Some quick hits late in the day.

This is an official Man City video analysis of Joe Hart farting in a car (via Dirty Tackle)

Brooks Peck is a little mystified as two why City would make a video featuring various talking heads talk about a video in which Joe Hart farts in a car. Let me take from here, Brooks? Can I call you Brooks? No? Okay sir.

Anyway, companies don’t spend much on TV in the United Kingdom, which is why a “season” often comprises six, half-hour episodes filmed on a Nokia phone. Ergo, they need lots of filler, and one of the ways they provide filler is with “List Shows.” Top Ten England Football Moments, Top Ten Corrie Eps, Top Ten News Presenter ‘Gaffes’, etc.

These shows follow a very familiar pattern, which this Man City video recreates to a tee: get some worthless talking heads to give their equally worthless opinions about some bit of pop culture puffery, which usually includes a local DJ, some no-name in a replica shirt, and Noel Gallagher, who is in every, single one. Which means City are quite clever, really, even if this isn’t a parody of the awful dregs of British TV.

Harry Redknapp, Rube of the Year (via Grantland)

This is Brian Phillips doing what he does best, and probably the most damning bit of business done on ‘Arry since Rob Beasley phoned him up for a quick interview. A taste:

Harry derives part of his charm from the idea that he’s a last point of contact with an older, purer form of football, a living zipline back to the days when all matches were played in the rain and nobody knew anything about tactics. “Just fucking run about,” Harry once told a striker who didn’t speak English. In these days of Xavi and false nines and “can Lampard play with Gerrard,” there’s a deep need in the English footballing psyche for a distinctively English way of approaching the game that doesn’t go numb in quarterfinals, and Harry exploits this the way he exploits everything else — cheerfully and with a Boer War’s-worth of dropped h’s.

Cor blimey.

England: Strong Leadership is Required (The Fiver)

I haven’t been much moved to write out yards of guff on the Capello dealie, mostly because of the reams of stuff appearing elsewhere, but also because Scott Murray has what should be the final word on the matter. To quote a mere snippet won’t give you the full flavour, but I have yet to read a more damning assessment of Team England than this. For example, on the “principled” hypocrisy of the FA on this issue:

Capello informed Bernstein that he was for the off. “I agreed on behalf of the board that this was the right decision,” grinned Bernstein, a job well done, adding that “principles” are important, and that Stuart Pearce, who in 1994 had to apologise to Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince for alleged racial abuse made “in the heat of the moment”, would be taking charge for England’s upcoming fixture against the Netherlands.

Scott Murray is, like Andi Thomas, one of the most underrated football writers around today.