Who is popular today?

Liverpool have sown up the title but for the rest, after three months off, this is a chance to rescue seasons that were drifting
Well, here we are again. Fire up the celebration-cam. Unleash the crowd noise algorithm. Daub those exposed extremities with rubbing alcohol. The return of the Premier League on Wednesday night may technically be a resumption, conclusion to a season that began 10 months and one global health trauma in the past. In reality it feels like something self-contained and entirely other.
Welcome to football as a high-speed entertainment product, sealed within its bubble, zooming off towards the vanishing point. Welcome to 92 live games in six summer weeks, to deserted stands, video walls and the strangling of the post-match quotes industry. Welcome to the new abnormal normal. Continue reading...