I don't think Becks will be staying at RM for that much longer, seeing as he's blamed their training regime for his dismal performance in Euro2004. Plus Posh wants him back in England where she can keep an eye on him 'cos he's been going astray and not keeping his trousers on.

it's a common practice now amongst the top clubs just to buy a team. Throw enough money at getting star players and you're bound to win something, is the logic. Myself i believe in youth training and bringing out local talent, taking time to build up a good team from scratch. Star players are all well and good but theyre usually only stars bcause of the support of other players. Beckham isn't that good anyway, he's turned into another Stuart Pearce.

My father's sister's daughter's husband is assistant coach at Blackburn Rovers, once a struggling local side in the region where I was brought up, who some years ago began a meteoric rise to the premiership by virtue of having a new owner, Jack Walker, a steel millionaire, who threw money at them to buy whoever they wanted. And for a time, it seemed to be working. Star manager, star players. But it didn't last and they peaked. Now theyre pretty steady, but way off the top spot.

fyi MUFC are also past their best, the next few years will be dominated by Chelsea and Arsenal. However I beleive that you're right, MUFC do earn a vast amount from their merchandising and I'm sure RM would like to do the same themselves. Merchandising is an important moneyspinner for most clubs, even my own rather exasperating team, Stoke City FC, but with teams like MUFC it seems to be a dam sight more important.

funny you should mention competitive spirit, the establishment of the Premiership a few years ago has done much to destroy the competitiuve and egalitarian nature of the game. There's now a huge financial gulf between the top premiership teams and.. everyone else. Clubs are going into recievership because they simply can't afford to compete anymore, and this has nothing to do with sport, it's purely business.


Edited by - Tawakalna on 7/4/2004 2:03:38 AM

Foot-ball? Soc-cer? Whuzzat?

Edited by - esquilax on 7/4/2004 3:21:47 AM

David "I launched the first sports spaceflier" Beckham can't keep his pants on even HERE.

Of course it's hard to blame him looking at Posh ¬_¬

I agree with Taw, homegrown talent is needed. Look at the Scottish Football Assosication, it's ****ed over along with the clubs as there are very little players in the top flight who ARE Scots.

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well its funny you should mention that Heltak because we were talking about much the same thing at work today (instead of working)

the Scottish League is dying, because there really are only two proper big teams, which take the biggest proportion of the money, while all the others struggle for support. There is a good case for saying that it would suit the majority if Celtic (yay!) and Rangers (boo!) played in the English Premiership, which would then give the other Scottish teams a fair crack at support, tv coverage and finance, whilst giving those two teams more challenge and also access to bigger games and more funds. Even the Scottish premiership is a joke because who is there apart from Celtic/Rangers? the next biggest teams are (correct me if I'm wrong) Hearts and Hibs? so there's really no comparison.

There are lots of worthy teams in Scotland and I've always admired the Scots' promotion of local football, but they don't have the urban population anywhere but Glasgow area to support big teams like we do in England. Removing the two Glasgow big boys evens the whole thing up.

hear what you're saying about Posh, Heltak, I'd look elsewhere too if I was married to that piece of talentless scrawn.


Edited by - Tawakalna on 7/5/2004 9:33:56 AM

ur right taw, every season is always between Celtic(whom i support) and Rangers. I would support it if Celtic and Rangers were moved into the English Premiership as it would allow the smaller clubs in the SPL to have more competition. But having said that if Celtic and Rangers did leave the SPL then the league may die out quite quickly as they are the two main financers and Money makers of the league and with hardly any finance the league would quickly die.

i'd poke posh

I've always suspected there was something seriously wrong with you, Will, now I know what it is.

The biggest problem RM is facing now is the "Galacticos vs. Pavones".

Galacticos:
There are several players who are "larger than life", "bigger than the earth" (for the soccer n00bs: Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo and Becks. These are some of the best players in the world. Everyone recognizes these players and because of that, they are a great marketing device. Just take the sale of millions of Real Madrid shirts with "Beckham" printed on the back. That way, they pay for his transfer and his salary. Plus, because people want to see these stars, they get paid quite some dollars/euros to make exclusive trips (eg: Real Madrid -> China).

Pavones:
Because these great players have to play to keep them in the spotlight, the own youth must stand a bit in the shadows (or however you say that). The few lads who make it to the first team (Pavon for example), aren't (yet) good enough to substitute for one of the galacticos. The manager (Perez if I'm correct) has been blamed for this kind of managing.

Because of the Galacticos kind of letting RM down, they have to do a play-off game for the Champions League. Because of that, they can't go to their exclusive trip to China.

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poor Figo, no winners medal for him! hehehehehe, quite right too!