Source: Daily_Mail
Patrick Collins: Portsmouth will survive only if it suits Premier League brand
Four weeks have passed since the man who runs the Premier Leaguereassured us that our fears were groundless. Debts were manageable,clubs were financially responsible and we shouldn't be worrying ourheads about the continuing prosperity of the greatest competition inthe history of football.[LNB]Richard Scudamore has always believed that his role is to sit backand encourage. 'I'm sure you don't want the Premier League running yourclub,' he wrote. 'Club directors have the opportunity to run theirclubs how they see fit.' And he thought they were doing it rather well.[LNB]As the chief executive put it: 'Ask your dad or your grandad to namethe football clubs that they used to watch. They're all still here andlong may that continue.' You could imagine him awaiting a round ofapplause and a vote of thanks.[LNB]I thought it a complacent, patronising view but it reflected Scudamore's honest opinion.[LNB]Complacent and patronising: Scudamore[LNB]After all, he brings a laissez-faire, Thatcherite approach to his organisation: let the market rule and the weakest perish.[LNB]But four weeks is an eternity in football. We now learn that thesame Scudamore has been whispering pretty promises to the taxman, whocame within a hairsbreadth of closing down Portsmouth at the High Courtlast week. And he may spend much of this weekend calling Premier Leagueclubs for their agreement to advance payments which Portsmouth may bedue at the end of this season and, if relegated, at the start of next. [LNB]The money is considerable: £27million is the minimum Portsmouth canexpect by the beginning of August. That sum would meet the club'scurrent tax bill of about £12m along with additional arrears they mayhave incurred. Disaster avoided, solution achieved. [LNB]Now, some will see this as compassionate react ion to Portsmouth's potential extinction.[LNB]They will regard it as recognition that a grand old club must not becut adrift, that rules may be amended, and that this great game of oursreally does have a big, endlessly generous heart.[LNB]I fear they are quite wrong.[LNB] More from Patrick Collins... PATRICK COLLINS: Capello makes short work of a masterpiece of brutality06/02/10 Patrick Collins: Salute the power and glory of this golden sporting era30/01/10 PATRICK COLLINS: Carlos Tevez and Gary Neville must be wary of playing up to football's lunatic fringe 23/01/10 PATRICK COLLINS: Cricket's moral maze lets cheats like Graeme Smith prosper16/01/10 PATRICK COLLINS: Is it time for Ferguson to ride into the sunset?09/01/10 PATRICK COLLINS: Shame on the men who have made a basket case out of poor old Pompey02/01/10 PATRICK COLLINS: Why sixth is no good to the man from Nike19/12/09 PATRICK COLLINS: At least Jessica won't lose out to an Angel12/12/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE Scudamore has been forced to adopt this course in a bid to protectThe Brand. If Portsmouth should go to the wall, then the Premier Leagueimage would be seriously dented in places like Beijing and Bangkok. The blow might easily be reflected in fewer replica shirtssold, fewer television subscriptions bought. If Portsmouth die, theneverybody becomes a little poorer.[LNB]But his argument will not be easily made to the people running theother 19 teams. You may be quite sure that every club have calculatedto a nicety just how Portsmouth's demise would impact on their Leaguefortunes. The notion of solidarity will not even cross the minds of thevarious sheiks,oligarchs and leveraged leeches. I suspect that Scudamore will find a good many mobiles 'on message'.[LNB]And, in fairness, it is difficult to blame them.[LNB]Since its birth in 1992, the Premier League has been a brazen celebration of aggressive greed.[LNB]The old co-operative of the Football League, with its woolly ideasof fair shares and mutual benefits, was swept aside by a system inwhich the rich became immeasurably richer by annexing television'smillions, while leaving the poor to squabble over the petty cash. [LNB]We have lived with this grubby imbalance for so long it is difficult to remember how things were in that earlier, more equitable era. In these circumstances, Scudamore is unlikely to receive a sympathetic hearing, even from those who pick up his call. Why, they will ask, this curious solicitude for a basket case?[LNB]And if he thought the intervention was warranted, then why did he not intervene several Portsmouth owners ago; with the spendthrift Gaydamak, the ludicrous Al-Fahim, the anonymous Al-Faraj, or the latest bright spark Chainrai, who marked his ownership by declaring his desire to sell.[LNB]They may have been largely hopeless, they may have been surrounded by people even more inadequate than themselves, but they would surely have valued some clear guidelines, intelligent advice and practical assistance. Instead, they heard the 'I'm sure you don't want the Premier League running your club' mantra. Non-intervention reigned and Portsmouth now face the consequences of their own, internal folly.[LNB]Personally, I believe the Premier League long ago gave up on Pompey. They saw the people who were running the place and they decided that the cause was hopeless. And I further believe that any attempt by the chief executive to reschedule payments is no more than sleight of hand, an attempt to paint a caring face on free-market realism. [LNB]The reason I say that is contained in a single sentence, spoken by a powerful man and curtly dismissing the notion of equity in the national sport.[LNB]'Nobody ever said that football was fair,' said Richard Scudamore.[LNB] [LNB]'The plans were right and the dream was right but unfortunately the money wasn't there' Peter Trembling, the former chairman of Notts County. [LNB]That splendidly revealing sentence reminds us of an ancient sketch, with Peter Cook as a casting director in search of a new Tarzan and Dudley Moore as a one-legged actor, hoping to land the role.[LNB]Cook: 'Need I say, with overmuch emphasis, that it is in the leg division that you are deficient.'[LNB]Moore: 'The leg division?'[LNB]Cook: 'Yes, the leg division. You are deficient in it, to the tune of one. Your right leg I like. I like your right leg. A lovely leg for the role. That's what I said when I saw you come in. I said, 'A lovely leg for the role'. I've got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is neither have you.'[LNB]How much trouble might have been avoided had a kindly bank manager been similarly frank with poor old Trembling. [LNB]'Loved your plans, Pete. Wonderful plans. As for the dream, I couldn't fault it. But, and I really hate to mention this: where's the money?' It was a question which has occupied many a mind these past few months, as our oldest club opened its doors to Sol Campbell, Sven Goran Eriksson and an increasingly unlikely cast of characters. [LNB]Ambitious schemes were aired, false promises were made and enormous debts were allowed to accumulate. Wages soared, tax bills went unpaid. The name of the club's ultimate owner was never publicly revealed, yet somehow he passed a 'fit and proper' test. And the carousel kept on turning, with Trembling and his chums barking at the passing punters. [LNB]But last week, the gears crashed and the music died. Pete and his fellow financial wizards sold our oldest club to a man named Ray Trew. For £1. The dream was dead, leaving the County fans to hope while fearing the worst.[LNB]'Fear and Trembling'; it is a phrase which invites a sad little snigger. Rather like 'Fit and Proper'.[LNB] [LNB]Savage takes being superficial to new depthsI always thought of Robbie Savage as a tetchy scuffler with an immoderate talent for self-promotion. But he insists there is more to him than that. [LNB]For he has become a media person, the kind who refers to himself in the third person: 'Robbie Savage is the overall package. He likes doing the television, he likes doing the radio, likes being in the headlines.' [LNB]You get the drift.[LNB] Media darling: Savage[LNB]But he loves football. People don't realise how much. 'They just see the hair, the teeth, the tan, the big house the car, the Dolce & Gabbana clothes, the model wife and houses all over the world.' As he suggests, people can be very superficial.[LNB]Somebody observed that football would be a duller place without him. Personally, I can't wait to find out.[LNB] [LNB]Pundits fret and former captains fume at Andrew Strauss's decision to miss England's trip to Bangladesh. Yet the replacement skipper is notably relaxed. [LNB]'There is a huge amount of cricket coming up, he thought he needed a rest and this is the best opportunity to do it,' says Alastair Cook.[LNB]'We've had three major series back-to-back and it has taken its toll. He knows in his heart that he has[LNB]made the correct decision for himself and his team.' [LNB]So, not only eloquent but absolutely right. We sense that the side is in good hands.[LNB] [LNB]
