When it comes to something like foreign ownership, you can, despite the fact that you feel passionately against it, find the virtues in at least some of the fundamentals of the arguments used in its defence. However, even with the obvious riches and wealth that this brand of foreign ownership has brought with, it is abundantly clear that foreign ownership is, and will continue to be, the true British disease.
My argument is nothing new and has been repeated up and down the country both inside and out of most football grounds. Foreign ‘investors’ in their very essence have almost no emotional connection with the supporters, nor the local community, the very people that not only provided the fanbase of the club but maintained their standing through the good and the bad. For example, if we look at ticket prices the average price for a ticket in a Premier League ground has risen 75% since 1998, far outpacing inflation and out-pricing all but the most ardent of football fans.
There is an argument that says Premier League games have record attendances and continue to grow year on year so why decrease ticket prices? This is wrong on so many levels, football fans have their clubs running through their blood and football club executives know very well that most people will pay whatever price they ask, they are playing on their complete partisanship and unceasing love for their clubs. There is absolutely no justification, in a time of mass unemployment and economic stagnation for clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool to increase their season ticket prices by 6%.
Foreign owned clubs are, in every way, short-term ventures for short-term gains. Take the takeover’s of both Manchester United and Liverpool under the Gazer’s and the duo of Hicks and Gillet. Both were financed on the premise that both clubs had already achieved massive financial growth and could sustain this over the next few years. What both had in common was the fact they were allowed to finance their acquisitions through tieing their own personal debt to the value of the club, in essence bankrupting the clubs in all but name in one foul swoop.
Now there is the argument that foreign investment has made the Premier League the most wealthy league in the world, creating a legacy that has already generated magnificent all-seater stadiums. In reality, the wealth created by direct foreign investment and increased television rights has had the reverse effect to what they want. Rampant commercialism has turned football grounds into expensive playgrounds, inaccessible to most football fans, diverting them to lower league clubs in search of the genuine article.
In terms of the development of young players, it is obvious that foreign investment has helped build magnificent academies with the best facilities money can buy but all too often young players aren’t given the chance to make the grade at senior level due to the foreign owners insistence in bringing in expensive foreign talent on extravagant wages. Not only does this add to the pressures of nurturing the talent of young players at club level but also has the knock-on effect at national level, with the last World Cup, arguably, testament to this lack of talent.
We can only look towards Germany and their rules on club ownership as the way forward in this country. Over there every club must be 51% owned by the fans to ensure that ticket prices are maintained at affordable levels and every decision is made with the good of the club in mind.
Schalke, a team with fans bordering on messianic kinds of passion are a club run truly with the fan base in mind. No other club has its links with its fan-base so ingrained into the mentality and ethos of the club but this idea that the community is the driving force behind the club doesn’t just end in Gelsenkirchen. Both at club and national level Germany have got it right, let’s hope the expected implosion within English Premier League clubs at some point in the near future actually bears some fruit. We live in hope.
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Its very simple….Supply and demand. If the price is higher and people are still buying tickets and filling stadiums, then logic dictates that the prices will keep getting higher. Unfortunately that means that the average joe will have to think twice about watching a match. As football supporters we demand that our team is winning trophies and buying the best playerss possible, and this also contributes to rising prices. While i can sympathise with most, it is just the way the world is today, and if we want successful teams, we have to accept that to do that, the club has to maximise profits. Both to remain competitive in the transfer market and to make shareholders happy. Pity.
another note to add….Andy cole cost Manure 7 million in 97/98, a striker that can get you 30 goals a season nowadays can cost you as much as 50 million. 7 times the price. Shocking.