Money over Brawn and Brains

If Horseracing is the sport of kings then Formula 1 must be the game of the filthy rich. World Champion Jenson Button’s tyres have barely cooled and he is already holding to ransom the team that not only saved his career but also delivered him the richest prize in motor sport.

For so long the monopoly of the sport was controlled by money alone then Team Brawn, born from the ashes of now defunct Honda, came alone and, aided by regulations introduced to stop titles being bought, won the championship with the best car on the circuit and arguably the best driver. Button, so long seen as a compulsive under-achiever, teamed with the controversial double diffuser, secured the crown in Barcelona and celebrated duly at the finale in Brazil.

Frome born Button is without doubt a dedicated and talented individual, the 29-year-old son of a former rally driver started competing behind the wheel at just eight, his early career was littered with triumphs however his winning streak dried up considerably when he reached F1. Button took to the playboy lifestyle, so associated with the daredevil life of an F1 driver, with eyebrow raising ease. It took 113 races and seven seasons before his first victory yet Button had already decamped to the principality of Monaco, filled his little black book with a series of glamorous women and developed a keen palette for champagne, it is fare to say that, at one point, he was more famous for his frivolous social life than for his ability behind the wheel.

If the gross winless patch Button endured sounds like his lowest point in sport that’s because it almost was however worst was to come when Honda, Button’s team at the time, withdrew from the sport due to financial limitations, Button was looking like missing the start of the season. Enter Ross Brawn, engineering genius and pioneer of Button’s imminent success, Button is given a £3 million salary, admittedly almost a third of his previous contract but acceptable when the alternative is the dole queue. First places were soon piling up and Button’s lack of vertigo came in handy with the amount of time he was spending up on the podium. Before the playboy’s place in history was secured however Team Button were already speculating as to the stars value and the options that Brawns success had left on his doorstep. Advisor Richard Goddard had been constantly vocal in his critiques of Brawn and suggestions of Button’s possible suitors, as any agent Goddard is keen for his client to earn as much as possible to fill the udders of the cow he is so thirstily milking. Agents and advisers are expected to focus on financial gain and personal promotion, they may invest some initial capital but it is the lifetime of sacrifice that Button should hold up against a few extra million. Button could head to McLaren or Ferrari and annually earn an eight-figure sum, He could stay loyal, at a cost, to Brawn ensuring his value as a sportsman and not a commodity, and more on track success would ensure numerous lucrative sponsorship deals. It is a dilemma that Button is entitled to battle with but the most respectable and commendable choice is clear.

It is interesting to compare a pair of Button’s quotes; the first, after an early in the season win, refers to his union with Brawn, the second after his world title was confirmed,

“It was the best decision I’ve made in my life. I am now paid a lot, lot less but I didn’t think twice about it.”

A humble and refreshing outlook from a man back in love with his sport and grateful to the team that help make it possible, a few months later his success seems to have affective his modesty,

“I am it. I am world champion, and I am going to keep saying it, especially after a race that, for me, was the best I’ve driven in my life.”

The first quote comes from a man, part of a team, focused on his future and content with the £3 million he is getting paid to fulfil every young boys dream, the second is clearly from an egotistical individual hell bent on getting the £12 million a year people on his payroll tell him he’s worth.

Should Button return to his modest manner and repay Team Brawn’s faith I would be the first to cheer on a fellow Englishman, a fine sportsman and a gentleman. Should he jump ship into the arms of the highest bidder I would be less than sympathetic if he returned to his previous, unsuccessful ways.

Benitez Looks Set For A Bloody Sunday

Tonight saw Manchester United face freezing temperatures, a hostile atmosphere and an awkward surface. The victory, secured by a second string side, would have brought a sense of achievement to the players involved and a tinge of assurance to Sir Alex at the helm. The man who would have felt most affected by United’s result however could not be found in Russia nor in Manchester but down the road in Liverpool, in the Benitez household.

The contrast in situations both managers faced this week makes for grim reading for Liverpool supporters and adds believability to the rumours questioning Rafa's future. Liverpool, fielding a weakened side thanks to a number of injuries and a startling lack of resources, were beaten at fortress Anfield while United's second eleven, still filled with quality thanks to a plentiful youth academy and some inspired signings, oozed efficiency in their win. The outcomes? Liverpool are left desperate for maximum points from their remaining three Champions League clashes as Sir Alex’s men top their group, with maximum points from their first three ties, leaving them with one foot in the knock-out stage and two eyes on their next league fixture, and what a fixture it is. This Sunday will see the Red Devils sail up the Mersey on a wave of momentum with all hands on deck available to the manager to play a Liverpool crew as physically battered as they are mentally bruised. Its hard to fathom whether Liverpool, with their current plague of on and off field problems, will be dreading it as much as United’s high fliers will be relishing it.

There is a good chance come Sunday, when the team sheets are exchanged, that Liverpool fans will be looking enviously at some of the players left out of the Manchester united squad. Giggs, Rooney, Fletcher, Evra, and Park did not travel to the game that Michael Carrick and Johnny Evans watched from the substitutes bench leaving all seven in contention for Sunday. Compare that to Liverpool who lost Glenn Johnson before their game and talisman Steven Gerrard during it, adding to the woe of a debilitated Fernando Torres.

Ever since Rafa Benitez’s press conference outburst back in January, at the preferential treatment allegedly afforded Alex Ferguson by the football governing bodies, the united chief has remained tight lipped, at least where his Spanish counterpart is concerned. One imagines that Sunday will present the Scotsman with the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge without uttering a word in anger. A fourth consecutive defeat for Liverpool, a team at the centre of a boardroom tug-of-war, would leave them 10 points behind the league leaders, with shrinking hope in Europe and questions that desperately need asking. Liverpool are a wounded animal and should Sir Alex be the man to deliver Rafa’s final blow I foresee any blood on his hands being washed away without a second thought, to make way for a nice glass of celebratory claret.

Saint Blatter versus the dark arts of commerce

Continuing in the same vein as the previous post, on the interfering nature of the football bureaucracy, we come to the recent furore about young players being poached by wealthy clubs.

It seems that, just like previous bung scandal, the powers that be have got the bit between their teeth on another issue that is as old as the game itself and, in my opinion, impossible to eradicate. I am not saying it is fail or legal or even morally just but when a top European club offers the impoverish parents of a young footballer a financial incentive for the services of their offspring please tell me how they are supposed to turn it down.

Recent interviews by the likes of Salomon Kalou and Emmanuel Adebayor depict a world of deprivation that we in the western world can only have nightmares about under out suburban shelters. Kalou was 15-years-old before he was afforded a pair of football boots to spare the agonies of his bare feet while Adebayor grew up sharing a bedroom with several other siblings and relatives. Both the Kalou and Adebayor families now live in paradise compared to the destitution they previously existed in. While these two examples may have reached the Premiership’s elite via the proper means their early lives mirror those of Gael Katuka (Chelsea) and Paul Pogba (Manchester United) the two emerging talents reported lured away from their clubs while still at schoolboy level.

The intricacies and formalities of these deals and a selection of similar ones before them, Federico Macheda and Cesc Fabregas for example, have been well documented and there is a consistent factor. In England youth players can sign professional contracts as soon as they turn 16, in other countries, like Spain and Italy, it is older. These legalities are there for football associations all over the globe to address but where will it really get them?

Last season bung was the buzzword, what are they? Who’s taking them? How much are they? Documentaries were made, media blackouts followed and household names were the victims of dawn raids and to what ends? Illegal payments to agents, players or managers are as old as the game itself. Whether it’s 20 new balls and a bag of bibs for a non-league veteran, used fivers swapped at a roadside cafe or millions of pounds electronically transferred to a mysterious offshore account. Sport breeds competition and competition is the lifeblood of capitalism.

The only high profile victim of the attempted bung clear up was George Graham whose downfall was through not the sleuth like detective work of the F.A or any of the ruling organizations, Graham’s conviction came courtesy of his own greed and penchant for avoiding his taxes. Had the former Arsenal hero kept the Inland Revenue sweet, like so many of his peers, past and present, then his antics may have continued unpunished.

Chelsea, in the same mould as Graham, have flouted one too many rules and irked one too many important people but will this charge really go anyway to removing dark the art of illegally assembling the best talent at the biggest clubs? The answer is no; whether it be due to strict legislation like the restraint of trade law or simply clubs heeding this warning and conducting their business in a more clandestine manner, the wealthier clubs will still rule the waves, parents and agents will continue to profit from their prodigal sons and Sepp Blatter will persist on condoning the exploitation of the poor from his designer Ivory tower.

A new season and a new reason not to be too cheerful

A new season brings a plethora of exciting new things to English football; Promoted and relegated teams create fresh fixtures and resurrect old rivalries, the influx of foreign stars create new heroes while emerging starlets bring hope to lower league clubs. Unfortunately with a new season there comes new schemes, so-called innovative initiatives and a brand new set of problems that once created must be addressed.

The first to fall into the media’s glare, courtesy of Eduardo and later Wayne Rooney, was diving, the new scourge of English football. For some time now it has been a bookable offence but, since the act of simulation from Arsenal’s Croatian striker, it has come the most scurrilous of crimes, now deemed punishable with a two match retrospective ban. Personally I feel for the Brazilian born forward and there is certainly some credence to his club manager’s argument against the ban. There was no forewarning before the game with Celtic nor was it another new rule, it was simply EUFA deciding to flex its muscles.

There is no doubt anywhere that diving is not only unsporting and devious but it is also highly embarrassing. To see a primed athlete dive to the floor is cringe worthy and sometimes even laughable. We, the English, seem very assured that diving is another foreign import that has infected our game like interfering directors of football, match fixing or the hair-band. I remember, following a series of Didier Drogba’s more dramatic appearances, there were rumours that John Terry had told the Ivorian to cut out the simulation as he was making himself and his team mates look stupid, now defenders are having to double up during all too often vein attempts to stop the Chelsea powerhouse. If EUFA had wished to make its mark on diving it should happened before the this years Champions League qualifiers had began or the Eduardo incident should have been the watershed, the point at which EUFA said ‘enough is enough, anymore of that and you’ll get a two match ban’. By not setting a precedent EUFA have asked for this backlash just as much as Eduardo deserved for a yellow card, not a two-game ban.

I remember, many years ago, when shirt pulling was christened the enemy of the game. On the eve of the new season every referee, club and player was informed of the consequences. Every offender was to be punished immediately with a yellow card, how long did that inscription stay on the ever-increasing scroll that is the football rules and regulations handbook? The fact is different governing bodies rule the variety of competitions we pour over week-in-week-out and they are never going to agree on every aspect of the beautiful game but a little cohesion might limit confusion and stop anyone falling foul of the laws on diving.

Gunners.... front runners?

Dismissed as too young and inexperienced, pitied for to their losses during the transfer window; could the lack of fear felt towards Arsene Wenger's men this year lift the burden of expectation and allow the young guns to flourish in this season?

Wenger's ethos has left as him one of the few 'untouchables' in football management while the Emirates Stadium has now ensured the clubs financial progress is not just possible but almost assured. What is glaringly absent from the red side of North London is success.
Each season every newspaper column, radio phone-in and TV panel show pours over the necessity of some Arsenal silverware, the mounting years since their last championship and the fruitless promises that have come at the start of the last five seasons since the Gunners last Premiership title. This year, thanks to the unbridled spending of Manchester City, the continuity of Chelsea's squad and the so-called triumphant return to a central role for Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford Arsenal have all but escaped the demands placed on them every season since their F.A Cup win in 2005.

Barring Cesc Fabregas, few of the Arsenal squad would be guaranteed a starting place amongst the European elite but their have the unity Man City lack, a youthful exuberance that eludes Chelsea and a shared responsibility that Liverpool must find. They are free from the distractions that can disrupt a season and filled with the hunger that earns trophies.

As this is being written Arsenal are brushing aside Celtic to secure their place in the Champions League group stage and are lying in third spot in the Premier League with a game in hand having scored ten goals in their opening 2 league fixtures.

Of course it is too early to tip them for the title but, when you think about, its may be too premature to rule them out too.