posted Sep 20, 2007

Platini never minded money when he was at Juventus and they were winning everything, Bankrolled by the Agnelli family.
Burlusconi owns Milan and has bankrolled them through the years. As soon as the English clubs do the same UEfA start bleating.
Strange how it comes after England having 3 semi finalists last year.

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posted Sep 20, 2007

Yes, Platini is 100% correct.

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posted Sep 20, 2007

Is Platini right?

Platini is stupid.

He'll have another hare-brained idea in 10 minutes time...

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posted Sep 20, 2007

It pains me to say it but he is right. I'm a season ticket holder at Villa (one of the foreign owned I know - but I think Lerner is a different beast to the others, certainly Abramovich, in that he is an enthusiast for the club as well as the sport and is actually trying to get the fans onside). I enjoy going to the games still but there is side to the game now which grates on me.

Why do I only watch a Saturday 3 O'Clock once in a blue moon (even Villa!)? For all the money it just seems to be slightly better for the fans and dramatically better for the players. Where is the benefit.

I am getting cynical now but I wonder how long it is before the game loses credibility with the fans as Platini alludes to. Why don't we just go to a show? I know the answer at the moment because we are just clinging to some of the old traditions but it won't take much more before we have to suspend reality like watching a hollywood movie or WWF - I know Mourinho is a big wrestling fan, maybe he is getting some ideas for the future.

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posted Sep 20, 2007

Platini is absolutely right and Brown's reply is short sighted.
It is clear to everyone that the top 2 clubs in Scotland and the top 4 in England can only become more and more elitist. The more they win, the more they get, the more they win etc.

It is because of this that people with money, some of it aquired in questionable circumstances, see it as an easy way to make more money.

I like the American Football example wherebry the first choice draft goes to the weakest team in order to avoid a limited number of teams dominating

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posted Sep 20, 2007

Traditional English football died the day Sky TV took over the rights to broadcast the games and suddenly pumped millions of extra pounds into the game.

Now we have 'Greed' football (also know as 'Screw the Fan' Football), where the players and clubs just get richer and richer and who funds this lavish rollercoaster? The fans who pay for Sky TV, the advertisers who advertise on Sky in the hope of getting Fans to buy their products, and the Fans who go the games and pay overinflated seat prices and buy overinflated merchandise.

This greed then translated to the England Team, and suddenly unless you could afford Sky TV or were old enough get in a boozer you were no longer allowed as an Englishman to watch your national team, and why? Becuase it had been sold to an Australian businessman. Yes the sale of the England teams TV rights made mega bucks for the FA which would later be squandered by the useless oafs in the FA. The money has not helped win anything.

Some footballers now get paid £120k a week to play football, and why, there are not many players who need that each week to enjoy a comfortable existance. No it is simply greed. All footballers could be paid less and still have exceptional standards of living, fast cars and still be millionaires, but no it is not enough, they want more and more and more.

The most amazing thing is that this wave of greed has been largely (and if you consider that advertising is in effect paid for buy the people who buy the advertised product), then wholly paid for by the fans of English football. AND we have done so for the large part willingly, yes I know that you get people on 606 complaining about ticket prices, but stop and think how much indirectly we pay for the beautiful game and you will realise that the big buck Premiership is paid for by you and me, average Joe in the street, and why, because we love our respective teams with a passion that we will pay and pay to get our football fix.

Meanwhile the money that can be made in the EPL has raised attentions elsewhere, and now we have big foreign investors and obscure Russian's buying our clubs, and why? Well lets be honest it is not to lose money is it? They will expect a return on their investment somehow.

Is Platini right? Yes I think so.

Is Platini too late? Yes I think so too.

It would be nice to try and cap wages in the EPL and European leagues, but I think that it is already too late, and the horse has long since gone.

They call it progress, but progress does not always make things better..................

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posted Sep 21, 2007

i disagree - it is the globalisation of the premiership leading to mega wages.

the premiership is now available to watch live every where in the world

without this wages would be significantly lower.

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posted Sep 23, 2007

All this talk about football being a poor sport is wrong.

Football is the greatest sport and will continue to be so. Off the pitch there are serious problems just as there is in many other sports and I do agree with Platini, but he is not completely right. Money from Sky is globalising football everywhere and our league is benefiting from better, more popular players making the sport far more entertaining than over-weight egg chasers stopping and starting every ten seconds to prepare a scrum.

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posted Oct 1, 2007

I don't remember UEFA moaning so much 20 years ago when Italian football was awash with cash. When English clubs could not compete with Juventus, Milan etc in terms of wages.

Does anyone really think that had an Englishman been the head of UEFA at the time and had bleated away about the problem of money in the game that the Itlaians would have bothered - or that anything would have been done?

No. Nothing would have been done. But now the hated English are the most powerful and wealthiest clubs in the world then something must be done - we can't have the English clubs winning everything can we?

No - only when Real Madrid, AC Milan and Juventus are carrying all before them on a wave of cash is money not an issue.

Pathetic - and we should resist at all costs.

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posted Nov 14, 2007

Good arguments on either side, but Brown is right about the government not interfering.
As for foreign owners, define 'foreign'. There is no such thing as a British passport anymore. Or French or Italian or German. We have EU passports now. Roman Abramovich is foreign but Flavio Briatore isn't.

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