EPL: football gone mad?

Over the past week, events unfolded as I seriously wondered if the English Premier League has descended into a state of total madness. First, thanks to some Arab oil money, Manchester City has now become the richest club in the world and got their hands on a certain Robinho. Then, Alan Curbishley resigned his post as the manager of West Ham while taking a potshot at the West Ham boardroom over interference (and that's putting it mildly) over transfer activities. And, before we know it, Kevin Keegan resigned his position as the manager of Newcastle, citing similar reasons to Curbishley which undermined his authority at the club.

Realise the similarities? All three clubs have their unique histories in English football. All three clubs are owned by foreign investors. All three clubs have splurged tons of money in the transfer market, buyng players at grossly inflated price tags and now, 2 managers have been effectively "forced" to resign after realising that it is the board and not the manager who decides the players to buy and sell. This is a worrying trend which has been underlying in the Premier League ever since foreign money started pouring in after the commercialisation of English football and current events are just indicators of a possible drastic change in the football landscape with regards to how a football clun will be run in future.

My personal favourite clubs are Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal and I'm happy with the fact that these 2 clubs, in my view, represent the right way that a club should function. Though Blackburn had a "sugar daddy" in Jack Walker, the essential difference lies in the fact that in Sir Jack Walker, we had an owner who knows his football, loves the club and had the commonsense to leave the football matters of the club to the manager then, Kenny Dalglish. Even after his death, Sir Jack Walker continued to finance the club through a trust fund which Blackburn have continued to benefit through prudent transfer activities. Arsenal, on the other hand, can thank Arsene Wenger for his shrewd transfer dealings which enable the club to break from the norm and achieve sustained success and continuity while balancing the accounts of the club. Wenger once said that football should function in a way that clubs in the red should not be allowed to participate in the league. While some may regard the remark as sour grapes as Wenger looks at the riches of the big clubs in Europe, I must agree that such a view should be the way, though it is sadly utopian and far away from the reality which we are facing right now.

If football clubs should be regarded as a business, then clubs should not be constantly in the red without a sustainable long term plan to balance the books (examples: Chelsea, West Ham and probably Manchester City). Manchester United can justify their spendings through extremely successful marketing in the global market as well as the seemingly ever-expanding Old Trafford to generate the neccessary revenue while Arsenal has been constantly in the black through their transfer activities without seriously threatening their status as the elites in England. If clubs are regarded as really football clubs, then all the more we should have a more level playing field with rules and regulations to prevent the influx of foreign money from degrading the beautiful game into a playground of the riches.

On the last note, I really hope that Newcastle fans can boycott the next home match against Hull City. I am not against Newcastle, but rahter hope that football fans can stand up and let the idiots in the boardroom know that football is essentially about the fans, a game for the people and not to forget that it is public money which in the first place created the lucrative English Premier League. I'm personally hoping against hope, but maybe, just maybe, a near empty St. james' Park next weekend can be the wake up call that the Premier League and football as a whole needs to get itself out of the ridiculous insanity happening right now.