John Terry, a man you may know from Bridgegate and Tour-for-moneygate, is now back in the limelight in the latest episode of England Captaingate.

England manager Fabio Capello has reinstated his former captain as England’s new temporary-permanent captain, replacing the injured Rio Ferdinand in what can only be described as a Capello-esque manner. The decision, like all of Capello’s now trademark decisions, has been everything but straight-forward and has sparked heated debates about the merits of Terry’s reappointment as captain. But does it matter who sports the elastic armband for England? Probably not.

Injuries aside, players who have captained Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United all suit up for England. Add to the mix, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, and you can hardly say that England is a team devoid of leaders. Devoid of role models, maybe, but certainly not devoid of people with experience exchanging flowers and pennants before games, shaking hands, leading other highly-paid, grown men on walks out of tunnels, smiling at dignitaries, indiscriminately cursing at referees, and speaking at press conferences.

Yet from the media coverage surrounding the England captaincy, you might think that England’s deficiencies on the field are down to a lack of leadership. It’s a puzzling framing of England’s problems that doesn’t quite match up with reality.

Judging purely on form over the last several years, England is a team that consistently suffers from a lack of dynamism and competence, not on-the-field leadership, per se. Looking at their run up to Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, England’s glaring failures were largely a function of flawed tactics and inadequate personnel, albeit with a touch of refereeing intervention. It wasn’t leadership that stole England’s cutting edge in the final third; that would fall on former manager Steve McClaren, Capello, and a list of midfielders and forwards too lengthy to mention here. Leadership wasn’t at fault for goalkeeping errors; for that, you would look to Robert Green, Scott Carson and Paul Robinson (and if you want to go back further, there’s David “Calamity” James). Leadership also wasn’t to blame for team selection or leaving Theo Walcott at home; for that, you can’t look beyond Capello, who has since admitted that he made an error in leaving Young Theo at home. But sadly, in spite of all these realities, leadership has become the de facto red herring that continues to shift attention away from England’s very real weaknesses.

To make matters worse, the media’s coverage of Captaingate isn’t even really about leadership; rather, it’s mostly about an armband, soccer’s functional equivalent to the royal family. By now, the symbolism is unmistakable. We’re supposed to show the utmost respect to the honorable armband, but really, deep down, we’re all wondering if there’s any real functional purpose to the title anymore. It’s as if the English media has elevated the value of the captaincy above anything practical (like focusing on missing characteristics needed to improve), and has reached the point where the base assumption is that leading a team out of a tunnel is inherently of epic importance to everyone, rather than just to the person wearing the armband and those already blindly in love with the lore of captains.

But what is the value of a captain? This is the existential question that arises from the latest episode of Captaingate. And the answer is, “It depends,” which is the answer to every existential question. In this case, it depends on the team.

By means of comparison, Arsenal is a team that clearly is in need of inspirational leaders on the field. Technically, Arsene Wenger’s men don’t have much to iron out. But when the going gets rough, it’s hard to pinpoint an Arsenal player who consistently picks up his teammates and inspires them to the finish line.

But England is not Arsenal. England is not a team of players lacking in inspirational figures. England is team of players who have won league titles and Champions League trophies, feats not possible without fully capable, inspirational leaders. When thinking of all the obstacles that have prevented England from advancing in qualifying and tournament play, “leadership” is not the word that comes to mind. Think of all the times in the past several years that England has failed to get a result. You probably didn’t think, “Man, they completely got their captain wrong today.”

That’s not to say, however, that a captain can’t have a detrimental effect on a team. A captain is fully capable of destroying morale through any number of personal deficiencies. Re-enter John Terry.

On the plus side, Terry has proved himself a perfectly capable leader on the field. He has won things, yells at people, and points a lot, checking all the boxes for the cliche of a leader. Without question, Terry is fantastic at expressing himself, which segues nicely into his downside as captain. The Chelsea man has been known to polarize locker rooms, and during Bridgegate, perhaps took things a step too far by over-expressing himself off the field, which ultimately diminishes the value that Terry supposedly brings to the table as captain, an ability to have his teammates rally around him.

Yet, in spite of all of the potential drawbacks that leave a clear path for England to fall apart, there’s still a question that continues to go unanswered — how does any of this captain discussion change England’s fortunes on the field for the better?

Quick answer: It doesn’t.

For those who think that the proprietor of the armband on this particular England team will be determine whether England succeeds or fails, I give you:

World Cup 2010:

England vs. USA || 1-1 || (captain: Gerrard)

England vs. Algeria || 0-0 || (captain: Gerrard)

England vs. Germany || 1-4 || (captain: Gerrard)

2008 European Championships:

Didn’t qualify (captain: Terry)

The point is, these categorical, English disappointments had very little to do with an armband. Fabio Capello makes too much money, so nothing is happening there. Therefore, England might as well make Scott Parker the new England captain. Can’t hurt, right?

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Holy bejesus. I’ve seen it all.

I was watching Morning Joe this morning. Judge me on that if you will. I was kind of paying attention as Al Sharpton and Joe Scarborough talked Glenn Beck, Martin Luther King, and whether Sharpton will allow Beck to reclaim Martin Luther King’s dream. Sharpton basically concluded that Glenn Beck should have a different dream.

As the Sharpton segment finished, I heard someone reference a segment recapping the weekend’s football action after the break. Surely the reference was about the ol’ gridiron variety, so I paid no attention.

Fast forward a few commercials about stuff that no one needs. Roger Bennett, ESPN soccer contributor and co-author of the ESPN World Cup Companion, was the featured guest for a new segment, Futbol Frenzy. Thoroughly confused, I turned the volume up. Although co-host Mika Brzezinski, Game Change co-author John Heilemann, and boy wonder Willie Geist were clearly unable to contribute, presumably due to a lack of soccer knowledge and/or interest, Scarborogh dove in head first, joining Bennett in a review of select action from this weekend’s English Premier League fixtures. For a man who claims to have had negative interest in the sport only a few years ago, Scarborough has come a long way. Over the past year, he’s made it perfectly clear that he’s 100% on the soccer train.

I have heard Scarborough talk about soccer before, but his comments usually surface during something World Cup-related, or at moments indisputably worthy of coverage, like when Thierry Henry moved to New York after signing with the New York Red Bulls. But today is just a random Monday. For Morning Joe to dedicate an entire segment to English Premier League highlights is borderline mindblowing. My guess — and don’t quote me — is that this could have very well been the first time a popular, non-sports related, morning talk show in the United States exclusively dedicated a segment to regular season soccer highlights.

So what topics did Scarborough and Bennett address? Manchester City, or as Scarborough calls them, “the best team that Abu Dhabi can buy,” falling 1-0 to Sunderland. Tottenham losing to Wigan. Blackpool’s performance against Fulham, which happened to be Scarborough’s favorite story of the weekend.

Really, this happened. Informed commentary on several soccer games with video footage. It was in the morning and not on ESPN or Fox Soccer Channel. It was random, thrilling, and in all seriousness, made my heart skip a beat.

Scarborogh moved on to Chelsea. Highlights aside, Scarborough thinks John Terry is “a terrible human being.”

Scarborough on Manchester United: “Berbatov …  actually performed. This guy has been the underperformer of the year.” Fair enough.

Then he moved on to his relief that Liverpool finally won while smartly acknowledging Bennett’s Everton affiliation. Well played, Joe.

Is this what America looks like when more people care about soccer? Do you wake up in the morning, make your coffee (or tea if you were properly colonized by the British), turn on your 3D television and listen to Al Roker talk about Paul Scholes?

All this Euro soccer talk will make Glenn Beck’s head explode. But it is great to see Scarborough, who has admitedly come from the soccer detractors’ camp, transform into yet another unlikely advocate for soccer’s growth in the United States. When you look at the Morning Joe panel, the idea to include a soccer segment, particularly one focusing on England, could only have come from Scarborough. And for that he deserves a hug. Thanks for making my morning, Joe.

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Inter Milan and Bayern Munich square off in today’s UEFA Champions League final live on your local Fox station.  The fact that the final will be shown on regular network television, on the people’s television, shows how far soccer has come in a relatively short period of time in the United States.

Taking a long view, even ten years ago, the UEFA Champions League final would have barely registered with the general public in the U.S.  Certainly, we’re still not at a point where Inter vs. Bayern will match the popularity of a Super Bowl, World Series or NBA Final.  Not even close.  But soccer’s popularity in the States is without a doubt on the rise, which is sometimes hard to notice when you’re standing in the growth.

In twenty years, the U.S. will have a concentrated population of well-versed, soccer lovers.  Between Fox Soccer, Fox Soccer Plus, GolTV and internet feeds, we can now watch soccer around the clock, and many of us do.

The explosion of international soccer’s availability has created a situation where average U.S. fans in twenty years will have a lifetime of knowledge about teams thousands of miles away.  Americans in twenty years traveling to England will be entering pubs talking intelligently about English Premier League (EPL) players who played twenty years prior as if EPL sides are their local teams.  Americans will be talking about legendary players, epic transfers, and those moments that define European seasons with the sophistication that many Americans talk about basketball now.  I just hope we learn that we don’t need to statistic people to death.  We’ll be adept at reminiscing about the first serious wave of American players that laid the foundation for the wealth of American players who will certainly be playing in Europe come 2030.  This will be the equivalent to U.S. fans today intelligently talking about Chelsea, Everton or Bayern Munich players from 1990.  It will undoubtedly be an impressive feat considering most Americans don’t have this encyclopedic knowledge of the European game now, let alone this level of knowledge about American soccer.

Traveling in Europe, locals are still shocked to come across Americans who know the game.  For those of us who follow soccer and travel, answering elementary questions designed to test our soccer knowledge is tiring, especially considering how little it takes to impress.  In England, all you have to do is mention something relatively obscure, such as the West Ham academy’s influence in populating the EPL with top players and people will look at you like you just wrote out the periodic table from memory.  In Germany, mention retired German internationals other than Jürgen Klinsmann or Lothar Matthäus and you’ll get the same look.

Today we have Americans calling into European-based, soccer radio shows, flying across the pond to catch matches, joining U.S. based English Premier League and La Liga supporters clubs, and walking around cities wearing old JVC, Siemens and Carlsberg jerseys.  When you look at these developments in perspective, it is easy to see how far soccer has come in the United States and where this is all going.

So while today’s UEFA Champions League final is just another yearly battle between Europe’s top club sides, in the United States, the match being shown on regular people television is a symbolic moment to notice how far we’ve come as consumers of the international game.  It’s easy to spend our collective time and energy focusing on how far America as a nation needs to go to accept soccer.  But these are these moments that we should notice and appreciate because recognizable moments like this don’t come around too often.

World, be scared.  We are paying attention, and this is just the beginning.

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Soccer players aren’t born diving. It’s not like Cristiano Ronaldo stepped out of his mother’s womb and tripped over the doctor’s leg, rolling around in agony until a referee awarded a free kick.  At some point during the course of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career, something happened to him and the rest of his contemporaries that provided the right incentives to dive whenever presented with the opportunity.

Speaking of divers, Didier Drogba is playing pickup soccer with some friends and brushes against a defender. Do you expect his hulking frame to crumble to the ground?  If you believe, like I do, that he doesn’t go to ground in these circumstances, you’ve got to wonder what it is that leads to his vulnerability in matches that matter.

The difference between Drogba’s pickup match and English Premier League (EPL) matches is that EPL matches mean something.  For Drogba, ensuring that Chelsea finishes as high in the table as possible while maintaining a level of play that elevates his personal status requires taking advantage of every possible opportunity to win.  As the cost of losing matches or face increases, so does his propensity for diving.

The cost of losing has increased exponentially over the years.  These days each place in the final EPL standings is worth almost £1 million.  For many clubs, losing the money at stake can be crippling.  When Manchester United won the league back in 1993, they recived a winners’ check for £815,210.  Nottingham Forest finished the 1993 season at the bottom of the table, collecting £37,055.  Last year, Manchester United brought in a whopping £15,220,000 just for winning the league. This year Chelsea will be receiving a nice check for just over £16 million.  Portsmouth, this year’s worst team, will be awarded £800,424. Victories clearly mean a lot more these days.  And if victories mean more, so does every opportunity to gain an advantage.

Diving for an advantage is not a new invention.  But I do recall a time when the slightest contact with an opposing player’s shadow didn’t instinctively lead to writhing around on the pitch in agony.  Today, the diving pandemic seems to be touching everyone, even defenders and goalkeepers.

We’ve progressed from a time when only a handful of players dived to everyone diving –  yes, even English players.  No one can credibly claim anymore that it’s just the foreign players who embellish, even though the English media thoroughly enjoys demonizing foreign players for diving while regularly downplaying the misdeeds of English players.  Over the past few years, it’s become clear that the current crop of top English players, from John Terry at the back, through Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in midfield to Wayne Rooney up top, are all prone to exaggeration.  The game is no longer about pride and hard work; it’s about gaining any advantage possible to get further.  It’s not just Drogba and Eduardo; they’re all doing it.

It’s precisely for this reason that Thierry Henry’s handball against Ireland in World Cup qualifying wasn’t particularly that outrageous.  The anger from the Hand of Henry derived from the fact that Henry wasn’t caught, not that he cheated.  The hypocrisy from commentators bordered on comical given that we watch cheaters every week, barely mustering enough energy for fake outrage.  The fact of the matter is that gaining an advantage by any means necessary has become the norm, even in England.

Players have been diving well before the crazy money arrived.  So it’s not just about the money.  For some players, before serious money took over, their currency was style.  Take a look and you’ll notice a correlation between flashy players and diving.  Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Dani Alves and basically anyone who does more stepovers than necessary will also fall more than necessary.  For these players, interfering with the aesthetics of their game will be met with diving and other forms of embellishment.  For these players, their style is their brand, and their brand has always been their meal ticket.  So the Cristiano Ronaldos of the world take every advantage to uphold the sanctity of their brand.  They either beat you and win, or fall over because you cheated.  Either way, they win.  That’s the diver’s modus operandi.

But now it’s not just the flashy players who need the advantage.  Now it’s everyone, and money may explain why all the kids are doing it. It’s too costly not to.

The more money that comes into the game, the less likely we’ll see a reversal in this trend.  The larger the global audience for the top leagues, the more likely players will continue diving to maintain their personal and club’s status.  And the more frequently players dive, the greater the likelihood that kids growing up will seek to emulate their heroes.  It’s a vicious circle.

To dive or not to dive.  Clearly, players have chosen the former.  The advantage derived from diving at this point clearly outweighs the advantages of staying on your feet, or having pride, or whatever it was that encouraged players to stand instead of fall.

Now that the diving trend has momentum, it will be hard to stop. So get used to players diving, especially in big matches and in major leagues.  Sadly, this is only the beginning.

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In football, the system of ‘promotion and relegation’ is predicated on the notion of fair play.  The idea being that at the start of the season, teams are on equal footing and they must make due with their ability on the pitch and in the boardroom.  Teams that are relegated shouldn’t receive special financial treatment. Rewarding relegated teams with financial windfalls goes against the notion of fair play and creates a two-tier system that stifles competition.

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Baseball Tops Football in Global Review of Sports Salaries

According to the Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries 2010 by the Sporting Intelligence, the New York Yankees are the highest paid team in all of sport.  That’s surprising considering the global appeal of football around the globe.  Only four football teams (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United) were included in the top 30, with the first three clubs cracking the top ten.   On a league wide basis, the English Premier League, generally considered the richest football league in the world, was ranked fourth behind the NBA, IPL (Indian Premiere League – cricket), and MLB.

(Via The Telegraph)

Renewed Allegations of Match-Fixing in Italy

Two weeks ago, bookmakers suspended bets on the Chievo – Catania match after spotting irregular betting volumes, with over £2 Million worth of bets placed on a draw, particularly a score line of 1-1.  Concern centered around the massive number of bets placed from Asia and the fact that many of the bets were placed as far ahead as five days before the match.  As if that weren’t bad enough, a dubious penalty was awarded in the second half, thereby ensuring a 1-1 draw. Fresh off the suspicions of that Serie A match, new allegations are forthcoming about similar betting concerns in several Serie B matches.  Oh well, so what’s new in Italian football?

(Via The Independent)

Ghanaian Creates “First Soccer Board Game”

FRINDO SOCCER, developed by Ghanaian John Y. Frimpong, is purported to be the first soccer board game ever made.  It is a board game that requires two or more players and it is meant to arouse young people’s interest in soccer.  The game claims to challenge “the mental alertness and faculties” of those who dare play it, while leading “them to understand and appreciate tactical moves and inter-positional changes as in the actual game situation on the field.”  I’m sure this is just marketing-speak for “this is a cool game”, but I hope the game is a lot more fun than it sounds.

(Via Ghana News)

Silly Raymond

In response to the recurrence of French International William Gallas’ calf injury, France National Team coach Raymond Domenech lashed out at his Arsenal counterpart by saying the following:

“It’s outrageous and irresponsible to have played him so early after the injury. It’s scandalous. He had better be fit for the World Cup.”

This is from the same guy that used to play a worn down Thierry Henry for long stretches in meaningless friendly matches.  Besides, I’m not sure exactly what is scandalous about an employer making use of an employee.  After all, Arsenal do pay the player’s wages.  If Domenech wants to talk about scandals, France going to the World Cup instead of Ireland is scandalous.

(Via The Guardian)

World Cup 2010 Theme Song Battle Heats Up

It seems that the race to pen the official FIFA World Cup 2010 theme song has intensified in recent weeks.  It was first thought that that Akon and K’NAAN were the early favorites.  However, it now appears that other international stars are joining the queue.  Hip-Hop duo NERD and Shakira are two of the rumored new contestants for the coveted FIFA World Cup songwriter spot.  I sure hope whoever wins the honor doesn’t simply promote themselves at the expense of this monumental moment in South African and African football history. Since it is the first World Cup on African soil, it would be cool to uplift the continent through the creation of a meaningful song.

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With so much drama in the Premiership, I couldn’t resist pontificating on this weekend’s games.  So here we go …

The Battle of The Former BFFs

Lost in the melodrama about the “handshake that wasn’t” were the kids.  How must the kids be dealing with another case of Football Stars Behaving Badly?  If the photo above is anything to go by, tomorrow’s knuckleheads are gonna be all right. Judging by the bemused look on this little guy’s face, he is enjoying every second of his time at the epicenter of Terry v. Bridge.  After all, he did what JT couldn’t.  He got a handshake from Wayne.

Arsenal v. Stoke Rugby Match

In the aftermath of the Aaron Ramsey leg fracture, it appears that many have missed the point.  The issue isn’t the intent, but rather the result of an action. The fact that one didn’t intend to cause harm, does not excuse one’s actions.  That’s why there’s a crime called manslaughter.  In fairness, on the issue of overly-aggressive or reckless tackles, the blame does not lie solely with the players.  Managers who instruct players to kick opposition players off the pitch and commentators who justify the approach bear some of the blame.  It is highly irresponsible to encourage a mentality that can and has increasingly resulted in such horrific injuries.  Surely the line between being physical and reckless shouldn’t be so thin.  The suggestion that Arsenal needs to toughen up a bit has merit.  However, I wouldn’t want to see teams in the Premiership go the way of teams in the NHL where having an enforcer is a prerequisite.  Hockey is an overtly physical sport, football isn’t.

By the way, was it just me or did the referee swallow his whistle during the game?  As the game went on, it seemed that the players honed in on the fact that the referee was off-duty.  The game more closely resembled a rugby match than a football match.  The referee was as culpable as anyone due to his unwillingness to keep the game under control and his reluctance to penalize players for obvious fouls.  He only issued a red card to Shawcross after realizing the extent of Ramsey’s injury.  Had he been doing his job, he could have settled things down prior to Ramsey’s injury.

Light at the End of the Fratton Park Tunnel

In the midst of all the financial mayhem, can you believe that Portsmouth can make it to the FA Cup Final for the second time in three years with avictory over Birmingham in the semi-finals?  Go figure.  It was good to see Pompey show some character and pull out an impressive victory over Burnley this past weekend.  The Pompey players could have packed it in a long time ago.

Grumpy Old Men

It appears that Rafa Benitez is feeling better.  That much was evident in the post match press conference,when he resumed his war of words with Big Sam.  Rafa needs to work on his sarcasm because he missed the mark a bit when he said that Barcelona are considering adopting Blackburn’s style of play.  Come on, Rafa.  Who do you think you are?  Ozzie Guillen?  It takes years of baby steps to get on that level of idiosyncratic banter.  I realize that some things may be lost in translation, English being his second or third language and all, but Rafa needs to get on with it and focus on the bigger picture, a top four finish.

Stubborn ‘Arry

Russia and Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has been considered surplus requirements by ‘Arry Rednapp for most of the season.  You would think ‘Arry would have been keen to off-load the player as he did with Robbie Keane.  No not a chance.  The Big Sour Puss refused to let the player go in the January transfer window because clubs wouldn’t meet his ridiculous valuation for an unused player. Good thing ‘Arry stuck to his guns.  Apparently, nowadays the Russian is very much wanted, or something close to that.   According to ‘Arry, “He’s got a future here while he’s playing well and scoring goals.”  ‘Arry sure knows how to make a guy feel wanted.  Pavlyuchenko has five goals in his last three starts (and six goals in his last four games).  ‘Arry better be thanking his lucky stars that Pavlyuchenko has kept his head in the game.  Note to ‘Arry: Lose the ego and let bygones be bygones.  If Tottenham are to mount a serious challenge for a top four finish, he should allow the boy to continue his fine run of form.  If not, please let let him go in the summer.

Landycakes

What a difference a week makes!  Landon Donovan is fast learning that life in the Premiership can turn on you in an instant.  Word is he tried to remove himself from playing in his last two games because he felt a bit under the weather. David Moyes played him anyway and in this week’s encounter with Tottenham, the Big Man from L.A. suffered his first set back during his loan move, a colossal miss from point blank range.  Hey Landon, welcome to the Premiership where every opportunity has enormous consequences.

While on the topic of goals during the Tottenham – Everton game, how amazing was Luka Modric’s goal?  I’m a big fan of the skillful Croat.  Watch him create space between defenders in the box and somehow get the ball up over the keeper and under the cross bar.

United v. Villa (Carling Cup)

Kudos to Manchester United for lifting another cup. Sir Alex just seems allergic to losing.  However, with that said, I must say that Villa must feel hard done.  They received a penalty for Nemanja Vidic’s hack job on Gabby Agbonlahor.  However, he should have been sent of the pitch since he was the last man.  As is often the case, United got the break and of course made the most of it.

By the way, I would be remiss if I (like everyone else) didn’t acknowledge Wayne Rooney’s form this season. Talk about stepping up to fill big shoes after the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlito Tevez. Wayne has single-handedly kept United in contention for a record fourth Premiership trophy in a row.  Heck, think about it.  A player of his calibre was asked to play a supporting role to Cristiano Ronaldo last year and did so with vigor.  This season the shackles have been removed and he is showing everyone that he is a great player in his own right.  It’s Wayne’s World at the moment and the rest of us are just lucky to be witnessing his ascension as arguably the best striker in the world.

“Michael Owen for England” Campaign

I wish people would stop the madness with the Owen for England campaign. Sure, Michael’s goal scoring record in an England shirt is unrivaled.  However, under the reign of Fabio Capello, two things seems quite evident, players will only be selected on merit and on consistency (except maybe for Theo Walcott).  The England manager is hell bent on not repeating the team selection mistakes of his predecessors who seemed to enjoy selecting inconsistent performers or injured players. Michael Owen, who has largely been used as a substitute at United, has found it difficult to remain healthy for a prolonged stretch.  He limped off the pitch again this weekend after a good outing where he scored a goal in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley.  It goes without saying that Michael will most likely be a spectator in June.

Ah, the Premier League …

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The unending saga of Portsmouth Football Club’s ownership merry-go-round has taken on a life of its own.  The club has had a staggering four owners since the start of the 2009-10 Premiership season. Some clubs haven’t had that many owners in the past decade, let alone a year.  Talk about poor financial management.  The club’s finances are in such a poor state that it recently requested permission from the Premier League to sell players outside the January transfer window.

Portsmouth made this audacious request in an effort to raise funds to pay player wages and to pay Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC).  It has been reported that the club has over $100 million in debt and part of that debt includes the $12 million tax bill owed to HMRC.  This unmanageable debt level has put heavy pressure on the club to find another owner by this Friday or risk being wound-up (dissolved).

Such a scenario would have dire consequences for the fans, the players, some local businesses, and the league.  I’m no historian, but I’m pretty sure that a club ceasing to exist all together, let alone in mid-season, would rank up there as one of the worst things to happen to the league.  Predictably, the fans are up in arms, and rightfully so.  It’s hard to cheer your team on when you are unsure of the club’s viability going forward.  The club has not been able to perform basic services such as paying player wages on time and has twice had to raise funds mid-season in order to do so.  Aside from the embarrassment and heartache that the possible winding-up of the club would cause, it would also create a situation where all of the results from past fixtures would have to be wiped from the record books, something that has never happened in the history of the Premier League.  Not only would Portsmouth suffer, but the point reshuffling would adversely impact several Premiership clubs.

In a league saddled with debt-laden teams, the Fratton Park saga shouldn’t come as a complete surprise.  Their inability to plug the proverbial hole in their boat is a shocking indictment of their financial ineptitude.  Then again, this is the same club that in the 2007-08 season had a 78% wages (salaries) to turnover (income) ratio, which conceivably only got worse in the following seasons.  But to be fair, Portsmouth isn’t the only Premiership club to to be on shaky financial footing.  A majority of clubs, including members of the “Big Four”, are clearly not living within their means.

The club is now hoping for a fifth opportunity to stave off registration (bankruptcy) by finding a willing buyer before the end of the business week.  From the looks of things, no one in their right mind would want to be the known as the infamous “Owner #5″.  Can you blame them?

All paths at this point seem to lead to registration, something quite familiar to Portsmouth fans as they have gone down this road once before in 1998.  To add insult to injury, registration is accompanied with a hefty dose of football purgatory, which comes in the form of an automatic nine point deduction in the league table.  As if the faithful at Fratton Park haven’t suffered enough, all hope of staying up has to be buried alive.  The Premier League and the English FA need to take the travails at Fratton Park to heart.  It is time for sensible leadership because English football’s position as one of football’s shining examples of good business management is in peril — as a soon to be released UEFA study, which was first reported in the Guardian, will attest to.  We are often told that sports is big business.  Well, it is time club executives at Portsmouth and elsewhere start acting like it.

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2. Management Under Fire
3. Rafa May Soon Walk Alone

It is no secret that Arsenal Football Club (AFC) is run under a self-sustainable business model.  The club takes great pride in touting this fact, sometimes to the detriment of some of its own fans who want greater on field success in the form of silverware (AFC has gone five long, arduous years without a major trophy – cue the violin).  According to Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, it is imperative that football teams live within their means, by which he means that clubs should only spend what they make.  That is why a few years ago, after the club decided to build Emirates Stadium, Arsene embarked on an odyssey of sorts  to revolutionize how the squad was constructed.

Arsene and the AFC board put in place a plan that focused more on player development at a young age as opposed to high-priced acquisitions of older, established players.  The thought was that in order to finance a new stadium, the club would have to reign in its spending.  Thus, it made more sense to acquire young, talented players early in their development cycle.  After all, there stood a good chance that these new recruits would end up blossoming into world-class players under the structured tutelage of the Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal coaching staff.  This brazen choice lead to the departure of some of Arsenal’s older heroes such as Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry and ushered in the era of younger players like Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie.

Over the subsequent years of transition, Arsenal has been enormously successful by many standards with the exception of one.  They have finished in the top four of the English Premier League with regularity, been regular participants in the UEFA Champions League group stages and beyond, and have progressed to the late stages of several domestic cup competitions, albeit with young, inexperienced teams. One would think that most, if not all AFC fans would be pleased with such substantive results, but alas, that isn’t quite the case.  In today’s world of instant gratification and exorbitant spending, it appears that there is a growing faction of Arsenal fans who no longer subscribe to the “Arsene Knows” mantra and are increasingly frustrated by the five-year run without silverware.

Prior to the win last week against Liverpool, the squad suffered devastating back-to-back defeats at the hands of Manchester United and Chelsea, the two leading contenders for the Premiership crown.  Due to the lopsided nature of these loses, the detractors have once again been clamoring for the need for squad reinforcements if Arsenal is to truly challenge for honors this term.  To the casual observer, it may appear that these fans perhaps don’t understand or want to understand what the club is trying to do.  In fairness to these fans, the club has been pulling a bit of double speak by advocating its fiscally responsible approach, while at the same time suggesting that funds to acquire world-class players is available.  Well, which one is it?  What gives?  As if on cue, the Arsenal manager, after speaking from both sides of his mouth on this issue in the past (understandably due to negotiation constraints) came out and said that he “cannot afford to bring in big-name players” and that “football lives in an artificial world.”  Considering that the world is in the midst of a financial crisis that many compare to the Great Depression, truer words may not have been spoken.  Looking at the finances of the top four clubs in the Premiership in the 2007-08 season, an interesting picture begins to emerge.

The first thing that may strike you is the enormous amounts of debt that these clubs have amounted, particularly Chelsea and Manchester United.  The stories of massive spending binges for both clubs are well documented.  Chelsea’s billionaire Russian oligarch, I mean owner, Roman Abromovich, has hit the footballing world by storm.  Upon buying the club, he has invested over £700 M, all reportedly in the form of interest-free loans to the club.  Manchester United on the other hand, has been the victim (I use the word loosely) of an American-style corporate leveraged buy-out.  Malcolm Glazer & Co. borrowed immense sums of money to finance the purchase of the club, saddling United with an enormous £699 M debt burden.  Luckily for both clubs, they are able to finance the debt, at least for the time being. Questions have been raised as to how long they can afford to do so (especially in the case of Manchester United, since they have actual interest payments to service), but as the saying goes, “only time will tell”.  As long as United keep making the dosh, they can pay off the interest and keep the banks at bay.  As a matter of fact, United’s spending appears to have abated this year. Their only major move of the summer was the record sale of Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 M  to Real Madrid, which resulted in a modest reinvestment of approximately £20 M. Chelsea, on the other hand, don’t have a care in the world due to the vast wealth of Uncle Roman.  As long as he is in the mood to foot the bill, he can single handedly keep the party going.

AFC and Liverpool on the other hand, live a couple of stratospheres below their neighbors to the north in the Premiership table.  With the new stadium, Arsenal is able to play with the big boys a bit, however Arsenal’s situation is in stark contrast to the state of affairs at Anfield.  Think about this, Arsenal have a new stadium and a total debt load of £416 M (which is much lower than Chelsea’s and United’s debt), while Liverpool have an old stadium that needs replacing, a reduced revenue stream of £159 M to Arsenal’s £223 M, and a debt burden of £280 M.  With such a low revenue stream, Liverpool is unable to self-finance a stadium, and with such a high debt burden prior to building a stadium, it is virtually impossible for them to find financing to build one.  The recent purchase of Liverpool, much like the purchase of United, was debt-financed.  However Liverpool, unlike United, do not have the financial wherewithal to comfortably compete at the highest level.  After all, United has a much larger revenue stream, has a 70,000 plus capacity stadium, and is in better financial footing to obtain help from the finance markets, as their £500 M bond offering proves.

How then does one compete?

Luckily for Arsenal, the brain-trust was fiscally prudent and struck when the iron was hot a few year ago by figuring out the financing for Emirates Stadium.   Had they not made the decision to forgo the immediate return of instant gratification like many clubs that are saddled with massive amounts of debt with nothing to show for it, AFC would be faced with Liverpool’s problems, too much debt and not enough revenue to grow the club.

Although AFC’s plan has not born the fruits of a trophy yet, it has clearly put AFC on better financial footing for the future.  Remember Arsenal fans, Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Admire him or not, one cannot deny Arsene Wenger his due.  Since his time in London, the man has transformed the game of football and has had enormous success doing so. Only time will tell if he has lost his touch.

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1. Management Under Fire
2. Nightmare at Fratton Park: Searching for “Owner #5″”
3. Rafa May Soon Walk Alone