UEFA’s Useless ‘Fair Play’ Rules Bad News for Fans

Last week, UEFA passed unanimously new “financial fair play regulations” that will come into force from the 2012 financial reporting period for all European clubs that wish to maintain a license to compete in European competitions.

At first glance – and it is only a glance, since UEFA will not be publishing details in full until an unspecified date in June – the regulations appear to be laudable. The main proposal is very simple – a club can only spend what it receives in income. Presumably, this was an effort to level the playing field in preventing clubs from “cheating” by stopping wealthy benefactors distorting competition. The main proposal is flexible in that the revenues to expenditures are assessed over three years and allows shortfalls of up to £38 million. Sanctions, as yet not detailed, will be liable to be applied from the 2013/2014 season.

However, according to a Guardian report on 28th May, these shortfalls can be met by club “sugar daddies” and that these subsidies will only gradually reduce until the 2019/2020 season. Again, no details exist about what happens after that period. In addition, the regulations allow Club owners to invest in “infrastructure projects” such as: stadiums; training facilities; and youth development – but only if they appear as equity and not as loans on the club’s balance sheet. Short fall subsidies will also have to be taken as equity and not loans.

RTG applauds the original intention, but as always once politicians and pseudo politicians get involved they mess it up. Yet again, the vested interests of a few have impacted what is essentially a set of compromises by UEFA. All they have really managed to do is to switch the on-field battles firmly into the board room. But by far the worst “compromise” is in allowing the carpet baggers like Glazer/Gillette/Hicks to be able to continue their debt-loading of clubs, enriching themselves at the expense of their clubs’ histories and supporters. Meanwhile, the sugar daddies will be able to continue their game ruinous inflation of transfer fees and salaries for the next two years, with some restrictions in future years.

What UEFA has also totally failed to address is the issue of fairness regarding TV deals, which form a significant part of revenue for major European clubs. How is it that, in Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona are allowed to negotiate their own TV deals, earning in Real’s case over £100 million last year? Likewise in Italy, while in England the Premier League has a collective shared agreement. How long before a regulation struggling United, Chelsea or Manchester City start to agitate for similar agreements here?

UEFA say that the “fair play” rules will be regulated by a new UEFA body headed up by a former Belgian Prime Minister. They also acknowledge that it will have to put in place strict assessments to prevent financial cheating – over valued sponsorships being singled out as a potential area by UEFA’s own web site pronouncements.

RTG say that if the experienced regulatory bodies governing the world trading markets have allowed Goldman Sachs, Leahman Brothers, Bernie Madoff and a host of others to conduct their financial shenanigans – in some cases over decades, what hope have a non-legally binding set of football administrators in achieving fair play?

No, RTG has thought long and hard over what is good for the game and still believe that unless a formula, whereby supporters are put in the forefront of managing their clubs is devised, without debt and without recourse to wealthy individuals, football will bury itself in its own commercial abyss. There are supporter owned clubs and whilst not all models could be defined as ideal for the good of the game (Real Madrid for a start), better and cleverer minds surely exist to be able to meet the developing and future needs of football – as a sport. Not one that is a compromise on continuing the status quo: carpet baggers, dodgy deals and sugar daddies.

And on a final note, given that most clubs will need to boost their incomes to meet the new regulations, guess who will end up having to pay?

The Keeper

...he Shoots, He Fumbles, He's Scottish!

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative Bing Crosby sang. Clearly words that struck a chord with newly appointed England captain Rio Ferdinand before his first game in charge last week. And why not? When asked about the Wembley pitch he located the positive where nobody else had managed to do before him. By alluding to the fact that the players had no idea what the pitches would be like in South Africa, he assured the watching public that, should any of them turn out to be less than perfect, playing at Wembley would prove to be the perfect preparation. Any of you out there who thought that it was an appalling error of judgment on the part of the FA not to make the quality of the pitch the overriding objective in a national football stadium can eat your words. It seems it turns out to have been a masterstroke of genius to have produced something akin to playing football on a sheepskin rug on a newly polished floor on the off chance that it replicates the pitches in South Africa. Surely this has to be the 2010 version of Rio’s World Cup Wind Ups.

Still, nevertheless, it was good to see positive vibes coming from the head of the England team. Sadly, the previous incumbent, John Terry’s, reputation was done further harm this week by the news that yet another member of his family had fallen from grace. We’ve had his mum caught shoplifting, his dealing cocaine (again!) and JT himself playing away from home with Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend and asking for brown envelopes stuffed with cash to show people round the Chelsea training ground. The Keeper was not surprised, therefore, when he heard this week that JT’s brother Paul has been caught having an affair with one of his Rushden and Diamonds team mate’s missus. Wherever there is a scandal to be found, the Terry family will be around. The Keeper is just relieved that JT is not England skipper anymore as “lifting the World Cup” might mean something completely different in his world and we might never have seen it again.

The fallout from Lord Triesman’s departure continues with news that Ian Watmore’s departure came also because his plans for reforming the FA were not popular, in particular with the Premier League. When he presented his 20 point plan for reform to Richard Scudamore, he apparently described Richard Scudamore’s reaction to it as if he’d deposited a “bucket of sick” in the room. The Keeper can exclusively reveal that this had nothing to do with Watmore’s plans at all. In fact, the staff had been making far too much use of the freebies offered by FA official sponsors Carlsberg and MacDonalds!

RTG reported last week that Fabio Capello had a post World Cup get-out clause removed prior to Lord Triesman’s resignation. The Keeper has found that these reports were not true. This just illustrates succinctly the shambles that the FA is in. Just two weeks before England’s first game, Capello is still in doubt over his long term future as England coach

Following his Dutch success, ex-England manager Steve McClaren took over this week at the helm of Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. He has proved himself to be the master of chameleon-like re-invention in adapting himself to suit his environment. He successfully transformed himself from the ‘Wally with the Brolly’ to Dutch ‘total football’ coach, complete with plausible ‘akshent’, to, pictured here at his first press conference, German autocrat in auto town. Congratulations Steve.

Capello's Contract Changes Reflect Uncertainty Over FA

In amongst all the, now customary, trivial tit-bits of World Cup stories leading up to the tournament proper, were reports of a significant change to Fabio Capello’s contract to manage England. Following the announcement and the ensuing uproar caused by the Capello fronted commercial scheme, a fantasy football style game based primarily on Capello’s own assessment of his players’ performances, the FA and Capello responded quickly to the media’s protestations by withdrawing from the scheme altogether.

Less publicised was the announcement that the two year break option in Capello’s four year contract – the break period coinciding with the end of the 2010 tournament – had been deleted at Capello’s request. No-one from the media seemed to link the two events. After all, it wasn’t the first time that an England manager tried to cash in on his position with some ill thought out commercial venture – Glenn Hoddle’s world cup diary in 1998 springs to mind. However, following a successful and encouraging start to his England tenure, characterised by Capello’s own strong sense of discipline, on and off the field, and his pronouncements on being focused fully on the job, using players who were both fit and in-form, RTG detects a worrying change in Capello’s attitude to the job.

Yes, the selection of players who are half fit and those that have played no part in any Capello selected squad might appear to be hypocritical to some or, they might just be acceptance that the ideals as set out by himself on taking on the England job cannot possibly be delivered in the real world. As Capello showed when managing Real Madrid, in his dealings with Beckham, at first discarding him very publicly and then bringing him back when Beckham responded with hard work and determination, he is a man who is not so proud as to admit a mistake – even if only to himself. This is encouraging and for once the media responded positively, “He’s learning about international football like any other new manager” and “He’s never been in this position before” being typical comments from the paid pundits. Had this occurred during a less than successful qualifying campaign RTG wonders if they might have been a little less sympathetic and torn him to shreds instead. But that’s a story for next season perhaps.

No, the worrying aspect is Capello’s clear concern on his job security, so much so that he felt compelled to enter into that ill-advised commercial venture. With Triesman’s high profile departure, adding to the recent somewhat furtive resignation of the FA’s CEO, Ian Watmore, it is clear not all is well at the FA. Now, RTG does not know what organisational power blocks exist within the FA. What it does know though is that they exist, within itself and in relation to the Premier League. That’s pretty normal. It is also clear, that if you add in former CEO Adam Crozier’s experience as an agent of change within the FA – he talked at great length about the need for the FA to modernise its outlook and organisation – the FA is not a place to be if you want to change the 130 or so years old institution. But change it must, as the guardian of the game in this country it is has been running, more or less, on the same basis in its entire history. And this is the most worrying aspect of Capello’s recent actions: his realisation that the FA is a “sick” institution with little or no prospect of re-inventing itself to deliver its key goals. That is to develop the grass roots of the sport, creating an environment which enables world class footballers to be produced and, therefore, a team that can actually win tournaments. If you were working for the FA, wouldn’t you feel insecure too?

The Keeper
He Stands Tall and Firm...ooer!

No World Cup build up would be complete without the release of the official England Team World Cup song. Who could forget the rousing tones of “Back Home” in 1970 or John Barnes in da house for “World in Motion” in 1990. Well, the Keeper has some bad news to report. The build up to South Africa will not be complete on account of the fact that there will be no 2010 England World Cup song released. Your modern day England footballer is no longer willing to make themselves look like an idiot for posterity’s sake anymore (well not intentionally anyway) and they certainly don’t get out of bed for the mere tens of thousands of pounds that a hit record earns these days.

But don’t despair out there. El Tel (formerly known as Terry Venables) sporting the very latest in outdated goatee beards has taken it upon himself to release his own World Cup song; a rather laboured version of Elvis Presley’s “If I can Dream” which actually sounds like it would have done had Elvis himself recorded it seconds before he passed away on the loo. Filmed for Sky Sports on the roof of that footballing Mecca, the O2 Centre, to promote the record, El Tel’s interview was sadly interrupted by the arrival on the roof of his backing group, the London Philharmonic Orchestra. “Sorry chaps”, said Tel, “it’s the London Filler…..Fillar….Fill Up…I’ve got to go!”. I think Tel you meant The London Fillyerpockets Orchestra.

Maradonna’s predictably stormy and somewhat unpredictable reign as Argentina’s head coach continued as he accidentally ran over a camera man’s leg this week. Calling on his usual reservoir of understanding and humility with regard to the plight of other less deified members of the human race, he was heard to say, “What an asshole you are. How can you put your leg there where it can get run over man?” Strange, because we England fans thought he was the expert at putting limbs in places they shouldn’t be.

Manchester City meanwhile seem to be hell bent on signing one of Don Fabio’s up and coming stars, James Milner. As with Chelsea a few years ago City seem determined to over bid for good English talent. It started at £20M rising to £30M and currently topping around £40M – the same sort of figure Arsenal are likely to end up getting for Cesc Fabregas. You know what the Keeper is saying. If it ended up at £100M, why should it matter? He can join the Glen Johnsons, Scott Parkers, Steve Sidwells and Sean Wright-Phillips of previous years who chased the big bucks to Chelsea and languished on the bench for the next few seasons at the expense of unfulfilled promise. It could be important to bag the best English talent, though, in the coming seasons as UEFA’s new rules on home grown talent kick in. City apparently made a £30M bid for Adam Johnson last week before they realised he was actually already one of their own players.

It was refreshing to be marshalled through the FA Cup final on ITV for the first time by the combination of Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin. When Didier Drogba’s shot rattled the Pompey cross bar to see the ball apparently cross the line, Messrs Tyldsley and Beglin launched into a frenzy of protestation. “It was over Clive”, “Definitely over Jim”. Then Clive consulted his TV commentator’s what-do-we-say-in-these-circumstances instruction book and decided to launch into a scathing attack on Fifa for not allowing technology. “It only takes a few seconds to confirm Jim, why oh why don’t we use it?” The TV replay dutifully followed 40 seconds later and, after several different camera angles were examined, revealed that the ball clearly hadn’t crossed the line after all. Jim Beglin immediately started back pedalling at a rate that would have taken him comfortably rear-first up Mount Everest. “Actually looking at it again Clive I’m not sure it was over”. But our Clive, clearly on a roll by now and enjoying his foray into the role of ‘commentator/technology bandwagon jumper, was not to be put off his stride. “It’s madness Jim. We have the technology. It just takes a few minutes so why don’t we use it?” At which point it became clear, after discussing the issue for n minutes that, in fact, Messrs Tyldesley and Beglin had illustrated exactly why goal line technology has been resisted. That is, a perfectly good decision made by a well positioned linesman prevented the need for unnecessary hold ups to play and a cumbersome and time-wasting, on-field player-appeal system. Thanks Clive.

Triesman: Mail on Sunday Treachery

Question? Why would the Mail on Sunday, a paper that claims to be, at best, “batting for Britain”, in reality, a vehicle for fuelling the angst of “Little Englanders”, decide to derail England’s 2018 World Cup bid?

When you think of the potential benefits the world cup would bring to both the footballing and economic development of the UK, you have to start believing that evil forces are at work. For an organisation to have taken upon itself to have set up Lord Triesman in this way - and published transcripts of Triesman’s words would suggest relaxed speculation rather than outright accusations – there must be ulterior motives in compromising the national (istic!) interests in such a way.

Is RTG starting a conspiracy theory? Actually, we are and we believe there is good reason to do so.

"There is one certain fact about debt, it has to be repaid or refinanced. The debt mountains are owned and therefore the clubs are owned by either financial institutions - some of which are in terrible health - or very rich owners who are not bound to stay, or not very rich owners who are also not bound to stay. As we all know today, finance institutions have finally become highly risk-aware. They break debt into smaller packages mixed with other more or less toxic debts and sell these impenetrable instruments on. This poses very tangible dangers. Not only is debt at high-risk levels, we are also in a period when transparency lies in an unmarked grave. There is little point in thinking this now affects everyone except football. I predict, especially in today's financial climate, it cannot go on."

FA Chairman, Lord Triesman, October 2008

Since RTG started publishing in 2007, it has been looking for an empathetic voice at the highest levels of football administration. We don’t claim to know Lord Triesman personally, or professionally, but his public pronouncements of the inequities and indebtedness of the game in this country were starting to highlight the differing objectives of the bodies governing football. That is why he made many enemies in the game, particularly in the Premier League - principally, Sir David Richards and Richard Scudamore. Yes, the same Dave Richards who was instrumental in turning Sheffield Wednesday from an established Premier League team into a struggling and debt-ridden League 1 side. . And yes, the Richard Scudamore who, in the past, RTG has been passionately disapproving of for his short-termist policies.

The warning flags should be raised yet again by football supporters to say that everything is not right with the governance of the game. Anybody within the football establishment who dares to question the old order, be it a Lord Triesman or an Adam Crozier, seem to end their relationship with the FA with their heads bowed in shame. It seems that the word “change”, so popular with the politicians in recent weeks, is an anathema to the world of football administration. That is, anybody who dares challenge the (very) old order, is dispensed with at the first politically expedient opportunity.

Conspiracy theories feed off attempts to explain why shocking events happen. They are a way of rationalising historical happenings that pour scorn on the official explanation or pronouncement. However, RTG feels we can identify how Lord Triesman entered into a seemingly innocent, but recorded, conversation with a “friend” and, at the same time, ended up losing his job.

1. He criticised the so-called ‘fit and proper’ test that the Premier League put in place to, supposedly, regulate ownership in football. RTG say he has been more than vindicated on that score but, note, vigorously opposed by Richard Scudamore.
2. He raised huge concerns about the indebtedness of football clubs but, again, totally rebutted, by Richard Scudamore
3. The other bidders for 2018 (Russia in particular, since Spain logically should not get it after hosting it more recently) have a lot to gain from this and probably a lot of money to throw at it. Let’s park that one there for now but presumably you get RTG’s point (and yet more Abramovich involvement?).

"The fit and proper persons test does not do the job sufficiently robustly. A review is now inevitable because football clubs are not mere commodities. They are the abiding passion of their supporters. We forget that at our peril."

FA Chairman, Lord Triesman, October 2008

Is RTG going mad or what? Whoever tries to change football for the good seems, after a decent while, to get their mandated balls cut off. And by ‘the good’ we mean for the benefit of all football supporters through equal competition. But, look at the huge amount of money now involved in football, and it is hard not to subscribe to conspiracy theories. We clearly have some unsavoury characters involved in running and influencing football. Sadly, RTG believes, we have just lost someone who may have forged a better path for football.

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The Keeper

...he's got it covered!

My mate’s wife’s brother-in-law was installing a new kitchen at Carlos Anceolotti’s house when he overheard Carlos’ son saying someone called “Stevie G” was on the telephone asking for him. My mate’s w’s-b-i-l etc managed to listen in for a while and heard them debating whether it was better to sign contracts before or after the world cup. It’s a done deal. You heard it here first!

Yes folks, it’s transfer rumour rubbish time! This year’s opening to the transfer window is again spurred on by the speed of various trophy laden Playstation managers to fuel their own fantasies via websites specifically set up for that purpose (see football rumours.co.uk). The fact that the rumour mill is also given an additional spin by footie journalists who, post season, are having trouble filling column inches prior to the world cup is neither here nor there.

Here’s what the Keeper thinks will happen: a repeat of last summer’s trading. That is, a record year again in transfer spending, but actually very few transfers take place. Records will be broken only because Manchester City will overpay on stroppy prima donnas, Abramovich will let loose a fraction of his billions to try to realise his European ambitions and… everybody else will be trying to stick to whatever their earnings and budgets are in the current economic climate. But the Keeper also predicts that the market might go mad, if England goes on to lift the World Cup, based on the feel good factor that would be engineered. Hmm..ok. Stick with the original prediction bit.

Talking of rumours and Stevie G, he and his wife have had to issue a press statement to deny the rumours that have been circulating over the ‘net in the last couple of weeks. You know the one: Stevie has apparently impregnated a 16 yeard old, whilst his wife, Alex Curran, has supposedly been having an affair with a Derby County player. What utter rubbish! The Keeper knows for a fact she has never been to Derby.

A big up to Fulham, their management and their fans for doing England proud as the lone carriers of the flag into a potential European trophy winning position. Most commentators described their heart breaking extra time loss to Atletico Madrid as a “plucky and proud” glorious failure. Given that Atletico’s first goal was offside and their winner a flukey own goal, The Keeper thinks that the Fulham fans would have been justified in being hugely disappointed. Panning around the crowds, tears from the fat middle aged men, as seems the norm these days, were duly expected. But no. Not even from the “way past your bed time” kids. Their stoicism amidst their disappointed acceptance was laudable.

Sadly, there was one exception. The TV crowd scenes focused, as usual, on a celebrity “I only go to finals” person. In this case, Lilly Allen, who was seen blubbing away in the stands looking to all intents and purposes like she should have been more worried about the amorous advances of Pepe Le Pew. But then if you were faced with the prospect of sitting next to Keith “look at me, I’m almost as famous as my daughter” Allen, surrounding yourself with Eau de Skunk might prove to be a very worthwhile exercise.

Congratulations to the likeable (so far, at least) Carlos Anceolotti for clinching the domestic double in his first season in England. A remarkable achievement. But sadly, The Keeper just can’t help but contrast the images of the second highest paid players in the world holding aloft their cups of victory along New Kings Road, with those of old babushkas holding out their begging cups in countless Russian cities and towns. As a French writer (it was Honore de Balzac – OK, so I looked it up!) once said: ”behind every great fortune, lies a great crime”.

Owners or Administrators. Are Any of Them 'Fit and Proper'?

For those of us who include a study of the league tables as part of our Sunday morning ablutions, tracking the form of clubs has become rather more convoluted over the last few seasons by the need to refer constantly to one or more asterisks alongside various teams throughout the league tables.

Even those of us who like to think that they are football ‘savvy’ are left in some bewilderment – Crystal Palace minus 10 points, Southampton minus 10 points, Chester minus, don’t know they’ve disappeared, Luton minus 30 points, Leeds minus 10, then another minus 15, Portsmouth about to be deducted 9 points etc.

What’s striking about the deductions is their variability. Why the different deductions? They are all for basically the same thing. They overspent and, quite rightly, this is tantamount to cheating. But why the disparities? What exactly are the rules governing points deductions and why have they been applied with additional sanctions in some cases? Yes - RTG knows that additional rules have been broken in the method and circumstances of clubs facing administration – hence more points deducted – but you would need to be a forensic financial analyst to understand exactly what rule is being broken. Why will Portsmouth get a nine point reduction as opposed to the ten points for other Football League clubs?

All this does is illustrate that there is a paucity of clarity from the FA, Premiership and Football League. Equally so, it represents not just the bust phase of the football boom and bust show, but the total lack of leadership from those that govern football.

"We have to be careful we don't adopt Michel Platini's and the French view of debt, which is that it is bad. Debt is inevitable. You say debt is not healthy but debt, of course, to a degree is healthy. If we are not careful we'll end up where no one is allowed a holiday in France who has a mortgage in England."


Richard Scudamore, October 2008

So Richard Scudamore, like so many fat cats – sorry – corporate professionals – is happy to sit back and do almost nothing to pick up large six figure salaries and large six figure bonuses (pushing his salary well into seven figures) for doing basically nothing. He believes that football is a corporate dog eat dog world and that clubs that are mismanaged will be punished for their profligacy. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to realise that his organisation has an active role in ensuring clubs have the right management with the Premiership’s (alleged) ‘fit and proper’ tests. How is it then that these tests allowed four (or is it five?) different and clearly not fit owners to take over Portsmouth in a few months? Clearly the Premiership applies rules which are meaningless at best, bordering on criminal at worst.

On top of that, two of the world’s biggest clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool, have been allowed to mortgage their very existence to allow a handful of disinterested American ‘carpet baggers’ to enrich themselves at the expense of loyal supporters. It is in the ownership and continuing health of all clubs that Mr Scudamore should be judged.

"We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off."


Richard Scudamore, January 2007

His last re-signing of the Sky TV deals, a deal that merely continues a 20 year association with Sky at a slightly raised fee (which earned him a £250k - £500k bonus according to whichever report you believe) are the easy parts of his job. The hard parts are to have leadership in the areas which are causing supporters the most anguish: How to ensure a fair and exciting competition? How to prevent the carpet baggers? In reality, how do you ensure the future health of the game? It’s the easiest thing in the world to fly around in first class and sign deals which are just inflation adjusted contracts for the same things. In truth, clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United have done just as much, if not more, than Mr Scudamore in spreading the word to foreign fields.

Mr Scudamore, earn your millions by tackling the difficult issues!

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The Keeper

...he's got it covered!

We’re all trembling with anticipation and tension as the final stages of the season draw out to decide who will be crowned champions of “the most exciting league in the world”™. Entering the final stages, it was a three way race between the three clubs who have won 16 of the 17 “most competitive league in the world”™ titles. Entering the final weekend, it is a race involving the two clubs who have won the last 5 titles between themselves. How those Scottish fans must be envying us!

And if that’s not enough excitement for football fans, we’ve got the FIFA World Cup™ coming up in about six weeks time. It’s come around so quickly again – feels like a matter of months, rather than the four years since Germany’s 2006 tournament when we England fans were sweating over the fitness of several players, including the now obligatory metatarsal troubles, as well as the English media’s wildly optimistic expectations of an England win. Or was that 2002? Or 1998? Plus ca change, as they say on Groundhog day.

Talking of World Cups and South Africa 2010, recent reports following the death of apartheid advocate Eugene Terre’Blanche seem to suggest that the world cup will be played out during a civil war. In fact, the threat of violence is being used to explain poor ticket sales for the Greatest Sporting Event in the World™. Trust us it has absolutely nothing to do with airlines doubling/tripling flight prices, ditto hoteliers for rooms (if available at all) and ticket prices that make Wembley seats appear like a day out to watch your local pub team compete in the inter-brewery play-offs. FIFA don’t even have the comfort of over priced sales to corporate saps because of the global slowdown. Our hearts bleed!

But hurrah! It might just be wishful thinking on the part of certain areas of the media but talk is that Capello wants to take David Beckham along as a motivation to the rest of the selected England squad. That may just be the managerial stroke of genius that could propel England to the world title. After all, wouldn’t you be inspired by someone who gets paid five to 10 times as much as you do for playing intermittently for an English League 1 side and who acts as a Milanese seat warmer in between? Imagine all that invaluable experience of last 16/quarter final exits: the missed penalties, the jumping out of tackles, the petulant sending offs, the shirt sales. On the downside, the players might just be overawed by the presence of this high achiever. But hey – here’s another inspirational idea: why not complete the Hello! package by getting Mrs Beckham to come along as squad dietician. At least no-one will be puking before a match with nerves!

Those of you out there who desperately want to see England win something before you shuffle off this mortal coil—yes you who would dare to suggest that 11 players out on the pitch who are fit and possess the in-built belief that they can actually win something would be a better tactic to follow, can only hope, like us, that Capello really is the man to shake off the shackles of FA mismanagement and make the difference this year. Otherwise will we once again be contemplating the usual FA post-mortem in July that, no doubt, will sound something like the closing scene in the movie ‘Burn After Reading’ where the CIA superior is talking to his underling:


CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer?
CIA Officer: I don't know, sir.
CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir.
CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say
CIA Superior: Jesus Fucking Christ.

Jesus Fucking Christ indeed!

Billionaires, Boardrooms and Bad Debts. What Happened to Football?

Reclaim the Game (RTG) is back. That statement will, most likely, invoke one of two reactions—“who?” or “at last”. If you’re one of the former, and you consider yourself a real football supporter, read on. For the latter, we’re happy to be back with you from a self-imposed exile of just over a year.

Yes, it really is that long since RTG last blogged, twice a week, to try and highlight, debate and share with you, the massive issues facing football. We questioned the problems of true competitiveness in the game, dodgy ownerships of clubs, the highly divisive cult of football celebrity and the perennial woes and moans about the England national team—including making our pessimistic, yet sadly accurate, predictions of England’s failure to reach Euro 2008.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that all of these problems are still current one year on and, effectively, they stem from the very same thing: the relentless incursion of corporate values and culture into our national sport.

“If football drives business, that's fine; but under no circumstances can we allow business to drive football. Otherwise we're dead. We have to make sure that youngsters taking up the sport do so for the right reasons - because it's a game".

Michel Platini, Four Four Two Magazine, May 2008

Yes friends, Reclaim the Game is back with our own dedicated site to confront these issues head-on. Why? Because we believe they are getting more serious by the day. In fact, they are proving a greater threat than when RTG first started blogging in 2007.

By way of explanation, let RTG tell you about what happened a few Saturdays ago. We were enjoying a quiet beer with a life-long Manchester United supporter, watching Jeff Stelling and his cohorts groaning and yelling their way through the scores and match reports on Soccer Saturday. Charlie Nicholas was the ex-pro talking us through events from Old Trafford, the Man United against Burnley match. It appeared that United’s poor run of form at that time might continue as they struggled to impose themselves on what most thought was an ‘easy three points’ game. “United lack the fluidity and goal threat of recent years”, opined Charlie. When eventually the deadlock was broken in the final quarter, with a Berbatov goal, the United supporter wasn’t ecstatic, nor relieved. He simply said “shit!”

When questioned about his attitude, our United friend simply said that recent events had reminded him of his belief that, eventually, the appalling financial state that United had been allowed to get in, would lead to their downfall. In his opinion, had it not been for the fact that United had just had, arguably, its most successful three years ever, the financial shit would most surely have hit the fan some time ago. In other words, he was resigned to the fact that United would eventually have a meltdown, crushed by an ever increasing burden of debt, and, treated as a cash cow for businessmen with little or no feeling for the club or football. While pleased to see United score what was likely to be a late winner, he felt that it might need a crisis on the field to properly bring to a head the one that was unfolding off it.

As United’s recently announced corporate bond raising exercise highlighted in its (legally required) risk section, everything is up for grabs. The players, the ground and the training complex – everything could be sold to pay back bond holders. Interestingly, there was also an implied admission that United had players who were recruited for their ability to be marketed in their own countries. While this is a topic for another day, think about the implications of what that actually means in an environment that is supposed to be a competitive sport.

Wherever your football-supporting sympathies lie, and whatever you may think about Manchester United, remember, this movement is fighting for football as a sport to be enjoyed, not as a means for a few corporates to line their pockets at our expense. Manchester United is the most profitable football club ever whose revenue dwarfs most others in the game. The very existence of the Premier League owes itself to the popularity of clubs like United. If this can happen to them, it can happen to any club. Like it or not, that threatens the very existence of the game.

"We’ve talked all night about business models, ownership, governance and financial structures. Ownership of a football club comes with a degree of social responsibility. It’s a strand of our DNA. It affects people and communities. North to South, West to East and the very cohesion of those communities are affected by the football clubs within them. Compare football with the banking system, where the so-called free market was found sadly wanting and you can see the future we face in football."

Anon Football Supporter speaking on BBC Radio Debate on Future of Football, March 2010

What is so striking these days is that football discussions in the pub now are less about tactics, selection or players’ abilities. More and more they are centred around profit and loss, chief executives and communication directors. How many supporters do you hear longing for their club to be bought by a rich foreign billionaire? That’s the way many have come to measure likely success – or worse still, even survival!

Unless you are a supporter of Chelsea or Manchester City, your club is threatened by ever increasing transfer fees and player salaries. There’s only so much you, the supporter, can be milked to meet this demand before debt is the only way forward. If your club tries to be prudent, it will find it hard to produce better teams, win trophies or even avoid relegation.

And how long can supporters of even the two aforementioned clubs expect their owners to keep giving hand outs? Wouldn’t most true football supporters be happier if their team won trophies because of the ability of their club to attract support and players through their own business acumen. After all, it was only a tiny minority of French supporters that were happy about how one of their own cheated to get to the World cup.


"There is one certain fact about debt, it has to be repaid or refinanced. The debt mountains are owned and therefore the clubs are owned by either financial institutions - some of which are in terrible health - or very rich owners who are not bound to stay, or not very rich owners who are also not bound to stay. As we all know today, finance institutions have finally become highly risk-aware. They break debt into smaller packages mixed with other more or less toxic debts and sell these impenetrable instruments on. This poses very tangible dangers. Not only is debt at high-risk levels, we are also in a period when transparency lies in an unmarked grave. There is little point in thinking this now affects everyone except football. I predict, especially in today's financial climate, it cannot go on."

FA Chairman, Lord Triesman, October 2008

This is what RTG is really about. Corporate interests are killing our game and putting its very future at grave risk while the powers that run the game sit on their backsides and watch it happen.

RTG does believe that we can turn this around. But it requires debate and, at some stage, action. We don’t profess to know all the answers, but we are keen to continue the debate and raise awareness through these pages. After all, these issues have defeated some of the best minds produced by civilisation: that debate about capitalism versus society – or, if indeed, there is even such a thing called society. RTG believes there is. Sport, and particularly football, is a very important component of our society and it is worth preserving before the money men come to your town and take your club away.

"The fit and proper persons test does not do the job sufficiently robustly. A review is now inevitable because football clubs are not mere commodities. They are the abiding passion of their supporters. We forget that at our peril."

FA Chairman, Lord Triesman, October 2008

Anyone who doubts that could happen, just ask a Portsmouth supporter. Yes, Portsmouth FC, a member of the oft-described “richest league in the world”. Need we say more?

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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.

New Season. Same Old Crap!

Apologies from RTG for a distinct lack of activity during the summer but outside of Euro 2008 there was little to get excited about and the constant transfer claims and counter-claims were, frankly, tedious in the extreme. All be it, perhaps, they only went to highlight, once more, one of the many ills that are currently dragging our beloved game into the abyss.

Let’s start with a quick congratulations to Spain who, for once, actually lived up to expectation and won a major international tournament. Perhaps, most pleasing of all, was the fact that they were the best team from the outset and thoroughly deserved to lift the trophy rather than acquiring it by being better defensively, or at taking penalties. And, regretfully, it pains RTG to admit, once again, that it was nice to appreciate the tournament purely for its football rather than having to pin ones hopes on a bunch of under-achieving, overpaid idiots who would have happily spread themselves liberally across the pages of the tabloids, alongside their useless WAGS, while telling us nothing insightful about how they intend to finally lift some silverware and answer the expectations of a long-suffering nation of football supporters.

But that’s all behind us now and season 2008/2009 is upon us already. The prospect of a new league campaign for our clubs, and a new World Cup qualifying campaign for the national side, fills us with wild anticipation for the coming months ahead.

Or does it in fact? The season is only a few games old, depending on which league your team plays in, and already RTG is beginning to feel the uneasy rise of acid bile in our stomachs.

Sky TV kicked it all off with, as ever, a completely over the top trailer to the new season featuring what looked like a string quartet of scantily clad women marching across a stage. Very relevant. Someone should, perhaps, mention to Sky that we don’t need sensationalist trailers to make us watch football on TV. What we really want is not to have to pay over the odds to watch teams we have no interest in. What we want is not to have to bow down and accept gratefully whatever matches Sky or Setanta choose to show us. What we really want is to watch matches at times that don’t involve us having to travel at ridiculous times of the day—on trains that aren’t running properly due to engineering works. Strange, but we’re simple folk like that! But no. We’re also football supporters. So we get what we’re given and pay a fortune for it.

But don’t fret if you thought the money wasn’t going to a good cause. It will help to furnish the pockets of the badge-kissers extraordinaire who spent all summer dropping hints that they might like to move away from their clubs if the price was right, only to beat and kiss the badge on the first day of the season once their team gave in to their ludicrous monetary demands. When Frank Lampard runs towards the banks of loyal supporters, jersey pulled toward his lips, he fails to realise that those people are having to cough up for his ridiculous wage demands and to fuel his burgeoning ego at a time when they can ill afford it. But, because of Roman Abramovich’s seemingly bottomless pit of money, the process goes on and on. Some clubs are barely running to stand still in their bid to simply compete. The likes of Lampard will continue to make obscene demands in the name of so-called Chelsea success until somebody puts a stop to it. The Premier League do not seem even remotely concerned about this situation and while we as supporters continue to let them get away with it, so nothing will change until the sport of football ceases to exist. The likes of Frank Lampard will have millions in the bank to cushion that blow should it happen. Your average supporter will have nothing but a huge void where once the game of football sat.

But what of England? Cause for optimism there maybe. Well, RTG has already stated that the decision to build the national development centre at Burton has to be a good thing. And so long as Capello is relatively untested as England manager we can still live in hope that he can turn the national team into winners.

But already we’ve had a huge, but completely unnecessary debate in the press about who is to be captain. The fact that John Terry has been given the nod suddenly seems to be more important than the success of the team. The media seem to have built him up as this colossus who would give his life for England and for who every player would happily die also. But where exactly is the evidence other than what drivel is written on the back pages? In RTG’s humble opinion JT is not even the second best centre back in England let alone the best. May we remind folk out there that he skippered us to our worst qualifying campaign since 1994. To use his record as captain of £300 million worth of Chelsea squad hardly counts and is not such a glowing record either given the resources at their disposal. If the position of captain is such an important factor in how the team performs, surely this was the time for a change.

But insignificant matters such as this, when blown up out of all proportion, fill pages in papers and time on largely irrelevant sports news channels. Hence, the media obsession with it continues. All it serves to actually achieve is to make it difficult to drop him without a major national debate for weeks in advance when they should be getting on with the job of winning matches and picking the best side to do it. But don’t worry all you England fans out there. At least it gives JT another lucrative money earning channel through being the England skipper. If the team continues to perform like a bunch of rabbits in headlights, whenever put under pressure, we can take solace in the fact that JT is making a bit extra on the side. If there is a quiet confidence in the nation that England will suddenly turn it around and qualify for South Africa 2010, by way of the old adage that lightning never strikes twice, RTG does not share that optimism. We could be in for another long haul.

Much as we began, RTG would like to end with an apology. If we’ve dampened the spirits somewhat at a time when the season is young and full of promise, then we’re sorry. But we’re beginning another season with just more signs that greed, short sightedness and basic stupidity are gradually stripping away at the foundations of the game we love. Frankly, when you look at the way we’re being treated by the powers that be, we think we deserve better. With the prospects for a more exciting, more equally contested league, more financially secure clubs and a better England team looking as bleak as ever, this season has to be the point where we as supporters say enough is enough. Join us now.