Football: Beyond Help News Archives

The article uses last available financial disclosures of the club as at 30th June, 2007 (download document (PDF) here). The words “current/currently” reflect opinion/fact with the same timeline in backdrop. All figures are in million pounds.

The author is a financial analyst.

It has been some time that people have been talking about a financial crisis in-the-making at Old Trafford. There are also those who insist we are already seeing one. The team, however, is doing extremely well on the pitch. That suggests, at least from a financial point of view (perhaps not conclusively though), that players are happy with their wages. After all, the club spent 74m on wages and salaries in 2006-07 (majority of which must have gone to players).

Read the rest of this entry »

There could be tough times ahead for Luca Toni. The Bayern Munich striker, just recently crowned Bundesliga champion and currently leading the scoring charts with 21 goals, may soon be confronted with an unsurpassable obstacle… of the robotic kind. Its name is Goalias (or GoalIAS if you prefer), and it’s the first robot-goalkepeer capable of defending a regular-sized football goal.

Read the rest of this entry »

The World’s Most Influential People in 2008 - Time 100.

I’m sure one can find many flaws with this list - as opinions go, everyone has one and we all think ours smells of roses. Fair enough, and I’m sure the editorial team at TIME magazine did their due diligence when compiling this list.

But having said that, and keeping in mind that this list was compiled not through public opinion but through the filter of what some people think matters most in the world, who put Kaka on this list?

Read the rest of this entry »

While Colchester United prepare for the life in League One and Dagenham struggling at the wrong end of League 2, one club in Essex is on up the up. Chelmsford City won the Ryman Premier with a 1-1 draw against Ramsgate at last weekend and, with a strong set of players and decent cash behind them for non-league level, look a good bet for challenge at the top of the Blue Square South.

It’s a return, of sorts, to the glory days for Chelmsford, who were Southern League Champions in 1946, 1968, and 1972. But the 1,588 fans who turned up to watch City clinch promotion might want to take a quick look at the recent history of near neighbours Canvey Island before they get too carried away. It’s not just the geographical proximity that connects the two clubs - Chelmsford’s current manager Jeff King was, until recently, manager and main financial backer for Canvey before deciding he’d had enough of dwindling crowds for an average-to-middling conference side.

When King, who made his fortune in the mobile home business, resigned in 2006 he took the majority of the squad - and financial clout - with him and the Islanders were forced to resign from the non-league top-flight and regroup in the Isthmian Division One North in order to survive. Meanwhile Chelmsford must have thought all their Christmases had come at once when King decamped to their doorstep with a Conference-standard squad of players all looking for a team in Essex.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a bit unfortunate that we’re not privy to behind-the-scenes machinations at Liverpool, particularly when it comes to the current owners.

It would be so much easier if we knew exactly why relations between Hicks and Gillett deteriorated (although all hints point to the way Hicks has dealt with the press over several issues), or why Parry has now been asked to step down by Hicks.

As things stand, we have only press reports and a few quotes here and there to go on. On that basis, one thing is clear:

Tom Hicks is incapable of reconciling differences over control of Liverpool - and his inept handling will keep dragging Liverpool into mud unless he goes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Trading in shares in Birmingham City football club was suspended on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday amid an investigation into suspected corruption, the Stock Exchange said.

Read the rest of this entry »

The recent debate over whether or not Welsh FA members Cardiff City should be allowed to compete in the UEFA Cup should they win the (English) FA Cup should have at least the one positive side-effect. On and off for several years the debate has raged on as to whether or not Rangers and Celtic should be allowed to play in the English leagues. Each time the question always seems to be placed back on the shelf only to be revisited a year or so later.

But would the removal of the possibility of European football should they join the English leagues put an end to this tiresome saga? Over the years the argument has been that the Old Firm cannot compete in Europe because of the lack of money generated in the Scottish Premier League compared to its English counterpart. If Rangers and Celtic were to play in England however, they too along with Cardiff would surely only have associate memberships with the FA.

If this is the case, then even if the Old Firm were to battle their way in the Premier League and finish in the top 5, or indeed win either cup competition, they also wouldn’t be permitted to enter European competition under the banner of a ‘guest club’, and therefore the entire basis of their argument falls apart.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, the U.S. economy was rocked with the downfall of $20 billion company Bear Stearns. Americans hear worrying news reports on the state of the economy on a seemingly hourly basis, but Bear Stearns seemed to be surprising.

It was merely a span of a few days from the time Bear Stearns went national with assurances that the company was secure, to the news that J.P. Morgan had bought out one of its largest competitors. Confidence, some analysts stressed, is a large factor in driving the success of any economy or company. Bear Stearns lacked that confidence; they panicked, and the result was nearly a full collapse.

So with FIFA recently admitting that they are preparing a £400m contingency fund in preparation for the possible collapse of the 2010 South African World Cup, confidence seems, to say the least, to be a bit shaky. The governing body has at last looked in the eye some of the concerns that soccer fans have been outlining all along – a lack of solid infrastructure, shoddy safety for the players and the spectators, inadequate stadiums, and a lack of tourism appeal and hospitality to make this more developing country seem as alluring as the lodgings of the more recent Cups – Germany, the United States, Japan and Korea, and France are all considerably more developed than South Africa.

Read the rest of this entry »

When the full-time whistle blew at Wembley on Sunday afternoon and Cardiff City booked their place in an FA Cup final for the first time in 81 years there was a ray of sunshine over South Wales, but a black cloud hanging over Soho Square.

The prospect of Dave Jones’ mid-table Championship side winning the greatest cup competition in the world on May 17 has thrown up a major quandary for the powers that be on both sides of the border. The English FA Cup winners are guaranteed a place in the following season’s UEFA Cup and that is where the crux of the problem lies. Cardiff are Welsh!

Read the rest of this entry »

Trust a billionaire to go after the jugular when it comes to make long-term financial investments.

Chelsea are now boosting their involvement in grassroots development of football in Asia with China and India top of their list.

Read the rest of this entry »

It always amuses me how football managers can have selective eye sight when decisions either go for or against their respective teams during big games.

There is no doubting that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is one of the world’s best coaches and has done wonders since being unveiled by the north Londoners on October 1 1996. However he really needs to sort out the problem which seems to affect his eyesight during the course of a football game!

Read the rest of this entry »

So, a twenty-two year old goalkeeper has been charged with blackmail against a Premier League footballer. The story is that currently club less Goalkeeper Ashley Timms, is accused of demanding £15,000 from an unnamed player.

He appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with making an unwarranted demand for money with menaces between March and April 2008. Mr Timms was granted bail and the case was sent to Manchester Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on 18 April. Magistrates made an order banning the publication of the Premier League player at the centre of the allegation. Of that we should be grateful.

Mr Timms, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, was once the goalkeeper for Manchester City’s under-19 team.

Obviously it would be wrong and unlawful to speculate on this particular matter, but it did get me wondering just what a Premier League Footballer could have done to have warranted being blackmailed. I thought they were all drug taking, alcoholic, bi-sexual, womanising wife beaters anyway? Allegedly.

The second point is why would someone only demand £15,000? Back in 2006 the average wage of a Premiership footballer was £676,000 per year. That would mean someone blackmailing me for about £500. Doesn’t seem worth it really.

Read the rest of this entry »

There has been an awful lot written this season about the ‘respect agenda’, the malicious tackles creeping into the game and the hounding of referees. Most of what has been written has been along the lines of suggesting that the players at the very top of the game have a duty to act as role models to lesser and younger players around the country.

There have been articles about the lack of discipline shown by these ‘overpaid, playboy prima donnas’ in the Premier League and their terrible lifestyles and poor example setting on the pitch.

I would like to write something that tries to put some of these matters into perspective and stop some of the hypocritical, ‘holier than thou’ reporting we have seen every week throughout the season. (Yes, I agree, some of that has been written by yours truly. I have now seen the light!)

Read the rest of this entry »

I make no apologies for returning to the Javier Mascherano sending off at Old Trafford, despite the strong feelings the subject aroused on both sides of the argument.

If we couldn’t all agree on who was right or who was wrong in the incident and the analysis of it, then I hope we can all agree on the fact that the interview given by Mascherano to the Daily Mail yesterday was one of the best interviews anyone has done in recent times.

Read the rest of this entry »

To be fair, I support the principle of fining / charging players and managers with disciplinary charges if they publicly insult referees or the system in general - there is very little to be gained from such actions and all it does is bring the game into more disrepute (if bringing attention to the problem was going to solve it, do you think players would still dive?).

So regardless of whether Ferguson and Queiroz were right or not, they shouldn’t have spoken like that and a fine is merited. I hope they don’t contest it, just pay it and get on with the season.

However, the other side of the equation is accountability on part of the system itself, and that is where we lack the most.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kevin Thomson is fit for Rangers’ UEFA Cup tie against Sporting Lisbon. I am so relieved because I thought he might be seriously injured. He took an awful clattering from Celtic’s Georgios Samaras when he deliberately moved his leg to the side so that he could make minimal contact with the Celtic player before throwing himself to the ground.

In my non-expert opinion that incident was as clear a dive as you will ever see. I feel that the injury and the carrying off were simply to divert attention away from what he did.

Read the rest of this entry »

Generally I try to steer clear of criticising referees. I am a believer that they have a very difficult job and am in the camp that doesn’t like the analysing of decisions from all conceivable angles in super slo-mo by the experts on the television.

Despite this, I have to speak out about one particular referee who seems incapable of making a correct penalty decision.

I read an article recently by a journalist who attended the Watford versus Stoke City game at Vicarage Road a couple of weeks ago. In that article the writer condemned the Watford fans for the vitriol directed towards the match referee Rob Styles. He said that Rob Styles is a nice man and didn’t deserve the abuse. He may well be a very nice man, but in my opinion, he is a very poor referee.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everton have complained to the police in order to draw attention to the abuse targeted at their players during the Merseyside derby on Sunday.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez had already made his feelings known in the post-match conference with his disgust towards the treatment of Steven Gerrard by a section of the visiting fans.

Phil Neville, the Everton captain, was spat at and punched by Liverpool supporters as he prepared to take a throw-in. Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard was forced to endure abusive chants about his daughter. I’m not overly bothered by most chanting (it’s harmless and sometimes funny banter) but there’s always been a segment that’s crude, offensive and inappropriate.

Read the rest of this entry »

With Aldershot’s promotion all but confirmed from the Blue Square Premier, the race is on to see who’ll drop down, and there’s a strong possibility Harchester United could take their place in the non-league top flight. But anybody looking for Harchester on the map will be hard pressed to find it. Harchester, you see, doesn’t yet exist in the real world but if the efforts of one John Batchelor are successful, it won’t be long before a soap opera literally becomes part of football.

The name Harchester United may sound familiar to Sky One viewers. The name John Batchelor will probably only be familiar to hardcore racing enthusiasts and York City supporters. Both are equally flamboyant and tend to take fans on a swift rollercoaster before leaving a mess behind them. This mess looks likely to end up at the gates of Mansfield Town.

Read the rest of this entry »

An interesting debate has sprung up over at the AVFC Blog on whether the real Randy Lerner is what the PR has led us to believe (a genuine fan who will spend millions to turn Aston Villa into a top four side) or whether he’s another businessman who saw the riches the Premier League could offer and picked Aston Villa as a good piece of real state.

Read the rest of this entry »

Can I begin with an apology? This is my first post on Soccerlens about La Liga and its turned in to a bit of a rant. Sorry.

You know that feeling of mild surprise you get when you look up from your newspaper and suddenly realise that the train you had been waiting for has arrived on time? Well, that’s kind of how it feels in Spain when the football authorities actually get something right.

Unfortunately, there have been no pleasant surprises in Spain ahead of this weekend’s match between Real Betis and FC Barcelona: a match that, in the time it has taken me to write this, has just been moved from Madrid to Seville.

When I started writing this an hour ago at three o’clock on Friday I had no idea where this Saturday’s game was going to be played.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everton have beaten off competition from Manchester United and Liverpool to secure the signing of a seven-year-old goalkeeper. Harry Yates will join up with Everton after being spotted playing for his junior side.

After much interest from a number of teams, including Manchester United and Liverpool, his parents decided the young goalkeeper from Heaton Mersey in Stockport, will be given the best care at Everton.

Harry’s father Phil, himself a former goalie, reckons it was only a matter of time.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the furore surrounding Javier Mascherano’s dismissal (can we get past that now, please?), some interesting comments by Keith Hackett on Sunday morning (part of his column in the Independent) almost went unnoticed - I say almost, and thank Mihir Bose of the BBC for bringing it to the attention of the general public.

Hackett spoke about the need for players to respect referees (for setting a good example, if nothing else), the Ashley Cole incident of Saturday (very interesting comments those), Bennett’s role in that incident or lack thereof, on comments by Sir Alex Ferguson that the likes of Ronaldo needed more protection and most poignantly perhaps, criticism of Fifa / IFAB of sidelining technology despite evidence that it will actually improve matters on the pitch.

Some excerpts:

Read the rest of this entry »

Football has undergone something of a revolution in the past few decades in many ways like tactics, diet and players themselves on the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo perhaps epitomises this in some aspects; his extraordinary free-kicks, willingness to float from one wing to another, dribbling ability and of course not forgetting his unbelievable goal return hitherto this season are all positive examples.

The 2007-8 Premiership season seems more than ever to have highlighted the beauty of possessing set-play specialists and players who can benefit from them. The old cliché that goalkeepers, for instance David James in recent times – England aside, can save around 12 points a season can surely be supplemented to for those teams who put in the practice on the training ground and regularly reap the dividends in tight games in a climate when every place in the league can bring around £500,000, or the loss of major revenue in the event of relegation. Of course, they are not responsible for a club like, for instance Derby County, staying up, but they can make a difference to others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Image courtesy of Luma Mufleh and the Fugees Family.

Recently, Soccerlens profiled a humanitarian non-profit organization that assists refugees: The Fugees Family: Pride and Prejudice in a Strange Land. Due to being banned from a local pitch, their plight received mainstream American media coverage.

As a follow-up to this important humanitarian initiative, we are very pleased to welcome Ms. Luma Mufleh, who is a youth football coach in the American State of Georgia. She is also the founder of the Fugees Family.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve talked a lot about youth football here on Soccerlens, especially where non-official ventures such as the Ministry of Football and Fugees Family are concerned. It’s all about developing a community-level interest to invest in the game instead of waiting for the people in charge (who often don’t have enough money to invest).

Read the rest of this entry »

The English FA’s initiative to increase investment in grassroots football as well as formal recognition for the need to concentrate on helping referees, improving training / playing facilities and training the coaches is much appreciated - as any such initiative from a governing authority would be.

The strategy outline can be downloaded here (8MB, so download it instead of opening in a browser and thus crashing it) - it makes for interesting reading - but if you want the Twenty20 version summary, here it goes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Two international matches take place in London next Wednesday - but neither fixture involves England. While the Three Lions play France in Paris, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium hosts an encounter between Brazil and Sweden and Fulham’s Craven Cottage sees Ghana take on Mexico. The prospect of watching the likes of Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Michael Essien and Giovani dos Santos in the flesh will have London’s football fans torn. Do they swap sofa for a stadium, England for Ghana or Gerrard for Kaka for just one night?

We London-based fans are thoroughly spoilt. Not only do we have 13 professional clubs based here (more than in any other city in the world), we now have a host of national sides playing on our doorsteps on a regular basis. This time last year, four internationals were played in the big smoke on one night, including a clash between Brazil and Portugal along with Nigeria v Ghana, Greece v South Korea and Australia v Denmark. The likes of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have also found the capital to be an excellent home-away-from-home over the past few years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Images courtesy of the Fugees Family.

I was initially drawn to this story due to an event in my own life. During high school in Washington, D.C., my football (soccer) team was not allowed to practice on our home pitches.

“Those fields are for the real athletes.”

As in gridiron football. We did have use of the pitch for a few home matches; however, most of our fixtures were away. For the first two years, we ran each afternoon about 1 mile (1.6 km) to a bumpy baseball field for training after school. During my final two years, we had to arrange transportation each day to a regulation soccer pitch about 7 miles (11 km) from our school.

Back in those days, there were no “Soccer Moms or Dads.” Those who could drive and had cars transported the rest of the team back and forth to training without any reimbursement for gasoline/petrol. We were the only school team that had to do this. Our manager was a young carpenter who used to arrive 30 minutes after we began practice.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the non-league season gears up for its climax so, inevitably, do the lawyers, as the annual courtroom battles begin that could have a significant say on the relegation places in the Blue Square Premier. From a point of business-as-usual two weeks ago, suddenly the teams scraping over the final two relegation scraps from the non-league top tier are watching the situations at Grays and Halifax with interest, with the latter team throwing another twist into the battle for the bottom four.

Halifax have struggled both on and off the pitch in recent years with debts constantly hanging over the club. The Shaymen entered into administration at the end of the 2001/02 season when they were relegated from the football league for the second time in ten years, and are still paying off the CVA they entered into when they came out of administration.

Read the rest of this entry »