El Tel's 2008/09 Blog

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Whereas the rest of my site is impartial, unbiased and, above all, scientific, this blog is meant to be the complete opposite. Those who know me will be aware of my biases already, those who don't will probably be able to work them out. These articles are unashamedly prejudiced and not always complementary or subtle. No offence is intended.

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Part 2 - August 2008

Healthy Competition ?

At the beginning of August, the odds for the team positioned ninth and last in the English County Cricket Championship to win the title were shorter than the odds for fifth favourites Spurs to win the Premier League in 2008/09. This despite the fact the the English cricket season was already two thirds complete whereas a competitive ball was yet to be kicked in the English football season. Leaving aside certain structural problems with English domestic cricket (the bad weather meaning many games will end drawn, the relatively low quality of the sides etc.) which mean a team can come through with a lucky late run, this is a sad indictment of the competitiveness of English domestic football today.

In the 1970s there were nine different winners of the FA Cup and six different winners of the League Championship. In the first nine years of this decade, there have been five different FA Cup winners (thanks Portsmouth) and three different Champions. Other countries have been similarly afflicted, most notably France and Norway. Both used to have leagues that were very open and competitive, albeit not of high quality. Lyon have won seven straight titles in France and Rosenborg put together a winning run of 14 in Norway before hitting hard times.

Factor #1 - the squad game.

The first factor I'd like to throw into the debate is the changing nature of squad football. Between 1965 and around 1990, domestic teams were limited to one substitute per game. And that substitute was the only one on the bench. The same player would come on to replace a forward, a defender or an injured goalkeeper (OK he might not go in goal but another outfield player would have to). In my lifetime, the most obvious occasion when the wrong team won the Championship was in 1981. Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town team were running away with the league while progressing to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup (they would win the latter tournament). Then the injuries and fatigue piled up. Rangers fans will recognise this scenario given what happened to them at the end of last season. A somewhat ordinary Aston Villa side managed to overtake Ipswich in the League, partly helped by the fact they had been knocked out of the FA Cup by the same opposition in January. Aside from the problems Ipswich were having with a stretched squad, Villa were incredibly lucky with injuries and suspensions that season. In 42 league games in 1980/81 they used a grand total of 14 players. Practically every English team used 14 players in their opening match of 2008/09. And this season, teams can play three substitutes from a short list of 7. In 1981, you could win the league with a remarkably small squad if you were only competiting on a single front and were very lucky with injuries. Nowadays top flight managers aim for first team squads of 23 players minimum. Extra resources allow for stronger squads. This helps in several ways. Firstly, when a first choice player is missing he can be replaced by a better deputy than in earlier times. Secondly, a first choice player who is a fitness doubt, can be rested more often, guaranteeing his fitness for key games. Thirdly, if a player gets injured during a game, the club can bring on a quality like for like replacement. In the 1957 FA Cup Final, Manchester United lost their goalie Ray Wood early in the first half and had to put a defender in goal. At this time, no substitutes were allowed so Wood had to come back as an outfield player (meaning United were deficient in two positions). Such a situation will not arise today unless a team has used up all of its substitutions. In short, the changing nature of the squad game has reduced the affect injuries and fatigue on a squad, and the clubs it has been reduced for most are the clubs with the greatest resources.

Factor #2 - resources.

Various changes have happened in the last 50 years that I would not like to see reversed. The abolition of the maximum wage, the Sky TV money and overseas investors being but three. Yet all of these have contributed to the gradual erosion of competitiveness. There is however one change that I would be happy to see reversed. Until the early 1980s, gate receipts for league games were split 50/50 between the home and away club. This tradition still persists in the FA Cup and that is why the likes of Havant & Waterlooville are so keen to get drawn away to Liverpool. Nowadays in league games the home team gets the lot. Guess which club benefitted most from that change. The irritating thing is that Manchester United make so much money from overseas merchandising that they do not really need to bleed the other clubs dry. Yet it is the same Manchester United who pulled out of the FA Cup in 2000 to go on a jolly to Brazil in order to make even more money. And it is the same club that one day hope to instigate the most self-serving and anti-competitive change of all.

Some leagues already have individual bargaining for television rights. To its credit, the Premier League has always steadfastly resisted. All its deals are collective, broadcasters buy up a package - not individual teams. It may be tiresome to see the likes of Wigan versus Bolton on a Sunday afternoon, but when you consider the alternative would be an ITV-style nightmare where Man Utd were being covered every single week, I think you'd agree that it is a price worth paying. You only need to think of ITV's Champions League coverage to imagine what things would be like. They would rather show the second leg of Manchester United v the Champions of Andorra (with United 7-0 up from the away fixture) than Liverpool/Arsenal/Celtic against Inter Milan/Barcelona/Bayern Munich. And with the commentator Clive Tyldesley being as balanced and fair minded as the referee from Escape to Victory, you wonder why armchair Reds bother to subscribe to MUTV when they have a free terrestrial equivalent in ITV Sport.

Collective bargaining for television rights is the final battle and if it is ever lost, the final pretence of a competitive league system goes with it.