Tony Formosa • January 18 2004

Transfer bungs confirm ‘football’ crisis

Football’s limited movements during the current transfer window depicts the clubs’ severe financial crisis. Big transfers have died. Most of the new signings are of players on loan or out of contract, while certain debt-ridden clubs are forced to sell, not to become extinct. This pattern is clearly explained by mentioning a few names. Out of job Fabrizio Ravanelli who spent a few years in England with Middlesborough and Derby, followed by a short spell with Dundee joined Perugia, obviously on a free. Out of favour Edgar Davids who is on 3.5meuros a season with Juventus joined the Dutch clan at Barcelona, at least till June when his contract expires and his agent Ronald Geerlings will study possible options. Hidetoshi Nakata joined Bologna from poor Parma, even if it meant a 30 percent reduction in wages! Parma have a negative balance sheet totalling 78m euros!

Nothing extraordinary has happened elsewhere though player-agents were not idle.
In England 40-year old David Seaman called it a day soon after Man City signed England’s no.1 David James from West Ham while Chelsea, despite having ready cash failed to lure the world’s best like Chivu (Roma), Vieri (Inter) Adriano (Parma) or Nedved (Juventus)! This is possibly the only exception, where a club with an impressing spending budget is still finding it difficult to strengthen the side with targeted star players staying put.
Another failure came from Perugia’s owner Luciano Gaucci whose bragging that he will sign a woman footballer for his club, did not materialise, as the world’s best woman footballer Birgit Prinz of Germany was not lured by an offer of 1.5m euros for an 18-month contract! Not that anyone took Gaucci seriously anyway! Yes! Women cannot always be bought!
Going through a complete list of transfers in Europe one will still not bat an eyelid; however a sober analysis will raise a few questions with ready made answers. Are most clubs in a position to spend millions and offer seven-figure contracts? Of course not. What caused the present sad situation? The reasons are many and varied. Less money is coming from TV rights while clubs spend most of the income from various sources on wages, despite all the talk about salary-caps.

Probity in Football
Another important conclusion is that, as the football industry is not treated like any multimillion-dollar business, probity is most imperative, which unfortunately is not always the case. It is not the first time that the media reported findings of shady transfers in which the price of the player was inflated so that everyone, including go-betweens, get their cut. Exposures of transfer bungs or illegal payments give anyone an insight into the murky world of agents who exploit the sport for their own ends, aided and abetted by managers seeking success at any price. National associations try their hardest, though at times they look somewhat complacent as millions are siphoned off from the game in back-handers and fixes. Everyone is convinced that football has become such big business - to the enrichment of a few at the expense of all too many - that it has lost touch with the grassroots fans without whom it would not exist. They are being short-changed by directors, managers and agents, who are, in turn inadequately policed by incompetent officials and inept politicians.
Another sour situation is the high number of people involved in the complex transfer market who are directly related to football managers. Though nepotism is not a crime, there is certainly a potential conflict of interest when one handles more than £50 transfer deals for a club managed by the agent’s father!

Adequate measures
About 18 months ago the Football Association appointed a specialist in exposing malpractice as its sleaze buster-in-chief and in order to follow the money trail involved in these transfers the FA uses firms and detectives, specialist financial investigators and some of the best accountancy fees. Fraud specialists are appointed simply because of dirty smells which necessitate enquiries.
Clubs must have their books in order. In fact many do. But those who pile heavy debts should be dealt with heavily. French legend Michel Platini who could be the next UEFA President thinks that "clubs not respecting economic rules should be relegated to division three, and banned from signing players as we do in France." Certain national bodies, do in fact have similar regulations, but then what made the French idol state that "those that cheat most seem to win most honours" if that was the correct quote as reported in an influential sports daily published in Italy?

UEFA will not allow clubs to participate in the Champions League as from 2004-2005
The Germans pushed strongly to get this ruling, to control what is termed as ‘administrative doping.’ A well-known soccer expert was not off the mark when he remarked that clubs’ finances should be monitored continually. Only rarely, in moments of extreme crisis, do our thoughts or emotions turn towards the boardroom and club owners, let alone the game’s administrators.
The quiet transfer season should cause a sober reflection and strict measures.