A new generation of football clubs

First Chelsea. Then QPR. Then Man City. Now Real Madrid have a ridiculous amount of money to spend, and are doing so without thinking twice. Back in 2003, when Roman Ambramovich bought Chelsea, high transfer fees were thought of at around £10m. Now however, due to the amazing influx of money injected into football, it seems almost anything is possible, proved by Real Madrid when they broke the world transfer record TWICE in the same week. They paid around £69m for Kaka, before paying £80,000,000 for Cristiano Ronaldo.
This huge spending begs the question: what about the other clubs?

Clubs such as Fulham have never been renowned for huge spending, and more of a family club, and yet they did far better than Man City last year, and are in a different league to QPR. Quite literally.

Is this a sign that money and wealth isn't imperative to do well? I don't think it is. It is only a matter of time before all the clubs without super rich owners start to struggle. In a way it already has, following last years 'mini league battle' towards the end of the 08/09 Premier League season.

Two things could be done about this.

There has been much talk of the best teams in each country going of and forming a completely different 'Super League'. At the end of each season, the worst two clubs from each country of the Super League and the top two of the remaining clubs that played in the highest national league that season play in a mini competition over three days, like the Wembley Cup, and the winner and runner-up play in the Super League the next season. Still with me? The old teams then return and play in their countries for a year, and if at the top of their country, will get their chance to play in the Super League again.

For example, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool would go from England. At the end of the season, assuming Arsenal and Chelsea do worst out of the 4, would return to England to play in the Super League England Cup against the top 2 clubs from that years Premier League. The runner up and winner of this plays in the Super League the following year. The losers play in the Premier League. Simples.

But this is, I think the best bit. Clubs in the Super League, CANNOT sign players on loan or permanently from clubs not inside the Super League. But clubs outside the Super League can sign players from clubs in the Super League. Good isn't it?

The other option is a budget cap, like the one proposed in F1. But that's a bit boring isn't it?

Gibbo

England get to a final. On penalties.

For those of you who were unaware, tonight is the final of the UEFA U21 European Championships 2009. The two participants: Germany U21 and England U21. It couldn't be better. Well, it could, it could be at Wembley, and England could be wearing red, but because Germany want to be childish, we wear white, despite being the designated away side. But for England to get to a final in something is a moment to remember. Last time, back in 2007, England crashed out of the tournament on penalties (suprise, suprise) to Holland, and it appeared that our fate would be similar when it went to penalties against Sweden on Friday.

However, this is where the pessimism stops. Stuart Pearce did not want the heartache of another penalty failure in a competition. So he did something about it.

Over the past two years, Stuart Pearce has been going over hundreds of videos and pictures, and drew up an incredibly detailed list of penalty takers, and who could do it best. What's more, they didn't have a choice. Pearce put his foot down and forced his players to take a spot kick if he felt they were capable of doing a job.

Now those of you who play football on a weekly basis, like myself, will know that when you are put on the spot, not entirely confident in your ability, and forced to take a penalty, and if you miss you lose, his scary as seeing Michael Jackson in your child's bedroom.

But clearly it works. And it can't have been a fluke by the strikers, because the 'keeper, Joe Hart, scored as well. But is forcing your players to do things like this really the way of winning?

Maybe they will now feel that they can trust their boss, and be sure that whatever he tells them to do will be the right thing. Or maybe they will not perform unless forced to by their gaffer.

And that is the problem managers face. Force their players to do things they really don't want to do, or let them play the way they want to, but risk slipping into relax mode.

I'm glad I'm not a manager having to make that decision.

Whatever Stuart Pearce decides to do in the final today, good luck to him, because if it works, he could be a hero, and I agree with what Sven said earlier in the week about Pearce being a future senior manager, because he certainly has the ruthlessness needed.

Good luck to England U21 today. I don't care how it's done, but let's put another won over on them Germans, eh?

Gibbo

It can't get much worse for the Toon army, can it?

It is fair to say that there was a long period of time during which Newcastle United fans still tried to believe that it was just a bad dream, and that the Toon army were still in the Premier League. Having come to terms with this, there is now a new headline in Toontown.
Just when the Geordies thought life couldn't get any worse, along came the unveiling of Newcastle's new yellow strip, which prompted more scoffing than Shefki Kuqi at a pie convention.

It really couldn't have gone worse. While the official Newcastle United club website preferred to describe the strip as a "stylish new change kit", not too many fans shared the view, with one fan even likening it to "a side-on view of a custard cream".

And it seems that the press are having a field day coming up with puns on the new kit, while Matt Jensen, editor of The Mag, said to the Daily Telegraph, which is often all over Newcastle news: "My take on kits is as long as they're not red and white, I'm not really that bothered. There's certainly no chance of getting lost in the snow when we play Barnsley in December."

Joe on the Tyne Talk messageboard commented: "I think I just threw up a bit. But while the photoshop whizzkids had a reason to par-tay, producing these (right), and The Sun quickly got to work on an an update of their worst kits of all time feature, it seemed the players were quite happy with the 'deck chair from Blackpool'. A statement from Adidas, who designed and made the kits, read: "The feedback from both the players and the club has been extremely positive - vibrant colours are very popular at the moment." And the kit also had the backing of Ryan Jenkins, a (you guessed it) Sunderland fan. He said: "It's really appalling - I love it. It looks like Norwich and Blackpool got into a fight and this was the leftovers. Newcastle will have to call themselves the Toongerines."
In the words of Coldplay's Chris Martin: "Oh what a thing to do - and it was all yellow."


But Geordie fans weren't the only ones getting shirty over their new outfit. Man Utd supporters were demanding a rethink over their latest jersey, a month before it is due to hit the shelves, but by the sound of it it'll be staying there.

The well known red shirt is emblazoned with a black 'V', apparently to mark the centenary of Old Trafford, although fans complained it looked like Nike had just turned on Sky Sports and thought: "We'll have that one."was more suited to rugby league. On the bright side, at least Paul Scholes will be allowed six tackles next season.

Fans on United board Talking Reds were struggling to find any positives. Under the topic heading 'Who let a drunk person design the kit?', Gavinio said it be the new design that was the real reason Ronaldo left (and with Real Madrid reportedly inserting a £1bn transfer clause into his contract, he's unlikely to be back in a hurry - chevron or no chevron). Man City fans, however, are as competitive as ever, one fan saying "The new 'V' on their kit is like an arrow pointing down, which is where they're going" Shame Man U will always be top dog up their though isn't it?

But while the two Uniteds got in a bother about their new strips, they're lucky they've got one, as for poor old Stockport County may not have a kit for the coming season due to an ongoing debt problem. Never mind, chaps, if the protests in Manchester and Newcastle grow any louder, you may have a couple to choose from come August.

I found this childish whining almost as funny as the 'Liverpool sign Bent' joke doing the rounds (above) and Tweet by Gavin and Stacey star Matthew Horne: "Earlier today I saw a Newcastle season-ticket nailed to a tree. I thought 'I'm having that!' 'cos you can never have enough nails, can you?"

Mind you, I remember discussing this very topic about Palace's new kits only two months ago. Oh how fickle we football fans are!


Gibbo