The Making of a Modern Superclub
by Alex Fynn & Kevin Whitcher
Vision Sports, £16.99
Reviewed by Cameron Carter
From WSC 260 October 2008
At last – a football book that reflects the spirit of the age. Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub is a forensic account of the boardroom rumblings that have produced a world brand that sells property in London, beer in India and credit cards in Hong Kong. And 90 minutes of football in England on a Saturday.
Jon Spurling reports on Michel Platini's ambitious plans
“Football is a game before a product, a sport before a market, a show before a business,” said Michel Platini in January. The new UEFA chairman has since claimed that all his proposals – including his suggestion in August to cut the number of Champions League places allocated to Europe’s leading leagues from four to three and his aim that European finals be played on a Saturday afternoon with 75 per cent of allocated tickets going to the finalists’ supporters – are based on “sporting philosophy and not anything financial”. Others don’t share Platini’s altruistic vision.
An English football club is now the must-have accessory for discriminating billionaires from all around the world – but does this trend make any financial sense? David Wangerin wonders if there is enough cash – and enough optimistic fans to part with it – to sustain the current booming revenues
“As a global brand,” the Independent claimed recently, “the Premiership is becoming sport’s equivalent of Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.” Can this be true? Certainly the success of fizzy-drink manufacturers and fast-food restaurants is not measured by trophies. But as the level of financial interest spreads across the globe, the league’s international reach seems to be rapidly approaching that of the junk-food leviathans. Curiously, much of this interest has not originated in traditional footballing strongholds, but in the game’s equivalent of the emerging markets – and America in particular.
A pan-European league is never far off the agenda. What would the world look like if it ever happened? Adam Powley considers
“We have flirted with hell,” said Arsène Wenger, speaking of his club’s recent dalliance with life outside of the Champions League qualification positions. It is this kind of thinking – that the Champions League is the be-all and end-all – that has underpinned the latest rumours concerning a European Super League. The plot is a familiar one: murmurs of shady meetings between the various Mr Bigs of G-14, suggestions and then denials from Brussels politicians, and off-the-record briefings reported as plans set in stone.
Political pressure is being applied to Europe’s richest clubs and a wide-ranging recent report by a Belgian MEP has found an unlikely but powerful ally. Paul Joyce examines why
In March, the European Parliament took its first steps towards a firm commitment to sport by adopting Belgian MEP Ivo Belet’s report on the future of professional football in Europe. The document called upon the European Commission to resolve the legal uncertainties surrounding football, to facilitate the self-regulation of governing bodies such as UEFA and to tackle issues such as hooliganism, racism and money laundering. UEFA’s “home-grown players” initiative and the expansion of Supporters’ Trusts in Europe were also endorsed by the parliament.