There was a time, not that long ago in fact, when football coverage in the national press was limited to match reports (and even then covering only clubs in your region). Nowadays both Sunday and Monday’s papers contain their own supplements detailing every aspect of irrelevant trivia – David Beckham’s attendance and his great parenting (in remembering both his son’s gloves) at the Emirates Stadium being a particularly pointless one from this weekend’s offering.
Increasingly, the sports pages and financial columns are featuring stories concerning the fiscal side of football. Most of the stories around Liverpool FC this season have focused on the triumvirate of Gillette, Hicks and Benitez and their conflicts over money. Given the current world financial credit squeeze, rumours are circulating that Messrs Hicks and Gillette may have to sell out to a potential buyer on account of problems transferring their own debt liability on to the club itself. According to reports, both Gillette and Hicks, despite arriving as people who simply ‘love this franchise and soccer’, are reluctant to put up £20M each as part of the refinancing of their purchase. This is clearly having a detrimental effect on the team as well as disrupting any transfer plans that Rafa has made.
Liverpool supporters, so desperate to see their team at least challenge for the Premier League, welcomed Gillette and Hicks in as the answer to all their problems. Why? Because in modern football, loads of money has come to mean loads of success – as proven by Abramovich’s Chelsea. Indeed, at the start of their first full season, money was made available for Liverpool’s record transfer in acquiring the services of Fernando Torres. In addition there were promises and architects’ plans for a new 60,000 seater stadium in Stanley Park. Little wonder that Liverpool supporters were so optimistic at the start of the season. However, they are now starting to appreciate the potential pitfalls that a small but vociferous group of Manchester United supporters identified when the Glazers took over the club in 2005. This is a classic example of how sporting and corporate objectives are very different and, some would say, totally incompatible.
Furthermore, just because someone has red hot business skills, shown by their billionaire status, this does not automatically translate readily into success on the football field. Simon Jordan, Crystal Palace’s CEO, has admitted that he paid far too much for the club in his takeover and that his emotional attachment to the club had clouded his judgement. Where he and Palace have subsequently flourished has been because he, in particular, has learnt from some very painful and expensive lessons.
To see the current managerial merry-go-round, you would have to question the motives and competence of the boards of most Premier League clubs. Fulham gave their vacant managerial position, and a fairly sizeable transfer budget, to Lawrie Sanchez on the strength of him passing his trial period, which involved one victory against a Liverpool side preparing for the European Cup Final. He had never managed above League One level and was chosen on the basis of some good, but not outstanding, performances by Northern Ireland. Wigan Athletic appointed Chris Hutchins as manager following Paul Jewell’s successful reign but chosen departure last summer. Hello! Exactly the same scenario happened at Bradford City a few years previously with exactly the same result - Chris Hutchins in the job for a few weeks and then sacked. Why is Harry Redknapp at the top of just about every club’s wanted list when he’s never won a major honour and he’s managed to get three clubs relegated? Besides his obvious (but often forgotten) litigation problems, what stands out in his CV that makes him so in demand?
Today’s papers are dominated by talk of a ‘dream ticket’ of Keegan and Shearer taking over at Newcastle. Shearer, who has never managed any football club, and still has to complete some of his coaching badges, and Keegan, who walked away from football vowing never to return, are seen as football Messiahs to the Newcastle public. RTG does not know whether Shearer will turn out to be a good manager or not. We’re desperately trying to think of an example in the modern English game where a great player evolved into a great manager. It clearly doesn’t necessarily happen that way. If Mike Ashley, the new owner of Newcastle, chooses to go down this route, it will only serve to illustrate the point further. Reports suggest that Mr Ashley has chosen to ditch the ‘I’m one of the lads’ image in favour of a more rational approach. The most obvious gesture will be to ditch the replica kit in favour of a suit and tie proving that sound husbandry of a football club requires setting realistic long-term, football objectives and not reacting to short-term, emotive issues by throwing loads of money at a problem.
In November 1989, a friend of RTG was joined in a round of golf by the Manchester United board member, Bobby Charlton. At the time, and against a backdrop of a recent 5-1 thrashing by Manchester City, and a relegation berth, RTG’s friend asked when Alex Ferguson was going to get the much-rumoured bullet. Bobby Charlton stated categorically that United had the best man for the job and that he just needed the time to repair twenty years of neglect at the hands of a succession of short-termists. As an aside, United even had to play their first team, including the England captain, to prevent relegation from the reserve league. The history of Manchester United since then, speaks for itself!
Reclaim the Game – The Week’s Events
- Nice to see the Carling Cup semi finals producing some tasty stuff. You’d think the teams were actually taking it seriously!
- Kevin Blackwell chose to relinquish his post at Luton Town (unpaid of late) due to the club's ongoing financial problems and potential liquidation. How ironic that while Premier League clubs are announcing record revenues and profits and arguing over who gets the biggest share of the financial pie, the plight of lower league clubs is constantly being ignored.
Hats off, Take a Bow! (or not)
Player of the Week – Kieran Richardson. Recently returning from a four month lay-off, he was instrumental in Sunderland’s victory against Portsmouth. Scored a match winning brace.
Hero of the Week – Harry Redknapp. OK, let’s not pretend Harry needs the money but that could apply to all of the Premier League fraternity these days. He chose to stay at Pompey saying that he wanted to build on what he has already achieved rather than take the easy money at Newcastle.
Villains of the Week – Liverpool owners, Gillette and Hicks. You can hardly blame Rafa Benitez for the turmoil caused at Anfield by this corporate pair. Offering Rafa’s job to Jurgen Klinsman – well it is just not cricket!
Shock of the Week – How did Sam Allardyce last that long in the first place?
Cliché of the Week – “Dream ticket of Keegan and Shearer”
1 comment:
You write very well.
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