Mo(yes) Money, Mo(yes) Problem

Everton manager David Moyes this week celebrated 10 years in charge of the Merseyside club. Apart from celebrating it with a 3-0 derby-loss to Liverpool he was also in the spotlight after some comments in the Sunday Express where he called for drastic changes in football to secure the future of the sport. 

The Toffees' long-serving manager has several times pointed out that clubs have a responsibility to safeguard the long-term future and to the Sunday Express he stated that: "Everyone in the Premier League should take a 20% pay cut to put football finances back on an even keel and allow a significant reduction in ticket prices to make football more affordable for the ordinary fan”. With financial problems of late including clubs such as Rangers, Portsmouth and Port Vale he’s got some good points. 

Moyes himself is also in a club who’s struggling financially where he’s been forced to work on a tight budget during the majority of his ten years in charge at Goodison Park. In relation to this however, it’s quite interesting to see that a recent report places Moyes among world football's top earning managers (http://bit.ly/yg06Ow). Moyes was listed on twelfth place with £3 million per annum in a club struggling financially. I guess Everton could welcome a 20% pay cut then from Mr Moyes to spend on new players?

/ Alexander

Statistics can Pool anyone

Ahead of this season media made a big thing on Liverpool’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group, regarding their focus on statistics when targeting potential transfers. The Fenway Sports Group has previous experience from this philosophy with the ownership of the American baseball team The Boston Red Sox. Back then they gained a competitive advantage by being among the first in the Major League to take benefit of extensive statistic data for their player-personnel policy. 

Liverpool FCs current director of football, Damien Comolli, have stated that statistics guide his decisions, which he said also was inspired by Arsene Wenger. In recent times the Arsenal manager might not be the best man to look up to in terms of transfer policy.

One decision based on this philosophy, claims Comoli, was the signing of Luis Suarez where they took account of i.e. the number of decisive passes, performances against the big teams and the difference between his goals scored away and at home. Liverpool’s previous injury problems are also something this is hoped to decrease by statistically accounting for them in transfer policy.

Liverpool spent about £56,5 million on player investments ahead of this season. Ahead of last weekend, with 42 points in the Premiership, their investments have given them about 1,45 millon /point. For the leaders at that time, Manchester City, they’ve in comparison paid 1,26 million/point. This despite having spent a breathtaking amount of £76 million ahead of the season. 

So what does that tell us? Probably nothing. Or as William W. Watt once said: “Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you have carefully considered what they do not say”.

/ Alexander

Glasgow Rangers - The Lehman Brothers of world football?

Few people interested in football have missed the recent financial problems relating to Glasgow Rangers. Football clubs tend to spend more money than what they actually generate. From that perspective, this latest report on Glasgow Rangers maybe shouldn’t come as a surprise. Some experts even fears whether Glasgow Rangers could become 'the Lehman Brothers of world football'. 

The other week Glasgow Rangers were put in administration with a debt that in worst case could be estimated up to £80 million pound. In the short term, they faced a 10 points reduction in the league. In the long term the problems ahead of them are of course even worse. That is, if they even survive in the long term to begin with.   

No need in pointing out the obvious consequence in spending more money than one generates. However, this is something that is common in football due to the intense competition for talent and (consequently) success. Because of this financial climate the news on Glasgow Rangers shouldn’t come as a surprise, bear in mind the ongoing negative news over a couple of years now. One who’s certainly not surprised must be Michael Platini. In fact, this supports his massive focus for a healthier business climate in football.

It’s always a shame to witness such an old and historical club (Rangers are celebrating their 140^th anniversary this year) rot from the inside. The only positive thing that comes out is the passion, with all the fans showing the support in hard times and all pulling their weight to help out. Football clubs are indeed run like businesses nowadays, but this aspect is why surprisingly few football clubs actually goes bankrupt if one compares with companies on the stock market. What there would be called a great intangible asset is here supporter ship. This fan base is in most cases a lifelong commitment with a “brand loyalty” not remotely comparable even to Apple-fans.

That is likely the reason to why it’s possible to hear a quote like this from the joint administrators who claims to have received 'several expressions of interest' in Rangers adding that 'we do not think that liquidation and the closure of the club is a likely outcome at all'. This reason is also what makes football clubs less likely to fall into administration... and is also the reason to why I don’t believe that Glasgow Rangers are ‘The Lehman Brothers of world football’.   

/ Alexander

Poor AbramoRich's Most Expensive Manager Recruitment

So, now it was André Villas-Boas turn to be sacked by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. The appointment of the young Portuguese was a gamble to begin with. And as it turned out it was an expensive one. Of all the managers sacked, this one was most definitely the most expensive one. And one can wonder if Chelsea can afford another unsuccessful recruitment?

The actual appointment of Villas-Boas from Porto last summer cost the club a fee of around £13m. The Portuguese was attracted to London with a salary of  about £8m per year. Adding this wage cost and the sacking of previous man in charge, Carlo Ancelotti, the total amount get closer to £40m and this after only 6 months in charge.

Villas-Boas is the seventh manager in less than nine years to get sacked, making Donald Trump seem like a long-term employer even in The Apprentice compared to Abramovich. One can conclude that it’s expensive to lack in patience, below presenting the recent years managers of Chelsea and the cost of sacking them:

Claudio Ranieri (2004)
Cost: £ 1.7 m

Jose Mourinho (2007)
Cost: £ 18m.

Avram Grant (2008)
Cost: £ 7m.

Luiz Felipe Scolari (2009)
Cost: £ 13m.

Guus Hiddink (2010)
Cost: -

Carlo Ancelotti (2011)
Cost: £ 15m.

André Villas-Boas (2012)
Cost: Estimated to be around  £12-15m.

This gives a cumulative cost of Chelsea's coach replacements to be around £80m. André Villas-Boas is temporarily replaced by first team coach Roberto Di Matteo for the rest of the season. Whoever will be the next man appointed better be the right choice as Chelsea can't afford another mistake as they're already struggling to reach the Financial Fair Play requirements. One “Special” choice could be a comeback for Jose Mourinho who had to leave 5 years ago. If a return occurs one can easily conclude that it could have saved the club and Mr Abramovich an awful lot of money if he'd just stick with him in the first place.

/ Alexander

The end of St Totteringham's Day?

There is a London-derby being played in my neighbourhood today with Spurs visiting local rivals Arsenal. At this time of the year, Arsenal fans have been used to celebrate St Totteringham's Day. That is the point where it becomes mathematically impossible for Spurs to finish above them in the league. But with Spurs 10 points ahead of Arsenal before today’s game St Totteringham celebration will most likely be cancelled for the first time since the 94/95 season. Some years ago this is something that couldn’t be predicted, but mainly two factors have made this possible: The respective managers and owners.

Arséne Wenger has over a long time been hailed for his work not only for Arsenal, but also for English football overall. However, his stubbornness lately doing everything his way hasn’t been defendable. His willingness for getting new talent on is positive, but the ignorance of experience is obvious with this season likely to be the 7^th consecutive season to end without any title. 

In opposite, Harry Redknapp has only recently been giving the praise he deserves. Previously known as a “wheeler and dealer” without any tactical knowledge he’s now the favourite to become the next England manager. An England team likely to be captained by Scott Parker who’s a player Harry picked to Spurs before this season when others were more worried of his age and resale value than the actual skills he could provide the team. Redknapp’s regime in Spurs can be stated as nothing but a success. 

Meanwhile, in the stands Arsenals American owner Stan Kroenke is today paying his long-distance franchise a visit for the first time in about 4 months. Many suggest that this absence of leadership off the pitch is something Arsenal suffers from. On the other side of the directors' box today sits the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. Levy, a local business man tightly involved in the club’s affairs who’s been chairman for over 10 years now with overall great results. 

This change in strength between the London neighbours was highlighted in last summer’s transfer-window. Despite Chelsea’s continuous efforts to secure Luka Modric they managed to keep him in the squad. In addition to that, also strengthening with Scott Parker. Meanwhile, Arsenal sold both Samir Nasri to Manchester City and Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona without any replacements coming in. The result from that transfer window is what we now see with Spurs 10 points ahead of Gunners. And if Arsenal wants to enjoy St Totteringham's Day any time soon this must be changed next transfer window...

/ Alexander

The Chicken race is on...

It’s not an easy time being a Rovers-supporter. The team is today in 19^th place in the Premiership after collecting only 10 points in the first 15 games this campaign. Nothing contradicts the fact that they most likely will struggle to stay in the top flight this year. This is the situation roughly one year after the club was taken over by today’s owners who entered the club with promises of a bright future. However, since arrival not much joy has been accomplished... at least not if you’re a supporter of the club.

In November 2010 the Indian company V H Group became the owner of Blackburn Rovers through a subsidiary, Venky's London Limited, having bought 99.9% of the clubs shares in a deal worth somewhere in between £47 million–£53 million. The owners were greeted by fans appearing on the pitch at Ewood Park before the match against Aston Villa which ended in a 2–0 victory. Their first actual impact on the club however wasn’t as successful as they, much to everyone’s surprise, decided to sack manager Sam Allardyce temporarily replacing him with First team coach Steve Kean.

This decision was unpopular among the fans but Venky's chairman, Anuradha Desai, asserted grandiose plans for Rovers to be competing at the top end of the table. After the departure of Allardyce he claimed that the owners expected a top-five finish and "good football". Blackburn did also launch bids to sign both Ronaldinho and Beckham. But despite offering the Brazilian a contract of £130,000-per-week neither one of them signed for the club. They were however able to appoint Kean as a permanent manager…

When the season came to an end one could easily conclude that neither a top-five finish nor the aim of entertaining football had been reached. Blackburn Rovers only just avoided relegation on the final game of the season finishing 15^th place. And this season things have not looked any better. The team is currently in 19^th place in the league. Fans have made their opinions clear both on the owners but mainly Kean... recent protests has even reached, so to speak, higher grounds:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15609898.stm

However, despite fan demands from club's supporters for Kean to be replaced he still remains their manager. Not only that but recently he also received a contract extension which is thought to both extend and improve his terms. This despite the team being bottom of the league at the time, with only seven points from 13 games and weekly protests from supporters calling for him to be sacked.

Decisions like these and the lack of actions in relation to what was promised this has led to criticism in the direction of the owners. One of the few who doesn’t seem disappointed however is, not very surprisingly, Kean who believes that Venky's have fulfilled their side of the bargain adding: "Anything I have ever asked for in any transfer window has always been delivered. I think when we are trying to build a young team maybe you are not going to pick up as many points as a more, senior older team but I think we are improving and the owners know that as well”.

To add to the negative press surrounding the owners’ recent news suggested Blackburn Rovers are heading for a financial crisis due to a £10m cash demand from Barclays Bank. In the last couple of days both a spokesperson from Venky’s as well as a statement on behalf of Blackburn Rovers was made to reiterate a reassurance to supporters that the claims were false. Rovers finance director Karen Silk: “We strongly refute this story. There is no financial crisis, and, there is absolutely no danger to the players’ and staff wages”.  

If recent story made public by The Guardian is true then the financial situation might not be that worryingly after all. They revealed emails of the owners plans to stage a free concert ahead of this season at Ewood Park with the aim to get Akon to headline with Kelly Rowland and David Guetta as back up alternatives. A concert would have estimated to cost a seven-figure sum to stage.

I very much doubt that the supporters are disappointed to miss out on that, but hopefully for Rovers-fans it may indicate that there is money to be spent in the transfer window opening in January instead. Maybe that could eventually lead to a future with a team to be proud of and owners giving the supporters something to actually enjoy. If not, the most amusing moments since the owners arrival will still be left for the antagonists with a football team struggling in the bottom of the table, exaggerated plans for the future falling through, possible R&B concerts and especially commercials like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYwf2SBWa5o

/ Alexander

Mike Cashley

Newcastle United are currently in 6th place in the Premier League only 2 points from a Champions League spot, very much to everyone’s surprise. With a team that, if you look to the individual quality of the players, should be nowhere near this position it is really a great achievement. One could expect their chairman to be hailed then? You couldn’t be more wrong. Here is a brief story about an expert in controversial decisions and bad timing. An owner leaving no one without an opinion but unfortunately for him, most of them are rather negative. That is partly understandable but judging from his achievements also a man that actually must be doing quite a few things right...

Mike Ashley is a 47 year-old British businessman from Burnham. He is the founder of Sports Direct and since 2007 the owner of Newcastle United after an investment of around £135 million. Ashley is estimated to have a wealth of £950 million and has, apart from Sports Direct, made a lot of money by buying brands such as Dunlop Slazenger, Kangol and Lonsdale.

With the purchase of Newcastle Ashley also inherited old debts costing him another £100m upon purchase to steady the club's financial situation. Some have criticised him for not doing due diligence when buying the club, as he subsequently revealed he had been unaware of many of these issues prior to purchase.

As for financial advisors I don’t know who assisted him but this lack of knowledge may also have been one reason to why he installed Chris Mort as chairman to take care of the club. A decision that left Ashley himself to act more as a fan drinking in local bars and following the team from the stands with the supporters wearing the team shirt.

The appointment of local hero Kevin Keegan as manager in early 2008 made Ashley a very popular man. Mike himself even started wearing “King Kev 1” on the back of his shirt. His, let’s say, casual style was however criticized later that year when video footage shown on television showed him down a pint of beer in the away stands during Newcastle's game at Emirates against Arsenal. Drinking alcohol in the stands is contravening Premier League licensing rules that alcohol may not be consumed in sight of the pitch. The incident in itself wasn’t that bad of course, but it was around this time that the relationship between Mike Ashley and the club's supporters began to fall apart.

In early September Keegan was out of the club with one of the reasons claimed to be the interference in team matters with Director of Football Dennis Wise. Initially it wasn’t exactly clear under what circumstances Keegan left the club but he did receive £2,000,000 compensation from the club two months later following a Premier League arbitration panel finding Newcastle guilty of "constructive dismissal".

As popular Ashley was the day of the appointment of Keegan, now in opposite the fans were furious with him and his overall conduct. It even led him to put the club up for sale with the statement: "I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do". Ashley’s actions also led to the creation of the Newcastle United Supporters Club established to represent the fan's views to any future board. A fan buyout of the club was also discussed but towards the end of the year Ashley announced that the club were no longer up for sale, after failing to find an acceptable buyer.

A reason for that was likely the poor performance on the pitch seeing Newcastle in the lower regions of the table under the interim manager Joe Kinnear. In April 2009 Kinnerar suffered heart trouble, leaving Ashley to yet again appoint another old local hero, in form of Alan Shearer, as a manager. This was perhaps yet another flirt with the fans but as Newcastle under Shearer’s regime was unable to achieve more than 5 points from the remaining eight games it left Newcastle United facing relegation to the Championship. Ashley was once more under hard pressure and set to sell the club yet again. However, with the relegation and financial unstableness he also this time couldn’t find any buyer of the club.

Since the departure of Kevin Keegan and the following relegation Ashley toned down his presence at games. But as for team performances it all started to go well again under new manager Chris Houghton. Under Houghton Newcastle finished on 1^st place in the Championship taking them straight back to the Premier League. The start of their season in the Premier League was rather well, withi.e.  an impressive 5-1 derby-win over Sunderland. Therefore, the majority of fans was yet again furious with Ashley’s leadership when Houghton became the first manager in the Premier League getting sacked 2010/11.

It didn’t get any better when the replacement turned out to be Alan Pardew, a manager with a not that impressive track record.  Despite leading Southampton to the 2010 Football League Trophy  Pardew was unemployed folling being dismissed five months later amidst reports of conflicts with staff and the chairman. As rumours went on regarding the next manager for Newcastle over 40,000 fans taking part in a poll on Sky Sports website on who should become the next manager, Pardew received only 5.5% of voters support.

But today Newcastle United FC are well up there among the top clubs so far this season with Pardew leading Newcastle to their best start to a Premier League campaign in 17 years. Just like former manager Houghton that includes beating bitter rivals Sunderland. Experts and supporters claim that the appointment of Pardew and its outcome has been pure luck. That may be the case but no one can question the results of recent year.  Clever or lucky? I doubt the Geordies supporting The Magpies cares... I even doubt that Mike Ashley cares.

/ Alexander