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Lineker's Left Foot

Have Chelsea ruined football?

By Lineker's Left Foot, in General Football and Sport

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Lineker's Left Foot

Lineker's Left Foot

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Posted

With Chelsea seemingly marching towards the Premiership - and possibly of course all competitions - and with their limitless funding, do you think this is bad for football?

I would live and die as a supporter for the Leicester shirt, but as a football obsessive I'm now getting fed up with Chelsea dominance (and they are lucky at times) and rising ticket prices. I'm nearly giving up on watching professional football because I don't believe that Leicester - without an Abramovich mark 2 - can really ever realise my ambition of becoming Premiership champions.

Do you think it can go wrong for Chelsea and ensure that football goes more romantic again?

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davieG

davieG

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With Chelsea seemingly marching towards the Premiership - and possibly of course all competitions - and with their limitless funding, do you think this is bad for football?

I would live and die as a supporter for the Leicester shirt, but as a football obsessive I'm now getting fed up with Chelsea dominance (and they are lucky at times) and rising ticket prices. I'm nearly giving up on watching professional football because I don't believe that Leicester - without an Abramovich mark 2 - can really ever realise my ambition of becoming Premiership champions.

Do you think it can go wrong for Chelsea and ensure that football goes more romantic again?

It's not just Abramovich & Chelsea it's the overall distribution of funds, I think the Champions League has done the most damage and has ensured that not only does practically every league in Europe have a 1,2 or 3 horse race but it has reduced the value of National Knock out cups like our FA Cup. Furthermore it is now impacting on international football with clubs/players giving the Champions league priority in terms of appearances and money generation.

So until there is a massive change in the way money is distributed/used it will only get worse, we should take a leaf out of the NFL in the USA where the emphasis is on making sure the leagues are competitve. The only way I can see that happening is if the fans stop attending in ever greater numbers and let the powers that be know that we want a level playing field. Pandering to so called super stars needs to be toned down considerably. however in a society where Big Brother and mediocraty prevails it wont be in my life time. :(

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Anish

Anish

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Well said Davieg. The fans need to take a stand by not attending football matches and not funding this catch-22 cycle. Chelsea's dominance is no good for football, especially with all the promising players they have that struggle to get a game. Shaun Wright Phillips would be a starter in every other Premiership team other than Chelsea and he is doing his England prospects no good at all just sitting on the bench and coming on for the last 20-30 mins. And Chelsea needn't bother having an academy or youth team cos their youth team players will never break through into the 1st team when they have Abramovich's millions to spend whenever they are slighly weak in one area.

If it wasn't for Chelsea the Premiership would be quite interesting this season, but I can't see that being the case.

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Guest

Guest

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I've been saying for a long time that money is killing the game. As well as knockout competitions, soon national leagues will be devalued as more and more money is poured into the Champions League. There is already talk of making the UEFA Cup a league too.

Soon, there will be pressure for the big teams to abandon their respective domestic competitions in favour of a European Super League, which will attract all the big name players, and bick bucks sponsorship.

With less money, and dwindling interest, this could spell disaster for professional clubs in the lower divisions.

On the bright side, we'd have more of a chance of becoming PL champions.

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CasinoGee

CasinoGee

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Is this true Terminator X. If you are true on your sources then you are the bearer of the best news in the country. Up the Foxes !!

MOSCOW - Roman Abramovich, Russia's richest man and owner of London's Chelseai Football Club, quietly lost a court case in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) last week. But the sound of the judge's ruling is about to toll right round the world. For the first time in one of the most successful careers in the world of what Karl Marx once called primitive capital accumulation, Abramovich is facing a court order, outside Russia, to explain how he and his oil companies seized control of a Russian oilfield the owner has accused him of stealing.

At stake in court is a group of oilfields in Khanty-Mansiisk known as Priobskoye, worth about US$4 billion. The value of the acquisition, allegedly masterminded by Abramovich two years ago, which the court has said it will now adjudicate, is about $2 billion. Before the court rules on the evidence, however, and most embarrassing and serious for Abramovich personally, he has been ordered to reveal where he has hidden the proceeds - along with every asset he owns worth more than $1 million.

Until now, Abramovich has been able to evade all claims of fraud and other illegalities alleged against Millhouse, his United Kingdom-based asset holding company, Sibneft, his principal cash cow and oil producer, and the myriad associated companies registered in tax havens across the globe. Abramovich's spokesman, John Mann, told an English newspaper this month that "any attempt to drag Mr Abramovich into litigation would be misguided, since he is not on Sibneft's board and had no role in its dealings with Sibir".

Sibir Energy Plc, an oil producer listed on the Alternative Investment Market in London, has already filed charges of massive fraud against the Abramovich group in Russian courts. These are proceeding, although Abramovich has been winning on his home ground. Sibir's financial statement for 2004 indicates that, minus the benefit of the Priobskoye oilfield, it had revenues of about $320 million, earning a pre-tax profit of about $40 million.

Sibir is principally owned by Chalva Tschigirinsky, a Moscow entrepreneur. The Priobskoye oilfield is a vital asset in a partnership that Tschigirinsky has with the Moscow city government and the Moscow oil refinery to create a vertically integrated structure supplying the city with petroleum products refined from its own crude. Sibir is accusing Abramovich and his companies of fraudulently diluting and converting its 50% stake in the Priobskoye asset to less than 1%.

In August 2002, in a fierce battle between Abramovich, Tschigirinsky and the mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, Abramovich's Sibneft tried, but failed to take control of the refinery. For a time Sibneft cut off part of its crude oil supply. Abramovich has personally made no secret that his subsequent takeover of Sibir's stake in Priovskoye was, as he personally told Luzhkov, retaliation for losing the refinery battle.

The High Court of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has taken jurisdiction over Sibir's claim against the Russian oligarch because in his effort to spirit the asset out of Russian control, Abramovich used several BVI companies he secretly controls. They are listed in the court order as Gregory Trading, Richard Enterprises, Shaw Invest & Finance and Carroll Trading. All are said to be located at the same address - Trident Chambers, Wickhams Cay, Road Town in Tortola.

The court has appointed an independent receiver to take over the shares of three of the BVI companies that are part of the fraud claim. The other companies, including entities registered in Cyprus and Panama, as well as Abramovich himself, have been ordered not to make any move to shift the shares outside the BVI court's jurisdiction, or the control of the companies that presently hold them. The proceeds from oil sales currently under way from the oilfield have also been frozen.

Details of Sibir's claim in the BVI court, and of the reply by Abramovich's lawyers, are still under court seal. What has already been publicly disclosed by both sides is that Sibir and Sibneft were equal, 50%, stakeholders in a joint venture called Sibneft Yugra to develop the Priobskoye area. Sibneft was to fund the development while Sibir and its Russian operating company, Yugraneft, were to repay Sibneft and then share the proceeds of oil sales equally. However, according to Sibir, Abramovich, his associate David Davidovich and their subordinates secretly converted Sibir's and Yugraneft's stakes into holdings of the BVI companies and others for Abramovich's benefit.

Speaking for Abramovich, Mann has claimed that "everything that Sibir has done related to Sibneft Yugra has been within the framework of a set of agreements between our shareholders and their shareholders". Sibir's chief executive officer Henry Cameron has been reported in a Moscow newspaper as saying, "This is all nonsense. We would like them to disclose to us what those agreements are."

The BVI judge has ordered Abramovich companies to produce these agreements in court and reveal "when, from whom and for what consideration it acquired interests in the share capital of Sibneft-Yugra presently registered in its name". In addition, the companies have been ordered to hand over their banking details. Although Sibneft makes its financial accounts public, the others don't. If forced to comply with the BVI court, the elaborate system through which Abramovich directs billions of dollars of oil revenues will be exposed for the first time. The evidence may then be used by UK authorities in London to investigate whether any money-laundering statutes have been violated by Abramovich's high-profile spending in the UK, notably on Chelsea.

"We have not acted in any way illegally," Mann has told a London newspaper. "All court cases so far have confirmed that." He was referring to the courts of the Khanty-Mansiisk region and the Moscow Arbitration Court. The decisions, which have gone both ways, are still pending on appeal.

In her ruling on Sibir's claim no 174/05, issued on Wednesday, and obtained from the court record in Tortola late Friday, Judge Indra Charles of the BVI court requires Abramovich to file an affidavit "stating the value, location and details of all his assets exceeding $1 million in value wheresoever situated and whether in...his own name or not and whether solely or jointly owned, giving the value, location and details of all such assets." The judge has set a deadline of July 22 to comply. If he fails, Abramovich and his companies face serious contempt of court charges that can be enforced in England. According to the court order, Abramovich has two personal UK addresses: Flat 2, 39 Lowndes Square, London SW1, and Fyning Hill Estate, Rogate, Petersfield, Hampshire.

The Sibir charge that Abramovich is a fraudster is not the first of its kind against him. In September 2003, Abramovich had been behind a transaction in which a company he secretly controlled sold a gold deposit called Maiskoye to Highland Gold, a London goldminer also controlled by men close to Abramovich, on terms that had been financially sweetened by the Chukotka regional administration that Abramovich headed as governor. At the time, Abramovich's spokesman Mann claimed that the seller of Maiskoye "is not connected in any way whatsoever with Abramovich". Subsequent admissions by executives of Highland Gold revealed that Abramovich was the seller of Maiskoye. Russian and UK officials reportedly examined the charges in 2004, but took no action.

That's where I got it from.

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Jordan

Jordan

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So until there is a massive change in the way money is distributed/used it will only get worse, we should take a leaf out of the NFL in the USA where the emphasis is on making sure the leagues are competitve.

Apples and oranges.

In the NFL, all teams share the revenues equally in their massive television deal. ALL games are televised, and even those that aren't nationally televised are on the local affiliate stations of the national network channels (for example, CBS, which has a nationally-aired program schedule but is not one channel for the whole country--each city has its own affiliate station that airs local news/local NFL & college games). The league has such a strong following that attendance is great across the board (even though there are only eight home regular-season games). Now, satellite and digital cable programs are becoming very popular and they offer "NFL Sunday Ticket," which shows the nine-or-so games that aren't broadcast in one's area live (more money for the league). Add the corporate sponsorships and you've got a real self-perpetuating cash cow. Therefore, there's already some degree of financial parity all of the teams, and that makes the league's salary cap (total team payroll must be within a certain range and must not exceed the maximum limit) an easily-implementable and wildly successful tool.

Not only that, but the NFL is a self-contained universe. There's a historically successful team in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but there isn't a team in Los Angeles! Its player-feeder system does not come from team youth academies, but rather exclusively from the college football system. All players from that system who wish to enter the NFL must enter a draft before the season, and the first round of the draft is the reverse order of how the teams finished in the previous season. There is no minor-league (besides NFL Europe, which is pretty much a training system for players who need more work to become full-time NFL material).

Such a system absolutely cannot work in England at this point without a serious overhaul of the game's structure that would surely upset football's consumer-base. First, it would mean the death of the current league system as we know it because there would need to be a self-contained top tier with the teams located in areas that would provide the largest fan bases for their respective teams. Relegation/promotion, what has been an "invisible hand" in regulating the value of teams reative to their on-field performances (and vice versa), would be rendered obsolete as it would upset the balance of revenue distribution and the self-contained system of the top league. The creation of such a league would instantly devalue the Football League teams and reduce their revenues by such a significant amount that they would no longer be able to function in their present roles and would be forced to become minor-league teams for the Premier League v2.0.

It's hard to overcome the rising tide of giant corporate economics and I can't think of any major plans that would work, there are a few small things that could be done to ease the current crisis but still ensure that the clubs make money. One little idea that I have awarding the winners of the FA Cup England's fourth spot in the Champions League. Of course, the big clubs will cry foul, but 1) it is weighted in favor of the top two tiers, 2) one of the big clubs usually wins it anyway, 3) it would instantly bring a lot more interest and money into the competition, which would benefit all clubs that participate in the competition (even for one game) and 4) Even though I can understand objections that a team can qualify for the Champions League after winning only six games in a tournament that owes a large part to "luck of the draw," the winner is still conceivably the "champion" of all English clubs and winner of the oldest football competition in the world.

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davieG

davieG

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Apples and oranges.

In the NFL, all teams share the revenues equally in their massive television deal. ALL games are televised, and even those that aren't nationally televised are on the local affiliate stations of the national network channels (for example, CBS, which has a nationally-aired program schedule but is not one channel for the whole country--each city has its own affiliate station that airs local news/local NFL & college games). The league has such a strong following that attendance is great across the board (even though there are only eight home regular-season games). Now, satellite and digital cable programs are becoming very popular and they offer "NFL Sunday Ticket," which shows the nine-or-so games that aren't broadcast in one's area live (more money for the league). Add the corporate sponsorships and you've got a real self-perpetuating cash cow. Therefore, there's already some degree of financial parity all of the teams, and that makes the league's salary cap (total team payroll must be within a certain range and must not exceed the maximum limit) an easily-implementable and wildly successful tool.

Not only that, but the NFL is a self-contained universe. There's a historically successful team in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but there isn't a team in Los Angeles! Its player-feeder system does not come from team youth academies, but rather exclusively from the college football system. All players from that system who wish to enter the NFL must enter a draft before the season, and the first round of the draft is the reverse order of how the teams finished in the previous season. There is no minor-league (besides NFL Europe, which is pretty much a training system for players who need more work to become full-time NFL material).

Such a system absolutely cannot work in England at this point without a serious overhaul of the game's structure that would surely upset football's consumer-base. First, it would mean the death of the current league system as we know it because there would need to be a self-contained top tier with the teams located in areas that would provide the largest fan bases for their respective teams. Relegation/promotion, what has been an "invisible hand" in regulating the value of teams reative to their on-field performances (and vice versa), would be rendered obsolete as it would upset the balance of revenue distribution and the self-contained system of the top league. The creation of such a league would instantly devalue the Football League teams and reduce their revenues by such a significant amount that they would no longer be able to function in their present roles and would be forced to become minor-league teams for the Premier League v2.0.

It's hard to overcome the rising tide of giant corporate economics and I can't think of any major plans that would work, there are a few small things that could be done to ease the current crisis but still ensure that the clubs make money. One little idea that I have awarding the winners of the FA Cup England's fourth spot in the Champions League. Of course, the big clubs will cry foul, but 1) it is weighted in favor of the top two tiers, 2) one of the big clubs usually wins it anyway, 3) it would instantly bring a lot more interest and money into the competition, which would benefit all clubs that participate in the competition (even for one game) and 4) Even though I can understand objections that a team can qualify for the Champions League after winning only six games in a tournament that owes a large part to "luck of the draw," the winner is still conceivably the "champion" of all English clubs and winner of the oldest football competition in the world.

Well I wouldn't, nay couldn't argue the detail you have put down as you are obviously more conversant with it than I could ever, would ever want to be. Never the less I'm not asking for a carbon copy just a change of emphasis to ensure competitveness.

At the moment it's all about making the bigger clubs in England bigger/richer on the pretect that they need the money to compete in the Champions League, That's the basis on which the Premier League was created, but this has all been done at the expense of ALL other football from the also rans in the Premier to grassroots football to the national team and not only in England but in vitually every country in Europe.

The first criteria of any decisions relating to how football is run should be "will it maintain or currently improve competitiveness?" as in an equall distribution of core funds producing a level playing field.

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Jordan

Jordan

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Here's an interesting way to look at the current haves/have nots situation in English football:

Map highlighting the location of the 20 Premiership clubs

Leicester's the eighth-largest city in England, right? But notice how the make-up of Premiership clubs is almost entirely concentrated in London, West Midlands, Merseyside/Yorkshire/Greater Manchester/Lancashire area and the Tyne & Wear (though I'm 100% you all know this without even thinking of a map). However, Every county/metro area in England that has a Premiership presence has a larger population that of Leicestershire+the city of Leicester. (Of course Leeds and Sheffield don't have teams, but Leeds crashed out in financial ruin and Sheff Yoo seems to be on their way up).

Of course the teams in higher-populated areas have always been more successful, but at this moment, there seems to be a strict demarcation along a city's population and the size of its suburban hinterlands and the limits to which its football club can reach. Only lil' ol' Pompey sits by itslef on the south coast, blessed by Milan Mandaric's wallet in its recent history, but how long will they last? What does this spell for clubs like Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Forest, Ipswich, Norwich etc.?

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Jordan

Jordan

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I didn't know Leicester is the eigth largest city in England. Where did you get that from?

I guess it's not. I looked at this graph: http://www.citypopulation.de/UK.html

When I should have looked at this: http://www.citypopulation.de/UK-UA.html

I don't know why this whole population thing is quite confusing.

Stupid Yank. :D

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