Manchester City made a series about itself. This is called from the bouncer

It happened that a few days before the documentary mini-series “Together: Treble Winners” was uploaded to Netflix, which went straight to the top 10 of the most watched series in Israel this week, sports documentary director Jason Hair came Be a guest on Bill Simmons’ podcast. Heyer is the director of the docu-series “The Last Dance” about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, which exploded on Netflix during the Corona days. Simmons is one of the most influential sports journalists and sports culture in the US, and the one behind ESPN’s “30 on 30” concept, which created iconic sports docu-films that broke the ground for the genre. And I mention this, because the gap between listening and talking between the two is behind me The scenes of some of the films they signed and the evolution of docu-sport in the past two decades, and between the product that Netflix chose to present on Manchester City is so large, it is not the same industry at all – then what if we call both this and this, docu-sport .

It is not by chance that the word “product” was chosen in the description of the series about City’s treble. If usually films and series are signed by production companies or TV channels, then the series about the City is signed by none other than Manchester City itself. Yes, the club’s public relations department, which is owned by the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, filmed a series about the team and instead of it being shown on the club’s channels, or as a public relations product with a label of marketing content, it is broadcast on Netflix as a documentary product, which enjoys full access to the dressing rooms. It’s so crooked, it’s hard to choose where to start. Is it because the series skips over any controversial topic related to the group (and there are no shortage of such), or because there is no valuable discovery in the series, not even at the folklore level? Unless, of course, you consider the information that the person who buys the clothes for Kevin De Bruyne is his wife, are intrigued by the name of Bernardo Silva’s new dog, or are excited by the stormy confrontation between Rhodri and his friends on the staff about which animal is more deadly, a hippopotamus or a crocodile. And so it goes on, like a never-ending Instagram story.

So yes, it is recommended not to be naive even if you are a fan. Between the groups and between the streaming companies there is an identity of interests between them and between journalistic, critical or just thought-provoking value and context, there is no connection. But if until recently there was some kind of boundary and distance that was maintained, even under limitations, as for example in the “All or Nothing” series of Amazon Prime, which accompanies seasons of clubs and such a shot with City a few years ago. Or even in “The Last Dance”, where Michael Jordan had veto power. After all, in recent years the teams as well as the players have realized that the streaming market is so thirsty for sports material, that for the sake of access to their stars they can set any condition they want, including doing it themselves and sending the video. LeBron James has already produced a docu about the Read-Tim that he himself was a part of, and even then the result was chewed up by public relations. But when a football club does this for its season, and Netflix will come up with the series at the right time for the knock-out phase of the Champions League that starts this week, because it doesn’t have Sport-Live – that’s already what is called from the bouncer.

What is there in the six chapters about City’s treble anyway? First, a fast pace, on the screen as well as on the field – and this is also the time to emphasize that the criticism here is not about City as a football team, whose treble season was impressive and breathtaking. Second, it has a lot of what the club perceives as its truly big star, manager Pep Guardiola. Along with the high and low moments from all the games of the season, the team repeatedly emphasizes Guardiola’s conversations with the players in the dressing room before and after the games. Sometimes he is proud of them, sometimes angry, sometimes a friend, sometimes a father figure, and in this sequence of Guardiola’s speeches there is nevertheless a certain glimpse into the pulsating soul of the professional soccer team and how the manager is required to be much more than a soccer coach.

In the same breath it should be said that this is a very lacking picture. Not once does the camera go into a personal conversation between Guardiola and one of his players, or show individual criticism of any player. No internal conflict he has to manage is shown, or someone who goes out of his way and loses it. The camera does not go into what is happening in the training team, into the tactics of the club, and there are no disputes or frustrations between the City players either. No ego, no fights for the place in the lineup. is nothing. Everything is so utopian it’s hard to believe. This is also the place where the fact that the group itself produced the series acts as a double-edged sword towards the series, in such a way that even if this is really the face of things and this club has the atmosphere of a Boy Scout summer camp – no one went out to spend the evening, got drunk, did nonsense or was just late for training – It is very hard to believe that the charged moments were not cut out, or that the camera crew was simply ordered to leave the room for a few minutes.

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