The Chicago Bulls weren’t that good before Michael Jordan, they then won six titles with him and since he retired haven’t been that good since.
Richmond was a basketcase, but drafted Dustin Martin (among others), kept him and have won three premierships since.
Wayne Rooney joined Everton at the age of nine and clearly was going to become a generational talent. The Toffees should have built a team around him and contended in the EPL for a number of years.
Yet, because it’s a rite of passage for any really good English players, he left for Manchester United at 18 and spent the next decade winning titles for them, not Everton. Sure, Rooney wanted to leave, but how many English players want to see out their careers at the clubs they started at, or is there always a lure to go to a big club and win stuff with them?
Everton will never win the league again. They’ve won the league nine times. That’s more than Man City and Tottenham combined. But they’ll never do it again. And whoever the next Rooney is, he’ll probably end up at City or Spurs as well. Or just watch Jack Grealish in the coming off-season, no way he stays at Villa next year. Where though? There are only two or three possibilities, am I right?
Is it right that this is just accepted? Is it okay that even though Nottingham Forrest has twice the football pedigree of Manchester City but because the later is bankrolled by Abu Dhabi they can go from second division fodder to world-class, title contenders and Forrest is essentially redundant? They too, despite their historical importance, will never win the league again. But City will, because they have money.
So money is more important than competitive integrity and legitimising everyone’s chances of success? How many teams can win the EPL each year? Right now, aside from another Leicester miracle, it’s probably four – Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea. But going forward, you can suggest it’s within Arsenal’s reach to challenge again, and while a longer shot, Spurs could do it. But that’s it. Will West Ham ever win a title if nothing changes? Nope.
Raheem Sterling of Manchester City. (Photo by Matt McNulty – Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
Spain’s worse. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are the only ones who can be champions of Spain. What’s Villareal’s purpose? There are two great clubs in Seville, a great city in itself. They’re never winning anything again, maybe another Europa, but that is a blight in and of itself.
Real Madrid has so much money, they literally have the charter to assemble an All-Star team without constraint or consideration, and it’s just accepted. But it’s Real Madrid, it’s their rightful place. But why? Why should they be top three in Spain and perennial Champions League semi-finalists every year? How sporting is that?
They’ve outgrown Spain. They just have. They play Barca twice, Atleti in the derby twice, and the rest is just manure to them. For a second they almost outgrew Europe, they’ve won the European Cup 13 times, way more than anyone else, and won it four out of five years there and it was looking precarious.
Germany’s got a 50+1 model, so the fans own half the club and that negates so much billionaire-backing and financial interference right? Rubbish. Half of Bayern’s cheques are written by Audi, Allianz or Adidas, and tell me exactly how Leipzig went from irrelevant to very good off the back of Red Bull money, but still snuck through the 50+1 rule?
Any good German, or any good Bundesliga player, will just end up at Bayern. Wolfsburg develop a rock-solid no.9, yep, he is off to Munich, just a matter of when. And this is fine? They got Robert Lewandowski off the second-biggest club in Germany for free and no one expected it not to happen. And now he is one of the reasons why they’ve won how many leagues in a row, how many in the last ten, and are kings of Europe.
Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski, left, celebrates after scoring a goal. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
And Italy’s worse. Sure, Milan and Inter are big clubs, but even after periods of poor performance they’re the only threat to Juventus, ever. Napoli and Roma are cute and get close, but they’re not up for it, and it’s never sustainable.
As for Juve themselves, they got done for corruption, copped a big whack, relegated, but earned their promotions back up and what, at the first real go won the league again, and have won how many Scudetti in a row since? There are only three ways you stop Juve: Inter wins, Milan wins, or you do them for corruption. Lazio are a nice club, but they’re playing for nothing.
Let alone that PSG is already bored of Ligue 1 and that Lyon and Marseille, once big clubs in their own right, are now just pedestrian bystanders to Qatar money just locking away Ligue 1 forever and a day, unless something gives.
Then for everyone else, no-one cares. Portugal is an interesting league, Benfica and Porto are big clubs, but no one gives a shit about it. Ajax were sexy as in the ’90s, now they’re just an academy for Barcelona, Juventus and others to pick off. Anything east of Berlin is so sub-par, don’t even offend us with what they’re doing. And don’t start me on Scotland.
Celtic was going to win ten in a row, but a club that was bankrupt and had to start from scratch won this year to win their 55th league title and pause Celtic at 51 titles. Next-best in Scotland has won four. Hearts, Hibs and Dundee will never win again.
Every league is a boat race. What would be the odds Bayern wins the 2021-22 Bundesliga? Like $1.10. Every year. Why bother. Even the Champions League, sure, you get the occasional Lyon or someone that goes a bit further, but how many clubs can win that? Maybe ten? Red Star Belgrade will never win a European title again, nor will Ajax. We’ve had our Porto moment 17 years ago, that was an outlier. It’s not happening again.
So as long as the guy who moved the St Louis Rams to Los Angeles and doubled his money in doing so can continue to own Arsenal and pump in as much money as he wants, as long as it’s ok that Chelsea and Man City bought success because without new, rich ownership there’s no way they were any better than Aston Villa or Leeds really, then this will continue.
It doesn’t need to become the NFL or NBA. It’s football, it’s European, it shouldn’t just follow the US model because they’re big and intimidating and well-followed globally.
But do one of two things – acknowledge that Europe’s leagues, and its Champions League, are closed competitions unofficially anyway and then let the ones ‘out of reach’ go and do their own thing, whether it greedy, grubby or otherwise. Or reform the sport in such a way that suits football, so that you know what, if Everton does develop another Rooney, he might stay and the Toffees could be a threat for once in a while.
Promotion and relegation should be held sacred, but why is relegation applicable to all 20 clubs in the EPL, but for the very rich it will never enter their psyche ever again? It’s just not relevant. So the model doesn’t work. Jeopardy is important, but the big clubs will never feel it. So it’s rules for some, and rules for others.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante. (AP Photo/ Rui Vieira)
Why should a club finish fourth in the league, but qualify for the Champions League the next year and be allowed to win it? No one blinked an eye at that two seasons ago. Man City won the EPL that prior year, but a team that finished fourth usurped them on the continental stage. But fourth place in Portugal couldn’t do that, why, they don’t get as many spots. Why? Wouldn’t that be fairer? Rules for some, rules for others.
So if we think a compromised world is okay as is, fine, what’s more compromise then? Or is this so distasteful that it crosses the line? Perhaps though, this is the sign that the Super League idea wasn’t only just a bad idea, but it recognises that the status quo isn’t much better in itself.
Let’s find a way for leagues to be actual leagues again. Not invoke radical socialism so everyone’s equal, I’m not suggesting drafts and salary caps and basically stealing the NBA’s homework and simply copying it.
But if it’s okay that PSG might win the Champions League next month because an Arab sovereign was allowed to buy the club, overinvest and make a mockery of whatever wet-lettuce financial rules were in place, to grab Neymar and Kylian Mbappe because the money was too good and that’s all that matters, when we all know that as recent as ten years ago Paris weren’t even the best club in France and hardly won anything – then go for it.
Or we take the Super League near-miss as a chance to get better. However, I suspect it’s too far gone.
You won’t bring Man Utd back to the pack. Liverpool will always be big and have a global following, and Everton will always be behind them. A world can never exist where you give Granada and Getafe hope at the Camp Nou.
Benfica can find a way to overpay to keep its really good, local talent and maybe threaten the Champions League once in a blue moon. But it’ll be a one-year thing and they’d probably go broke trying, the poor things.
So if it’s too far gone, then at least have the minerals to make official what we’ve created. Let the big clubs sod off and restore normality to the Evertons of the world who have never done a thing wrong and deserve so much more.
Alternatively, if that makes you bitter, then be equally as passionate about making the game better.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Messi is on about 3 million a week though part of that was already paid to him the minute he signed. Second most overpaid player in history behind Tevez. though who knows how much of that money Tevez saw.
criag
Roar Rookie
I’ve said on a few platforms I was against the Premier League from the start. You could see what was going to happen (and I could also see the writing on the wall for my team!). There needs to be far reaching reforms in football that go further than I can suggest. But I can suggest a few…over 60 percent foreign players in the EPL is way too many – there needs to be a limit. The money needs to be shared around the whole game to keep clubs afloat, make a more competitive game. Instead of outrageous salaries (who really NEEDS 11 million pounds a year?), there should be more emphasis on putting back into the community and developing junior and local football. But the strong have demonstrated time and again that they’re greedy for more money and more success. First their needs to be a will to make this happen, which exists now outside the strong clubs, then there needs to be way to make it happen…..that’s the hard bit….the REALLY hard bit.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
hes head of youth development
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Doesn't Amor have a bit to do with Barca's youth system? I'd be surprised if any of their youth players don't make it at senior level.
Kevin
Roar Rookie
Absolutely fantastic article. Perfectly told. In 1992, 5 clubs in England complained about the share of TV revenue and threatened to break away from rhe Football League. This time they got enough support to actually be successful and create the Premier League. Never again would Scunthorpe get anything like the same amount of money as Manchester United. Then came the sharing according to number of times appearing on TV. Here the big clubs got more money so began a further split in the PL. Until, there is proper revenue sharing and salary caps across Europe, it will always be the same. Fans are living in a deluded world if they think they will stop this. Basketball did it 20 years ago and they now have the 2nd grossing basketball league in the world. In fact, their model is very similar to the proposed ESL, with 11 clubs on long term licences and 7 qualifying on merit. It seems to work well, and has a fairer revenue split.
JGK
Roar Guru
Nice article. I never understood why the the Big 6s fans were so outraged. The clubs wanted to play in the EPL as well as the ESL. Surely that is a better thing for your team. Meanwhile, where we've ended up is the clubs playing more UCL matches against nobodies. You wonder if any of the big clubs will play anything other than their u/18s for the League Cup when the UCL changes.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
That’s because the banks will not help madrid or barca out this time round, both those clubs need to save money. if im president of barca, messi's gone at season end. Yes that makes me the bad guy, but his weekly wage is unbelievable coupled with his image rights, performances bonus's he'd be on over a million australian dollars a week. Phenomenal player Leo, but if you're barca through and through; do the best thing for the club and move on. dembele has one year left on his contract, sell him and move his massive wages on. Coutinho i would just pay out his contract & griezman i would use at trade bait. There you go, i've saved the club over 3 million a week. I don’t buy for a second that their youth team is as bad as they are claiming it to be, id wager that there’s 2 or 3 players that would walk into that team madrid need to get bales wages off the book as well, he'd be touching close to a million aussie dollars a week. Varanes got 1 year left on his contract, sell him. Madrid have at least been trying to play more of there youth. neither club can afford haaland, mbappe, neymar of which ever mega star they are linked to. Once you factor in agents fee and contract length. I guesstimate that’s easy a 300 million dollar outlay for any of those 3 players
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Well said Andy. There is an answer, and it will be played out in the coming weeks and months. I like most other supporters of my club [Chelsea] love the silver ware, I love being in the UCL and potentially winning it. Having said all that I hated the concept of the ESL, to me it was never going to happen, it was a gamble which back fired in the most spectacular way. I expect all of the FAs to take their leagues back from these bigger clubs, their demands now for this or that, won't count for much, because their threat of leaving has been played and it has no meaning. Next time Man U or Liverpool say do this or we are out, what do you think the English FA will say? Fu*k Off then!!! Thinking about the La Liga, the banks would of been nervous seeing all of the upheaval both Real & Barca created. I wouldn't be surprised if the fall out for those two may be even harsher.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Barcelona supposed to be over a billion in debt, take out the rich Middle East owners from Man City and PSG and would they fold. Messi actual salary is ridiculous, though in comparison Tevez 100m a year in China was beyond ridiculous. I dont see any clubs being able to afford that salary , more than a whole NBA team I think its more the case of Barcelona the banks will come running for them if they lose Messi and they are in a catch 22. Messi has the better image but in reality he seems to really be ruthless in commercial dealings.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
barca and real madrid have no money, the banks in spain aren’t going to help them out anymore. I see the logic in their thinking of wanting a ‘super league’; but for that they needed the english clubs drawing power in terms of TV audience and fans. The fact every single club involved didnt expect this to fail horribly, shows you how far out of touch most of these boardrooms are with the actual fans. clubs should not be owned by americans, they have no affinity to the sport. Same for the middle eastern owners, with there cruel human rights treatments. i’d love to see more clubs go the bundesliga route in terms of fan ownership models and fans having more of a say. imagine all the man utd or liverpool fans around the world all chipping in $5.00, they could easily buy the clubs back off glazer and henry. the power has always been with the people that support teams,
Brian
Guest
But football could create a relative closed shop for players with a European league. This kind of does happen, Messi is out of contract. He's not going to to Real Madrid or the MLS. His options are between Barcelona, Man Cty or Paris St Jmn. There are only 3 clubs that can afford him.
Brian
Guest
Exactly, What surprised the owners is how many football fans still somehow believe Burnley can win the EPL. In reality anyone of 25 franchises can win the 2030 NBA, anyone of 18 clubs can win the 2030 AFL but as thigns stand only 3 clubs could win the 2030 La Liga etc. Ideally football has to copy what works and what is also part of its DNA. Get rid of the nation leagues and for a 4 tiered European league with promotion/relgation. Evertonm will go tto Div II and then let football determine if they end up in the top tier or in Div 4.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Same old same old.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Salary caps can even out leagues if there are no competitors, it works in American sports because there is no real competitor, but they still have to keep wages high enough to avoid lesser foreign leagues, though the CFL is in no position to compete with the NFL it also has to ward off people making rival league, in football if you think the EPL puts a salary cap at a level all clubs can afford and potentially makes them profitable, then all the best switch to the other big teams and they just end up never winning the Championship league. The AFL is in the best position unlike American leagues the players they have no alternative, and AFL players are worst paid compared to revenue in the world. Also the reason why they never compare their wages to anyone globally unlike crowd figures. The draft is a different thing altogether its illegal in any legal system but the reason its tolerated is it effectively means old players get the money they save on drafted young players. If you had a draft system without a salary cap it would mean the old players would get even more. Whats interesting in Australia is the AFL draft have never been legally challenged despite the fact the NRL was and defeated so the AFL draft would go. Schwab now some leader of some international sports union that wants to challenge FIFA transfer system, and led legal action against the NSL never seems to mention it I wonder why.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Yes, it's too far gone. Having said that, at least the Euro comps have rules about the number of home grown players which must be registered (the club grown, and country grown overall). Of course, with the club grown players, as long as you bring foreign talent in as a teenager, and keep them, that qualifies as home grown. The bigger clubs will have far more of that type of "home grown" talent than those who actually come from their city. Some leagues have similar rules, even down the tiers. These rules could be tightened, but the powerful clubs would never allow those rules to be tightened, and deep down, do the fans what that as well? Do they prefer to see their next door neighbour playing for their club, or do they prefer to see their club winning silverware? There's your answer.
Rellum
Roar Guru
So just give up and let the rich get richer. The answer is in some sort of "radical socialism" as you call it. Which it is not, even the great capitalist's sports of the US have that socialism built in because they know it helps to sell their teams. I do not know the answer in detail but their needs to be a cap on spending and rewards for developing "local" talent and keeping that talent.