Source: Daily_Mail
Des Kelly: Chill wind of debt keeps clubs away from January sales
Have you noticed that the transfer window is open? Now could somebody please run along and close the damn thing, as it's freezing out there.[LNB]The cold blast of realism is blowing through the game. Players aren't being paid, staff are going without wages; winding-up orders from HM Revenue and Customs are becoming commonplace and creditors are loitering outside offices with their lawyers, desperate to claw their loans back before it's too late.[LNB]Not the time for football clubs to go shopping, then.[LNB] Kick in the teeth: Spurs flop Hossam Ghaly made the case against January sales[LNB]Click on the Daily Mail webpage running updates on the very latest transfer moves and you'll see most Premier League managers are competing for just one player, possiblyfrom Portugal or a South American country.[LNB]It's a chap called 'None' (the more talented brother of Nani, perhaps). He must be very good because, according to the news, None is being pursued by just about everybody in the English game.[LNB]CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE TRANSFERS More from Des Kelly... Des Kelly: The age old debate. Can Schumacher and Woods cut it?01/01/10 Des Kelly's Boxing Day quiz: Did John Terry's dad have snow this Christmas?25/12/09 DES KELLY: Our big fat zero without sport18/12/09 DES KELLY: Silence is golden? It depends on who is doing the talking...12/12/09 Des Kelly: No pleasure in hunting a wounded Tiger Woods04/12/09 DES KELLY: Why Stoke ride high in a league of happiness27/11/09 DES KELLY: Dishonest Henry drives us down a road of cameras20/11/09 DES KELLY: Hounding Sir Alex Ferguson is an awful Prospect13/11/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE Yes, it's horribly quiet out there. Few are daring to delve into the January pick-and-mix with any conviction. In the past, the mid-season transfer lottery was a risk clubs were prepared to take.[LNB]They saw it as the opportunity to sign that one individual who could make the difference; the final cog in a machine that would guarantee a European place, a precious promotion or eventual safety. Occasionally it worked. Mostly, it didn't.[LNB]Think Hossam Ghaly at Spurs. He came on as substitute and was so awful he found himself being substituted again. Or how about £6.5m Fernando Morientes? He was an Easyjet return to Spain as soon as he landed in Liverpool.[LNB]Then there was £8m Jean-Alain Boumsong at Newcastle or £12.7m Afonso Alves at Middlesbrough. The buyers soon found these individuals were all available in mid- season for a very good reason.[LNB]With all those disasters in mind, most clubs have decided to sit on their cash. Or, more likely, at least have the decency not to borrow any more money.[LNB]According to the most recent Deloitte financial review, only three clubs in the top two divisions of English football could consider themselves free from debt: BirminghamCity, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Scunthorpe United.[LNB]Since then, the billionaires pulling the strings at Chelsea and Manchester City have written off their own club's deficits, worth £340million and £305m respectively,to dodge impending rules from UEFA on debt.[LNB] Running out of steam: Fernando Morientes failed to find his feet in English football[LNB]The spin put out was they were 'debt-free'. It wasn't quite the full picture. Chelsea still operate at a £44.4m loss every year and have a negative cashflow of £17m.[LNB]Manager Carlo Ancelotti says he has money to spend if he wants it. Yet Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay insists: 'It is still our aim to be self-sufficient.'[LNB]The two statements don't stack up. And Chelsea are as 'self-sufficient' as Ivana Trump.[LNB]But the debt disappeared because of Roman Abramovich's accountancy trick, where he converted cash he owed himself into equity. Over at Manchester City, Sheik Mansour pulled the same sleight of hand, turning the £305m he owed himself (stay with me on this) into shares for, er, himself.[LNB]Again, horrible numbers lay beneath the headline figure. Last season the club lost £92.6m, and £118m of transfers still have to be added to the total. And these are the 'high rollers', remember.[LNB]But I'm not sure what the word debt even means in this context. Abramovich and Mansour are using their money to pay themselves. It's like me owing myself £10 and paying it back to me in beer.[LNB]The real concerns are at the clubs where egos are writing cheques their bank accounts can't cash.[LNB]Some pretend they can, putting up a front like Kerry Katona as she parks a Lamborghini alongside the Range Rover and Porsche just as the postman arrives with the bankruptcy notice.[LNB]Manchester United always take great umbrage at any suggestion that they are essentially skint right now. Sir Alex Ferguson makes a point of continually insisting he has millions to spend in the transfer market and United's turnover is certainly healthier than that of their rivals.[LNB] Losing out: Newcastle wasted the best part of £8m for defender Boumsong[LNB]But the ballooning debt burden of the Glazers, cleverly illustrated on these pages a couple of days ago, has now reached a staggering £700m.[LNB]With interest alone costing a crippling £70m per year, United probably wouldn't rank in the top four European transfer bidders.[LNB]In fact, they may well be simultaneously the most successful, yet broke, club in existence. They are being propped up on the manager's success. Once he walks, catastrophe awaits.[LNB]'I don't see diamonds,' said Ferguson on Friday as he assessed the transfer window. No, but I'll bet he sees plenty of fool's gold.[LNB]They even called off the curling on Friday. Are we that useless in a cold snap? [LNB]If this country ever held the Winter Olympics, I suspect they'd cancel it because of health and safety concerns over the snow and ice. [LNB]Of course, if nobody is prepared to spend silly money, then nobody's receiving it either. And that hurts the clubs who can't even afford to maintain a fa?e of 'business as usual'.[LNB]Portsmouth will, in all likelihood, go into administration in the weeks ahead if they cannot sell their best remaining talent. Even then, they have to find £60m from somewhere as relegation beckons.[LNB]West Ham owe a staggering £83m in total; Crystal Palace owe £30m, with the HM Revenue and Customs demanding £1.2m now; Cardiff City also owe the taxman £1.2m, and Notts County, where there is always big talk and another 'significant investor', face a winding-up order over a debt of £600,000.[LNB]Unless Alex McLeish fancies spending his latest Birmingham windfall on the south coast, or Roberto Mancini takes a sudden liking to east London goods, it could be curtains for someone.[LNB] Brazilian beat: Afonso Alves never justified his hefty transfer fee for Boro[LNB]But, by rights, some of these clubs should have gone out of existence before now. Arsene Wenger, saddled with a stadium loan of his own, went so far as to call the way some sustain themselves as 'half cheating'.[LNB]Only there's no halves about it. In the same way you can't be 'half married', or 'half dead', you can't half cheat.[LNB]Some of the financial deceit that has taken place is cheating, plain and simple. They call it business, but it's still cheating.[LNB]And the people who are being robbed are the fans. They will be the ones to lose out when this financial mess comes tumbling down around football's ears. It's a cold world right now.[LNB] Parading Vieira at Manchester City is so last decadeIt's been a bit like a Sex And The City appreciation society at Manchester City press calls lately.[LNB]An amusing number of male sportswriters are truly smitten by the looks of new manager Roberto Mancini.[LNB]Retro move: Mancini parades new 'old' boy Vieira[LNB]Words like 'dashing', 'handsome', 'slick' and 'chic' are sprinkled through articles on the Italian boss. His suits are admired and the scarf wrapped around his neck is seen as a playful fashion statement.[LNB]One journalist gasped: 'Jose Mourinho has the better jawline, Mancini better hair. Both are handsome, well-dressed men who embody continental chic'. The reporter then ran around the press room, clapping his hands excitedly and squealing 'Ooo, chase me!' at the top of his voice. Probably.[LNB]At this new, fashionable City, they don't hold outdated tactical briefings on how to defend the cross. They call it 'La Croix, sweetie'.[LNB]But just when the word 'season' was beginning to take on a whole new meaning, Mancini decided to rifle through the back of his wardrobe and pull out the equivalent of his favourite old cardigan.[LNB]I'm talking about Patrick Vieira, a player Mancini trusted at Inter Milan, and is now planning to return.[LNB]In his prime Vieira was a stupendous player. I like him as a man, too, and found the ex-Arsenal enforcer easygoing company when I went to interview him in Milan last year. But on the pitch he is not so much last season, as positively retro. Now 33 and troubled by constant, niggling little injuries, he failed to impress Jose Mourinho.[LNB]The pace in Serie A is more thoughtful and it's possible to preserve yourself, sit deep in midfield and mop up a few stray balls.[LNB] Last laugh? Mancini will be hoping Vieira silences his Manchester City critics[LNB]But returning to the Premier League after four-and-a-half years, he will find the game passing him at a hectic pace.[LNB]So far Mancini has been tweaking Mark Hughes's signings with some aplomb. Others will follow, like another Inter cast-off, 33-year-old Ivan Cordoba.[LNB]But it's tired window dressing and some way from the bold fashion statements we might have expected.[LNB] Geoff Boycott has written to Manchester United chief executive David Gill recommending Michael Owen would benefit from feng shui.[LNB]This is not some rude Chinese exhortation where 'shui' translates as 'off'.[LNB]All change please: Cricket legend Geoff Boycott believes Michael Owen would benefit from feng shui[LNB]It's a genuine offer of help. Boycott believes the misfiring, bit-part, ex-England striker would benefit from the pseudo science where doors and furniture are re-arranged to enhance 'positive energy'.[LNB]Now I enjoy Boycott's no-nonsense approach to cricket. He has never struck me as a perfumed-joss-sticks, what-colour-is-my-aura kind of guy. But peculiarly for a normally pragmatic man, he claimed:[LNB]'It might help Owen with his string of injuries. I recommended feng shui to Keith Bradshaw, the MCC chief executive, who has made a good recovery from cancer.[LNB]'And I have a feng shui master that I use and I was encouraged to sleep with my head pointing south-east.'[LNB]Unfortunately, the part of his anatomy Boycott was speaking from at the time may have been pointing north-west. But I needed a second opinion, so I consulted my own feng shui expert about this furniture re-positioning lark.[LNB] Moving the goalposts: boycott wants Owen firing on all cylinders for England[LNB]Over a bottle of the Chinese ancient medicine, Tsing Tao, this wise soul told me: 'Owen must journey towards the twin pillars of white wood to find the net of prosperity and happiness.'[LNB]Yes, move the goalposts. We could feng shui them a bit nearer. That might just work.[LNB]What do you think? let Des know by leaving a comment below More from Des Kelly... Des Kelly: The age old debate. Can Schumacher and Woods cut it?01/01/10 Des Kelly's Boxing Day quiz: Did John Terry's dad have snow this Christmas?25/12/09 DES KELLY: Our big fat zero without sport18/12/09 DES KELLY: Silence is golden? It depends on who is doing the talking...12/12/09 Des Kelly: No pleasure in hunting a wounded Tiger Woods04/12/09 DES KELLY: Why Stoke ride high in a league of happiness27/11/09 DES KELLY: Dishonest Henry drives us down a road of cameras20/11/09 DES KELLY: Hounding Sir Alex Ferguson is an awful Prospect13/11/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE [LNB]
