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The Game of Association Football is not properly run, in certain places. A few real stories that have emerged lately justifies this serious indictment. The reference is not made to some parochial amateur group from some remote town or village in the wilderness but to serious international bodies, national associations, administrators, millionaire-performers, coaches, referees, player-agents, top clubs with a turn-over of millions, chief executives, financial controllers, the lot.
In reviewing EURO 2004, FIFA supremo Josep Blatter is reported to have stated that the wizards were drained because of their league and international commitments, and as such failed to perform up to the expected standards.
He only repeated the same comments that he had stated after the World Cup edition of two years ago. If this person runs world football and is paid good money for doing so, surely he has his share of blame for such a situation.
What did FIFA do, so that players are not drained when they come to perform in international tournaments? Did FIFA dictate to their affiliated confederations that national leagues should not be composed of more than 16 clubs? Did FIFA help the clubs’ coffers by paying their selected performers during the period they are on duty with the national teams, so that clubs can have a breather in lessening expenses. Because of economic exigencies, clubs are involved in a number of other matches outside the league programmes and as such the players suffer from fatigue.
The irony is that despite the increase in the number of matches, the finances of most clubs are far from rosy.
It is a sad story that shows the strange mechanics of the football industry. Clubs have reduced the number of players on their payroll, they have even asked players to accept a reduction in wages but somehow they still struggle badly with their finances.
Lazio for example, boasts of 700,000 fans and debts of EUR289.5. Last season, the players’ salaries totalled EUR64.7 million but the intake from the gates and TV was only EUR61.2m. They owe EUR132.4m in taxes. After the nasty Sergio Cragnotti experience the club still managed to hold on to the top league places, but the financial situation got from bad to worse. If they do not raise EUR33 million by Tuesday their future participation will be in doubt. That clubs live beyond their means is an accepted norm, but there is hardly any logic behind the way their conduct their businesses, or so it seems. Napoli have to raise 70m euros, Ancona 19, and the story never ends. In England, Everton has a debt of over £48m but they are ready to offer a five-year contract to Wayne Rooney, 18, worth £12.5. No wonder Rooney's agent wanted to have a look at the books before considering the club’s offer.
Inter forked out EUR68 million on 11 coaches in nine years. Now they have signed Roberto Mancini on a three-year contract worth EUR15m but they are still paying their former coaches Hector Cuper and Alberto Zaccheroni EUR 4 million apiece as per contract. Meanwhile Massimo Moratti forked out EUR542.5 million in transfers since 1995! With all these changes, Inter never won anything for almost 15 years!
Roma’s Capello: Two years without wages
AC Roma is in the same troubled boat and like Lazio they have been struggling for the last two years. Former manager Fabio Capello while in Madrid recently, made it known that he had not been paid since the end of season 2001-2002. No wages, no bonuses, no fringe benefits, he had to pay for his car and rent. I was wondering why. Roma did not blow their top when their manager unexpectedly moved to Juventus. They have sold Samuel to Real Madrid and pocketed a much needed EUR 25million and at the time of writing they are finalising details so that Emerson joins Capello at Juventus for about EUR18m. They are doing so to reduce their heavy debts and hope that Roman investors play their part in this battle for survival.
In Spain, France and Germany it is the same repeated story. Scandals of mismanagement hardly make interesting news these days. The bad print counts for most European clubs with the situation being a lot worse in other parts of the world.
The sad story of Leeds United continues. A few years back, the then club's chairman Peter Rinsdale and manager David O'Leary were too ambitious and bought a number of highly expensive players who were given lucrative contracts.
The Yorkshire club was in the red by more than £100m in no time, with hardly any prospects of falling manna. Rinsdale had to go while the sacked manager got his millions in settlement. A Professor of Economics John McKenzie, was appointed instead of Rinsdale, but he failed to steer the club to healthier financial waters. He could not understand the reason behind the club’s use of a fleet of 70 rented cars! Eventually Leeds were relegated at the end of last season.
A new Chairman was named. Gerard Krasner is involved in a bid to cut the club’s debts of more than $50 million, transferred all the big earners and now plans to sell Elland Road, Leeds Utd home ground for more than a hundred years.
This is the latest in a long list of disappointing setbacks to come the club’s way since their relegation back in May.
Veron and Crespo
The former Chelsea duo are on loan to the Milan clubs, the Champions pay Crespo £20K a week, while Chelsea fork out almost £4m a year (£74K a week) for offloading him! He had cost Abramovic £16.8m when he got him from Inter last season. He played in 19 Premiership matches (1,144 minutes). 7 times he was substituted and on another 7 occasions he came in as a sub. He only scored 10 goals. Crespo had cost Cragnotti 60m euros when he signed him for Lazio from Parma.
The other Argentinian played only 50 matches in the Premier League. Since his move to England, he has cost Man U and Chelsea £43.1 million, which work out to just under one million pounds sterling per game! It's almost as shameful as Corrado Grabbi's transfer from Ternana to Blackburn. He cost £6.75m for 11 matches! Bad buys?
Mind you clubs are feeling the pinch. Figures for season 2002-3 state that in England’s Premier division, transfer fees dropped from £323m to £187 while wages and salaries increased by 8 percent to £761million. A few have made a pre-tax profit. But most of the top European clubs, following the boom years to the start of this millennium have been struggling with, a hitherto little known, difficulty. They face acute financial difficulties and must change their financing. German clubs have an average debt of three million EUR each, in Italy the professional clubs are said to be in over three EUR billion worth of debt figures.
The Italian Parliament had hoped that with the drafting of the ‘salvacalcio’ exceptional regulations they would have done the trick till the EU told them that they are breaking the Union's regulations! The Bosman rule and the reduced income from television forced clubs to be dependent on money from large media corporations.
Frankly there hardly seems any logic in the way professional football is run and creative solutions are called for. “Whether these are eventually implemented, is another matter,” remarked my colleague, Babs, an expert in common sense and careful analysis.
The same sad story is repeated on all fronts in Europe, the situation being worse elsewhere. Gone are the days when leagues in Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain were recording growth rates of between 15 and 22 percent. “The lucrative years for players are over” it is claimed by Werder Bremen. With any new contract signed less money is now received than before.
The situation is similar in Malta. The top clubs know that only participating in a European competition can give them a breather, however, I cannot fathom their approach when they know that if they manage to go through the first round they have a useful income of anything between Lm70K and Lm100K at least.
So how is it that they take these matches lightly? Their preparation is primitive. Pre-season training for a couple of hours per day and no real match practice are hardly the best approach one can think of.
And mentioning fitness or lack of it, is a very sore point even for the likes of megastars who failed so miserably during EURO 2004.
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