Those of you who read my column in the EDP will be aware that I’m pretty disillusioned with the direction of travel of the game of football.
Maybe I’m just becoming a curmudgeonly old git (this is very much my wife’s view), but it just seems to me that there is a constant diet of troubling news at the moment.
Everywhere you look there are ever more transparent power grabs by the big clubs, parasites draining off money that could do wonders if it was allowed to cascade down the pyramid and an acceleration in the increasing Americanisation of the game.
Let’s start with the big clubs, who have now further extended their already significant advantage in the Premier League by ensuring that they will be able to field up to five substitutes next season.
Of course, this was originally introduced as a temporary gambit during the lockdown phase of the Covid pandemic when it carried a degree of justification, although even then it clearly benefitted the teams with stronger squads.
However, why does it need to be resurrected now? Call me cynical, but I suspect you need to look no further than the upcoming changes to the European competitions for a rationale.
As I’ve written elsewhere, the expansion of those competitions will mean ten group games instead of the current six in both the Champions League and Europa League, as well as an extra knockout round.
With an already busy domestic fixture list, it will obviously be of huge benefit to the clubs playing in Europe to use five subs in order to keep their players as fresh as possible, with the added advantage of using their squad depth to get themselves out of difficult situations in games by bringing on a few more internationals.
And now to the parasites…
The recently published news that in the year to 31st January, Premier League clubs paid out a total of £272.6 million in agents fees (note that the clubs usually pay these fees on behalf of the players who the agent is actually benefitting, although the agent may also work for both sides in a negotiation, so bumping up his/her fees even more at the expense of the clubs.)
This is a huge sum of money, but to put it into sharp perspective the highly respected Sporting Intelligence website has produced research that shows that that amount could pay all the wages at all 24 League Two clubs (i.e. every player, manager, coach, executive, and all non-playing staff)
The thing is, this isn’t just an issue at the top of the game, because in 2019, National League teams Salford City and Chesterfield were reported to have spent over £70K each on agents’ fees.
Just as an aside, Salford have incurred losses of over £15m and liabilities of over £19m since being set up in 2015, with their parent company, Project 92 Ltd, losing £91,000 a week in 2020/21 (Source: Price of Football).
Bear that in mind next time you hear Gary Neville pontificating about the state of the game…
Meanwhile, the American invasion continues with the sale of Chelsea and the confirmation that Chris Kirchner is the preferred bidder for Derby County.
If anyone doesn’t understand why the increasing American influence on football is so worrying, consider the recent suggestion to The Athletic by PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi that the Champions League final should be a bigger spectacle than the Super Bowl and that it needs to evolve to capture a bigger audience.
Why does a game that should itself be a showpiece for the European game need the added ingredients of Diana Ross taking penalties or Janet Jackson suffering a “wardrobe malfunction”?
Well, in Al-Khelaifi’s own words:
“We still need to explore additional untapped revenue streams together. How do we make the group stages compelling? The time difference is a problem for the US and Asia. So how can we work on this for international rights which have huge potential? We are thinking about all kinds of things – new venues, new markets, new formats.”
The irony is that the bloated nature of the competition means that the disparity between the quality of competing teams has become exaggerated which is why the group stages often aren’t compelling (with seeding ensuring that most of the top names have a relatively easy passage to the knock out rounds).
The answer to that isn’t to bring on the dancing ponies, but rather to restore some competitive integrity by restricting entry to teams that have actually won something.
However, that won’t bring in the cash from markets that have no interest in the heritage of the game but just like plenty of razzamatazz and something to bet on.
“New venues, new markets, new formats.”
The big clubs, the agents and the arriviste owners are all intent on exploiting the game for every penny that can be squeezed out and to hell with history and tradition, and by extension, the “legacy fans”.
Meanwhile, the Crouch report and the Premier League’s proposed Owners Charter are already under intensive attack from the Big Six while lower league clubs continue to face financial crises from gambling on success.
Something has to change but I‘m rapidly running out of faith that it will.
Well said Robin! And the recent move to promote teams based on historical performance is just another example. I mean, we could stop playing the game altogether and just order clubs in each league on their historical performances….
Hi Robin
A good read
Sadly fighting against a tsunami is a hopeless task as city fans know with our owners refusing even to consider investment or selling up we will soon be down in the gutter pleading for handouts from who ever will put up the most to buy us out of administration.
The have all don’t give a toss about the have not and never had, the premiership was supposed to save our game but it just highlighted that the successful clubs were always financially better off.
City have always been the poor relation and a selling club even prior to Robert Chase we bought cheap and sold at a profit all that has happened is a middle man is helping himself to some of the riches and taking money out of the game.
As for Neville his next port of call will possibly be the leader of the Labour Party another Jeremy Corbyn sprout how everything is wrong but never trying to fix it.
Having regulators is just another line if beaucrates sitting round a table telling football how it should be run each club is a business but run as a sports venture.
Would businessmen run their day to day work the way they run a football club no is the answer.
FIFA and EUFA are sponges soaking up sponsorship money and bowing down to rich clubs to keep their domains alive just look at the next world cup.
Club managers put pressure on Referee’s prior to games IE Klopp stating Loserpool never get the penalties they deserve when has a club deserved a penalty never but now most clubs have a stunt man it would seem to teach them how to fall without hurting themselves while looking innocently at the Ref to make a decision.
Sadly Hollywood is here to stay
Hi Robin
Wise words mate, as Smashy would say to Nicey.
Surely no supporter of *the other 14* would disagree with any of that.
Well said.
Excellent words and thoughts as always Robin.
It’s replicated at our own club, where those at the top cannot (or will not) see the car crash which is inevitably on the horizon.
O T B C
Money – and greedy people’s pursuit of it – is the problem. I’ve often thought it would be lovely to just get rid of money entirely. Unlikely? Certainly. Impossible? Not necessarily…
During the first lockdown we got as close to a moneyless society we’ve ever been. The government set out to prop up the economy by doling out ‘free’ money to ensure everyone had ‘enough’ to survive. Luxuries like socialising and aspirational acquisitions were, literally, off the menu. And when you have ‘enough’ money, do you really need any more. I felt this was a real opportunity to extend the scheme after lockdown and change the world. You may argue, ‘well, where would the government money come from?’ I would argue that with all things big, it wasn’t real money anyway, what with the IMF and quantitive easing, money is just figures on a computer screen. It doesn’t really exist. And if it doesn’t really exist, do we really need it?
” I would argue that with all things big, it wasn’t real money anyway, what with the IMF and quantitive easing, money is just figures on a computer screen. It doesn’t really exist. And if it doesn’t really exist, do we really need it?”
This is one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever read, thank you.
Robin be saying it for years in fact what are footballers now they like spoilt brats I.e Cantwell and co look at man utd how many bad apples there , give me the 70’s and 80’s anyday , it’s just not appetising any more .
After 60+ years of supporting City, I’m also becoming disillusioned with the beautiful game, though it won’t affect my love for my club. It’s the way the game has been hijacked by the money men, as you say Robin. I know that some clubs have always had ways and means of attracting the best players, even in the days of the maximum wage, but while it may not have been a totally level surface, the playing field was more or less level. Not anymore.
Five subs is fine for the big 6, but not so much for the others. It certainly can’t be sustained in the lower parts of the pyramid, where clubs won’t be playing as many games, so won’t be able to keep a huge squad happy, let alone afford the wage bill that would entail. (There’s all the extra ancillary staff, as well – more physios, coaches, etc for a large squad.)
I read today that PSG are offering Mbape £125M to stay with them for another two years. The money is totally obscene in the game today. Not that long ago a player was reported as driving his high powered sports car around, with several thousand pounds just laying loose on the passenger seat. Players on that sort of money have no appreciation of the value of anything.
I’ll still be there on the River End, and whatever division City are in I won’t give up on them, but the beautiful game has gone.
I think it’s inevitable that, with increased American involvement, one day there will be a closed, franchise type league without relegation in line with NFL, NBA etc. Whether this is done domestically or on a European wide basis I don’t know.
If the richest English clubs leave to join a closed European league, a large part of me thinks ‘good riddance, don’t forget your hat’ However, I do like the increasingly romantic dream that, with an excellent youth set up and clever coaching, teams like Norwich, Southampton and even little 1p5wich could once again compete at the very top of the league.
Of course, I realise that without huge Leicester style cash inputs those days are confined to history. I appreciate that in every part of life things change over time. I just feel that the likely changes to football are not going to suit me and many fans who used to stand on terraces.
Your first paragraph says it all, Don. When that day comes I might be tempted to give it up completely, but I guess there’s always the local rec to catch something approaching the real game. Might have to take that option, given the pace of current change in the game it might all happen before I’m ready to call it a day.
I’m equally disillusioned Jim but I’ll be there on Sunday as ever.
Not 100% sure that I’ll last the full 9omins+ though, particularly if we get the expected kicking from Burnley and referee Michael Oliver does nothing to prevent it.
I think it’s time some of you lot began to appreciate the quality of the game is far higher than its ever been.
International level used to be the pinnacle,not any more. The finals of the European cup is,
If supporting your local club is is your priority,that’s great but don’t think that gives you a right to look down your nose at others who literally have higher standards,at least on the park.
Off the park the game sold its soul with the involvement of television.
The primary reason for the failure of farkeball is the pathetic level of recruitment by Webber ,
This can be proven by the number of recruits who Farke didn’t even allow to train with the first team,( Sitti, Sinani,etc) as well as a never ending cavalcade of youngsters, none of whom look any real potential,
Webbers genius plan to recruit from lesser leagues (Greece,Luxembourg) is disrespectful to the quality of the competition the team is up against.
He’s not the messiah he’s a very naughty boy.
At this point I’m beginning to think a Super League isn’t a bad thing with the caveat that for some specified period of time, 10-15 years, the teams that leave are required to pay a significant, annual ‘exit fee’ which is then funneled into the remaining teams/leagues-they want to go, then let them but there will be a cost to do so. Additionally,
-retain the 20 team Premiership by having additional teams come up from the Championship, the Championship from D1, etc.
-cap agent fee’s -the idea that hundreds of millions of pounds are diverted to agents is a.) disgusting and b.) is indirectly adding to the cost of admission.
-a generous cap on players wages based on the level they play in
-funnel more money into the smaller clubs -D1, D2, National League to alleviate the money worries and allow for better club infrastructure at all levels.
-TV rights deals for all Divisions – honestly, the FA Cup provides a wonderful look at lower league football- there are small clubs playing excellent football, far better and more entertaining than some of the Premiership rubbish we get served up on a weekly basis (Brighton v NC is a case in point.)
I realize TV rights monies will probably go down but could be offset by the exit fee and agent fee’s being capped but I’m finding the inequality that currently exists a complete turn off. Just watched Newcastle v Wolves and all that’s being flogged is Man City – Liverpool which sends a message about the pecking order of things.
Lastly, and at the risk of beating the drum on this issue, more American money flowing into the football isn’t a good thing. It’s driven by profit and loss, it’s impersonal, and there is no connection to the local fan base.
Some of the monied are in to football ownership for prestige. However, how long would the Americans and others sustain losses if they are just in it for profit? Cut off the money we mere money machines pump into football. Don’t have Sky Sports and the other channels, don’t buy replica shirts, etc, etc..
But we are driving the change by being willing to pay ever more to support “our” team. Maybe we need a coalition of fans to drive change in a better way but the true fans need to show they are willing to boycott things. Maybe we could call it sanctions.