Doomed if we do, doomed if we don't
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 2:53PM So, I'm sitting here tucking into a tuna salad (I'm on a health kick at the minute) discussing the state of football at work. The Man Utd fan is overwhelmingly disillusioned with the game (damn you Fergie and your relentless quest for silverware).
He's not renewing his season ticket (he's a proper manc by the way - not a Surrey dweller - who lives and works in London but travels up for most games). He's a little sick of all the greedy money obsessed players. The Ronaldo saga is obviously a sticking point, but more so Carlos Tevez who will be (probably) joining Man City, not for the money, but because of the football as United have failed to make him feel part of the furniture at Old Trafford. I'm guessing Carlos will be part of City's five man strike-force including Bellamy, Robinho, Santa Cruz and Elano. No bench warming for the Argentine then.
In all likelihood Elano won't be part of the set-up next season. I can only pray and sacrifice a Chirpy effigy to the footballing Gods that Harry doesn't look towards Eastland's with a cheeky £15M bid for mad man Craig.
Even with the high tax rate taking a bite out of their wage packet (some of the poor blighters are only bringing home £40,000 a week after tax) they can rest assured that there is still legal room to wriggle around in. Much like City are doing at the moment with the Eto'o personal terms negotiations.
Little clubs like us will struggle to compete. Logistically, there ought to be no difference between us and City with regards to what we can offer players in the way of ambition. But as seen with Gareth Barry (who decided against Champs League with Liverpool or possibly Arsenal) money talks. Eto'o has no reason to sign for us. Not because we are not in Europe like City but because we can't offer £250,000 a week or sign other players of similar ilk for similar wages.
I guess the issue at the heart of the no-limit ethos is around the argument as to whether players are ambitious and prefer to join a team that can challenge from the off (or near enough) rather than a club that will not be able to attract world class players. So if you want to challenge, you need to remove the hurdles in front of you and only attempt to jump the one at the end. It's a short-cut, that may or may not work. What's ironic, and suggested to me by the manc, is that Spurs are a prime club for a billionaire.
Rather than spend £15M on several decent players which don't always pan out too well, why not make massive ridiculous bids for 'superstars' and just go for the Top 4 jugular with a razor sharp short-cut?
But alas, we are safe from such dramas. And it all feels a little too superficial. Too easy. Not that it is, but it's easier. But how would we react if it happened? Fans always scoff at the prospect for reasons I've already given. But would it be ok because we have a far more richer history than the likes of City? Or would that be an excuse to appease ourselves from the hypocrisy?
You will probably find that the hunger for success will out weigh everything else in the end.
Such is life.
We cursed Chelsea for doing something similar when Roman pumped his millions into the club. But they were already a Champs League side, and the attraction there for players was mainly down to the fact that they appointed the Special One. Who only signed on because he knew he'd have plenty of money to play with and that players would join because of his reputation. Chelsea without the money is not the same proposition. If you look at the pre-Roman days, they did more than well and signed plenty of big name players - but they were still way off the pace of title winners.
We might be in a better position with our wage budget, in comparison to our prior generosity. So say the rumours and having terminated the reserve side, there is more money in the kitty than usual to spend on first team affairs. More money, but nothing stratospheric. Meaning we are not in the same league to compete with City purely on the side of contract offers (imagine City with money AND Champions League).
But all this shouldn't cause mass depression. The Utd fan is just pissed off because modern day players are more detached than ever. But we all know this already. It's nothing new. But rather than clubs striving to match their fans expectations through the traditional ways, the option for whoring themselves out to billionaires who want a plaything seems to be the only viable desperate solution to play catch-up and catch-up fast.
As for me?
I'm undecided about City and whether I want them to do well.
Usually, outside the Top 4, we attract the most hype in off-season with transfers. In fact, we probably get more coverage than they do as we are firm favs of footballing agents and lazy journalism. We've been linked to around 80 players so far this season (if not more). At a guess, only 10 (maybe less) of them are possible genuine targets. Regardless of the stats, the pre-season dark horse tag is usually shared between us and Everton. Mainly because we splash out millions. But things have changed. City are now the team to watch as they go in search of cracking the monopoly.
So the pressure is off for a start. Hughes will have to produce the goods and man-manage with confident skill to keep all his superstars in check. It won't be easy. But they are buying up decent players, not just offensive by also defensive.
If they break up the top 4 then one of the current elite will re-join the peasants. Which would be more than humorous as that would place (the de-throned club) on our level, and they will suffer more so because of the dip in money and attraction stakes. But the consequence of this is that City will cement their place by spending even more money and being able to attract even bigger stars because of their newly gained position.
I'm undecided because from the perspective of ambition, how can we ever expect to break into the Top 4 if someone else gets there first?
And what's worse? City, buying their way into the Top 4 or Everton, spending little and getting there on a tiny budget? The latter would qualify as football justice IMO, but would have us asking questions about our obvious mis-management with our endless £15M purchases.
So do I want City to succeed? Or do I want Hughes sacked before Christmas with City bottom half?
I've decided. I simply want us to finish above them. At least that way Noel and Liam will be even more miserable than usual.
Reader Comments (35)
I'd take a billionaire right about now. We'd gatecrash the Top 4 in 2 seasons max I reckon. Sadly I dont think the softly softly approach works. If there are at least two or three clubs or more (City, Everton, us and Villa) really pushing for 4th spot its more the case that 3 of the 4 suffer long term where as if you have 2 or 3 clubs challenging like City will no doubt do, the Top 4 stand the chance of being split wide open and suddenly the game changes.
Daft, if we made 4th spot with a billionaire, we'd be about a millions times more stable for it. I know we over spend but to crack the top 4 isn't as difficult as its being suggested it is. Not in the way that will need to take unlimited millions to resolve. It can be done, Everton have proved that. The main problem is that it seems the only way in at the moment is to hope one of them - Arsenal more than likely - fuck up again. City can spend hundreds of millions but might still only come 4th because the top 4 are not brand new spanking sides who need to gel.
When some Arab comes along and buys your club its almost like its no longer yours and it belongs to someone who doesn't really understand the club. Plaything is the right word.
Nice read. What type of salad did you have with your tuna then?
Absolutely fed up with the whole thing. The quicker new rules on wages/more compulsory use of home grown players/ dept etc come in the better.
As far as i am concerned the last 10years of premiership football is based on money, first and foremost as a means to success. this period will never count in my book as notable qualifying history for the clubs that have benefitted most from its dishonest nature.
we've already seen with blackburn and chelsea that you can buy the league but i don't see it happening with man city for some reason. i watch eto'o before in a few games before the champions league final missing sitter after sitter............they are welcome to him. I'm only gutted about g barry going there.
they have their wages and their transfer deals good luck to them.
they did the double over man u when they couldn't rub two pennies together - you can't buy that motivation with the team they've got now.
Happened in Serie A this, didn't it. Came crashing down and they're still recovering.
I guess if we stay away from this, and continue to make profit (14th richest in the world?) we might came out of it laughing when others around us suffer the consequences of their over-spending.
Spurs, Prem champions 2021.
"they did the double over man u when they couldn't rub two pennies together - you can't buy that motivation with the team they've got now."
Brilliant assessment. This is why Hughes is on a hiding to nothing. He wont be able to handle all the egos. One or two in a team is enough, but several of them is a recipe for disaster.
Great article, was not using lateral thinking when I thought Citeh finishing 4th with Goons 5th(or preferably lower), it could well make it harder to achieve this status ourselves, I am not bothered by lack of transfer activity, think could be good to keep a settled team we have tried everything else.
Not sure anyone has noticed but we already have a billionaire owner just that he's got more than one brain cell and wants to stay a billionaire
glory, glory tottenham hotspurs
glory glory tottenham hotspurs
glory glory tottenham hospurs
and the Spurs go marching on
altogether now
........
I'm so frustrated what else can I do
If Arsenal finsihed 5th, it would mean that as long as we also qualified for the UEFA Europa cup then we would compete against them in the transfer market.
mick the dick - when do Arsenal ever compete in the transfer market?
Ok i need to wait another decade. Lets hope im alive 2021 then.
isn't enic top three richest owners in the premier league???
god I'm a hippocrit
Whilst I would love to see Spurs winning week in and week out and challenging for the top, I feel that if this were to be done with a Billionaire's spare change I'd feel slightly cheated and would probably care a whole lot less.
At the moment, when Bent misses from 2 yards or bentley fails to clear the first man with a free kick, I feel (rightfully?) aggrieved that my club paid 'insert ridiculously over-inflated fee here' for the useless so and so..
But, if it were a 50 million pound superstar paid £300,000 a week by Carlos Kickabouts' Arabian Step-dad would I really feel that outraged.....I don't think so, and I think that's because it wouldn't feel like my money. It wasn't earned by the turnstile clattering against my backside, it was gained by something like oil drilling in a country far far away and so has very little to do with me.
If this was the case, if it isn't my money....Is it still my club?? I for one don't think so.
So, if it's no longer the fans money or the fans club then what exactly is the point.......it becomes like horse racing, whilst it's fun to bet on the race, you don't really care too much about the horses, as after all, they don't belong to you!!
That right Filthy when do the Scum compete they got to many bills to pay
If they failed to make the champions league, I guess they would struggle more than most due to their debts and lack of CL windfalls. Just means they lose the CL attractiveness and probably 2 or 3 of their players in the process.
He's not renewing his season ticket (he's a proper manc by the way - not a Surrey dweller - who lives and works in London but travels up for most games). He's a little sick of all the greedy money obsessed players. The Ronaldo saga is obviously a sticking point, but more so Carlos Tevez who will be (probably) joining Man City, not for the money, but because of the football as United have failed to make him feel part of the furniture at Old Trafford. I'm guessing Carlos will be part of City's five man strike-force including Bellamy, Robinho, Santa Cruz and Elano. No bench warming for the Argentine then.
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Bet he didnt give a sh1t about "greedy money obsessed players" when they were all arriving at United. It's easy to take this new moral indulging stance now these players told your club to fcuk off. Must be hard to take. (Berbatov and Carrick, anyone?)
All these United fans claiming some sort of moral high ground that they'd rather not have the 'money grabbing portuguese', or 'money grabbing argentine' need to pipe down. You'd have happily paid them an extra £50,000 a week if they wanted to stay...funding it with some shirt sales in Asia.... but the players didnt want to stay.
On the subject of a sugar-daddy. Hell no. If a club cant generate it's own spending money, then it's not deserving of the players it buys.
Levy has done a great job of making us financially competitive, and in that regard we are a 'big-ish' club. Money can only get you so far as City will find out (Eto'o turned them down today).
Success, or relative success, will be all the sweeter if we do it off our own backs (hopefully we wont sell out too badly with all the tacky as shit merchandise, but it;s a bit late for that).
in looking for eric there is a superb scene with an argument between MU and FC United fans. MU fan says hes got the history, the badge, hes not a splitter, hes part of the United fans until he dies ect. FC returns with youve sold out, its not our club, formed by railwaymen its now all primidonnas and corporate prostitutes. He gets fed up and leaves the pub in a strop, so the MU fan gets the whole pub to cheer like United have scored... FC runs back in and cheers, until he sees they were taking the piss.
absolute classic scene.
I just wonder if we'll get to a point where the lower division sides coming up from the Championship have NO chance to stick in the EPL because they don't have sugar daddys. It's kind of frightening. Plus, what happens when one of these guys suddenly decides he'd rather own a cricket team, or a synchronized swim team ... there really needs to be some rules put in place about this.
From what I've read on the Man City forums, Elano is pulling a bit of a Berbatov and the fans want rid.
Spurs are already owned by a billionaire, a billionaire Spurs fan at that...so I don't really get this aspect of the article...I am more than happy with the ownership of the club...
we should sign elano!!
IMO, Petrov would be a better signing than Elano.
Chelsea were already a CL side when Roman got there as Matthew Harding chucked a load of dosh in, they were on the verge of Bankruptcy when Roman bailed them out.
The PL has helped ruin football in this country, look at some of the CL sides since its inception
Chelsea - Bought League / success (Roman)
Blackburn - Bought League (Jack Hayward)
Newcastle - Bought CL places (John Hall)
Leeds - Bought CL place (Bank loan)
For all but Chelsea it went horribly wrong when the money went, although Roman is a good few years younger than the two JH's were.
Only Man U, Goons and the bin dippers have not done it with a suger daddy at the helm (and all three did it with at least three top quality players coming through their youth team). Everton did it one year but this was more about Liverpool taking their eye of the league due to their run to the CL. They've not been properly close since.
As such we need to get some real quality kids coming through and / or get a new suger daddy or get Joe Lewis to chuck silly money in. But in reality is it really a sport anymore?
Phil Jagielka - Sheffield Utd - Everton.
Championship Defender? Maybe under average management, not now...
it is going to take more than money to get you in the Top 4. Shrewd buys rather than expensive buys. Look at Wigan.Got Palacios and Valencia for nothing. The Brazilian Melo went from Alemeria to Fiorentina - did Spurs even know about him. For Starters Spurs need to define exactly how we play. The system, the style etc. Get this embedded. Change the attitude at the club. We might hate Arsenal but the way they play is clear to everyone - and a new guy coming in understands the system right away. With Spurs you don't really know. Wenger is also very positive and that believe (sometimes migsguided) spreads through the club. Define a clear strategy on young players. Why have so many young players not progressed at Spurs. Crouch was at Spurs and even though he is not the greatest, he is worthy of being in our first team squad. We have no idea if the likes of Bostock will progress.
"He's a little sick of all the greedy money obsessed players. "
What, like Berbatov, Ronaldo, Tevez, Carrick, Ferdinand, Rooney and all the other players attracted by Utd's money
I'm sick of hypocritical Manure fans.
The stadium looks like a spaceship
End him!
Check this. Last couple of paragraphs:
http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/06/30/scott-duxbury-interview-part-4-i-wont-sell-to-tottenham/
Now please tell me if this is not a clear indication of west hams obsessive nature towards Tottenham. You can almost sense they are bursting with pride, sniggering amongst themselves like this is some form of victorious deed.
Yes, he's made that clear every time he opens his mouth. Does make me laugh.
I completely agree with the author on this one. Although i dont think that english football fans realise what kind of an influence the PL teams and the way they throw money around has on the continental teams , at least you guys get to watch fast and attractive football because of the type of players this abundance of funds can attract. My home team (which is in a similar league position and financial position in the Belgian league as spurs are in the PL , be it on a far smaller scale) has been building a football club patiently (and patience is not a football fan's biggest trait) but it's just frustrating to see that small foreign clubs with similar grounds and history can just grab our players for a relatively small amount of money leaving us behind with another eastern european C player that can barely get a first touch right. 15 mil equals our total yearly budget ....
We'd be craving for a crazy russian bringing in the euro's that will provide us with better quality players. Even though it would mean selling out the soul of a team. Just to be able to snub the so called big four (yes we do have them 2 ... again on a far smaller scale). It s to be admired that a club as everton can get results with a far smaller budget but as been said here , they will never be able to reach the top spot without bringing in the dough. As where spurs are concerned i reckon a better scouting and transfer politics can get us very close to the top spots. Money is almost everything in this game but fortunately soul , tactics, luck and wit can (still?) get you very far ...