Platini talking FIFA’s Language

RTG has, in general, been a supporter of Michel Platini. It is no secret we support Financial Fair Play in principle, if it is properly enforced. Equally, however, we have consistently questioned whether he possesses either the financial clout or the resolve to enforce his proposals and suggestions (FFP in particular). Our suspicions as to Platini’s true motives were further reinforced last week when he came out in support of a Winter World Cup in 2022 in order that the tournament does not have to be played in the middle of the Qatar summer.

What is perhaps worse is that M. Platini actually had the nerve to suggest that this was for the benefit of the “fans”. "We have to go to Qatar when it is good for everybody to participate. What is better for the fans?" he told the Evening Standard last week. Might we suggest to M. Platini that, if he really wants to look after the well being of us supporters, perhaps it would be better to hold the World Cup in a location that is easy to travel to and around, has some football stadia in which to play the game and doesn’t boast summer temperatures of 45°C plus. While we’re at it, can we also suggest that you choose locations where all supporters, irrespective of creed, colour and sexual preference will be welcome and free to do as they please.

RTG is not suggesting that this ranks anything like the level of contempt for supporters that led to the Hillsborough tragedy but, if there was one thing that came out of that report a fortnight ago, it was that the needs and views of supporters have been consistently disregarded over a number of years by governments, administrators and law-enforcers alike. Choosing to vote for the World Cup in Qatar shows that we continue to be treated as an afterthought in the minds of these people.

Could it be that, in 10 years time, M. Platini fancies the idea of himself sat atop the stinking pile of corruption that is FIFA and that he may be best placed to “take advantage” of all that a World Cup held in an oil-rich nation has to offer?

UEFA Fair Play Watch

RTG promised to keep posting news about this issue and one of the more “challenging” aspects has reared its ugly head once more: the “related party transaction”. These are the rules that allow UEFA to identify and deal with revenue that has been “artificially” received by a club. So, for instance, Manchester City’s record breaking naming rights deal with a sister company of the City’s owners – apparently the City of Manchester stadium naming rights are worth twice that of Madison Square Gardens (!*£$!?) – should come under scrutiny for “fairness” and “value” in a re-assessment of their compliance.

Now Paris Saint Germain have announced an annual 100 million euro shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatari National Bank, another sister company of the owners the Qatari Investment Authority. This supercedes their current deal of 4 million euros by a factor of 25!

UEFA President Michel Platini has consistently stated that teams will not be able to skirt the rules by getting “sweetheart” deals from affiliate organisations. RTG has also been consistent in their fears that UEFA won’t have the stomach to implement the rules. Fuel has been added to our fire by the comments of PSG President, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who stated that the club will respect FFP rules, but added somewhat disingenuously “Platini said that we needed to be creative and we have some ideas”.

Supporter Power – The “Worms” are Beginning to Turn

With an economy in free-fall and the highest unemployment in Europe, Spain’s football supporters are providing a backlash to the indulgences of their football industry. And not just through falling attendances. This season has seen the introduction of a new 11pm kick-off time to accommodate, of course, television.

Malaga fans recently turned up to their 11pm home match dressed in pyjamas as a protest. Following this, Deportivo La Coruna supporters displayed a banner reading “We hate modern football, we hate television”. In RTG’s experience, the Spanish don’t seem to start their nights out until about 11pm anyway. All the more surprising to learn of the protests – but we most heartily support the sentiment!

Billionaires’ Largesse Creating Players in Limbo

Whilst undertaking a nostalgia trip flicking through a 1968 football magazine, RTG stumbled upon an article bemoaning ever spiraling transfers fees which, that year, had hit a shock record high…£2 million. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that Leicester City and Aston Villa (then struggling at the foot of old division 2) were by far the biggest spenders. Even mighty Manchester United only spent £37k more than Luton Town of the third division. Basically, it was a far more even playing field.

Today, with billionaire owners bankrolling their clubs to buy success. players and their agents gravitate toward them with the aim of securing big money moves and huge wage hikes or to use “interest” from these clubs as a bargaining tool to force the hand of their own clubs in negotiating a better pay deal.

This has created a body of players for whom wages and transfer moves are confined to only a few select clubs. When a transfer move goes wrong, or a player like this falls out of favour, they become suspended in a professional limbo, unable to ply their trade simply because nobody else can afford them. It also creates absurd situations like Adebayour’s at Tottenham, where City paid 65% of his wages in order to be able to secure the loan deal – a blatant abuse of the loan system which is perhaps for another discussion. With Spurs unable to afford his wages for a permanent move, City effectively had to subsidize his eventual transfer by letting him go for a fraction of his value the previous year.

Players of the calibre of Arshavin, Tevez, and Adebayour himself have severely resticted their options when things haven’t worked out. These weren’t the first multi-millionaire footballers who were happy to sit in the reserves, but some of these players – especially budding England stars such as Wright-Phillips, Parker and Sturridge – would do better to consider the pitfalls of falling into this professional limbo, lured by short term gains – however huge. It could be a career stunting disaster, but then, if you were paid millions to warm a bench on Saturday/Sunday afternoons, with occasional mid week trips to (sometimes) iconic European cities, would you worry?

‘Team England’: We Wish!

Several commentators have come out this week and said how much the England football team can learn from the Team GB’s Olympic successes. Perhaps we can, but the real lesson is that success in sport at the very top level requires a genuine desire from the people in charge, the funds to do it and the implementation of a long-term plan (remember the Olympic revolution in GB started over 15 years ago when we only won one gold medal in Atlanta, 1996).

The funds are definitely there, England being the richest football nation in the world, but too much of them will end up in the wrong hands. Not just agents and players’ salaries but also in the hands of the three archaic organisations that run English football that are still packed full of failed businessmen and fuddy-duddies. To be able to implement any lessons learned from the Olympics, English football needs to first reform the way its run from top to bottom – something RTG feels is right to campaign on.

UEFA Financial Fair Play Update

We’ve already made reference to Ed Thomson’s article on FFP in which he shows quite clearly how far both City and Chelsea are from meeting the current criteria. Chelsea may have netted £50M + from winning the Champions League, but they have reportedly already spent £64M this summer. Either Roman Abramovich has a scheme up his sleeve to address the already huge losses that he continues to bankroll on Chelsea’s behalf or he feels confident that, using the smoke and mirrors of accounting rules, he can circumvent UEFA’s new rules. Let’s face it, every single bank and international corporation have been thumbing their noses at fiscal regulations throughout the world for years. What hope do UEFA have?

Name That Ball

Try to keep calm if at all possible but excitement is brewing as Adidas announce the shortlist of names for the actual ball that is to be used at the 2014 World Cup and voted for by fans. So far Carnavalesca, Bossa Nova and Brazuca are in the running. As discussed in Andrew Jennings’ excellent book ‘Foul’, Adidas, through its founders and sister company, ISL, played the significant role in the now publicly acknowledged bribery of FIFA’s top brass including Brazilians Joao Havelange and Ricardo Teixeira.

Given also that the 2014 stadium construction has been hampered with numerous corruption enquiries can RTG suggest a more appropriate name for the ball - The Backhanderao?

Big Up to Brazilian Football Supporters

On top of the now customary corruption and bribery involved in construction contracts for major football tournaments, the Brazilians have also had labour disputes which has caused consternation to FIFA’s monitoring officials. However, a less reported delay was not so widely publicised. At the Maracana, fans protesting at the introduction of luxury corporate boxes caused further disruption to the construction.

Poder para o povo!

It’s Official: Bryan Robson Agrees with Us!

“I disagree with people when they say football is a sport. Football lost its sporting thing when money started coming in and Sky TV and all that. Football’s a business”.

So said Bryan Robson as he was filmed secretly by Channel 4’s Dispatches program broadcast last month. But we don’t just need to take Robson’s word for it. This summer, without a major tournament for England to torture us supporters with, has provided further evidence of football’s interminable slide into commercialisation and, above all, the continuing shift of football’s focus from on field sporting prowess to off field business issues.

It’s been a summer that has seen legal challenges, a parliamentary investigation into football’s running, FIFA accusations and resignations, the initial phase of UEFA’s “fair play rules” implementation, and already its initial abuses, as well as further proof of the player tail wagging the club dog. Hardly surprising that you might have missed the fact that England put out teams for the European under-23 and World under-20 tournaments. Or, for that matter, that the two major tournaments for the Americas had taken place.

The season had not even ended when Swansea City were threatening a legal challenge to QPR’s promotion over their fielding of an ineligible player. The threat of action was only averted by Swansea bagging the Championship’s play-off promotion spot. Farcically, QPR’s fans were made to wait until just before kick off in their final match of the season to find out if their promotion was to go ahead. This is not the first time that legal actions between clubs have happened, as those who can recall Sheffield United’s successful compensation suit against West Ham over the Carlos Tevez affair, nor will it be the last – supporters had better get used to it as the financial stakes get higher.

Then, RTG’s favourite bête noire, FIFA, was mired in yet more corruption allegations. First Lord Triesman, giving evidence with legal immunity to a MP commons select committee, stated that England’s 2018 world cup bid was spoiled not only by desires from the usual FIFA suspects for cash bribes, but also by requests for knighthoods and UK state visits! Following that, in an astonishing mix of claims, denials and counter claims that brought to mind the phrase linking rats and sinking ships, Jack Warner resigned from FIFA, Mohammed Bin Hammam was forced to pull out of his presidential bid, Qatar’s 2022 world cup hosting was put in jeopardy and further FIFA Exco members were suspended. Out of the original 24 Exco members who were to vote on World cup bids, unbelievably, eight have now been suspended, resigned or been kicked out!

Sadly, Lord Triesman’s evidence appears to have come to nought and, worse, has illustrated the chasm that exists between the FA and the Premier League; the latter run by our other bête noire Richard Scudamore, who was quick to refuse to back up Triesman’s claims – despite being present when FIFA’s verbal “requests” were made. It also emerged that Scudamore effectively attempted to blackmail England’s World Cup bid in return for support for the Premier League’s infamous “39th game”. Proof, once more, that RTG’s assertion that the three separate governing bodies of football are all pulling in different directions. It is a subject that RTG will return to in the near future.

The reign of Blatter, therefore, continues without abatement and with the now customary smoke and mirrors of yet more lip service to “transparency”. Bizarrely, Placido Domingo, yes, that Placido Domingo, has been added as a resource to FIFA’s ethics committee, along with the octogenarian and eager recipient of FIFA freebies , Henry Kissinger. Yet again, it will be a subject to which RTG will return.

But don’t worry! UEFA’s initial phase of “football fair play rules” has kicked in this season. RTG has wholly endorsed the principles behind the rules – albeit with huge reservations given that it continues to allow highly leveraged club buy outs (à la Glazers at Manchester United) AND as RTG predicted, clubs would be bending the rules to fit.

I mean come on: Manchester City announce a $640 million, 10 year naming rights deal for the City of Manchester Stadium from City’s sister company Etihad, a ground not even owned by City. Compare that to the $300 million, 10 year deal announced at roughly the same time for the naming rights of one of the world’s most iconic venues, Madison Square Gardens. Clearly, this is a blatant case of, as Arsene Wenger put it, “financial doping”. Worryingly, the media, and Sky Sports in particular, seem to be ignoring the issue, apart from reporting the two objections raised by Arsenal and Liverpool. They’ve also ignored reports/rumours of Chelsea paying compensation to Porto over the “transfer” of Andre Boas Villas with funds drawn from outside Chelsea PLC – that is, it may not appear in Chelsea’s financial accounts. At the current moment, neither Chelsea nor Manchester City comes close to meeting the criteria for financial fair play. Yet, the majority of the media do not seem to feel this is an issue worth any significant comment. It will be interesting to see how UEFA responds to these issues.

Excuse us then, for not jumping for joy at the prospect of Sky’s claims that we are embarking (yet again!) on the most “exciting Premier League season ever” as the so-called sporting contest settles ever further into the grasping arms of financiers, lawyers and the world of cash stuffed envelopes being pocketed by fat cat administrators. It is after all your cash that is paying for all of this.

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What Do We See Through the Transfer Window?

Sometimes when RTG ponders the wrongs in football today, we wonder if maybe we’re just spoiling it for the countless people out there who still enjoy the game and simply want to appreciate it for the spectacle that it is. There’s no doubt that there are still many things about the modern football era that are worth praising. But, too often we find ourselves viewing events that seem to be nothing short of destructive to the long-term future of the game and it is hard to be anything other than pessimistic and critical. Monday night’s transfer window deadline did nothing to change our view that English football continues to plunge further and further into the abyss.

As RTG writes this article, Manchester City has accepted a bid from Abu Dhabi United Group to take over the club from Thaksin Shinawatra. In all likelihood this is a more positive move for City than sticking with Thailand’s deposed ex-Premier, given the reported skeletons in the closet. This time last year, many commentators and City supporters were delighted with Shinawatra’s purchase of the club in that it might represent a chance for City to achieve the standards their fans have long waited for and for them to finally challenge United for honours on an even playing field. RTG were less than optimistic about this situation and our viewpoint appears to have been vindicated.

One year later, City supporters are once again delighted that control of the club has passed into new, and wealthier, hands giving them, potentially, the biggest injection of cash into a club since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea. Despite still being in due diligence, they have broken the English transfer record with the purchase of Robinho for a reported £32.5M from right under Chelsea’s nose. At the same time, they had reportedly had a similar bid for Berbatov accepted by Spurs—a deal that was never likely to happen. RTG can only speculate as to whether this was a deliberate ploy to make Manchester United pay over the odds for the Bulgarian striker. If the “Anyone But Uniteds” out there see this as a cause to smile you shouldn’t. Football is a sport and healthy rivalry should be about competition on the field not trying to put your rivals out of business. Despite what you may think, a Premier League with no Manchester United is no Premier League at all.

In all, the whole transfer window saga did not paint English football in a very good light. Why the English media, and especially Sky Sports News, feel they have their own role to play in this by constantly fuelling rumours based on little or no evidence is beyond RTG. The entire process appears designed to squeeze out yet more money in favour of a few beneficiaries rather than benefiting football as an entertainment and a sport. At a time when three clubs are languishing at the bottom of League 2 with negative points, following administration proceedings, this constant speculation about whether a player loves his club or would be flattered to play for another in order to get a few more digits added to their weekly salary haul is utterly obscene.

So used are we now to this increasingly over-egged August shenanigans that it is easy to forget that the transfer window only started in 2002 after our old friend Sepp Blatter conceived it as a way of preventing players walking out on their contracts at any time. The European Union's competition commissioner, Mario Monti, proposed at the time that transfer fees be outlawed entirely because they were against EU regulations for fair competition and free trading across Europe.

It was also suggested at the time that having no transfer fees would effectively put clubs in the lower leagues out of business, as they rely on selling their few home-grown gems in order to pay the bills. Consequently, the whole game signed up to a compromise that has sought to escalate transfer fees way out of proportion and has further polarised the gap between the haves and have-nots. The now desperate need to sign big players before the end of August, and the money it creates, has allowed the Premier League the licence to watch our national game be gradually flogged off to the highest bidder while genuine competition within the top level of the game gets ever-more scarce. Meanwhile, more and more clubs at the lower levels are struggling to simply stay afloat.

While Arsene Wenger attempts to claim the moral high ground by refusing to get involved in this annual end of August bun fight, RTG suspects that he is really just entrenching himself in his beliefs in order to fend off criticism from Arsenal supporters who feel the side has under-achieved in recent years. It is quite possible that he is merely sounding off in frustration at his inexperienced team who will, once again, struggle to compete for honours over the course of a season. Is it not the case that, even if he were to produce another championship winning team, many of his home-developed players would simply use it as a platform to jump ship for higher wages elsewhere? RTG strongly suspects that, if Arsenal win nothing significant again this season, Wenger may well take his skills to a new challenge. Sir Alex Ferguson, in contrast, knew that he needed to buy a striker and had no option but to pay way over the odds or be left with a squad that, potentially, might already be out of the running come the January window.

It is not RTG’s goal to be the harbinger of doom. Quite the opposite in fact. Were it not for the fact that we believe in the power of the supporter’s voice, and the desire to see the game continue, we would not be writing this blog. But Monday’s events seem to reinforce the fact that the game is on a collision course to disaster. Competiton and sound administration, at all levels, are essential to the continued enjoyment and longevity of the game. Otherwise, why not just put the Premier League trophy up for auction to the highest bidder at the beginning of the season and have done with it. Supporters exist in sufficient numbers to have a voice. And that must be heard now, more than ever, if football is not to be swallowed up by the greed and short-sightedness of people who seek only to use the loyalty of supporters to line their pockets.