Archive for July 2011
Spend, Spend, Spend Is An Alarmingly Growing Trend
After the dominance of the Barclays/Barclaycard Premier League in the early to mid 2000’s it would have seemed foolish to consider that La Liga could mount a strong enough challenge to compete with Premier League teams on a European stage/Economic stage mere years later. But as the remarkable Valencia/Deportivo/Zaragoza sides of the early 21st Century showed, it was possible to challenge Real Madrid/Barcelona and indeed showed it was feasible that someone outside of Catalonia/Madrid could fill trophy cabinets to the extent that those sides in particular did. But the consequences/legacy of such challenges to the power of Real Madrid/Barcelona? Financial ruin and instability for years to follow, Valencia are a perfect example who have been unable to reproduce the success Benitez had during his tenure now finding themselves in serious debt servicing problems forcing them last summer to sell their prized assets like David Villa/David Silva and downgrade the spending to bring in the likes of Soldado/Aduriz who are proven La Liga strikers. Their strategy is working in the medium term, they aim to have a sufficient 10 year plan in place by the end of this year which is less reliant on the Champions League income (which is the main source of income for them right now) and move towards stability and producing gems like they have done in Juan Mata/David Villa who were brought to the club for relatively nominal fees. That strategy is quite a financially brave strategy in Spain as the culture/trend of La Liga is leaning ever more to the ways of the Barclays Premier League where clubs spend more than they earn and end up in severe non structured debt through poor management at the top level leaving them vulnerable to administration/relegation. The trend set by Hercules/Mallorca in the past two seasons should serve as a stark warning to mid-lower teams in La Liga who must now realise that spending what you do not have in the summer just threatens your ability to service expenses/costs such as wages, operating costs and renting of facilities throughout the season. The extreme examples of clubs being financially mismanaged in recent seasons has already led to Deportivo and Hercules go down and Mallorca/Racing’s futures put in severe doubt, surely this should serve as a warning not a precedent that is to be followed?
Of the teams promoted to La Liga this season, Real Betis, Rayo Vallencano and Granada are all in administration. Real Mallorca went into administration last season and were banned from playing in the Europe League. Real Zaragoza applied for voluntary administration last month, whilst Racing Santander are struggling to pay off their debts. Spanish regional banks have been in trouble and the country’s construction bubble has burst leaving unsold and half completed apartments and many construction workers adding to already high structural employment. Spain could be hit hard by any contagion effect from a Greek default and already indebted football clubs could be flattened by the financial tsunami.
According to article 93 of law 35, originally introduced by the previousPartido Popular government in 2004, foreign executives earning more than €600,000 (£540,000) a year are taxed at 23%, rather than 43%. In theory, the aim was to encourage talent to come to Spain: in practice, following a modification in 2005, it gave Spanish football clubs, already boosted by the collapse of the pound, a huge advantage. Of every 60 people who qualify for the lower rate of tax, 43 are footballers. Luckily the absurdity of the law has recently been altered by the government meaning even foreign football players in Spain are taxed 43%.
But when the league is headed by two clubs who hold the spending power of Real Madrid and Barcelona who have the capability to splash the income of most Spanish clubs in a single transfer surely the reality is that clubs will never hold any chance at winning the league?
In 2008/09 season the €455m net La Liga transfer spend disguises a troubling reality. Last year, despite winning the treble, Barcelona made only €8.8m and have a debt of €350m. Madrid signed €258m worth of players but only after their president, Florentino Pérez, turned to two friends who are both presidents of banks and who loaned Madrid €151.5m. Which I often refer to as the true fault with Spanish football, the clubs/presidents mismanagement and personal connections with banks leads clubs down the path of borrowing…But when that presidents time comes and a new President is elected the clubs debts/bonds/loans are all still held by the same bank executive that the old President struck a deal with and who may want to up the interest/call in the loan. It is such a short sighted short term strategy taken by alot of Spanish clubs because the power hungry Directors/Presidents are all too happy to sit in their ivory towers and building the team behind the scenes but when things go wrong they divert the heat onto the manager and 9/10 they sack the coach. Utter madness that you consider clubs to have 2-3 year financial plans, the club will never be stable and hold sustainable growth as long as Presidential terms/elections exist in Spanish culture.
The argument is that their debts are serviceable. In fact, Pérez insists that high expenditure is necessary to generate money and Madrid have become the first club to take income beyond €400m. But doubts remain; costs outstrip income, shirt sales are lower than those of Liverpool and Chelsea; Bernabéu attendances are down 7%; and the debt stands at €683m. Publicly, Pérez insists: “Madrid must always remain a club owned by its members.” The possibility of Real Madrid becoming a plc has even been discussed. Unthinkable as it sounds, the comparison of the Glazers-Perez is a very closely ran contest in my wholly honest opinion as to who’s strategy makes more sense because the Glazers borrowed 80 pct of funds against the football club…In order to buy the football club, and their idea was to service the ludicrous debt by structuring it annually with high interest whereas Perez just seems to be relying on Shirt sales/Marketing strategy to pay back his loans.
But would that solve anything? The evidence suggests not. In the early 1990s, a new law obliged every club to become a plc, with four exceptions – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna, who were given special exemptions for socio-cultural reasons. Shares were issued and the slate wiped clean. It was supposed to be a panacea. The theory was simple: presidents would be more careful risking their own money. They were not. Often their fans would not let them…
Look back over the clubs who have competed in the Champions League recently and the situation is alarming: Valencia’s debt is more than €600m. Like Real Madrid (who sold the their training ground for €447m to the council in 2001, wiping out their €278m debt), a property deal was supposed to be their salvation. However, the market crashed at just the wrong time. Now Valencia have two stadiums – one they cannot sell and another they cannot afford to finish building. According to the third largest shareholder at Atlético Madrid, their debt is above €300m. Deportivo La Coruña are more than €120m in debt. Mallorca are desperately seeking a buyer and preparing for administration. Real Sociedad’s president at the time of relegation was a certain Astiazarán, now the league’s president. This culture needs to stop, it will strangle the longevity of La Liga’s ability to challenge and grow as a worldwide domestic competition
According to the latest Deloitte football finance report, La Liga’s revenues grew by 8 per cent to €1.622m in 2009-10, the highest relative and absolute growth of any of the ‘big five’ leagues. However, much of the growth was driven by Real Madrid and Barcelona whose collective revenues increased by €69m. Which clearly show’s the unjust imbalance of TV rights/revenue proportioning that go on within the La Liga dividends and the facts are that policies in Spanish football are often driven by the 2 powerhouses of Real Madrid and Barcelona. According to reliable statistics Madrid have 13.2m fans while Barcelona have 10.4m. Valencia are third with 2.1m. Nearly two-thirds of all football fans in Spain support one of the big two. And supporters of other clubs almost invariably choose Madrid or Barcelona as a “second” team.
The dominance is felt most on TV – and that is the crux of the issue, the precarious foundation upon which Spanish football is built. Unlike elsewhere – and even Italy is going collective – Spanish clubs negotiate individual television deals. “The lack of a centralised deal is the biggest problem we face,” Tebas says. The reason is clear. Madrid and Barcelona will earn approximately €120m in rights each year until 2013. ’09 season’s third-placed side, Sevilla earn around €20m; Valencia, last season’s third placed, make under €35m – less than Portsmouth. Right throughout the league, the imbalance is extraordinary. Competing is impossible.
The problem is the league are powerless to impose a collective deal, although they continue trying. There is so many splits of opinions that it is impossible to get unanimous agreement on anything in the way of legislation. Your probably thinking ”isn’t that the main reason blocking SPL reform at the minute?” Yes.
There is a lot of talk about Premier League debts, but this is a much more serious overall situation, particularly when one considers the state of the Spanish economy. You have to ask yourself, where is La Liga’s long term strategy/policy heading?
09/10 Figures Compared To The Barclays Premier League, The Revenue/Spend Is A Terrifyingly Obvious Precedent That Clubs Set That Summer That Followed In The Summer Of 10 With The Likes Of Hercules Spending Large Amounts Of Money It Simply Did Not Have The Capacity To Re Imburse Throughout The Season..
UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulation Analysis: Breaking Even
A wholly honest policy put in place by Platini and his very own ”solutions committee” no doubt, but how effective is the legislation that Platini has put in place under his executive mandate at UEFA? I have had the latest Financial Fair Play regulatory guidebook lying around my computer for months without delving into the colossal stack of legalese/accounting terms and regulations which lie inside. The purpose and intent on UEFA’s part is simple, to stop the naughty owners/chairman/directors at Football Clubs from putting clubs into serious difficulty financially as we have seen with Mallorca/Valencia/Roma/Portsmouth to name but a few of the clubs across Europe who’s past mismanagement has encumbered current/future progress both on the pitch and off it with staggering debts and in some extreme cases liquidation/administration. So there can be no doubt that the intentions of Platini and his board at UEFA are entirely pragmatic and honest to stop the way current clubs are run which in essence is taking the clubs away from the fans/communities and putting them in the hands of creditors/owners who take out ridiculous non sustainable loans to buy/run European football clubs and in some cases jump ship straight after after they see the first glint of profit. The regulations have met criticism but the mainstream opinion seems to be that these mystery ”FFP” regulations will change the game for the better and stop the current trend football is going which is debt driven and essentially too many people taking short term success over long term longevity.
Alot of people will discard this as another Platini ”populist policy” which lacks substance and credibility, like so much of UEFA legislation, with this brain child of his being nothing more than a grand narcissistic gesture to define his UEFA presidency and gain him votes politically within FIFA as ”the man who fixed football”. But this is no easy task, in fact nor is it popular amongst a select few ECA members who have an advantage to be gained from the continuation of short-medium term goals and financial strategy and discard the idea of long term sustainability by European football clubs. I will admit I myself is often a critic of UEFA and their seemingly never ending array of ”cock ups” in relation to club football and the absurd idea of adding an extra 2 pair of eyes/opinions to goal line matters which makes no logical sense at all unless they are Hawkeye robots dressed as officials. But he has taken on the ‘big clubs’ as him and his general secretary like to describe it, the crusade for longevity they say and the way it will help small clubs and their fans through sustainable growth. Critics will argue this keeps the big clubs big and makes the small clubs smaller, whats UEFA’s response? ”Go open a shop in Africa would be a start”. But that is the stereotype of FFP and the idea that it is a UEFA elitist policy threatening the growth/challenge of clubs like Manchester City but I would argue that in fact long term sustainability should be put above any immediate success which I am sure Portsmouth fans will agree with.
Reading through the regulations I noticed key phrases throughout which were ”fair”, ”reasonable” and ”relevant” which despite welcoming that UEFA have not put fixed figures/limits on clubs balances/declarations of commercial revenue it did get me wondering whether this was not reminiscent of a UN resolution diplomatically worded with the intent from one side of ‘stretching’ the boundaries. And let’s not forget the ECA were pivotal in coming up with FFP details and how to keep it ”fair”, I know what your thinking; why would UEFA let the chairman write their own will? Good question, I am guessing its so they could make this regulation seem fair on the clubs/owners but still extremely strict on the surface. It’s like a teacher telling their pupils to do their homework and if they don’t there will be grave implications/punishments when in reality they get an extension or a small 1 hour detention for their blatant disregard for rules meaning the other pupils will look and see how lenient it has been on that pupil and they see no reason to do their homework in time and so the cycle continues…
Annex X of the legislation defines the way UEFA deems the clubs balance sheet to have broken even; It’s calculated through comparing relevant income to non relevant expenses, here is what is defined as relevant income:
a) Gate Receipts Revenue
b) Sponsorship And Advertising Revenue
c) Broadcasting Rights Revenue
d) Commercial Activities
e) Other Operating Income
f) Profit On Disposal Of Player Registrations (Or Income Of Disposal Of Player Registrations)
g) Excess Proceeds On Disposal Of Tangible Fixed Assets
h) Finance Income
Relative income from any of the above methods is decreased if they are deemed to be:
i) Non Monetary Credits
j) Income Transactions With Related Parties Above Fair Value
k) Income From Non-Football Operations Not Related to The Club
So essentially the last 3 clauses are crucial in determining a clubs relative income and even more crucial is the enforcement of FFP in general, from UEFA who under these terms should not show any lenience with clubs in regards to disregarding the relative income outlined and therefore anyone who is deemed to have gained income from any one of those 3 methods should have that money disregarded from any break even calculation…Right? The income from Non-Football Operations clause takes out the possibility of Owners simply putting in money directly as some of them do now as it will be disregarded by UEFA and not taken into account when calculation of FFP comes around.
Relevant expenses:
a) Cost Of Sales/Materials
b) Employee Benefits Expense
c) Amortisation/Impairment Of Player Registrations And Loss On Disposal Of Player Registrations (Or Costs Of Acquiring Player Registrations)
d) Other Operating Expenses
e) Finance Costs And Dividends
Relative Expenses Will Be Increased If Any Of The Elements Of a)-e) Include:
a) Expense Transaction (s) With Related Party (ies) Is Below Fair Value
Therefore in theory the Relevant Expenses will be calculated taking into account b) annual wages of all employees c) Buying of players/Loss on selling a player d) operating expenses such as scouting for example e) shareholder/board payments and costs of Finance at the club. So theoretically this legislation will take into account all relevant variables when calculating break even points/analysing club balances. And the clause is basically if any clubs are owned/affiliated closely enough that an owner can transfer money from one club to another by acquiring a player, so that far fetched idea some people had has been kicked into the long grass by UEFA straight away. On the surface it appears water tight and you are probably wondering that in the current transfer market climate why clubs are spending 30+ million on players? Well this is essentially the last year you can do that without risk of being in immediate danger of non compliance, and as I will describe in my next piece on this analysing another Annex to the legislation about how transfer fees are factored in because it’s not as straight forward as it may appear.
Task Ahead For Clubs Like Manchester City To Comply With The Relevant Regulation To Break Even;
Part 1 of a series analysing the Legislation behind UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
Analyzing Manchester City’s Finances
Ahead of UEFA introducing ‘Financial Fair Play Regulations’ in the near future it seems a mystery to many a football fan when you see clubs like Manchester City who would appear in a League of their own of ”Lets invest in something but never look to profit on our investment and just keep pumping money in”. Many speculate this is Qatar’s way of returning the favor of the UK government handing them over our ‘soviet era relics’ like the 1990’s Harrier jets we sold them at 25 pct the normal price but surely Tevez can cause as much destruction as a mark 1 tank?…But anyway returning to the Sheikh and his vast well of money, he seems all too happy to bankroll the wage bill yet and all to keen to remind everyone he owns Etihad, who as United fans will tell you means ”Unity/United”, in fact it means ‘Union’ which is the only bit of fact you can expect to receive reading this article if you were to believe Gary Cook and the Manchester city board. Alongside the usual summer transfer speculation, the biggest football news of last week was Manchester City’s new ten year naming rights and sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways. Reports indicate that Etihad will pay City between £300m and 400m over the life of the contract making it by far and away the largest ever club football sponsorship deal. With UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules around the corner, the Etihad deal has caused huge controversy with figures such as John W Henry of Fenway Sports Group and Arsene Wenger questioning the transaction given that Etihad is owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family of which City’s owner Sheikh Mansour is a senior member. Yet UEFA’s response from Zurich? Was to simply release in a press briefing ”any complaints lodged regarding UEFA financial fair play can not be ‘completely and thoroughly’ looked at until the legislation is fully functioning and in place. I have assumed a figure of £400m for the Etihad deal throughout for ease, but readers can obviously make the easy mental adjustment if they believe £300m is a more realistic figure. Any inaccuracies your brilliantly vigorous minds find, then please feel free to point them out as I indulge into the abyss that is the ”MCFC revenue and margins”…
The £400m, 10 year deal announced last week is a staggering piece of business for City. A club that could only muster £6.5m in total sponsorship income under Thaksin has signed a deal worth over six times that from just one source a mere few years later, obviously the way they managed to make this deal ‘happen’ as it were is still subject of debate.
It appears that City and Etihad are suggesting the partnership splits into three areas; shirt sponsorship, naming rights for the (former) City of Manchester Stadium and naming rights for the wider “Etihad Campus” in East Manchester (see below). Even with the c. £40m split into these three areas (and perhaps £4m pa going back to Manchester City Council for the first five years), these are sums that match or exceed the best deals seen in European football. United and Liverpool’s shirt deals with Standard Chartered and Aon respectively are worth around £20m pa. Bayern Munich’s 2009 three year extension of its shirt sponsorship with Deutsche Telekom is worth around £23m pa. Precedents for naming rights in Europe are somewhat scarce, and if City’s Etihad deal is worth around £10m pa, it is the highest seen in European sport.
How City compare to other clubs
Modern Day Journeyman Or Homecoming Queen?
Alot of media commentators/News Organisations have been running this story all day today continuing the ever farcical ”Tevez wants to go home” saga, well I would put to those commentators that they have done an injustice in reporting this story as the ‘return of the prodigal son’ for 35 million pounds because frankly it would not be like that at all. In the world of Modern football a player who ‘wants to go home’ gets to dictate the will of the club and hold them to ransom over letting him go to where he wants to go, this news comes the same day that Adebayor ”refused” to train with MCFC youngsters/reserves who also missed out on the City US tour. I am no genius but if agents are now putting in clauses in contracts that say; ”I sign this 5 year contract but any time I feel like going home I want to be sold to a club which is at least Spanish/Italian speaking” and ”I refuse to train with anyone younger than me” surely it has now reached/surpassed the stage that this whole saga is just typical of the modern journeyman footballer who shows no loyalty to any club and has so much player power at one club that he does, in essence, become bigger than that football club during the saga.
Many in the British press are billing Carlos Tevezs’ return to Corinthians as the return of a club legend who left as an icon…Nothing could be further from the truth. He moved for 18 million dollars and was signed to MSI the agency (who held a significant stake in Corinthians and still own 50 pct of the club) who still hold a grip on Tevez’s career through his agent/intermediary/personal nanny Kia Joorabchian who came out today decreeing Tevez will push for a move to the club where his heart lies, Corinthians nevertheless. His spell at Corinthians in many ways has defined/shown up throughout Tevez’s subsequent career here is a few examples of the sort of terms Tevez left his ‘heart bound’ club of Corinthians; Tevez leaves Corinthians after one season, after winning the league, Leao says: “Our relationship has never got started” I am sure that will sound familiar to Alan Pardew and possibly Mancini who Tevez has always served the frostiest of glances. Tevez goes on strike at Corinthians and coach Emerson Leao says: “Tevez has missed other training sessions so this is nothing new.” He has always been shielded from any form of discipline which is why his recent behavior off the pitch has been nothing short of astounding. When a player like Tevez who is the modern day football mercenary who came from South America and has made his money and now wants to return but he wont take a significant paycut from 250k a week to return…He still ‘needs’ 130k a week to live from with his family, his family who would apparently move to Brazil/Spain but not move back to England. Tevez built a home when he moved to Manchester United and his family lived happy until he split from his wife and now that they are, shockingly, back together it would appear his wife is no longer fond of views of the Lancashire riviera and has her sights set on a warmer climate. Fair enough? Or is it a case of ”Carlos wants a change of scenery”, because despite him sensational goal scoring record Tevez has had little European impact at Champions League level and having finally reached the level with Manchester City he now wants to jump ship, clearly a man who plays for money/football than for honors. On the language point it has always been apparent in Tevez’s career and if the Brazilian coach of Corinthians says that as a captain no player can understand him surely a predominantly English speaking Manchester City team/coaching staff will have huge difficulties given that Tevez has been here 6 years and not learnt a word of the Queens’ English? Back in 2005 Tevez was stripped of the captain’s armband at the club, “Does anyone understand what Tevez says when he speaks, because I don’t,” says coach Leao. Tevez then falls out with Corinthians players and is involved in a fist fight with Marquinos in training which sparked international coverage and Tevez was filmed punching/kicking Marquinhos repeatedly after the tenacious forward took holding up the ball to seriously when the defender came in to tackle him. Training ground bust ups, disassociation/isolation with other players? Sounds like an all to familiar trend to Tevez’s career since he moved from Corinthians, the warning signs were there and the man clearly has not changed his volatile ways.
In regards to the idea that Tevez moving back to Corinthians will be ‘revered’ by the fans as ‘the return of the messiah’ is completely false and bogus, Tevez has never had any connection meaningful with any set of fans throughout his career except at Boca Juniors (People who speak his language/local boy I would presume), but in Brazil the fans of Corinthians felt betrayed by Tevez’s lack of respect for the club and constant moaning/demanding whilst failing to deliver 100 pct on the pitch despite the club paying a South American record fee to bring him from Corinthians. Again, the trend was set and Tevez has never entered any meaningful connection/bond with fans since, I mean Manchester United/City fans adored him for what he gave on the pitch, he never did much community work and like I said not learning to speak English takes away a big part of fan interaction in this country especially. Despite saying “I identify with the Corinthians fans”, Tevez falls out with the supporters who boo him constantly and shook his car after matches. Clearly Tevez has the personality that rifles emotion and polarizes opinion no matter where he is be it Brazil/Manchester, his off the pitch antics have always been apparent and should come as no great shock to any club executive who bring him in under the suspicion they can be the ones who ‘tame’ Carlos Tevez, just like Gary Cook has done at City who has given Tevez whatever he has asked for and provided the means to do so through private jets/all inclusive holidays in Spain. It astounds me the lengths that Manchester City have gone to, to appease their captain and keep him their despite Tevez/Joorabchian’s constant mockery of the Football Club and have built the media image in recent months that Carlos Tevez is actually bigger than the football club which you simply can not allow as a club manager because it sends a message/sets a precedent for anyone wanting to come in. ”Tevez’s first stint at Cornithains worked out so well he lasted just one season of his five-year £6.5m contract.” Amazing the sort of precedents you can get isn’t it? He signed a 5 year deal with Manchester City on improved terms less than a year ago on 250k+ a week and now wants to go ‘home’? Football clubs have payed an astonishing 94.6 million pounds on Tevez throughout his career (including estimates of his contracts) and now he expects Manchester City to send him out on loan to a Brazilian club so he can ‘be closer to his family’? The club that would still pay his 250k a week wages and the club that lets make no bones about it could really use Carlos Tevez and his attributes next season, and they should loan him out to Brazil because he wants them to?
Summarizing the Corinthians bid for Carlos Tevez today: Entirely fabricated as a PR stunt, I mean MSI owns half of Corinthians…Tevez is still their client and Tevez’s agent is one of their top agents who work under their umbrella. So the Kia Joorabchian quotes can be thrown out of the equation right now, and Corinthians director of sports came out today and admitted they could not afford Tevez and it was ”unlikely but a dream is possible if you believe it hard enough”. Alot of reports about how they were planning on funding their bid, it would be through Brazilian TV money which Corinthians will receive which is a pretty extortionate amount for a South American club of 29 million euros, plus some of the fee would be paid annually for 3 years. But regardless, Kia Joorabchian has Sheikh Mansour/Gary Cooks ears and he knows fine well they would rebuff the bid swiftly and it is some way off what City want/feel they should get for Carlos Tevez…My personal feeling on the days events was it is an entirely choreographed stunt by MSI/Corinthians/Kia Joorabchian who’s actual goal is to get Carlos Tevez a loan deal to Corinthians (highly unlikely). Lets not forget the Brazilian domestic transfer window shuts on the 20th of July for permanent deals so if this deal is going to have significant movement it had better happen pretty sharply or perhaps Boca will sweep in at the last minute and pay City’s price so Tevez will actually be going home…
Bust up with Marquinhos at his last ‘spell’ at the Brazilian club:
The Flaws of The English Game
I come at this piece from a position knowing all to well the many people who have had their say on the matter, blaming anything from tiredness to the wrong boots we use to ‘our grass is to wet’. I am coming at this with at least a vague understanding, I would like to think, of how the system in this country works for young coaches looking to get qualified. I myself came through the program’s setup by the FA to get the relevant qualifications to coach Professionally in this country and across the pond in Continental Europe, I need to be in Professional coaching/football now for a minimum 10 years with my B license before I am considered eligible to apply for a ‘UEFA A License’ which allows me to be a senior coach/manage at a Professional football club. Just to introduce the general point I am trying to start off with here is I am going through the system many consider flawed and I can give my personal views on how it has helped/hindered me and whether I would have any suggestions for improvement. Well I do have alot of suggestions/ideas on why this country’s football system fails the youngsters and why I believe so many coaches in this country bring kids up the wrong way, it’s not about emulating the Spanish/Germans it should be about doing it our own way and I dare say do our way ‘better’ than them.
I mean it occurred to me whilst I took my 3 month internship at a Dutch academy earlier in the year that a fundamental difference between the way Youngsters are coached over there is they get far more time with the kids and they get them into their systems at the ages of 9/10 whereas most academies in England only start to really train youngsters after the age of 13. Alot of academies in England do run program’s with U-10’s but it will be maybe one session a week and even then it will be 1-2 hours maximum, laws in England do restrict coaches to the extent that you get to spend a maximum of 7 hours with youngsters over a week leaving little time for the coach to adapt/tutor the youngster 100 pct. The rules in Spain are different, as cited by the famous Cruyff academy system ‘La Masia’ where youngsters spend time living with each other and learning their trade under one philosophy together regardless of whether one is ’14’ and one is ’12’, they see no parallel U-16 with regards to age and allow every youngster to stay until they are 16 to develop rather than throwing them out when they are 13 and their development is not as quick as the other kids. People seem to think the problem is with the Premier League clubs who get a look at them when they are 16/17 but the problem is what happens to them before they get to that point, Schools football needs an overhaul in my opinion many countries like Holland/Spain use Astro Turf and 5-a-side style goals up until the age of 14/15. Players don’t even need to buy football boots in those countries until their mid teens, why is this important? Because it allows the player to adapt quicker and from personal experience it was easier learning my techniques on the streets in trainers than with boots on at the local park field. Ex footballers just seem all to happy that technique is not what English players are good at and its ‘natural’ to the Spanish, I would argue it is not natural at all but the way they are coached on all weather surfaces means the kids have fun more than soggy afternoons on a football pitch where they rarely get a touch of the ball and less of a showcase for their talents. The pitches are smaller and the teams at 5/7-a-side allows each player to feel like they have a role rather than standing out on the touchline freezing in their shorts and boots holding out for one of the other 10 people to pass them the ball. Of course 11-a-side experience is important but what use is 11 individuals with no adaptability of technique thrown onto a surface which is often bobbly/poorly kept and they will never develop a brilliant first touch in those conditions. Participation at grass roots level in this country will never decline severely because of the passion and commitment of Football fans who pass their knowledge/experience to the next generation, the problem lies with the conditions the youngsters are coached under and the methods of coaching they receive.
After my C License course finished I noticed a huge flaw in the way my group was taught drills, I spoke to the examiner/head coach afterwards and asked is this what every course is like? They replied ”yes this is what we get told to teach/say from the FA”, my point to them was all the drills we got taught was basic and pretty lackluster in that we got no mention of bringing in Sports Science/Our own ideas for drills to practice. So essentially we were just taught the strict basics of setting up a grid, coaching the fitness side properly and how to set up a tackling grid/passing triangles. So essentially all the coaches in this country are taught the same drills and I can guarantee most of them will go through life just sticking to those drills, I am not doubting their intentions/passion for the development one bit but the facts are alot of them go away and do the drills they got taught which serve little purpose to youngsters technique except teach them how to pair up and hit accurate 40 yard passes to one another. My next course I did bring in some new ideas for drills and was actively encouraged to do so, I just feel that the way coaches are coached needs to be very carefully looked at because at the end of the day coaches develop kids through drills on the training field and managing them mentally. I have done several pieces on Leadership/Mental attributes and how to actually develop them on the training pitch from a young age, I feel that the most crucial thing in football is starting players careers on the right footing and encouraging them to act professionally whilst always striving to improve.
Anyone who watched the England U-21’s abject performance in last months European U-21 Championships and the senior sides floundering World Cup campaign a year ago is under no illusions; there are deep rooted issues within the game in this country. That’s not news we all know it, yet the recent news that the Football Association has renewed England U-21 coach Stuart Pearce’s contract despite him having failed to get the most out of the team and build anything noteworthy in his 4 year tenure as head coach. In those 4 years has he improved anything in so much as building an ‘identity’ for the England U-21 team? He has built Englands youngsters an identity, as a long ball team solely based on physicality and tenacity in the tackle…Sounds like the team have adapted the coaches identity doesn’t it?
I have watched extremely closely England U-21 and their journey under Pearce as I take a keen interest in the youth of this country and how they are brought up, he has built nothing in the way of a philosophy/temperament which would benefit Englands youngsters long term. His philosophy as a coach is simple; get them fit, keep them fit and stop the opposition play through individual instructions. Which is sensible if you were a struggling Premier League club but not sensible if your breeding a mentality of ‘stop the opposition and let the forwards do the scoring’, if the FA honestly believe that that is the right way forward then the game in this country will never change, and never develop in the long term.
Building facilities and investment in ‘grassroots’ appears to be the FAs way of sorting out South Africa, well I personally will say that for 4.8 million pounds a year you could certainly make a start to building a new philosophy in the English coaching system. Because whatever you want to say about the players not being good enough or having the wrong attitude, they are products of their environment and more importantly their coach, the style and temperament of a player often surface at the age of 10/12 and that can be nurtured up until 15/16 in my eyes before it becomes harder to change a personality. The real failures of English football can mostly be sourced to the FA, I don’t blame coaches who go through the system for not thinking up new drills because they don’t get encouraged to like the Dutch/European coaches do, I blame the FA for the way kids are brought through/into the schools system.
The Summary:
The news that Stuart Pearce’s contract to coach the England Under-21s after such a poor performance has been extended by a further 2 years is surely indicative of English football, at least on an organisational level, still being stuck in the dark ages. As a player, Pearce embodied so many qualities that are considered quintisentially Engish; passion, power, will to win, the ability to kick a ball very very hard. It would seem that he has taken these qualities into management, and it is to the detriment of his charges. So therefore the long term ‘vision’ the media/FA/ex players are talking about is really nothing but further elitist surface changes which are will ultimately lead to another embarrassment of tired, long ball football at the next major tournament.
The main sticking point for many was his insistence of playing his team’s captain, Michael Mancienne, a defender by trade, as a holding midfielder. Mancienne is a very good footballer, who is comfortable on the ball and reads the game well. But a midfielder he is not. He was another square peg in a round hole. It was confirmed before the tournament that he would sign for HSV Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Hopefully they will put his talents to better and more suitable use.
Of course, Pearce was somewhat hamstrung by the absence of the one true English midfield playmaker, Jack Wilshere. Andy Carroll too, was missing, but it could be argued that with Pearce at the helm his inclusion would make that old school long ball option, England’s Plan B, even more appealing.
All of this though, is by the by. The English game is in need of reform, from top to bottom. The FA have shown themselves to be incapable of doing this themselves. The much-needed National Football Academy at Burton is a case in point. Work on it started around 10 years ago, with the intention of making it the breeding ground of future success on the international stage. 10 years is a long time to wait for such a vital commodity. The delay? Money was withdrawn from its funding to pay for the new Wembley.
This academy could be the making of English football for years to come. But only if those shaping the players of the future can do it with some imagination and guile. Looking at the dearth of quality English managers out there at the moment, once can only assume and, indeed, hope, that it sees a major influx of foreign coaches.
It would be far too easy and predictable to fall into the trap of bemoaning the faults of Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. They might be flawed, but they can only use the players at their disposal. For too long has English football felt the need to be so self-reliant.
An influx of coaches who are able to impress upon players at a very early age the importance of the football itself as the key component of the game, to show them that, clichéd though it may be, that the ball should do the work, to show them that they can be as good as their Spanish and Dutch counterparts is not just important. It is wholly vital for the sake of the future of the game in this country at both grass roots and Senior level.
I barely touched on the England senior teams failure, another article will follow on their failures and the seemingly never ending misgivings of recent English sides which have plagued an entire generation.
There is no doubt at all that the players are accountable for poor performance. After all, once the manager and coaches have prepared them and they cross that white line, they are alone. Their talent, with some exceptions, is not in question – these are world-class athletes, born with a gift that millions can only dream of. And I believe that their attitude, with exceptions again, is almost beyond reproach. They’re professional sportsmen, they don’t go out to lose. However, when their talents are abused from a young age and when they become square pegs inelegantly stuffed into round holes, then it should only be expected that things will start to go wrong.
I’ll end on the point of ”FA failing the youth” with a piece of FA legislation from their official legislative guidebook which really shows the incredulous lack of vision/responsibility taken by the FA takes for developing players pre moving to an academy:
One of the important aspects of games in school is the opportunity they afford of developing apupil’s sense of loyalty and honour. It is therefore of concern when interest in games outside the school conflict with a pupil’s loyalty to the school and/or school organisations’ activities. 1. It is usually the pupil of outstanding Football ability whose services are sought by any Club, and the Player is most likely to be a member of the school or association team. While schools’ matches are often arranged on Saturday mornings and Club matches take place in the afternoon, it is considered that a player should not play in two matches on the same day, for the one match is likely to affect play in the other. 2. An outside Club or organisation should consult the head-teacher before selecting any child of school age to play for a team, and should accept the head-teacher’s decision on these matters. Head-teachers of schools should not restrain pupils, who are not selected for school games of any kind, from playing for an outside organisation during their free time. Whilst the way Counties run their systems is not legislated at a national level but at a County committee level: 1. A County Association may form a County Youth Football Association, or carry out the duties by a Committee of its own Association. 2. The constitution of the Youth Association, or Committee, must be submitted to The Football Association. Yet Post South Africa no lessons seemed to have been learnt as Capello's contract gets renewed and they brought in yet another Elitist policy to add to that, that has already failed them for the past decade: http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/RulesandRegulations/~/media/Files/PDF/TheFA/FA%20Handbook%2009%2010/Programme_for_Excellence_pg168-180.ashx/Programme_for_Excellence_pg168-180.pdf
FIFA Back Qatar Bid Committee As Whistle Blower ‘Confesses’ She Lied
Football’s governing body said today it will back board members accused of corruption unless it gets proof of wrongdoing after an ex-worker from Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid retracted claims that the country bribed officials.
FIFA confirmed receiving an e-mail from Phaedra Almajid, who was replaced as Qatar’s international media officer partway through the process that ended with FIFA choosing it over rivals including the U.S. and Australia.
“When only allegations are made and no evidence is given, FIFA always stands firmly by its members,” FIFA said in a statement today. Almajid had said African Football Confederation president Issa Hayatou, Ivory Coast FIFA member Jacques Anouma and Nigeria’s suspended official Amos Adamu were paid £1.5 million to vote for Qatar. They’ve denied wrongdoing and she apologized to them.
In a statement released yesterday Almajid, a U.S. citizen, said she “lied about all facts concerning the behavior and practice of the Qatar 2022 Bid” and the accusations “were in full a fabrication on my behalf.”
Qatar’s organizing committee hasn’t commented on Almajid’s apology. Almajid pulled out of a planned meeting with FIFA in May after the Zurich-based organization refused to agree to demands including “an unlimited witness protection program.”
The claims were reported by the Sunday Times newspaper and also presented to U.K. lawmakers, who used it in writing a report about the World Cup bidding process. England finished last of four bidders for the 2018 event while FIFA faced graft allegations. Two of FIFA’s 24-member executive committee, Adamu and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, were suspended after an internal inquiry heard evidence of vote-buying.
Despite her credibility now being called into question it appears that as most Fifa disputes/accusations it would come down to a ‘their word vs their word’ argument and eventually be kicked into the long grass. Fifa has serious questions to answer on awarding the World Cup to a country with all the Social/Infrastructural problems of Qatar and this news coming in the same week that President Blatter was seen embracing Robert Mugabe a wanted criminal by the ICC does Fifa’s global image no good whatsoever.
jhaldenfootball 