Manchester City recently announced a shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways worth a staggering £400 million over the next ten years.
When I read this news for the first time, at first my jaw dropped at the staggering figure, then my head dropped at the realisation that Financial Fair Play was just a dream. This is Man City giving UEFA the two finger salute. This is cheating.
I hope that Platini and co do something about this, but I doubt they will. Someone will bribe someone and the official line will be that the deal is kosher, when it quite clearly is not.
It makes me wonder; what is the point? What is the point of doing things the right way if clubs are just going to ignore the rules and do what they want anyway?!
Barcelona are currently in the process of a two year tapping-up incident involving our club captain Cesc Fabregas. Chelsea did it with Cashley. Man City are now giving themselves a massive cash injection via an associated business of their parent company. The punishments for breaking these off-the-field rules are either non-existent or so insignificant that they might as well not bother.
The signals we supporters are getting is that it’s ok to cheat if you’re big enough and rich enough to deal with the consequences. Is this the message that we want this great sport to deliver to us as fans? Is cheating ok if you can get away with? I don’t think so.
It will be interesting to see how UEFA handle this, but if they are as corrupt as FIFA then I’m pretty sure that they’ll find someway of getting City off of the hook.
I remember when Chelsea first showed up on the scene, flaunting their bottomless pot of gold around and buying players and undermining other clubs. It really annoyed me then, but at least you could compete against that with good planning and sound investment. Man City are doing the same, but to a much greater extent. It’s getting ridiculous. It’s becoming impossible to compete.
I’ll always support Arsenal. However, if the game continues down this path, if these rich clubs just keep ignoring the rules, spending without fear of reproach, then what appeal can football have for the supporters of all the other clubs? When it’s just a forgone conclusion that the winner of the league is going to be the plaything of a billionaire and not a club run responsibly, or at least within the rules of the game. How many fans are going to walk away and start looking for something that isn’t tainted.
Football is at a crossroads. If the powers that be don’t say ‘Stop. Enough. No more’ then I fear that the financial elite will just end up ruining the game for everyone else. If money doesn’t stop being the most important commodity in the sport, then it’s going to become a so far detached from its roots that it will cease to have general appeal.
I’m scared. I’m scared because my hopes now rest on UEFA and FIFA becoming a moral compass for the sport and sorting this financial issue out and bringing these ‘elite’ clubs in line. If they don’t do something significant right now, then I fear that we might just be starting to see the beginning of the end of the sport that I love.
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What is scary about what you are saying is that you can apply you scenario to the world at large. The corporate world has been running roughshod on the average person, with the extremely rich buying and cheating their way around laws and regulations established to keep their power in check. Then football world is unfortunately following in the footsteps with society at large.
Start a big campaign mate. Almost all supporters of most clubs must be against the sugar daddy clubs who think they can just buy trophies and break the rules. Get all real supporters together and give us a real voice. UEFA / FIFA will only listen when ‘customers’ like ourselves start complaining in unison (and LOUD!!!)
I agree!!!
don’t think football is losing its appeal for me, but something does need to be done about these mega rich oil money types
The negativity in the media used to elicit the emotions of a football fan are wearing me down and making me not want to read about or watch football, im sick of the manipulation, im sick of the hypocrisy, i’m sick of the fans who eat every spoonful up. Media coverage is killing the game, that and the corruption at fifa/uefa and every governing body in their own respective countries that try to maintain status quos so certain teams get all the money.
“Is football losing it`s appeal because of mega-rich clubs”? For those who have been brought up with `oil fueled`clubs, `millions` is just a word so has little or no effect on how they view the game. For those of us old enough to be able to count to a million it`s an insult to our intelligence and values but there`s no going back unless very strict rules are introduced and policed. To the people who have this kind of money `corruption` is a way of life so it`s not going to be easy.
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This is Platini’s chance to really make a name for himself for the good. Maybe British fans should return to the hooligan ways of the 70’s/80’s and get all clubs banned from europe!
Well my grandfather has said he’s going to stop following football because it’s so corrupt and I know many people who have decided to only follow lower league clubs because money isn’t the be all and end all. However I think the financial power-houses will be punished, for example, say City’s owner gets bored and leaves the club with the bill, they will go into liquidation. United’s debt will catch up with them, that could lead the club into administration. Arsenal was one of two clubs that made a profit in the PL last year, if the euro crisis continues then the banks will demand their money gets paid back. And the super rich will become the super poor, or go into liquidation. They will pay the price eventually.