Oct 09
United News During International Breaks
Things one can do during international breaks:
- Refresh Newsnow for updates on the latest 12 year old sensation
- Watch reruns of Law and Order
- Try to maintain interest in Heroes despite the show losing its first season magic.
- Listen to some football podcasts if it helps
- Go to work.
- Try other sports.
- Listen to (and watch) John McCain’s laugh — on loop.
- Try to listen to Sarah Palin speak but end up looking at her.
Not much really and, whilst Scott has managed to keep churning out remarkable number of posts even during the drought that is the international break, I’ve slacked off completely. While I am currently groaning under the increased volume of work in my offline life, I still think the international break hasn’t helped much either.
A spokesman for the Glazers said that the credit crunch won’t affect United. I am not sure to take this as spin, or actual truth but no one can really be safe, especially not if you have debts as much as £600m+. At the same time, we are also, on the surface, a pretty well run club.
Gideon Haigh, a cricket writer and historian primarily — someone who I have great regard for — has an article on the Guardian on the business of modern sport in times of the credit crunch, with primary emphasis on football (as well as bringing about the example of United).
Speaking of debt, Michel Platini seems intent on getting debt ridden clubs banned from the Champions’ League. While the idea, of forcing clubs to balance their books, is well intentioned, it doesn’t take into account the fact that debt is not always bad especially if the interest is serviceable — which was David Gill’s contention.
In international football news, Rio Ferdinand had some words to say on Sepp Blatter’s handling of racism:
“The football authorities need to look at themselves. Sepp Blatter likes to speak up about things that are good for Fifa’s image. I would love to see them stand up and dish out the right punishments for these incidents. They make a lot of comments about what they are going to do but they never back up the words with actions. Croatia were fined a few thousand quid. What good is that going to do? That is not going to stop people shouting racist or homophobic abuse. If things like this keep happening you have to take points off them. Then the punters will realise the team is going to be punished.”
True words indeed. Racism, needless to say, is a big, big issue and a serious one at that. It’s shocking, in the first place, that lot of people can be openly racist even in a sporting arena. It’s a sad thing, and current FIFA efforts to “kick racism out of football” isn’t adequate.
Oh well, I am off to attend to my morning chores.
Till tomorrow, I hope.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Brief International Roundup + Berbatov’s Fitness Regime
- Some Site News
- Ronaldo Scores, Players Come Through Unscathed… So Far
- International roundup and a link fest
- A Television Themed Round-Up
Tags: Manchester United News
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http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_4288229,00.html
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hey guys can anyone give the full detail of united’s debts and the source of them, and their plan to eliminate them..
please guys this is so important i’ve known they are because of the glazers takeover but i need a much more detailed story..
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@Devilinho: hey i did my coursework on the glazer take over of manchester united last year, (i got an A, my examiner must have been a red
) if you would like i could upload it somewhere and send you the link to read it, it assess the impact of the takeover, what it has done, and how it might affect united in the future along with it’s stakeholders.
Grognard: the link in post 51 sums it all up i suppose. Bolton has one of the brightest prospects to come in england in a while, yet it is the 2 “richest” clubs are the ones who are battling to sign him, its a joke. what is even more of a disgrace is what football has become to the extent players no longer feel patriotic to play games money has taken over pride and there seems no end to it, long gone are the days of what a club has won, or it’s heritage to manifest into a global monster of what it is worth. I remember reading and article once that said fans now care more about how much it is worth than what it has done, salaries are a barometer of how good a player was, now zico during his prime would have earned less than lets say some back up midfielder, with todays logic, that back up is better than zico in his prime, or any other legend who made their name pre bosman. Contracts are inflated, as i elated as i was when united signed anderson i was disgusted at the price he was bought for, £21 million for an unproven 18 year old no matter how much of a talent they possess unless they are called Edison Arantes do Nascimento (pele to those who don’t know). Money is the new equalizer not tactics or farm system its how much money you have, if you don’t believe me look at the 3 promoted teams, west brom, Stoke and Hull, they were promoted in that order, however the 3rd place team got the most money because of a play-offs due to media exposure, no hull is doing well which more than i can say for stoke or west brom because they have more money, now does this seem fair, that hull city who were promoted got more capital because of a play-off than the actual champion, if i was a manager of a championship i would aim for the play-offs rather than win the league because of the extra money what’s even worse, hull got more money than united did for winning the Champions League, so you’re saying the play off is better than Europe’s biggest club competiton. you’re having a laugh it’s things like these such as over inflated player prices and un even win bonuses are what is ruining football as well as the points grognard stated.
In terms of financial backing football is a business and players are assets so limit how much teams pay for those assets and how much overheads those assets will cost , a way to even stakes is not by imposing a wage cap but a structure; To elaborate, a system that allows all and i mean ALL clubs to pay certain players, for example:
15-19 year olds- let say these are young and unproven talents, the most a club can ask to pay them is £5m
20-24 years olds-£10m max since they are a bit older and more mature
25-30- these are when players are in their prime so £30m max for the best of players
30+- may be past it, but useful £15m max
now what this does get rid of over price players and allow smaller clubs to buy some players. on the other hand it negates the ability of small clubs to maximise their profits on their young stars, so porto will not be able to get £21m for one of their youngsters, which may limit their growth. Now i admit this is flawed, however it took me 5 minutes to come up with this structure and i’m sure the delegates over there at fifa and uefa can come up with one better than this. Also i want to see one for wage, i have a gut feeling in 5-10 years in the paper i will be reading
10 year old signs for Manchester united for £20m for £50k per week
it scares me football will develop into that and it probably will unless something is done, if their is a wage structure no longer will players want to leave smaller teams because they can get more money at another. What happened to the days of when players would stick at a poor club to build itself a reputation, i mean pele rejected madrid to stay at santos because it was the club he loved, and he only got lured by money when he got too old. YOu mean to tell me robinho is at man city because he loves the club not because he gets £1m a month? If so then you are as blind as those buffoons at running the show
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@count berbatov: Funny thing is he has been sent to Brazil to scout, not Holland.
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@Mr.Muhozi: Great read mate. I agree but I would also add a stipulation that Major League Basbeall has with it’s prospects. Once a player is called up to the big club he must stay with that club for six seasons before he is eligible for free agency. Now I would modify this for football because football careers do not usually go as long as baseball ones which quite often go into the 40′s. Make it 3 or 4 years. The club that first signed a young player (ex Sampson – Bolton) should be able to keep him him until he plays 3 or 4 years with Bolton’s first team or reserves. If by 4 years he hasn’t made the grade he should be allowed to leave. If he is a first teamer and a star, Bolton gets no compensation once he becomes a free agent so it makes sense to sell him the year before or extend his contract.
Bottom line, all teams would get to benefit from their farm system for at least 3 or 4 years before the big clubs play predator on them. And also, no team should have the right to sign a player when he is 10 bloody years old. The minimum should be 15. That’s just wrong and it’s certainly against all rules in North American sports. Properly growing up, getting an education and then signing is the way it’s done here. We also have a draft system in this part of the world for all our sports because we believe the worst should be rewarded with the best prospects based on their poor winning percentage. This allows poor teams to improve. It’s socialist in nature and that is the only way to keep fat cats from raping and pillaging youth from all over the world.
Scouting is key and beating the other guy to the punch is a talent. United and Chelsea should not be able to have whomever they want just because they have the money to sign him. It’s wrong and unethical in a game designed around a fair play initiative within a socialist setup like a league.
I agree with your transfer and signing caps. They have to exist to keep both the seller and the buyer in check. Let the final decision go to the player based on his desire and feelings, not the club with all the cash. If there was more equality, smaller clubs may have a fighting chance to keep a player and reward him for his loyalty.
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@Wazza: Anytime you invest in a business, you escape having to pay taxes. Certain types of businesses fall under the category of tax shelters. I know that sports franchises have been used as tax shelters for years because most of the time the operate at a very small profit or even at an acceptable loss. To many owners, this kind of loss is better than giving it to the government. In world football I am sure the rules are different than in North America but suffice it to say, it’s always easier to keep the money away from any tax man when you can prove you are using it in business or in investment.
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