UEFA DETERMINED TO LIMIT CLUB SPENDING

AS PLATINI PLANS TO REIGN IN BIG GUNS

Uefa boss Michael Platini is determined to level up the playing field in football by introducing restrictions on spending. He wants to revamp the rules to exclude clubs that failed to meet certain financial requirements from participating in lucrative European competitions. Platini denied that he was targeting Premiership clubs, arguing that many clubs across Europe were in a similar financial position, Nevertheless, the Premiership would be disproportionately affected. Under a plan put forward by the European Club Association, clubs would be allowed to spend no more than a certain percentage - yet to be decided but thought to be between 50 and 70 per cent - of turnover on wages and transfers. For example, if the limit were set at 60 per cent, a club with a turnover of £50m and a wage bill of £25m could then spend only a further £5m net on transfers. Given that most Premiership clubs have wage bills well in excess of two thirds of turnover, they would be bound to take a big hit. However, unlike a proposal floated by Uefa general secretary David Taylor, the current plan does not include a provision about clubs carrying excessive debt. Long-term capital borrowing would not figure in the calculations.

Paradoxically the rule change could strengthen the relative position of the current top four clubs. Because they have large turnovers they would be effectively able to outspend the opposition. They would not be threatened by the risk of a Sheikh Mansour coming in and bankrolling an upstart. However, despite his insistence that he wants to give every club a chance to win, it is people like the Sheikh and Roman Abramovich who seem to be Platini's real targets. He described City's bid for Kaka as ridiculous and said that clubs should invest in their academy and grow their own players rather than 'waiting for an Arab sheikh to bring in €150m.' It is thought that any rule change that was agreed would be phased in to give clubs time to adjust.

PREMIERSHIP IS POWERFULL DESPITE ECONOMIC SLUMP

>>>>as rights yield 1.8bn pounds per year

Forecasts that the Premiership bubble would burst in the credit crunch increasingly look premature, if not misplaced altogether. The Premier League has secured a record television deal that will be worth almost £1.8 billion over three years. The 5 per cent increase over the last deal will bolster finances of clubs until 2013 when the deal ends. By that time, even on the most pessimistic estimates, the recession should be over. With the overseas rights for 2010 to 2013 still to be distributed, the Premier League is on track for another record for its total broadcasting rights, surpassing the £2.7 billion it achieved in the 2007-10 round. The Premiership has also been canny in its current overseas deals, signing contracts to be paid in dollars. With the value of sterling falling against the dollar, it is thought that payments from overseas broadcasters have become worth millions of pounds more over the last few months.

Sky won five of the six packages available, the maximum it is allowed under EU rules. BSkyB paid £1.62bn of the £1.78bn total the Premiership will pay over three years. It is paying just under £5m a game at £4.7m and getting 115 games a season. Tony Syfret from Enders Analysis told the Financial Times 'I estimate that Sky may make £20m more annually in increased advertising and revenues from pubs and clubs, but they are paying £103m more, so it is not absolutely clear what the benefit is for them, except putting Setanta in its place.' However, if Sky had cut back on what it paid, the quality of English football would have suffered. There is already strong consumer demand for Sky subscriptions and by seizing the Monday night games - coupled with extended Champions League rights from next season - it will have enough matches to strengthen its appeal.

Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports is the big loser. It won a single package of 23 matches that will be aired at 5.15 p.m. on Saturday evenings. Analysts are sceptical whether it will reach break even point on its subscriber model. It's an open question whether Setanta's 1.5 million paying customers think it will be worth paying between £8 and £13 a month for the reduced service, including some football free weekends. It has saved more than £200m over the next three year deal and could use the cash to buy into other sports, improving its weak summer schedule. It could always try to sell itself to EPSN, the American sports broadcasting giant owned by the Walt Disney company, which was unsuccessful in the rights auction. EPSN could afford to buy into Setanta, providing the venture with real firepower with which to fight Sky.

I BELONG TO MONEY

What is pushing Kaka to even consider moving from a high flying club like Ac Milan to a lowly and struggling club with no compelling history like Manchester City? Well some will say Man city with its new status as the “richest club” in the world has what it takes to become as big as big as the Milans of this world in a matter of years. After all look what Abramovic’s money did for Chelsea over the last few seasons. Kaka, one can argue is making a logical decision to become the fulcrum around which a team of world beaters will be built at Mancity and go into football folklore as the one that led a revolution that turned minnow into a giant; just like Maradonna did for Torino and Johan Cryuf for Barcelona in the 1970s and 1980s.
Again Mancity as a team doesn’t look that bad with the likes of Robinho, Elano, Wright-Phillips, Richards etc Kaka will find teammates with the ability and talents to help him in this project. And undoubtedly the arrival of Kaka will convince other world class players to decide to join. In a matter of two seasons Mancity will undoubtedly be competing for the Premiership title and appear in the final stages of the champions League. Furthermore at 26 Kaka has managed to achieve what any players could dream to achieve in their lifetime. He has won all the that there is to be won-two champions League titles, a clutch of Scudettos ,a FIFA World Cup ,a South American Continental Championship , a host of individual honors, the ultimate of which is the FIFA World Player of the Year that he won in 2007.surely he can relax on such laurels or if his ego is still big he could devote the rest of his career seeking a new challenge elsewhere- and what better challenge is there for a footballer than to do what everyone thinks is counterintuitive and totally crazy. There is enough purely footballing reasons for Kaka to move to Mancity.
However the obscene sums being bandied around makes it difficult to defend the legitimate reasons enumerated above. I am well informed that apart from the record £94?(compare this to the 2007 to budget of the republic of Sierra-Leone of $88m ) transfer fee , the personal terms are hard to comprehend. Kaka is reported to be demanding a daily wage of a staggering $120,000 which works up to about $900,000 per week (which works up about $45m per year).
In addition Kaka has negotiated a series of exit and conditional clauses that does little to betray his skepticism and commercial motives behind this unprecedented move. Some of such clauses include a strong commitment from the “deep pocket “Gulf owners of Mancity to commit long-term to the club as well as a steady stream of investment in playing and infrastructure assets. Also kaka has demanded assurances that other world class players will join Mancity as soon as possible failure of which could lead to his exit. It is also reported that Mancity will pay Kaka large sums of money any season they fail to qualify for the UEFA champions League.
The motivation is money and it is not only Kaka who is in to benefit. all sorts of people including the inevitable agents, advisers, financiers deal brokers/makers,lawyers etc. stand to benefit lucratively if the deal pulls through.
A lot of money is at stake a lot of poeple stand to gain so enormous pressure is being exerted on the "innocent" Kaka to sign the deal.
And what do i hear about the other Premiership managers complaining of the sums involved? this is all sour grapes. if they had the kind of money City has i can bet my last dollar on it that they will spent it to get Kaka in their teams. if Spurs spent $30m on Bent , Liverpool spent $50m on Torres, Man U spent $60m on Berbatov and even Arsenal are prepare to spent $30m on Arshavin ;what is wrong with City dolling out a few "quids" on one of the worlds best players?
if kaka signs for city as we all agree is likely to happen , it will not be such a bd thing after all.

WHY DO THEY DO IT?

An Investigation into the Motives that drive Ghanaian Football Investors

Our league will commennece in about 24hrs and three teams will join the biggest teams to kick it off. two of the clubs are competing in the league fro the very first time, while the other one is a traditional club just back from the lower division wilderness after a decade absecne.
Every year people across the country get very passionate about the game so much. People fight in board rooms for control over clubs whose structure makes no business sense in a market that is thin in market size with very little source of auxiliary income. football is an expensive undertaking that offers little reward especially in a country like ours.
So why are so many people prepared to take the risk of investing in football?

WHY RACISM IS STILL RIFE IN THE SAPNISH GAME

On the weekend of the first week in Nov , Samuel Etoo fro the umpteenth time got racially abused by the fans Real Zaragoza.
Spain has a really bad example of failing to to clamp down on racism in the beautiful game. There numerous counts of abuses against Black players with the culprits ranging in outlook and orientation.Particularly for Etoo , it is distressing to see such a brilliant superstar ,well behaved and a great addition to the Spanish game receive such bigotry for no apparent reason most often.Racism is so rife even the top clubs are involved.And they are getting bolder, taking it into international games and Champions league games as well
the other day it was Athletico Madrid racially abusing not only black players of Marseilles but Black journalist traveling with them as well.
I pin this bad state of affairs down to one person ;Louis Aragones. This revered coach who recently took Spain to the Euro championships earlier in the summer made a couple of racial remarks and was left unpunished and this i believe has emboldened the extremists.The football community must clamp down hard on racism or else a few bad ones will mar this beautiful game

NIGERIA'S SAVING GRACE

>>> AGREES TO HOST 2009 FIFA U 17 WORLD CUP
Much to the relief everyone at FIFA HQ the Nigerian government agreed on Tuesday 28 Oct to host next years FIFA youth tournament. The government had decided that the $300m bill submitted by the NFA was too much to bear.

IS FOOTBALL IMMUNE FROM RECCESION?

There is talk of a fearful and dangerous economic headwind heading our way as a result of the Financial Crisis. The financial crisis is slowly trickling into the "real economy" and it feared some of the biggest economies in the world will suffer recces ion in the coming months and years.
Football has largely been untouched by the crisis around us. Judging by the amount of money flowing around football these days one would be fooled to think the money is a bottomless ocean. The major European Clubs spent a whopping $900bn during the transfer season this summer.Premiership Clubs led the way with over $500 expenditure funded by their football "Sugardadies" and the take over of MAN CITY by the Abu Dhabi Group increased the tempo and possibility of even of expanding their expenditure in the Winter Window.
The TV money too is secured for at lest two years while gate prices are at all time high and the supporters have until now put up with it the demand fro ticket is inelastic; that is ,it is not relatively responsive to price changes. Marketing and sponsorship deals have never been this lucrative.All these point to a secure and prosperous future for the world's most loved sport.
However since football forms part of the real economy it will not be spare by any recession. Infact football could suffer disproportionately from any recession ensuing from the credit crunch.Football fans are normal everyday people who survive on jobs so in hard times their incomes fall leaving them with little for entertainment. ticket sales and merchandise revenue will undoubtedly suffer in the event of a recession
The clubs will suffer marketing and sponsorship revenue losses as firms cut down on ad/branding spending . Even some of the firms might even go bankrupt which nearly happened to AIG ,the shirt sponsor of MAN UTD.
The next TV deal to be negotiated in a couple of years time will be crucial in determining the future financial stability of most European leagues esp the Premiership.
Again some clubs may find it difficult to raise funds fro their day to day activities because of the freeze of the credit system. some of the biggest clubs in Europe are heavily indebted and there could be frightening specter of Giant clubs that will fail financially in an environment of recession English clubs owe in total about $5bn .
football is an integral part of the economy despite its "special status" designation and any economy-wide imbalance will not leave football unscathed
After all football ,we're told is BIG BUSINESS

The Revolving Door Premeirship Manager

The amount of money at stake in the premiership has succeeded in thinning the patience of the various boards and owners the various Premiership clubs. Clubs just don't have the patience to grant their managers any time to build a winning team. It is only early December and so far six mangers have been sacked from their jobs.There are a further list about three managers who are under pressure to produce result or will face similar fate as the axed six. Even managers who a season ago had enjoyed star status have suddenly lost favour owing to very difficult results.
Survival for "smaller "teams in the English league is worth a staggering $60m and any thing that threatens this source of funds will definitely cause owners and boards to begin sharpening their axes.It is estimated that managers in premier league last on average 2 years excluding Ferguson and Wenger.

PANIC IN THE PREMERSHIP

As Police swoop on Footballers and Mangers

Thursday the British police swooped on five addresses in the UK and arrested some very popular and respect members of the football community including Harry Redknapp, Peter Story and Amdy Faye all of who are associated in one way or the other with Portsmouth FC.

Coming on the heels of the infamous bungs investigations this must be a very worrying time for the football fraternity at very top in the world's most popular league.

The commercialisation of football certainly means that there will some elements in the game who will not play by the rules. The staggering amount of money in football is going to fuel some greedy people try and cut corners. It is definitely good that that the authorities are baring their teeth to show any potential bandit that they will not get away with any underhand dealings.

it is unfortunate that a respect Manger like Harry is involved. Harry is a colourful character who has earned respect from both his admirers and detractors. He has rescued clubs from relegation on several occasions as well as develop some very good talents into world class players.He is even considered as one of the favorites to succeed McLaren who was axed for his failure to qualify England to EURO 2008.

ETOILE SAHEL IS AFRICAN CLUB CHAMPION

But the Competition Needs a fine Tuning

At a packed and intimidating atmosphere in the Cairo National Stadium Etoile pulled off probably the biggest shock in African club football to trounce the Mighty Al Ahly 3 nil to lift their first ever champions league trophy.

The Champions League has evolved to become of the most lucrative club competitions outside Europe with the winning team bagging a whopping $1m. The other tames that gets into the group stages are guaranteed $250000 at the least.

Now that is where the tuning comes in; most of the clubs that are unable to get into the all important Group stage gain nothing but spends a fortune. Most clubs in Africa really struggle to raise money even for their local commitment. Then raising money to travel in a a huge continent with very scanty transport infrastructure is a big asking. It is almost a miracle how some club are able to participate in African club competitions . Most of these teams don't even have sponsorship given the fact that most African countries dont have deep corporate support for sports.

Some teams travelling to north Africa have to connect through Europe because of lack of direct flight links between the African countries. This has led some teams from especially southern Africa to pass up the opportunity for glory in the CAF champions League.South African clubs are especially quick to pass up the opportunity to play in the champions league.

It is a huge gamble for smaller African clubs without a rich backer to venture into the Champions league.Failure to reach the money making Group stage will definitely spell financial and football doom for such a club.Bearing this in mind some clubs who would like to participate in the Champions league pull out fearing it could cause a major solvency problems fro them.Accra Hearts of Oak which is certainly not a small club (having won the Champions league seven years ago) has pulled out of next season's champions league fearing it could cause financial problems for them if they fail to reach the Group stage.

CAF must restructure the Champions league so that the money will be spread in a way so that most of the participating club could be guaranteed something when they qualify for the Champions league. This will undoubtedly remove the predictability (the last six champions league finals have been contested among four clubs) of the champions league and bring some uncertainty and excitement into the premier club competition in Africa.

CAF needs to to ensure that their flagship continental club competition does not become a victim of its own success by making it an elite competition.