I am curious, orange

What do I know about the Basque...let me think.

They like blowing up stuff.

They don't like being told what to do.

They have their own identity, and your opinion means shit.

You cross them at your peril.

(If any of that offends, remember, I'm recounting off the top of my head what I know about the Basque, not writing a goddamned manifesto.)

When I think of the Basque, I see a man with a shotgun over his shoulder, casting a wary eye about himself, wondering what the hell it is you want and why you're in his land in the first place.

So Unai Emery, then? Football. Bloody hell.

My flatmate in Manchester, the venerable Alejandro, was from Sevilla. He is well-versed in the ways of the Andalusian dog. He likes Emery. So that's ok with me. He also knows about derby matches, and hates Betis. So again, that's ok with me.

Emery didn't register with me until his years with Sevilla, but I have to say that 3 consecutive Uefa Cup/Zooropa League titles stirred me. By the third one, I said, "Well, Sevilla always win it, so that's that." I remember watching the quarter-final v Porto and thinking "This is nuts." And it was a pretty freaking great reversal.

Another thing I remember about Sevilla during that time is that they had Negredo (the Beast, the real one) and Navas. "What does Navas do?" asked my Arsenal-loving mate Devin. Well, when he was at Sevilla he played really well. And when Emery came in, he had to contend with Sevilla being a selling club and losing players like that, and he did just fine.

I don't know much more about the dude--I didn't see any of his work at PSG that sticks with me. I wanted Ancelotti to replace Wenger, and somehow he's at Napoli. Which, uh...Napoli? Ok.

I like the appointment of Emery because he has won things, he's not David Moyes, and I really don't have a choice not to like it because my liking or disliking it won't register with Stanley Kranky, the ghostly mustache.