(For this questionnaire!)
1. If you had to support your hometown team, who would it be?
Hahaha there's no good/non-annoying way for me to answer this because I don't strongly identify with a hometown/country? I did not grow up in one place/country and both my parents can claim two nationalities (different to where I was born, at that). My dad has got northern Italian roots and supports AC Milan, so I guess it would tenuously be Milan. Whom I do support (kinda)!
6. Earliest football memory?
World Cup 1998 in France. I was quite young so it's all very patchy but, Zidane. Zidane.
12. Your rival club. A few things you secretly like about them but wouldn't admit.
Everton - I really appreciate that they're focusing more on their own identity/success under Roberto Martinez rather than obsessing over Liverpool. All that School of Science stuff, go on. Chelsea - Smart business strategy. Deserve more credit than the billionaire-with-a-checkbook stereotype they're known for. City - Pat Vieira is in charge of their youth academy, I think he's great. United - ... ........ ...........??
17. If you were to become manager of your club, what kind of changes would you make to the squad? What kind of a different lineup? What different tactics?
Ahh the pressure! I'm going to assume this is a hypothetical future scenario, not this current season since I'm a coward. 4-2-3-1 is my favourite formation so here's one example of an ideal Liverpool future line-up for me:
StudgeSterling - Coutinho - IbeEmre/Hendo - ?? (a true DM, not box-to-box like they are)Alberto Moreno - Sakho - Raphael Varane ?? - Flanno
No Lucas or Skrtel (though I love both, especially Lucas) because I don't think age-wise they are part of the long-term plan :( I also don't think Sterling will stay very long but that's a different can of worms...
19. An unpopular opinion you have about football.
Probably the park-the-bus thing we've talked about. Football is won by goals, not marked on how attractive it is by a panel, like figure skating or gymnastics. I don't like watching parked buses but the tactic is not illegal or immoral. It annoys me to hear people talking about the 'right way' to play.
34. If you could change one thing in football, it can be a rule to a president to a club disappearing, literally /anything/, what would you change?
This was probably my favourite question from the set. I think I would either:A) Make men's and women's World Cup bids a package deal and mandate that host countries provide the same standards for both tournaments (none of this turf shite) orB) Separate the FIFA Ethics Committee from oversight by the FIFA president, give members a big salary to decrease incentives for corruption and rotate members frequently to decrease crony politics. Nothing says 'let's investigate Sepp Blatter seriously and responsibly!' like a committee Sepp Blatter is in charge of doing the investigation...