Something not mentioned really in the death of Maradona is how football has so radically changed since the 80s.

It's not so much the players – who have bulked up a lot – but all the legal and business infrastructure around football. There's a true before and after the Bosman decision.

Before 95 European clubs could only hire two foreign players. So when Maradona played for Napoli, he was not only the star but the only international star there. Platini played for Juve, and that was the extent of notable foreign players in the Calcio (Boniek doesn't count)

Most of football was hardly televised, or if was broadcast it was bad and spotty and limited to local territories. That's why we don't have a full and complete record of all of Maradona's amazing dribbles and magical tricks. It's all bad VHS on Youtube.

In these conditions, Maradona could not achieve the kind of global, brand-level recognition that star players enjoy today. You knew of Maradona, and you had to wait for the World Cup to really see what he was about. Today, you can see all of Messi's misses on Youtube in HD.

Another effect of the global commodification of football is that players are global brands now, and if you want to get those shoes and shaving cream endorsements you'd better play it cool on and off the pitch. No more crazy.

(there's still a lot of crazy, but it's usually not on instagram - like say Benzema partying in LA)

You also have that cult of the "manager" which transformed middling players into stars in and of themselves. I'm sorry Mou or Pep or Zizou are highly paid nannies for grown ups, that's all.

Do you even remember who was Napoli's manager during Maradona's years? Of course not because it didn't matter. It only mattered once Cruyff went to Barça to teach these guys how to play total football. And total football is a philosophy more than a tactical method.

The only true coach today is Marcelo Bielsa, aka El Loco. All the rest are like Deschamps, very competent bureaucrats who know how to "motivate" to extract "performance" from 20-something corporate mercenaries. Football is a mirror of our society.

Maradona's greatest years happened in another era, where players smoked and played cards in the locker rooms, where they could be gangsters because football was not a career but merely a stepping stone to buying that bar and retire there.

It was also a time when national teams mattered more, above everything else. And when city and club pride was a thing. Now you have weirdos who support clubs from cities they'll never visit – like LA bro in the bar will ever go to Manchester? Please.

The goal of the century and the hand of god was Maradona reclaiming honor and national pride for all of Argentina. It mattered more than any military victory or defeat.

Today British clubs are rolling in money because football is a near-perfect money laundering scheme for global financiers and oligarchs. But they employ foreign players and England will never win another international title again.

And if clubs had their say, the World Cup would not even exist, so that's football today: you train and trade players like commodities, and you offer a safe entertainment vehicle for brands to sell plastic shoes, toxic fast food and gaming consoles.

Maradona would not survive today. He'd be set aside as problematic, eccentric, out of control, unsafe for brand endorsements.
/fin