Website Up and RTG Campaign Never More Relevant

It’s been a busy few weeks here at RTG though you wouldn’t know it from our decidedly poor showing on the posting front of late. But there is a reason for that. We now have our website at http://www.reclaimthegame.org.uk/ up and running and there to give you a bit more information about what it is we are trying to achieve.

OK, so it is not in absolutely mint condition, but for the time being it is an attempt to get across what RTG is campaigning for. Not being technical experts, we’ve managed to get the basics done with only limited tears and temper tantrums. But events in football continue to convince us that what we are doing is the right thing.

Back in January, as the relationship between Hicks and Gillett, the Liverpool owners, began to break down, RTG cautioned Liverpool fans to “be careful what you wish for” on the news of the interest of Dubai International Capital (DIC). The situation at Liverpool has since gone from comedy to farce. Yet, so desperate are Liverpool supporters to see an end to this stand-off, that they would be delighted to see DIC join up with Gillett to get Hicks out of the club. How will this solve their problems RTG asks? After all, the real problem is the 50/50 ownership of Hicks and Gillett, not that one partner is any better than the other. If anything, replacing an American with an Arab-based consortium in that 50/50 partnership will just lead to even more problems.

As the ‘big four’ now talk of revenues of hundreds of millions, many concerned supporters are beginning to realise the unpalatable truth uttered by David Moyes, Everton’s Manager, this week; namely that he’d reached a “glass ceiling” in reaching fifth position in the Premier League. Clubs need, as Moyes summised, to be investing hundreds of millions and not the tens of millions that everyone excluding the ‘big four’ can currently command. The worry is that, by the industry not addressing these issues, the ‘big four’ are going to disappear over the horizon in terms of revenues in the coming years, as they continue to enjoy the fruits of the Champions League all to themselves.

Hence David Moyes’ comment and the growing pessimism among supporters of teams from fifth place downwards, in the Premier League, that, all they have to look forward to each year, is staying in the league. Do we really want to see a competition where most teams’ first objective is to make the magic 40 point safety mark? After which they relax due to having nothing to play for – and there are many recent examples of teams doing exactly that.

On top of enjoying elite status in the Premier League, the English ‘big four’ are on their way to becoming Europe’s ‘big four’ also. For the second year running the same three English teams are appearing in the semi-finals of the Champions League. But for the draw, it is not inconceivable that it could have been all four. Whilst, periodically, we have had specific leagues dominating the competition, with all Italian and all Spanish finals and semi-finals, this period of English domination appears to have some longevity. RTG wonders what UEFA will make of this – perhaps this is the real reason behind the ‘6+5’ Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini proposals. (See RTG post on this subject - 18th February 2008).

Speaking of the semi-finals, there is a conspiratorial body of Manchester United supporters who believe that UEFA do not want to see an all-English affair in Moscow. Hence, the reason Gattuso got away with murder for Milan last year (all be it they were the better team over both legs). Keep your eye on refereeing decisions in Wednesday’s game in Camp Nou. RTG will certainly be doing so. Given that UEFA has chosen a location where a visa is required to go and watch the game, perhaps, from the Russian Embassy’s perspective, an English final would be a recipe for chaos on an enormous scale.

Hat's Off. Take a Bow! (Or Not).

Player of the Week - Ashley Young. Could also have gone to John Carew but by all accounts a vintage performance from our Ashley as Villa destroyed rivals Birmingham in the "Second City Derby" as it has suddenly become known in the media.

Hero of the Week - Keith Andrews of MK Dons. OK, let's be fair, the principle behind the franchising of the Dons does not sit all that well with RTG's viewpoint but a team is a team after all and supporters are supporters whoever they may follow. So congratulations to Paul Ince and Keith Andrews himself, scorer of the winner.

Villain of the Week - Tom Hicks. For referring to Liverpool as "the top brand in world football" which, aside from being the height of arrogance itself, is a phrase that goes against everything we at RTG stand for.

Shock of the Week - Avram Grant. For amazingly holding it together right up to the point of only having three games to go, despite being under enormous pressure from supporters, players and the media. But sadly it all went wrong in his last press conference after the Everton game.

Cliche of the Week - "Another one of those special Anfield European nights. It's like playing with 12 men." Well maybe, although Arsenal supporters might claim that they were playing against 12 men both at the Emirates and Anfield. It just so happened it was a bloke with a whistle rather than the crowd.

January Sales: Queue Up for the Big Four!

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!

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.

Grand Slam Sunday Just Reinforcing the Status of England's Elite

‘Grand Slam Sunday’, or was it, ‘Super Sabbath’, came and went. In the end, not so much Grand or Super anything really, more Damp Squib. Not because both games weren’t interesting. They were quite compelling, in fact, if you were a supporter of any of the teams involved, or, if you were a ‘cognoscenti’ of football tactics. Nothing much has been decided from the match results, although it has probably confirmed the outcome of the premiership – a three way fight between Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, with Liverpool bringing up the coat tails of the so called Big Four. The hype though for the matches was, to put it into the modern football vernacular, “massive”. Sky, as is their wont, started the build up weeks ago. No doubt Richard Keys, Sky’s Grand-Super Slam presenter, had his stock of long winded rhetorical questions prepared even before that. Even the BBC was mesmerised enough to switch the Match of the Day (Two!) highlights programme from ‘dead air’ BBC2 Sunday post 10pm slot, onto mainstream BBC1 to accommodate Super-Grand Sabbath.

As usual, the hype over-awed the events. Disturbingly, though, the mainstream Premiership and Football League programmes were almost completely overlooked. Is this what English football has amounted too? Ever more predictable in form and shape, are we to go the route of Scottish and other European national leagues, where nobody but the predictable two or three forever win the major honours? Like Scotland, the lack of competitiveness for major honours is being echoed throughout European Leagues. It is well over two decades since the either of the Glaswegian Big Two relinquished their title. After all, we have the predictable regular members of the European Champions League from Spanish, German, Italian and French leagues, supported by the usual crowd from Norway, Ukraine, Russia and the Balkans.

Supporters surely want a competitive league and the lack of this competition is being reflected in crowd attendances at matches outside of the Big Four. Five to ten years ago, it was practically impossible to buy a ticket on match day for a Premiership game. Now, apart from the Big Four, you can get a ticket on the day for most games. Indeed, gone are the days when Manchester United or Arsenal would draw a full stadium to Middlesbrough or Bolton, for instance. Current economic conditions will only serve to exacerbate the problems as people question more strongly the priorities of their spending: save for a rainy day or spend a couple of ton on taking my kids to a game when I know we won’t win, or, will be rolled over by a Big Four team?

But, what of the world wide support and viewing public? The world wide market is increasingly making its mark. TV, from outside of the UK, is changing football dynamics. Whether it's in the form of a Vietnamese beer commercial (unavailable in the UK) being put out on the Emirates advertising boards or the rumoured changing of kick off times to suit Asian markets. Payments for televising football on overseas rights are paltry compared to what are paid by Sky, Setanta and the BBC for their various television packages in the UK. Big matches have viewing figures of 5-8 million in the UK, maybe double digit millions for the FA cup final. Overseas the viewing figures run into hundred’s of millions if not billions. Logically, it must follow that as there are hundreds of millions of viewers ex-UK, that these are far more profitable for the broadcasters and advertisers than UK viewers – especially given the low amount that the Premiership receives for overseas rights. It must therefore also follow that, as those ex-UK markets get economically stronger, - and they will - broadcasters will want to maintain or increase those audience figures. How do they do that? Well, they just keep showing the so called popular Big Four and thus keep perpetuating and maintaining the elite in English football.

RTG believes that we need to open the market completely to television – given that RTG cannot see a way that we can move away from football commercialisation – but controlled and suitably shared by all in the Premiership and in English football – yes, including Burton! All matches available for viewing by all. The revenues would be so great, that inevitably, there will be huge arguments over the spoils. But they would dwarf anything that is available now. Yes, it might well be a recipe for disaster, but that is what we are heading for anyway. At least this gives a huge benefit for the UK balance of payments, rather than the faceless multinational corporations who are gorging themselves on football money. It might just save the soul of football. It might just bring about a more equitable environment. If billions can be made from one match – and just one billion dwarfs the total annual revenue of all Premiership clubs – then that money could just build a generation of sportsmen and women to match England’s potential.

Or, it could just go into a few players/managers/agents and the pockets of other hangers on. If we, the supporters who care about the game, do not get a say in how it is run, that's exactly where all the money will end up. RTG thinks we can have the voice. Join us.

Reclaim the Game - The Weekend's Events

• Fabio Capello confirmed the worst kept secret in football and took the England job. He had ac tually stated he really wanted the job. Which makes you wonder why the FA were so keen to sign him up and at such expense. There was no particular rush so perhaps Brian Barwick might have bided his time. Or was it the case that he just couldn't bear to look a fool again if he'd lost Capello. The Italy national manager earns £1.5M per year. Spain £350K per year and Billic at Croatia earns £47K per year. At £6M per year for Capello could RTG suggest that Brian Barwick is not the best negotiator in the world?
• Tom Hicks' son proposed to his girlfriend in the centre spot 24 hours before Liverpool's game with Manchester United as he gave her a tour of the stadium. Given the current state of Hicks and Gillet's financial plans for the new stadium, it is likely he'll be able to take her back for their 10th anniversary.
• David Beckham's recent modelling gig for Georgio Armani underwear raised a few eyebrows and indeed a few questions in Posh's direction as to whether he'd fortified himself down below with a pair of Galaxy football socks. Posh was quick to defend Davids saying the meat and two veg was all genuine. However, a fashion commentator was heard to remark, "he looks to me like he's all veg and no meat."

Hats off Take a Bow (or not)!

Player of the Week - Marcus Bent. For his impressive hatrick in Wigan's 5-3 demolition of Blackburn. Special mention to Roque Santa Cruz for his hatrick in the same game. Sadly he finished on the losing side.

Villain of the Week - Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for deporting Watford's Al Bangura who fled Sierra Leone aged 15 and made it to Watford where Adie Boothroyd had high hopes for him. Talk about going for the low hanging fruit!

Hero of the Week - Fabio Capello. Well here's hoping!

Shock of the Week - Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3 Celtic 2. Given that ICT are now in the top flight it is not quite as big a shock as the 'super caly go balistic, Celtic are atrocious!' days of old, but a shock nonetheless. Even more so as they were two nil down.

Cliche of the Week - Anything with the word 'Fab', 'Fab-ulous', 'Fabio'. Think you get the drift!