Trading Fashion Cities: Leonardo swaps Inter Milan for PSG

In French, Brazilian coach Leonardo would be called Un chat à la mode. And a lucky one. Talk about landing on one's feet! The former AC Milan and Inter Milan coach signed on Thursday to coach French Ligue 1 outfit Paris Saint-Germain.

Leonardo, whose brilliant playing career made him a rossoneri icon is, at best, a hesitant coach. He was persuaded to take the AC Milan managerial reins after Carlo Ancelotti's 2009 sacking and was replaced at the end of that season as his relationship with club owner Silvio Berlusconi became progressively more unworkable. After six months out of the game he resurfaced as Inter Milan's boss replacing the remarkably unpopular Rafael Benitez. Inter, fourteen points behind league-leading red-half rivals AC, promptly went on a tremendous run to the point where April's Fashion City Derby became the season's deciding game.

Under new coach Massimiliano Allegri, AC Milan were triumphant and Inter Milan settled uncomfortably into second place in Serie A. The nerazzuri's title streak died at five. Leonardo, whose coaching philosophy could be best described as rolling the ball out and saying "Go play", empowered that turnaround either by shrewd assessments of his players' moods or by sheer good fortune. However it was accomplished, large questions remain as to his coaching prowess and even his suitability to such an everyday, hand-on role. Rumours persist that he has no great love for the role of manager and even in the mid term would prefer a boardroom position.

Perhaps this is the rare occasion where nice guys actually do finish first. Leonardo presents exceedingly well: dapper, articulate and friendly. The move to PSG presents the opportunity to hone his skills, revisit past glories or maybe just an escape from the relentless baking heat of the Italian media kitchen. Perhaps he felt club expectations were too high in the wake of opponents strengthening. Having said that, however, PSG's new Qatari owners should be very aware of what they will be getting: style with little proven substance.

For someone who has shown no great affinity for the work, reportedly has designs on higher and less stressful offices and isn't a relentless self-promoter, Leonardo has the happy ability of falling on his feet; his skills on the training track overshadowed by his incredible talent for dealing with almost despotic club owners Berlusconi and Moratti. PSG, one of France's most storied clubs - and where he played for two years from 1996 - can only speculate as to what they are getting beyond an urbane, handsome spokesman.

Whether Leonardo's attacking football - which promotes player enjoyment - last season was a reaction to Benitez's staid gameplan or the first manifestations of an easygoing coaching style is amusingly unanswerable. Whether it was genius or luck, his mindset and tactical nous still need proving.

Moratti's satisfaction with his former sideline boss is unknown. Whether this is a blow to his plans for the side really comes down to his opinions as to Leonardo's ability, a situation where has more information with which to judge than we in the public. What is, however, apparent, is the search for a replacement, which given the dearth of quality candidates could become one of summer's football tiresome constants.

Bombs sent to Lennon's home casts sad light on Scottish football sectarianism

Neil Lennon is as an abrasive manager as he was a player. Perhaps his three most obvious qualities are his forthrightness, his Northern Irish heritage and his love for the green and white hoops of Glasgow Celtic Football Club. With the latter goes a certain antipathy - antagonism, even - for local Old Firm rival, Rangers. But when bombs are sent via post to his home, all perspective has been lost and football becomes a pawn in a much larger game.

Lennon, who as a player asked and gave no quarter, is in his first full season managing his alma mater and finds himself successfully beginning to move the club on from Tony Mowbray's disastrous reign. He hasn't taken any backward steps - neither have supporters from the green half of Glasgow - but has found himself under literal fire in ways his immediate predecessors seem to have (mostly) avoided. Also targeted in this most recent campaign were two high-profile Celtic supporters.

Lennon and his family have moved from their property and are living secretly under twenty-four hour guard. For football to come to this doesn't make a mockery of the sport - when violence, or intended violence begins, the game becomes a canvas for much larger social issues and casts a sad light on the religious divide between opposing sectarian factions in Glasgow. Traditionally, but this is far from a hard and fast rule, Celtic are known as a "catholic" club and Rangers a "protestant" one.

For decades the Old Firm derby has been amongst the most hotly contested rivalries in Europe, both on the field and between supporters. But when a man's life is endangered simply because of his status as manager and his inflammatory remarks about football, then any sense of perspective has been thrown from the nearest window. Has Lennon actively harmed anyone with words or deeds? Or has his legal representative, QC Paul McBride? Each may speak their mind and express their views as is their right. But words should never be the catalyst for actions such as this.

It has been said that sport is for everyone. It can be all-inclusive and has the ability to bring together opposing sides and even heal emotional wounds. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Christmas Truce football match between Allied and German forces during World War One. If the English and Germans could put aside their differences in such a climate, how can a game be taken so seriously as parcel bombs, bum-stabbings and other acts of violence? It seems some people just use sport and the tribalism bred by it to be extremely crappy to one another.

One February 2006 episode of the British television series Life on Mars said it best, an episode revolving around 1970's football violence between blue and red halves of Manchester. After an organised brawl, Detective Sam Tyler chases the instigator into a corner and explains the consequences football sectarianism so clearly you can't miss his foreknowledge of the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters.

If you wish harm to a man, in cold blood, because his football - and perhaps religious - sensibilities differ from yours, then you don't deserve the enjoyment and escape of sport. Football is wonderful, but it's never that important.

Manchester Derby a Snore Fest

It was quite excitedly that I arrived at my local to watch Wednesday's Manchester Derby. For the first time in memory, I felt that United were perhaps the underdogs in a match that has perpetually been one of the centrepieces of the English Premier League season. Last year's contests - there were four of them - had three decided in added extra time.

So it was with disappointment that soon after kickoff I realised that this was a horrible match, devoid of excitement and totally lacking in energy and enterprise from the blue half of Manchester. Let's be honest and say that the Red Devils weren't much better - they showed more of an adventurous spirit but were lacking the final, decisive pass in the end. Sitting there, beer in hand, I couldn't help but think it was analogous to the early rounds of a boxing match: both teams were simply feeling the other out, not wanting to commit too much in case it left them overexposed.

Perhaps this is the way that Roberto Mancini & SAF looked at this match: early doors, not worth expending too much endeavour on. I'd suggest however that this approach represents what it is that Manchester City do. By employing three defensive midfielders at the expense of using only one player who can unlock a defense, it's obvious Mancini prizes stolidity above all else. Unfortunately it's also United's modus operandi at present, the Reds hampered by a lack of creativity from central midfield, theirs not so much by choice but by injury and terminal shortness of cash, by age and infirmity.

What else did we expect? More chances, sure, but did we expect that Mancini would change a setup that he's employed with good effect against other big teams? You can bet your bottom dollar that what you see is what you get with City. It's apparent that he'd rather draw taking no chances than lose giving it his best shot. With the red-nosed Scot he's had his hands tied by lack of funds, the disabled list and an ever-growing envy of the funds available to whoever the manager of the Citizens is this month. The stakes, for both sides, are now higher than ever. Instead of that producing the outstanding contests that it did last year, it's led us to this: a fear of failure.