Firstly......listen to this while you read.
Has something got to give?
With the news this week that Manchester City made a operating loss of 121 million pounds (€ 142,000,000…yes, count the zeros) you have to ask if this is any good at all for the health of the game in general. It does not match Chelsea’s loss to end all losses in 03/04 (141 million pounds - € 165,000,000), but is a massive amount. Yes both these teams have super-rich benefactors, but should the rest of the league, those who strive to be well run and within their means, face a situation where they are outpriced for players and transfers by clubs who just have no care if they lose even more money, as sugar daddy will pay. Or just take on even more debt. The leveraged buy outs at Man Utd and Liverpool have lumbered those clubs with massive, expensive debt. United’s profitable business only exists right now to pay off the interest on loans taken by the Glazers to buy the club. Liverpool…..are on the very brink. They owe RBS aprox. 500 million quid…..and haven’t a pot to piss in, have slipped into the relegation zone, have a old stadium in need of serious work (or a new stadium)......and to get back into the Champions league need serious investment in playing staff. RBS have put the debt into their “toxic” department (difficult recovery) and are adding 2.5 million per week in fines for non payment. Unless they come up with a serious buyer….with 6 or 700 million quid, it is likely they will default…and RBS will recover their money however they can. Tottenham are another club dependent on a benefactor, and their finances are covered up in the murkiness of Virgin Islands and Bahamas accounts – this week they registered an interest in taking over the London Olympic stadium after the games. To me this is almost an admission that they simply cannot afford to build a new stadium; given costs in London, it would cripple them. The top five today consists of mega losses City and Chelsea, United in huge debt, Tottenham’s media protected wheeler dealing….and 1 well run club who get zero credit as ”it’s all about tropies”.
The craziness in Spain by the big 2 resembles the arms race in the 80’s. The Americans and Russians spent and spent and spent on enough bombs to wipe out the whole planet…and just didn’t know when to stop, the justification being that the other side were doing exactly the same. But Barcelona’s situation is reaching a limit……their existing debt of 392,000,000 euros had another expensive 150,000,000 added to it by another loan from La Caixa this summer so that they could pay players wages. This makes me think the whole Cesc transfer saga was just a smokescreen to keep the truth out of the papers. That they have been making losses whilst winning the Champions league, the Spanish league and cup….but play to a half empty stadium for most run of the mill games, have a fully exploited commercial department, make me think that sooner or later the “more than a club” club will have to sell out and carry advertising on their shirt and sell the naming rights to the Nou Camp….and become just another club. They are seriously broke, have taken on higher wages (signing Villa from Valencia), and another expensive loan…..without unloading or cutting costs, so further losses can be expected. Only a fool will believe slimy Real Madrid president Florentino Perez’s official figures that give the whites a 24,000,000 euro profit in the last financial year. One can only imagine the jiggery pokery, smoke and mirrors and plain cooking the books to come up with this number. It seems the tax authorities are not impressed either, and have launched an investigation into the accounts. Only a few years ago Real were the benefactors in some distinctly dodgy land exchanges that earnt them a fortune. Spending 80,000,000 quid plus massive wages on Ronaldo…however many shirts you sell worldwide…..you can’t make it work. Real and Barsa, at the same time they lose money, take almost all the TV money available in Spain….the rest get the crumbs from their table. Mallorca, Real Sociedad, Sporting Gijon, Malaga and Levante from Primera are all in administration. Surely the football authorities realise something is wrong?
In both countries there is a serious risk that a big name will miss out on european competition qualification when the new financial fare play rules come in to effect in 2014. Teams will have to demonstrate break-even over a rolling three year period. City will never make it. Barcelona will have a massive struggle. Real Madrid will cook their books. Chelsea are desperately trying to reel in their massive overspending and impossible business model to meet the criteria. However.....I'm sure Platini will find a way for the big clubs.....I think the interest is to create a closed shop, not a level playing field. Time will tell.
Isn’t it time to step back?
The plastic new fans of success demand just that…and won’t accept less, and if less comes along they are first to get off the bus. It made me feel sick seeing stoopid gloryhunters applauding Ashley Cole this afternoon, like kin’ sealions on speed they were. A mercenary….only there for the money (why else?), who wouldn’t even fart in their direction, who would leave as soon as a higher bidder came along. And look what he did to the lovely Cheryl. Will he care if his next employer is overspending? If the blues slipped down to midtable….would the plastics be over at Arsenal or Tottenham if they were the new winners? I’m ranting about this because I am coming to the conclusion that top flight football makes me sick. It’s horrible, everything about it. And the plastics, the unmerited bought success, the unfair advantages, the crazy debts, the complete bollocks spouted by the media (who systematically cover up any bad news, they can’t risk losing advertisers or viewers)….make me think that the real football and real fans I have experienced this week at Loftus Road and the NC in lower divisions, are the best places to be. Should they strive to attain top flight footy and try to compete on an uphill pitch against sides doped up on money?
End of rant.