Its Time To Change!!!!

Wrote this piece for a website application. Thought I might was well post it here too. Had to be under 500 words long. Trust me I could have gone on for much longer on this topic.

Its Time To Change!!!!

Money in European football has gone out of control. Its a FACT!!. With 10 days left in the January transfer window the total amount of money spent in the English Premier league alone is in excess of £68 million or $108,000,000 dollars. Yet when I look at this months transfers I find myself asking one very big question. WHERE THE HELL DID £68 MILLION GO?!

In 1996 Alan Shearer moved from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United for, what was then, a record transfer fee of £15,000,000. Shearer was Englands golden boy after a great Euro 96 tournament and taking Blackburn to the Premiership title in the 1994-95 season. Shearer went on to score 283 total goals for Newcastle, Blackburn and Southampton in 559 games. This January Darren Bent made the move from Sunderland to Aston Villa. Bent has scored 128 goals in 308 games so far in his career and has been capped 7 times for England scoring just once. Bent is a good striker, but he is some way off the standard that Shearer set for big name big money strikers.

Yet Bent's move from Sunderland to Villa Park has cost the Midlanders £18 million. Now times have changed, inflation has to have an effect on transfer fees, and I'm not trying to say that £15 million back in '96 is worth £15 million today. But can a distinctly average striker such as Bent really be valued at that amount of money, especially in this economic climate.

its not just transfer fees that have become ridiculous in the modern game. Players wages have gone beyond repair too. 2001 saw Arsenal sign defender Sol Campbell to the first £100,000 a week contract in history. Carlos Tevez was revealed to be being paid almost x3 that in net wages earning around £270,000 after tax at Manchester City. Big money takeovers like at Chelsea and Manchester City, and big money spending from clubs like Real Madrid have forced other clubs to try and compete financially or face losing the chance to play at the next level whether that be Champions League, Europa League or just staying in top flight football.

Do we need a CAP on wages and transfer fees. Yes, and soon. Is it right that one man should make enough in a season so he can retire for life after 38 games work. We need to put a lid on this pan and turn off the gas before we burn the house of competitive European football to the ground.



Was asked who I wrote this article for. Here is my answer.

Any working man or woman that is sick of hearing footballers complaining that they're being "treated like slaves" or "not getting paid enough" or "being exploited". These players earn more a week then most do in a year, yet they demand more and more. Its for all fans of fair competitive football, with the magic still in it, of cup upsets and open title races. Its for football.