When is this going to stop? When is any form of sanity going to return to the working man's game? The sale of Ronaldo for £80m to Real Madrid isn't just crazy, it is bloody obscene. Whilst true fans find themselves priced out of games because of the ticket prices, Madrid have bought Kaka and Ronaldo in the space of a week for a combined fee of £135m. Let's get this into perspective, Setanta, a publicly listed company, are going out of business because they cannot meet the £35m obligation they have to the Premier League - and in the same week, a football club is spending four times that amount on two players! Best not think of how many lives that money might save in Africa or people might truly start to understand why this is so wrong.
When I joked earlier this week about Man City, one narrow minded fan replied that I did not understand how much money the Abu Dhabi Group had. He failed to understand the point that the amounts of money being thrown around are disgusting and immoral. How many children in Manchester City's catchment area are living below the poverty line? How many Muslims around the world are dying every day from water borne diseases? And yet Manchester City and their Arab, Islamic, owners offer £100m for a footballer.
The nation was rightly outraged by the MP's expenses scandal but the figures concerned for the whole lot probably only amount to the weekly pay packet of Kaka and Ronaldo combined. But it is ok for these guys because they are footballers. Sorry, I think it is going too far.
Formula One woke up to the fact that the vast amounts of money at the disposal of two teams was making the sport uncompetitive. They have introduced a financial cap and suddenly Braun have come from nowhere to lead the championship. Somewhere along the line, FIFA and UEFA have to bite the same bullet, unless national football is going to die, to be replaced by an 18 team European Super League.
The blue half of Manchester will be gloating today but they would do well to remember that both Kaka and Ronaldo could have joined Unreal City but chose to join the Real deal instead. Madrid's gain is the Premiership's loss because Ronaldo, loathsome though he may be, is a fantastic talent and will be missed by all purists amongst the fans. More importantly, his sale drives a ten inch nail through the eye of competition in the sport. Unless something is done soon the game will eat itself, leaving half a dozen bloated beasts playing each other for bragging rights.
The game hasn't just gone crazy, the game is in danger of going sour.
26 comments:
Good article mate.
But if you look at it this way the other team that gets that money might use it to help the world eh!
great post!!!
Well said HF.
Real Madrid could buy West Ham for the price of Ronaldo and Kaka! Prime development land and 20 odd players!
Mate, they've seen Faubert in close up, don't think they will return to shop at Upton Park after that!
They should have bought us, so we could be their Feeder Club!
LOL I think Tottenham already have that franchise don't they? ; }
That's capitalism for you. I agree, it really is a joke, all of a sudden Munich want 65 million for Franck Rubbery... seriously wtf! It does anger me but on the other hand we can wipe our hands of Ronaldos devious trailing leg which 8/10 times mysteriously gets a free-kick where he 8/10 scores a wonder.
Great post and a very powerful picture you used at the top sorry but no cnut is worth this sort of money
silly article does the writer go on greenpiece demos as well
I wouldn't mate because my piece isn't green. If yours is, you should take care in the kitchen in case the wife thinks it is a courgette.
so what if ive got a green cock and its more the size of a marrow
17:36
You have a green vegetable for a brain.
LOL I know how to spell Greenpeace though. As for your green appendage, I should get that checked out if I were you. My money is on MRSA!
Anon, you are sad. Your reply was too obscene to post. Grow up eh?
Sorry but I think your off on quite a few points. You cannot control a free market and people will pay what they feel is right for an item. Also, where do you draw the line? At what point does it become obscene? Who says where the line is? Unfortunately, at the upper end of any market the value of things increases hugely over other items that are only slightly better. I like cycling, I could go and buy a road bike that weighs around 8KG for about 1500quid. If I wanted one thats 5.5KG I'd be looking at 10GRAND! That little bit extra costs more, its a fact. Real Madrid are run along the lines of a massive sporting club and their ticket prices are not extorionate by any means. You could use the example of 'kids dying in Africa' for anything - pop MTV on and watch some of the videos on there, people flashing 20k watches etc. Isn't that just the same thing? Also, the MP's expenses was rightly a complete scandal because WE were paying for it. Real didn't buy Ronaldo and Kaka on someone elses cash, they spent their own! You're right to say the game will destroy itself and clubs like us are the most in danger, desperatly trying to hang to the coat-tails of the superclubs but you can't control a group of private businesses. P.S. Your F1 example doesn't stand up either, Brawn was born out of the ashes of the Honda team who ran with a budget of around 300MILLION annually! There is NO budget cap currently in F1, some cost saving measures have been introduced and they are trying to implement more but the teams are protesting!
Ronaldo deal is obscene, this is true but this is modern football.I have just read your blog and its a bit sour grapes to be honest.Although there are many true points to your argument its all just about morals and principles and how in the real world everyone should be able to compete,but its bollocks really if you think about it.You refer to man city as unreal city but what are they actually guilty of,other than having the ambition to try to compete at the top.Id love someone to come into upton park with a billion so i could watch my team compete on a level playing field instead of our ambition to be survival,this is the case of most teams,blame the man yooos the chelskis for inflated transfer prices,its united who are asking 80 million for ronaldo.My point is wouldnt you love the hammers to win the league in your lifetime?how proud would you feel to see us crown champions,i bet youd change your mind if an arab turned up with sir trev.
got to say why bother abusing hammersfan although his post can sometimes be unorthadox they do give some good info and this artical is a prime example if you dont like the blog just p off on to another because to be honest those who abuse are just childish and have nothing better to do keep up the enjoyable reading material hammersfan at least your articals appeal to some people
got to be honest im sick of the harrasment on this blog it is a good blog and although can be some what unortherdox does give good areas of coverage and always gives the reader a chuckle inbetween if you abuse i think yo should go to another blog you know the name of this one so just dont click your mouse on it simples anyway very good artical ad enjoyable to read keep em comeing hammersfan there are some of us that appreciate your work
sorry if i sent that twice hammersfan i did not see the moderation comment at the bottom so you can only publish one if you so wish
Great article HF. Surely the plight of millions around the world who are suffering should come before anything which is seen by many as just "a game".
I am sorry to fear that the world will never wake up to what really matters. Football is a rich-mans scrabble!
WHY ARE YOU PRETENDING TO BE EVEYONE ON HERE SADDO
Pretending what?
I'm no legal expert but....When Ronaldo agreed (and perhaps with Man Us full knowledge) that at the end of this season he will move to Real Madrid - how is that agreement not a "third party" influence
Article 18 of FIFA’s Rules on the Status and Transfer of Players states that:
"No club shall enter into a contract which enables any other party to that contract or any third party to acquire the ability to influence in employment and transfer related matters its independence, its policies or the performance of its teams."
To me the big clubs get away with it by calling it a "Gentlemans agreement" - the fact west ham called it a contract got them into all sorts of trouble.
Also being the "world footballer of the year" may have had "at least 3 points" worth of influence on Man Us Final points score therefore Liveprool could have won the league
....hmmmm...I doubt we will see this in the papers
Seems to me to be perfect business sense. Man U are 700M in debt, and this can be used for debt reduction and / or transfers. For Real Madrid, they will get a return on their investment within 3 years (David Beckham increased shirt sales by 137% when he joined the Galacticos). Plus Fergie doesn't have to put up with the adverse media attention Ronaldo seems to bring. Good deal.
anon 10.05 Very good point mate. One rule for them another for us it seems.
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