GLF 63:Geoff has a look at football finances.
Money-Go-Round
Recent news that the English Premiership has signed a colossal £625 million pound TV deal must have seen the chairmen of those clubs wetting themselves with glee. No wonder there has been talk of even more foreign investors taking over clubs.But where does that leave other English teams and how do Scottish clubs fare in comparison?
The Premiership already had a £1.7 billion package in place for it's domestic TV coverage and the overseas deal added to it has led to the triumphal claims about it being the best league in the world.But there are already signs that the most important people in the equation,the grass-roots supporters,are turning their backs on the Premiership.Remember the days when you could hardly see an empty seat at the grounds? That still applies at the likes of Manure but Wigan have had to cut their prices sharply to try and fill their ground while Blackburn are at the leading edge of a campaign not to price supporters out of grounds.Manchester City fans recently boycotted a match at Bolton due to the price of entry and that came as no surprise to me.Bradford recently launched a scheme whereby if 10,000 fans pledged to buy a season ticket next season they could watch their games for the equivalent of £6 a game.The club wouldn't make more on gate money but would benefit in the atmosphere at the ground.
The FA Cup draw has presented my English club, Blackpool, with the possibility of a trip to Stamford Bridge. Having worried at the prohibitive cost (Chelsea in the Premiership average £50), I was pleasantly surprised to see prices pegged at a reasonable £25 should Pool progress. Only £5 more than we're being asked for today's game and I get to see some overpriced superstars.
So where will all this new TV money go?To the usual suspects I would think.Agents will increase their demands in terms of transfer fees and wages.British talent will continue to be snubbed and foreign players will continue to flood the game (only teams in the Champions League will have to provide a minimum number of home-based players in their squads).Of the 58 transfers in the Premier league in the recent window,37 involved foreign players.The winner of the Premiership next season will pick up £50 million and even the bottom team will net a cool £26 million. That's not accounting for what they can make off their own backs,that's just 'prize' money!Imagine being relegated with a cool £26 million in your hip pocket,plus parachute payments guaranteed.What chance will Championship teams have of bettering you in the race to get back to the top?And so a closed shop is quickly created with the big getting bloated and everyone else eating cake.
Up here in Scotchland the gruesome twosome must be eyeing those finances enviously.While we could never command such a fee for rights to our game let's not forget that it was the Old Firm's prevarication that scuppered hopes of a Sky deal a few years ago and brought us a second best deal with Setanta.Now even Rangers are paying the price with finances stretched and quality suffering on the park.Who'd have imagined that they would be reduced to bringing in players the ages of David Weir and Ugo Ehiogu to bolster their squad. While they are probably rewarding those players in their wages they continue to treat other Scottish clubs with disdain.Only the interest of English clubs boosted the transfer fee for Kevin Thomson,just look at what they offered for Skippy or Alan Gow.
Pitiful offers are made for Scottish based players in the knowledge that Scottish clubs are equally cash strapped.In the current market just how many clubs can afford to turn down any kind of offer?Put it this way,just how many players in the SPL are likely to attract a realistic offer from England?With the money swimming in English football do you think that Faddy would be an attractive proposition to a Premiership team if he were still at 'Well?I'm not so sure and,so disappointing (by the standards we have known) has been his impact,that I would not be surprised to see him moving on from Everton soon, and I'm sure the Squirm would be tempted.
And where does it all leave Motherwell in the bigger picture?Struggling to stay afloat,as ever,would be my honest opinion. If a decent offer came in for any of our players there is no doubt that they would be off like shit from a shovel.That has always been the way of things but what is the likelihood of us pulling off another Faddy type deal?No-one,even with the spare cash they have lying around,is likely to offer us a million for one of players because they know that we do not have the bargaining power to turn down a lesser offer.Any hot prospects we have might be made to look good at our level but it's a big step up moving to the top in England.That's why we are more likely to attract interest from Championship level as we saw when Southend recently came shopping.Such a move would prove tempting for any of our players seeking financial security for their families.Wages are so much greater and to find comparable wages to our own we would have to look at poorer English Division One teams and those in Division Two.Such is the huge gulf that has been created.
If English clubs continue to price themselves away from the means of ordinary fans it creates only problems.The game needs fans to survive. If the product becomes stale then investment slows up or disappears. Then they might stop giving footballers ridiculous sums of money.Then they might stop paying agents ludicrous fees and then they might be forced to live within their means.Once football stops being the rich man's plaything the poor man may have found something else to hold their interest and then the Premiership could find itself in a similar situation to the SPL.
Geoff Baby
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