensive and holistic way, at every level. So, it is hardly surprising that they would focus more on the present evolution, the process of changes, and less on their past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou misunderstand me. I am sure the club leadership and hierarchy are doing the right things. At least trying to, but their efforts can be discussed meaningfully only through the prism of the outcome. They should not need a documentary full of curated feel-good moments as an eight-hour long apologia. And if they were to make a documentary it should at least have the merit of making the audience see things that they would not otherwise have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you really disliked it so, why did you watch it all the way through? In memory of your friend?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t say I disliked it. It might have been irrelevant and a bit fake, and not even a good fake, but it was fun in a gossipy kind of way. Also, the editing was excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe editing?!\u201d Exasperated, I felt it increasingly difficult to keep up with this stream of ideas and observations. A second glass of bunuelino had magically appeared in front of both of us, the silent car attendant with his retro uniform had served those when I was busy arguing. We cheered silently, and this time I took a long sip. The train still hadn\u2019t moved, the air inside though was starting to get colder and fresher again, and the drinks made me drowsy too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes! Did you realize how it must have been impossible for some of those players who are so obviously vocal leaders on the field to be completely silent in the dressing room in the break or after poor performances? The players could not have been acting to a script, they are not trained actors and if anything, at least their reactions come out as direct and authentic. And yet, at the same time it is fake because evidently a lot of the in-between interactions are edited out. Smoothly and seamlessly, and I must say those must have been some expert editing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike \u00d8degaard, you mean? Yes, he was very surprisingly silent throughout the series. I thought he was just camera shy. But even if what you said was correct that doesn\u2019t really devalue the series. Obviously, the club is not going to give away all its secrets in a documentary. It will present an edited version of itself, naturally! Like we all do to the outside world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnswer me this Faustus, why make this documentary at all? Beyond reassuring the Arsenal fans what purpose does it serve?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLuis, it is also about the attitude of excellence. It shows how a group can evolve together towards a collective greatness. Or at least strive to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow we are back to clich\u00e9s \u2026 how is that different than hundreds of other such sanctified documentaries purportedly about the inner workings of big organizations? What was unique about All or Nothing: Arsenal? Why would anyone watch it say a couple of years from now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy does everything have to be unique? We are enjoying this cocktail that you claim to have invented, but to me it tastes like just a sweeter version of Negroni, delicious but nothing original.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did say it was a variation on a theme in the key of Gin!\u201d He broke out in a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, that documentary too was a variation on a theme in the key of pleasant and harmless entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs long as you recognize that. You know, there was one episode where I thought there was potential material to make it truly original. I think it was called \u2018The Exit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOriginal? How?\u201d I started to guess he would suggest that the whole episode could have been narrated purely from the perspective of Aubameyang and those close to him to kind of a fugal counterpoint to the consistent Arteta-centric tune of the rest of the series. But Luis had other ideas in mind.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would have directed it as a sequence of chamber pieces where the manager and the captain both try genuinely and honest to meet with each other and sit down to discuss and clear the air, but there was always one unforeseen distraction or challenge after another stopping them from ever actually meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSudden distraction? Like illness in the family or traffic delays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay be. Or an unannounced military exercise in the practice ground. Or a revolution on the London streets. Or uninvited guests in Arteta household. Or\u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he kept on reciting one implausible scenario after another in a tone that took on a rhythmic cadence. I started to drift off to sleep as his voice took on a faintly metallic quality and I could no longer understand the individual words. Suddenly I heard a piercing sound and woke up startled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The train was moving in full speed through a tunnel. The aisle seat next to mine was empty again. There were an elderly couple now on the seats opposite mine talking to each other animatedly. My MacBook was not on the table, but I was assured to find it still lying inside my bag. With the aftertaste of sleep in my mouth I slowly stood up, disappointed that the dream didn\u2019t go on just when it was starting to get interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when I noticed the empty martini glasses, lying on the corner of the table, rolling precariously to the edge. I reached out my hand to stop them from falling on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outside the train window I could see a vast expanse of olive groves interspersed with stretches of gently undulating pastures, deserted but not desolate. I had fallen asleep with my head leaning back towards the empty aisle seat next to mine, and as I opened my eyes the landscape outside was the first thing I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,3,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7069"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7078,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7069\/revisions\/7078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}