What’s sport, what’s life, without imagination and creativity?
Imagine you are writing fiction about football and a team is in position to attack. You’d need something to happen to engage the reader:
The player in claret and blue looked up and saw the man, saw the freedom and space wide on the left. And waited, waited and shielded, waited for the man in space to go backwards, back safely into his own half before finally passing the ball. Risking nothing. Creating nothing. Exploring nothing. No ambition. The chance to make something happen had disappeared. And the game drifted on in a dull fashion.
I’m not sure you’d manage to excite anyone with this, yet this was a scene during a Premier League match I watched at the weekend. A typical passage of play which was the opposite of how I think, where I am, who I am, where I want to be.
Like all my writing, this is not just about football, or sport. This is about what we see, what narrative we are fed, who we are, who inspires us, and what we want to be. About having the individuality, the bravery, the ambition, to create. To take a chance. To actually push yourself and use the skills and talents you know you have. And bring others with you.
Are you allowing yourself to create? Are you daring to create?
In my example it happened to be West Ham failing to create anything in a match at Tottenham. But this is not to pick on West Ham. I have a soft spot for them, my stepfather and his sister are huge fans of the club, and I have time for them. It just happened to be them on the ball at the moment it all became clear.
Equally unambitious were Tottenham, the home team in a truly awful 45 minutes of ‘football’. Their attack featured one of the World Cup’s most imaginative players and the England captain, yet they showed no flair. No creativity. Nothing. Apparently, they started to play properly in the second half, and won the match. I’d switched off.
This match was more ‘rule’ than ‘exception to the rule’. There are many games like this if you can see past the constant hype - the sizzle around a disappointing sausage.
I see fear in elite players. Too often robotic and over-coached, terrified of stepping out of line and taking a chance. There are too many teams playing as if their coaches are operating them by remote control. Responsibility and confidence has not been passed on to the actual players. It’s coach v coach. They have always been ‘stars’ of the Premier League because the soap opera often generates more interest than the action.
If you have been around for longer than the Premier League and mention you preferred lots of things about 1970s and 80s football, you’ll be seen as too ‘old skool’. Yes, it was awful in many ways. The pitches, the hooliganism, the lack of safety, the lack of fitness. Yet I won’t apologize for missing the charisma.
Tottenham v West Ham would have have been at White Hart Lane or Upton Park, sometimes with the lights on. Characters. Individuality. Likeability. Glenn Hoddle. What pictures he painted with his socks rolled down and deceptively lazy gait. As if he had the ball on a piece of string. Argentinians Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa, refusing to let the mud and bobbles stop them weaving patterns with their inventive passing.
For West Ham, Trevor Brooking’s charisma as a footballer was an almost comical contradiction to his safe, deadpan broadcasting, but even after the departure of World Cup winning heroes Moore, Peters and Hurst, there were players who fans could relate to. From the leadership and bravery of Billy Bonds to the pace and agility of Alan Devonshire. Who’s relatable in the current team? And at your club?
Premier League clubs are a status symbol for an increasing number of rich owners from America and the Middle East, but how’s the precious ‘product’ looking? A few more teams might want to consider actually looking to show more ambition on the pitch and make it more exciting to watch.
Fear will ensure they don’t. Relegation, which really shouldn’t be the end of the world, is seen in this way because of finances. And that’s what these people care about. If the Premier League is lifting you, inspiring you, then I wish you well. But this kind of football is not for me. My inspiration is coming from elsewhere. A fan of West Ham, not a player.
Motivational selfie videos on social media are not usually my thing. Nor did I think I was in the market for routines from a cockney trader. I grew up with that, albeit in south east London not east London. It used to be called ‘wheeler dealing’ or ‘ducking and diving’. I heard enough of that patter from my father to last several lifetimes.
But whether or not he was born with the sound of Bow Bells, Tom Skinner, #IamTomSkinner on Instagram, deserves to take a bow and all the appreciation that is now coming his way, from his many followers.
Tom was one of the contestants fired from the BBC TV reality show The Apprentice by Lord Sugar (the businessman formerly known as ‘Sir Alan’ and originally plain old Alan Sugar.) But Tom was fired with clear reluctance by Sugar, who softened his gruff demeanour to say he’d want Tom “in the trenches with him”.
Early on most mornings, Tom posts a little selfie video of him eating a big meal in his local Dinos Café ahead of the working day, usually with food more appropriate to dinner time such or pie and mash or a curry with potatoes around the edges. He uses straightforward motivational messages about us needing to also find the energy and drive, with catchphrases such as: “tough times don’t last, tough people do.” But it’s done with considerable warmth and humour.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoEfZiStQUX/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY%3D
I’ve spoken with friends about these posts and I’m really pleased that they’ve all come to the same conclusion. That while they are a bit of fun, and quite basic on the surface, he shouldn’t be underestimated. Too many people are dismissed as ‘cards’ because they are working class. The guy knows that projecting himself, gaining followers and raising his public profile is good for business, simple as that. But you suspect he’s chuffed his messages are genuinely helping others. There’s a touch of Joe Wicks about this. It’s quietly heroic.
I’ve been wary for some time of smart arses with the right accent and confident demeanour (LinkedIN is the main platform for this) using terms like ‘counter hustle’ and ‘side hustle’ as if they are gurus of business, mindfulness and life. Not all are bluffers, but too many are simply talking a good game. I was taught in Fleet Street as a teenager by the wisdom of a legend of journalism, Reg Hayter, and he always urged simplification. Tom’s messages hit direct to us with no self-regarding bullshit.
He’s clever. He knows he has an infectious personality and uses it. His ebullience is genuinely thought-provoking and if you possess or can find even a little bit of that positivity, what harm is it going to do? His posts usually bring a smile, but sometimes you can find yourself moved by his genuine attempts to lift people. When people switch from joker to serious, like the best wedding speeches, it can jolt your emotions.
Tom wasn’t impressed by Tottenham on Sunday (nor was I) but I wonder if he’s actually okay with the lack of ambition his own team showed, and what he thinks of players who are unwilling or afraid to take a chance, to create.
“Who dares wins, Rodders.”
In my own career I’ve been brave when it’s the right course of action, and not allowed ideas to be left unshared, no matter how outlandish one might be. In meeting rooms many people will make sure they don’t stick their head over the parapet. This includes good people who don’t quite have the courage, but also back coverers and people prepared to mail it in. They wait for safe ground. And it can be quietly costly.
What if individual flair and genuinely creative thinking is needed? What if you need to say it and do it for the benefit of you and others. And meekly protecting your position is counter-productive and leads nowhere, with no benefits?
I can’t imagine it was easy for Tom Skinner to start posting when his followers were few and the audience wasn’t there. But he had the courage and belief to bring people with him.
I’ve been writing creatively on an exciting project, the results of which will be seen in due course. It’s taken a lot of self-belief and nerve for this particular working class lad to put his creativity on full beam and explore a new area. But I’ve never waited for others to try and exploit the space that’s there. I’ll be first into the gap.
The liberation of what I’ve been working on has been profound for me. I have allowed myself to create. Decades of hard work and experience have helped enable this, but there are many young people who don’t need to care about anything holding them back. They post direct to their crowd, cutting out the middle man. I’m learning from their freedom.
Lose the fear, go for goal. Don’t let others steal your energy. Don’t let self-doubt creep in. And if you’re driving ideas yourself, like my good friends Charlie, Carrie, Matt and Ashrafe, more power to you. Hold your nerve, don’t play down what you’ve already achieved and you will get there.
In the words of Tom Skinner:
“Whatever you are doing you lovely people, keep going. BOSH!”
Lee Wellings is a UK-based author, analyst, broadcaster and film maker specialising in sport and ethics. He has worked on and off screen at major news organisations including the BBC, ITN, Sky News and covered sports news stories across the globe.
His first book on sport and society, The Dilly Dong Bell (a wake up call for sport) is available from www.ProjectisPublishing.com.
Enquiries for analysis on sport and ethics, including TV, radio, podcast and event speaking, direct to leewellings@hotmail.com
Love a bit of Tom Skinner on Twitter, helps the day go along but more importantly knuckle down and make something of yourself, no one else can do it for you.