The last few years have seen the explosion of clubs with sugar daddy money. Yes, owners with deep lying pockets full of compressed cotton candy.
The inflation involved in football makes any sort of investment in it a risky one. Success is being brought over to the table by waiters in a bunny costume like bottles of Cristal. Is it a hobby, is it one of those rich man ego things like yachts and custom made cars, or is it the whole popularity in a second thing.
While most analysts have looked at the most commonly looked at aspect and managers and lesser endowed owners just moan again and again.
But no one seems to be talking of the other perspective. Everyone is so indulged in the unfairness of the world that they forget they actively contribute to it.
When a player, lets name him, “I Need Money” Sonny, playing for, say club HaveFC, is wanted by an average club MidTable FC constrained by plain old economics, the price often is a realistic value. But when a rainmaker patronized club, SugarFC comes into the picture, you find the overvaluation of a player, the sudden inflation that makes no sense whatsoever. What HaveFC demanding this all of a sudden sunshine has burst through the cloud fee does not realize that as much as everyone is aware of the riches of the sugar daddy, other clubs too are aware of the sudden fortunes that has fallen upon their way, and that any player who you want to replace will cost an inflated amount. Also since Sonny boy is promised a higher wage, anyone replacing him aptly thinks that is what he should get. Thus sudden inflation is in the market. The whole situation can be summarized with the Andy Carroll sale from Newcastle to Liverpool. Had Torres not been sold, Andy would have never been paid that much amount of money. So then the response of managers and clubs that the market is inflated and wrongly so falls flat as everybody that trades have actively contributed to it. This is why I like the way smaller clubs, especially in the Premier League goes about their business. They never buy overtly inflated players, sells them at a decent price, and if they manage a decent finish, and along the way pick a trophy or two (see Swansea and Wigan) then it’s been a successful season. If the clubs were not limited to their small fan base (tell me if you find a Swansea jersey in your local sports store) these clubs would be boast better financials than the big clubs. So the moral of the story is, don’t whine about the inflation in football and skewed markets if you are going to ask over the top for a player who has a year left on his contract because it works both ways Mr.Chairman.
What would be the fix then? I would say the ideal fix is taking lesser transfer fee if the other party agrees to pay similar wages. The whole ‘I’m looking to win trophies’ quip by professionals would be tested and it would be much easier to single out ‘I’m for the highest bidder’ player. This would leave the clubs with fewer millions but who would not be quoted a higher price for another player. The wages remain payable and in the long run clubs don’t go bankrupt. This will however not happen in a practical work.
What my song says is, you need two hands to clap, so everybody has to play an active role in maintaining a decent economic structure before I have to apply for a loan to go watch a game.
