Football fiasco...

Weekends are often the highlight of most people’s week. We love to spend the time away from work with our family, watching sport or socialising with friends. Personally, I enjoy my time doing very little, chilled out and watching the football; that sort of thing.

Last weekend, however, much to my surprise I found myself watching highlights of a game with players moving even less than I was. I have heard many amateur footballers, particularly when watching their own team not doing so well, state that they could play in that team or that they are better than the players they’re watching.

You could comfortably say that for the first four minutes in their tie with Mexican side Tigres. Veracruz players could have been replaced by just about anyone in the world; they were enjoying their weekend much like I was enjoying mine, doing very little. They collectively stood still and watched for a small period as their game got underway.

Of course, this wasn’t just a decision on the day; it was a planned protest at the club’s hierarchy over unpaid wages. Some Veracruz players haven’t been paid for more than six months and initially had planned to boycott the match altogether.

I think we can all stand by the Veracruz team; in any capacity not being paid for more than half a year is unacceptable. However, the level of solidarity that was shown varied to what you may have expected. The Tigres players, understanding the difficult time that their fellow professionals are going through, stood in solidarity with Veracruz for a whole minute before presumably getting bored, not caring anymore and starting to score goals.

The Hawkeye employees at Tottenham’s stadium who displayed the wrong VAR decision graphic at the weekend were probably very grateful to the Tigres players for eclipsing that farcical event. 

Tigres scored two goals in this period and ran out 3-1 winners overall, although judging from the fact Veracruz effectively managed a 1-1 when they were actually playing, perhaps a notification of a deposit on their online banking apps may have provided all the motivation needed to turn their fortunes around.

In a year when a huge football club, Bury FC, went extinct and another, Bolton Wanderers were right on the brink, should there be more regulations with regard to how owners are allowed to handle club finances and how much debt a club can get in to? Personally, I feel as though there should be much greater protection offered to club employees and for the many teams that provide a huge value to their town/city.

In the UK the Professional Footballer’s Association negotiated with the Premier League and Football League that the players would still be paid even if a club went into administration. In 2010, when Portsmouth was in serious financial trouble, goalkeeper David James generously offered to pay the wages of club staff out of his own sizeable salary.

The administrators refused to allow this to happen, given those protections in their contracts and no money was allowed to go to them. How shocking is it that those at the bottom of the structure of a football club are the ones most exposed by the toying done at the top?

Steve Dale, the former owner of Bury FC and the man considered public enemy number one in their demise earlier this year, turned round and told fans: “I never went to Bury, it’s not a place I frequented. So for me to walk away from Bury and never go back is a very easy thing to do. I don’t do anything up there.”

Charming. If you just lost your job at the club store, a restaurant owner who has lost match-day revenue or a fan that has just lost his or her beloved team, it’s not exactly comforting.

In my opinion, all owners should have to put down a deposit for a club. There’s a saying in football; it’s easy to take £1m out of a football club as an owner, all you have to do is first invest £2m. Football clubs have never been about making money, it’s about prestige; it’s about being able to say: “I am the owner of a football club.” It is more akin to buying a flashy new car than running a successful business and whilst football globally is big business, football clubs individually are not. Forbes lists that the current 100th biggest company, SAIC motors, is worth around $135bn. In comparison, football’s most valuable club, Manchester United, is worth around $4.2bn.

Owners would have to put down a deposit which would keep the club running for six months to a year, if they sell beforehand with the club in a sound financial state or if debt has not increased beyond the predicted amount their deposit is returned. That way it gives the club time to find new owners whilst not putting people’s livelihoods at risk as well as giving owners an incentive to care about their investment. In a more selfish viewpoint, it will also mean that I won’t be sitting down to watch a game of players watching a game. Tuning in to people watching other people will quickly blur football with Gogglebox and I have no interest in that collaboration.