Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

It has been getting me down recently just how many Premier League teams are being bought out by foreign investors with money to waste, who have no sense of the history built up at the club over the countless years prior to their arrival.

I suppose it all started with Chelsea, who went from perennial upper-mid table challengers to consistent league contenders in the space of a year, due to the bottomless pit that is Roman Abramovich's wallet.

That seemed to spark a number of takeovers, from the American owned Manchester United, Liverpool, and Aston Villa, to the Icelandic contingent that controls West Ham United.

Man City now find themselves under their second set of foreign owners, after Abu Dhabi United Group bought the club from the disaster zone that was Thaksin Shinawatra. And their first action...table a bid of £35 million for Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov.

And this is what gets to me, British football (to a lesser extent all European football) is merely a playground for the rich. The quality of a club's scouts, youth academy, and coaches doesn't really matter anymore. as many clubs seem to be able to pay whatever it costs to get the best players.

No need to give our future England star a game because we've just bought our new £35 million striker, might as well sell our academy players to Barnsley where they'll never have a chance to improve enough to play for their country. His Scouse accent was annoying anyway, much better to have someone who can't even speak English.

NBA/NFL-style salary caps should be introduced to the league to deter richer clubs merely paying over the odds, in terms of wages, to attract players who will be used as a backup at best. Steve Sidwell at Chelsea was a clear example—the guy barely played but still signed because of the money (not a bash on Sidwell, he does have a family to look after). 

A salary cap would force clubs to think about their signings a little more and would help make the league more exciting, as it would most likely put a stop to the dominance of the top four clubs and add a touch of much needed variety to the oh so monotonous parade that is the Premier League season.

Also, have you noticed the amount of managers that have been fired since foreign ownership became so common? The owners are pumping so much money into the clubs that if success isn't instant, someone has to pack their bags and take the fall.

Sven-Goran Eriksson, for example, managed a top ten finish with Man City last year (a more than respectable effort considering their form before he arrived) only to find himself let go in the most unceremonious manner. 

Do these owners not understand that it takes time for even the best players to settle in?  Do they not understand the gulf in talent between a Man City and a Man Utd?  Do they not know it takes at least a season for a new manager to implement their way of doing things, both on and off the pitch?

Not all foreign money in the British game is bad. Randy Lerner at Aston Villa seems to "get it", and has given Martin O'Neill a lot of time to build the club from the foundations up. This has put Villa in a stable financial position, that means they'll be able to survive if he decides to leave the club.

Chelsea, on the other hand, would be stuck down the river without a paddle if Abramovich left and wasn't replaced by an equally wealthy figure. The Russian seems to be thinking along the lines of "stuff the stadium, stuff the academy, stuff the fans, just get me the best player in the world now—even if it is going to cost £30 million for a player the wrong side of thirty—and while we're at it...raise the ticket prices, a lot." 

He will get bored eventually, he'll take his money and leave Chelsea to pay the bill without the facilities to generate the cash. 

Anyway, that's my two cents.