I won't be hiding my dislike for Glasgow Rangers here, and without trying to sound biased against the Ibrox club, all I can say is what the heck?
For their many misdemeanours, Rangers have been banned from transfer activity for players 18 and over and fined £160,000.00. Now even for a club heavily in debt, £160k doesn't appear to me to be a huge fine. Maybe they should have paid their taxes on time and they wouldn't have this trouble. I am not aware of the income of Rangers, but I would assume this fine represents less than 1% of their income. That would be the equivalent of a speeding fine as far as I am aware.
The transfer ban may hurt Rangers more as they are likely to have to release a number of their players on high wages in order to bring down their running costs, but on the other hand this may be good for younger players to get a chance.
I am sure the new owners will get a CVA in place and in doing so avoid any further sanctions. I think a number of people in the media and supporters should get off their high horse and accept this on the chin like any other club would have to.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Monday, 14 May 2012
Manchester City and the FFP
First of all, congratulations to Manchester City for a remarkable final few minutes to win the Premier League title. Over the course of the season they have played the best football and fully deserve the title and probably should have won by a comfortable margin but no team can sustain their start for the whole season.
May I also congratulate Manchester United for making this a competitive season and keeping the title alive even beyond the final whistle at the Stadium of Light. I am sure it is no consolation as being overtaken by your city rivals is always a bitter pill to swallow, but gaining 89 points this season is still a great achievement and would have won the title in many past seasons.
Commiserations to Bolton, I really don't feel they deserved to go down, they are an honest hard working team and Owen Coyle is a quality manager, I hope and believe they will bounce back up.
Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters have been very unfortunate this season. Both teams sacked their managers in the last 18 months and in both of their cases, the board have directly contributed to their relegation's.
Steve Kean to me seems an honest down to earth man who has given his all to Blackburn and in the process has suffered an unwarranted amount of abuse from Blackburn supporters. There is no doubt in my mind that the decision to sack Allardyce and replace him with an inexperienced manager was the determining factor that has lead Blackburn to relegation. The ownership of the club with their lack of investment and complete lack of a grasp of football reality proves to me they are better of at sticking to their poultry business. It sums it up to me the sacking of Paul Hunt for sending a private email expressing his concerns over the club. Have they never heard the expression, "don't shoot the messenger". I fear things will get worse before they get better at Blackburn. Jack Walker must be rolling in his grave.
Wolverhampton were never likely to be more than a bottom six side and Steve Morgan's decision to enter the dressing room to berate the team only ever served to undermine Mick McCarthy, who in my view is a very good manager. I am sure had he not been sacked Wolves would have been far more successful and may still have beaten the drop. As loyal a servant as Terry Connor has been to Wolves, he should never have been given the job, much like Blackburn, a relegation battle needs an experienced man at the helm.
So back to Manchester City. An investment of around £1 billion has brought the title to the Etihad. Like Chelsea before them, they have used the money from a foreign owner to pay excessive wages and excessive transfer fees which has resulted in massive losses on the profit and loss account. They have brought a new spark to the Premier League at the cost of distorting the transfer market and making it more difficult for clubs to grow organically to challenge for the title.
The long term of clubs like these are less certain and something which the Financial Fair Play rules should have addressed, will I am afraid, be no more than paper rules that will never be vigorously applied. Much like the situation in Scotland where the league is held to ransom by the Glasgow giants, UEFA will not be looking to upset the big boys and provided Manchester City and Chelsea keeps other clubs onside, they won't be discouraged from continuing to run up debts.
So for the rest of the clubs looking to climb the mountain, all they can do is try to get into the Champions League and stay competitive and wait until the billionaires get bored with their toys.
My club, Tottenham, has gone from being a mid table and sometimes worse team to challenging for a top four place for most of the last 7 years, and without excessive spending on transfer fees and wages. There will be opportunities for the likes of Newcastle, Everton, Liverpool and Aston Villa in coming seasons to do the same. However as long as football authorities allow mega rich people to come in and throw stupid money at the game, it will be difficult for anyone to compete with them.
But I don't want to take anything away from Manchester City, it is a fine achievement to win your league no matter how much money has been spent, because at the end of the day, it is still eleven against eleven.
I look forward once more to August.
May I also congratulate Manchester United for making this a competitive season and keeping the title alive even beyond the final whistle at the Stadium of Light. I am sure it is no consolation as being overtaken by your city rivals is always a bitter pill to swallow, but gaining 89 points this season is still a great achievement and would have won the title in many past seasons.
Commiserations to Bolton, I really don't feel they deserved to go down, they are an honest hard working team and Owen Coyle is a quality manager, I hope and believe they will bounce back up.
Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters have been very unfortunate this season. Both teams sacked their managers in the last 18 months and in both of their cases, the board have directly contributed to their relegation's.
Steve Kean to me seems an honest down to earth man who has given his all to Blackburn and in the process has suffered an unwarranted amount of abuse from Blackburn supporters. There is no doubt in my mind that the decision to sack Allardyce and replace him with an inexperienced manager was the determining factor that has lead Blackburn to relegation. The ownership of the club with their lack of investment and complete lack of a grasp of football reality proves to me they are better of at sticking to their poultry business. It sums it up to me the sacking of Paul Hunt for sending a private email expressing his concerns over the club. Have they never heard the expression, "don't shoot the messenger". I fear things will get worse before they get better at Blackburn. Jack Walker must be rolling in his grave.
Wolverhampton were never likely to be more than a bottom six side and Steve Morgan's decision to enter the dressing room to berate the team only ever served to undermine Mick McCarthy, who in my view is a very good manager. I am sure had he not been sacked Wolves would have been far more successful and may still have beaten the drop. As loyal a servant as Terry Connor has been to Wolves, he should never have been given the job, much like Blackburn, a relegation battle needs an experienced man at the helm.
So back to Manchester City. An investment of around £1 billion has brought the title to the Etihad. Like Chelsea before them, they have used the money from a foreign owner to pay excessive wages and excessive transfer fees which has resulted in massive losses on the profit and loss account. They have brought a new spark to the Premier League at the cost of distorting the transfer market and making it more difficult for clubs to grow organically to challenge for the title.
The long term of clubs like these are less certain and something which the Financial Fair Play rules should have addressed, will I am afraid, be no more than paper rules that will never be vigorously applied. Much like the situation in Scotland where the league is held to ransom by the Glasgow giants, UEFA will not be looking to upset the big boys and provided Manchester City and Chelsea keeps other clubs onside, they won't be discouraged from continuing to run up debts.
So for the rest of the clubs looking to climb the mountain, all they can do is try to get into the Champions League and stay competitive and wait until the billionaires get bored with their toys.
My club, Tottenham, has gone from being a mid table and sometimes worse team to challenging for a top four place for most of the last 7 years, and without excessive spending on transfer fees and wages. There will be opportunities for the likes of Newcastle, Everton, Liverpool and Aston Villa in coming seasons to do the same. However as long as football authorities allow mega rich people to come in and throw stupid money at the game, it will be difficult for anyone to compete with them.
But I don't want to take anything away from Manchester City, it is a fine achievement to win your league no matter how much money has been spent, because at the end of the day, it is still eleven against eleven.
I look forward once more to August.
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Roberto Martinez and Wigan, a great performance.
Since the inception of the premier League, the headlines have been written by Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and a few others, mostly at the top of table. This season we have seen a change and its about time.
Two managers this season have been absolutely fantastic and for different reasons. I have previously spoken about the great job Alan Pardew has done at Newcastle and has taken his team to the final day of the season with a Champions Legaue place in the offering.
But not to be outdone, I must take my hat off to Roberto Martinez at Wigan. He has the smallest budget and smallest squad in the Premier League and his team are always one of the first to be predicted for relegation each season. This side battle against the odds each season to stay in the top flight and may I say congratulations to all involved. They are a credit to the best football league in the world.
Martinez's decision not to go to Aston Villa now looks a good choice and I believe a very big job is on the horizon for this man. Well done and good luck.
Two managers this season have been absolutely fantastic and for different reasons. I have previously spoken about the great job Alan Pardew has done at Newcastle and has taken his team to the final day of the season with a Champions Legaue place in the offering.
But not to be outdone, I must take my hat off to Roberto Martinez at Wigan. He has the smallest budget and smallest squad in the Premier League and his team are always one of the first to be predicted for relegation each season. This side battle against the odds each season to stay in the top flight and may I say congratulations to all involved. They are a credit to the best football league in the world.
Martinez's decision not to go to Aston Villa now looks a good choice and I believe a very big job is on the horizon for this man. Well done and good luck.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Rangers are holding the SPL to ransom
In light of developments surrounding Rangers takeover and the possibility of the liquidation and Reformation of a new club, there have been some interesting and somewhat concerning statements made in the press.
It seems the SPL needs to make some decisions and no doubt commercial interests will be put ahead of integrity of the game.
Ally McCoist stated Rangers point of view, that if Rangers were thrown out of the SPL then many teams faced a very hard financial future. Therein lies the problem with Scottish football. The two Glasgow giants have far too much say in the direction and makeup of the SPL and there ongoing survival is essential to the survival of all other clubs.
In England if Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool were thrown out of the Premier League, there are plenty of others able to fill their place. Any one league should not be dependant on one or two teams.
It has long been mooted that Celtic and Rangers should move to England to help grown their clubs, however this episode just shows that they are better off in their protected league which will always feature the two Glasgow clubs. That is unless some competition comes out from Edinburgh or elsewhere, but that is highly unlikely.
So no doubt the SPL will take the option of maintaining the status quo and allow Rangers misdeeds to go unpunished.
It seems the SPL needs to make some decisions and no doubt commercial interests will be put ahead of integrity of the game.
Ally McCoist stated Rangers point of view, that if Rangers were thrown out of the SPL then many teams faced a very hard financial future. Therein lies the problem with Scottish football. The two Glasgow giants have far too much say in the direction and makeup of the SPL and there ongoing survival is essential to the survival of all other clubs.
In England if Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool were thrown out of the Premier League, there are plenty of others able to fill their place. Any one league should not be dependant on one or two teams.
It has long been mooted that Celtic and Rangers should move to England to help grown their clubs, however this episode just shows that they are better off in their protected league which will always feature the two Glasgow clubs. That is unless some competition comes out from Edinburgh or elsewhere, but that is highly unlikely.
So no doubt the SPL will take the option of maintaining the status quo and allow Rangers misdeeds to go unpunished.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Roy Hodgson - do I care?
So the shock announcement this week was the appointment of Roy Hodgson as England manager. Given previous appointments, this is not a huge surprise.
I do actually admire Roy Hodgson, I believe he is a very good coach and has good tactical abilities. The problem I see is how he will handle a high profile job and whether he can do what no other manager has been able to do and harness the talents of the England team and get the best out of them.
England should be competing with the best at every tournament but we often fall short, and that is not always the fault of the manager but the structure of our football, the philosophy we install in our youngsters and the lack of proper technical training at grassroots level.
I have not been inspired by an England manager since Terry Venables and I am still completely apathetic to this current England team and management. Hodgson's appointment, while it may have been good in another time, I believe is wrong for this moment. England need an inspired manager, who will generate excitement both on and off the pitch, whoever that may be, I am sure that is not Roy Hodgson.
I hope he does succeed, but I fear he won't and he will suffer much derision like his predecessors.
I do actually admire Roy Hodgson, I believe he is a very good coach and has good tactical abilities. The problem I see is how he will handle a high profile job and whether he can do what no other manager has been able to do and harness the talents of the England team and get the best out of them.
England should be competing with the best at every tournament but we often fall short, and that is not always the fault of the manager but the structure of our football, the philosophy we install in our youngsters and the lack of proper technical training at grassroots level.
I have not been inspired by an England manager since Terry Venables and I am still completely apathetic to this current England team and management. Hodgson's appointment, while it may have been good in another time, I believe is wrong for this moment. England need an inspired manager, who will generate excitement both on and off the pitch, whoever that may be, I am sure that is not Roy Hodgson.
I hope he does succeed, but I fear he won't and he will suffer much derision like his predecessors.
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