Rafa may be
excited about the imminent takeover, and with good reason, but I have to admit that I'm extremely conflicted about the whole ordeal.
To be or not to be another Chelsea? That is the question. Whether it be one billionaire heading up the Dubai Internaional Capital or another potential investor from another part of the world, I have a sinking feeling (which extends to all of English football at the moment) that the club will become just another faceless entity, concerned only with the arms race for big name players and concerned little with the actual needs of the team or it's identity.
On the one hand, there is so much for Liverpool fans to be ecstatic about. Pumping $450 million into the club will afford Liverpool the freedom to do whatever they want on the transfer market as well as upgrade the stadium grounds. For the first time since Roman Abramovich turned Stamford Bridge into Gorky Park, we'll be able to mount an honest charge for the league title. But at what price? The other hand offers a bittersweet future full of success, but lacking in satisfaction. I don't want to turn into a Chelsea or the New York Yankees. I don't want a bunch of plastic, glory-seeking fans jumping on the bandwagon, just as they did in London. Pretty soon, you'd have a hard time recognizing your team, there are so many impulse buys there. Frankly, I think the takeover means selling a bit of your soul. That's the price to compete these days, I guess, but man... what a price.
There's a certain dignity and nobility that comes with playing and operating the way Liverpool do -- without the unnecessary extravagance of a billionaire burning up money like it grows on trees. But we'll see (if it comes to pass). Maybe Mahktoum actually is shrewd with his spending. There has to be another way, though, if only for the sake of retaining a little purity about cheering for the club (not that I'd ever stop). In the past five years, Liverpool have won the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, two FA Cups, and two League Cups, all without the help of a gazillioner cheapening their success.
And to that end, the integrity of English football is under siege in a major way. If we get wrapped up in bidding wars -- which is almost certainly why everyone is so excited about such a massive influx of cash (beyond stadium upgrades) -- then we really will just be cheering for uniforms rather than team identity. If you're not backed by big investors, you simply won't be able to compete. But how to rectify this without destroying the free market, free ecomony system that world soccer operates in and of which I am a firm believer in? A universal salary cap enforced by UEFA? By FIFA? Salary caps are a tricky proposition, one that couldn't reasonably be regulated in world football as it is in domestic American leagues. It would actually be unfair, nevermind impractical, to have a club like Real Madrid be made the equal of, say, Watford. Nevermind that the revenue they earn from television and marketing is kosher, it is deserved. Currency would be an issue, too, one that would put English clubs at a disadvantage. And what of players bought and sold from the Americas or Asia or Africa? You'd have to set an incredibly high ceiling if you were to institute a salary cap because, while it may look like defending goliath, sapping Chelsea or Real or ManUre of their funds isn't the answer. There is monetary success there that they are entitled to. It's all grey. There's already revenue sharing in the EPL with the tv deal, but beyond that, how do you justify punishing the Liverpools (pre-takeover), the Arsenals, the big clubs who generate their own cash flow by making them share with the dregs of the league all because of the way Chelsea conduct their business?
I think one idea to help regulation sincerely, honestly, would be to place a limit on the number of foreign players a team may be allocated. For example, no more than 6 per English team or Spanish team or what have you. The downside to that, though, is that this is the WORLD'S game, meaning that the entire world is the market place. It wouldn't be fair to say that you have to settle for the local boy over here who is mediocre at best when there's some Brazilian, for example, who could outplay the local boy and is willing to play abroad. That's the beauty of free market, free ecomony and that's something that shouldn't be changed.
So what is the problem here? Well, as Roman has highlighted, the problem is that if you have money -- regardless of where it came from -- it can be used to purchase players. I propose (to Sepp Blatter or whomever is in a position to do something about it) that only money generated by the club itself -- meaning no outside help, no billionaire personally emptying his pockets -- can be used to better the club, be it stadiums, players, what have you. That's something that would definitely keep a runaway monster like Chelsea in check while retaining their right to operate on the free market and it would also lessen my fears of yet another controversial billionaire wedging his way into the English game.
Those are my two cents on the matter, anyway.
YNWA
Labels: English Premier League, Liverpool FC
