You are in:
Sports - June 2009
Cristiano Ronaldo? £80m? Sold to a club in a country with the highest rate of unemployment in Europe right now, and which has been harder hit than any other by the recession? You have got to be bloody joking.
The complete loss of any kind of common ground between clubs and the everyday fans is complete. It's not a transfer, it's a travesty.
Does my horror at this deal come through loud and clear? I can't blame Manchester United, they'd have to be completely mental to turn that kind of money down, especially when your buyout was leveraged and the club has around £700m of debt. But really, has Florentino Perez not looked around his country recently? At the struggle his club's fans are going through to get through the week, then seeing in the newspapers Ronaldo's expected salary? Obscene is the word that springs to mind when thinking about the way many clubs do business. I speak as someone who has spoken out in favour of footballers and high salaries in the past as they have short careers and can have a career-ending injury on the training ground easily enough. They endure more operations in 10 years than most of us will have in our lives, and they make a lot of sacrifices to play at the highest level, for the very lucky few that get there. But how much money does one person require? I'd say £2m in salary plus endorsements for a player's peak years is probably more than enough. But then, what do I know? The markets are driven by demand, and football is as popular worldwide as ever, possibly more so. But its popularity grows in countries where there is no - or little - emotional or cultural bond to the clubs in question, where a fan picks them because, oh... because Cristiano Ronaldo plays for them, for example. Football now has very little to do with the communities that spawned the clubs, and that is very, very sad. But it also sees the start of a new cycle for the fans - many clubs have some degree of community ownership once more (usually after a period of administration), and some clubs have been founded from scratch by people as disgusted as me by the way clubs are run solely as businesses - FC United and AFC Wimbledon spring to mind.
Enough of my burble - check out our pieces on K-Swiss's running shoes and where they're heading on page 24, Under Armour's new boots which look terrific on page 18, and a look at what's new in the world of football kit on pages 12-16.
As always, comments and suggestions to jonbruford@yahoo.co.uk
Jon Bruford, Editor
01584 877177
