Leaders in Football

ROGAN TAYLOR: PITY THE POOR FOOTBALLERS

leaders — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:59:07 +0000

I used to think that the Asian Football Confederation was probably the most ungovernable bloc in the world game. With forty six nations located in (at least) three distinct regions divided by both cultural and huge time zone differences, and speaking languages so different from each other; how the hell were they supposed to get together and organise a half decent governing body? (They haven’t.)

In comparison, UEFA’s patch looked a doddle, despite including fifty four nations, nearly a third of whom used to lie behind the Iron Curtain as Soviet satellites. There was money in Europe; tradition and history, and a clear determination at UEFA HQ to regulate the game robustly. It has started to look like a ‘proper’ organisation with a level of transparency previously unheard of at this level of football. At last, we have some real data about the business and organisation of the game in its continental heartland.

But the information we have is limited, of course. Most of the data concerns the bigger clubs in the top level leagues across Europe; we know little about what’s going on below that surface. There’s a new publication just out which gives us a series of snapshots of how bad it is out there (mostly in the east), and the miserable lives that many players lead in the most chaotic circumstances.

It’s called: The FIFPro Black Book Eastern Europe, 2012, and you can download it free here:

It’s appropriately titled because it’s pretty ‘black’. The result of a significant study completed a few months back, involving 3,357 professional footballers across fifteen nations, it includes Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

First off, how many of the thousands of players sampled regularly don’t get paid on time, do you think? The answer is nearly half of them (41%). A few hundred of them reported waiting for over six months to get paid, and some over a year. But that’s just the start of it. The longer that individual players don’t get paid the larger the number of ‘approaches’ they get from gangsters to help fix matches. The vulnerable are clearly targeted.

Match fixing is commonplace across a range of these countries. The pressure applied to players to co-operate include isolation, bullying, threats (sometimes from fans) and outright violence; some of it meted out by club officials. Disputes around contracts or a desire the leave the club can be equally painful for players. Croatia, Serbia and Russia sound like gangland jungles in parts; Greece isn’t far behind.

Here’s a taste of life in football for the less fortunate players; very few of whom (understandably) brave enough to go on record:
‘I am Rodoljub Marjanovic, age 23, professional football player in Serbia. Two years ago I signed a contract with FK Hajduk Kula. For six months I have not been paid and I was forced to ask for my contract to be terminated through the Serbian football federation, FAS…When I applied, the financier of the club called me and told me that I would be killed if I did not withdraw the complaint.’

‘I am Dragisa Pejovic, 29 years old, a professional football player from Serbia. I have played for FC Borac Cacak for six years. In that time, there were always problems of violence and racism…In the last year, I experienced a physical assault from a club director in front of the players…Football in Serbia is full of crime and criminals and I could not cope, nor fight, with them alone.’

The ‘Black Book’ by FIFPro insists that these kinds of incidents are not uncommon across quite a few more countries in Eastern Europe. It’s a picture of football players’ lives that most of us in the UK can hardly imagine.

Adis Stambolija, a midfielder at FC Karlovac in Croatia, hadn’t received any pay for nine months. He was sleeping in the locker room on occasions. He hardly had money to buy food. He says:

‘Do you want to know how it looks when we come to training? We open up our wallets and count coins to buy a cup of coffee or a sandwich…Is it not sad?’

Sure is. Tevez doesn’t know he’s born.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
KEIR RADNEDGE: THEN WHAT?
GERRY COX: WHERE DO ENGLAND GO FROM HERE?

Dr Rogan Taylor is the Director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool. He is also a writer and broadcaster, with five football books and numerous radio and TV contributions. He has acted as a special adviser to The FA, The Premier League and Premier League Clubs.

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

KEIR RADNEDGE: THEN WHAT?

leaders — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:54:15 +0000

“We don’t understand,” said a German colleague. “Why so much fuss about who captains the England team? He wears an armband, maybe he talks a little more to the media. Then what?”

The game now knows “what.” Precisely:

- court action to resolve an accusation and a denial
- a tele-conference of the governing body of English football
- the removal of said armband
- upsetting a national manager to the point where he quit four months ahead of the European Championship
- the need for a pay-off
- the likely need for the expenditure of more millions to buy out the club contract of the next manager
- zillons of critical words in print and around the airwaves

Right now most of the commentaries – surprised in tone, too – have stood up for the integrity of the Football Association. The FA has collected more Brownie points in the last few days than in the rest of the last 38 years since the egotistical Professor Sir Harold Thompson axed Sir Alf Ramsey and set in train all sorts of mayhem.

This will change.

Right now Fabio Capello is the villain of the piece. In due course more questioning attention will switch to the actions of FA chairman David Bernstein, to the West London magistrate who felt that justice was best served by a long adjournment and to John Terry himself and whoever has been advising him.

If Terry had done the honourable thing in the first place and resigned the England captaincy while maintaining his availability and eagerness for selection, none of the “what” would have happened.

In an exact analogy Chris Huhne, the same day, resigned as a Minister of the Realm after also being charged with a criminal offence (which he also denies) but retained the unchallenged right, as a man insisting on his innocence, of continuing as a Member of Parliament.

The snag, in the sporting context, is the tradition of the captain’s role in English sport.

This has always been illustrated with greatest clarity in cricket. The old tradition was that the captain was always a ‘gentleman amateur’ who was supposed to have been educated into the supposed public school leadership tradition.

Walter Hammond, England’s greatest cricketer in the 1930s, did not become captain of his country until after the Second World War when he declared himself an amateur. Len Hutton finally became England’s first professional captain ‘only’ at the start of the 1950s.

England’s cricket team has been littered, down the years, with men who were chosen for their supposed leadership qualities while not being worth their playing place in the team.

That patrician perception of the captain spilled over into football and was enhanced by the outstanding leadership examples of first Billy Wright and then Bobby Moore whose exemplary reigns spanned a generation.

Their reputations have been burnished and polished by the distance of years and legend which have imbued the armband with almost intimidatory demands. David Beckham also set new standards in working hard on projecting the captain’s image in a modern media era.

Perhaps the significance needs to be removed; perhaps the new England manager should take advantage of his being parachuted into the job by saying he will chose his team first and his captain, from game to game, second.

Other countries, other sporting cultures, have their own methodology.

At Real Madrid the captain, traditionally, was the club’s longest-serving Spanish player. Hence, in the 1960s, when left-winger Paco Gento was injured the captain’s role was picked up by Manolin Bueno, his rarely-seen but similarly long-serving reserve. Never mind that Di Stefano, Puskas, Santamaria & Co were lining up alongside him.

If the Capello debacle demystifies the captaincy then that might, at least, prove to have been one positive contribution towards easing the way for his managerial successors.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
ROGAN TAYLOR: PITY THE POOR FOOTBALLERS
GERRY COX: WHERE DO ENGLAND GO FROM HERE?

Keir Radnedge is one of the foremost observers of international soccer. He has reported at every World Cup since 1966 and is a regular contributor to TV, radio, newspapers and magazines worldwide. He is London-based Editor of SportsFeatures.com and is chairman of the Football Commission of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). Visit www.KeirRadnedge.com for further information. Follow him on Twitter for more sports industry updates.

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

GERRY COX: WHERE DO ENGLAND GO FROM HERE?

leaders — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:52:12 +0000

In a week that has seen the FA lose one manager and find a potential replacement reluctant to dive headlong into the maelstrom of what has become known as a poisoned chalice, there are mixed messages emerging about the future direction of the top job in management.

Was there ever a day when appointing an England manager was straightforward and without controversy? Or can we look back at any manager’s term and conclude that it was all sweetness and light? Clearly these are the thoughts occupying the men who must choose the next manager, and the outstanding candidate for the job – Harry Redknapp.

Having been found innocent of all charges of tax evasion, and finally clearing his name after a five-year cloud hanging over him, Redknapp has remarkable options open to him now. He is the nation’s choice as Fabio Capello’s successor, certainly for the short term.

He has the support of fans, the players, the media and it seems the FA see him as the ideal man to lead England into Euro 2012. So it should be a simple process, yes?

No, it would seem. For a start there is Harry’s day job, as manager of a side that are third in the Premier League and on course for another tilt at the Champions League. I covered Tottenham’s last campaign, last season, and know how much it means to the club – from manager through to the fans – to go and win against the likes of AC Milan and Inter. Redknapp has turned Tottenham from a team that seemed to be constantly in transition, into one of European football’s most exciting sides.

In return, the players and fans adore him, and the club have supported him strongly throughout his court ordeal. So to walk away from Spurs in this position would not come easily to a man who has spent his career working towards the upper echelons of club management.

Is the England job enough to tempt him? It depends what it involves, which is where we go back to the mixed messages coming out of Wembley. Is it looking after the senior team, taking a talented group of players and getting the best out of them with tactical nous and superb man-management, which are clearly Redknapp’s major strengths?

Or is it about being involved in the development of players from school-age upwards, working out of St George’s Park in Burton to oversee the restructuring of English football, which is what was being suggested by some of the FA’s leadership this week?

I am not sure that is a role that Redknapp – or any leading club manager would want. I remember when I did my coaching badges, back in the 1980s, having the certificates signed by Bobby Robson, who was technical director of the FA as well as a not-too successful manager of England at the time.

With all due respect to a man who became Sir Bobby, one of the most revered football managers, we were less than enthralled to have a stamp of endorsement from a man whose team had just been taken to the cleaners by the likes of Wales, Russia and Uruguay.

The roles of a technical director and first team manager are very different, and while Redknapp has an interest in development of young players at Tottenham, for example, he has a team of coaches who are responsible for those areas. His skills are in the day to day management of players, the cut and thrust of games, and international management is a very different job.

So is the ideal thing for him to become England manager with responsibility for the long-term future of the game in this country, or would he be better off sticking to what he knows – and does – best? One compromise that has been suggested is that he could complete the season with Spurs, then lead England at Euro 2012, with a view to returning to Tottenham once the tournament is over.

That would allow him to see at first-hand what the job entails, while keeping his options open, and allow the FA more time to consider who might be their ideal man for the long-term, to build on the developments they have put in motion with St George’s Park and their coaching initiatives.

One thing is certain – the situation needs to be resolved soon.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
KEIR RADNEDGE: THEN WHAT?
ROGAN TAYLOR: PITY THE POOR FOOTBALLERS

Gerry Cox is one of England’s leading football writers and former Chairman of the Football Writers’ Association. He has covered well over 1000 matches including four World Cups and four European Championships. He currently runs the Hayters Sports reporting agency and writes for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

GERRY COX: NO FIX REQUIRED

leaders — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:05:57 +0000

I have to admit my heart sank when I saw the news that the FA Cup final is likely to be moved from its traditional three o’clock kick-off to an evening game, in order to satisfy football fans in far flung parts of the world such as China and Thailand.

The FA believes it has to make the change to maximise revenue and satisfy the demands of the millions of new-found fans in Asia who love the FA Cup final. It is even being suggested that the final may be moved from a Saturday fixture to another day, in order to increase its ‘marketability’ and ease the pressure on the football schedules, with the Premier League and television companies now calling the shots.

How sad. The oldest and most famous cup competition in world football is prepared to jettison over 100 years of tradition because the marketing men think there is more money to be made by pandering to an overseas audience. It is depressingly common now that the spirit and traditions of the sport have to be compromised for financial reasons.

Of course, you could argue, why stop there? Why not take the final to Hong Kong and play it there, and put it on pay-per-view TV in England, and the rest of the world. Or take it to Qatar, which bridges east and west, and would surely pay a fortune to stage such a prestigious event? It might be tough on the fans who want to go to Wembley, but that tradition was already broken when it was taken to Cardiff, and the sacrosanct nature of a Wembley final has been devalued by having the semi-finals played there.

Fans of the clubs may protest, but how many of them can actually go to the final, given the level of corporate hospitality at the big finals now? It is even being suggested that the final needs to be jazzed up with American-style razzmatazz on the day, which brings to mind the schmaltzy ‘entertainment’ that makes us cringe when we watch the Superbowl.

I have in my mind a picture of frustrated marketing men sitting in a meeting, cursing the fact that the final has to be free-to-air, is played at 3pm on a Saturday, and is in an ‘unfriendly’ time zone (GMT) for their half-billion new fans in Asia. Look at all the lost income!

What they may fail to appreciate is that it is the very traditions of the FA Cup and its final that make them so special, so desirable around the world. Does the world tune in to Spain’s Copa Del Rey or the DFB Pokal in their millions?

The FA Cup final is a special game, still the biggest club game in English football, and the most prestigious domestic cup competition in the world. It may not always produce a classic match, but no amount of cheerleading can change that. What is so unique and magical about the FA Cup is that it gives the little clubs their chance of a big day out. It gives the average player, whether professional or amateur, a chance to shine, and mix it with the big boys. It gives the underdog the chance to upset the odds – and they often do. Remember how the mighty Liverpool, one of the world’s greatest clubs, were memorably beaten by a Wimbledon team who had been non-league only a few years earlier?

Talk to any footballer who has played in an FA Cup final and it is among the most treasured, if not the greatest of their memories. It is something special, a national treasure, not to be devalued.

Memo to marketing men – the FA Cup final is not broken. Please don’t try to fix it!

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
KEIR RADNEDGE: A FRESH APPRAISAL
ROGAN TAYLOR: WE’RE ALL FOR FAIR DO’S, AREN’T WE?

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK

leaders — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:42:16 +0000

$2billion lost by top Euro clubs
UEFA says annual losses reported by the top European clubs soared 36% to 1.6 billion euros ($2 bn) largely because of lower transfer revenues. Just over half of the 650 first-division clubs from UEFA’s 53 member national associations audited by European football’s governing body recorded losses in 2010. A total of 29% of clubs reported significant losses equivalent to spending €12 for every €10 in income. This climbs to 75% when only the largest clubs (those with annual revenue of more than €50m) are taken into account. Only two of the largest 20 top divisions broke even. “The situation is even worse down the football pyramid, where the risk of insolvency and bankruptcy is much higher than in the top divisions,” UEFA said. “This trend needs to be reversed very quickly,” AFP quoted UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino (who spoke at last October’s Leaders in Football Conference) as saying after the report was presented at the body’s Nyon headquarters on Thursday. Infantino said the figures in UEFA’s fourth club licensing benchmarking report on European club football were a “wake-up call” for the top clubs with its new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules being phased in over the next two years. He said that if the FFP regulations were imposed now rather than when scheduled in 2013-2014 13 clubs would have breached the rules and be subject to various sanctions including transfer embargos, deduction of points and possible exclusion from Champions League and Europa League competitions. Underlining the financial problems afflicting the continent’s big clubs, Infantino explained that the slight growth in income (6.6% or 12.8 billion euros) was not being offset by higher expenses. A total of 3.3 billion euros was spent on players in the reporting period. “The need for Financial Fair Play measures and strong governance is strongly emphasised by the report findings,” UEFA said in a statement. “Whilst the level of losses was one of a number of warning signs that confirms the need for football to act, there were some improvements with the 64% of income spent on employee costs, representing a small decrease on the previous year after four years of rising percentages.” UEFA said more than half of clubs showed weaker balance sheets, indicating that many club owners did not cover their losses. In news from the UEFA Executive Committee’s first meeting of 2012 in Nyon yesterday, members were updated on the Euro Qualifiers project related to the centralisation of media rights for all European qualification matches for Euro 2016 in France – the first continental championships with 24 teams – and the FIFA World Cup 2018. The tender process for the media rights to the European Qualifiers package is planned for the second quarter of 2012. The next meeting of the UEFA Ex-Co takes place on March 20-21, a day before the UEFA Congress in Istanbul.

UEFA sends warning to Turkey
Turkey has been one of the main match fixing culprits in Europe with a spate of arrests and punishments in recent weeks and Infantino warned that UEFA was keeping a sharp eye on proceedings. Press reports in Turkey recently quoted UEFA President Michel Platini as looking favourably on a prospective bid from the country for the 2020 European Championships, having controversially missed out by one vote to France for 2016. Istanbul is also planning to bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. But Infantino said: “2020 is a long way off but what is important is that the Turkish FA takes the right decisions with regard to this whole match fixing situation. The longer it drags on, the worst the climate becomes. In situations like this, you need to take responsible decisions. You can’t just wait for criminal proceedings to be finalised because they take years. Disciplinary proceedings on the sporting side need to go faster. It will be an important question in terms of next season’s UEFA competitions.” Speaking following the conclusion of a two-day UEFA Executive Committee meeting, Infantino also disclosed that fan violence in both Serbia and Croatia had not yet been eradicated to UEFA’s satisfaction. A year ago, Platini warned both countries faced suspension from European competitions if they could not rein in the hooligans. “Some progress has been made in both countries but we are not yet there so we will look at it again in six months’ time,” Infantino said. “In spite of some effort, more needs to be done.” The Executive Committee was also brought up to date, said Infantino, on talks with European clubs over an insurance policy to cover the salaries of players injured on international duty, and the next four-year international calendar starting in 2015, both strong concerns of the 200-strong European Club Association (ECA). “We will find a good solution with regards to insurance because we think it’s the right thing to do,” Infantino said.

Redknapp in hot water
Harry Redknapp, the most successful English club manager of recent years and the man favoured to succeed Fabio Capello as England boss after Euro 2012, appeared in court today to face accusations of tax evasion. Redknapp, manager of Tottenham Hotspur, is charged along with Milan Mandaric with cheating the public revenue, involving payments totalling $295,000 (£183,000/€229,000) allegedly made by Mandaric to Redknapp when they were chairman and manager respectively of Portsmouth. As anticipated given the high-profile nature of a case that has lurked ominously in the background while he steered his team into the Premier League’s top three, a media scrum greeted Redknapp, who denies the charges, as he arrived at Southwark Crown Court. The first charge alleges that, between April 1, 2002 and November 28, 2007, Mandaric paid $145,000 (£93,100/€112,600) into a bank account held by Redknapp in Monaco, to avoid paying income tax and national insurance. The second charge for the same offence relates to a sum of $150,000 (£96,300/€116,500) allegedly paid by Mandaric to the same account between May 1, 2004 and November 28, 2007. Redknapp, 64, who underwent minor heart surgery last year, led Portsmouth to FA Cup success in 2008 and Tottenham to last season’s Champions League quarter-finals in what was their first season among the European elite. Mandaric is now chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, having also worked at Leicester. Judge Anthony Leonard told jurors to “leave prejudice or favour behind” as a panel of eight men and four women were sworn in. “The defendants are two well-known personalities within the world of football.” He said football “almost overwhelms other aspects in life” as he ordered jurors to focus solely on the charges. It can prejudice if you hold such allegiances or prejudices” towards clubs that the defendants were or are at, he said. The case is expected to take up to two weeks.

Malaga hit with transfer ban
La Liga outfit Malaga, one of the richest teams in Spain, have been banned from transfer activity until they have paid back a debt to rivals Osasuna. According to Spanish media reports, the signing of Nacho Monreal from Osasuna last June has put the southern outfit in trouble, and forced the Spanish league (LFP) to impose the transfer embargo. Malaga were earlier this season the subject of a complaint from Villarreal over VAT owed to them following the transfer of Spain playmaker Santi Cazorla, the Andalusians’ record signing when he arrived last summer. Transactions at the club can take up to two months to go through due to their convoluted payment structure. Malaga were bought by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nassar Al-Thani of the Qatari royal family in June 2010 and since his arrival the club have spent significantly in a bid to reach the Champions League. On their website, Malaga issued a statement which said that they “acknowledge that there are delays in some payments (including to Osasuna) due to the complexity in approving budgets and transactions with foreign entities.” The statement went on to accuse Osasuna of singling them out, as well as being impatient. “In one year, Malaga has received more than €120 million (£100 million/$156 million) and the organisation estimates that this amount, together with the personal guarantee of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani, should be sufficient guarantee for third parties to have patience with delays in payments,” the statement continued. “[Malaga] understands that Osasuna is entitled to claim the amount owed, but such claims are being made only with Malaga and not with other clubs.” The statement also promised that Osasuna would shortly be paid back what was owed to them, and they pledged to improve their financial administration to avoid similar problems in future. The transfer ban may also lead to the LFP barring Malaga from fielding goalkeeper Carlos Kameni, who is their only signing during the current transfer window, which closes at the end of the month. The two clubs are also involved in a fierce battle on the field, as they are among half a dozen in La Liga chasing the final Champions League spot for next season. Osasuna currently lie in sixth place in the league, four points off Levante in fourth, and two ahead of Malaga in tenth.

Japan’s women confident of gold in 2012
The former Japan Football Association (JFA) General Secretary Takeo Hirata has said that Japan’s rivals will be more wary of the women’s world champions at the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer. Japan won the Women’s World Cup in Germany on penalties after a 2-2 draw with the United States last year. Going into this summer’s Olympic tournament in London, Japan and the US will again be among the favourites for gold. “Teams will study and be prepared when they face Japan this time around,” Hirata told The Japan Times, adding that the Japanese were even more motivated to do well at the World Cup after the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck the country last March. “They were very motivated after the March 11 disasters. The players were united and were ready to fight hard.” Hirata says that midfielder Aya Sameshima would be a key player for the squad, saying: “It would mean so much to the devastated areas in Tohoku for her to play well on the field, especially since she used to work at the Fukushima No 1 nuclear plant.” As well as Sameshima, Japan will look to captain Homare Sawa, who was recently awarded the 2011 FIFA Ballon D’Or prize. Japan reached the semi-finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, being beaten by eventual winners the US, but have never won the tournament. Japan will compete with North Korea, France, Sweden, hosts Britain, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa and Cameroon at the Olympics this summer, with the North American and Oceania representatives yet to secure their places at the Games.

Bundesliga records massive profits
The Bundesliga made a profit of €52.5 million (£44 million/$69 million) in 2010/11, translating to an increase of €130 million (£109 million/$171 million) from the previous year’s figures. The impressive numbers came just after UEFA revealed that in 2010 European teams racked up a staggering €1.6 billion (£1.3 billion/$2 billion) in debt. The Bundesliga also generated record revenue in 2010/11, bringing in almost €2 billion (£1.67 million/$2.63 billion). Adding to the financial success, the attendance record for the league was broken for the second year in a row as 42,101 spectators were at each game on average, making the German top flight the best attended league in Europe ahead of the Premier League. “For the first time, more than 42,000 spectators on average attended the matches, causing the Bundesliga to retain its spot as the football league recording the highest spectator average worldwide,” the German Football League (DFL) said. “The measures for an improved cost control approved by the clubs in August 2010 have borne fruit.” Christian Seifert, the Chief Executive of the DFL, added: “The Bundesliga is as popular as never before with fans, sponsors and media partners.”

KEIR RADNEDGE: A FRESH APPRAISAL

leaders — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:32:45 +0000

In football, as in every walk of life, some people have more to say than others. One of them, one-time FIFA adviser Jerome Champagne, has just broken his silence with a thought-provoking thesis on the issue of reform in Zurich, two years after having been shown the door.

Consideration of Champagne’s recipe for FIFA’s future raises intriguing issues over other international sports organisms.

Two interesting points about Champagne: firstly, his contribution to the reform debate is the first generated by a comparatively-recent insider; secondly, he has not followed the Warner/Bin Hammam example of biting the hand that fed him.

Quite the opposite.

The former French diplomat and sports journalist has a great deal of respect for football, for FIFA and its basically democratic foundation as well as for the men and women who work on its worldwide social, educational, health and development projects.

But he knows that change in the decision-making structure is essential; he knows that the national associations provide a logical foundation for the system, but that confederations, leagues, clubs and players need to be involved more closely.

If not then, eventually, the professional game will feel increasingly alienated and the odd assortment of millionaires, oligarchs and business bosses who run the clubs will become more tempted to go their own way.

This is the danger which challenges UEFA right now.

The level of European club debt is rising, year on year. That is the justification for President Michel Platini’s financial fair play scheme. It will, UEFA’s executive was promised earlier this week, have teeth; it will not pull its punches when the punishment of a European competition ban is demanded.

Presumably, a small army of lawyers and accountants are already studying the rules and regulations to see what loopholes may exist and how the scheme sits within the wider context of European law.

This is a potential threat to the long-term ability of UEFA to hold all the diverse strands of the European game together.

Inevitably, the first challenges to FFP will ultimately be channelled into the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Hopefully sport’s ‘Supreme Court’ is already reviewing how it can meet the steady increase in the number of football-related cases.

CAS was created in 1984 by the International Olympic Committee with the intention of offering sport a time-saving shortcut to dispute resolution. The evidence of Sion, Bin Hammam, Contador etc is that CAS cannot work at the pace sport demands.

In Champagne’s early years at FIFA, the world federation suggested that CAS should set up a football-specific division. This piece of commonsense was, apparently, rejected.

Just goes to show that there are many more sports authorities than FIFA which might benefit from a fresh appraisal.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
ROGAN TAYLOR: WE’RE ALL FOR FAIR DO’S, AREN’T WE?
GERRY COX: NO FIX REQUIRED

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

ROGAN TAYLOR: WE’RE ALL FOR FAIR DO’S, AREN’T WE?

leaders — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:20:51 +0000

That quiet day spent by the lakeside in Geneva sowed the seeds of considerable future unhappiness. No, it isn’t the first line of my debut novel. It was UEFA this week releasing the numbers from their annual audit of the state of financial play amongst the fifty odd nations which make up its membership. Europe’s governing body was also using the time to explain how they will enforce the new ‘financial fair play’ rules (FFP) when they come fully into effect in just over two years time.

The audit numbers are sobering enough, though few will be surprised, especially here in England, to discover massive debt at the heart of the game. Amongst the top league clubs in Europe (some 665 of them), the net losses in 2010 equalled £1.3 billion – up more than a third on the previous year. Over half of all the clubs were in the red and a third of the total were spending 120% of their entire income. Total debt has reached over £7 billion.

When it comes to the highest revenue-raising clubs in Europe (those with an income of over £45 million a year; mostly in the west of course), three quarters of them were in that group, spending twelve quid for every ten they earned. Mr. Micawber would be going insane. UEFA ain’t too happy about it either. And who can blame them?

The individual Leagues themselves are deeply in debt too. Of the top twenty Leagues in Europe, just two of them broke even. And it doesn’t stop there. UEFA says that as you descend the football pyramid in any given nation, the likelihood of insolvencies and bankruptcies increase even more.

And yet more money is pouring into football every year. The UEFA audit for 2010 also revealed that the industry as a whole grew by 6.6%; that’s an extra £700 million more in revenue than the previous year. It clearly doesn’t hang around. In that famous phrase, ‘the prune juice effect’, the money goes out faster than it comes in – and there’s no prize for guessing where it goes. It makes fairly ordinary left-backs in middle ranking clubs into millionaires.

Like so much about the so-called ‘business’ of football, it just doesn’t make any sense in the ordinary world of commerce. Here we are, on the banks of Lake Geneva, at the heart of a Europe whose economy is rapidly going to hell in a handcart; whose richer nations are grateful if they can squeeze a growth rate of half a percent, and, while Brussels burns (as it were), football is fiddling around squandering additional revenues while basking in the kind of growth rates that only the BRIC countries enjoy.

You certainly can’t blame UEFA for having a go at sobering up the mad emperors of football before the whole place burns down. How long can it go on like this? Won’t even football have to touch reality at some point?

Whether the FFP regulations will do the trick – and shrink spending (principally on players’ wages) to the point where eventually clubs have to more or less break even is another matter. And I’m not so sure how ‘fair’ it really is either.

The problem is that the eminently sensible ‘break even’ aim – enforced by significant sanctions – locks everything into the current status quo of clubs. If you can only spend what you earn (though UEFA will exclude clubs’ investments in infrastructure; academies and such), then only those with the greatest turnovers now will be able to afford the best players… for ever.

Of course, you might argue, ‘twas ever thus’; the big clubs who make the most money have almost always been at the top of the pecking order. What’s new? But in football, at least until now, a ‘miracle’ could always happen to overturn the ‘natural order’. A boyhood fan who became a billionaire could buy his club and pump enough dosh in to challenge the greatest (as at Blackburn Rovers).

A strange, incredibly rich foreigner could buy your club for reasons unknown, and then fall in love with it; lavishing huge amounts of money on the team to great success, and writing off all the debt by swapping it for equity in the club (as at Chelsea).

A distant kingdom with royalty of unimaginable wealth picks your club out of the football ditch it’s been trapped in for generations, and pumps half a billion quid into the team to raise your club to heights never previously witnessed. And they, too, write off all the debt into shares (as at Man City).

It’s the dream of millions of unrequited fans around the world. But we’ve got to wake up before it becomes a nightmare.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
KEIR RADNEDGE: A FRESH APPRAISAL
GERRY COX: NO FIX REQUIRED

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

GERRY COX: FOOTBALL AND GAMBLING – A MUG’S GAME

leaders — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:44:59 +0000

Didi Hamann is the latest high-profile footballer to confess to a serious gambling problem, admitting that he realised his addiction had got out of hand when he bet – and lost – a quarter of a million pounds on a game of cricket being played halfway across the world.

The former Germany international eventually realised he was ruining his life, as did Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington who confessed to having lost around £1.5million over the years on horses, dogs, cards and pretty much anything that moved. Etherington admitted his wages would sometimes be gone by the time he got off the team coach, after playing cards with his team-mates. He is not alone – there are many household names who have been in the same position, and we should prepare ourselves for many more stories of overpaid footballers blowing their vast fortunes in ‘the bookies.’

Paul Merson summed up the hopeless gambler’s lot best when he described the worst depths of his addiction during his Arsenal days, when he would sit up late at night in his hotel room before games, betting on any sport that was on TV, not even knowing the rules or who the teams were. Like many gamblers, Merson said if there were two flies crawling up a pane of glass he would want to bet on which one reached the top first. He also admitted gambling was the biggest problem he had when he memorably went public with his drink, drugs and betting addictions in 1994.

Astonishingly, after almost losing his house in recent years because of gambling debts, he was signed up by bookmakers Betfair for a PR campaign.

And therein lies a huge problem for football, and sport in general. Sport has dangerously close ties with gambling, relying heavily on the money it brings in through sponsorship and advertising, and in turn providing the events that create hundreds of betting markets for bookmakers, whether legal or illegal, throughout the world.

It is a relationship that borders on the unhealthy, and the circumstances are ripe for corruption, as we have seen so many times. Football may not have as big a problem with corruption as cricket, for example, but nobody really knows the extent of it. And it would be foolish to assume that it is only widespread in the Far East or Eastern Europe – corruption in football is on our doorstep.

So what do we do about it? Try to limit the amount of gambling in sport, put a block on betting companies sponsoring sporting events, the way cigarettes and alcohol have been barred?

No, football has decided to do the opposite, and welcome the bookmakers in with open arms. A daily sports business bulletin dropped into my inbox the other day. One story expressed FIFA’s grave concerns about gambling and corruption, the next story celebrated a bookmaker’s sponsorship of the FA Cup – the most revered and treasured trophy in football. Can you imagine a cigarette company sponsoring the proposed new royal yacht?

And next to Hamann’s shocking revelations about his gambling habits was that particular newspaper’s daily betting column, happily exhorting readers to spend their money at the bookies.

It is difficult to follow sport without being bombarded by messages urging you to gamble away your money. There would be a national outcry if children’s TV programmes were to be sponsored bookmakers or had gambling adverts in every break, yet that is precisely what happens with sports TV and radio programming, which is hugely popular with children (as I know only too well).

Are we making it too easy for our children to grow up believing that gambling is acceptable? Parents and teachers warn against the dangers of drink and drugs, but do we do anything to warn kids or each other off the dangers of gambling. I know from bitter personal experience that a gambling addiction can be far more destructive than a drink or drug habit, having had an employee bring our company and a dozen or so livelihoods to the brink of extinction with his actions. Police and lawyers have told me that it is ‘worryingly common’ for people with access to company funds to have gambling addictions. After all, it is so easy to place a bet now.

But the hard part is paying for it. All my working life I have known people who were penniless within hours of being paid, whether they worked in advertising, the media, or on a building site. Now we know footballers come into that category, too, even if they are earning more in a week than many people earn in a year.

I think the stories we hear are the tip of an iceberg, and football is lurching towards a disaster of Titanic proportions. I hope I am wrong.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
ROGAN TAYLOR: THE CUP THAT DOESN’T CHEER
KEIR RADNEDGE: SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD
DELROY ALEXANDER: SPORT IN BLACK & WHITE

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.

KEIR RADNEDGE: SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD

leaders — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:59:22 +0000

Horace Burrell has said he is sorry. So is everyone else, he says. All ‘sorry’.

Who are these repentant sinners? Easy: all those delegates from 24 Caribbean football federations who turned up in Port of Spain last May to hear Mohamed Bin Hammam tell them why he should be elected president of FIFA.

Unfortunately, of course, the Qatari millionaire spoiled the effect and compromised a lot of people by leaving a number of envelopes stuffed with cash lying around.

Quite how all this cash turned up in Trinidad has yet to be explained: a police inquiry into the role played by government Minister and ex-FIFA grandee Jack Warner appears to have been swept under a very thick carpet.

Around two dozen delegates and officials have subsequently had their wrists slapped by FIFA’s ethics committee for an unspecified range of offences. These appear to have been restricted to a lack of co-operation with investigators rather than to having kept the cash.

Burrell, who first emerged on the international stage as Jamaica’s football supreme when the Reggae Boyz reached the 1998 World Cup finals, copped for a six-month ban of which three months were suspended.

Hence not only is Burrell now back on the scene but he is also one of the members of the committee created, on FIFA’s say-so, to stick all the pieces of the Caribbean Football Union back together again.

Earlier this week Burrell told a ‘happy returns’ press conference: “Everyone who attended that meeting last May in Trinidad regrets it. It is not something we are happy about. In fact, we would have preferred not to have gone. Having said that, it is now through the window, and we plan to move forward positively. Also, one has to understand that in life, events will occur, and we should learn from them… as far as FIFA is concerned, all that took place in May is now closed — so said the president of FIFA, Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter — and to prove that this is all true, yours truly has been named as a member of the committee responsible for resuscitating the football programmes in the Caribbean.”

So here is the solution to all FIFA’s scandals, all the speculation about illicit cash from ISL, about World Cup vote deals and the convenient distribution of some of those development funds.

All Ricardo Teixeira need do is say ‘Sorry’; the same for Bin Hammam; for Warner; for Anouma, Temarii and the rest. Such an approach might have eased the suspension pain, too, for Luis Suarez and Liverpool after that infamous exchange with Patrice Evra.

But then, as Elton John told us back in the 1970s: Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

THIS WEEK’S ARTICLES:
ROGAN TAYLOR: THE CUP THAT DOESN’T CHEER
DELROY ALEXANDER: SPORT IN BLACK & WHITE
GERRY COX: FOOTBALL AND GAMBLING – A MUG’S GAME

The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.