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BY DHEERAJ RAVI

In print | March 20, 2008

Last week saw the progression of four English clubs into the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League. That’s half of all the clubs of "Europe"’s premier football competition. The year before, three made it to the semis!

It’s just … boring seeing the same clubs over and over again and unfair for the rest of the teams. Granted, there are surprises like Schalke and Fenerbahce, but they’ll probably be knocked out by Barcelona and Chelsea, respectively (though let’s hope not).

The reason is undoubtedly due to the fact that money grows on trees over there. English clubs spent more than £500 million the summer of 2007 on purchasing new talent. The previous summer they spent around £300 million.

That’s just ridiculous. Firstly, that inflates the cost of players, making it seem acceptable to spend many millions on players. Secondly, it makes life much harder for the clubs that do not spend and constrains their expectations for the season. How are they supposed to compete with significantly better teams? It sucks because this makes it acceptable for these clubs to have low expectations and that’s what they adjust their mentality towards. Instead of winning their national leagues and international competitions, their goal becomes not to get relegated to a lower division.

The recent takeovers of many clubs in England (first Chelsea, then others like Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Manchester City, Manchester United, and West Ham) by rich businessmen who know close to nothing about the beautiful game of football has obviously not helped.

If they had 100 percent control, they would run the club like a business, players would be commodities to be bought and sold (it’s getting there), and the bottom-line is to ensure long-term profit, accepting a huge short-term loss.

So what if they financed their takeover by borrowing a shitload of money … I mean, what could go wrong with that? It’s an easy solution — all you have to do is raise ticket prices! This ensures that only people who can afford it can attend games and the real supporters can watch it on tele (they rightly burnt effigies of the Glazers after the huge hike last summer). And how do you appease these fans? By buying up Europe’s best! Like clockwork.

More than half of £500 million spent last summer was devoted to foreign players. I mean if your sole claim to fame is your spending power, what does that say? Can you even be called a ‘team’?

Looking at the starting lineups of the big four in England, there aren’t more than two or three players that are actually English (except Man Utd. at times). Here I blame the players slightly. It would mean so much more playing and competing for your native club. I’m sure the allure of higher salaries is a powerful motivator as is the increased likelihood of silverware, but it almost seems empty and pointless.

You’re not going to find many more Maldinis, Rauls, or Del Pieros anymore and that’s sad because these players were exceptional role models who were true to their clubs and actually knew what it really means to play for a team.

The English national “team” is made up of the highest earning group of players and they have never been a potent threat in major competitions. Maybe there’s no relationship, but I truly believe that a materialistic focus lessens the values of what truly matters, such as playing for your country.

I guess it’s unfair for me to pick on England as clubs like Milan, Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid also indulge in wasteful spending. Real Madrid spent the most out of any club in Europe last summer, £80 million (I don’t know what Calderon was doing spending big on Pepe and Robben). In fact, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the top two spenders consistently in La Liga and they always grab either first or second.

In England, the top four is also constant and hardly ever changes by the end of the season. Some might say that this leads to a monopoly and should even be illegal. We should impose some sort of limit to ensure a fairer balance as well as focus more on homegrown players, as that is what a football team’s success should be based on.

Dheeraj is a junior. He can be reached at dravi1@swarthmore.edu.

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