Struggling Lyon sack manager after seven games in charge

The club never imagined being involved in a possible relegation play-off at the end of this season. Currently 18th of 18, if they finish 16th they will be in the play-off spot and will possibly be obliged to play a home game on June 2nd, the same day that they have already given the stadium over to Taylor Swift for a concert. She surely can't cancel, nor should she. I believe the concert is nearing sell-out status, with remaining tickets going for over $5,000 from some exploitative ticket agencies.

What is her style of music? I don't know for sure. However, I do know her from that awards ceremony some years ago when the thug now known as Ye gatecrashed her acceptance speech and ranted on about how Swift's award should have gone to Beyonce. The footage of that is a cringeworthy and embarrassing watch : what a pure rotter he is.

I have gone on YouTube to pick a random song by Swift by way of my introduction to her. I note that this song was released in 2022 and so is fairly recent. The track is called Lavender Haze. Let's give it a listen.




Well, that was painful, I have to say. I stuck with it until the end but it wasn't easy. I thought she did country songs, for some reason. This track sounds like a million others you hear while on hold on the phone to a store or something, or the kind of nonsense you hear wafting out of TK Maxx or Burger King as you walk down the street. Synthetic isn't the word for this, because it isn't even trying to imitate a natural product. Plastic may be a better choice - disposable, and ultimately impermanent and forgotten to many an ear. Irritating clipped vocals are something of a long-term trend, I think. You hear them, a lot of them, unwilling or unable to pronounce words in full, mumbling, half talking half asleep. I think Ellish does this a lot, and Winehouse used to sing in a very irritatingly cursive manner. Hope Sandoval is about the only singer who can do what this lot are trying and failing to do. You don't have to bawl and shout but you don't have to sound like you're on heavy sedatives either. Listen to Hope. Yeah, I know I'm going to get slaughtered for this but I don't care - come at me.

Lyon 3 Strasbourg 0 f/t today.