The darker side of Spain

Reports have come out this week claiming that La Liga was on the verge of the biggest change up since its creation. A study published by Sport+Markt, showed that Real Madrid & Barcelona gobble up roughly 19 times more money from the leagues TV deals, than the smaller clubs at the bottom end of the league.

The general system of revenue sharing which is adopted in rival leagues in England, Italy & Germany does not occur in Spain, and the world's richest clubs by income, Real Madrid & Barcelona, get around half the total pot of around 600 million euros from the Spanish Premier League. If this doesn't sound as odd or concerning, bare in mind that the richest clubs in the English Premier League, by contrast, earned around 1.7 times more than their smaller rivals.

In a Footballing world where the sport, and the individual leagues especially, are sold for entertainment purposes more and more every day, La Liga has been trying for some time now, to compare to the excitement and unpredictability of the English Premier League with its free spending clubs, pushing competition and the amount of shock results to the max.

A two horse race leaves alot to be desired, as interesting as Barcelona or Madrid are when they come up against Chelsea or Milan in the Champions League. A league format where the Championship goes either one way or another, with absolutely no chance of a third opponent, is never good for television appeal in foreign lands, or for the domestic game itself.

The last club to win the League besides Madrid or Barcelona were Valencia in 2003, and the league title has gone to a club outside Barcelona or Madrid only four times in the past 20 years(well, not true, Athletico Madrid brought it back to Madrid in 1995).

To add to that grim reading, last season Barca set a new points record in winning La Liga with 99 points, and Real were three points behind in second, with Valencia dragging behind in third with a massive 25 points between themselves and Madrid. As well as that, Valencia who many consider the best of the rest, had to sell David Villa to Barcelona and Silva to Man City just to break even. Showing just how broad a gap is between the rich top two and the other eighteen struggling clubs.

The major problem with this system is that the other eighteen clubs struggle to make enough money to compete by paying high enough wages or paying enough for the right quality of player. Recent studies published as recently as May show that the 20 La Liga clubs had combined debt of 3.526 billion euros in 2008/09, up from 3.49 billion the previous season. A mere fraction of it, from Madrid and Barcelona. With only one club(Numancia) making a profit besides the top two last season, and perhaps the most concerning figure being that Sevilla, Athletico, and Valencia's salary costs where 120% more than their total revenue.

Its good to here news like this, i don't think anyone would argue with a more competitive La Liga, where teams like Valencia, Athletico Madrid or Sevilla that provide us with a huge amount of tremendous youth players, are able to hold on to their best players and increase the competitiveness of the league.In a country that's always been dominated by those two clubs. Its good to here that some are standing up against them before they choke the rest of the league dry.

Premier League Round Up

This weekend may well be remembered as the round of giant killing. In a league that's major criticism is a predictable finishing spot for every team, we witnessed plenty of drama.

Liverpool continued their slow start to the season with new gaffer Hodgson, with 4 goals a piece when Sunderland traveled to Anfield. Kuyt opened the game with an early goal in the 5th minute when Torres took advantage of a poor pass by Micheal Turner and squared it for the Holland striker. Sunderland then responded impressively from a converted penalty by Bent after Poulsen handled the ball in the box, before half time. Only for Sunderland to continue their momentum after the break and score a quick goal in the 48th minute by none other than Bent again. Luckily for the Reds, their captain stepped up to the spot like he has done so often in the past, and scored on the 64th minute to save a point for his club. Daniel Agger almost managed to save Liverpool from embarrassment in the 7th minute when he headered wide merely 4 yards from goal. How long Hodgson will have to get into the pace of things is unsure, but a single point against a team who hadn't won an away game in some time, will not do.

Over in London, things weren't going exactly to plan either. At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal managed to slip up when the Baggies managed to walk away with a 3-2 victory. The upset started when Chris Brunt failed to convert a first half penalty. Emmanuel Eboue had the first real chance for Arsenal in the 13th minute as well as Andrey Arshavin who should have put the home side in front seconds later when he managed to hit the post twice when he got on the end of a cross leaving Arsenal feeling a little unfortunate when they went into the break with 0-0 on the score board. But Roberto Di Matteo's side came out after the break with a little more passion than the first, and with 2 goals in 2 minutes on the 50th minute mark by Odemwingie and Jara on top of a goal from Jerome Thomas on the 73rd minute, they found themselves three goals to the good, with seventeen minutes to protect it. Samir Nasri then dragged his side back into the game with a brace (on the 75th and 90th minute) to set up a nervy finish. Arsenal pushed forward in numbers but Albion's rearguard held firm despite all the home side's efforts, to grab 3 points and leave Arsenal wondering what had just happened.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the weekend was Manchester citys win over chelsea on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 victory at the city of Manchester stadium.
In a game touted as a battle of two Italian tactical managers, we saw Mancini set up with a 4-5-1 formation(yes the same one we saw time and time again at inter) to counter the free scoring 4-3-3 Chelsea line up.
The first half was rather dull, with nothing more than an Ivanovic header off the post from a corner, as Chelsea dictated the pace of the game and City looking their usual inept selves up front.
The second half was a different story. Yaya Toure, De Jong, and Barry were asked to close down quicker and we saw a chelsea side who struggled to hold on to possession or the ball (particularly ramires who got caught in possession for the goal),on top of a Didier Drogba having the poorest game of his season, thanks to an inspired Kompany who ended up with the man of the match award for his merited performance. City found the break through on the 59th minute from Carlos Tevez as he scored his 25th league goal in 29 games after an impressive solo run and long range effort that managed to slot into the bottom left corner from just outside the box. The victory saw Manchester City move into fourth spot and more importantly, prove a few people wrong about the cynicism to their title ambitions.

Around the rest of the country, we saw West Ham pick up their first victory against top 4 ambitious side Tottenham after Piquionne put his side in front from a corner on the 29th minute for his side to hold on to the lead. Robert Green looked like his old self pulling off a few spectacular saves, especially Modric's volley just before half time. It doesn't surprise that Green looking like hes back in form seems to be coinciding with West Ham finally picking up important points.

Martin Petrov inspired his Bolton side to a 2-2 draw with Utd on Sunday afternoon at the Reebok stadium. A 6th minute goal from Knight was cancelled out by Nani's superb solo effort hauling the visitors' level, only for Petrov to claim the lead for his side on the 67th minute. A troubling moment followed when Wayne Rooney was substituted on the 60th minute mark by Macheda, speaking loudly about the kind of place the English striker is in at the moment. Micheal Owen managed to grab a vital equaliser in the 74th minute with his third goal in two games for the Manchester side. But with 9 goals conceded in 6 games and Chelsea's slip up against City leaving a squandered opportunity by Fergie's side, Man Utd look some way from a Premier League winning team.

The rest of the fixtures saw Birmingham draw with Wigan at home 0-0, Blackburn pick up an important 3 points away to Blackpool in a 2-1 victory, Fulham hold off Everton for a goalless draw ( which saw Everton sink to the bottom of the table), Aston Villa travelled to the Molineux Stadium and managed to pick up 3 points with a late winner from Emile Heskey, and Stoke travelled north to Newcastle and managed to pick up 3 points in a 2-1 victory after going behind from a Kevin Nolan penalty only to win it in the 85th minute by a Perch own goal.

SerieA Roundup: Early Days

This week saw Cesena peak the top of the league for the first time since October 1975 as they remain unbeaten with seven points from three games after a 1-0 win over Lecce, despite having Giuseppe Colucci sent off on 38 minutes, putting the former SerieB club above Inter on goal difference.

The Milan club came from behind to claim the points with a 2-1 win over Palermo in Sicily courtesy of two goals from Samuel Eto. Palermo deserved better, in truth, striking the post once and having a pair of strong penalty appeals turned down. Their president even piped up claiming,

"What do they have against Palermo? Is it bad luck or something else? Are we going back to the old style of refereeing?"

Leaving the night with a very bitter tone.

The old Lady finally got going as they brushed Udinese to one side with a 4-0 win. Despite Vincenzo Iaquinta sparking a small riot with a gesture towards the Udinese fans(which he eventually had to apologise about), Juventus where impressive. With goals from Bonucci, Quagliarella, Iaquinta, and Marchisio and Krasic looking particularly lively, as they finally looked like they have some championship form about them.

Roma on the other hand where 15 minutes from their first league win of the season on Sunday as they hosted Bologna, when 2 goals from Di Vaio(who coincidentally is a life long Lazio fan who came up through the ranks at the Biancocelesti's) to end the game at 2-2. After Ranieri saying the day before;

We won some, we lost some. Sometimes we played well, sometimes we played badly … [But] I will not accept these attacks. This is a team that has balls, and we will prove it.

when asked about his clubs season so far, its the same old, funny and slightly concerning news in Rome.

The rest of the fixtures saw Bari and Cagliari come to a goalless draw, Brescia went to Chievo to pick up their second win of the season. Lazio beat Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi 2-1, Milan slipped up and dropped two points at home to Catania and Napoli scored 2 goals in the last 7 minutes to win 2-1 at Sampdoria.

Grim Reading For An Average Club Fan

Earlier on this week, Walter Smith not only found himself having to defend his tactics against Man Utd at Old Trafford , claiming his team have had their hands tied from the Scottish game's poor situation in the past ten years, but was also accused of being a hypocrite after many journalists claimed the difference between Man Utd and Rangers was no different from Rangers and the minnows of the SPL.

I have to show some sympathy for Walter here, he has every right to go and set his team up like he did on Tuesday night,to a great deal of success. The same way any team would come to Parkhead or Ibrox every week in the SPL

The comparison made by some journalists that Walter is bitter about finances for the same reason Jim Jeffries would be towards the Old Firm, is ridiculous. The difference between Utd and Rangers is a team in a league allowed to grow and a team trying their hardest to hold on to some form of foundations for the future, the difference between Rangers and Hearts is simply that Rangers are better at Hearts on a very even playing field. Walter Smith isn't being hypocritical, hes trying to point out that there is an underlying problem in European football that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and teams like Celtic and Rangers are unfortunately part of the later, and their domestic leagues are getting terribly effected by it.

Celtic and Rangers, being the two big fish that they are, find themselves in an ever shrinking pond, receding to the fact that they know have to put their differences aside and deal with the international threat of never being able to compete on the European stage again because of the lack of money reaching the smaller leagues.
Walter had this to say;

Somebody, somewhere has got to do something to allow Scottish clubs, or clubs in smaller countries to gain a level of finance that's going to allow them to compete.

All this news comes off the back of more bad news that Scotland are at risk of loosing one of their two Champions league spots due to the lack of coefficients over the past 5 years. A fall to 16th also means the 2010-11 SPL champions will not qualify automatically for the following season's Champions League group stage. They will instead have to navigate three qualifying rounds, though all matches will be against champions from smaller European nations rather than runners-up or third- and fourth-placed sides from larger countries.

The current set-up puts the smaller leagues head to head with each other, literally fighting for the lives of their leagues as each of them trys to win vital European qualification spots from the other and some form of revenue stream from UEFA. Where Platini may of had a vision of a Champions League where every nation was fairly represented, we now have a situation where the richest clubs in the top 4 nations have too many spots and sit comfortably at the top of the pyramid, while the rest of Europe has to fight with each other for the scraps of the TV & sponsorship deals, at the end of the table.

Nothing will come of this, at least in the foreseeable future, this was nothing more than Walter Smith taking a moment to point out his concerns and plea's for his countries sport when the world was watching.

Maybe one day we'll have someone at the head of UEFA from somewhere besides France or Italy and can see past the shiny Premier League teams, or the romantic Milan sides, to the real places around Europe that need work. Before these leagues and clubs are gone.

Barcelona Bounce Back Big Against Panathinaikos

A solid display from a Barcelona side that looked completely disheartened only three days earlier against Hercules. The team was looking for a good start, what they lacked against Hercules at the weekend, but they wouldn't get their way. A multitude of chances pasted by the blaugrana including a near tap in by Xavi after a nice spin-and-pass from Iniesta, but the chance was squandered. Eventually, a sweet back heel pass from Cisse set Govou on his way to sprint past Abidal and finish clinically past Valdes for an away lead only twenty minutes in.

But the heart that Barcelona had been looking for in the last 110 minutes finally started beating when Messi caressed an amazing pass from Xavi past Tzorvas and into the back of the net, just two minutes after going a goal down. But the show was far from over, a corner kick was headed down from Busquets at the near post and managed to reach an unmarked Villa at the far post to volley in from 6 yards. And before the first half whistle could be blown, Messi charged into the box, passing to Pedro who passed back, then passing to Xavi who laid the ball off for Messi to finish, a wonderful team goal to close the half. The momentum was all Barcelona's.

The second half continued on in similar fashion, Kante was judged to have taken down Messi in the box after a darting run, but Messi missed the resulting penalty kick that would have given him his hat trick. The second half followed in chance after chance wasted by Barcelona, often passing when a simple shot was open. Finally a goal came in the second half; Bojan sets Messi through nicely but with a tight angle, Messi takes the shot which comes off both posts before falling right to the feet of Pedro who gets it over the line. And before the final whistle could be blown, Messi chips the ball over the defense to an onrushing Alves who carefully heads the ball over Tzorvas and into the back of the net. An overall great performance from the blaugrana, they lacked a pure finishing touch, but with the multitude of chances they had to score from it was bound to be a rough night for Panathinaikos.