Post by QPR Report on Apr 5, 2010 6:19:12 GMT
(And in Italian Football, Pellicori missed a penalty -
www.footballitaliano.co.uk/article.aspx?id=1210
The Times
Spanish League has solution to troubles in its own hands Gabriele Marcotti, European Football Correspondent
A strike is being threatened for the day of the Real Madrid v Barcelona match
Today the Spanish footballers’ association will decide whether to go on strike next weekend over the thorny issues of club debts and unpaid wages.
The date of the proposed strike is probably not coincidental, because next Saturday the biggest game in club football takes place as Real Madrid play host to Barcelona in a clash of the world’s biggest-spending clubs. What better way to draw attention to the plight of the 85 per cent of footballers in the country’s top three divisions whose wages are paid late or not at all than to cancel the one fixture just about every football-lover in the universe wants to see? Think of it as the starving peasants picketing the caterers and denying the feudal lords their sumptuous feast.
Inequalities in La Liga have always been stark. But this season they seem especially steep. As Real and Barcelona duel it out at the top of the table, third-placed Valencia are on track to finish 27 points behind the big two. Which is not that surprising when you consider that Barcelona and Real earn more than four times as much from the domestic TV deal alone as any other Liga side and their turnover is more than six times as high.
The kneejerk response to this is to chastise the “Spanish system” as profoundly unequal and top-heavy. Spain may be the defending European champions, Barcelona may be the Champions League holders and the big two may be the most star-studded and revenue-generating sides in the world, but at what price?
In fact, the Spanish league has sported plenty of strength in depth over the past decade or so — witness Valencia’s two league titles, Uefa Cup win and two Champions League finals; Seville’s two Uefa Cups; and Champions League semi-final appearances from Villarreal and Deportivo La Coruña — but that success was also a function of gross overspending as clubs tried to keep up with the big two. Now they are paying the price.
Yet perhaps the doom and gloom mongers are getting a little bit too gleeful in addressing La Liga’s plight. For a start, consider the issue of competitive imbalance. We take it as read that a league becomes “boring and uninteresting” when the same team win time and again. It seems like a logical argument, but what if that’s how the majority of fans like it?
Real and Barcelona receive a hugely disproportionate amount of media coverage in Spain, but that’s also a function of the free market. Nearly two thirds of fans in Spain support Real or Barcelona. Valencia, the third best-supported club, have one fifth the number of fans as Barcelona.
Maybe Spanish supporters do not mind the state of affairs. After all, top-flight attendances have stayed remarkably constant, at about 28,000 to 29,000 for the past seven years, making them the third-highest in Europe (after the Bundesliga and the Premier League). This season six clubs have averaged in excess of 37,000 (compared with ten in Germany and seven in England), suggesting that perhaps fans of Valencia, Atlético Madrid, Seville and Athletic Bilbao are not frustrated enough by the duopoly to stop supporting their sides.
Of course, this does not mean that huge debts — which Barcelona and Real are also burdened with — unpaid wages and the inequitable distribution of TV money are not a concern, because evidently they are. With Italy returning to collective rights next season, La Liga will be the only leading European championship in which clubs sign their TV deals individually, a state of affairs that grossly favours the biggest sides, as shown by the £110 million-plus contracts at Barcelona and Real. A more equitable distribution — weighted with prize money to reward the more successful clubs — is more fair in the long run and makes economic sense, too.
As for the debt and the unpaid wages, it is the usual argument of oversight and enforcement. Funnily enough, whenever that comes up, clubs suddenly turn deaf. Proper centralised and independent auditing, coupled with tough penalties and perhaps the requirement of placing a year’s wages in escrow at the start of the season can resolve much of that.
Just as important is that a football club’s liabilities can be reduced over time much more easily than any other business. When your main expense is salaries — usually about 60 to 80 per cent of turnover — all you have to do is reduce the wage bill over time. Contracts expire, players can be sold. Few business have the flexibility of football when it comes to cost-cutting.
Clubs, of course, will tell you that they cannot engage in drastic cost-cutting because their performances will suffer and fans will stop turning up, creating a vicious cycle. But that is probably a myth. Football fans are enduringly loyal and they will happily place their club’s survival over the excitement of a Europa League spot.
The bottom line is that while the financial situation is far from bright, it is certainly fixable. Provided you have a central power with the authority to make tough rules and the will to enforce them.
Juventus losing their way with future clouded by uncertainty
The nightmare continues at Juventus, after their 3-0 thrashing away to relegation-threatened Udinese. The Bianconeri have lost four of their past five matches — and, in that run, probably deserved to lose the one game they did win, against Atalanta last week — and have slipped to seventh place in Serie A.
It is not so much the league position that is a concern — fourth-placed Palermo are only three points away — as the uncertainty surrounding the club. Alberto Zaccheroni, the interim coach, will leave at the end of the season and not only is the identity of his successor unknown, it is unclear whether the club’s chief executive and general manager will stick around or be part of the decision-making process.
With so many veterans — David Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Mauro Camoranesi, Nicola Legrottaglie, Fabio Grosso, Hasan Salihamidzic and Fabio Cannavaro are the wrong side of 30 — the time for tough choices is now. But is there anyone to make those decisions?
Bayern’s grit will offer test for United
Gritty is not a term you usually associate with Louis van Gaal’s sides. Conventional wisdom holds that for a Van Gaal team to win, they need to play well and everything must go smoothly. But, in their recent outings, Bayern Munich have shown a toughness and an ability to grind out results not many believed they possessed.
On Tuesday they came from behind to defeat Manchester United in the Champions League. And on Saturday, away to league-leading Schalke, they had a man sent off in the first half and nevertheless hung on for a 2-1 victory.
They did it with a back five that, apart from Philipp Lahm and Daniel van Buyten, looks distinctly unimpressive on paper. Hans-Jörg Butt is an inconsistent goalkeeper who before this season had not been a regular since 2007 . Holger Badstuber and Diego Contento, 21 and 19 respectively, were playing for Bayern’s amateur side less than a year ago. Yet, when it mattered most, they came together to keep out Schalke. And they may yet do the same against United.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/gabriele_marcotti/article7087520.ece
www.footballitaliano.co.uk/article.aspx?id=1210
The Times
Spanish League has solution to troubles in its own hands Gabriele Marcotti, European Football Correspondent
A strike is being threatened for the day of the Real Madrid v Barcelona match
Today the Spanish footballers’ association will decide whether to go on strike next weekend over the thorny issues of club debts and unpaid wages.
The date of the proposed strike is probably not coincidental, because next Saturday the biggest game in club football takes place as Real Madrid play host to Barcelona in a clash of the world’s biggest-spending clubs. What better way to draw attention to the plight of the 85 per cent of footballers in the country’s top three divisions whose wages are paid late or not at all than to cancel the one fixture just about every football-lover in the universe wants to see? Think of it as the starving peasants picketing the caterers and denying the feudal lords their sumptuous feast.
Inequalities in La Liga have always been stark. But this season they seem especially steep. As Real and Barcelona duel it out at the top of the table, third-placed Valencia are on track to finish 27 points behind the big two. Which is not that surprising when you consider that Barcelona and Real earn more than four times as much from the domestic TV deal alone as any other Liga side and their turnover is more than six times as high.
The kneejerk response to this is to chastise the “Spanish system” as profoundly unequal and top-heavy. Spain may be the defending European champions, Barcelona may be the Champions League holders and the big two may be the most star-studded and revenue-generating sides in the world, but at what price?
In fact, the Spanish league has sported plenty of strength in depth over the past decade or so — witness Valencia’s two league titles, Uefa Cup win and two Champions League finals; Seville’s two Uefa Cups; and Champions League semi-final appearances from Villarreal and Deportivo La Coruña — but that success was also a function of gross overspending as clubs tried to keep up with the big two. Now they are paying the price.
Yet perhaps the doom and gloom mongers are getting a little bit too gleeful in addressing La Liga’s plight. For a start, consider the issue of competitive imbalance. We take it as read that a league becomes “boring and uninteresting” when the same team win time and again. It seems like a logical argument, but what if that’s how the majority of fans like it?
Real and Barcelona receive a hugely disproportionate amount of media coverage in Spain, but that’s also a function of the free market. Nearly two thirds of fans in Spain support Real or Barcelona. Valencia, the third best-supported club, have one fifth the number of fans as Barcelona.
Maybe Spanish supporters do not mind the state of affairs. After all, top-flight attendances have stayed remarkably constant, at about 28,000 to 29,000 for the past seven years, making them the third-highest in Europe (after the Bundesliga and the Premier League). This season six clubs have averaged in excess of 37,000 (compared with ten in Germany and seven in England), suggesting that perhaps fans of Valencia, Atlético Madrid, Seville and Athletic Bilbao are not frustrated enough by the duopoly to stop supporting their sides.
Of course, this does not mean that huge debts — which Barcelona and Real are also burdened with — unpaid wages and the inequitable distribution of TV money are not a concern, because evidently they are. With Italy returning to collective rights next season, La Liga will be the only leading European championship in which clubs sign their TV deals individually, a state of affairs that grossly favours the biggest sides, as shown by the £110 million-plus contracts at Barcelona and Real. A more equitable distribution — weighted with prize money to reward the more successful clubs — is more fair in the long run and makes economic sense, too.
As for the debt and the unpaid wages, it is the usual argument of oversight and enforcement. Funnily enough, whenever that comes up, clubs suddenly turn deaf. Proper centralised and independent auditing, coupled with tough penalties and perhaps the requirement of placing a year’s wages in escrow at the start of the season can resolve much of that.
Just as important is that a football club’s liabilities can be reduced over time much more easily than any other business. When your main expense is salaries — usually about 60 to 80 per cent of turnover — all you have to do is reduce the wage bill over time. Contracts expire, players can be sold. Few business have the flexibility of football when it comes to cost-cutting.
Clubs, of course, will tell you that they cannot engage in drastic cost-cutting because their performances will suffer and fans will stop turning up, creating a vicious cycle. But that is probably a myth. Football fans are enduringly loyal and they will happily place their club’s survival over the excitement of a Europa League spot.
The bottom line is that while the financial situation is far from bright, it is certainly fixable. Provided you have a central power with the authority to make tough rules and the will to enforce them.
Juventus losing their way with future clouded by uncertainty
The nightmare continues at Juventus, after their 3-0 thrashing away to relegation-threatened Udinese. The Bianconeri have lost four of their past five matches — and, in that run, probably deserved to lose the one game they did win, against Atalanta last week — and have slipped to seventh place in Serie A.
It is not so much the league position that is a concern — fourth-placed Palermo are only three points away — as the uncertainty surrounding the club. Alberto Zaccheroni, the interim coach, will leave at the end of the season and not only is the identity of his successor unknown, it is unclear whether the club’s chief executive and general manager will stick around or be part of the decision-making process.
With so many veterans — David Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Mauro Camoranesi, Nicola Legrottaglie, Fabio Grosso, Hasan Salihamidzic and Fabio Cannavaro are the wrong side of 30 — the time for tough choices is now. But is there anyone to make those decisions?
Bayern’s grit will offer test for United
Gritty is not a term you usually associate with Louis van Gaal’s sides. Conventional wisdom holds that for a Van Gaal team to win, they need to play well and everything must go smoothly. But, in their recent outings, Bayern Munich have shown a toughness and an ability to grind out results not many believed they possessed.
On Tuesday they came from behind to defeat Manchester United in the Champions League. And on Saturday, away to league-leading Schalke, they had a man sent off in the first half and nevertheless hung on for a 2-1 victory.
They did it with a back five that, apart from Philipp Lahm and Daniel van Buyten, looks distinctly unimpressive on paper. Hans-Jörg Butt is an inconsistent goalkeeper who before this season had not been a regular since 2007 . Holger Badstuber and Diego Contento, 21 and 19 respectively, were playing for Bayern’s amateur side less than a year ago. Yet, when it mattered most, they came together to keep out Schalke. And they may yet do the same against United.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/gabriele_marcotti/article7087520.ece