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| Seb Blatter Talks Sense Shock! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 12 2005, 06:19 PM (159 Views) | |
| The_Bear | Oct 12 2005, 06:19 PM Post #1 |
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Gil Merrick
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FIFA President Greed threatens the beautiful game FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter has given his opinions on the evolution of football in a column in the Financial Times on the 12 October, 2005. (ACTION IMAGES) 11 Oct 2005 Football is now a multibillion-pound global industry. Unfortunately, the haphazard way in which money has flowed into the game - reminiscent of a misguided, wild-west style of capitalism - is having some seriously harmful effects. The time has come to take action to curb the excesses and ensure that the sport protects its roots. While FIFA now has a bullet-proof balance-sheet, as well as reinvesting roughly 75 per cent of the income it generates directly into the world game, the same cannot be said about some of our 207 national members, let alone many clubs. A fortunate few clubs, however, are richer than ever before. What makes this a matter of concern is that, all too often, the source of this wealth is individuals with little or no history of interest in the game, who have happened upon football as a means of serving some hidden agenda. Having set foot in the sport seemingly out of nowhere, they proceed to throw pornographic amounts of money at it. What they don't understand is that football is more about grass-roots than idols; more about giving entertainment and hope to the many than bogus popularity to a predictable few; more about respecting others than sating individual greed, whether for adulation or money. If nothing is done, this new money could suffocate a sport that has no fewer than 1.3bn active followers around the world. The unpredictability that is its lifeblood means it will always be a high-risk investment. Like many other industries, its assets are not goods but people. And people, as we all know, are full of surprises. For example, they have bones that can break. The professional game is now shot through with practices that, at best, expose the ugly side of club football and, at worst, threaten its very existence. FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter is concerned about high players' wages, rising ticket prices and saturation television coverage of games. (ACTION IMAGES) First, a new type of slavery has been spawned that should be opposed by everyone. This occurs when the "books", or commercial rights, to young players, often Brazilians, are bought by speculators who generate a profit each time those players are subsequently sold. To FIFA, such transactions fall well short of minimum standards of decency. We can no longer merely accept them. Nor shall we. Equally unacceptable are the sort of wage negotiations that can produce the spectacle of semi-educated, sometimes foul-mouthed, players on £100,000 a week holding clubs to ransom until they get, say, £120,000. More often than not, these players are guided in these endeavours by unsavoury agents whose income is a percentage of the deal they cut for their client. It is simply insane for any player to "earn" £6m-£8m a year when the annual budget of even a club competing in the Uefa Champions League may be less than half that. What logic, right or economic necessity would qualify a manin his mid-20s to demand to earn in a month a sum that his own father - and the majority of fans - could not hope to earn in a decade? What, in other words, are the limits? And should we not start setting some? And while we are on the subject, why don't more clubs invest more time and effort in the non-footballing years of adolescent players, who need to be able to cope with being shunted around at short notice from one country to another? Some clubs, fortunately, do care about the proper education of their young players. A growing number, by contrast, see it as irrelevant. For them, all that matters is a player's performance on the pitch. In short, a new type of market is in operation. This has been created by dishonest agents and greedy club owners whose only hope of maximising their own income - as opposed to the club's - is to buy and sell the most promising talent from around the globe. Outstanding talent is in short supply; money, increasingly, is not. Unlimited cash has given a handful of club owners the wherewithal to control the global club game by splashing unimaginable sums on a tiny handful of elite players. More than ever before, the majority are fighting with spears, while the greedy few have the financial equivalent of nuclear warheads. No wonder empty seats in stadiums and saturation live television coverage of matches have become issues. What is interesting about a league whose champions can be predicted with confidence after about five games? Why is it good for football to take the excitement away from fans by overcharging them for tickets to see "their" team? And is it really still "their" team when one club in England has a squad with 19 nationalities? What we are faced with today is a football society of haves and have nots. This cannot be the future of our game. FIFA cannot sit by and see greed rule the football world. Nor shall we. A new Fifa task force will deal with the kinds of excesses I have outlined. And I am confident that this new initiative will bear fruit quickly and decisively. |
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| dr.nick | Oct 12 2005, 06:38 PM Post #2 |
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Trevor Francis
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i read that as well but i did'nt want to be the one to put it up as the bloke is a no brainer realy but i have to agree with what he said about the big players and clubs. |
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| mr penguin | Oct 12 2005, 07:37 PM Post #3 |
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Sponsored by Flybe.com
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He's supposed to be the one running the game. Don't tell me, show me. |
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