Vesper

https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost508 The 508th Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 teams in the world with the most subscriptions on the following social networks: X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. The Spanish side of Real Madrid tops the list with over 470 million subscriptions, just ahead of their great rivals Barcelona (424 million). All the other clubs are much further behind. Manchester United completes the podium with 234 million, while Paris St-Germain is fourth with 199 million. In the top 10 are four other English teams (Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal), one German (Bayern Munich) and one Italian (Juventus). The podium for non-European clubs is made up of Brazil's Flamengo, Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr and Egypt's Al-Ahly. The Post also presents the trends recorded since June 2024 (without YouTube). In relative terms, the biggest increase among the top 100 clubs was registered for Santos (+82%), certainly thanks to the recruitment of star player Neymar.

Enzo Maresca: «Italy can no longer keep up with the pace of other countries. I worked with Guardiola and I see football through his eyes» by Paolo Condò The Chelsea manager opens up after leading the team back to the Champions League and winning the Conference League: "On individual motivation, Marcello Lippi was an unsurpassed master. Inzaghi must be proud of his work at Inter" https://www.corriere.it/sport/calcio/25_giugno_11/enzo-maresca-intervista-eb3131cd-70b1-48d7-815e-a7dae8855xlk.shtml Enzo Maresca 's WhatsApp profile does not feature a photo, but a famous football quote: "It is statistically proven that during a match, a player's average ball possession is 3 minutes. This means that his value is determined by what he does in the other 87 minutes. " "It's a maxim by Johan Cruijff. I had it written on the walls of the Leicester dressing room two summers ago, and we won the Championship. Of course, I did it at Chelsea, too, and it didn't go badly this year either." Didn't anyone challenge her? Didn't anyone come and tell her that champions solve games with a play? "Maybe they discussed it among themselves, but I didn't hear a single protest. The phrase needs to be understood. It doesn't minimize the importance of talent, but it underlines how you can make yourself useful even when you don't see the ball much." His Chelsea this year finished fourth in the Premier League and won the Conference. Were these the expected objectives? "We are a year ahead of the Champions League qualification, they had asked me for it in two seasons. As for the Conference, it is natural that its appeal is less than the other cups, but as I said in the first meeting, if Chelsea had qualified for that one it means they deserved to play in that one. To win it, and we won it." At the start of the season your squad was monstrous: 43 players. From whom did you learn to deal with so many players? «Well, some left. We made strong choices, because they were all quality guys but the squad had to be reduced. On individual motivation, Marcello Lippi was an unsurpassed master. The ability he had to talk to each player, get into their head and motivate them in the way that was right for them, which is never the same as that of another, was exceptional. I try to do as he did. I try». The average age of Chelsea is very young. Is that why, after the various disappointing experiences with Potter, Lampard and Pochettino, the owner Boehly chose you? «The idea of making me grow together with the team was there, because I did well at Leicester and because I come from Guardiola's school, obviously». Chelsea spends a lot. "But now they invest well, in the direction that modern football is going. Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo were paid a lot, but no one remembers their price anymore because of how much they have grown. Before, a lot was spent on players over thirty who had already given their best". Look, he is photographing Italian football today. "The premise is that I don't want to give lessons to anyone. Having said that, the Champions League final photographed the dominance of a young team, capable of great technical plays expressed at an infernal pace, energy, running, pressing, offensive talent. Luis Enrique has built a spectacular PSG, in my own small way at Chelsea I try to do the same". How does Inter come out of this discussion? "Two Champions League finals in three years are an achievement, not a defeat. Inzaghi must be proud of his work, also because he carried it out in an ecosystem that is now different from the rest of the world. Only in Italy do we continue to think that young people are always too young and that experience linked to age is what makes you win matches. It's a cultural choice, which costs you in loss of energy. This is how I see it, Italian football can no longer keep up with the pace of other schools." Does it also apply to the national team? "Of course. The teams collect the work of the clubs, how can you ask to rejuvenate if the youngsters don't play? Chelsea spent to set up a squad of very young talents, but this didn't stop us from beating the record of the academy boys who made their debut in the first team. There were nine. We all have faith in them, and in the work of those who weaned them". That's what she did in the first half at Manchester City. "Let's name one: Cole Palmer. In the elite youth team at City I had to develop a superior talent, today at Chelsea I enjoy a supreme talent. And every day I try to improve him in something." Between elite coach at City and assistant to Pep, he had an unhappy experience at Parma. «Short but fundamental, you learn from your mistakes and I made some there. However, I was taken on for a three-year program and kicked out after three months: the team still took the three years foreseen to return to Serie A, and the young players I worked on then, Bernabé, Bonny, Mihaila, are still considered young today. You can see that with me they were children». Will Guardiola recover? "After 8 extraordinary seasons, he has made half a mistake, and you already doubt that he will be competitive again? Come on. But I am biased, after having had the opportunity to work with him, I confess that I see football through his eyes." Will De Bruyne do well at Napoli? "I know Kevin like the back of my hand, he will adapt quickly to Conte's requests and will add a lot to Napoli. Like all great champions, he has boundless pride. I certainly don't question players over 30 of a similar level. I simply try to put the energy of the boys around him." Chelsea are about to leave for the Club World Cup. What happens if you get to the final on July 13? "The only thing possible: the Premier League restarts on August 17, we gather on the 10th and do a normal work week, as if it were winter. It will take us a while to get back to full speed, but the players need holidays. And the coaches too, eh."

so much for the Fichajes lies that Real Madrid had hijacked Arse's deal for Zubi

hejsan m8! long time no see hugzzzz, Vesper

Brian Wilson, visionary creative spirit for the Beach Boys, dies aged 82 Musician, who suffered from mental health problems, wrote and produced the 1966 album Pet Sounds – seen by many as the greatest album of all time https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/11/brian-wilson-beach-boys-dies Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys musician, songwriter and producer who created some of history’s most purely beautiful pop music, has died aged 82. In a post shared on Instagram on Wednesday, Wilson’s family wrote: “We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.” As the leading creative force in the Beach Boys, Wilson crafted a variously carefree and melancholy sound that came to define the uncertain utopianism of mid-century California. Using ambitious studio techniques to give the band’s music a thrilling grandeur, his songs about surfing, driving, girls and the pep of youth modulated to more reflective and often psychedelic material, resulting in one of the most highly regarded catalogues of American song. The Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds – written and produced almost entirely by Wilson – is seen not only as the group’s masterpiece, but for many is the greatest album of all time. Wilson was born in Inglewood, southern California, in 1942. A natural musician with perfect pitch who could sing back phrases sung to him as a baby, he learned piano as he and his younger brothers Carl and Dennis fell in love with R&B, rock’n’roll, doo-wop and pop. Despite going partly deaf in one ear (possibly as a result of an attack by a local boy), he and Carl joined their cousin Mike Love to form the high school group Carl and the Passions, later bringing in Dennis and friend Al Jardine to form the Pendletones. They had been encouraged by Wilson’s father Murry, with whom Wilson had a complex relationship – he later said Murry was also physically abusive to him. Wilson’s first song for the group, soon renamed the Beach Boys, was 1961’s Surfin’ – the first in a series of Wilson-penned hits such as Surfin’ Safari, Surfer Girl and Surfin’ USA, the latter reaching No 3 on the US charts and cementing their breakthrough. The Beach Boys in 1964. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Wilson graduated to producer, as well as songwriter, for third album Surfer Girl, and powered the group through an astonishingly high work rate, releasing 15 albums before the end of the 1960s. Wilson’s ambition meant that he strove not to be boxed in as a novelty band who sang about surfing and cars, and deepened the band’s songcraft – including on Pet Sounds, which was conceived as an overarching statement rather than a series of discrete songs, its complex arrangements featuring everything from orchestral instruments to Coca-Cola bottles. Wilson began using cannabis and LSD, and said the latter was creatively useful – he wrote a signature Beach Boys song, California Girls, while on his first trip, and said acid allowed him to “come to grips with what you are, what you can do [and] can’t do”. But his drug use, coupled with his intense workload, likely exacerbated mental health problems that had started when he was a teenager suffering from anxiety. He heard voices in his head, spent time in psychiatric hospitals during the late 1960s, and became somewhat isolated from his bandmates. Wilson would eventually be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and mild manic depression. He said in 2019: “There were times when [his mental illness] was unbearable but with doctors and medications I have been able to live a wonderful, healthy and productive life.” Amid his difficulties, Pet Sounds’ follow-up Smile was never completed (though was later adapted into a 2004 solo album, and the original recordings eventually released as The Smile Sessions in 2011). His bandmates began to contribute more to the songwriting, though Wilson compositions still occasionally featured as the group emerged from a commercial downturn at the close of the decade to record the acclaimed Sunflower and Surf’s Up albums (the latter’s title track a psychedelic return by Wilson to his earlier fixation). snip

Zero clue why we are fucking about with GKer when, as soon as we cocked up (for 2 straight years!!) Mamardashvil and lost him to Pool (FFS!!) there was one clear target left who checks every box... Lucas Chevalier. And we have a good relationship with Lille. BUY HIM FFS!!! If we do not buy a keeper, I predict doom, unless Penders goes full Donnarumma as a teen.

☔As long as there is delusion, there is hope.

have fun!

he has a Trump-style pee tape of Boehly 🫣

probably the worst, most dishonest clickbait in my 7 plus years here on TC: Alex Oakhill deserves a bovver boot to the jacobs https://www.footballinsider247.com/reece-james-bids-emotional-farewell-after-confirmed-Chelsea-exit/ snip and again: but here, FAR down, way deep into the article, is the catch: On Tuesday, James was forced to bid farewell to one of his closest friends at Chelsea, after it was confirmed that Marcus Bettinelli has joined Manchester City. Taking to Instagram, the defender paid tribute to his friend, posting a photo of the pair together with the caption: “Thank you for all the memories big bro! “Through every setback, every injury, you were always there to lift me up when I felt like I had nothing left. “You’ve been more than a teammate, you’ve been a brother from the day you arrived. “It’s tough to see you go, but I’m forever grateful for everything you’ve done for me and my career.” fucking cunts 🤬

or her twin brother, Morgan

1 3 FT Tuchel in the dirt first England loss EVER to an African side

delete

delete

delete

chalked off dodgy call

goal might be chalked off for a handball by Colwill

2 2 Bellingham great corner by Noni

Nico almost scored