Happy New Year to all football supporters.
By way of an introduction to 2008 we have a little January tale for you.
A couple of seasons ago a mid-table Premier League team (let’s call them Midtable City) sent their scouts out to Eastern Europe and uncovered a bit of a gem, Bac Netov. City needed a striker and Netov seemed to fit the bill and came at half the price of any of his English counterparts. He duly came over to England on a fairly lucrative deal and slotted in to the Premier League nicely. So nicely in fact that Midtable started to improve form and began to move up to the top half of the league; finishing the season in their highest ever position. Netov became a bit of a local hero.
The following season, initially, his form continued and Midtable consolidated their position in the top half of the league and began to even contemplate a UEFA Cup place. Netov, however, now well established in England, saw the promise of better things. His agent started to put out rumours that, if a big club came in for him, he would simply have to move to further his career and win trophies. Well, that’s how it was explained to the press at any rate. Suddenly his, and consequently Midtable's, performances declined along with their league position. Come December, with the rumour mill spinning out of control, Midtable supporters saw a sudden leap in his performance levels. Indeed he scored 80% of his season's total of goals in the run up to the transfer window.
Arsechester, one of the so-called Big Four, needed a striker. Chelpool, also one of the Big Four, needed a striker too despite spending hundreds of millions on their squad over the past couple of seasons. Midtable knew that Chelpool could afford a lot more than Arsechester so put a massive price tag on Netov in order to procure the highest possible price for him. Well, if he was going to leave anyway, they might as well get some decent cash for him. Arsechester, realising that they were out of the reckoning for Netov, started to look elsewhere and paid over the odds for Johnny Englander, a player who had recently become part of the England setup.
Netov moved to Chelpool for an astronomical fee – far more than he was actually worth but money was no object for Chelpool and they had their man. Arsechester paid over the odds for a different player. Consequently, Midtable, despite having uncovered a real find in Netov, were glad of the money and continued to plod on with no real prospect of improving their position. Arsechester and Chelpool never dropped out of a top four slot and consequently qualified for the lucrative Champions League spot yet again (for the eighth year running), ensuring a nice revenue earner for the following season - money that would allow them once again to ensure that the best players would be available for them and them only. Netov became an instant millionaire through his share of the transfer fee and merely a bit part player in a massive squad. Johnny Englander also became an instant millionaire, made some promising performances for Arsechester but never really made any impact on the international scene due to his irregular appearances and fairly comfortable lifestyle keeping the bench warm. Well, when we say the proverbial bench we actually mean a thermally heated Corbeau Carrera massage and orthopaedic seat.
Ok, the names are made up but you get the point. Whether a team spots a player and buys him, or even if they develop him themselves, the likelihood is that, if he wants to win anything and earn top brass, he will end up at one of the Big Four or in Europe. In effect, any club currently outside the Big Four is acting merely as a feeder club to them. And, when the Big Four sell good players, they invariably sell to Europe and leave their detritus for the remaining English clubs. The polarisation thus continues with little prospect of anyone outside of the Big Four breaking into the financial stratosphere of the Champions League. Little wonder that many of the grounds outside of the Big Four appeared a little sparsely attended on New years Day.
If we’re still not raising a certain degree of concern with you, for Netov read any of Berbatov (as seems likely), Saha, Tevez, Mascherano etc.. For Johnny Englander, read Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick, Steve Sidwell, Scott Parker, Glenn Johnson….the list goes on.
If the English Premier League is ever to regain its true competitiveness, English clubs are going to have to find very wealthy owners or some restrictions have to be put in place Europe-wide. Fixed squad sizes is perhaps one option. Should Burton, or its equivalent, ever happen, perhaps the weakest teams, or the promoted teams, should have the first pick of the players coming through. RTG does not profess to have the answers but as usual, the issue of competitiveness is not being addressed at all. By anybody!
By way of an introduction to 2008 we have a little January tale for you.
A couple of seasons ago a mid-table Premier League team (let’s call them Midtable City) sent their scouts out to Eastern Europe and uncovered a bit of a gem, Bac Netov. City needed a striker and Netov seemed to fit the bill and came at half the price of any of his English counterparts. He duly came over to England on a fairly lucrative deal and slotted in to the Premier League nicely. So nicely in fact that Midtable started to improve form and began to move up to the top half of the league; finishing the season in their highest ever position. Netov became a bit of a local hero.
The following season, initially, his form continued and Midtable consolidated their position in the top half of the league and began to even contemplate a UEFA Cup place. Netov, however, now well established in England, saw the promise of better things. His agent started to put out rumours that, if a big club came in for him, he would simply have to move to further his career and win trophies. Well, that’s how it was explained to the press at any rate. Suddenly his, and consequently Midtable's, performances declined along with their league position. Come December, with the rumour mill spinning out of control, Midtable supporters saw a sudden leap in his performance levels. Indeed he scored 80% of his season's total of goals in the run up to the transfer window.
Arsechester, one of the so-called Big Four, needed a striker. Chelpool, also one of the Big Four, needed a striker too despite spending hundreds of millions on their squad over the past couple of seasons. Midtable knew that Chelpool could afford a lot more than Arsechester so put a massive price tag on Netov in order to procure the highest possible price for him. Well, if he was going to leave anyway, they might as well get some decent cash for him. Arsechester, realising that they were out of the reckoning for Netov, started to look elsewhere and paid over the odds for Johnny Englander, a player who had recently become part of the England setup.
Netov moved to Chelpool for an astronomical fee – far more than he was actually worth but money was no object for Chelpool and they had their man. Arsechester paid over the odds for a different player. Consequently, Midtable, despite having uncovered a real find in Netov, were glad of the money and continued to plod on with no real prospect of improving their position. Arsechester and Chelpool never dropped out of a top four slot and consequently qualified for the lucrative Champions League spot yet again (for the eighth year running), ensuring a nice revenue earner for the following season - money that would allow them once again to ensure that the best players would be available for them and them only. Netov became an instant millionaire through his share of the transfer fee and merely a bit part player in a massive squad. Johnny Englander also became an instant millionaire, made some promising performances for Arsechester but never really made any impact on the international scene due to his irregular appearances and fairly comfortable lifestyle keeping the bench warm. Well, when we say the proverbial bench we actually mean a thermally heated Corbeau Carrera massage and orthopaedic seat.
Ok, the names are made up but you get the point. Whether a team spots a player and buys him, or even if they develop him themselves, the likelihood is that, if he wants to win anything and earn top brass, he will end up at one of the Big Four or in Europe. In effect, any club currently outside the Big Four is acting merely as a feeder club to them. And, when the Big Four sell good players, they invariably sell to Europe and leave their detritus for the remaining English clubs. The polarisation thus continues with little prospect of anyone outside of the Big Four breaking into the financial stratosphere of the Champions League. Little wonder that many of the grounds outside of the Big Four appeared a little sparsely attended on New years Day.
If we’re still not raising a certain degree of concern with you, for Netov read any of Berbatov (as seems likely), Saha, Tevez, Mascherano etc.. For Johnny Englander, read Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick, Steve Sidwell, Scott Parker, Glenn Johnson….the list goes on.
If the English Premier League is ever to regain its true competitiveness, English clubs are going to have to find very wealthy owners or some restrictions have to be put in place Europe-wide. Fixed squad sizes is perhaps one option. Should Burton, or its equivalent, ever happen, perhaps the weakest teams, or the promoted teams, should have the first pick of the players coming through. RTG does not profess to have the answers but as usual, the issue of competitiveness is not being addressed at all. By anybody!
Hat's Off Take a Bow for 2007 (Or Not!)
Player of the year - Cristiano Ronaldo. Played a significant part in Manchester United's 2007 Premier League championship win and has continued to be a major player in their current bid to retain the title.
Young Player of the Year - Cesc Fabregas. This guy is still only 20 but seems to get better and better and is now an integral part of Arsenal's bid for glory this season.
Hero of the Year - Leicester City. After Leicester City player Clive Clarke collapsed at half time the Carling Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Leicester City had to be abandoned with Forest 1-0 up. When the match was replayed, Leicester allowed Forest keeper Paul Smith to run unopposed from the kick off to ensure Forest began the game 1-0 up. A fine gesture indeed.
Villain of the Year - Sepp Blatter. Continues to support corrupt officials and put corporate money ahead of genuine supporters in a bid to further his own causes rather than those of the game.
Shock of the Year - Chelsea failing to win the Premier League last season and losing Mourinho. Few could really have predicted that the Blues would not win a third Premier League championship on the trot. It took all the experience of Sir Alex and Manchester United and a bit of in-fighting to see Chelsea knocked off top slot.
Cliche of the Year - "Nothing wrong with that. Very professional." The creeping acceptance (mostly on Sky) of blatant cheating as an acceptable part of the professional game.
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