As the English football year has come to a close it is now time to ponder on the condition of the English game and where it can be advanced. A lot of people have had their say on the way the game is operated and the way the ‘business of football’ is taking over from the where it should be; on the pitch.
Over the last decade there has been a huge entry of investment into football teams in England. A great deal of this investment has been from overseas with good and bad results. The well-known ‘top 4’ as they were called (Tottenham have now broken into that position) are all now under foreign ownership which leads us to believe that the English game is getting further away from it’s roots and shifting towards a more American system of Franchises. What is meant by this, is that in the American sports system the numerous sports teams across baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey have a continuous circulation of players, managers and owners. If you look at the line-up for one season it is totally different for the next as there are massive amounts of money concerned when trading players to these Franchises. Yet this is not the scary part, lots of American Franchises have moved location in order to get more fans and revenue, our own instance is Wimbledon FC who went from FA Cup winners and regular Division 1 participants to moving their team to Milton Keynes. Will this become more universal?
A lot of Franchises For Sale opportunities are available in America, whoever comes in makes significant ammendments and can even move the club to another area of the country if the terms are correct. I am not saying that this will happen in England but with the constant big money being spent at the top level of football, some or most of the smaller teams in the lower leagues may have to look at the decision of moving. Most of these squads are operated as a small businesses and cannot fight with the money that is now invested, many are operated like a Home Based Franchise, with the smallest outgoings and operating everything in-house.
We found this last year when an owner has not realised their obligations and promises the fans will rise up and try to move the owner on. An example is Newcastle United where the supporters were very unhappy with the performances on the pitch and so turned on the ownership. The owner did put the club up for sale but could not locate a buyer as the asking price was significantly exaggerated, they have made it back into the premiership and now the teams fortunes may alter. We are now looking at every team in English football has a price, the same as all the Franchises For Sale choices in America. If the appropriate person with enough money offered the money for any club then it would be taken.
It now does not make a difference if the owner is foreign its just as long as they have the money. Is this appropriate? The days have dead where you have a so called ‘Home Based Franchise’, where the club is operated as a family and everything is dealt with internally. The Franchises of America are operated in an open marketplace for everyone to see and that is the way we have gone. Is this good for the game in England or have we lost our family orientated game and moved to a more commercial, business game?
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May 22, 2010
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