EPL chief Scudamore has been a busy little boy this week, rattling sabers, and proposing all sorts of wondrous rule changes. Changes that he thinks will save English football for Englishmen, stamp out debt, prevent another Leeds United style collapse, prevent unseemly characters from taking over clubs, and even had time to hail the Respect Campaign as an overwhelming success (link works best in Internet Explorer, ugh).
And people say that Arsene Wenger lives in a world of his own.
Let’s start first with the Scudamore/Platini/Blatter idea that the only thing that will save English National football is a return to the failed quota system of the 1980’s. A time when quotas still didn’t help England qualify for the World Cup (’74 and ’78). The problem with this story is that I have written extensively about it and really don’t feel like rehashing those thousands of words. Besides, I just re-read my best post on this topic and, frankly, I have nothing more to add and couldn’t say it better if I tried. Check the link above if you want to see why I think this is a racist, nationalist idea that will not help the English national team, will further overvalue English players, will not level the playing field between smaller clubs and the top four, and will be overturned as soon as one foreigner feels discriminated against.
The second story, then, is debt and Richard Scudamore is having none of it! Not coincidentally, this Premier League anti-debt campaign is breaking into the media at the same time as Alisher Usmanov is offering the club a hot cash injection. This debt issue is yet another story that I have written extensively about and don’t feel like re-hashing at this point. Suffice it to say, the proposal as I read it would have no effect on Arsenal, as we already fit the rules which are essentially an adaptation of UEFA’s rules for qualifying for Europe. No, this rule will only hurt smaller clubs, or clubs that are in real trouble like West Ham; and may even force those clubs to sell off their players.
The story that I’m interested in is the jaw-dropping claim that the Respect Campaign has been a success. In what world? Again, this is a topic that I have written extensively about and there’s no need to re-hash a lot of what I’ve said in the past. But I think that in light of recent events such as with Chelsea’s inability to control their players after and during matches, and the club’s steadfast refusal to even take internal action against their players this latest quote from Scudamore is about as jaw dropping as it gets.
I mean, Chelsea supporters have threatened Tom Ovrebo’s life… and this is the second time, this season, that Chelsea supporters have threatened the life of an official. Is that “respect?”
Or how about the dossier on Drogba, Terry, Bosingwa, and Ballack linked above? The footage is clear, Chelsea acted in a manner that was disgraceful on the Premier League, their club, and themselves by attacking the referee at the end of the game.
The most worrying part, though, is that the Chelsea stewards could not, or perhaps would not, control the situation after the match. Those stewards are there to protect the referee in case that exact thing happens. In case the players attack a referee, which is what the Chelsea players did, make no mistake about it, the stewards are there to protect the ref. To see them feebly try to move a clearly out of control Drogba and then let him come back in and get in the face of the ref was disgraceful and deserves at least as many column inches and at least as much investigation as Phil Brown’s imaginary story that had Cesc Fabregas watering the pitch with saliva as he karate kicked the opposing coaches in his designer thug hoody.
UEFA banning Chelsea from the Champions League for a season would be a light punishment for that display. Anything less is truly a disrespect to the referees and would make enforcing something like their plan to allow referees to stop matches due to racism impossible. How can a UEFA official feel like a home team’s stewards will protect him from players and the crowd in Spain when the home team stewards at one of the crown jewels of world football (a country which supposedly prides itself on ‘law and order’) allowed a clearly out of control Chelsea team to threaten the ref?
But, ultimately, this is a chronic problem with this team in particular. Chelsea are the embodiment of disrespect in world football. From the disgraceful scrum they started in the 2007 Carling Cup final against Arsenal, to the Ashley Cole incident which started the “respect” campaign, to this latest in a long line of outrageous behavior, and if you throw in the distorting effect of their “magic money,” Chelsea are truly all that is wrong with modern football.
Look for Richard Scudamore to address this problem… never.
well said. it’s incredible that uefa has not taken any action against drogba. and if you listen to all the pundits in the british press, it almost seems like they are saying drogba was justified in doing what he did. can you imagine cesc doing that and getting away with it? we would be hearing about it for weeks!
The Scudamore/Blatter/Platini love-in needs to stop. I’m not even sure which ignorant organization members actually vote these people in. I suppose when these baby boomer types get too wrinkled to have any seat of power then us Generation X/Y progressives will be able to undo their twisted ways. This 6+5 rule is another way for the FA to elevate their piss poor English players. I don’t see why they cannot understand that perhaps their players are just not good enough? When your starting goalie plays for a team who is fighting relegation then there is something very wrong. When the bottom 5-6 teams in your league are all managed by Englishmen and the top 6 are all managed by non-Englishmen then there is something wrong with your national coaching schools. The FA’s failure to establish a Clairefontaine-esque school like they have in France has been their own downfall, not Wenger’s, Benitez’s or Fergie’s. If England actually produced good players then teams would have no problems including them in their squads: Walcott, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard show this. However England is almost a wasteland of would be and wannabes. Stewart Downing is labelled as this next great thing but he cannot even look impressive on a team that is going to be relegated.
The powers that be have no idea about the modern day football culture or the psychology of the footballer or football fan, otherwise the Respect campaign would have been more effective. The sheer fact that they have rejected video technology for so long shows that they’re too old for the jobs they get paid millions for. They are out of touch with the audience and simply perpetuate the stereotypical old white man in a suit. I will be ecstatic when they fall out of power so a new generation of individuals can take over.
Re English football for the English, messrs. S, P & L dream on!
They can think and say what they like, The Treaty of Rome trumps their crap, free and unhindered movement of labour between all member states. Does anyone think that the European Union will make exceptions for S,P & L no way.
As for those outside of the Union, how difficult is it to find some distant relation who came from Europe? All South & Central Americans are Spanish or Portuguese descendants if you want them to be. Ukrainians, Russians, and all those states, will claim some relationship with Adolphs invading hordes, citizens of the ex British Empire will clain descent from the British Army or Civil Service. US citizens will all claim descent from the Pilgrim Fathers, or Jamestown settlement, which doesnt leave many on the outside.
Of course once they’re in England, either arriving directly or via some other European Country where they have claimed citizenship, they can all consider the ‘Almunia Option’ become British Citizens,play for the national team, and become thoroughly ‘English’. End of Problem!
To see how this works in practice, just recall Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland teams. Half of them claimed Irish descent because their great grandfather once drank a pint of Guiness.
Viva!
Scum-amore, Fat-ini and Blabbering Blatter, three perfect examples of what you do not want your son to be when he grows up.
Since this is a case of the blind leading the blind, maybe we just ought to call them the “Three Blind Mice”.