Shexy Football - Ally's Weekly Effort

[Ally]

Ok guys, this is hopefully going to be a weekly column however for it to work I'd like your interaction so can you please ask me a question and hopefully I can answer it and if you agree/disagree send  your views to me and hopefully I can incorporate your views into the column. With this being the first ever show Sam managed to get a question in quicker than I imagined so I've actually had a chance to get a column out quicker than I imagined. Luckily as well its on a topic I have a lot to say about.

Are the influx of owners from overseas hurting English football?

To answer this question I have to first of all harp on about computer games, strange I know, however stick with me and you'll hopefully understand. When Roman had taken over Chelsea Football Manager became a bit boring for me as every game was instantly predictable, I would be a none league team, by the time i got into the prem I had one side to compete with and that was Chelsea who had hoarded the top top newgens and players in general. I got board and skimmed through SI's forums to find myself an interesting patch and BANG it hit me in the face. A patch to load an entire 1980's game, a time when English football didn't have anywhere NEAR as much money as Europe. I took over Chelsea and instantly went to Napoli, Maradonna was 2million, I'll have him! Went to my bank account and I had 100k to spend.

What was the point of that little tale you ask? Simple, in the 90's, 1992, the premiership formed. Sky Sports gave clubs money, foreign players started coming in, money became bigger and what happened as a result? We got to see Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud Guillit, Zola, Vialli, Desailly, Djorkaeff, players that are THE world stars of the sport. The Premiership had the money and as a result we got to see the best talent that was on offer, it truly was the start of a golden age of football.

Then in the late 1990's we started to see the next level of stars come in, we started to see the Arsen Wenger's take over and bring Petit, Viera, Henry to the fore, we got to see Eric Cantona karate kick someone and still be classed as the countries player of the year. We saw David Ginola play in a side that just wanted to score more than the opposition, I remember every season sitting to watch Newcastle Vs Liverpool KNOWING it would be 4-3. English football was ready to dominate the world and as such Manchester United won the Champions league in 1999.

Little did we know though that this was the beginning of the end.

Suddenly clubs started to look profitable, Manchester United linked with the New York Yankee's I believe and suddenly people in America where wearing Man Yoo tops, we suddenly had a mass influx of NYC clothing, people wearing baseball jackets without knowing they even where. We had reached a place in football which I didn't like, a place where revenue had started to matter above trophys and passion. Man Yoo the very next season pulled out of the FA Cup.

All of what I have said above isn't really to do with answering the question, however in my eyes thats what basically opened the door to the foreign owners, thats what suddenly made people with money say, hang on, they're willing to sell their soul for money and whats more, we can MAKE money off them too. I remember one of the first to go, wasn't really a "foreign" owner as such and to be honest they did something good for the club, Al-Fayed. He took over Fulham in Division 3, the OLD Division 3. I think their best players where Danny Cullip and Simon Morgan, suddenly they had money and shot up the table to where they are today, ground improvements, amazing players, great manager. This for me is an example of how a foreign owner can go right, he's pumped money into the club, he's, to a degree, stood by his managers and not demanded instant success, I think this is how it should be done.

Unfortunately this is an example which is in the minority. For every Al-Fayed there is a Tom Hicks and the Glazier family. For every Randy Learner there is a Taxin. Who is to blame though? How far back do we go? Do we blame the big clubs for taking their revenue options global? Do we blame people like Man Yoo for disrespecting perhaps the oldest trophy in the world to take the game on a global stage in the World Club Cup? Do we blame Sky Sports for pumping silly money into the sport to suddenly make it a very profitable venture?

Well I for one, think its all of the above, I think the last 10 years we've slowly kicked our beloved sport in the bollocks until it has become hunched over so much It no longer has the chance to procreate. Now we have become reliant on foreign owners to pump mega-bucks into the sport that what would happen if they pulled out? I shall give examples...

Roman, what happens if he pulls out of Chelsea? Lets face it, before he took over they weren't really amazing, a mid table team 7th to 4th if they where lucky season after season. Suddenly Roman pulls the plug, he gets bord of his "hobby" whose going to pay for the massive wage bill? Who's going to give Chelsea 30m to buy Joe Knobhead? Who is going to want to compete with the bloody Abu Dhabi Group?! That's instant financial suicide! So what happens then? What happens if Roman dies and his family don't want to carry on owning Chelsea? They're fucked. No money coming in with a lot of money going out. It'd take them about 10 seasons before they where flat broke with NO team. That for me is a dangerous thing, how long till the bubble bursts? What's the contingency if the bubble bursts? I don't think there is one, so in all honesty, I think Chelsea won't go into administration however I do believe they'll end up as a lower league club once the bubble eventually bursts.

Club two, Man Yoo. The Glaziers. FC United sums up what I'm about to say about them. This club had an anual turnover of 1 billion. The first ever club to manage this feat. So why oh MOTHERFUCKING WHY! Would you sell your club to a group of American's who had to BORROW money to buy you?! Then have the audacity to take on Ferguson behind the scene's. What happens in 3-4 years when the Glaziers money dries up, what happens when someone calls in their loans. Look at the American economy for a moment, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, the government had to put 3 trillion in to stop these places going broke and basically destroying the American economy and creating a global crisis. So what happens then if the American's money dries up, what if the banks ask for the money back? I don't think United will be as fucked as Chelsea if that happend because they are far too profitable to go broke or not find someone willing to invest, too much history too, they where good pre-Glaziers, however I do think that the entire escapade might put them into financial dire straights for a while. Which is just something they don't need...

Which brings me on to Man City, Taxin is THE example of why foreign ionvestment shouldn't be allowed. Someone should stand up and say no, enoughs enough. This guy is on the run from his own country for fraud basically, so he may not exactly be the most financially sound person in the world. Second of all he comes from Thailand and is an ex-prime minister. Just imagine for a second that Tony Blair randomily bought LA Lakers, how would that be sensible in any way shape or form? England is not exactly known for its basketball knowledge and Blair is known for spin, so WHY would it be a good idea to sell your club to him?! If Man City had thought for one mili second instead of letting their cocks get enlarged by the idea of money then City would have avoided potential crisis without having to get the Abu Dhabi Group involved. Taxin hadn't got a clue about football, Sven did an amazing job and got sacked. He hired Mark Hughes and then gave him no money, then sold to Abu Dhabi whilst keeping a small sharehold, he's not stupid, he will now cash in on the success that City are likely to have and laugh all the way back to Thailand and pay off his debt. He has used and abused City like a condom to prevent you getting genital warts whilst still having the ephoria of an orgasm. He is slimy scum and if that isn't ruining football i don't know what is....

Also we've got the rich get richer and the poor get poorer scenario developing. It's getting silly. We have the 3rd richest man in the world one of THREE yes thats right, being the third richest man in the world isn't enough he had to get some friends too, owning Queens Park Rangers. Whats that all about? They have more money than Chelsea, so what will end up is they'll be a top 4 club. Along with Man City, Chelsea, United. Arsenal will eventually be priced out of everything, Arsen isn't going to be around forever to pluck youth out and make them the best players in the world. Liverpool's owners will eventually run the club into the ground and then no one will want to touch them with a barge pole.

So we'll end up with QPR...Chelsea...United...City offering 100's of millions for one player, end up hoarding the entire worlds talent whilst the other 16 clubs just make up the numbers. Do you guys want to watch that? How boring would football become if we just watched the same teams year in year out knowing they're going to win everything. Knowing that the same 6-7 teams will go up and down in rotation. Knowing we will never ever see a Crazy Gang come up from non-league to the prem and win the FA Cup against the Giants of Liverpool.

The Romance in football has been sold to the highest bidder and the foreigners are sucking the premierships tit's dry and I for one am sick of it. Let the bubble burst, let them all run along home and let football's bigger clubs wither and die. Let one of the bigger clubs become a Martyr so that one day we can sit at home and watch 11 English lads start for Arsenal and the entire squad costs 200k. Lets watch as we get more Terry Butchers who refuse to stop playing even though they have half a head left. Lets stick your Christiano Ronaldo's on the bench, lets extradite our Taxin's and most of all, lets get Bolton a Premier League title.

Thats been my first ever rant,

Regards,

Ally