Amazing tifo at tonight’s Red Star Belgrade game.
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James Montague
@JamesPiotr
Minnowcore. Author of When Friday Comes, 1312, The Billionaires Club & Thirty One Nil. Co-founder Threads:
linktr.ee/jamespiotrJoined January 2009
James Montague’s posts
So, I went to Indonesia to watch some football and discovered one of the most passionate supporter cultures in the world. On the downside: We were chased down a highway by machete weilding maniacs. On the plus side: INTISARI!
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Fans in Indonesia are something else.
Football Adventures with @jamespiotr 
A lot has been written about Manchester City & the ethical issues surrounding it's owner Sheikh Mansour. The response to pieces by & has been depressing: denial, deflection & whataboutism. So here's a thread (1/)
Inside North Korean football. I went to Pyongyang for a #longread . It was quite eventful. I saw the national team play Lebanon. Visited the country's leading academy. Stood next to Kim il Sung's embalmed body. Oh, and an H-bomb went off...
Just before France 2019 begins, the road to Qatar 2022 starts later today, in Ulaanbaatar as Mongolia take on Brunei. Bhutan take on Guam later today in the magnificent Changlimithang Stadium....
The problem with trying to stop a European Super League is that football has opened its doors to the kind of money & power that is ungovernable: Billionaires, royalty, oligarchs used to controlling & destroying governments.
Let's take a look at a few:
The day before he was due to leave for the World Cup, 's Nemanja Matic wasn't on holiday or filming an endorsement. He was watching the village team he owns in the Serbian 5th tier win the title. A story about a player who's never far from home.
The walk to get a cup of tea at half time, at the Marakana in Belgrade....
The Azadi stadium, before the Tehran derby. FOUR HOURS before the Tehran derby. And they've been here for three hours already...
Last year Wisla Krakow was in chaos. Its players hadn't been paid for months, they'd lost their license, hooligans appeared to control the club & a mystery investor suddenly vanished. Enter Jakub Blaszczykowski. But can Kuba save the White Star?
Etihad, which sponsor Manchester City to the tune of £400million, lost $3.5 billion in two years. But it is underwritten by Abu Dhabi. So that's OK. When will UEFA realise that all the money, effectively, comes from the same place?
Thought Arsenal fans were demanding? A few hundred unhappy Persepolis fans turned up at training this morning after losing the Tehran derby. They are 15 points clear at the top of the table.
On Wednesday I saw Afghanistan v Indonesia, the first match since the Taliban took over, for the .
It's a team of refugees coached by 31yr old Anoush Dastgir, who's coach, therapist, negotiator & diplomat.
But who does the team represent now?
Almost nothing went to plan for Qatar during its 1st ever World Cup match. Except one thing: the Qatari ultras behind the goal who sang to the bitter end.
But who were they? And where did they come from?
I went to 🇶🇦 v 🇸🇳 for to find out…
It's been a tough few months, but I've finally finished the next book. It very nearly killed me but 1312 will be out next year...
LA Liga announce a six year deal for the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia on the same day the regime executes 37 people. If that deal doesn't generate outrage (and a policy reversal) anything is possible.
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Today’s mass execution of 37 people in Saudi Arabia is a chilling demonstration of the authorities' disregard for human life. It is yet another gruesome indication of how the death penalty is being used as a political tool to crush dissent. amnesty.org/en/latest/news
Announce 50+1
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The decision by Chelsea and Manchester City is – if confirmed – absolutely the right one and I commend them for it.
I hope the other clubs involved in the European Super League will follow their lead.
Possibly the greatest quote in the history of football journalism...
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Azize Ay's family said "we will kill you" if you play football, she replied "fine - but bury me under the corner flag". 
A lot of American soccer fans look up to English supporter culture, but the atmosphere at Los Angeles FC last night was better than at any English Premier League club. Incredible noise, singing, a Freddy Mercury tifo. We could learn a lot from them, not the other way around...
Thought provoking piece on Manchester City's owners in Abu Dhabi and why all the positive media publicity should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
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The Men Behind #ManCity. If you thought #Qatar was a problem, wait till you get a load of #AbuDhabi. My piece in @Medium medium.com/@NcGeehan/the-
Well, what a game that was. A couple of thoughts. Serbia were brilliant for 60 minutes. Switzerland much better in the second half but still made chances even when playing badly. But everyone will remember the eagle hand gesture.
Well, 2018 World Cup qualification is almost over. 31 of the 32 teams are known. Just NZ v Peru to come. It has been an incredible journey that began March 12, 2015 with Timor-Leste v Mongolia in Dili. Timor won 4-1 (Thread 1/)
Just spent the past hour being chased by Indonesian hooligans along the side of a highway in the pitch darkness. How's your afternoon been?
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So, let's talk about Khaldoon al Mubarak. City's chairman. There's been many emails leaked which purport to show Mubarak as a man allegedly willing to destroy UEFA if it tried to hold City to account. He's central in 's reporting on this story.
I have a new book out soon!
"1312: Among the Ultras, A journey with the world's most extreme fans" took me to some pretty hairy places, to meet some pretty unforgettable characters.
You can pre-order it here:
amazon.co.uk/gp/product/152
Incredible fourstand choreography before Red Star v Liverpool. #UCL
Call to prayer stops game in Saudi Arabia, in the 95th minute....
What a performance by Iran. Defended with such intensity. Had a few good chances. Spain knew they had a game today. All comes down to Portugal, and from their point of view, Queiroz is the worst general to battle against. Game on.
So, let me get this straight. North Korea bans all foreign journalists. Away fans. Most South Korea officials. Refuses to allow a direct flight for the players (or to bus across the border). But Infantino rewards that behaviour by flying in for a private viewing with Kim?
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FIFA president Gianni Infantino arrives in Pyongyang for North-South Korea match -- a World Cup qualifier like no other...
u.afp.com/JDQj #FIFA #DPRK #football
The club's soul restored? By being bought by a sovereign fund run by a man with blood on his hands? Most recently that of a colleague?
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That famous black-and-white-striped #nufc shirt seemed to represent simply a large barcode to Mike Ashley. His pending exit from Newcastle should see the club’s soul restored (but with a caveat).
thetimes.co.uk/article/mike-a
England play Kosovo on Sunday although you're unlikely to get a ticket. The Fadil Vokrii stadium in Pristina could have been sold out 20 times over. So I went to watch a game for to show you what match day in Kosovo looks like...
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Kosovo has a population of less than 2 million, but 100,000 tried to get tickets for their last home game. @JamesPiotr went to experience why it meant so much. 
Red Star just brought out their '91 European Cup winning side. Belodedici, Mihajlovic, Savicevic et al. Doing a lap of honour with a replica of the trophy...
In March I went to the Tehran Derby for . Outside 35 women were arrested for trying to get in. & so began a wild 3 month ride in Iranian football that includes Carlos Queiroz, & the hero of this World Cup Masoud Shojaei #longread
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Anyway, you can read more about this in the Billionaires Club: The Unstoppable Rise of Football's Super-Rich owners.
amazon.co.uk/Billionaires-C
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Football is a dirty, dirty business right now. There's lots to report and write about. But I'd argue that Manchester City, if anything, has been given an easy ride since 2008 whilst the focus has been on Qatar.
Onwurah stood up in parliament and denounced the killers of Jamal Khashoggi, calling Saudi Arabia a "murderer's state".
And now she is welcoming the sovereign wealth fund, chaired by MBS, into the city with open arms. This is why people don't trust politicians.
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Not commenting on #nufctakeover until confirmed – too many false starts in the past – but any u-turn by the @premierleague is due to the persistence & determination of #nufc fans to expose their anti-competitive & unaccountable behaviour, rather than changes in media rights!
Bridge over the Bosphorus shut for our 40-bus convoy of Galatasary ultras to today's derby v Fenerbahce...
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The talk before the game was of Xherdan Shaqiri's boots. The talk after was of his hands. The story of a wild night in Kaliningrad as Switzerland beat Serbia. It was possibly the best match of the World Cup so far. It was certainly its most political
Statement from Manchester United's Nemanja Matic (on Insta, he's not on Twitter) explaining that he chose not to wear the poppy on his shirt this weekend because of the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 (when he was "a young, frightened 12 year old boy living in Vrelo.")
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Nemanja Matić has responded to criticism over his decision not to wear a poppy. Make of it what you will.
It's CAF's presidential election today. But one important person is missing. Amr Fahmy, frmr secretary general of CAF, was going to stand. He died of cancer last year.
But I had known him as someone else: an ultra leader & a secret revolutionary.
This is his incredible story.
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Soccer's Secret Revolutionary
This is the story of Amr Fahmy - From fan, to ultra, to bureaucrat, to secret revolutionary
Written by @JamesPiotr
Illustrated by @Alice_Devine_
Arabic subtitles available
youtu.be/HNdoET61tzE
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Much of the issue surrounds the ownership's culpability in some bad things the UAE's involved in. The UAE & Saudi led war in Yemen, supported by the US & UK, is one. Here's something from one of the best foreign correspondents around
I'm jealous of American soccer. They get a proper team, moments of genuine euphoria, likeable plyrs. Why can't England have that?
Nothing matters anymore. The end of football.
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BREAKING: Manchester City overturns 2-year ban from Champions League
It's six years today since 72 young Al Ahly fans were killed after a football match in Port Said, Egypt. So many peoples' lives changed that day. I'll never forget the aftermath, nor the doggidness of the Ahlawy in fighting for justice. #NeverForget #JFT74
Well, my book “1312: Among the Ultras” is out in paperback today with . I wrote this book in a completely different world. It originally came out a week before the pandemic shut everything. So much has changed.
A thread 1/
The brilliant "Moses Parting the Red Sea" tifo from last night's Hapoel Be'ersheva v Besiktas match
This is ridiculous. So some of Europe's poorest people pay the fine of wealthy sportsmen from one of the richest country's on earth. Let the Swiss FA pay it.
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Albanian PM Edi Rama introduced official fund to pay for the fines of the Swiss players who made the eagle-hand gesture during the match against Serbia.
prishtinainsight.com/dont-be-afraid
Huge turnout for AEK at the Olympic stadium. More than 60k? A point wins them their first Greek title in 24 yrs. IF PAOK have their three point deduction confirmed. If not, as one AEK fan told me, there will be a "revolution".
Best place to watch 🇵🇹 v 🇬🇭 at the World Cup in Doha? The workers’ fan zone in the Industrial Zone cricket stadium…
This is Saudi state money, through their sovereign wealth fund, which is chaired by MBS.
There is no honest PR strategy here other than admitting that Newcastle might ultimately be owned by a regime that kills and jails its critics.
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Replying to @henrywinter
Enter regular dialogue with long-suffering fans. Expand Foundation's vital work. Build relations with wary/jealous clubs in PL meetings. Prepare (somehow) an honest comms strategy to deal with the rightful quizzing over human rights. Examine/maximise current commercial deals..2/3
Big news this. Liverpool's Dejan Lovren has been charged with perjury in the Mamic corruption scandal. Him and Modric, in theory, could face 5 years in jail each.
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Also, Dejan Lovren is now officially charged with perjury along with Luka Modrić (now awaiting trial date), for his false testimony during the Mamić trial. Full report by State Attorney Office here (in Croatian): dorh.hr/osij19092018
Orwellian madness in Serbia. There's a scandal linking top government figures to a vicious crime gang attached to Partizan Belgrade's ultras. bravely been reported the links. And the pro-government tabloids are now trying to smear them saying THEY are connected. Madness.
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We condemn this shameless smear campaign by #Serbia's pro-government tabloid media against our partner @KRIKrs, linking them with a notorious criminal gang. In fact, journalists at #KRIK had first revealed the gang's close connections with key figures in the ruling party.
Xavi does it again! He predicted Qatar would win the Asian Cup, and they have, beating Japan 3-1. It seems like a significant moment, given the World Cup is less than four years away. And they've deserved it too. Dominated Japan. Dominated everyone, really...
Time and time again, German football and ultra culture proves that there can be a moral way forward for clubs to behave. This makes Arsenal look even more craven.
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1. FC Köln stop their cooperation with China.
Members Council representative Müller-Römer: "As a socially-committed club, we can't support such a totalitarian, brutal dictatorship."
Our piece re Arsenal & Özil has the details, with @matt_4d.
#Effzeh
dw.com/en/mesut-%C3%B
The Bahrain national team was a symbol of religious unity. A post Arab Spring crackdown destroyed that ideal & destroyed one of Asian football's great success stories. This for is the story of Hakeem al Araibi, but also the story of a lost kingdom
Interesting Euro 2020 draw. Possibility of Croatia v Serbia in England's group (if Serbia win their play off). If Kosovo win their play off they will play Ukraine (which doesn't recognise them) and play in Bucharest (Romania doesn't recognise Kosovo either)....
One of the most depressing things about football today is the reaction from some fans when credible allegations have been made against their club. It's not all City fans, but I suspect the whataboutism about human rights abuses & alleged financial chicanery won't age well.
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#FootballLeaks documents outline how Manchester City's owners may have used a surreptitious company in the Cayman Islands to conceal a player investment fund. The team has been accused of violating UEFA spending rules. spiegel.de/international/ @Rafanelli @derWinterbach
Guy on the left is Serhii Filimonov, who some of you might remember reading about in 1312. Dynamo Kyiv capo, former Azov fighter and National Corps candidate turned actor. He won the best actor award at last year’s Stockholm Film Festival.
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Готові. Чекаємо на подальші розпорядження.
Хай ця ніч буде доброю для України та вічною для російських загарбників!
Of all the teams in England's group, Kosovo will be the hardest to beat. That game in Pristina will be incredible!
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Replying to @RobHarris
Kosovo in England's qualifying group for Euro 2020 - two decades after Britain played a key role in the war on Serbia to forced Belgrade to pull out of Kosovo.
Group A: England, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Kosovo.
Say what you like about Sergio Ramos, but you don't see many players using their platform to support important issues like this...
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They are the ones who won tonight. Hopefully the first of many. twitter.com/bleacherreport
That’s all three teams in their section, Poland, Sweden and the Czechs, refusing to play Russia. FIFA now has a choice, throw Russia out or they qualify for the World Cup by default.
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I've been asked by a few people who bought the audiobook of "1312: Among the Ultras" to tweet some photos from my travels. So here's a thread...
This was from the spring of 2012 in Cairo, just off Tahrir Square. Ultras rallying for justice for those killed in Port Said #JFT74 1/
Steaua's dead. Long live Steaua! My story on an owner, the army & the fight for a Romanian club's soul
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I wrote about most of this in The Billionaires Club. Once you invite men with that much wealth & power to own your clubs it means that football is basically ungovernable. They can bend the will of nations. What hope does a football regulator have?
amazon.co.uk/Billionaires-C
Spectacular. Luxembourg will have a team in the Europa League group stage! twitter.com/AlecsStam/stat
This Tweet is unavailable.
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Sheikh Mansour is at the highest level of political, economic and royal power, part of a small group that controls all the organs of the state. I would argue that is directly relevant to the ownership of Manchester City.
This is a wild story about St Etienne's recent takeover troubles, including a Cambodian prince, an allegedly faked Deutsche Bank guarantee and a BVI based bank founded by a former Chinese politician. is the absolute master of these >>>>
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I think Indonesia might be my favourite place on earth.
Well, the #Rus 2018 World Cup is finally here. Here's Big Karl welcoming the world. But it has been a long long journey to get here, so here are a few stories from qualification around the world to get you in the mood ...
I've always been fascinated by the relationship between dictators and football. And there's no stranger tale than the Gaddafi family's relationship to the game. Especially as the Colonel himself hated football...
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When Gaddafi Tried To Buy Manchester United
Man United have a long list of notorious past potential suitors. But perhaps none more so than the Libyan revolutionary.
This is the story. Written by @JamesPiotr
Illustrated by @joedude
youtu.be/H1QjXuLTXBU
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Incredible scenes. Iran players refuse to sing the national anthem. There is booing and cheering and tears.
Why would the Saudi state want to buy Newcastle Utd? Here's a piece I wrote for @TheAthleticUK. I spoke to , the fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Her voice is important and should be heard.
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"Buying a team like Newcastle in the Premier League, in one of the most powerful countries in Europe and the world? You buy legitimacy in the international community."
@JamesPiotr explores why Saudi Arabia are attempting to buy #NUFC and speaks to Hatice Cengiz.
After three months of barely leaving my parent's house in England, landing in Istanbul to finally hug feels amazing. Intense, but amazing.
I went to Afghanistan v Indonesia, the first match since the Taliban took over, for the .
It's a team of refugees coached by 31yr old Anoush Dastgir, who's coach, therapist, negotiator & diplomat.
But who does the team represent now? 1/
The Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu is probably my favourite stadium in the world. I took this picture as Bhutan was training the day before the game. Later I went to a Buddhist monastery with the players who prayed for good luck (6)
And winner of the past 48 hours is....
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AC Milan is controlled by Elliott Management, whose main man is Paul Singer. He runs a “Vulture fund”, buying distressed debt from poor countries & squeezes a maximum return. Peru, Argentina, Congo. Once tried to seize an Argentine navy ship in Ghana.
So, the begins tomorrow in the UAE. There were LOTS of dramatic stories along the way. Two teams that made it were North Korea & Lebanon. I went to watch them play in Pyongyang (and a nuclear bomb went off) #AsianCup2019
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There's the jailing and alleged torture of activists in the UAE and Yemen. Here's something on the the torture camps being run by the UAE in Yemen.
This beautiful thing just arrived in the post! "1312: Among the Ultras" is out in the UK March 12th
amzn.to/2V3BKkL
I just asked Persepolis & Iran international midfielder Kamal Kamyabinia about women being banned from watching football. He did something that Gianni Infantino refused to do. Explicitly call for the ban to be lifted. "We'd like to have their presence in the stadium." 1/
On 5th September, 2004 a 20 yr old goalkeeper made his home debut in Iceland's third division & made a mistake that cost his side promotion. This week, Iceland's filmmaking goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson will play at the World Cup.
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And this on how dissent in the UAE has been crushed. The case of Ahmed Mansoor, in particular, is appalling.
True story: After Iraq won the 2007 Asian Cup (the single greatest underdog achievement in world football, ever. Don't @ me) Sven Goran Eriksson tried to sign midfielder Nashat Akram for Man City. The UK govt shamefully turned down Akram's work permit.
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When Iraq played in England in 2004, Eriksson was England manager and was involved in charities linked to Iraq and sport, part of the Iraq's UK Goodwill Tour was @saifpr, involved in talks with the Iraqi FA. Life turns full circle. twitter.com/SkySportsNews/
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People are dead Allison. You are a disgrace.
Just bought this from in Piccadilly, which means "1312: Among the Ultras" is live!
In all good book shops, Amazon etc...
amazon.co.uk/1312-Ultras-jo
The Billionaires Club is out in paperback today! It's smaller, and yellow this time and has been updated because 💰 doesn't sleep...
Periodic reminder that 35 women were arrested trying to get into the Azadi Stadium when Infantino was in attendance, and he didn’t mention it once publicly.
Activists thought him so unimpressive they thought FIFA had accidentally sent their “janitor”…
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Replying to @RobHarris
Infantino on Iran: “Are they all monsters?”
Suggests FIFA should stage a tournament in Iran
Sometimes people can go to far with whataboutism & imagined hypocrisy. But this is astounding. It begs the question whether Guardiola knows anything at all about his employer. Or whether he does, and just chooses to ignore it.
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#Guardiola : "We have to fight for human rights to make a better society for the future. The message for the politicians is for them to be tough on human rights and we have to defend democracy in the best way." So you'll be talking to your bosses about this guy Pep? #UAE #ManCity
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MBZ effectively now runs the country and has turned it into one of the most advanced surveillance security states in the world. There's some interesting detail in this story...
Twitter isn't the right place to even begin to explain how crazy this story is.
This is superb. A first interview with Osama Bin Laden's mother. Almost as intriguing is the barely concealed Saudi attempts to recast the narrative around Bin Laden and the Kingdom's role in making him. theguardian.com/world/2018/aug