It seems to me that the real political task in our contemporary society is to criticize the workings of institutions, particularly the ones that appear to be neutral and independent, and to attack them in such a way that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them, will finally be unmasked so that one can fight against them.
Michel Foucault
It was a brisk March morning when I walked into the Cask ‘n Flagon, the Boston bar sat across the street from Fenway Park: a venue for some of baseball’s greatest, bordering on surreal, moments. Today was a day for soccer, though: good old-fashioned Premier League football. Manchester City brushed aside Fulham at Craven Cottage, 2-0, and the result was never in doubt. During halftime, I walked across the bar to greet a man about as tall as my shoulders, but whose presence was greater than anyone in the building. He’s partaken in a few surreal moments over the years himself.
Shaun Wright-Phillips is a Manchester City legend who managed to make his name before the club had such a large platform. Wright-Phillips is a through-and-through Blue of the Mancunian persuasion. He cried when he was sold to Chelsea in 2005, but the €32m sale was a coup for the struggling Noisy Neighbors. Back then there was no Sheikh to bankroll a wage bill featuring some of the highest-paid players in the world, even though it came soon after, when the Abu Dhabi United Group bought City in 2008.
The retired Englishman believes the family atmosphere that once made City feel like home still exists at the Etihad Stadium. Wright-Phillips would not deny, though, that the club has been changed forever. England’s champions have, in his eyes, “always been destined for great things and we’re just lucky the perfect owner group came in and took over because it could have easily gone in the other direction. The owner group that came in actually has the same amount of passion for the club that the fans and the players do.”