Rotten English football – continued

I did a piece for the Sindy at the weekend about the structural problems in English football. There was a point I ought to have included about ownership. British clubs can be owned outright by individuals. And eight of the 20 Premier League teams are in the control of foreign nationals. This is one of the reasons why the clubs are so resistant to efforts by the FA to get them to pay some attention to the interests of the national team. In the German Bundesliga clubs cannot be owned outright by an individual, whether a rich man or a single company. 51 per cent of the club’s shares must, by the rules, be in the hands of fans/members. As well as keeping a lid on ticket prices, this ownership structure has enabled the German equivalent of the FA to persuade clubs to take the interests of the national team into account. After all, German football club members are also generally supporters of the national team. The result is that from youth policy, to releasing players for international duty, the German FA and its clubs are in relative harmony.

Wyn Grant who run the Football Economy website doesn’t buy my argument about the rotten condition of English football. It’s a very good site and  I check it regularly to keep up with football finance news. But Grant comes into the category of what I term in the piece “cheerleading Panglossians” about the Premier League.

He asks: “Would Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal fans want to see their chances of winning the Premiership or the Champions League diminished?”. This looks like a false choice to me. I’d like to see the evidence that  controls on ownership, financial expenditure and greater investment in home-grown youth development  would be detrimental to performance on the pitch of our top teams over the medium term. I think this argument also ignores the fact that many United, Chelsea and Arsenal fans are also England supporters and want the national team, as well as their clubs, to do well.

Grant also remarks that: “Some of the criticisms made of the Premier League seem to reflect an English dislike of success.” This seems to me a silly thing to say. Consider the Manchester United Green and Gold campaign against the Glazers’ ownership. It’s not the success of Manchester United that these fans dislike. What they dislike is the fact that the Glazers have brought vast debts to their previously debt-free club. They’re not miserable party-poopers who want to go back to the bad old days of English football, but loyal supporters who care about the long-term stability of their club. And, looking down the M62 to what is going on at Liverpool, who can blame them?

As for the England team, if this is what “success” looks like, perhaps it’s time to try failure.

Recent Posts on Eagle Eye - Breaking views from Independent commentators -

• Paul Volcker stands tall against the banking lobby
• "Not growing inequality"
• A defence of competition in health care
• Prime Ministers shopping
• Bill will survive; Andrew will not