Another Champions League week and three of the four English teams look well poised to go through, while Arsenal are still certainly not out of it despite some pessimism. Recently, accountancy group, Deloittes, published a football ‘rich list’ which emphasised the importance of the Champions League as a revenue earner. Again, the big four in England are miles ahead in terms of revenue, bolstered by these Champions League earnings.
Chelsea also published their financial results – or at least the legal minimum that they had to – and these revealed some interesting points. On turnover of £223.3M (£190.5M from football) they made a loss of £74.8M. The losses were £5-6M down from the previous year (£80.2M). The accounts also revealed that about 71% of the turnover was taken up in wages alone. Whilst losses have been reduced, it is hard to envisage Chelsea achieving Peter Kenyon’s oft quoted aim of reaching break even by 2010.
Add these losses to previous years and Chelsea’s owner, Roman Abramovich, has now subsidised the club to the tune of £578M.
At the core of every sport – and RTG means sport as opposed to what sport has become defined as – is the overwhelming belief that, whatever the sport being engaged in, either individually or as a team, it is contested on a level playing field (no pun intended).
Compare and contrast Chelsea’s situation now, with that of Leeds United in recent years. Peter Ridsdale, the then Chief Executive of Leeds saw the revenue earning potential of the Champions League and pinned all their commercial strategy on it. This strategy fell at the first hurdle when they failed to qualify. The rest, as they say, is history, with Leeds now languishing in the third tier of English football, and the club currently under administration. The amounts involved were deficits of £80-100M (depending on what source you refer to). But these amounts are trivial when you compare Chelsea’s losses above. In fact, if you look at the Deloitte rich list, Chelsea’s losses are greater than the revenue of all but the top 16 earning clubs in the world - bigger than Celtic's revenue who lie in 17th spot. Note also that Leeds are currently suffering a 15 point penalty as a result of their overspending in previous seasons. So what’s the difference between Leeds United and Chelsea?
Answer? Roman Abramovich. Intrinsically there is absolutely no difference between the two situations. Had it not been for Abramovich, assuming no other suitable buyer had been found in time, Chelsea would also have been under administration. In fact, had it not been the rather fortuitous situation where Abramovich, in negotiating over the purchase of Tottenham Hotspur, spotted from his helicopter, the Stamford Bridge ground’s proximity to Battersea Heliport, then Chelsea would be in similar circumstances to Leeds now.
Much speculation has been made of how Abramovich dubiously gained his riches, let alone his motivation in investing in English football. Some say his only real interest is in creating a high profile for himself as a ‘protection’ against retribution from Russia and its current leaders. From a purely footballing perspective, RTG believes that, if Leeds are penalised for overspending – which amounts to ‘cheating’ and is rightly penalised – then why shouldn’t other overspending clubs suffer the same penalty? Isn’t it just a case of, “my dad is richer than your dad”. On another equally contentious point, by pouring in so much money, and thereby increasing salary and transfer inflation, is it right that one person should exert so much influence over what is supposed to be, and RTG states again, ‘a sport’.
RTG believes in putting limits on the amounts that clubs spend on wages, as a percentage of their turnover, and putting limits also on squad sizes as well as the ludicrous loan system, as a first step in levelling out what has become a blatantly uncompetitive sport.
If you too believe that football is now played out in an unfair and unequal environment, then please sign up to our campaign to ‘Reclaim the Game’.
Reclaim the Game – The Weekend’s Events
- In another sign of modern standards of behaviour, Birmingham City’s Mathew Taylor, whose challenge broke Arsenal’s Eduardo’s leg very badly, has received death threats as a result. Completely over the top. However, RTG commends Arsene Wenger for retracting his earlier over emotional response, when he called for a life ban for Taylor.
- Apparently Joey Barton will not be available for selection against Liverpool away on 8th March as a result of a court order banning him from his home town following his recent arrest. The way he played against Manchester United on Saturday, he won’t be missed.
- Comedy moment of the week was provided by La Liga in the game between Real Madrid and Getafe at the Bernabeu yesterday. If you thought goal celebrations had got out of hand, then check out this link where Real’s celebrations of a disallowed goal caused such distraction that they neither noticed nor had time to respond when Getafe went straight up the other end of the pitch and scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game.
Hats Off, Take a Bow (Or Not)
Player of the Week – Jonathan Woodgate. Scored the winner in the Carling Cup Final ending nine trophy-less years for Spurs and put in a performance that showed if he could stay injury free, he would surely be partnering Rio Ferdinand in the heart of England’s defence.
Villain of the Week – William Gallas. Completely threw the toys out of the pram and sat sucking his thumb even after the final whistle when Arsenal really needed a captain’s presence. Admittedly, the penalty awarded was a harsh decision but it is hard to imagine Frank McLintock or Tony Adams, both great professionals and leaders, behaving in such a fashion.
Hero of the Week – Fernando Torres. Eased some of the pressure on Benitez, from a Premiership point of view, with a hat-trick against Middlesborough.
Shock of the Week – Tottenham win the Carling Cup. The first major trophy won by a team outside of the big four since 2005.
Cliché of the Week – “The sleeping giant has arisen”. The media and Tottenham supporter’s description of their triumph. We’ll see.
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