Wednesday's Daily: Staying The Same
With J Hutcherson
Though I doubt many would put English professional soccer teams in the same category with American car dealerships, the knock-on effect of shifting finances could - at least in theory - put some clubs at risk. Fear factors from Football Association leadership aside, this isn't exactly new.
Once upon a time, club management liked nothing more than to sell shares. Short-term, it made a lot of sense. Long-term, the era of the publicly-traded club is pretty much forgotten in favor of the old private ownership model. Some were pushed past the brink, but none of them ceased to exist in some form.
In the more recent era, Leeds United is still very much in operation along with other clubs that decided to see how far they could go before things shifted. Leeds joined a long history of other clubs who had done the same. Even the era of the maximum wage has examples.
Even on the slim chance that some club does manage to crash out so badly that nobody cares enough to restart them... well, full stop. There will always be someone willing to start that revival. Gretna FC might have gone under last season in Scotland, but Gretna Football Club 2008 already exists in its place.
Here we have the crucial distinction. It's not so much about a club spending itself silly or basking in a debt load that would hamper much bigger businesses. Instead, it's about maintaining something resembling current status.
For all its re-branding, The Championship and the rest of the Football League aren't an object lesson in financial management. They went crazy on inflated television rights fees. When the primary spenders retracted, there were the expected collapse scenarios and very pertinent questions asked about the ability of a relatively small country to support so many professional teams.
After all, those clubs were now used to a level of riches that allowed them to pay for better players, stadiums, and everything else associated with the elite while literally not playing in the same league.
Big clubs used to make the drop to the lower divisions, regroup while setting attendance records, and be back at the prestige level soon enough. For too many in the Premier League, that's become a disaster scenario.
That's also the problem. A relegation model that for too many heavily-financed clubs just isn't an option.
Regardless of the amount of money placed on the current crisis, at base it's the same thing the English structure has always dealt with. At this late date, it hardly needs saving or salvaging.
Part of the glory and wonder that is the English club structure is that it is built on change. The model all but predicts clubs over-reaching. There will always be clubs willing to prove that point.
On TV
CONCACAF Champions League: Joe Public - Montreal at 8pm and Santos Laguna - Puerto Rico at 10pm on Fox Soccer Channel. Santos Laguna - Puerto Rico is live on TeleFutura at 8pm, along with Olimpia - Atlante at 10pm. All Times Eastern
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Europe
FA chief fears '£3bn' club debts -- from BBC Sport's James Munro, Chris Whyatt and David Ornstein: "Your fate isn't in your own hands."
Triesman risks World Cup bid by upsetting Premier clubs -- from The Guardian's Matt Scott: A direct challenge to Triesman's chairmanship of the FA has been ruled out as futile.
Lord Triesman and Richard Scudamore on English football collision course -- from The Telegraph's Paul Kelso: The position of Manchester United and Liverpool is less clear, with their debt bundled up into loans with various banks and institutions.
Hammers crunched by crisis: Zola told there's no cash to spend after Icelandic freeze -- from The Daily Mail's Simon Cass and Neil Ashton: The club's turnover is £57m, but they made a loss of £19m last year and must consider the potential award of damages to Sheffield United, who are demanding £30m over the Carlos Tevez affair.
Sepp Blatter's attack misses the target again -- from The Times' Martin Samuel: This will be news to Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, who, in attacking the lure of the Barclays Premier League to the lucre of foreign investors, appears to think of them all living in one big house, or at least across the apartment block hall, like the cast of Friends.
Fact or fiction? 'Form' in football -- from The Independent's Nick Harris: But a statistical analysis of goals "by the 12 leading forwards in the Premiership for 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons" showed "no significant association" between one goal and another.
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Americas
Arena's unenviable task: fix team-in-a-fix Galaxy -- from The San Diego Union-Tribune's Mark Zeigler: "There is a lot of work to do.”
Vancouver mayor in New York to shore up bid for Major League Soccer team -- from The Canadian Press: "There certainly is a lot of competition, and that's why I'm here," said Sullivan.
Rapids get back into the MLS flow -- from USA Today's Beau Dure: "We weren't that cohesive."
Why Not Angel for MLS MVP? -- from Goal.com's Chris Celletti: Since Angel’s arrival in New York, the club has yet to prove they are a formidable MLS side without him in the lineup.
MLS: A tough financial sell in Portland -- from The Oregonian's Ryan Frank: But there's a big gap in the projects' financing.
Will edge on turf translate to grass? -- from The Salt Lake Tribune's Michael C. Lewis: "Our team is more suited to play on grass, just because of the way we like to play," defender Chris Wingert said.
Pachuca may choose Valley as expansion home -- from The Arizona Republic's Jose E. Garcia: Pachuca was interested in joining MLS, but the organization's leaders now believe it's more feasible to join the USL first, Starky said.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
