A mercenary industry where cold hard cash supersedes loyalty

This week, my football column in The Argus focuses on Manchester City and on what money is doing to the game:
Even to people who have no real love for the English Premier League, a game to keep an eye on this weekend is Arsenal’s visit to Manchester City, as the juxtaposition between the two clubs is really interesting. One has a manager who, rather than spending the big bucks, likes to bring unknown players through the ranks, while the other is football’s equivalent of a Lotto winner going on a spending spree. It’ll be intriguing to see what happens and I’m probably not alone when I say that I’d really like Arsenal’s lovingly nurtured team to take City to the cleaners.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about Manchester City. On the one hand, I want them to fail miserably. The way they are cherry-picking players by throwing silly money around is indicative of just what is wrong with the game nowadays. Money is a disease that is eating football from the inside out. It is creating a mercenary industry where cold hard cash supersedes loyalty and success must be attained immediately or the manager is given the sack (with a tasty golden handshake) at the first opportunity. All the while fans are finding themselves progressively more alienated. How much longer can we be expected to love a game played by petulant millionaires while we struggle to afford the ever increasing ticket prices? To see City pay £24m for Jolene Lescott, who is probably worth less than half that, shows just how distorted things are becoming.

On the other hand though, I certainly don’t begrudge Manchester City fans the newfound excitement that all these signings has brought them. It can’t be easy living in the shadow of Manchester United, and it would be nice if the top four’s monopoly was compromised. I suppose though, that the reason I’m not sure how I feel about Manchester City is because I realise that my problems with their wealth are born largely out of jealousy. In truth, it’s hard to be too resentful when I know, in my heart of hearts, that if an insanely rich Sheikh threw a gazillion pounds at my team, my outlook would be very much different. We’d all love it if success was achieved organically; if our club climbed the leagues through hard work and a sensible business model while retaining a sense of community, but if a place among football’s elite could be fast-tracked by an Arab with more dosh than sense, would you hear me moralising about how money is ruining the game? Of course not, I’d be too busy deciding which of our new superstar signings’ names I was going to have printed on the back of my replica shirt.

The transfer window - a false, cornered market?

Every Saturday I write a column about football in English newspaper, The Argus. Here is an excerpt from my musings this week:Hull City manager Phil Brown recently brought up some interesting points about the transfer window, saying agents and players have created a false, cornered market that is unfairly weighed in favour of the seller. This prompted Manchester City boss Mark Hughes to bemoan the inflated prices and heightened expectations that come about because of the limited time clubs have to conduct their transfers.

It’s hardly surprising Hughes has got the hump, as surely any club that he approaches will stick a few million quid on any player’s asking price in the knowledge that Manchester City are swimming in cash since their takeover. A case in point was the Shay Given transfer. Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear described City’s original bid of £5m as “insulting.” This translates as, “Do me a favour. If you could afford to offer a hundred million for Kaka, you can at least throw us another £3m.”

I think the transfer window favours the big clubs who can afford to start the season with a massive squad. While everyone else suffers because of injuries and suspensions, the likes of Manchester United have players such as Tevez chomping at the bit to get a game. Mark Hughes stated in a recent interview that he couldn’t remember why the transfer window was brought in, and neither can I. Presumably it was for the benefit of the game, but how can such a melee where silly money is spent in a state of panic be anything but detrimental to football? Sure, it’s a fun spectacle for fans, but in these worrying economic times, shouldn’t more measured financial decisions be encouraged, rather than clubs desperately throwing money around and hoping some of it will stick?