ONE HANDSHAKE OR A MUCH NEEDED SHAKE UP?

UEFA's continued failure to deal with the problem of racism

One handshake, one international retirement, one message; one game, one community – kick racism out of football. Sunday September 23^rd and we saw Luis and Patrice do what John and Anton couldn’t do a week earlier and that was simply to shake the hand of an opponent before today’s game with Liverpool and Manchester United. Whether the pair would have followed the same path as a week earlier if the game hadn’t been the first at Anfield following the release of the Hillsborough verdict we will never know, but the history books will show that a hand shake took place and it’s a start. Fast forward into the evening and the ex-England Captain John Terry retires from international football ahead of this week’s FA hearing into allegations that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand last season, something he had previously been cleared of in a court of law. He claims his position has been made untenable by the accusations levelled against him. The bigger man would surely have realised that his own actions had made his own position untenable in the first instance. Let’s face it had he been the average man on the street who couldn’t have afforded the same law team he would surely have been found guilty in the court of law before footballs governing body The FA finally got a chance to act on the matter. The fact that a court of law found Terry not guilty in the first place is irrelevant to the message that calling a fellow human being a ‘black c*nt’ has any place in society, let alone on a football pitch in a league watched worldwide weekly by millions all over the globe.

The electronic advertising hoardings at Anfield showed the message ‘One Game, One Community Kick racism out of football.’ We’ve seen the signs and we’ve seen the T Shirts pre-game but are the relevant authorities really doing everything in their power to eradicate this problem from the sport? Racism is nothing new in football but will it ever become a thing of the past domestically or internationally? Could football’s governing bodies be doing more to crack down harder on the blight that is racism or is it more of a case that they turn a blind eye to the problem time and time again and hope that the role of society will play a bigger part in changing people’s attitudes towards their fellow human beings?

This summer the European Championships were awarded to two countries with known racial problems not only in society but also at a domestic level in their relevant football leagues; Poland and Ukraine. Whilst Sol Campbell wasn’t correct in the assumption that fans would return home in coffins, it came as no real surprise that there were reported instances of racial abuse recorded several times during the tournament. That these two nations should have ever been awarded the tournament in the first place is somewhat unforgiving, though compared to the lackadaisical punishments handed out to the offenders after the horse had bolted from the stables as expected, can we ever believe that any governing body really wants to kick out racism from football?

The following has been lifted from a post made on June 19^th 2012;

What sort of message if EUFA sending out in its attempt to combat racism in football?

Think of the worst scenes you’ve scenes so far during Euro 2012; Whilst the sight of Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner baring his underwear during a goal celebration might have not been to great on the eye it pails into insignificance compared to the sight of Croatia’s fans racially abusing Italy’s Mario Balotelli. So you would think that UEFA’s stance would reflect this when handing out the punishments for two very different rules being broke. UEFA fined Croatia’s football association 80,000 Euro’s ($101,000). The charges related to the “setting off and throwing of fireworks, and the improper conduct of supports (racist chants, racist symbols),” UEFA announced in a statement. Unbelievably the fine is 20,000 Euros ($25,000) less than the one handed done to Bendtner for revealing the name of betting firm Paddy Power on his underpants.

UEFA received reports from monitors based inside the stadium that around 300 Croatia fans made monkey noises at Balotelli. The Croatia association was also fined 25,000 Euros ($31,500) last week for the behaviour of its fans during the match played against the Republic of Ireland. UEFA announced that the fine was imposed for “the setting off and throwing of fireworks and missiles, and a pitch invasion by a supporter.”

In comparison Bendtners goal celebration with no racial undertones or fireworks being set off causing games to be held up whilst they were cleared resulted in a fine of 100,000 Euro’s ($126,000) the maximum that UEFA could impose on the player under disciplinary rules.

National football associations can be fined up to 1 million Euro’s ($1.26 million) by UEFA. What sort of message is UEFA sending out to the world in a bid to combat the problem of racism when it imposes a higher fine for showing the name of a sponsor that it does for punishing fans found guilty of racist abuse? To compound matters Paddy Power have offered to pay the fine after receiving several days of worldwide exposure for its company.

Russia’s FA have also been fined 120,000 Euro’s ($151,000) following the attack by their fans on stewards in Wroclaw after the end of a Euro 2012 match. UEFA are able to impose several sanctions upon national bodies which are held responsible for their fans behaviour. They range from warnings, a sliding scale of fines to points deductions and can even go as far as expulsion of sides from competitions. With the latter in mind wouldn’t kicking out sides out of a tournament send out a message that a change has got to come about and that this needs to come from UEFA and go down to the grass roots of the game and onto the stands of the stadiums.

This isn’t the first time that the Croatian FA has been charged by UEFA for the behaviour of its fans. Four years ago they received a fine of 20,000 Swiss francs which at the time was about 12,450 Euros ($19,600) after fans unveiled Neo-Nazi flags and for chants during a game against Turkey in Vienna, Austria.

In 2008 world football governing body FIFA imposed a fine of 30,000 Swiss francs, then 18,800 Euros ($27,700) after Croatian fans directed racist chants at English forward Emile Heskey during a World Cup qualifier in Zagreb.

UEFA Head Michel Platini had previously urged Croatian political and football leaders to pass laws which would help control their problem fans. Possible sanctions muted included suspending both national and club sides from European Competitions. So with this threat having been made to the national federation we see things haven’t improved any and surely calls have to be made from other footballing nations for UEFA to finally take a proper stand against racism.

Fining them less than a player showing a betting firms name on his underwear puts out a message that UEFA is either unwilling to tackle the problem or head on or doesn’t accept the seriousness of the situation. The world is watching – It’s time to take a stand and get tough on racism.

Three months on from the original post and the build up to two games in the past two weekends in the English Premier League has seen considerable focus and column inches devoted to whether between four adult professional footballers, they would be able to make two handshakes between them? In the end only one was achieved. Please don’t think I’m knocking Anton Ferdinand in any way shape or form because had I been in his position I wouldn’t have wanted to have shook John Terry’s hand either but why has it taken so many months for the FA to hear the case in the first place and what sort of a message has that sent out to footballers and the world that exists beyond? Should John Terry have been allowed to represent his country in any game or during the Euro 2012 Finals with such a large FA charge hanging over his head? Should the FA have done more to ensure that the case was heard months ago when it first arose? Should the FA still be pressing ahead with the case after he was found innocent in a court of law? I guess you can only decide the questions you believe should be asked and the answers that are given to them.

Whatever the questions you would hope would be asked and dare I suggest possibly ever answered if they were asked in the right places to the relevant authorities, alongside the examples given from the blog lifted above, nothing is really being done to stamp out the problem of racism. Yes I know we have some things being done – I mean really, really being done!

When Manchester City took on Porto in their Europa Cup tie last season both Mario Balotelli and Yaya Touré were both subjected to racial abuse. So UEFA stood up to be counted right? Because kicking racism out of football is an important message to send out to those who take part in the game and to those who watch it? I am right aren’t I?

A Uefa statement said: “The Uefa Control and Disciplinary Body has imposed a fine of 20,000 euros on FC Porto for racist conduct of their supporters (Article 11bis – Discrimination and similar conduct) at their first-leg round of 32 Uefa Europa League match against Manchester City FC on 16 February in Porto.

That’s right a fine of 20,000 euro’s or in pounds and pennies just a paltry £16,700 to show to the world that making monkey noises towards black players in 2012 is totally unacceptable. So what happened when the same side Manchester City fielded the football pitch a little later than was expected of them in their Europa Cup tie against Sporting Lisbon in the second half? Don’t quote me because I’m unsure of the exact time they were late but it was I believe no more than a minute and for that they received a fine. OK fair enough, they were late and rules are rules and have to be adhered to so they got fined. When you’re Sheikh Mansour paying fines isn’t really a problem let’s face it. What is a problem is the amount and the relevance the context has against other things you could be fined for… For example fans chanting monkey noises at black players.

Does anyone reading this rank being late for the second half of a game by one minute a bigger offence or crime than racist abuse?

Does anyone reading this rank flashing a sponsor’s name on your underpants as being a bigger offence or crime than racist abuse? Honestly? Either question; Are either of these offences deemed worse than racist abuse in your book or own mind because neither are in my mind.

For the offence of being one minute late onto the pitch Manchester City were fined 30,000 euros or £24,740 in pounds sterling, a total of 10,000 euros or £ 8,040 more than Porto FC were for their fans racially abusing black players on the field of play in a Europa Cup tie being televised to millions around the globe. Once again I can only slow clap in a mocking fashion UEFA’s inability to grab the problem of racist abuse by the scruff of the neck and show to the world that it treats it as a serious issue and is prepared to start to do something about it at any point in the near future. It’s an utter disgrace on their part. You wouldn’t mind if they didn’t have the powers to force clubs to play games behind closed doors for example as a punishment but they do. For some reason though UEFA have decided to have a three strikes policy before implementing such offences.

Take the Italian side Lazio as an example. Their hooligan following The Irriducibili is well known for their fascist following and for having had problems with racist chants during matches at a domestic level and European level. UEFA have charged Lazio with improper conduct in relation to accusations that racist chants were aimed at Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Defoe during last week’s Europa Cup tie away to Tottenham Hotspur. Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe has implored UEFA to hand down a stiffer sentence than a fine of 20,000 Euros and force the club to play behind closed doors as a punishment. Powar is quoted as saying;

"Lazio are a strong club. They have been part of the European football scene for a long time. There needs to be quite a hard symbolic action taken when these instances occur.

"This punishment is one way of waking the club and the fans up to some of the problems that they face."

This is the same Lazio that have allowed The Irriducibili to not only have an office within the Stadio Olimpico but also have direct contact or certainly did at one stage with the son of the Lazio President who would choose which Nordic and Celtic banners could be displayed during their home games and which were - how should we put it? A little bit to risqué or pushing the boundaries of good taste and could be possible be seen as a little too right wing for some. Yes this is the same Lazio that the now Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio gave the fascist salute to their home fans during one game when playing for them and they all lovingly saluted him back in the same fashion. This took place in 2005 after the Rome Derby way back in 2005 some seven years ago. Seven years to have tried to eradicate the problem of racist behaviour and here we are in 2012 with them still only facing a fine of 20,000 Euros. That’s over 2,500 days in which to have tried to address the issue of racism and or fascism more seriously. Take that in the context of hours passed and that’s over 60,000 and let’s not even start to break it down into minutes or further because it really does become quite frankly a major embarrassment that in 2012 UEFA are failing spectacularly with their attempts to kick racism out of football.

One handshake, one international retirement, one message; one game, one community – kick racism out of football. Sunday September 23^rd and we still have years of work ahead of us unless the relevant authorities really and truly start to act properly, forcefully and quickly to kick racism out of football once and for all.

Why football will soon over run the Olympic Spirit

Following on from this summer’s London Olympics 2012 the organisers of the games hope that the heroics displayed by the Team GB athletes will inspire a generation. It’s hard to believe that not twelve months before the capital had seen riots on its streets that had brought the worlds media attention upon the city at a time that it was least needed. This summer’s Olympics and what promises to be the biggest and most supported Paralympics in history has seen a country unite around sport and athletic achievements. Much more than that the country has fallen in love with athletes that certain fractions of society would have us believe are the root of this country’s problems like immigrants for example. Watching the highlights of the football league yesterday it was wonderful to see players celebrating using what has been coined the ‘Mo-Bot,’ the celebration used by the new two time Olympic Champion Mo Farah after his memorable wins for Team GB. Farah who was born in Somalia moved to England at the age of 8. One journalist for whatever reason took it upon himself to ask Farah if he’d have preferred to have raced for Somalia rather than Team GB. Farah’s very curt reply was simple;

“Look mate this is my country. This is where I grew up, this is where I started life. This is my country and when I put on my Great Britain vest I'm proud. I'm very proud.”

I’m sure his remarks has several Daily Mail readers choking on their cornflakes the next morning. Yes these were the words of a Somalian born refugee who now treats England as his home. His love for his country was laid bare for all to see. Mo Farah had won gold medals in the Olympics twice not only for himself, not only for his family, not only for Team GB but for his country. What better message to spread to future generations, to inspire future generations, to want them to take pride in their country and to accept others into their hearts and to treat everyone as equals. What better time to grasp and hold onto to these things dearly and not let them go. Except there's one slight problem with that fact; people have very short memories and whilst the Olympics may have captivated the heart of a nation for a fortnight as I’m sure the Paralympics is about to do in exactly the same way, this weekend saw the start of the football season again. As a betting man I’m sure that all the good that has resulted from the Games will once again come undone very quickly as the nation turns back to watching 22 grown men kicking a ball around a football field for 90 minutes.

After the success of Team GB it’s perhaps been forgotten that just a short time before the English football team was knocked out of the European Championships, a tournament that had been superseded by the ongoing court case between Chelsea Captain John Terry and Anton Ferdinand over alleged racist remarks made in which Terry was cleared in a court of law. But that wasn’t the end of the matter as the Football Association have placed a disciplinary charge against Terry for the exact same incident. Terry who maintains his innocence having being cleared by a court of law has requested a personal hearing with the FA. Whilst the story isn’t dominating the front and back pages of the press just yet it will, I’m sure only be a matter of time before they do. This is John Terry after all a player who for whatever reason finds it hard to keep out of the headlines for the wrong reason for more than a couple of months at a time.

You would have thought that given the fact the aforementioned case involved his brother that Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand would have made sure that he stayed clear of any controversy when it comes to the subject of race. Wayne Rooney once famously paid £200 for one packet of cigarettes. Rio Ferdinand showed as always footballers have to do each other paying £45,000 for a Choc Ice which sadly he never even got to eat. OK so he didn’t actually ask someone to get a choc ice, he was fined the amount by the Football Association when he was seen to endorse a tweet by someone suggesting that Chelsea defender Ashley Cole (who gave evidence on behalf of John Terry during the trial) was a choc ice; a term meaning black on the outside and white on the inside. The Independent Regulatory Commission had this to say about the fine;

"The commission decided that the comment was improper and brought the game into disrepute. In addition, the commission found that the breach included a reference to ethnic origin, colour or race."

So before the season had even begun the game of football has already begun to run riot over the legacy that the Olympics had hoped to achieve. The so called ‘beautiful game’ is once more beginning to rear its ugly head and remind everyone that it’s not gone away, it’s just had a break and recharged it’s batteries and will no doubt come back with bigger headlines this forthcoming season as it manages to do every season. Would anyone like to start the ball rolling for this season’s roll call of improprieties and misdemeanours?

If John Terry and Rio Ferdinand’s cases were an overspill to last season then the alleged affair of Ex-England manager with Saima Ansari (who also had an affair with Ex-England manager Sven Goran Ericcson) as reported in some of today’s red tops will start the new season’s ball rolling quite nicely.

Can anyone remember every incident that took place last season involving footballers? I’d like to say that our own club Portsmouth had been exempt during this time but I’d be lying. Here are some of the incidents off the top of my head that I can remember that have tarnished the image of the so called ‘Beautiful Game,’

In December 2011 the then Portsmouth club captain Liam Lawrence was given a police caution after head butting a man in a nightclub which left him with a suspected broken nose, two black eyes and a cut lip.

Ryan Giggs was caught out having an affair with Welsh model Imogen Thomas and took out a court injunction banning the press from reporting on the subject. This marital indiscretion didn’t stop him being named captain of Team GB at this summer’s Olympics by Stuart Pearce however.

Liverpool’s Luis Suarez was fined £40,000 and banned for eight matches for being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

Newcastle United’s Nile Ranger seems on a one man mission to tarnish the game of football all by himself. In August of last year he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man in the city centre of Newcastle leaving the victim unconscious. Two months later he was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Newcastle. In March 2012 he was convicted of being drunk and disorderly and was ordered to pay £135 costs and given a six month conditional discharge. In March 2012 he was fined for making homophobic comments on Twitter and to round the month off nicely he was arrested for breaching the terms of his bail whilst awaiting trial on not one but four assault charges. Let’s not forget this is the same player who was questioned by Newcastle after posing with a replica gun in a photograph back in May 2011.

Joey Barton’s was banned for 12 matches having been found guilty on two counts of violent conduct after clashing with Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany and Carlos Tevez for which he was also fined £75,000 by the FA. Let’s be honest Barton’s overall history in comparison makes Newcastle’s Nile Ranger look like a relative saint.

Carlos Tevez went AWOL from Manchester City for three months in his native homeland of Argentina after reportedly refusing to play in a Champions League game against Bayern Munich.

In May 2012 Sunderland defender Titus Bramble was cleared of charges that he sexually assaulted two women however back in August 2011 his brother and fellow professional Tesfaye was jailed for rape.

A month earlier Sheffield United’s Ched Evans was jailed for a term of five years for rape in a court case that saw Port Vale Clayton McDonald cleared of the same charges.

Stoke City academy played Andrew Hall just 18 was charged with the murder of his 15 year old girl friend Megan-Leigh Peat in June 2012.

Four  players from Brighton and Hove Albion and one from AFC Bournemouth were arrested in March 2012 over an alleged sexual assault.

El Hadji Diouf was arrested in April 2012 on suspicion of violent disorder following a fight in the Circle Club in Manchester.

These are just some of the incidents I can think of from the English game. I won’t even start on those from north of the border or the allegations facing Italian football and their match fixing scandal currently under investigation. If the game’s off field antics follow suit from the previous season how many people will be still focused on the unity that the performance that Team GB helped create across the country for two brief weeks at least.

Many moons ago before money overran the game of football, players were afforded nicknames that reflected their footballing talent and the status by which fans held them within the game. At Portsmouth the legend that is Jimmy Dickinson; who made a club record 845 appearances for Pompey and was capped 48 times for England earned the nickname Gentleman Jim on account of the fact that throughout his entire career he wasn’t booked or sent off a single time. Just re-read those number of appearances when considering how great a statistic and achievement that really is and a testimony to just how far the game has changed now in the modern era. But back then the Post-War heroes were often given nicknames; Alfredo di Stefano was known as ‘The Master’, John Charles the ‘Gentle Giant’, Danny Blanchflower the ‘Thinking man’s footballer’, Sir Stanley Matthews ‘The Wizard.’

There were the unsung heroes of the game who back then failed to get their share of the limelight yet were idolised by their club fans; Joe Mercer of Arsenal and Billy Wright of Wolverhampton Wanderers who broke all records as Captain of England. Alongside the Gentle Giant John Charles all three were renowned for their sportsmanship and fair play. I’m finding it hard to think of any modern day players with such fine reputations or who’ve been awarded similar nicknames in the current climate.

The atmosphere between the sets of fans since the 1970s onwards has become positively tribal against one another not just in England but worldwide. The vile hate aimed towards rival fans be them before, during and after derby games such as Portsmouth Vs Southampton, Glasgow Rangers Vs Glasgow Celtic, Manchester United Vs Liverpool is well documented and has often spilled into violent scenes.

One of the very valid points raised during the Olympics in regards to the football matches played was how they had been played in such a family friendly atmosphere, something we are unlikely to see anytime soon during the next few months as the season gets underway. Even when a club’s rival team isn’t even playing fans will sing anti-rival songs on a regular basis throughout the game as a demonstration of loyalty to their club and show an utter distain against their perceived enemies.

Yet in the Olympic stadiums show casing so many different sports, events and disciplines the crowds were getting behind everyone that was taking part. Just look at the reaction the Jamaican Sprinter Usain Bolt received in the Olympic Stadium when he took Gold for Jamaica in both the 100 metre and 200 metre events. The cheers were just as loud as for any Team GB athlete that had secured a Gold medal or any colour medal for that matter. Even those athletes who finished way off the pace were supported over the finishing line to great applause no matter what country they were representing.

The most obvious conclusion for the reaction of the fans at the London Olympics was the fact they were witnessing the culmination of four years of hard training for which the majority of those competing had to be funded for from places such as the National Lottery for example. More impressive were the individual teams who’d received no so such funding at all and had to raise their own money just to be able to compete in the Olympic games; a chance to say even if they didn’t take home a medal – “I was there and I represented my country in an Olympic games!”

Hold on to those Olympic memories for as long as you can. Sadly I suspect they will soon be long gone as no doubt over paid players with little between their brains start to once more begin to dominate the front pages of newspapers for all the wrong reasons again. If some of last season’s stories are anything to go buy we’re in for some more shocking headlines from todays so called role models in the ‘Beautiful Game!’

Who do you think you’re kidding Mr Wenger if you think that Sky will run?

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, never a man to stray away from controversy re-entered the arena with his claims that football has “sold its soul’ to television companies and said Premier League bosses must intervene to ensure fixture scheduling was fair to clubs. However he does accept the importance of the money that TV rights bring into the game. Does Mr Wenger have a point or should he be grateful when considering the reliance that many English clubs have on the income received from TV rights and broadcasting deals?

Mr Wenger’s claims of unfairness stem around the fact that all five of Arsenal’s games in January have been moved for the television cameras. I’m sure he has a point but the bigger picture remains that for many clubs in the league without the money brought into the game from TV broadcasting rights they’d be facing the wall. Arsenal luckily for Mr Wenger remains one of the best run clubs on a financial basis anywhere in the world. Only Bayern Munich can realistically be in with a shout of being able to claim they are run on a better basis.

In 2010 Arsenal’s turnover was £382 million of which over one fifth was derived from TV and Broadcasting monies received to the tune of £85 million. Arsenal finished with a pre-tax profit of £56 million. Arsenal’s debt stood at £136 million most of which was occurred after the building of The Emirates which had helped to bring in more revenue than TV standing at an impressive £94 million. The interest due on the debt annually stands at £19 million. With turnover up £66 million on the previous season and a sensible transfer policy, Arsenal are well on course to reverse their debt in the next few seasons. Interestingly the owners at Arsenal didn’t put a single penny into the club for that financial year. Compare that with Aston Villa for example where £206 million was pumped into the club; £116 million in cash and £90 million in loan notes or at Blackburn Rovers where £104 million was put in made up of £100 million in capital and £4 million in interest free loans. Of Aston Villa’s £91 million turnover 57.14% was from TV money. Blackburn’s total of £58 million was even more reliant with 74.14% of the total coming from TV money. So Arsenal in theory can afford to be able to moan a bit louder than most clubs but you cannot escape the fact that football income from TV if offset against wages would have allowed Arsenal to pay off 77.27% of their final wage bill which stood at £110 million.

Whilst Mr Wenger bemoans his fixtures being re-arranged for the sake of television, over in La Liga television plays an even bigger part in the gulf between the clubs in the Spanish top flight. Arsenal may have finished 22 points behind eventual League winners Manchester United last season they finished 29 points above Birmingham City who were relegated to the Championship having finished 3^rd bottom. Contrast this with La Liga and Villarreal who finished 4^th the same position as Arsenal in the Premier League. Villarreal’s point haul of 62 points was 34 points behind the total of League Winners Barcelona who finished the season with 96 points. Second placed Real Madrid finished the season on 92 points, 12 more than the English Champions Manchester United. Barcelona’s goal difference was a staggering +74, Real Madrid’s +69. In comparison Manchester United’s were +41 and Chelsea’s +36.

The most astonishing fact for Villarreal was that they finished closer to the 3^rd relegated team Deportivo than they did to the eventual winners Barcelona, separated by just 19 points. Villarreal were even closer to Almeria who finished bottom on 30 points than they were to catching Barcelona at the top.

Television revenue in La Liga has created the wide gulf. Clubs in La Liga are able to negotiate individual deals with TV companies and ultimately it’s made La Liga into two leagues. One between the top two of Barca and Real and a separate league between the remaining 18 competing clubs. This occurrence isn’t however just a Spanish problem, just look north of the border where the Scottish Premier League is dominated by the two Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic. Last season’s champions Rangers finished with 93 points one ahead of their closest rivals. Third placed Hearts finished the season on 63 points, 30 off Rangers or to look at it another way a full ten wins behind just to have drawn level on points. Equally as impressive as the top two sides in La Liga Rangers finished with a goal difference of +59 and Celtic +63. Although Scottish football doesn’t have the same levels of income from TV that English football has and certainly not of La Liga’s top two with their own deals, the revenue generated on the turnstiles and from European competition year in year out has created its own two tier league structure in Scotland to mirror that of Spain. In England you can claim that on their day any club is capable of beating any other where as in Spain and Scotland such a claim wouldn’t hold as much weight even if you do get the occasional shock defeat in both leagues from time to time.

It’s estimated that combined Barcelona and Real Madrid receive 125 million Euro’s per season from TV deals. That figure is just on the domestic market and doesn’t include income from the Champions League deals. That figure in context to the Premier League is three times the money that Champions Manchester United got from TV income. Villarreal received 42 million Euro’s from their TV deal. Some of the smallest clubs in the league had deals worth only in the region of 15 million Euro’s. It’s not hard to work out how the Spanish League ended up with their players going on strike when 50 million Euro’s went unpaid from the end of last season. Under a new proposed shared domestic TV rights deal in La Liga, Barca and Real are still set to receive a combined 35% of the revenues coming in with the rest being shared between the remaining 16 clubs.

So unlike in England with Mr Wenger’s comments, you’re unlikely to hear the same murmurings coming from Spanish clubs as you do here. The real issue for them is the complete imbalance of TV money instead which presents such a wide gulf in their league. I’m sure given the opportunity to be able to receive the same amount of money as Arsenal do every season from TV income, the remaining sixteen clubs would quite happily play at 2am on a Thursday morning every week to be given the same.

The bottom line and the crux of the matter is football and TV now walks hand in hand. Since Sky entered the game back in the nineties the two parties would not be able to exist without each other anymore. Why did Sky TV pay an astonishing £1.782 billion for the rights to screen 115 games a season between 2010 and 2015? Because they make their money back and some.

Arsenal have the right as I mentioned to moan when they can boast gate receipts higher than the money they receive from TV deals and can feel rightly aggrieved to have had to change all five fixtures in a month to suit TV. However the coverage they receive will be worldwide. They will be watched by fans all over the world who will watch the likes of Robin Van Persie which will translate in shirt sales for example resulting in a higher income for the team. The wider the audience the more they will be able to claim from sponsors. If you can say to a sponsor that your advert will be shown in five consecutive games on TV in one month, in puts you in a much stronger position than a side like QPR for example who are reliant on the money of new owner Tony Fernandes to pay the reported wages of Joey Barton who is said to be on £80,000 per week when their ground Loftus Road has a capacity of just 18,360 and wouldn’t generate the required amount to pay the total wage bill every season.

So in conclusion whilst Mr Wenger might be bemoaning the rescheduling of the fixtures I’m sure the Arsenal board and commercial department aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet. Perhaps he should spare a thought for the teams outside of the top two in the Scottish and Spanish Premier Leagues as they search for a more level playing field. Football is a business first and foremost now. You cannot escape that fact. If you get into bed with Rupert Murdoch sadly you have to pay the price. So instead of moaning I’m afraid you’re just going to have to accept that football is no longer what is used to be, namely a sport. What happens on the pitch for 90 minutes is now simply a by product or an afterthought if you will.