10 texts by Dmitry Dolgikh to read

We feel bad. Died Dmitry Dolgikh – for many of us a favorite author, editor and friend.

It will be difficult without the branded “pam-pam” greeting and soft but precise prompts.

Dima will remain in our habits, memory and, we hope, skills. A big trace that will not be erased over time is his texts. They were a reflection of knowledge, style and sincere love for English football.

We have chosen ten. Ten texts about a variety of characters and events, plots and twists. They are worth reading – although it is probably more correct to say re-reading.

Favorite football players of our childhood. Paul Scholes

“The heyday of the game, the treble with the missed Barcelona final, recognition, pronounced shy non-publicity, turns out to be also eloquent, the fight against asthma, longevity, two or three more waves of recognition, greatness, the continuation of a career after its end – the analogies seem to have ended long ago, along with childhood, adolescence and youth ended with them, I’m already thirty in six months, and my favorite football player is still on the field, although the difference between us is almost 10 years (now it’s not “total”, but “whole”, although it usually happens the other way around) .

Not everyone has a classic first love, disarming with naivety, sincerity and splashed paint. But for some, the first love becomes the last.

People of the year. Fabrice Muamba

“The story of Muamba, of course, is not about sports – sports alone cannot create such an opportunity. Sports in general have gone too far for a long time and began to divide people not in jest and for the sake of fun, but quite seriously. Victories and joy for some are almost always accompanied by defeat and disappointment for others, Olympic medals terribly upset those who did not get them, and no English championship title will make both parts of Manchester happy at the same time. But life can still afford it from time to time – at least once a year to give one, unconditional victory for all.

For example, the life of Fabrice Muamba.

The end is not death. How the Stoke legend was born

“This team scared Leo Messi and (other) Catalan children. This team had everything that modern football lacks, and did not have everything that now constitutes its main intellectual achievements. It was a nature reserve , in which only its inhabitants would have thought to live, but almost everyone wanted to go on an excursion once.

96

“Ambulance driver Tony Edwards arrived at Hillsborough on a 999 call. However, like dozens of other medical vehicles, he was prevented from entering the field by the police – they said that the fans there were “still fighting”. Unlike everyone else, Tony didn’t believe them and rushed inside. This is his ambulance, maneuvering at Leppings Lane, flashes in the BBC footage. The only one. The timer in the corner of the screen shows a killer number – 3.36. For a hundred people, help was not 30 or 40 minutes late, it was an eternity late.

82 people died directly on the Hillsborough. Another 14 later died in hospitals. The last victim of the tragedy was Tony Bland, who passed away four years later. All this time he was in a coma and never regained consciousness. The 22-year-old boy became the first patient in British history who was allowed to die by court order – he had not the slightest chance of surviving, and on March 3, 1993, he was disconnected from the life support system. The last name was added to the blacklist of Hillsborough victims. The ominous counter stopped at the number 96.

Color test. Why You Can’t Forget Wigan

Wigan splashed bright paint into the Premier League when the background was still predominantly gray, went through a couple of rebrands and retained a sense of style when they painted almost everything around. And he left in English beautifully, without saying goodbye, but without promising to return. Owner Dave Whelan deserves all respect and honor, not only because of his age, but he really managed to make a good club with a family atmosphere and realize a dream.”

Genius and vice

“The bright life of George Best left many delights, disappointments and regrets (and still caused and continues to cause admiration, envy, misunderstanding, adoration), as, probably, the life of any genius. Such a talent is difficult to fully realize, no matter what its carrier achieves, it still seems small. Best, of course, far from being fully revealed, the element of tragedy and drama in his fate occupies an important place. It’s probably not worth it to regret something from the outside. The man consciously made a choice, and it is not for us to judge him, especially after a generation. If I were ugly, you would never have heard of Pele, he once said. Yes, he did not become Pele, just as he did not become either Maradona, or Cruyff, or Charlton. He became what he became, he became George Best.”

Judicial hammer. Why it is necessary to change the attitude towards judges, but it will not work

“To call for a calmer and more understanding attitude towards the judges, at least sometimes to put oneself in their place, is probably the same as calling for living together and not cursing – right, of course, but completely senseless and useless. It is a little more realistic to reduce the number of passages about cancer and at least sometimes notice and note the good work of the judges and individual episodes with their participation. Try to understand that these are courageous, psychologically strong, for the most part not very rich, but quite worthy people who also make the show that we all love so much. All this is actually not so difficult. It’s probably easy to think about the fact that enough ways and devices have already been invented for a splash of negativity that are different from living people. ”

Do not bend under the changing world …

“He is only 19, and his life path already fully deserves to be the basis of an action film, the genre of which is right now defining British justice. Adventure, thriller, mysticism, action movie, melodrama, tragedy, the American dream in English – in any case, a drama with a timid expectation of a happy ending. His name is Alhassan Bangura and he is currently a Watford player.

Munich, poste restante

“The news of the Munich tragedy shocked the whole of Britain. One of the shocked was Jimmy Murphy, who did not fly with the team to Belgrade, as he coached the Wales national team at that time. The very next day he was in Munich. “Keep the flag flying, Jimmy” – the wish of the seriously injured Matt Busby is understandable without translation. The proud banner of Manchester United temporarily passed into the hands of Murphy.

On February 19, Manchester United played Sheffield Wednesday for the Cup. Old Trafford was filled with fans and tears. The place for the United squad in the pre-match program was left empty – Jimmy Murphy managed to recruit players at the very last moment. From the usual Manchester United, only Gregg and Foulks entered the field. Manchester United won 3-0. It simply couldn’t be otherwise.

Since then, a slow and sure rebirth of Manchester United has begun – a touching, penetrating story of ten years.

“Impossible Figures” by Steve McLaren

“The Dutch artist Maurice Escher has a wonderful cycle of paintings with a broken logic of space – the famous “impossible figures”. They make an elegant use of the human brain’s ability to perceive two-dimensional drawings as three-dimensional. Thanks to this feature, you can create a completely unthinkable triangle or, for example, an “eternal” closed waterfall. The eye does not notice the inconsistencies between the individual elements of the image, which form a completely impossible, unreal whole. The answer is simple, but you can’t see it.

Steve McLaren’s work as England manager is reminiscent of “impossible figures”. The individual parts of Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney are almost perfect, they fit together all the time in different ways, but outwardly logical. But the overall picture is increasingly perplexing. The manager’s work evokes strong feelings in impressionable viewers, but, unlike Escher’s drawings, consistently negative ones.

Dmitry Dolgikh died. How will we remember the Sports.ru legend?

Photo: Gettyimages.ru/Shaun Botterill, Michael Regan, Mark Thompson, Clive Rose, Matthew Lewis, Mark Runnacles, PA Images, Keystone; East News /AP Photo, CHRIS YOUNG / AFP