Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Samuel: Why is puffed-up Lord Triesman so smug? Simples!
There is a reason that Lord Triesman, chairman of the FA, is referred to in this column as Lord PleasedMan. It is because in the world of sports administration it is almost impossible to find a figure quite as delighted with himself and his intellect as the gentleman at the helm of English football. Whether lecturing on governance or finance, PleasedMan is visibly thrilled with the way his mind works.
‘I am an economist,’ he announced in an interview this week and those of you with pensions, savings or mortgages will instantly appreciate how prescient and insightful that particular employment group have been in recent years.
As it was, speaking as a man with a £106million black hole in his accounts, PleasedMan sounded about as convincing as Aleksandr, the meerkat from that insurance advert. Simples.
This time last year, he was busy scoring points off the Premier League while cosying up to Michel Platini, president of UEFA, on the subject of financial regulation. Then PleasedMan fell quiet. This may have been because it became apparent that his bid for the World Cup in 2018 was completely reliant on the use of the stadiums the clubs had built at huge cost and, without their support, there was as much chance of hosting it on Aruba as in England.
Alternatively, Triesman, as a keen economist, may have got wind of the impending financial maelstrom caused by the collapse of television partners Setanta and the disaffection of sponsors E.ON, as a result of which £106m went down the chute.
Either way, he withdrew. Now he is back, breaking cover on the eve of England’s qualification for the World Cup and no doubt emboldened by what is seen as a détente between English football and UEFA, with even Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea, now endorsing Platini’s proposals to link club spending to turnover. PleasedMan, naturally, sees this as vindication of his comments condemning debt levels in English football.
‘I thought we were getting into a difficult period economically and I expressed that view,’ he said, with no little pride. ‘Although I don’t take credit for it, I think I was right to say it. I was quite concerned with some of the clubs further down the pyramid. I had Rotherham United in mind.’
PleasedMan’s pals in the Government, some of the leading banks in the world and the odd country, like Iceland — and that small clubs in the lower leagues were always financially endangered, even in what are now seen as the good old days, the FA chairman and his allies at UEFA are missing one very significant point.
They cannot have Abramovich onside and still be right. They cannot have the wealthiest clubs and club owners backing their view and still be looking out for the little guy. Nobody gets to control a large chunk of the mineral reserves in Russia without being totally out for himself and Abramovich has worked out what critics of financial regulation have known all along: that linking spending to turnover cements superiority, it does not undermine it.
The Champions League is worth a minimum £30m each year to the English qualifiers. So if everybody can only spend what they generate, then Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal will not only have better gate, television and sponsorship revenue than the rest, they will also have £30m more from UEFA. So they will qualify for the Champions League every year to guarantee extra spending power. Success will be pre-ordained.
Tough luck, Sunderland. Don’t bother, Everton. When that financial drawbridge pulls up you will be on the wrong side of the moat for ever. And this is the system PleasedMan endorses on behalf of Rotherham. Some economist.
Do you want an example of a project that ignores all the rules of financial prudence? It is the FA’s big one: Wembley Stadium. The last time England played Croatia there in 2007 the pitch was an appalling mess in the wake of six pop concerts and an NFL match, which contributed to England’s defeat and failure to qualify for the 2008 European Championship.
Brandon Jacobs #27 of the Giants is brought down during the NFL Bridgestone International Series match between New York Giants and Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium on October 28, 2007
Cutting up: The Wembley turf is the loser as the New York Giants face the Miami Dolphins in October 2007 - less than a month before the crucial qualifier against Croatia
On other occasions monster trucks have invaded the pitch, so desperate are the FA to recoup their outlay. The cut that Wembley takes from the marquee matches it stages is also artificially inflated to subsidise the stadium.
Wembley receives 65 per cent of the gate receipts for an FA Cup final and the Football
League confirm that 28 per cent of the gate receipts for the Carling Cup final, the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final and its play-off matches go to Wembley, almost twice the rate that was being paid at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Wembley has the League over a barrel because it knows that to reject the national stadium for annual trips to Wales would take its competitions even further from the mainstream. So, despite paying through the nose, the League instead chose to become the FA’s biggest customers, with a 20-year contract guaranteeing five matches each season.
Yet that did not stop the FA successfully tendering for the 2011 UEFA Champions
League final, which is scheduled for the Saturday of play-off weekend. The dispute
with the Football League remains unresolved, but it seems no way to treat your No 1 client.
Two competitors compete in the Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium
Fit for purpose? Wembley has twice hosted the Race of Champions
PleasedMan also now presumes to take charge of the fit and proper persons test, saying it should be the FA who investigate the finances and backgrounds of potential investors in English football clubs. Fair enough, but it is a pity the FA were not proactive in this area.
Sir John Smith, a former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, first suggested this in an FA report published in 1997, yet it took six years for the matter to be seriously discussed, and the governing body were beaten to the punch by the Football League, who introduced their regulations in 2004.
That is not PleasedMan’s fault but why has it taken five years from that point for the FA to take charge? Now the scheme is up and running, PleasedMan wants his organisation centre stage. Some leader.
The FA chairman is comfortable with too many double standards to lecture the rest of football. He preaches financial caution while overseeing a venture that could not have been built without incurring massive debt, and talks of caring for the smaller community clubs while advocating a system that will lock in a cabal of the rich, elite and largely foreign-owned.
He wishes to decide who is fit and proper, yet earlier this year when there was controversy around Matthew Spring’s transfer from Luton Town to Charlton Athletic, nobody from FA governance would come to the telephone to explain third-party interference rules ‘in case they trip themselves up’. Very impressive.
The response of the Premier League to the collapse of Setanta was to agree a new deal with ESPN, a superior broadcaster. The response of the FA was to snipe at the Premier League for jettisoning Setanta before its doomed rescue package was resolved.
At the moment, England’s match against Ukraine next month has no outlet and there is talk of it being available on the internet or in cinemas. No doubt television’s main players are waiting to see if there is anything on the game before setting a price.
This is not England’s package to sell, of course, but it indicates the uncertain environment in which the FA resides financially, despite the pin-sharp economist at the wheel.
Still, tonight England should qualify for the 2010 World Cup with two games to spare by beating Croatia, so never let it be said that the principled, financially practical and free-thinking PleasedMan does not know how to succeed in football. You just pay a bloke from another country and all his mates an absolutely humungous salary to come and run your team because all your coaches are useless. Simples.
