Sponsored by
JJB: Mega bucks means it's now just fantasy football
AS the economic downturn hits the UK, there's not a great deal out there that's worth investing in.
It's times like this that our enjoyment of sport provides a refuge from the doom and gloom.
But even within the nation's beloved premiership, the kings of the oilfields are causing horrific amounts of inflation in the football transfer market.
Last year I described the premiership as being the billionaires' playground. This year it's gone one step further and has clearly turned into real-life fantasy football.
The newest star investor is Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, the leading man for Manchester City's Abramovich-crushing Middle East owners – the Abu Dhabi United Group.
He made a spectacular entry and defining statement when he gave City the power to lure Robinho to the City of Manchester Stadium rather than to last season's top aristocrats Chelsea for 32.5m.
They might have done the same to Man United's Dimitar Berbatov had it not been for Sir Alex Ferguson's experience of when Newcastle stole Alan Shearer from him all those years ago. he personally drove the Spurs striker to Old Trafford from the airport.
The massive takeover at City is big news, but the worrying thing is that no-one seems to doubt that it's nothing but good news for football.
while I look forward to seeing Robinho – who I'm sure has always had a lifelong ambition to play for Man City – in the premiership, I wonder what the long-term outcome is going to be.
Although not every football club has a billionaire backer, it's clear that the trends are becoming the same and those at the top of the tree are dictating – through the director of football – which game accessory they desire next.
It's clear that the top players are just as motivated by being that accessory and not necessarily by playing football.
Unfortunately, hard-fought, passion-driven football is being replaced with cold, hard business.
Managers are just not managers any more. instead of being able to single out and sign players who fit their regime they're resigned to doing the best with the players they're given. In essence, they are now just coaches.
The week has been filled with news of managers who are fed up at not having a say in who stays and who leaves a club, men such as Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan.
Where these two stand out is in their loyalty to West Ham and Newcastle respectively, to which both guys have a long- term and passionate affiliation.
The truth is that managers with a real drive, a real passion – the ones with the guts to stand up and voice their opinion and who the real fans warm to – are going to fade away.
Even the owners of smaller Premiership clubs look to be getting priced out of the game after Bill Kenwright – the Everton chief – announced that what his club really needs to take them forward is some kind of billionaire investor.Although Everton paid 15m for Standard Liege midfielder Marouane Fellaini just before the end of the transfer window – which is, incidentally, the same as Alan Shearer's record-breaking transfer of 1996 mentioned earlier – they just can't compete with the mega-rich backers.
Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim's serious commitment was cemented when he announced that he would offer 125m for Cristiano Ronaldo in January and that he would name his Manchester City dream team today.
I can't possibly imagine the psychological boost that will give the other ten Manchester City players.
The direction that the premiership is going in is a joke, even if it is an entertaining one. The most entertaining prospect is Paolo Di Canio registering his interest in the vacant managerial spot at West Ham.
If there's one personality that I would like to see take the drama into the boardroom it's him – maybe with an assistant like Vinnie Jones or Stan Collymore.
The word investment is usually used when the product being invested in eventually gives you a positive return, but holistically – in the long term anyway – I can't see anything positive about all this.
*****
At the time of writing Andy Murray has managed to climb to fifth in the tennis world rankings, despite winning absolutely nothing.
But I reckon that his recent attitude and renewed self-confidence could be a sign of greater things to come.
He said earlier this week that his sights were set firmly on winning the US Open and, in doing so, his first grand slam.
Like I said during this year's Wimbledon – Murray's achievements would in some way mirror his beliefs and he proved himself right at Wimbledon with a quarter-final prediction and a quarter-final exit to reflect on.
Earlier this week he confidently stated that he could go on and win the US open and despite having the tall order of Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals yesterday I was very much inclined to believe in him.
The problem was that during the week I couldn't find anything that would provide me with any information regarding yesterday's result so at the time of writing I couldn't comment further on whether his prediction was right or not.
However, whether Murray managed to beat Nadal in this semi-final in New York is not particularly relevant.
The point I'm trying to get across is that I firmly believe that his new-found projected confidence will make him stronger, bring him better results and continue his journey to the top of the rankings.
I can confidently predict that because of his new forward thinking that an Andy Murray grand slam success is not far away.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
