The big boys threaten to take their ball and go home

Two of the established " Big Four" or Sky Four as I like to refer to them as haven't exactly showered themselves in glory this week. Whilst Chelsea are beginning to resemble the unified and professional force of the Mourinho-era and Liverpool, perhaps belated, emphasised their domestic credentials at the Theatre of Dreams, it was the protagaonists from North London and Manchester that became particularly uppity.

After a humbling at Old Trafford that is still unlikely to hinder their trot to universal domestic glory, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to forgoe his media obligations and refuse an interview that Sky were enitely entitled to. His reasoning being that the midday kick-off had been put in place by Sky as part of their broadcasting contract. He neglected to mention that it was also a kick-off time advised my the police as it allowed less than 2 hours for Mancunians and Liverpudlians to fuel their simmering anymosity with their drink of choice. Matthew Syed wrote in yesterdays Times that Sir Alex would be well served to remember that the revenue from Sky is what has partly afforded him to affored expensive failures like Juan Sebastian Veron. Some argue that , as Syed eloquently puts it, that Ferguson runs Old Trafford like his own "personal fiefdom" and that being the most successful club manager of the past 22 years allows this personal folly. This appears to dodge the issue of contractual obligation and the two major candidates that have been touted to replace Ferguson, Messers Mourinho and O'Neill, are noted for their effortless charm with the media, even if the former can indulge in promiscious jousting on occasion.

The second event in a week littered with unsavoury behaviour, Cesc Fabregas stands accused of spitting at Hull City assistant manager Brian Horton. Whilst the FA are still to investigate, judement should be measured, yet the image of Fabregas , all hair gel and leather jacket, face contorted in rage at the end of a game where he didn't even break sweat , hardly endears him or his club to the armchair supporter.

If these clubs are to continue to syphon off long distance supporters from local clubs from Exeter to Elgin , surely a cordial, symmetrical relationship with the media is essential. In an age where the Premier League is descending into a two tier system, consisting of a four way race for the post running alongside 16 side dogfight to avoid the trapdoor, the top flight has to place entertainment at the centre of its argument for a "licence to operate". Key to this entertainment motif, is the presentation of favourable images upon which the empire of the Premiership been has built on. Sky and Setanta need Torres finishes & Ronaldo free-kicks not the censure and vitriol that has been on display in the past week. If the Sky Four underestimate the importance of their relationship with the media, it could over time lead to a more proportional representation of footballing partisanship across the country. This won't happen immediately, but if there is nobody to talk to the microphone, the next time the big boys come back with their ball having gone home in a huff, the game may have moved to another street

Sehwag shows England the merits of the IPL playground

Virender Sehwag's swashbuckling innings in New Zealand was as much an indictment of English stroke-making conservatism as it was a celebration of the Indian tradition of providing talismanic batsman. As Sehwag was hitting a one-day century off 60 balls, including 92 from boundaries alone in his final total of 125, England were cursing their inability to make quick runs at pivotal moments in Test matches as the series in the Caribbean meandered to a predictable, anti-climatic ending.

As Andrew Strauss now has to galvanize his troops for a return home series against their latest conquerors, the intermitting period sees the first IPL fixtures to include Test playing Englishmen. Whilst players like Kevin Pietersen and Freddie Flintoff need no advice on explosive hitting, surely the more English players, especially batsmen, that get to open their shoudlers in the sub-Continental bonanza the better. England are limited to 7 participants this April due to how the auction went, considering how many English players may have been signed up had the ECB not limited their countrymen to a mere 3 week involvement is a curious yet futile consideration.

With Freddie's body looking increasingly like it might prematurely end his days as a genuine all rounder at Test level, only Matty Prior is left as a viable candidate to take up the reins when an English innings needs whipping through the gears. Most concerning however is the fact that of the 5 other English players signed up for the IPL, Collingwood, Bopara, Shah, Napier and Mascherenhas, 2 are nowhere near the Test side, whilst the other three (Colly, Shah and Bopara) actually have the propensity to swing the willow when the situation dictates.

All the while the hierarchy of the ECB sulk because the dollars found their way to India rather than Lords, and take out this tantrum through hindering English players ability to secure their futures and imporve their aggresive strokes, the Test side will stay flacid in fourth, when situations dictate a swift shift to sixth. The IPL is going to grow exponentially both in terms of respect within the game and the revenue sourced from outside it, and the longer the bulk of English players and officials are on the outside looking in at the party, the more chance there is that their tea will turn cold.

Do it on your doorstep........

Tonight, I had a traumatic yet entirely predictable experience. Languishing in mid-table, my beloved Crystal Palace took a two goal first half lead against Owen Coyle's well-drilled Cup giantkillers Burnley. Thirty-five minutes in and the Eagles are looking at soaring to the heady heights of 13th in the Championship.

Three goals in the last 9 minutes turned the table on the scoresheet and the mightly Eagles eventually went down 4-2. Palace are admittedley the least decorated on all of Burnley's capital scalps this year, but in the abscence of any sort of cup run, the loss of three points was still felt very keenly by this author. A lifetime supporting the pride of South London has taught me what most football fans know: this game is a cruel mistress. If you support Crystal Palace, she is a positive dominatrix.

Whilst in the depths of desolation, there is however a slither of comfort to be salvaged. Whilst I will never know the joy of my captain lifting the European Cup, I will have a continual sense of belonging that can only ever be obtained through supporting your local team. I could jack in my 23 years of Eagles fandom and jump on the commercial bandwagon of Liverpool, Chelsea or god forbid, Manchester United. But watching Gerrard or Lampard lift the Premiership over the head in celebration would be empty. Indeed, the very reason for my huge admiration of the Liverpool captain is his unwavering support of his hometown club in spite of the commercial cash cow that lies outside of Merseyside, not to say he isn't sufficiently renumerated at Anfield.

For me, there will always be something more fufilling in supporting perpetual local mediocrity than chasing premium habitual success. I was born in South London, a mile from Selhurst Park and my strong identification with the local area prohibits me from cashing in the chips at the Premiership casino. This loyalty, however blind, gratifys me more that any transcient success and at the same time condemns me to a lifetime of evenings of dissapointment like this!

BAPR does Comic Relief 2009

This is a viral that I and fellow BAPR students at Bournemouth created to raise awarness of Comic Relief around the campus. Take a look and pass it on if it raises a smile.

The "quantitative easing" of sports little guys

So, Mervyn King has decided that the only forseeable way out of the current economic whirlpool is "quantitative easing" or to the man in the street, creating money that will hopefully filter through to the butchers , bakers and candlestick makers that are feeling the pinch up and down the country. It is hoped that this will eventually solve the cash-flow problems that are seeing these small businesses go to the wall.

This got me thinking about sporting economics and how sporting small businesses had their own recession, or indeed depression that outlived the curent credit cruch. Finance in sport bears more similarities to the distribution of wealth in broader society than many care to notice. Chelsea and Liverpool are two football clubs in precarious financial territory, with the West Londoners' losses only offset by their Russian oligarch, whilst Liverpools quibbling American owners only manage to service the debt that they have accrued in the club's famous name. However, that self-same famous name ensures that these global brands of football clubs will always have a revenue stream, if only by reputation, to see them through rocky terrain.
For every critic of foreign ownership of football clubs, even brand ownership is no guarantee of security as evidenced by the near-loss of the Honda F1 team before they were brought back from the brink and given the self-indulgent Brawn GP moniker.

So whilst the Liverpools and Hondas of the world may resemble RBS and HBOS in living beyond their means, what of the small sporting businesses that having their "quantity eased" in the current climate. Weymouth Town were on the wrong side of a 9-0 defeat to Rushden & Diamonds 2 weeks ago having had to field a youth team having not been able to pay their first team squad. Long before Honda decided they couldn't afford to back their own team, their retraction of financial assistance to Super Aguri again saw the little guy take the hit. So, if the government is putting pressure on the banks to pass on fiscal stimulus, in a hyper-stimulated sporting economy, who looks out for the small businesses? Grass-roots sport is the liveblood coarsing through the country's veins and often acts as a mitigator of the apathy oten directed toward the ostentatious golden gates of elite sport. Whilst Premier League football and Formula 1 can ride the crest of a wave to commercial nirvana, more and more sporting plankton will be swallowed by the sharks with Darlington FC the latest club to head into the choppy waters of administration. As ministers around the world are advocating a move toward "ethical capitalism", why aren't such ideas being conveyed to the sporting community? It's almost as though they don't see it as "their" problem. It is every bit there problem and the disparity in revenue distribution in sport existed well before the current recession and is equally likely to outlast it.


Economists argue on how, when or if the recession will hit sport and in the process, are perpetuating the misguided notion that sport is somehow immune to its wider social context. Tuesday's shocking attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team was evidence that sport and politics are inextricably linked and basic economics is surely an equally large millstone around the broad shoulders of our sporting culture.

David Beckham, The Rossineri and Meat Loaf Soccer

As David Beckham nursed a tight calf on the flight back from Bremen this morning, he had an awful lot of occupy his mind. Two weeks on Monday, Beckham will either have his way as a permanently signed up member of the Rossineri, or he will fly back to L.A with the duration of a Transatlantic flight to carefully position his tail between his expensive and celebrated legs.

The 9th March is the day that Beckham is expected back at the Home Depot centre in Los Angeles to begin preparations for his third season in Major League Soccer, yet his stint in Europe's fashion capital , however brief, has re-lit his fire with regard to top-level European football. Indeed, Beckham's admiral fitness has only been improved from 6 weeks at the famous "A.C Milan Lab", famed for allowing pros to continue their careers into their late thirties and early forties.

However, if Beckham is to have his wish and turn his back on the Galaxy and stay in Serie A, a financial minefield is still to be negotiated. Most news outlets are quoted as saying that Milan have bid anywhere between £5m-£6.7m with Galaxy reportedley holding out for something north of £10m. And why wouldn't they? Beckham did sign a five year deal taking him through to 37 in 2007, which, after sponsors and endorsements were included, would see the MLS smash its wage ceiling to the tune of $200million. The price? Beckham had to trade his twilight footballing years from La Liga, the Iglesias of world football, trim, easy on the eye with fans around the world, for the MLS, where clapped out performers have one last hurrah, the Meatloaf you could say.

Beckham's impact on the Galaxy and the MLS cannot be overstated, with Beckham's arrival seeing a 25% increase in Galaxy's home attendance and 7% added to the overall MLS attendance. Most tellingly of all, TV ratings for games featuring Beckham had, on average, 68% more viewers in American households than games without him, showing how key he is, and may yet continue to be, to "soccer's"efforts to increase market penetration Stateside.

So is Beckham merely watching from the stands as this clash between two footballing franchises with contrasting heritages duel over his famous signature. Not entirely. Beckham can, in theory, buy out his LA Galaxy contract immediately for £18 million, allowing him free to put pen to paper with Milan, or whoever tickles his fancy. Beckham would then we free to assist AC Milan's UEFA Cup campaign & title challenge through to their respective conclusions. That said, if Beckham wants European football and a title challenge, as a free agent he could equally choose Aston Villa for example, over Milan. That said, I can't imagine the Birmingham Fashion show being a patch on Italy's finest. So in the coming days and weeks, we will see how much Beckham values the Indian summer of his England career, if the Galaxy stay strong and refuse to yield, will Beckham write the biggest cheque of his life? He constantly talks about how much his England caps mean to him. We will no doubt find out, in the words of Meatloaf, he would do anything for an England cap,...but will he do that?........

Chelsea's much needed Dutch of class

Guus Hiddink breezed into Cobham this week tasked with the unenviable task of trying to rescue a proud football club from its slide further into the realms of pulp fiction. Hiddink, it is hoped, will re-unify a dressing room rumoured to be ruptured and, in an interesting re-dressing of Chelsea's more lofty prior ambitions, is expected to be keep Chelsea merely "in a position to compete for trophies" .

Perhaps the greatest quality that Hiddink could bring to Chelsea would be to re-connect them with the idea of humility. Since Roman Abramovich's roubles transformed the club overnight, Chelsea have seemingly made more enemies than friends. The meetings with Anders Frisk in the referee's room in Barcelona & Ashley Cole in a Mayfair hotel were symptomatic of the perception that Chelsea were insatiable in their desire to buy, pressure or bully their way to success. However, if ever a man could act as a unifying force, it is Hiddink. The man who brought South Korea together in 2002 and Australia so close to eliminating the eventual world champions in 2006, is a footballing everyman. The respect he has throughout the game has seen him given the licence to combine the Russia and Chelsea jobs, as he did with Australia and PSV prior to Germany.

Whilst Mourinho was arrogant, Grant too stoic and Scolari increasingly paranoid in post-match press conferences, Hiddink could just have the desired blend of personality and footballing style to appease increasing anti-Chelsea anymosity and Abramovich's desire for "sexy" football in equal measure. Indeed, Hiddink is almost Abramovich's last chance. James Lawton, in the Independent, states that Hiddink can re-invent Chelsea into a football club, rather than their increasing appearance as a "rich man's indulgence". Hiddink made the first step today, opening up Stamford Bridge for fans to watch his first training session in charge in a shrewd PR move. Where the last step lands Chelsea will depend on whether Abramovich decides Chelsea need Hiddink beyond May, and what the implications of Hiddink's departure would be for his homeland.