Barca beat Man U in the bankrupt final, but who will sink first in the financial mire? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

By Billy The Dog McGraw

Tony and Walter are off playing in the Supporters Club tournament on the Emirates pitch today, and thus have asked me, their trusted colleague and devoted lacky, to take over for the day.  In fact I am just off down the pub, but here’s a few thoughts to be going on with vis a vis last night, money, and all that sort of thing.  Billy.

It’s hard to find much to say about the Euro cup these days.  Two financially bankrupt teams and a bunch of philanderers who think that being a footballer means you can bonk anyone you fancy and get away with the consequences.  Well!

A few years back in Russia the two sides in the final weighed in with debts of £1.7bn.  This year the debts are…. well we don’t really know because Barca is being coy.  But we do know that one year ago next month they were unable to pay their players, and believe me you don’t get into that state without making a huge cock up first.

According to the score and recent history, the top of La Liga makes the top of the Premier League looks inferior.  But that’s not quite it.  Barca keep all the money they earn from their TV rights, while in the EPL we spread it around a bit.  That says something, especially since Barca are still in the muck and have no where left to raise money from.

As for Man IOU, Antonio Valencia, Park Ji-sung, Ryan “Twitter” Giggs and Michael Carrick – god if these guys had played for Arsenal 90% of the AFC blogs would be howling for them to leave, and for the manager to leave at the same time for having kept them in the team.

Which means that at the very least Man U need a new midfield.  If they go and buy one then they will be sticking another two fingers up at any long term chance of financial survival, and against the Uefa financial rules.  Maybe they reckon that with the near collapse of Fifa through the oft predicted (on this site at least) scandal of their operations, Uefa will be the next to topple, and the rules will never come in.   If they don’t then that will be the surest of signs that the financial collapse (so long expected at Man U) is here.  (Unless of course he goes out and replaces not the midfield but other Man U players with the money, in which case that will herald the mental collapse of Sir Alex F Word.)

Of course it is not only Man U and Barca that have financial issues.  Poor old Tottenham are a trifle stuffed.  The Redknapp, currently awaiting trial on fraud charges, has to sell and sell and sell again – not something that comes easy to a man for whom the last-second deal is the natural habitat.

Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Alnwick, Hutton, Naughton, Bassong, poor sad little David Bentley, Jenas, Palacios, Kranjcar, O’Hara, dos Santos, Keane,  Cudicini, Woodgate… roll roll roll right up and take your choice.

What the Redknapp will do is go looking for clubs in an even bigger fix than the Tinies.  The Totties made it to be big league for one season, and then it went, but didn’t have a load of dosh sitting around to keep them going.  So it is boom and bust time and he will offer the readies to Birmingham and WHU whose finances are really screwed.

But there are problems.  Who among the Totties wants to take a pay cut?  Who wants to buy a player on £60,000 a week who is clearly only worth a fraction of that?  The Tinies might be stuck with more players than they can squeeze into their 25 – and that’s a problem facing all the EPL clubs that don’t have a large number of under 21s who can join the squad but not count.  Too many players, all with contracts, all being paid far too much.  Pressure mounts.

Poor old Bentley cost £15m.  So did Defoe.  What is each worth today?  Pavlyuchenko, cost £13.8m from Spartak Moscow, Keane £12m, Palacios, £12m, Hutton £9m, £8m = Bassong and £7.8m for Gomes.

This looks like a loss making situation which combined with the lack of Champs League money will make the Totts next set of figures rather sad – and could even take them into the league of Manchester U and Barca.

My point here is that these players aren’t worth much any more, and Tottenham’s income is in serious decline – just when they are trying to talk up themselves so they can bugger off to East London.  Barca strut the world stage, but nothing much has been done to sort out their finances as far as I can see, and Man U’s finances are utterly stuck because the Glazers need the money while they need some new players. Eventually something has to go bang.

To round it off Chelsea need a new manager which then means new players, while Man City will probably buy and buy some more to ensure they don’t do a Tot and slip out the top four.  What that means is that by and large the top clubs have stuck two fingers up to Uefa and its financial arrangements.  Shame, I had some hopes for that.

It also doesn’t bode well for Liverpool, who must wonder just how they a) sort out their horrible little stadium and b) boost the team to get themselves into the Champs league again.  They don’t have to worry about financial fair play since they are not in the champs league, but like the totts the rebuilding has to be financed somehow.

So, here’s a prediction for next season.  Something is going to explode.  Of course it might be me, but it could be something of some significance in football.

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