Recklessness

If a Premiership or Football League club goes into administration, the punishment is a deduction of 10 points. No ifs, no buts, just ten points. But why? It seems on the surface a little harsh to punish a club that’s clearly already struggling with a points deduction as well, but there’s a very good reason for the punishment. In the words of Javed Khan:

‘The idea [behind the 10 point deduction] was to focus the minds of those that run the clubs and say: “You have to manage you financial affairs prudently not recklessly, because if you do not you will suffer the consequences”.’

The question I have is why limit it to clubs who go into administration? Surely there are financial markers that are just as valid a representation of reckless management as an application for administration? How about posting a £140m loss?

When the plan to deduct points was originally discussed, it was as much a moral motivation as a technical one. Following Leicester’s promotion in 2002/2003 season, even though they wrote off £50m worth of debt:

“Nottingham Forest decide to do the moral thing and pay off all their debts and not rest until they’ve done that, and they’ve narrowly lost out on promotion to Leicester. Who’s done the right thing, the decent thing?”

Which is the essence of the whole argument. Clubs who post huge losses, who file for banruptcy, who pay no mind to the balance sheet and continue to sign player after player after player for extortionate amounts of money simply because they can—should be punished. Why? The Football League’s head of communication, John Nagle, said it much better than me:

‘The sporting sanction itself is not intended as a punishment but rather as an attempt to balance the competitive advantage clubs receive by ridding themselves of debt.’

Balance. Something the Premier League should be seeking as Chelsea once again stroll to the title not because they’ve got the best 11 players in the country, or even the best team, but because when a major player gets injured, they have another one just as good playing in their reserves. ‘Well, that just means they’ve a good squad!’ I hear you say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that’. Yes there is. The problem is that it’s impossible for anyone to compete with their squad—not because their manager is the shrewdest, or the best long-term thinker, but because they have a limitless pot of money, and because they can lose £140m in ONE YEAR almost solely on player purchases.

It’s an utter disgrace, it’s reckless and there’s no reason for Peter Kenyon to look so smug, he must have the worst CV ever. How he gets a job is beyond me.

Oh dear, Sven

You’ve really screwed it up this time.

I saw something on a website a week ago, some kind of petition bertaing the News of the World for unsettling ‘our’ England manager before a World Cup, and criticising the whole ‘Fake Sheikh’ sting. I don’t know exactly how stupid you have to be to fall for the Fake Sheikh scam—maybe there are loads of Sheikhs roaming London offering tantalising jobs in football and I just don’t know it—but there’s no doubt in my mind that, on the ‘Bush scale’ of stupidity, Sven’s always been a high scorer. Emile Heskey’s 43 England Caps are evidence enough of this. Actually, the fact that he said he’d consider quitting the cushiest job in football to work under Doug Ellis makes his lack of brain power almost indisputable.

I love the way that because he wears rimless glasses and is quiet as a church mouse, he’s always been portrayed as a ‘thinker’, an intelligent manager in the mould of Arsène Wenger and Fabio Capello. Which is of course, utter nonsense. He’s quiet because he’s got nothing to say, he wears glasses presumably because someone once told him they were magic glasses that would enable him to see potential in even the most incompetent of footballers (see Owen Hargreaves, Danny Mills, Darius Vassell, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch, David James). I’m increasingly of the opinion that Alastair McGowan and Ronnie Ancona’s portral of Sven and Nancy is less comedy invention and more faithful satire; odd as it sounds, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the ‘brains’ behind it all.

There’s no doubt that Sven will be off at the World Cup, but his departure can’t come too soon in my opinion. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he was to leave his post before the end of this week.

I was amused this morning to see Jermaine Pennant warning Theo Walcott about joining Arsenal. Apparently, you have to suffer the ‘hell’ of:

“you start thinking ‘what have I done here? why am I not playing? what’s happening?’”

What he forgot to say was that it was also not a good idea to turn up to training pissed, get banned from the road for drink driving, then wrap your car around a lamp-post (drunk) and claim to be Ashley Cole to the police. If there was ever an embodiment of the deep-rooted malaise in English football, Pennant is it. his advice for Theo:

”’just be patient, train hard and make sure your attitude is right’”

Just like you, eh Jermaine?

All Things Footie

Recklessness

Oh dear, Sven