Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time – Part 2

A welcome return to the Champions League saw RTG spend two nights of football viewing followed by the subsequent attempts by Sky Sports, and ITV to a lesser extent, to fill the void in the satellite TV schedule. Consequently, after much inane punditry, RTG learned the following:

* Arsenal have it all to do in Milan but they are a good team and will be going all out to get the result (following a 0-0 home result);

* Laser pens are dangerous, could affect important results and should be banned but it is difficult for UEFA to do anything about them;

* Had Adebayor’s header not hit the bar but gone in instead, it would have given the tie a completely different result (because it was 0-0 at home);

* United’s late equaliser makes their job a lot easier at Old Trafford (because it was 1-1);

* Gordon Strachan stated that he wouldn’t bet his house on Celtic progressing further against Barcelona.

Apart from the last point there was little else interesting or amusing to report. So, as per last week RTG delves once more into the Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time which the media are so fond of propagating.

Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time – Part 2

Great player = Great manager. “Shearer undoubtedly will manage Newcastle one day”. Well, he’s a great player therefore he must inevitably turn out to be a great manager. Given the millions of pounds that are now at stake in the football ‘industry’ how can this God given right continue to be bestowed on Alan Shearer. For that matter, Brian Robson was the latest managerial casualty this week. He was a great player. He certainly isn’t a great manager. Lest we be tempted to mention a certain Bobby Charlton and his brief foray into the world of football club management, RTG thinks you’ll get our point.

Speaking of managers, Messrs Wenger, Ferguson, Grant and Benitez, of big four fame, never take the FA Cup seriously because they always pick second string teams. Well, actually, they can afford to pick second string players because their squads usually have more strength in depth. Hence, why one of them seems always destined to win it. The truth is, in fact, that just about every team, including those in the Championship chasing Premier League spoils, and even lower league teams seeking promotion, play second string sides in the FA Cup. And the simple fact is that those teams really can’t afford to if they really want to take the FA Cup seriously.

Whilst we are on the subject of the riches of the Premier League, Peter Kenyon is one of the shrewdest businessmen you’ll find when it comes to wheeling and dealing in the transfer market. Well, actually, he consistently failed to make the most of Manchester United’s huge bargaining power by paying way over the odds for players, even when other clubs apparently weren’t even interested. Stand up the three million pound David Bellion from Sunderland who United could actually have got for nothing. Even Peter Ridsdale, he of Leeds United infamy, was shocked at Kenyon’s naivety when he paid £30 million for Rio Ferdinand. Not to be made a laughing stock by his critics over this, he then saw the chance to make amends by refusing to pay £16 milllion to PSG for the future world number one, Ronaldhino, and subsequently waved the Brazilian maestro goodbye as he departed for Barcelona. Nice one Peter. Now he’s at Chelsea, of course, he’s in the best place possible. He can afford to waste loads of money and nobody will bother to question why.

Peter Ridsdale sunk Leeds United because he had an expensive goldfish aquarium in his office that cost £20 per month. Well OK, perhaps a luxury he didn’t need but Mr Ridsdale was guilty of far worse financial mismanagement during his tenure at Leeds. Take, for instance, his negotiation with Seth Johnson’s agent. The agent discussed with Johnson, prior to the meeting, that they wouldn’t accept a penny less than £18K per week. Ridsdale, however, opened negotiations by saying he wouldn’t pay more than £26K and that was his final offer. The agent, by the way beat him up to £30K. Add to that hiring private jets for lavish trips to Monaco, just to watch the Champions League draw, and a few goldfish seem quite reasonable.

Part 3 to follow – watch this space

Reclaim the Game – The Week’s Events

• The Premier League puts its proposals for the 39th game before the FA this morning. A proposal that, sadly, more and more people seem to be coming out and saying we should explore in principle. Arsene Wenger, the Chelsea board, Peter Gold of Birmingham City and a few ex-player pundits have all added their view that we should look into this as a viable way of moving the Premier League forward. The FA has specific criteria which the proposal must not contravene:

  1) There must be no risk to England’s 2018 World Cup bid
  2) There is no impact on fixture congestion
  3) There is no impact on the England team itself
  4) The format of the Premier League competition must be kept fair
  

  Frankly, none of those conditions could possibly be met.

• Reports from Newcastle suggest Paul Gascoigne has been sectioned under the mental health act. Gazza was a good player but is paying the price for being one of the first over-hyped media football stars. His record never lived up to the billing the media gave him and he is now suffering the consequences. RTG wishes him well.
• Chelsea boss, Avram Grant, received death threats via a package in the mail this week. Aside from the sinister racist undertones and the ‘mysterious powder’ that it contained, this is another sad example of how, in modern times, extreme views seem to be prevailing.
• For once, a big ‘up’ to Richard Keys who pointed out the hypocrisy of his panel when chastising Eboue for his obvious dive last night. Keys, quite rightly, reminded certain members of the panel that they had previously praised players who gained penalties as being ‘perfectly entitled to go down’. Intriguingly, he failed to point out that those that were praised tended to be the English players who, as we know, never dive. Well, except when they’re ‘perfectly entitled’, obviously.

When Does an 'Interest' Turn to Influence?

So no surprise at all that Gus Hiddink did actually meet (for coffees) with Roman Abramovich on a few occasions. In fact, following these meetings (that were definitely, absolutely nothing to do with Chelsea) it has been announced that he has extended his contract as manager of the Russian national team to 2010. According to reports, Abramovich apparently does not want to upset the Russian people by stealing away their manager. This despite the fact that the billionaire is bankrolling the Russian Football Federation and indeed the Russian oligarch is helping to 'find' the finance for a new national stadium.

But this raises some intriguing questions as to the extent and reach of powerful football men and organisations. In addition to his interests in Chelsea and the Russian Football Federation, Abramovich did, through his companies, sponsor CSKA Moscow to the tune of something like $30 million per annum - this for a team whose annual revenue was barely in six figures and would represent the equivalent of Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United being sponsored for billions rather than their current tens of millions. The logical conclusion being that this must have had an influence on competition within Russian football, in much the same way as his bankrolling of Chelsea has in the English Premiership. Indeed during that period it brought them three Russian Premiership titles.

UEFA investigated Abramovich's apparent conflict of interest and concluded that no rules were contravened as 'interests' are normally defined in terms of ownership. However, you have to wonder what would have happened if Chelsea, needing a certain result to go further in a competition, had played CSKA at that moment. But these levels of dubious influence are not confined solely to Chelsea and Roman Abramovich. All the big four have tie ups with other clubs such as Arsenal and Beveren in Belgium. In fact, Peter Kenyon was the architect of these types of deals when he announced that Manchester United were hooking up with the New York Yankees baseball team (a 'deal' that made United shares go up in price but never really came to anything). The truth is that these 'arrangements' (for want of a better word) are often announced with a fairly serious PR machine behind them only to disappear into the 'fog' that surrounds them over time. The main reason to have these arrangements seems to be a way for English clubs to recruit non-EU nationals.

Alongside this, you have the situation, following the Ondigital collapse, where the loan of players to Championship, League 1 and League 2 clubs is at an all time high. This was not a bad thing in the short-term given that so many clubs were left out of pocket by the collapse. But, we now have the increasing situation where richer clubs buy up the best young talent and farm it out on loan, even to to other Premiership clubs.

This adds more distortion to what is supposed to be genuine competition and can seriously hinder the development of young English players. Glen Johnson was a promising young player at West Ham and England. He was bought by Chelsea in 2003 and spent the next four years or so in the reserves or on loan - in this case to another Premiership club, Portsmouth (a practice RTG is completely against). His England career appears to be, temporarily at least, over. The point being, this is another anti-competitive influence that powerful people in football can exert almost without being questioned. Again it should be stressed this practice is not confined just to Chelsea. How ironic then that in possibly the most crucial weekend last season, Tim Howard was prevented from playing for Everton (by agreement) against Manchester United, his previous club. His replacement made costly errors which turned a two-goal advantage into a four two deficit while Chelsea could only draw.

We at RTG believe that the maximum size of a squad should be fixed. Changes can be made in the mid-season transfer window, but only within the numbers stated. Any additional players can go out on loan but only to lower division or foreign non-European involved clubs. There should also be limits on the number of loanees any one club can make or take and subsequent parity agreed across the whole of UEFA. The EU must also equalise its rules with regard to allowing non-EU nationals to play within member countries.

Most importantly, it is time that FIFA and UEFA draw up a new, comprehensive set of clear rules as to what constitutes an individual or corporate 'interest' in a football club and how that is to be monitored, if genuine competition is to be maintained.

Chelsea Go From Strength to Weakness

In the BBC series "Great Britons", Winston Churchill was voted the number one great Briton of all time. It is not difficult to understand why. He was one of the greatest wartime leaders the world has ever seen. Yet, when he tried to win an election post-war, the 'wartime hero' actually became a liability and, strangely, one of the reasons the Conservatives lost. Bear with RTG on this one; you'll see where we're going soon. Perhaps a more relevant example in this arena is Thierry Henry. Undoubtedly one of the finest players ever to grace the Premiership and clearly a major contributor to Arsenal's 2002 and 2004 championship winning sides. But such was the dominance of the man and his character, that what made him great actually became Arsenal's biggest weakness. You only have to look at the liberated way the younger members of the squad are playing so far this year to see the effect his leaving has had on the team. Ruud Van Nistelroy found it easier to score than not to score when Manchester United won the title in 2003. Yet, their reliance on him to score goals was exposed when his form deserted him.

Which brings us nicely on to Roman Abramovich. He was booed when he arrived at Old Trafford last Sunday by Chelsea fans. The same Chelsea fans who presumably were singing the praises of all the money he spent when he first arrived. Is it not obvious that a man who can afford to use huge sums of money to bankroll a football club will, sooner or later, become the problem rather than the solution? In the end, he is entitled to fiddle and interfere with Chelsea as much as he likes. It's his toy and he pays for it. But standing in the dressing room giving advice to Michael Essien through Andriy Shevchenko acting as interpreter must surely raise alarm bells in Chelsea circles. Ultimately, you can't really blame Chelsea fans for getting caught up in the hysteria of it all when they started winning trophies on a regular basis. But surely now Abramovich's behaviour must cause genuine Chelsea fans real concern.

He has created an environment where players feel comfortable making ludicrous demands on the club. Before John Terry became England's highest paid footballer on £131,000 a week, he requested a 'limitless parity' clause to be written in to his contract to ensure he would always be the club's top earner for a nine year period and a clause that would ensure he become manager of the club after that time. He got the first but not the second. And this is someone Chelsea fans apparently are supposed to look up to? In our opinion he isn't even as good as the sensationalist media who over-champion his cause think he is. But that debate is not for here. The point is that Abramovich created the situation where felt it was within his rights to ask for it.

Abramovich has allowed divisive behaviour and cliques to develop within the squad through his blatant favouritism toward certain members. Peter Kenyon has felt compelled to make ludicrous claims about Chelsea's ever growing "global brand" claiming 25 million worldwide fans and 2.2 million in the UK. This from the Chief Executive of a club that can barely fill half its seats for a Champions League game. But it seems the louder Roman's money talks, the less it feels the need to either tell the truth or show respect to the game it feeds.

Going back to what this blog is all about for a moment - namely Reclaim the Game. People not connected with Chelsea were able to take a more considered viewpoint when Abramovich was welcomed into our game with open arms. Most felt this was a bad thing for football supporters if it set a precedent. Which it appears to have done when you look at the number of teams being taken over by wealthy businessmen. Surely it is now time for Chelsea fans to see that the man who brought glory back to Stamford Bridge is now its biggest threat. The time for singing about "being loaded" is over because the ousting of Mourinho could just be the beginning of the end for Chelsea Football Club. And it is that kind of blatant disregard for the supporters and the sport they follow that made us begin this campaign in the first instance.

Reclaim the Game - The Weekend's Events

• Given the nationality of their owner, the release of Chelsea's 'Blue Revolution' DVD had us smacking our lips in anticipation of a tale as dramatic and world-changing as the Russian Revolution. You know how it goes. Old regime usurped by a popular uprising; people stabbed in the back; creation of a new regime worse than before which then steals all the resources; heroes of the original revolution being victimised and ousted....But sadly what did we get? John Terry playing darts in the changing room. Perhaps the Russian Revolution template would make a more accurate represenation after all.
• We wonder if Larry Grayson look-alike and new (stand-in) Chelsea manager, Avram Grant, may bring some dietary and muscle toning tips from his wife into the Chelsea dressing room. On a TV show called 'Milkshake' that she hosts in Israel, she has been known to bathe nude in chocolate and drink her own urine. Cancel that order of Lucozade Roman!
• It is our considered opinion at RTG that the over-exposure of football on TV is actually damaging the game. There is an argument to say that many of the games shown live at the moment, necessitating fixture shifts down the line are annoying and inconvenient at best. Basically, you don't need us to tell you that there is probably too much football on TV right now. Well, put slightly differently, we definitely don't need anymore. Showing Northern Ireland football (which hardly anyone even in Northern Ireland watches) was pushing it to the limit but Sky's Premier League All-Stars is really taking the biscuit. Put an empty skip out in your road and sooner or later it will be filled with rubbish. Sky TV is the television equivalent. This needless over-exposure of football on TV just to fill up the vacant skip that is Sky One is not just unnecessary but dumbs down the game and insults the intelligence of football supporters. Somebody tell us please how many people out there really watch this mindless drivel. Remember how once upon a time snooker and darts were on TV all the time? Did you know that Steve Davis was the first millionaire sportsman in this country? TV took the piss out of snooker and look what happened as a result. Football is special. For heavens sake Sky you have a responsibility and duty to keep it that way!
• McCaffrey found! Rumours abound that the hyper-active former presenter of Goals on Sunday has been spotted on Showtime Arabia (formerly known in illegal Saturday afternoon pub TV viewing circles as Al Quaeda TV) presenting their English Premiership coverage this year. Next time we're in said selected watering holes we'll look out for him.

Hat's off, Take a Bow (or not)

Player of the Week - Emmanuel Adebayor. Hard to ignore the Gunners at the moment. Adebayor's hat-trick maintains the smile back on Arsenal fans' faces. Thierry who?

Villain of the week - John Terry. Apologies if the Blues are getting it in the neck a bit this week but there's just too much ammo. JT played his own part we're told in the downfall of Jose who was forced to ask backroom staff whether there was any physical evidence to explain JT's lack of form. When JT refused to come out for the warm-up ahead of the lacklustre performance against Rosenborg, he gave his reason as "having something on my mind". What an inspiration!

Hero of the Week - Leicester City. OK we mentioned this previously but they deserve the accolade.

Cliche of the week - Not so special for 'The Special One'.

Shock of the Week - Yes, it was a shock but we've done it to death. We're going for Fernando Torres. Benitez may be keeping his powder dry for later in the season but the man who, in our opinion, is one of the most promising strikers in Europe (and Liverpool are lucky to have got him given the interest over the summer) keeping the bench warm while his team draw 0.0 at home to Birmingham is unfathomable.