Money is one of those things that we fret about day by day. House prices rise, tax increases, cuts take hold and avalanches of over-priced products find their way onto various bandwagons and force overall cost upwards.
Rob Hughes (previously a writer for The Sunday Times for 25 years) on the Champions League: “13 of the 16 clubs remaining in the tournament turnover possess the greatest revenues in the game.”
As the price-tags get more and more ludicrous teams with small amounts of money are going to rely on seat-of-their-pants tactics right up to the very last minute. Without winning a tournament or lucking out with some home-grown talent that can sell for silly money they’re going to be destined to a life of wallowing around in low-level league spots and eventually petering out altogether. In arduous economical times it might be that loans are the only escape route. With many banks losing their way there are still colourful characters in the industry like Ulster Bank – who are tipping the balance of money towards helpful banking.
We might soon realize that we are witnessing the last throes of romance in soccer’s big time. We might never again see two clubs — Arsenal and Barcelona — go head-to-head with teams nurtured largely through their training academies, as they are right now.
We might bless the golden era when a manager like Alex Ferguson gets 25 years to run a club like Manchester United — and can field players like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes 20 years after he first saw them as schoolboys.
And we must, surely, relish Arsenal versus Barcelona, not simply because they largely create what they put onto the field, but because they have the time and the patience to instill beauty along with the athleticism demanded at this level of competition.
Taken from here.
Football is the passion of our era, particularly in this country, and it doesn’t look set to slow down in any short time-frame. Popularity will increase as money is syphoned from other parts of the sporting and advertising worlds until there is an implosion of money and success – sooner or later we’ll grow tired of the corporate side of our beautiful game, but we’re building to a climax. We aint seen nothing yet.