A Lesson from Rugby League???

We've heard a lot about what the somewhat poorer sport of Rugby League could teach football. Apparently we should follow their example to combat indiscipline, and incorporate their use of video technology.


But there are further qualities of the sport, which, if taken into football would make things interesting to say the least. In my work with both Rugby League and Football, I'm often tempted to compare the two and think of the effects of following more of their examples.


Obviously, in a sport with less money, they are competing for, rather than fending off publicity. This alone tends to make Rugby is infinitely a nicer place to work. Players are approachable; and willing to talk... rather than feeling that they are somehow rewarding you with a few words from their millionaire mouths.

But this, I suppose, is inevitable, given the celebrity and financial status awarded to players of the nation's number one sport. But what would happen to the game itself, if the Football Association... or FIFA, were suddenly taken over by the RFL? What impact would their regulations have on us?


In this surreal world there would be no promotion and relegation from the Premiership, the winner of the league would not necessarily be the Champions and all clubs, no matter how 'big' would have a similar wage bill.


If you're anything like me, the idea of bringing the franchise sysyem into football is scary. I would hate to see a system where clubs from the Championship can't gain promotion, no matter how good their on-field performance.


To gain a place in Rugby's Super League, clubs apply for a 3-year licence, with success based on a number of factors including finances, facilities and their business plan.


The idea is to allow teams to build slowly rather than spend money they don't have simply to stay in the division. It is supposed to encourage investment in youth and make for more stable clubs that are less likely to suffer the yo-yo effect... or even go bust.

Sounds sensible....But under this system, Burnley's fairytale rise to the top table would simply not have been allowed, and neither would Newcastle demise. And whilst many Geordies would, in their current situation, jump at the chance to have had their Premiership status guaranteed, can you imagine a season with no relegation fight and no promotion celebrations? A world where fans find out their fate from a suited member of the sports governing body stood at a lectern, rather than the sight of a ball hitting the back of the net?

For me it would remove a huge interest factor in the season and something that would introduce so many 'dead rubber' games into our league, that fans would simply lose interest. But mistakenly, I thought that anyone would feel the same.


So I was shocked when a debate on the matter broke out here last week, with a collegue adament that it would acually improve the Premiership. He says filling the league with clubs which, potentially, could compete to a high level would improve the competition. He believes that, the top few sides aside, the league is full of all-so-rans who's main objective is to finish 17th.


He also cites the examples of clubs like Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Charlton, Bradford etc who now find themselves struggling financially in the lower reaches of the game, after suffering relegation. Surely, he believes, the structure of the game shouldn't put clubs at risk of going out of business.


So it seems that its a question of whether it is more important to look after the welfare of the business side of the sport, or prioritise the entertainment factor, where, whatever the background of the club, the pitch is, in the end, where your future will be fundamentally decided.


The discussion did open my mind to, at least, some possible positives to all but eliminating league movement. In time, it could make for a more competetive league with more genuine contenders. It would allow for more investment in youth - as clubs are able to look at a long term plan rather than the quick fix. And it would stop clubs collapsing though trying to live beyond their means.


But for all this, I still would hate to see a world where the mighty cannot fall, where the dreams of the minnows cannot come true, where the Premiership becomes a closed shop, open only to those favoured by some faceless suits in a boardroom.


Another area of debate concerned a salary cap - an agreed total wage bill applied across all clubs. There is the valid point that football may have already gone too far to introduce a spending limit, that the multimillionaire owners would simply walk away leaving their executive toys in more trouble than the benefits would be worth. But if we look past that and into the hypothetical world, what would it mean?


This may surprise you, but this week, Rugby's Super League clubs voted against raising the limit. Of course, being a poorer sport, many clubs worry about how they would go about generating the extra money required to increase their wage bill.... (isn't it nice to see a group of clubs against increasing ticket prices during the credit crunch?!)..... but even so, many clubs enjoy the benefits that the salary cap brings.


It is often said that the Premiership is unpredictable. We do see the likes of Fulham overcoming the might of Manchester United, Hull getting a point at Anfield, and pulling out 3 points from their trip to Arsenal.


But these are so rare that you can remember them instantly, they make huge headlines as the shock reverberates around the sport.


In this way Super League has achieved true unpredictability. Catalans Dragons, who finished third last year currently lie third from bottom of this years table, whilst Huddersfield, who ended 2008 in that position are currently flying high in 4th.


The quality players are more evenly distributed, making for competetive games where anyone can truly beat anyone. Champions, Leeds Rhinos, for example, are 2nd, but have lost 5 of their 17 games so far this season.


Who can honestly say they wouldn't like a situation where we have 10 games in each Premiership weekend, which could truly go either way? Where we honestly cannot predict a final table at the start of a season with any accuracy at all.


However, we would be denied seeing those legendary teams we all fawn over. But even that could be seen as positive - with many thinking Real Madrid's current 'Galactico' aquisition is immoral. Is it really good for the sport for one team to have such worldwide monetary power to be able to snap up any top star they set their sites on?

A salary cap would limit this, spreading quality more evenly across the world, stop clubs spending beyond their means, bring an end to supporters paying through the nose for more and more lucrative wages and maybe add an extra challenge for managers. Do they, for example, bring in that prolific striker, or would the money be better spent bolstering a leaky defence? For the first time, at bigger clubs, a tactical choice would have to be made.

We could also see clubs using more money to invest in youth. With no limit on money spent on players in a youth team, it is in clubs interests to generate talent from within, rather than spend precious pounds on expensive imports... who knows agents might be slightly less well-off too!

Unfortunately 'player-power' is probably too strong already for us to reel this hypothetical world into reality, but it makes a nice dream I'm sure you'd agree.

But whilst I can see the benefits of a franchise system, and would throw my weight behind a salary cap, there's one aspect of Super League I could never abide. The playoffs. To allow the top EIGHT teams in a league the chance to claim the 'Champions' title is simply wrong. It transforms a system which ultimately finds the season's best team into a one which rewards a one-off performance.

But I'm a hypocrite. As a lover of drama, the football league playoffs are some of my favourite fixtures of the season, despite their undeniable unfairness. Sixth-placed Burnley's promotion over the three more deserving sides is similarly wrong - and there is no argument I can make to legitimise it.

I suppose as a fan of drama and entertainment I should, therefore, be in favour of an end of season cup-style decider to the season-long slog. But somehow it seems worse to decide a league TITLE in this way, rather than a secondary prize. Maybe a playoff between the sides in 4th-8th for the final Champions League place could be a dramatic addition for the fans of all-or-nothing football, but I would struggle for the words to argue legitimately for its introduction.

So maybe at times we can look to our oval-ball cousins for pointers for the future. To catch a glimpse at a better world, to see how we could reinvent football's arena into one that is truly competetive and to restructure the game so that it benefits itself, rather than its participants.

But in the same breath, I for one am glad we still have a structurally open system, allowing fairytales, however brief they prove to be, to come true and a league that is truly a league. Where 38 games decide an overall winner, and 3 points won in August can be just as important as those claimed the following May.

Wages aside, maybe football isn't that bad after all!

Only Nine Weeks To Go

It may only be just over 2-weeks since Chelsea lifted the FA Cup, but football fans are already feeling that familiar empty feeling.

That Friday anticipation for the weekend ahead, has been replaced with the mundane predictability of normal life. Barring any unexpected twist on the general rollercoaster of existence, you suddenly pretty much know how you'll be feeling on Monday morning, and what will be the talk of the office, pub or canteen next week.

Yes, it's that time again. The Summer. And worse than that, it's 2009 - an odd numbered year. So where the tunnel of darkness is occasionally lit by a World Cup or European Championship, this year we have nothing.

Sure the U21 European championships are about to get underway, but this is unlikely to defer many fans attention from that date in August when it all begins again. And real football comes back.

And this week we get the first taste. Wednesday morning will bring the release of the fixtures, and with it the first glimpse into the season ahead. Time to start planning the Boxing Day trip to Portsmouth, complaining that the fixture computer's vendetta has given you another tough run in, and concocting the excuse for Auntie Jean's Birthday, your cousin's Wedding and probably your own anniversary (again!).
Yes, it's time to fill the diary past the pre-season appetizer and get stuck in to the main course.

But unfortunately the calendar doesn't lie, and we still have 9-weeks of silly season to go. And whilst our lives CAN survive the emptyness of June and July, unfortunately Newspapers cannot be left blank. Sports media struggle to fill their time with cricket, tennis and Rugby League. They, like us, need football; need something to talk about; need something to happen.

Enter, the TRANSFER WINDOW. Flying in like 'Mighty Mouse' to "Save the Day". Suddenly we can talk again; speculate, argue and discuss. Whos should we sign? Who should we sell? I've heard we're in for him... The possibilities are somehow endless, and like it or not, this is what the next few weeks hold in store, as hundreds of players are linked with clubs from Chelsea to Chesterfield; from Liverpool to Lincoln and from Tottenham to Torquay.

With Real Madrid seemingly set to snap up anyone with a pair of boots, the result will most probably be a kick-start to the speculation, if not the market itself.

After the sale of Ronaldo, Manchester United alone have been no fewer than 19 players in today's papers alone. And you don't have to be much of gambler to risk money on the majority of those stories bearing little truth whatsoever.

But, of course, we gobble them up, it gives us something to discuss; something to follow.

http://www.footballtransferleague.co.uk/ published a list recently of the accuracy of newspaper rumours. Whilst the Guardian came out as the top English paper - recording a success rate of a mere 26%, the News of the World had an almost laughable 11% correct.

So whilst the next few weeks will be filled with dreams of the perfect signing, or dread at the loss of a star, most will not progress beyond the pages of the newspapers they sell. But we have to be thankful for the entertainment and take it for what it is. A poor man's replacement for the season's football debate and our only substitute for the real thing.

So here's to 9 weeks of madness, we hate it, but embrace it! And keep dreaming that those rumours that the next Pele was in your local McDonalds, will eventually result in that longed-for press conference and a new arrival holding the shirt proudly across his chest!

Cristano Ronaldo - The Fans reaction

So it has come to pass. Cristiano Ronaldo is FINALLY on his way to Madrid after over a year of almost constant specualtion.

As anyone who read my post from a couple of weeks ago will know, I am not shocked or upset at this news. for some reason the world and his wife seem to be expecting United fans to be up in arms, to be sat wiping teary eyes on their Ronaldo replica shirts - but this could not be further from the truth.

First of all, I want to put on record that we are losing a GREAT player. That fact is beyond question. I have enjoyed watching him play for the past 6 years, and there is no doubt that his departure weakens our squad in terms of talent.

BUT

Anyone who believes that football is merely about filling your team with talent is missing the point. Football is about more than that. And Manchester United is definately about more than that.

No player can ever be bigger than the club. No player can forget the fact that they are part of a TEAM. And, no matter how fantastic their ability, no player should be able to get away with a lack of commitment or displays of disrespect for the club.

Ronaldo's behaviour over the past 12-14 months have broken all these unwritten rules. Shows of petulance towards his manager and teammates, a decrease in workrate and constant enticement of speculation over his future has angered most United fans, leading a lot to conclude that he was now more concerned with personal glory and attention than sharing in successes of the club as a whole.

I stated that his desire for personal acclaim and attention had even damaged us on the field last season. His refusal to track back, and his reluctance to pick himself up from fair challenges, even when his teammates had won the possession back, both started to irritate as time wore on.

In his final game for the club, he chose to stand on the halfway line, lost in his own disappointment, rather than join his teammates in thanking the supporters for their backing. Just as in Moscow, the previous year, he chose not to run to congratulate Edwin van der Sar with the rest of the squad, but to attract some personal attention by collapsing in tears on the halfway line.

Some may regard these allegations as harsh. And maybe they are, but football is an emotional game. And it is for this reason that United fans opinion on the loss of Ronaldo will not be swung on his undoubted talent alone.

There is no doubt that, especially if Tevez follows him out of the OT exit door, that there is now plenty of work for Sir Alex Ferguson to do before the start of the season. But his record of letting supposedly irreplaceable players go in the past should give us confidence that he will be plotting his next moves..if they are not already in motion.

And if the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez can be looked at as an on-field positive in one way, it is that we may now see the best of Wayne Rooney. Forced to play out wide for big games because we couldn't trust Ronaldo to occupy a midfield position and track back in those matches, we lost a percentage of his influence. Now I hope we can provide him with a permanent role in the centre, hopefully giving him a true target man to play just behind.

I blogged that in Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov, we had three players who all wanted to play in similar ways - now we have the impetus, and hopefully the funds, to bring in that different option we are missing.

So, Ronaldo may have gone, and we thank him for the memories. But, for those who have spouted pure ignorance on various media outlets today, there will be no major outpouring of grief. We may have lost a great player, but his selfish attitude just couldn't be allowed to take over the club, his less beneficial on-field antics couldn't be allowed to continue, and it is the loss of these factors that have led many Reds to feel relief rather than the expected devastation today.

The saga that Ronaldo wanted to keep in the public eye as much as possible is over. And Manchester United can move on - because they will, and no matter how important Ronaldo believes he is - Neither he, or any other player will ever kill the spirit of MUFC.

Gareth Barry's Letter to Villa fans - Made me think

I have just read the letter written to Aston Villa fans by Gareth Barry, after he left them to join Manchester City yesterday. Click on the heading of this post to read it for yourself.

It's left me genuinely in a quandary about what I think of him and footballers in general. As fans we love our clubs, we live and breathe them, feeling every twist and turn, high and low they put us through.

As the embodiment of this love, we somehow expect the players to feel the same. They have the chance to represent this entity, to affect its fortunes and ultimately decide much of its fate. But are our expectations unfair?

When I read Gareth barry's letter to the Villa fans I heard the voice of a man who has loved playing for Aston Villa; the voice of a man who appreciates the support and adulation he has been given; the voice of a man who has no issues of conflict with his employers whatsoever. However, he seems to be a man who, at the end of the day, is an athlete who wants to make the best decision for his career.

Now, leaving aside the debate as to whether he HAS actually done that, can we really deny a footballer the chance to further his career. Can any of us really say we would turn down a promotion, pay rise and better career prospects, just because it may affect our current 'customers'.

Now, whilst I don't believe you can place football into a normal work bracket, we have to appreciate that those who 'work' within it are torn between the emotional side of football, and the career side. It is this quandary that I saw in Gareth Barry's letter... and can Villa fans really lament him?

As a United fan, I'm lucky. It's always an argument that any player making a move away from Old Trafford is taking a step down. But for fans of lower ranked clubs, taking emotion away, how can they legitimise denying a professional athlete the chance to operate at a higher level?

This must be hard. We naturally expect a player we adore to show the same loyalty we do. You don't find a staunch Macclesfield Town fan defecting to Manchester United as it is his only chance of watching Champions League football. But this is where, maybe, we have to operate against all our instincts and emotional logic and see players for what they are.

I'm not saying they don't have any 'supporter-like' feelings for their clubs. But surely any ambitious player has to try and rationally decide between emotion and ambition.

No doubt many of you are now venting fury at your screen, saying players should show ultimate loyalty to their clubs. We all believe we would do the same in their position and it is completely natural to react with anger towards a turncoat who has walked away from the cause that dominates your life for the greener grass on the other side. I've done it myself.

But, after reading the letter Barry wrote to the fans at Villa, I thought I'd look at the other side, and the quandary faced by many players at clubs that maybe do not match the standards they themselves can aspire to.

Now, I don't believe Barry has made the correct decision for his career. To leave a club playing European football for one that isn't does smell of a money-hungry option. But it seems he believes he is investing in his future, that eventually City will surpass Villa and give him the Champions League football he desires. Part of me thinks he should've waited for a Liverpool or an Arsenal to throw their hat into the ring - to give him what he wants instantly. But, and we have to take him at his word, he says no-one else met Villa's valuation.

But my take on his decision is irrelavent to the point. the fact is he's made it, and whilst I would agree with Villa fans anger at its content, I'm now thinking we cannot, ultimately, vilify him for it.

His decision to try and explain it through this letter also deserves respect. It shows he has considered the feelings of those he will offend. More players should appreciate that they have a responsibility to those for whom a club isn't a job or a career, but a way of life. It's all too easy for players to simply walk away, and, as long as they don't break a contract, or the club gets a fair deal, they are perfectly within their rights. But to see a player GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to explain the decision and thank fans for their support is heartening - Remember this is a letter written purely unprompted and not pushed out in an interview.

It doesn't take away the hurt, it doesn't change whether we agree or not with the conclusion he reached. But it does indicate that Barry does acknowledge that his decision affects more people than just him, his immediate family and his employers. And I for one salute him for it.