RTG Recommends Financial Fair Play

Last month RTG reported on the likelihood that Manchester City or Chelsea would fail UEFA’s financial fair play rules (FFP) and whether UEFA would have the stomach to enforce them. Without looking at the empirical evidence RTG suspected that neither would meet FFP rules or make much effort to do so. We have found a site – www.financialfairplay.co.uk that provides detailed evidence and analysis to suggest we were correct.

Astonishingly, the assumptions made are generous to the extreme i.e. City to win the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup and that they would continue to increase their commercial revenue as dramatically as they have done so over the last couple of years. And still, they do not come close. We strongly recommend a visit to the site.

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.

Champions League Raises the Standard

Supporters have differing views on the Champions League (CL). Some are not interested in watching Europe's 'elite' strut their stuff on a Tuesday and Wednesday night (and we don't mean just Chelsea fans). Like all football, if your own team is not involved, it always takes a bit of the sting out of the viewing experience. And let's not deny it, it has been fashioned deliberately to make sure the top European teams enjoy the lion's share of the spoils. So it is not surprising that many choose to disregard it with a slightly inverted snobbish attitude.

However, if you're like us (and we're not alone in this), the CL represents an opportunity to see football from a completely different perspective. European football is a different game which is why it sometimes takes teams a few seasons in the CL before they get fully abreast of its subtleties. It took most English teams a while to get used to the CL style of football and there are now encouraging signs that the Scottish teams are no longer there just to make up the numbers either. There is no doubt that the pace of the game and level of skill are very different to what supporters are used to seeing in British football. From our perspective, that makes a welcome change.

One thing is for sure. The standard has improved immeasurably since the days when each nation's champion (in our case usually Liverpool) used to slug it out in a two-leg knockout competition over the course of the season. With all due respect to the various winners at that time, if the draw was kind to you, you could find yourself playing Grasshoppers in the semi-final for the chance to meet Malmo in the final. Now, you tend to get the very best club players in Europe, competing against each other at the very highest level. And isn't that what its all about? Not money (although in the end, of course it is hard to ignore) but football of the best calibre put together for the supporters' appreciation. That's how we feel and one of the reasons why, for us at least, the CL is worth giving up an evening or two's viewing for each fortnight. Remember, the World Cup was once the best standard of football by a country mile. Yet, by the late '90s it was becoming clear that, by being able to draw on the best players in the world, the CL had surpassed it in footballing standards.

But hold on. Foreign players. Yes that old chestnut. They're ruining our game apparently. Which is why various proposals are being put forward to limit the number within each team that can compete in the CL. Of course, as England and Scotland fans alike, we want our national teams to do well. We want to produce great home-grown players. But putting artificial limits in this way surely just puts a premium price on average England players, just because they have to be there. The end result is not a better England team but a far poorer CL competition and a less attractive proposition to drag you away from Eastenders! (well OK even the UEFA Cup is more attractive than Eastenders but you get the point). We've been shown the best and we can't now go back for a half-arsed idea about protecting national teams.

It's a tough dilemma for supporters because let's face it, we all want to see our teams jam-packed full of highly skillful English players. Surely we achieve that by setting the standard high and doing everything we can to make sure English players are coached and developed to that standard. This of course, means we have to put up with watching foreign players for a while if we want to see good football. The good home-grown players will naturally then find their way into the best teams. Chelsea and Manchester United have proved that. But, giving some average Joe a place in a CL team that he doesn't have to work to keep, simply because he's the right nationality, is not the way to raise standards and give supporters the highest level of football is it? This whole foreign v home-grown players debate needs a lot more consideration before bringing in arbitrary rules for dubious benefits.

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• Of course there has been widespread condemnation of the Celtic fan who, after a little too much of the old falling down juice, came on and 'made contact' with Dida, the AC Milan keeper. Celtic will, no doubt, be subject to whatever punishment is deemed fair and necessary as a result of this. Dida himself may also be up before the Beak for his part in the amateur dramatics. After squaring up and looking like he was going to lamp the guy, he instead went down like a ton of bricks clutching his face. Now, since it was a fan and not an opposing player, he should be warned that this behaviour (apart from making him look like a prat) is not acceptable. However, maybe there is an ulterior motive. Should Milan find themselves struggling to qualify, RTG wonders if this incident might be an excuse to have Celtic thrown out of the competition. Watch this space!
• A lot has been said in this blog concerning English players and their relative shortcomings and overrated status. It was great from an England perspective to see John Terry fit to play against Valencia and Wayne Rooney back and scoring against Roma. Great. But the highly-critical media are the ones who put these players up on a pedestal to the detriment of England (and possibly their clubs as well). John Terry is a good player no doubt. But these people should always be looked on as having to prove themselves constantly. Instead we get a media who, through their lack of intelligence and "me too" attitude elevate these people above their station. You only have to consider how the inclusion of a clearly unfit David Beckham was integral to England's failure in the 2002 world cup. Still, he sold a lot of England shirts in Japan, so I'm sure the FA would have considered it all worthwhile. So when the likes of Tony Cascarino speaking on the radio bang on about John Terry being "absolutely essential" to Chelsea and England's success, he is just following the crowd in making over sensationalist statements. Sorry chaps but if he is that essential, Chelsea and England are doing something seriously wrong. Don't forget, England have not been especially brilliant over the last few years with or without these media favourites.
• Now it isn't always de rigeur for your average English football supporter to speak out in praise of the Scots (or vice versa). But, as already mentioned earlier, Rangers and Celtic deserve all the accolades for their results this week.
• As if we haven't said enough already about over-exposure of the game, bring on Channel Four's FanBanta. Without going into details about content, is there really any need for this show? Yet more hype and lazy programming that the game doesn't deserve or need. But, if you want to know what we think of it so far, it can best be described in two words - shite. And shite.
  

Platini Proposals Suggest Parity....but maybe not Practicality

With the first group stage draw of the Champions League taking place in a few hours, we'd like to draw attention, as supporters of a fair and honest sport, to UEFA President Michel Platini's proposals for reforming the Champions League. He should be applauded for trying to even out the spoils across more European countries than at present, thereby creating better competition in the longer term. Since his election to the presidency, he has made several suggestions such as reducing the number of clubs entering from each country (reducing the number in England from four to three), and is now proposing the inclusion of the national cup winners at the expense of the last qualifying place (i.e. only first second and third would qualify in England).

In the short-term at least, the quality and financial attraction of the competition could be diminished. In addition, his proposals for allowing cup competition winners as the last qualifying berth would also potentially create more issues.

We believe there needs to be a concerted effort to increase the importance of national cup competitions especially for the lower leagues. Much depends upon the details of his plans, but we can only point to one example in the last five years, assuming the strict interpretation of "cup winners only", where this would have made a difference for English qualification. If, however, we use the same interpretation as for the former cup winners cup competition, we would have had, in 2001/2002, Tottenham playing off against Wycombe Wanderers for the last spot. And, in 2004, Millwall would have been one of our representatives in the Champions League purely on the strength of a good cup run involving easy draws and a bit of luck (Manchester United in the final was their only Premiership opposition). No disrespect to Millwall and Wycombe Wanderers but you get our point.

Our philosophy has always been that football should attempt to be a fair and level playing field as far as is possible and in that respect Platini is at least thinking in those terms rather than being led by the financial considerations. We wholeheartedly support this sentiment, with the reservations stated above, but doubt whether the big clubs will support his proposals (planned for implementation in 2009). Above all we finally have an administrator who is prepared to tackle the inequities in football and we believe he deserves the opportunity to debate these issues as a starting point; not just for football, but for sport in general.

Beckham Bullshit Leaves McClaren High and Dry

Following our previous post concerning the value of international friendlies, news emerges from a Galaxy far away that Beckham is injured and is unlikely to play any part in England's next two qualifiers. Steve McClaren, as we pointed out, had to pick him due to his travelling 6,000 miles and the media expectations that surrounded his first appearance under the new management. While we should have been looking at options available wide right from a more practical (and maybe longer term) perspective, we are now in the situation where McClaren must fill that position with somebody who has not played that role with England for some time. Once again, short-term accommodations have messed up long-term goals.

Beckham chose to spend his autumn years in LA - nobody else. So he, and his employers, should live with that decision even if it means not playing a part in the England team and Steve McClaren has to have the courage to make that clear to all. Note Beckham's LA Galaxy record since joining: played five, lost four.

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• City of Grief Part III. Liverpool FC's minute silence etc for Rhys Jones (Everton fan) last Tuesday. OK, it's still not politic but enough's enough. If the effort expended in collective grief were actually put into catching the perpertrators of this awful crime they might now be behind bars. Over to you Everton (or Tranmere?).
• Future England Gaffer? John Terry, at the prospect of Ronaldhino joining the Chelsea cash cow, showed us his true insight and tactical awareness by identifying Ronnie's prime role as the world's most gifted and exciting footballer. He must be prepared to track back and develop the Chelsea "workaholic" ethic according to JT. Leave the creative stuff to our Frank and our Sean (if playing) we think he is trying to say. If JT can chew gum and punch the air with the best of them, we have a future England boss in the making.
• Martin Allen (as of yesterday ex-Leicester boss) commenting on the influx of 14 new squad members said that Leicester training sessions were sometimes like "scenes from Zulu". What does he mean? Loads of Welshmen in red jackets being put to the spear? I think we should know. We were going to suggest he invite us to a training session but that's sadly not now possible.
• Not that we want to start vicious rumours, or are in any position to judge, but Tony Adams commenting on ITV4's coverage of the Arsenal v Sparta Prague game last night: any bad habits returning?