The business of football

Today was just another ordinary Thursday, Europa league as exciting as ever but the match between Liverpool and Anzhi Makhachkala saw Samuel Eto'o play, the worlds highest paid football player and highlighted a very well known and often criticised issue... Money in football.

Iv'e always loved football but it does deeply concern me that in an increasingly materialistic world, wages and prices of players are rocketing to unimaginable amounts of money. It surely cannot be a good thing that these athletes are paid ridiculous sums that are far superior to those wages of much more important roles (e.g. Nurses, policemen, fireman, etc).

Having a role model and aspirations is one thing but it can't be a good example for kids of the next generation to be idolising these millionaires with extortionately big houses, cars and lifestyles. We'd all like to be better off in the world but allowing football to genuinely become a business instead of  sport is, in my opinion, ludicrous. It ruins it for the people who care the most, the fans, with rising ticket prices many already find it difficult to support their club and you can see this right down the echelons of football. My local cub is in the blue square premier, with a good atmosphere and decent quality of football it is a great experience for die hard fans or the family. However, prices there have risen to £15 for adults concession and admission an appalling price to pay for a relatively small club.

We need a cap on wages and a cap on player prices across football, I fear we are losing the sport that I know I couldn't live without, actions must be taken to try and stem the money obsession bringing many more benefits as well as saving money... Think of the homegrown talent we could produce with a consensus on English players instead of hugely pricey players from around the world, the best league in the world would only get better as well as our national team. I believe this is a very real crisis and something that we must all pull together to save the beautiful game!
   

International week

It was a week for world cup qualifiers but unfortunately some fantastic football has been overshadowed by a couple of ridiculous and laughable incidences...

First, in England's U21 game against Serbia, fighting broke out after England scored the winning goal and it seems that Danny Rose was subjected to racist abuse of monkey chants. As the brawl continued players, coaches and even some fans jumped to the pitch. In the aftermath there is now a vendetta against the Serbian FA and in my opinion rightly so after they made outrageous claims of England players behaving inappropriately after scoring. Even if their downright disgraceful statements did have some solidity (which they don't) it would not excuse the Racism Rose had to face, they're denial is ridiculous due to the video evidence found of clear monkey sounds taken by a member of the crowed.
What has infuriated many people, including myself, is the fact that there is even a possibility of Serbia getting away with a fine... A mere slap on the wrist, sanctions need to be put in place to prevent this kind of abuse, fines are pointless and there needs to be much heftier penalties, such as a ban of their supporters or the national side itself.

On a lighter note, a more comedic crisis occurred on Tuesday concerning the postponing of the Poland v England match due to the waterlogged pitch, this may seem normal except from the fact that the stadium has a state of the art roof that takes no more than 15 minutes to close. Not only this, but they also have under pitch heating as well, so while the referee strode around in comic fashion continuously attempting to bounce a ball on what had become a swamp. By far the most alarming thing in the whole charade was the distinct lack of a decision making from the Polish FA, it should definitely not have taken them over an hour to realise that there was torrential rain pummelling the pitch forming what could have been described as a swimming pool... A pretty shameful day all round for both Serbian and Polish associations!    

This weeks action

There were some thrilling games and spectacular goals this weekend, with a standard El Classico taking centre stage and providing much entertainment as it always does. A Messi free kick the highlight in that game but this post is actually about some truly amazing goals scored tonight, two of them scored in Le Classique (PSG v Marseille) to you and me! None other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagging a delightful brace which I highly recommend you seek out on the internet, the first was a cheeky back heel volley which flew past the keeper, not something you see everyday. His second, however, was something quite special... a free kick from 35 yards that rocketed into the net, it's goals like these that make players like Zlatan so exciting which is why i'm always looking out for the Ligue 1 highlights.


Another goal you may have missed was in the Porto v Sporting game, Jackson Martinez is in fine form and the goal tonight showed class, confidence and a delightful touch. 

Please take a quick look, it's well worth it and deserves all the credit it gets... The awareness, poise, technique, and all around class to put this one away is majestic and a joy to watch!