Former Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack has stated that the London club are not as strong now as when he played for them, and that the team lack mental strength.
Andre Villas Boas’ men have struggled with inconsistency of late, are 12 points behind league leaders Manchester City and face a struggle to progress to the Champions League knockout stages.
Ballack faced his former employers for Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night in a 2-1 victory for the Bundesliga outfit, and felt that their lack of confidence was evident.
“We knew before the game they were in a difficult moment. But it’s only when you play against a team on the pitch that you see what is really happening and get a clearer picture,” he told Mirror Football.
“We could feel it on the pitch every minute – especially at the beginning of the match – that they were not as strong as they normally are.
“Even when they were 1-0 up, we could sense that – that they didn’t have the strength mentally that they normally have,” he stated.
The German midfielder has admitted that the senior players must guide the Stamford Bridge club through this tricky period, and feels they must work hard to achieve their ambitions.
“I don’t know what is going on in the dressing room. When I was there, I was one of the strong characters, but I think there are enough big players, experienced players, still in the dressing room. It wasn’t just me.
“They have to do it now. You can’t just look at the young players and criticise them. This has to come from the older, experienced players – especially now.
“I played four years for Chelsea and I know how quickly it can go. I had a few managers in that short time!
“So I know it is always difficult for the coach. I know he [Villas-Boas] is young and has ambitions and is a good guy. He had success at his last team.
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“At the moment, it is not that easy for them. But that is not just about the coach, it is about the players too. They have to get out of this situation.
“You have to get back to your roots, to square one. But with the ambitions they have of course it is harder and they are not matching them,” the veteran concluded.
The rumour mill is well are truly turning with some crazy transfer stories coming out today. The pick of them sees Chelsea willing to take a £30m loss on Fernando Torres, while Tottenham are apparently sizing up a £20m bid for Carlos Tevez.
Elsewhere in the news Martin Jol denies a spat with Bobby Zamora; Blackburn downplay rumours about a financial crisis, while Jay Spearing wants to prove his worth at Liverpool.
News
Martin Jol denies Zamora spat
Bolton looking for Cahill replacement
Jay Spearing wants his Liverpool chance
Darren Fletcher forced to take break
Blackburn downplay financial crisis rumour
Levy wants Premier League title
Lampard keen to secure starting spot
Milan to take time over Carlos Tevez
Wenger eyes cut-price deal
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Transfer Talk
[divider]
Torres for sale! Chelsea will take as little as £20m in January for flop striker – Daily Mail
No Chelsea bid for £12m-rated Vargas – agent – Mirror
Giovani wants to leave the Lane -Sun
Taiwo alerts Arsenal with rant over first-team chances – TalkSport
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Injury-hit Manchester United poised to sign Juventus winger Krasic on loan – Daily Mail
Wolves eye £2million Diame swoop – Sun
Spurs launch shock £20m bid to sign Tevez as Redknapp chases title – Daily Mail
For the first time in years Arsenal’s squad had a major shake up last summer. With nine players signed and eight players leaving the club, including some that personified the Arsenal style of recent years, it is understandable that a change in the way they play would be forthcoming; but just how much have the north London club been transformed?
A criticism often levelled at Arsene Wenger since 2005 is that he fails to adapt to the problems of his team and that his stubbornness is depicted in flaws that have become characteristic of his team such as the inability to defend properly from set pieces. However there is evidence to suggest these slurs are unfair. Whilst a refusal to deviate from his desire for an aesthetically pleasing style of play is clear, he is not averse to correcting the problems that have run through his team over the last few years and there are various factors this season that demonstrate this. Some show a change that has benefited Arsenal and others show a change that hasn’t, but all show a change in the way Arsenal are playing.
Defence
Last season Arsenal drove up the wings with their full backs and had, for much of the season, a notoriously shaky centre back pairing. This year things a different. Obviously partly their defence has been altered by the sale of Clichy, the return of Vermaelen and the injuries to all of Arsenal’s full backs. This has left them with a narrow back four; more solid but with less attacking potency. However there are clear tactical changes to the Arsenal defence too. Wenger has swapped and changed between zonal and man marking and the addition of the giant German Per Mertesacker is a rather obvious attempt to address the lack of height at the heart of Arsenal’s defence. The result? Arsenal have only conceded eight per cent of their goals from headers this season. That is the lowest percentage of any team in the league.
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You could argue that this is because they have been playing with four centre backs recently; however, whilst this will definitely help the cause, you have to remember that Santos only got injured relatively recently and Sagna has played half of the season so far. Therefore to wholly attribute the better defence of crosses and set pieces to the injuries suffered by the full backs would be to ignore the huge defensive changes that have taken place at Arsenal. The rise of Szczesny too has helped but it is key to remember that last season Arsenal had conceded over half of their goals from set pieces, more than any other team in the league. In the space of six months they have totally reversed their fortunes in that department.
Attack
Arsenal’s attack is perhaps the mutated brother of what it was before – similar, but not the same. Over the past ten years Arsenal have become known for their short and intricate passing style, they have become known for dominating possession, and, all too often, not doing enough with that possession. However that too seems to have changed. Perhaps having lost Nasri and Fabregas Wenger realised that the same level of possession football would not achieve the same results. Consequently there seems to be less of an emphasis on permanent possession and more of a value placed on counter attacking football. Something that has been lacking from Arsenal’s game in any abundance since their last title winning side. This year Arsenal have scored more goals from counter attacks than any other side in the league. This not only shows that Arsenal are doing more with the possession that they have but also suggests that they are having less possession if they are getting more counter attacking opportunities.
Indeed, Arsenal’s style of play is perhaps not as easy on the eye as it has been in recent seasons, partly due to the loss of Fabregas, however they have addressed many of the problems last year – defensive solidity, a lack of height, inefficiency with the ball. The question remains however: has their change in style merely opened up new problems such as a decrease in attacking threat? For Arsenal fans it is pleasing to see problems solved that they thought might somehow be going unnoticed by the Arsenal backroom staff however they will greet the slightly more rugged style of play with less enthusiasm. One thing however is for certain: if it brings results there won’t be any complaints.
Follow me on Twitter @H_Mackay
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Liverpool moved up to fifth place with a 3-0 win over Wolves at Molineux on Tuesday night.
Second half goals from attacking trio Andy Carroll, Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt sealed the victory for the Merseysiders, and lifted them above Arsenal in the table for the time being.
Reds manager Kenny Dalglish was delighted with the performance and paid tribute to the players: “It was an eventful night’s work. Great credit to the players, they didn’t get carried away with what they had done by getting to Wembley and beating Manchester United.
“This was a thoroughly professional, high quality performance and we thoroughly deserved the victory.
“The attitude and the work-rate was key to the win tonight.
“I thought we had the better chances of the first half, but then once we got the first goal it changes things, but up until then I think we had been playing well enough.
“(Bellamy) scored a great second goal and Dirk Kuyt got his 51st goal for the club so it’s been a good night for us, and great credit to the players.” Sky Sports
Liverpool host Tottenham next at Anfield on Monday night, and will look for another victory to push them towards the top four.
By Gareth McKnight
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The director of football role is one that is much maligned by both managers and supporters within this country.
Whilst hugely successful on the continent, the English game has never adjusted to a set-up and system which in fact goes a long way to ensure stability in the club’s development and transfer policy. The English attitude is that a football manager should be responsible for every aspect of the running of the club; it is a short sighted view in my opinion.
Tottenham are the classic example of where this set-up has proven to work and pay dividends. Being a Spurs fan and watching the club go through a high turnover of managers and subsequently players, we were continually wasting millions of pounds, year on year, and little development was happening on the pitch, as well as off it. It was a complete vicious circle that the likes of Sugar and Levy were facing and one that in time would have left to financial woe in the future. A change of set-up was desperately required to turn this tide and the appointment of Frank Arnesen in 2004 was arguably the turning point in Tottenham’s recent history. Arnesen was the trouble shooter that Tottenham desperately needed and in his short spell at the football club he changed every aspect of it.
A club that was renowned for spending big money on experienced, and in some cases over the hill players, was now buying some of the finest young English talent in the game. The philosophy was simply – to buy young players cheaply that could provide 5 or 6 years service, before selling them on at profit safe in the knowledge that a young replacement was already waiting in the wings. The role of the director of football is to ensure that there is a conveyor belt of excellent players at the coach’s disposal was maintained. It was Arnesen that brought the likes of Huddlestone, Dawson, and Lennon to the football club, for a combined fee of around £4.5m – one can only imagine how much they would be worth now. Unfortunately Comolli failed to build on the foundations laid by Arnesen in pretty much every aspect and I often wonder whether Tottenham would have made it to the Champions League sooner, had Arnesen and Jol remained at the helm. The success of this set-up is solely based on the relationship between the director of football and head coach, something that Comolli was never to have with either Jol or Ramos. Despite the poor relationship’s the transfer policy was maintained and although there were expensive flops, the sales of the likes of Carrick, Berbatov and Keane, ensured that the club’s finances remained balanced.
While Tottenham no longer operate with a director of football, they have a chairman who has learned the valuable lessons and philosophies that Arnesen initially brought to the football club. Harry Redknapp may have the freedom to run the playing side of the club; however it is Levy that oversees the purchasing of players and will only spend big money on those players that have a potential sell on value. It is no shock to me that NESV have decided to address the reckless spending at Liverpool and look to introduce their own director of football to the club and while Damien Comolli certainly wouldn’t have been my choice, given what went on at Tottenham, the set-up is ideal for any football club seeking stability on and off the pitch. Arnesen got Tottenham on the straight and narrow in such a short space of time and it is no coincidence that his time started the general ascendency that the club has enjoyed in the years since.
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There’s nothing more infuriating for a fan than watching an official share a joke with a member of the opposition. You feel your blood start to boil as they smile or perhaps share a little embrace. To the unsuspecting viewer it may look innocuous but you can’t help yourself picturing the referee wearing their ‘colours’ underneath his traditional black uniform. You know deep down it’s ludicrous that this little incident will have any effect on the game itself but that doesn’t stop you berating their apparent friendship the moment a decision goes against you. With this is mind I feel that officials will never be truly respected until they put an end to their on field ‘bromance’.
Let us be brutally honest for a moment, the ‘respect’ campaign is mutating into a bit of joke. Players, fans and members of staff still hurl a torrent of abuse at the officials every weekend, as well as surrounding the referee in an attempt to sway or alter his decision. Clubs are often charged with a ‘failure to control their players’ but the fines are so mediocre and insignificant that it remains ridiculous to believe that this will deter individuals from conducting themselves any differently.
In my eyes the officials need to realise that their relationship with the professionals exists solely in that 90-minute period on the pitch. Once the final whistle blows and they share a disinterested handshake, their affiliation with one another will only continue if a player is keen to dispute a decision made during the game.
Can anyone imagine Wayne Rooney and Howard Webb nipping down the pub for a lager shandy and a catch up after the game or perhaps Mike Dean waiting outside Stamford Bridge to give John Terry a lift home?
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Perhaps I’m being too harsh, maybe if the players and the officials were to enjoy a more informal rapport then it would relieve a certain degree of stress. Players could relax and play their natural game, safe in the knowledge that they weren’t going to be penalised for every single misdemeanour, whilst the referee would be less error-prone if he knew he wasn’t going to be insulted every time he had to make a judgment call.
It all sounds perfectly logical in theory until you realise that every decision awarded for a team, is a decision awarded against the other. There is always going to be someone penalised, which is when the arguments and ill-tempered reactions spew to the surface. In this modern day culture of ‘gamesmanship’, players will do anything to ensure victory and it’s this ugly human trait that makes an official’s job impossible, serving only to intensify the pressure surrounding the match day environment.
It’s clear that football could learn a lot from other sports when it comes down to principles of respect and admiration. I flicked over to the Rugby the other day (I think I sat on the remote) and managed to catch one player address the referee as ‘sir’. I couldn’t believe it, this man mountain was twice the size and four times as wide as the referee and yet there was no bullying tactics or flood of verbal abuse. Instead the player followed each and every one of the referee’s instructions and the game continued without confrontation. It was a refreshing change from the events we see unfold week in week out across the football league. Perhaps it’s something else we can incorporate into our ‘beautiful’ game if the approval of video replays ever goes ahead.
At present officials act like giddy teenager girls when faced with the football heavyweights, either shying away from decisions or trying desperately to appease their every demand. They could almost be depicted laughing away like long lost friends who happened to bump into each other whilst crossing the pitch. They all need to take a staunch and impersonal approach, remain defiant and refuse to be intimidated under pressure. The players won’t like it but then again you don’t have to be liked, to be respected. Just ask Ryan Giggs.
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Would you rather the officials distance themselves from players or would a more humane, informal approach help improve relations? Let me know below or via twitter @theunusedsub
After the disappointment of losing to a very fortunate Reading side, a result that knocked us from the top spot in the Championship, I said in my last blog that Saints need to hold their nerve in order to achieve promotion.
With West Ham breathing down our necks and in good goal scoring form, we had a potentially difficult looking Tuesday night trip to a Peterborough side, who had only been outscored on home territory by ourselves and West Ham. In fact Reading lost at London Road only a few weeks ago, their only defeat in the middle of their great run of form that has seen them promoted with two games to go.
I also commented in my last blog entry that playing away may well benefit the Saints players, as in the last two home games they have looked edgy, as the expectation of a fervent home crowd may have added a little extra pressure.
So on a chilly, breezy and damp evening in eastern England the Saints players took to the field accompanied by the encouraging roars of over 3,000 travelling fans. Some were confident, some were pessimistic but nearly all were nervous, as anything less than three points could leave the door open for West Ham.
With our record of not having lost this season after scoring first, we needed to grab a vital early lead, and we did just that in the fifth minute, when Jos Hooiveld managed to do what he couldn’t against Reading, and that was to score with a near post header from a corner. After failing to make proper contact with his head on Friday night, this time he got it spot on, to help settle any early jitters. Then five minutes later the situation got even better, when Billy Sharp slammed home the second to give us a comfortable lead against a surprisingly impotent Peterborough attack.
Saints were nothing less than comfortable on a night that could have been the proverbial ‘banana skin’, and they never really had to raise their game after repelling all that Peterborough had to offer. A third goal by Billy Sharp; his second of the night, and sixth in six games; early in the second-half sealed the win, and despite a late Peterborough rally that earned them a consolation goal, we always looked secure. It was a great response to that defeat against Reading, a result that obviously hurt the players as much as it did the fans, and with the added bonus of West Ham dropping two points at Bristol City, we are nearly over the finishing line.
Those dropped points by the Hammers meant Reading’s win over Nottingham Forest secured their promotion, and despite my tongue-in-cheek comment in my last blog, where I congratulated the Royals on winning the title, I firmly believe that if we win our last two games we can still be crowned champions.
So now on to Middlesbrough on Saturday evening, where a win will see us put an end to our Premier League exile after a gap of seven years. It is certainly a winnable game, with Middlesbrough struggling for goals on home soil, and if we can grab an early lead then there is no reason why we cannot go on a get the win, which will allow us to relax for the final game of the season against Coventry.
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Unfortunately I will not be in Middlesbrough on Saturday evening, but I will be at home, hoping that we can finally win a live televised game, a feat we have rarely achieved in recent months. Needless to say, the Champagne is already on ice!
Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen has admitted that Sir Alex Ferguson has been keeping tabs on Lille playmaker Eden Hazard, with a summer transfer move being considered.
The Belgium international is widely acknowledged as one of the most exciting prospects in European football, with the likes of Real Madrid, Inter and Arsenal also interested in signing the attacking midfielder.
With the summer transfer window approaching, the Dutch coach has admitted that the Premier League champions are weighing up a move for Hazard.
“The manager wanted to see [Eden] Hazard by himself. That’s a sign he thinks it’s an interesting player. We talked a lot about him,” he told Voetbal International, translated to English by Mirror Football.
“For a club it’s important that you keep refreshing your squad.
“Hazard is a special talent, but it always takes a while. As example, we followed David de Gea for a long time before we got him.
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“Ferguson wants to know the character of the player. Because of that he’s going to look by himself for players. Hazard is ‘the man’ at Lille. Ferguson wanted to see if that had an influence on him,” he confessed.
With the appointment of Neil Warnock in February, the current regime at Leeds United signalled that they are purely looking at the future of the club on a short term basis. The former QPR boss has been appointed with just one aim, to get Leeds back into the Premier League, and has been given just one full season in which to do it.
Warnock has admitted that this is his last challenge in a career which has seen him achieve promotions with Scarborough, Notts County, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United as well as taking QPR back to the Premier League in 2011.
However the 18 month contract he has signed gives him no room for failure and also means that he is unlikely to manage Leeds in the top flight, should he get them there. So the big question should not be whether United will be promoted next season, but what will happen in the seasons which follow.
Whilst some supporters will look at the performance of the club on a season by season basis, there are others who are worried about the long term planning of the football side of the business. There are lots of talks of grand plans regarding stadium development, with news breaking recently of the club bidding to be the site of a new super casino to be opened in the city. There is a danger that by chasing further property deals, the club are gambling with their footballing future.
The Academy at Thorp Arch, which has produced such jewels as Paul Robinson, Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Fabian Delph and Jonny Howson to name but a few is currently not even owned by the club, sold off as part of the fire sale which followed the relegation from the Premiership all those years ago! Despite claims that it was a priority to be bought back once the club was on a firm financial footing, it still remains outside the club’s ownership.
It is also currently rudderless, with Chris Sulley the academy director relieved of his duties in April. Despite this the U-18’s at the club finished 2nd in their division of the Premier Academy League. Whilst it is always the first team that takes the priority, in the current financial climate it is imperative that Leeds are in a position to continue to produce players of their own, educated in the unique pressures that playing for the Whites brings.
Therefore one of the tasks that the Leeds United board need to be undertaking this close season is not just providing the players needed for Warnock to succeed in the short term objective, but also to begin to think, and quickly, about what is required for the 2013/14 season and beyond.
Identification of a manager who can not only take the first team on in the long term, but who can also oversee the development of a conveyor belt of talent for the future, should be high on the agenda for the board at Elland Road. With there being little chance of a billionaire investor to take Leeds to the next level, United should be following the examples of clubs who can develop their own talent.
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Whilst Chelsea and Manchester City have splashed the cash to take them into the elite, there are others that have developed over a long term, a breed of players educated in the way of their clubs. Ajax, Barcelona and Manchester United are famed for bringing players through their youth systems, all brought up in the ethos and taught the playing style used throughout all levels of the club.
This summer is seen as being a critical one for the future of Leeds United, with the feeling in the city that it promotion is a must for the Whites this season. Whilst that is certainly the case, a successful club should have a long term view. If Leeds are to regain their place at the top table of English football, they should be thinking of who will be the man to help them stay there.
As we begin to reflect on another season, on the individuals and moments that shaped it, on whether it could have been different, it’s only natural for the vast majority of fans to be eyeing improvement for their team. That, though, is not up to the fans. No matter how much you might feel that your manager is inept, your defence is leakier than Thames Water or your strike force is riddled with impotence, only the owners of the club can really facilitate change. Without action from them there can be no changing of the guard at any level and whilst some are progressive thinkers, willing to take the necessary steps to advance the club, others are not.
There have been some interesting revelations in recent weeks with regards to owners’ handling of their clubs. First was the letter from former Blackburn director Paul Hunt to the club’s owners, which showed a strikingly apathetic attitude from the Venky’s group. Second, was an article in The Telegraph that published the financial results for the 2010-11 season clubs (2011-12 results are not yet available). The finances of the clubs was not news in itself; however, in a league where so much hinders on so little, as a title won on goal difference indicates, there was more than one group of supporters who could feel aggrieved with the way their club is being run.
Could Wolves have spent a little more considering they have no debt and had more money to spend? Should Arsenal have used some of their not insignificant cash flow to bring in a better standard of players last summer? Had Abramovich not had such a jumpy trigger finger with managers over the last few years could Chelsea reasonably expect to be somewhere close to meeting Financial Fair Play rules? However, by far-and-away the most eye-catching reports were that of Manchester United.
Now, we all know the negative impact the Glazers have had upon their club, but two factors really stuck out for me. The first was that, were it nor for the debt imposed upon United by the Glazers, Alex Ferguson would be able to spend over £80m every summer without having to borrow a penny. Secondly, despite having paid around £500m (according to The Guardian) in interest, repayments and bank charges the overall debt has only been reduced by around £100m.
So far there has been a clear and coherent resistance from a section of United supporters ever since the takeover. However, the fans have often been placated by the fact that trophies have been won and money has been spent. Nonetheless, what United fans (and fans of any other clubs in similar situations) should be thinking is not ‘how well are we doing’ but ‘how well could we be doing were it not for our owners?’ Before the Glazers purchased Manchester United the club were debt free. Now they have one of the highest debt’s in the world; whether fans or pundits want to claim that the debt is ‘manageable’ is totally irrelevant as the Glazers have brought nothing but debt to the table. The Chief executive is the same, the manager is the same; the only things that have changed is that prices have risen and there is infinitely more money leaving the club every year.
This begs the question: should it be illegal to borrow against a club’s assets in order to finance purchasing it? What may come as a surprise it that, to a certain extent, it already is. So how then do groups like the Glazers manage to purchase clubs like they did with United? In the 1985 Companies Act it states in section 151 (or at least it did when the Glazers took control of United) that, on the whole, financial assistance by a company in the purchase of its own shares was prohibited. In other words: you could not borrow money, secured against the company you wanted to buy, in order to purchase that company.
There was however an exception to this rule. It was possible to purchase a company in this way if they went through the ‘whitewash procedure’. This meant that a director of the company (or club) could release a statement that the party who intended to purchase the company would not be borrowing more than it was possible for that company to pay back.
In itself this loop-hole is hardly a stringent enough check on powers who wish to laden football clubs with debt in order to purchase them. To make matters worse, in 2008 the law was changed again. In a statement by Slaughter & May in August 2008 it read
“The CA85 restrictions on financial assistance by private companies in relation to the acquisition of their own shares or shares in a private company parent are to be repealed with effect from 1 October 2008. The effect of the repeal is that compliance with the whitewash procedure will no longer be statutorily required in transactions involving financial assistance by private companies.”
This meant it was then even easier for clubs to be bought and given unreasonably high levels of debt by new owners. Moreover this change in the law came just after Tom Hicks and George Gillett had purchased Liverpool in a deal that was arguably even worse (proportionately) than that of the Glazers.
So now fans find themselves in a position where, despite it being frowned upon, there is nothing to stop investors with no emotional ties to our clubs turning up, buying the club and transferring all the risk and the debt on to the club itself. Without the whitewash procedure there isn’t even a pretence of accountability any longer.
Fan protests are all well and good, as are the positive intentions of collections of wealthy and powerful fans such as the Red Knights; however, ultimately the fans are completely powerless. The only protests that can be effective negatively affect the club as well as the owners and this is why the Premier League need to step in.
The 2011-2012 season has, more than ever before, shown the influence of powerful, foreign owners. Sheik Mansour finally has his Premier League title (for the cost of around £1b), United have wilted in the face of the rivals (arguably due to so much money being pumped out of their club), and Blackburn have been largely ignored by their owners as they have slowly regressed over the course of a season that has ended in relegation.
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If the law itself cannot protect clubs from detrimental potential owners then one of the governing bodies of football needs to step in. Either the FA or the Premier League should be able to veto takeover deals in particular cases. Clearly football clubs will always have some level of debt and clearly you cannot prevent prospective buyers from borrowing money in order to finance takeovers. However how much money is borrowed and against whose assets it is borrowed is a matter that can be policed. For a clubs such as Manchester United to go from having zero doubt to over half a billion pounds in the space of a takeover is unacceptable. Manchester United fans can count themselves lucky that they support a club that can afford such debt, even if it doesn’t comfort them after conceding the title to their higher spending rivals.
Like I said earlier: this issue is nothing new yet it remains unresolved. The culture of short-termism has engulfed football in recent years and as much as the Premier League does not want to hinder foreign investment it should consider the very people that make football such a profitable business in the first place – the fans. In many cases fans are ultimately paying (in rising ticket and merchandise prices) for takeovers of their clubs, which put their clubs at risk. It is clear here that the fans are helpless, it’s also clear that it’s up to football’s governing bodies to sort this mess out. The Glazers’ ownership of Manchester United epitomises everything that is wrong with foreign investment in British clubs: they have brought nothing to the club, have transferred a huge debt on to the club, then increased the debt through their 2010 bond issue, raised ticket prices and inhibited spending, all whilst allowing vast swathes of resources to be shipped out of the club. If we as a sport are not careful about who we let in then there could be many more Glazers to come.