I know someone who wanted Arsène Wenger to remain Arsenal manager because — don’t judge a man by his friends — of the “semiotics of him”. This sage understood well enough that a coach then nearing 70 was hopelessly spent at football’s elite level. What justified his retention was that he was an omnilingual graduate, a political liberal, an aesthete among barbarians. That is, he annoyed all the right people. He was on our cultural team, even as he led our footballing one to three consecutive 5-1 losses to Bayern Munich.
我認識的一個人希望阿爾塞納•溫格(Arsène Wenger)繼續擔任阿仙奴足球俱樂部(Arsenal FC)主教練，理由是——可別根據我的朋友來評判我——「溫格的符號意義」。這位智者很清楚，作爲一名當時年近七十的教練，溫格在足球精英圈裏已經力不從心。他應該留任的理由是：他精通多國語言，是政治上的自由派，是粗人當中的審美家。也就是說，他讓合適的人羣不爽。他與我們同屬一個文化陣營，即便他帶領我們的足球隊連續三次1:5輸給拜仁慕尼黑足球俱樂部(FC Bayern Munich)。