Why Is Everybody Always In Such A Hurry?

Last week Tunisia lost 5-1.

Their response was immediate.

The manager was shown the door.

A new man was appointed.

Fresh ideas were promised.

Optimism returned.

Then yesterday Tunisia lost 4-0.

Which raises an awkward question.

Was the manager really the problem?

Football has become obsessed with speed.

Not on the pitch, although that seems to be happening too.

I mean the speed with which we expect everything to be fixed.

A team loses a few matches.

Sack the manager.

A striker goes three games without scoring.

Drop him.

A young player makes a mistake.

Replace him.

Nobody gets time anymore.

The new Tunisia manager has had approximately six days to solve problems that may have existed for six years.

That’s not a football strategy.

That’s wishful thinking.

It’s a bit like hiring a plumber to fix your house and firing him because the roof is still leaking while he’s parking the van.

Yet football keeps doing it.

Every tournament seems to produce another crisis.

Another emergency meeting.

Another declaration that immediate action is required.

The funny thing is that football isn’t alone.

Modern life seems to suffer from exactly the same condition.

Nobody is willing to wait for anything.

Companies reorganise departments every six months.

Governments announce reviews before the previous review has finished.

People buy a new gadget and complain it’s outdated by the following Tuesday.

Everything has become urgent.

Everything has become immediate.

Everything has become a race.

When I was younger, people seemed to understand that improvement took time.

You planted seeds and waited for them to grow.

You learned a skill and accepted you wouldn’t master it overnight.

You appointed a football manager and gave him enough time to unpack his suitcase before judging him.

Sometimes it worked.

Sometimes it didn’t.

But at least it had a chance.

Meanwhile, while everybody was panicking about Tunisia, something rather interesting happened elsewhere.

A week after losing 7-1 to Germany, Curacao held Ecuador to a 0-0 draw.

No drama.

No panic.

No emergency summit meetings.

Just a team learning from a difficult experience and getting a little bit better.

Which is usually how progress works.

Slowly.

One step at a time.

Not every problem has an instant solution.

Not every setback requires a revolution.

Sometimes you simply keep going and trust the process.

I realise that’s not a particularly fashionable opinion these days.

Patience has become about as popular as defending.

Still, I can’t help thinking we’d all be happier if we slowed down occasionally.

Football certainly might.

And perhaps so would the rest of us.

Anyway, what do I know?

I’m just a grumpy old man.

Comments welcome. Bonus points if you’re grumpier than me.