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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Toon Supporters Luv It! But why?

It seems the only person in Tyneside who is not jumping for joy at the appointment of Kevin Keegan as the Newcastle manager is Michael Owen. Or at least, if his autobiography is to be believed, he claims that some of Keegan’s management decisions when in charge of England at Euro 2000 left him “scarred”. The rest of Newcastle appears jubilant at Keegan’s return.

We humble folk at RTG are merely supporters and can’t really comment with much authority on what it is like to run a football club. But Keegan’s appointment surely defies belief. OK, backed by Sir John Hall’s cheque book, he resided over a Newcastle team that were highly entertaining to watch. He took them from Second Division strugglers to Premier League contenders at a time when, to miss out on a place in the newly formed and lucrative, Premier League, would have been costly indeed. Conversely, however, he never actually managed to win anything, and showed how coping with pressure was not his strong point when it all came to a head in his famous “I’d luv it” interview on Sky TV.

His England team at Euro 2000 were possibly one of the worst RTG has ever witnessed. Despite a popular 1-0 win over Germany in Charleroi, brought about largely as a result of a very poor German effort and some dogged Keown defending, England were clueless losing 3-2 to Romania when they went out of the tournament at the group stage. The signs were there prior to Euro 2000 in the play-offs against Scotland, when a Scots team ranked way below England passed them off the park to win 1-0 in the last Wembley meeting of the two old enemies. Add to that the fact that Keegan has walked out of three jobs - Newcastle, England and Manchester City - for seemingly no more than struggling to cope with the pressure, and you wonder exactly what The Toon are playing at.

But football is an emotional business. The most optimistic person in the world can be the most pessimistic football supporter. The most logical person on the planet can make the most ludicrous decisions where football is concerned. The greatest businessman can become a complete idiot in a football club boardroom. As stated in our previous post, surely the job of a football Chairman today should be to try as best as possible to marry the very uneasy bedfellows of business and football. Purists might say that RTG should applaud Mike Ashley for being an owner that has listened to supporters and given them exactly what they want. After all, isn’t that what this blog is partly trying to achieve?

Maybe, but making decisions purely on emotion has cost so many in the past that surely Ashley should have taken some time to remove his Magpie shirt for a few seconds and learn from past mistakes. Keegan himself was effectively appointed England manager in 1999 by an over-emotive tabloid press claiming he was ‘the peoples’ choice’. Why did we end up with Steve McClaren? Because ‘Little England’, led also by the tabloid press demanded that the only person fit enough to manage the England team was an Englishman. The simple fact that there was not an Englishman available who was capable of doing the job was rendered irrelevant. Ossie Ardiles and Glen Hoddle both failed at Spurs and there were once calls for Alex Ferguson’s head at Manchester United. Leeds fans, not only didn’t want Dennis Wise as manager, simply because of the Chelsea connection, but many still want to see him out even after the miracles he’s performed with them this season. We could go on and on.

The icing on the cake for Toon supporters now would be for Keegan to come out and announce Alan Shearer as his number two. All Magpies fans feel this is now the final part of the jigsaw. Yet, past history, and some comments made in recent interviews, seem to suggest that neither particularly likes the other nor has any desire to work with them. But the blind faith of the football supporter simply assumes that the two get on famously, would make a superb management team and desperately want to join up for the good of all that is black and white striped.

The over-exposure and virtual blanket coverage of football, these days, simply makes this situation worse rather than better. Football is a big business now and it is unlikely that we’ll ever turn the clock back in that respect. It may sound a little cold and calculating of RTG but these decisions are too important in today’s game to be made on purely emotional grounds. The stakes are far too high. Having said that, at least Newcastle should be more fun to watch now than they were under Big Sam. And that can only be good for the game.

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• Congratulations to Havant and Waterloo who have given countless pundits the chance to use the old favourite, "the magic of the FA Cup" by making it through to a lucrative glamour tie at Anfield in the fourth round. As the likelihood of any shock results seemed to be disappearing from view and TV presenters were having to think of other ways of bigging up the old trophy, good old Havant came to the rescue.
• RTG does not agree with everything that comes from the 'blue sky' think box of Michel Platini but he does seem to be the first head of any football governing body to actually want to address issues in the game. The jury is out here on his latest proposal. UEFA have agreed to trial the use of two more assistant referees positioned behind the line at the point where the 18 yard box joins it. This is to help with goaline decisions as well as other penalty box problems. RTG is of the feeling this is slightly overkill for what is a rare occurrence in most games but hey....if you don't try things, you never find out.
• Could Fabio Capello be the shortest serving England manager ever? The FA assure us they were well aware of forthcoming investigations into Capello's tax affairs and that they are not worried (now that makes us worried). However, sources claim that Capello could be another high-profile victim of Romano Prodi's clean-up intiative and could soon be breaking rocks with fellow countrymen Alberto Tomba and Sofia Loren. Oh well. At least Sam Allardyce is free to take the reins should that happen.....oh dear!

Business Issues Blur the Fantasy of Football

There was a time, not that long ago in fact, when football coverage in the national press was limited to match reports (and even then covering only clubs in your region). Nowadays both Sunday and Monday’s papers contain their own supplements detailing every aspect of irrelevant trivia – David Beckham’s attendance and his great parenting (in remembering both his son’s gloves) at the Emirates Stadium being a particularly pointless one from this weekend’s offering.

Increasingly, the sports pages and financial columns are featuring stories concerning the fiscal side of football. Most of the stories around Liverpool FC this season have focused on the triumvirate of Gillette, Hicks and Benitez and their conflicts over money. Given the current world financial credit squeeze, rumours are circulating that Messrs Hicks and Gillette may have to sell out to a potential buyer on account of problems transferring their own debt liability on to the club itself. According to reports, both Gillette and Hicks, despite arriving as people who simply ‘love this franchise and soccer’, are reluctant to put up £20M each as part of the refinancing of their purchase. This is clearly having a detrimental effect on the team as well as disrupting any transfer plans that Rafa has made.

Liverpool supporters, so desperate to see their team at least challenge for the Premier League, welcomed Gillette and Hicks in as the answer to all their problems. Why? Because in modern football, loads of money has come to mean loads of success – as proven by Abramovich’s Chelsea. Indeed, at the start of their first full season, money was made available for Liverpool’s record transfer in acquiring the services of Fernando Torres. In addition there were promises and architects’ plans for a new 60,000 seater stadium in Stanley Park. Little wonder that Liverpool supporters were so optimistic at the start of the season. However, they are now starting to appreciate the potential pitfalls that a small but vociferous group of Manchester United supporters identified when the Glazers took over the club in 2005. This is a classic example of how sporting and corporate objectives are very different and, some would say, totally incompatible.

Furthermore, just because someone has red hot business skills, shown by their billionaire status, this does not automatically translate readily into success on the football field. Simon Jordan, Crystal Palace’s CEO, has admitted that he paid far too much for the club in his takeover and that his emotional attachment to the club had clouded his judgement. Where he and Palace have subsequently flourished has been because he, in particular, has learnt from some very painful and expensive lessons.

To see the current managerial merry-go-round, you would have to question the motives and competence of the boards of most Premier League clubs. Fulham gave their vacant managerial position, and a fairly sizeable transfer budget, to Lawrie Sanchez on the strength of him passing his trial period, which involved one victory against a Liverpool side preparing for the European Cup Final. He had never managed above League One level and was chosen on the basis of some good, but not outstanding, performances by Northern Ireland. Wigan Athletic appointed Chris Hutchins as manager following Paul Jewell’s successful reign but chosen departure last summer. Hello! Exactly the same scenario happened at Bradford City a few years previously with exactly the same result - Chris Hutchins in the job for a few weeks and then sacked. Why is Harry Redknapp at the top of just about every club’s wanted list when he’s never won a major honour and he’s managed to get three clubs relegated? Besides his obvious (but often forgotten) litigation problems, what stands out in his CV that makes him so in demand?

Today’s papers are dominated by talk of a ‘dream ticket’ of Keegan and Shearer taking over at Newcastle. Shearer, who has never managed any football club, and still has to complete some of his coaching badges, and Keegan, who walked away from football vowing never to return, are seen as football Messiahs to the Newcastle public. RTG does not know whether Shearer will turn out to be a good manager or not. We’re desperately trying to think of an example in the modern English game where a great player evolved into a great manager. It clearly doesn’t necessarily happen that way. If Mike Ashley, the new owner of Newcastle, chooses to go down this route, it will only serve to illustrate the point further. Reports suggest that Mr Ashley has chosen to ditch the ‘I’m one of the lads’ image in favour of a more rational approach. The most obvious gesture will be to ditch the replica kit in favour of a suit and tie proving that sound husbandry of a football club requires setting realistic long-term, football objectives and not reacting to short-term, emotive issues by throwing loads of money at a problem.

In November 1989, a friend of RTG was joined in a round of golf by the Manchester United board member, Bobby Charlton. At the time, and against a backdrop of a recent 5-1 thrashing by Manchester City, and a relegation berth, RTG’s friend asked when Alex Ferguson was going to get the much-rumoured bullet. Bobby Charlton stated categorically that United had the best man for the job and that he just needed the time to repair twenty years of neglect at the hands of a succession of short-termists. As an aside, United even had to play their first team, including the England captain, to prevent relegation from the reserve league. The history of Manchester United since then, speaks for itself!

Reclaim the Game – The Week’s Events

• Nice to see the Carling Cup semi finals producing some tasty stuff. You’d think the teams were actually taking it seriously!
• Kevin Blackwell chose to relinquish his post at Luton Town (unpaid of late) due to the club's ongoing financial problems and potential liquidation. How ironic that while Premier League clubs are announcing record revenues and profits and arguing over who gets the biggest share of the financial pie, the plight of lower league clubs is constantly being ignored.
  
  Hats off, Take a Bow! (or not)
  
  Player of the Week – Kieran Richardson. Recently returning from a four month lay-off, he was instrumental in Sunderland’s victory against Portsmouth. Scored a match winning brace.
  
  Hero of the Week – Harry Redknapp. OK, let’s not pretend Harry needs the money but that could apply to all of the Premier League fraternity these days. He chose to stay at Pompey saying that he wanted to build on what he has already achieved rather than take the easy money at Newcastle.
  
  Villains of the Week – Liverpool owners, Gillette and Hicks. You can hardly blame Rafa Benitez for the turmoil caused at Anfield by this corporate pair. Offering Rafa’s job to Jurgen Klinsman – well it is just not cricket!
  
  Shock of the Week – How did Sam Allardyce last that long in the first place?
  
  Cliché of the Week – “Dream ticket of Keegan and Shearer”