CBC-Sports

Big money owners threaten to ruin game

January 26, 2010 11:30 AM | Posted by   Jason de Vos  

Why do ordinarily intelligent, successful businessman become illogical, irrational fanatics as soon as they own a soccer club?

You’ve heard the story countless times. A wealthy individual rides in on his white horse, promising financial prudence and stability.

They say things like, “We are in this for the long haul. We’ve been lifelong fans and we know how painful it is for the punters to see the club in such a state. We’re going to right the wrongs of the previous ownership and put this club back up there where it belongs.”

They promise whatever it is the fans crave, whether it is promotion, consolidation, a league championship or world dominance. More often than not, the fans eat it up because they do not care about trivial things like income statements and balance sheets. All the fans care about is having a winning team to support.

That is all well and good when someone like Roman Abramovich rolls in at Chelsea, or Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Manchester City. Their wealth is virtually limitless, and no amount of frivolous spending will dent their personal fortunes.

But has their wealth had a negative effect on the game?

The wages paid by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City are astronomical. The top players are being offered ridiculous sums of money in order to sign for these clubs, which the clubs can afford to do because of the immense wealth of their respective owners.

So what is the problem, you ask? If the owners are willing to write off tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars a year for a hobby, so be it. It’s not like they are asking anyone else to do the same.

But by paying the top players such incredible contracts, they are driving up the wages of all the other players as well. So much so, that the cumulative wage bill in the Premier League is now over two billion dollars per year.

Teams fear that the only way they can compete is by spending their way out of trouble, and it is a difficult temptation to resist.

Look at what is happening right now at West Ham.

Former Birmingham City owners David Gold and David Sullivan recently purchased a 50 per cent stake in the club, after former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson ran the club into financial turmoil.

Some of the first words uttered by David Sullivan: "Myself and my partner David Gold will be honest with the fans about the books, the imbalance of the squad and the crazy wages the Icelandic owners paid out that has brought the club to its knees.

"West Ham took a player from Arsenal (Freddie Ljungberg) who was on £30,000 a week and paid him £80,000. That wasn't good business or necessary.”

Those words certainly make it seem like Gold and Sullivan intend to be financially prudent, don’t they?

Yet only a few days later, West Ham were apparently chasing Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy with a contract worth just over $170,000 per week.

"We can carry one exceptional player, who would make a difference on that wage, but generally we have to bring the wages down and in the summer we would hope to sign younger players on a fraction of those wages,” said Sullivan.

The tempting thing for Gold and Sullivan to do would be to throw money at the problem. Spend big bucks to bring in a few mercenary players in the hopes that they will help you avoid relegation. The offer to Van Nistelrooy certainly appeared to be such an offer.

But Gold was quick to point out that their offer was for only four months.

"That was true, but to straighten the record, it is different if you are paying £100,000-per-week for a four-month contract, compared to example £50,000-a-week for a four-year contract.

"I wouldn't want people to think we were mad, if we were giving them a three or four-year contract we might be mad, but for the short-term for a super player like that I felt, and David Sullivan felt, it could be good value for money.”

West Ham are currently in a fight for Premier League survival, and with a host of players – particularly strikers – suffering from injury, they have very little time left in the transfer window in which to secure reinforcements.

The race is on to beat the transfer deadline, but Hammers fans can rest assured that their owners won’t be risking the financial future of the club by being impulsive.

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