Too Many Notes

Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink. You can’t see the forest for the trees. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Etcetera, Etcetera. In a breath-taking act of what I can only call vandalism, the owners of Leicester FC sacked Claudio Ranieri. Even in the low-expectations world of football, this managed to plumb new depths in human perfidy. Having done the impossible in coaching the players into a Premier League championship last year, he was rewarded by being given the sack because he has not been able to achieve the impossible two years in a row. The plodding packhorses of Leicester, having found themselves in the dream world of the Premier League began to see themselves as the Great I Am, in a league populated by racehorses.

Of course, Ranieri was his own worst enemy. He took straw and spun it into Gold, and he made it look easy. This as we all know will always have the deadly repercussion of making the clueless bosses think that if it looks so easy, anyone can do it. I can just imagine the bruised egos – Claudio, the football genius receiving all the plaudits. Mr Football-Club owner who nobody knows or cares about totally ignored. It’s always amusing to see these tycoons trying to buy glory by association. The discovery that all the money in world won’t buy you genius or affection must be galling. They attempt to buy up creative talent, clearly recognising the sure touch of the Divine in them, and then screw it all up because they try to grasp the ineffable in their acquisitive way. It was ever thus, from the dimwit Popes and Cardinals who attempted to direct Michelangelo in how to paint, to the record companies who take over a musical genius and chip away until they start to produce the same bland pabulum as everyone else. And who can forget the story of Emperor Joseph II (who he?) telling Mozart that The Marriage of Figaro is OK, only”it has too many notes, that’s all”. I enjoyed the spin on it taken by the writer of Amadeus, getting Mozart to agree and ask the tone-deaf Emperor which notes he should remove 🙂

I was thinking of this hunger for a legacy a couple of weeks ago when the founder of Morrisons supermarket died. I passed one of their superstores the same day and it led me to wonder how many of the staff gave a damn one way or the other. They didn’t even close the stores for a day out of respect. I know nothing about Morrisons’ founder but I thought it was sad. Mammon above all else. When my mother died I wanted the sun and the moon to be switched off; that’s a legacy worth leaving. But then, she did some solid work while she was here. It’s why there’s no weeping in the streets when tycoons die. It’s why I know who Ranieri is but haven’t got a clue who owns Leicester FC. To steal a quote from The Simpsons, “I’m Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you? ” The names of the geniuses still ring clear though, whether they are alive or dead: Senna, Cantona, Ali, Edison, Tesla, Yeats. It reminds me of the verse about Abel in Hebrews 11: “He being dead, yet speaketh”. Ranieri did a magical thing last year, and that cannot be tarnished by his sacking. He should have just held back and not taken them to the top. Middle of the road, he’d still have his job. Problem is, he can’t help it. You might as well tell Usain Bolt to slow down, or Muhammad Ali to stop prancing around the ring. The Welsh have a word for it: awen. When creativity strikes, it’s as natural as breathing for the artist. I can’t wait to see the manager they think is better than Ranieri . Talk about a poisoned chalice.

And the world turns. I hope you enjoy the pics illustrating the products of some fine minds. None of them is a dollar bill. Have a wonderfully creative week.

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