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You will find them everywhere. There are always people who abuse their power for their illegal cut; some call it a conflict of interest, others go by more direct interpretation, and are willing to name such filth as fraud.
Money not only talks and buys, but it also tempts.
In the football scene there have been so many club chairmen that were handcuffed and had to pay heavily for their sins. There are others who have pitted their finger in many pies, without staining their silk shirts.
The latest, but not the last, in the series of those who were caught out was Karl Heinz Wildhoser, 64, former Chairman of Bundesliga side Munich 1860, who soon after he was questioned and detained, had the ‘decency’ of taking an ‘honourable’ decision to resign from the club where he had sat on the comfortable chair for twelve years.
As a close friend of mine told me while watching Juve-Milan at Della Alpi, “the list of crooks running clubs is very similar to that of flashy suitors chasing stunning women. It’s endless. But it is not different to that in the commercial field.”
Even those who give the impression that they are holier than thou, cheat.
What was Wildhoser’s alleged crime? He merely voiced a ten-word sentence, which divulged confidential details regarding a tender for the building of the new Stadium which will replace the monumental Olympiastadion as from next year. The construction company Alpine, of which, Wildhoser’s son Kalle is one of the two most senior administrators, won the bid with an offer of 280 million euros, while Wildhoser senior pocketed one percent of that golden pot for telling his son what is the maximum budget reserved for such a big project. Kalle has also been nicked.
World Cup Stadium
The new stadium will host the opening match of the World Cup 2006 series, and five other matches including one of the semi-finals.
The Stadium is shared by Bayern and Munich 1860. The other senior administrator of Alliance Arena-Munchen Stadion, Fritz Sherer, a former Director at Bayern, had resigned from his club because of ill-health.
The story concerning Wildhosers’ alleged corruption charges reminds us of the sad stories of Calisto Tanzi, 65, and Sergio Cragnotti, 62, both former presidents of Italian Serie A clubs who are currently guests of different correctional centres while serious investigations regarding the cracking of their empires, Parmalat and Cirio are still being carried out. Both Cragnotti and Tanti are great mates. One will do well to recall the number of players who were transferred from Lazio to Parma or from Tanzi’s club to Cragnotti’s. Herman Crespo cost Lazio 110 milliardi; Veron also played for Parma before helping Lazio win the title under Sven Goran Ericsson. A scudetto which, according to the former chairman cost, the Roman club 10 million euros in bonuses alone from a total of 190 million euros which Cragnotti had transferred from Cirio to Lazio, much to the despair of the poor shareholders!
Typical
Such scandals do not differ much from those involving bankers, company owners whose businesses inexplicably go bankrupt, and others who occupy high-ranking posts. Tom Boyer’s book ‘Broken Dreams’ includes a number of shocking episodes with names and details.
A few years back the International Olympic Committee had suspended a number of its leading members who were bribed while visiting the sites of different countries that were interested in staging the money spinning Olympic Games.
Administrative doping
Lately the new phrase ‘administrative doping’ became very popular as clubs play with figures to cover up their misdemeanours. Last month, Italian Police raided 42 clubs as prosecutors probed claims of widespread financial irregularities especially in transfers. According to Professor Victor Uckmar, who walked out as Head of Covisoc the game’s financial regulatory authority, this situation came about because of mistakes (!) made by chairmen.
Football is a rat race. Only results matter. Chairmen are ambitious because of their investments. But then again one will do well to note that even the richest clubs need success to earn useful cash. Juventus and Manchester United, both eliminated from the Champions League, made it known that these setbacks will cost the clubs heavily, despite their position as the richest two, according to the published figures by Deloitte for seasons 2002-2003.
Glancing at the figures of the top ten clubs show how much money there is in football these days. Manchester United 251.4 million euros; Juventus 218.3; Milan 200.2; Real Madrid 192.8; Bayern Munich 162.7; Internazionale 162.4; Arsenal 149.6; Liverpool 149.4; Newcastle 138.9 and Chelsea 133.8 (the figures are for season 2002-2003 and given in millions of euros).
Chairmen are ambitious for their own reasons, and no wonder even the most successful managers are continually under pressure.
Alex Ferguson has won 30 honours in his career with Manchester United and Aberdeen, Marcello Lippi 13, Ottman Hitzfeld 22 with Borussia Dortmung, Aarau, Grasshoppers and Bayern, Giovanni Trapattoni 20 with Juventus, Inter and Bayern, to mention a few who know that they may be looking for pastures new within the next four or five months.
Football is a lovely game when it is a sport. It becomes a little bit complicated when it is enslaved by the commercial factor.
A few handcuffed chairmen, like the action of sex-starved players raping cheap women, may give the game a bad reputation indeed, but then again aren’t there cheats and filthy performers in every sector?
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