Finding it difficult to get over enthusiastic about the success of so called English clubs this year - though Liverpool's success did set the pulse racing. The fact is that the Premiership has spent more in transfer fees over the last 5 years than the German, Spanish, Italian and French leagues all put together - thus progressively draining Europe of it's talent, both at the playing and managerial level. The reasons why billionaires have pumped their money into English clubs is not difficult to find. Germany is a no go area - clubs there have membership figures upwards of 100,000 club members - all bound with the traditions of both the club and the area - furthermore, by German law they hold a minimum of 51% of shares and voting rights. Spain and Portugal also have a tendency towards fan ownership of the bigger clubs - which the Spanish government is sponsoring. Italy is more known for crumbling stadiums, match fixing, crowd violence, and over political identification of fan blocks. Which leaves only England - there a billionaire can happily come in and call a football club his plaything - can turn once traditional football clubs into global entertainment companies, global franchises with no connection left to their geographical surroundings. Really the only song which the fans of the top 6 of English football can sing with any justification is ''Our sugar daddies are the richest''. EUFA can chase clubs in violation of fair play rules (PSG and Man. City), but that is a toothless tiger - better would be to act on what the definition of a 'club' actually is and ask whether the Premiership clubs still qualify under that definition. The possibility of 4 English finalists in these European competitions is a bit of a nightmare, and extremely bad for football - though predictable given the financial inbalance. Hopefully Ajax can remind us of what football should be about.
Spurs have moderated their spending Dan compared to the other top Premiership clubs but that may have something to do with money being tied up with ground development. Nonetheless, based on their assets they are amongst the 10 richest clubs in Europe along with 5 other Premiership clubs.
I could add on this Dan that European football is in a particularly bad shape at the moment. It has been dominated by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern for about the last 8 years yet all of those clubs are in a state of decline at the moment - and, noticably 2 of those have managers who are no longer drawn from the top drawer of club management. All 3 of those are, in effect, fan owned clubs and, for that reason, are not going to get rich sugar daddies from the Middle East taking a fancy to them. Nor do they get the same TV money as the Premiership clubs - the Premiership has about 10 ten times the TV revenue of the Bundesliga despite the Bundesliga still having the highest crowds actually in stadiums. All 3 are still rich clubs but their income is not increasing at the rate of the Premiership. Bayern are actually as rich as Man. City but do not behave as if they were the richest in the World, as City do - so if they offer eg 30 million for a player and the offer is refused then they accept it and go away - whereas City will keep increasing their offer under the maxim that everything has its price. This is the way that Leroy Sane, a young German prospect, went to City rather than Bayern. Unfortunately the Bundesliga, despite its crowds and stadium atmosphere, is becoming something of a development league, which may, in the long run, be good for the national team but not for club football.
Well said. All that is wrong with the UK game, in so many ways we have been sold out, sport all over the show. When a fracking supremo is sponsoring le tour de Yorkshire you have it in one. And of course without the pozzos and ashcroft who know where we would have been as a club.. But for the people of Liverpool it is a great result... Sent from my G3311 using Tapatalk
I dont understand this article, it may be on a smaller scale to the 'big boys' but Watford must also now be considered a 'So Called English Club', pretty sure the Pozzos arent natives of Hemel or surrounding areas but no mention was made of them. Business people who 'took a punt' that paid off handsomely for them. Its still very nice that theyve made the FA Cup Final but (not many if any will understand this) no comparison to the satisfaction felt when they last achieved it.
Yes.. And that is 'progress' and 'business'.. Bring back Carlisle away eh.. It maybe not [emoji848] Sent from my G3311 using Tapatalk
Gutted by that result. Ajax are a beautifull team but have a bit to learn about game management, and where the hell the ref found 7 added minutes from I have no idea. Nonetheless well done to Spurs. Unfortunate way for Ajax to end their European run but in the beginning they were happy to just get through the 3 qualifying matches to get into the group stage and then everything went from there. Hope this doesn't have a negative effect on them because they are two games away from the Eredivisie title and that is probably more important.
Another impressive comeback by an English side . Can Chelsea and Arsenal follow suit and make the Europa league final !
Amazing eh. And I guess Liverpool will prefer to play Spurs.... [emoji106] Sent from my G3311 using Tapatalk
