So today I’m going to explain the horrendous storm currently playing out in European football. A storm so profound that the entire world is up in arms about it. Boris Johnson has pitched in, Prince William!!! (the ‘good prince’ in the modern, digital-media version of the Cane & Abel story currently being played out on the news pages not about football), ministers, footballers, fans, absolutely everyone. Except the owners of the 6 ‘rogue’ clubs in question. They’re keeping mum. And, succinctly, so you don’t get bored, and in simple terms, because you’re not that bright, I shall explain the major points of this issue. Ah-hem (clearing throat before I hold forth).

Six greedy fat motherfucker billionaires want to get even richer and couldn’t give two shits for anyone else at all and are prepared to act in ruination of the structure of our national game so they can add a few digits on their pre-tax profits.

Yet in a way, its all about ‘sustainability’. Yes, that word again. The one which makes us all want to vomit. Not ‘sustainable’ in any kind of ecological or environmental way, I think it safe to say that Messrs Henry, Glazer, Mansoor et al couldn’t give a damn about that kind of problem. No, this is sustainability of business models. Which doesn’t exist with any kind of guarantee in the current system, but carries a 100% certainty and security in the American sports model.

Take the wonderful (and horrendous) example of Leeds United. They reached the late stages of the Champions League one season and ‘put their house’ (and lots of other people’s houses which they didn’t even own) on more success which would then (retrospectively and hopefully) pay for those houses. But it didn’t happen and Leeds spent the next 20 years in the financial and footballing wilderness as a consequence. All because of inconsistency of income.

The American model is a ‘sealed system’, or a ‘closed shop’. The same teams compete every year against each other and no-one else. They all share the tv rights and all know exactly how much they’re going to earn. There are no surprises.

So although fans love ‘giant killing’ and all feel great when Leicester win the league against every type of odds imaginable, the money men hate that unpredictability because it affects their own income stream. And the system is designed to ‘filter down’ though the lower leagues which, to a degree, it does. Because we’ve all played on pitch 137 on Hackney Marshes and need that to continue. Even after they flattened most of the Marshes.

Stan Kroenke never played on Hackney Marshes. Has no ‘feel’ for the game. No understanding of ‘the fans’ perspective’. In fact, he, and the others, simply don’t consider the fans at all. Nor really the players. His type of ‘football’ is played on spreadsheets.

Unfortunately, we fans feel we have rights. Feel we ‘own’ our clubs. Always speak of them in the first person. And yet we have no say, no vote, no nuffink. And I fear that this move towards an ‘elite’ superstructure in the game will gain traction. Because you don’t put together a deal worth billions without doing your due diligence and your legal investigations first.

I hate them. To satisfy their abject greed they shit on all of us. Including Prince William.

Happy Tuesday

A xxxx