The moral decline of the once beautiful game - How events on and off the pitch are killing football

If I had to sum up the moral fabric of the footballing world right now – I would have to say that in far too many quarters; the morals of football are akin to the morals of a whore. In fact the whore might just possibly be able to edge the moral high ground. Once more the inches of newspaper columns have been filled with stories which have left a blight on the footballing landscape. In a week which should be remembered for great performances on the pitch such as Manchester City’s 6-1 demolition of rivals Manchester United last weekend, the news off the pitch is over shadowing any such achievements and beauty on it.

With so many stories running simultaneously it’s hard to know where to begin to look at all that is wrong with the so called beautiful game. So I’m going to drop the names into a hat and pick out the subjects making the news for all the wrong reasons;

John Terry’ alleged racial slur at QPR defender Anton Ferdinand

Not complete with his sex scandal involving ex-team mate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend last season, John Terry has returned to the headlines with accusations that he allegedly racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during last Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to their London rivals. It’s alleged that Terry called Anton a F**king Black C*nt, something Terry vehemently denies. Apparently according to Terry he called Anton a F**cking Blind C*nt. Well I guess that makes it OK then as long as it wasn’t a racially motivated attack. The matter has now been placed into the hands of the FA’s disciplinary and Governance Unit led by Director Darren Bailey who will investigate the matter further. Believing in the age old policy of being innocent until proven guilty the FA announced that Terry will be able to keep the Captains arm band for the forth coming England games against Spain and Sweden next month. This would surely be great news from a footballing point of view where it not for the fact that Rio Ferdinand brother of Anton could also be called into the squad for the two games alongside Captain Terry. That won’t cause any friction at all for starters will it and I’m sure the likes of Darren Bent, Ashley Young et al will be thrilled at the prospect of playing for a side captained by a man under investigation for possible racial abuse.

The Accusations being levelled at Terry follow on from allegations made by Manchester United defender Patrice Evra that he was racially abused by Liverpool player Luis Suarez during their recent game at Anfield, a claim that Suarez like Terry strongly denies.

Carlos Tevez – The did he, didn’t he refuse to play question?

A story that’s been rumbling on for some time now after the Argentine superstar reportedly refused to come on as a substitute for Manchester City in their recent Champions League defeat away to Bayern Munich. This week saw City find Tevez guilty of five breaches of contract by City, including a refusal to play. City took the hard line stance of fining Tevez four weeks wages reported to be in the region of a staggering £800,000. This was later reduced by the PFA to two week’s wages which is the maximum prescribed sanction as agreed by the FA, the EPL and the PFA. As mentioned earlier, what a shame that the efforts on the pitch of City team mates in the 6-1 derby day demolition of deadly rivals United have been over shadowed somewhat by the Tevez affair. The result was one of the biggest shocks if not the biggest shock result since the formation of the EPL.

Titus Bramble charged with sex offences

This afternoon Police have charged Sunderland defender Titus Bramble with two counts of sexual assault and one of urinating in public. Bramble was arrested last month and then re-arrested in October when a second allegation was made against the player although an allegation of drug possession has been dropped. In August of this year Tesfaye Bramble, brother of Titus and a former footballer himself was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being convicted of raping a 19 year old woman. The former player had been out in Newcastle with his brother on the night of the attack.

Football facing £100 million Fraud Concern

A report published by PKF Accountants and Business Advisers in conjunction with the University of Portsmouth has warned that football clubs are ill prepared to counter fraud and that the total scale across the professional leagues estimated the fraud could account for more than £100 million each year. The report insists that the large majority of clubs neither have any plans in place to tackle such issues and neither do they have the resources to do so. Area’s highlighted for concern included; Ticket sales, merchandising, payroll and agents fees. The results were based upon answers given by football club finance directors to the Fraud in football survey.

FIFA TV rights deal handed to Blatter nephew

Amongst cries of foul play and corruption for many years at FIFA head of World Football, Anti-Corruption campaigners Transparency International have called on FIFA to be more open about its dealings after they awarded a TV deal to a company led by the nephew of Sepp Blatter who has been head of FIFA since 1998. Yesterday FIFA announced a deal with Infront Sports and Media to handle the sale of the TV rights in a number of Asian countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. What FIFA failed to disclose however is the President of Infront is one Phillippe Blatter, the FIFA Presidents nephew. The announcement came a week after FIFA set out a new 2 year plan ironically working with Transparency International to reform the organisation following a series of damaging corruption scandals. FIFA also disclosed that Infront have been awarded host broadcaster contracts. Whilst no accusations have been made that Blatter had no involvement in the deal directly it surely does raise a few eyebrows when you have a situation where such a large deal is issued considering the family ties between the two leaders of the two organisation involved.

The end of the current Tribunal system after the EPL threaten to pull football league club funding

For more details click onto the following link;

http://portsmouthsbluearmy.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-impact-will-abolition-of-tribunal.html

Chelsea fined £20,000 for failing to control their players

Chelsea have been fined a paltry £20,000 by the FA after admitting a charge that they failed to control their players in last weekend’s defeat to QPR. Referee Chris Foy sent off two Chelsea players; Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa in the 1-0 defeat and also awarded QPR a match winning penalty in the first half. The FA Charge related to the Chelsea players surrounding the referee immediately following the dismissal of Bosingwa. This isn’t the first time Chelsea have been hauled over the coals for failing to control their players. Who could ever forget Didier Drogba’s infamous outburst to the TV cameras following Chelsea’s defeat t o Barcelona in the Champions League?

A separate charge against Andre-Villas Boas about comments made about the referee Chris Hoy are yet to be ruled on by the FA.

Hardly wonderful adverts for the beautiful game; these are just some of the headlines from the past week stemming from either events on the field or deals done away from the field. What is happening to our beloved game? Where will it all end? In tears and disaster if one week’s worth of news is anything to go by.

Derby County (A) October 29th 2011 Preview

Tomorrow see’s Pompey back on the road once more as they visit Pride Park – home of Nigel Cloughs Derby County who have been spluttering in form compared to a re-galvanised Pompey side since the departure of Manager Steve Cotterill to Nottingham Forest. With speculation still rife over the new Manager at Pompey and an announcement expected to be named soon, first team coaches Guy Whittingham and Stuart Gray have guided the club to 6 points from the 9 available since taking the helm and in all fairness should have taken all 9 having come away empty handed from an away trip to Ipswich Town after which their manager Paul Jewell admitted they had robbed Pompey of a victory.

Derby County are a club that will forever remain in the history books of Pompey; The largest recorded home attendance on record came against County way back in 1949 in an FA Cup tie when 51,385 spectators packed into Fratton Park – A far cry from the dwindling attendances of recent games; Doncaster (12,779) Barnsley (11,261) Peterborough (12,102). County got their current campaign off to a spectacular start this season taking maximum points from their first four games with wins over Birmingham City, Watford, Blackpool and Doncaster Rovers though since their 3-0 home win against Millwall, County have drawn 3 and lost two of their last 5 games. County however at the time of writing retain their play-off spot in 6^th position in the Championship.

If fans wondered how the departure of Steve Cotterill would affect the performances and results on the pitch, then the players response has been just the ticket and Pompey look a side far away from the team that had looked in total disarray and devoid of confidence just months ago against Hull City when they failed to muster a single shot on target in a 1-0 away defeat. The home win against Barnsley which saw Pompey score two quick goals in succession from in form Luke Varney and the returning Dave Kitson was the first game in all competitions that Pompey hadn’t received at least one yellow card. There were no bookings in the next game against Ipswich either and Ricardo Rocha’s yellow last Saturday was a slight dent on a greatly improved team discipline. Previous to those games Pompey had collected a total of 30 yellow cards and 2 sending’s off in all competitions and looked in real danger of the leagues smallest squad being stretched to breaking point with the real possibility of suspensions starting to take an affect.

The recent form of Luke Varney has given Pompey a timely boost as has the return of Ricardo Rocha at centre half to shore up the Pompey back four. Summer signing Stephen Henderson has looked in impressive form since taking over the reins from Jamie Ashdown having made his league debut against Leeds United away and retained the keeper’s jersey for the past four games and even weighed in with an assist for the goal last weekend. The 3-1 win at home to Doncaster Rovers was the first time Pompey had managed to score 3 goals in a game since the 3-3 draw away to Leeds on the 28^th of December where two own goals from ex-Pompey player Andy O’Brien helped them come away with a battling point. Since their relegation to the Championship it was only the fifth time Pompey had managed to score three or more goals in a game. Including the aforementioned Leeds game, the only other times had come in home wins against Watford (3-2), Bristol City (3-1) and who could forget the sublime performance against Leicester City last season (6-1)?

Pompey remain one of just two Championship teams who’ve failed to secure an away win the season and County go into the game having scored in 16 of the last 17 games against Pompey though Pompey fans will be more confident ahead of tomorrow’s game than they have in a long while that the side is more than capable of coming away with at least a share of the spoils tomorrow from Pride Park. Pompey need just a point to take their all-time points tally to 4,000.

Two interesting facts from Derby’s 2-0 loss to high flying Middlesbrough last week; Striker Mason Bennett became Derby’s youngest ever player aged just a tender 15 years and 99 days old. So young in fact is Bennett that he needed permission to play for County from his mum and his school. Middlesbrough’s first goal game from Rhys Williams older brother of Pompey’s Ryan, one of the three brothers currently plying their trade in the English league. Twin Aryn is currently on the books of Burnley’s academy. I’m sure that given a chance Ryan will be itching to add the family total of goals against Derby County.

What impact will the abolition of the Tribunal System system have on Pompey and football in general?

Anyone who’s read my previous blogs on football finance will know it’s a subject close to my heart. So when last Thursday a deal was struck to overhaul youth football in the football league it will come as no surprise to those regular readers that it’s set my fingers off and running over the keyboard once more due to the damaging nature of the deal that was struck and it’s possible ramifications for many clubs who ply their trade outside of the football league. Whilst the main headlines were about a potential threat of scrapping relegation in England’s top tier, it seems the shouts being made by the football world enabled this story to escape past the noses of many fans up and down the country. Pretty much in the same way that politicians and the government manage to do on a daily basis with faux pas’ they have made and don’t really want any attention drawn to.

Last Thursday the Football League Clubs undertook a vote in which they voted in favour of proposals that could result in clubs from the Premier League being able to pick up the best young talent from lower leagues for a fraction of what they would currently pay at present under the current systems. Of the 72 member clubs, 46 votes were in favour of the proposal, 22 against, 3 no shows and 1 abstention. When you read the changes afoot you’ll be aghast at the numbers that voted in favour of such a move, but its felt that many of the yes votes were made by clubs who felt they had no choice but to give the rule changes consent after the Premier league threatened to withdraw over £5 million of funding that they currently give to lower league clubs each year for youth development.

The new system will be tied in with the Elite Player Performance Plan (EDPPP) which will see a four-tier academy system introduced into the English game. The new deal will see every club receive an increase in their funding for a four year period. The actual amount will vary from club to club based upon their academy status. The aim of the EPL is to implement the EDPP P for the start of the 2012 – 13 season and its aim is to ensure the best players are developed by the best coaches using state of the art training facilities. All sounds good so far. The idea being that the most-talented youngsters will realise their full potential which will benefit not only the clubs the players are at but also the England team as well. The EDPPP has itself widespread support from the football league level and many clubs believe the new system will succeed in many of its aims.

So what’s the key issue then? Why is it so damaging to football league clubs? The new set up has been combined with an overhaul of the tribunal system currently used to determine a transfer fee when two clubs have reached a stalemate and cannot agree a fee for a home-grown player. After two years of discussions between the football league and the EPL about how the system should operate, the final offer was put on the table;

There will be a fixed tariff dependent on how long a player has been at the selling club. For example, the fee is fixed at £3,000-per-year for a player's development from 9 to 11 years old. The fee from 12 to 16 will depend on a club's academy status but will range from £12,500 to £40,000. Such a change will obviously see English Premier Clubs having to pay large fee’s for the best home grown players from lower league clubs. One example made was Chelsea paying MK Dons an initial £1.5 million for 14 year old Oluwaseyi Ojo last week. With the new system Chelsea would have been able to buy him for less that £150,000 however additional bolt-on amounts will be given to the selling club if the player is a success. It’s this part of the deal that the EPL insist makes it a fair one from their point of view. This however is obviously dependent on the player going onto to achieve success with a Premier League Club. For those at the top of the game gambling on paying £100,000 for unproven players will appeal on the basis that as long as some succeed, those who don’t make the cut won’t have cost them the fee’s that they’re currently have to pay under the current tribunal system.


There is however a very large and real possibility with the big clubs hovering around to sign the best players from 9 to 16 years of age that rather than the EDPPP creating a new generation of stars and talent, it could well have the opposite effect when young players at the top clubs find themselves far removed from first team action and sent back out on loan to lower league sides to gain experience. The other flip side is that the extra funding is over a fixed four year term. With only two sides out of 72 in the football league not having an academy– those of Hereford and Morecambe, when the current increase in funding is removed it’s felt that many sides will fold their academies claiming the outlay and time to develop young talent, won’t be adequately compensated should the big guns come knocking at their door.

So how will this affect clubs long term? Well several sides survive on the basis of producing good youngsters and then selling them off for big fee’s to offset costs, two good examples of which would be our nearest rivals Southampton and fellow Championship side Crystal Palace. John Bostock was sold aged 16 to Tottenham Hotspurs from Palace having made his Palace debut aged just 15. The initial fee for the deal was £700,000 with an extra £1.25 million set to follow dependent on appearances for the first team. Since his move he has yet to make a single first team appearance for Spurs in the Premier League and has spent subsequent time out on loan to Brentford and Hull City. When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain departed for Arsenal in the summer the move was rumoured to have been for a down payment of £12 million with the fee set to rise up to £15 million with extra add on clauses and incentives. Chamberlain followed in the footsteps of Theo Walcott who joined Arsenal for an initial fee of £5 million which is set to rise to £12 million with additional add on clauses inserted into the deal. For a club like Crystal Palace who aren’t long out of administration and still have a CVA to service albeit a much smaller one in part than Pompey’s, the change in deal could be catastrophic for them in terms of long term future stability. Pompey certainly won’t be exempt from the change either and could feel long term ramifications when the current system is replaced.

Although admittedly some way behind the current production line of fellow south coast rivals Southampton, under the tutorage of ex-Pompey legend Andy Awford, the club’s youth system is starting to finally flourish. The names of Sam Magri, Ashley Harris, Lewis Stockford, Matt Gledhill, George Colson, Lewis Tallack to name but a few will hopefully be gracing the hallowed turf of Fratton park for many seasons to come. But should a big name club come in from anyone of a group of talented youngsters the club will pretty much be powerless if the player wishes to move on. We saw this to our detriment in the summer when Nadir Ciftci left the club to sign for Kayserispor in the Turkish league. Whilst the club did receive £100,000 compensation for the player, this would have been much lower under the new system. Losing one player on search terms is bad enough. Losing an entire crop of home grown potential stars is unthinkable especially when new owners CSI announced their five year strategy for the club with such a large emphasis being placed on the academy system. For an established power house in the English Premier League such as Chelsea to have looked at the way Sam Magri played during the England Under 17 World Cup Finals this past summer for example and decided that paying under £100,000 would be a great investment for someone that could become the next John Terry for club and country, then Pompey would be pretty much powerless to stop such a move happening if the player wished it to come to fruition even if it meant the player having to see out the remaining part of his contract which was the case with Ciftci.

It’s great to read that the academy holds such an important part of the next five years for CSI, but you have to wonder who much it will be in their plans if they are no longer guaranteed a big money fee if they produce the next Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain from the south coast for example and that player wants to take a chance at signing for a larger club. With falling attendances meaning less revenue coming into the club and a CVA still to finance which was far greater than the one the new owners at Crystal Palace inherited, you’ve got to question what the change will have brought about in the new owners approach to handling the club will be.

Because let us not forget Vladimir Antonov was very specific when he first brought the club - it was so he could make money from it. So with the potential of golden windfalls from academy players coming through now gone, what happens next for CSI? I guess only time will tell.

Barnsley (H) 15th October 2011

Finally after what seems an eternity now, the Championship returns to our weekends with Pompey’s next game scheduled this Saturday at home to Keith Hill’s Barnsley who lay 16^th in the table, three points ahead of Steve Cotterill’s men. The question on everyone’s lips is of course will they still be Steve Cotterill’s team come Saturday kick off at 17.20 live on Sky TV with the press linking him heavily with the vacant Manager’s position at Nottingham Forest after the departure of ex-England boss Steve McClaren, who resigned after his side’s 3-1 loss to Birmingham which left them fourth bottom in the Championship going into the international break. Forest aren’t the only side which have been linked by the press with a move for Manager Steve Cotterill with Bristol City reportedly having shown an interest as well.

Barnsley enter the game on the back of a seven game unbeaten run home and away having beaten lowly Coventry City last time out at home in a 2-0 win. Their last defeat came back in mid August to high flying Middlesbrough. Their seven game unbeaten run has seen them pick up eleven points, winning twice and drawing five. Whilst only scoring a total of eight goals in the process in that run, Barnsley only failed to get on the score line in one of those matches. Barnsley have only lost two games all season, once to the aforementioned Middlesbrough who lie second in the table and the other to top of the table Southampton so they visit Fratton Park high on confidence that they’ll come away with some sort of result against an indifferent Pompey side of late. Barnsley alongside Middlesbrough and Leicester remain the only unbeaten teams away in the Championship so far this season.

Pompey return to the league having suffered a 1-0 away loss to Leeds United where a first half goal from Pugh was enough to secure the home side all three points. Summer signing goal keeper Stephen Henderson made his league debut for Pompey in a side that looked lacklustre and short of form once more in the first half. A more spirited fight back in the second half sadly couldn’t find any way back for Pompey and their fifth loss of the season, a statistic that has seen many fans calling for his head since we last played.

The Barnsley match see’s Luke Varney available for selection once more after his three game ban after his sending off against Hull City away was served.  Striker Dave Kitson is set to be named fit again as he seeks to regain his place in the side having been sidelined for the past few weeks through injury.

Regular readers of PM will know that I like to throw in something a little different with every blog. The last time I went to Barnsley was on one of the coldest wettest days I can remember. If you’ve ever laughed at some poor sod taking a soaking on the Milton End before the days when it finally got a cover, then Barnsley fans will have taken the same amusement from the poor sods sad in the away end at Oakwell over the years. The weather was so bad that day that some poor old bugger sadly passed away from hypothermia and was stretchered out under a white sheet. It certainly wasn’t a day for fair weather fans and the long trip home in sopping wet clothes wasn’t the best it’s fair to say when everything was soaked through to the bone.

The Barnsley fans to their credit like a good sing a long in the rain it seems and I don’t know if this is a common occurrence of delusion from their home section but mid way through the game They started chanting ‘Brazil… It’s just like watching Brazil,’ as there midfielders attempted to spray the ball around on a wet pitch. Me always being the quick thinker started to shout back ‘Grange Hill, it’s more like watching Grange Hill,’ to the merriment of the fellow soaked away fans who all soon joined in. Well you’ve got to do something to keep warm.

It’s safe to say that having made the journey to Barnsley and ticked another ground of the list I won’t be in any hurry to ever go there again.

Fingers crossed for three points whoever the man in charge come Saturday afternoon. Our luck has to change sometime.

Play Up Pompey