The Lead
If one were to attempt a graph charting the rise of player power, starting (perhaps arbitrarily) from Jimmy Hill’s demolition of the wage cap in 1961 and continuing through the 1995 Bosman ruling up until today, January 2012 may represent its zenith both in the popular imagination and in (economic) reality.
The short-term lead story involves Carlos Tevez, who may attempt to seek the £9.3 million he’s lost at city in “unpaid salary, bonuses and fines.” Of course, we only know this through the slimy dissemination of his notorious agent, Kia Joorabchian, who felt the need to remind us that just-under-ten million pounds is “a lot of money.”
It’s possible Tevez is seeking the money because his immediate future in European club football is uncertain; today Inter revealed they’ve dropped out of the “race” (more like an exhausting stroll) to sign the gifted Argentinian forward, following PSG. That means AC Milan are Tevez’s and City’s only hope.
So why aren’t more big European clubs clamouring to sign the Premier League’s joint top-scorer in the 2010-11 season? Well, the fact he thinks nothing of refusing to go on in a Champions League match or going to Argentina without club permission may have something to do with it.
Or it could be related to this news today:
Top level European soccer clubs’ losses widened by 36 percent to 1.6 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in the fiscal 2010 year, according to an audit of 650 teams by the sport’s regional governing body.
[...]
Clubs spent 3.3 billion euros on players, with 2.3 billion euros still owed to selling teams. Employee costs had “a small decrease” to account for 64 percent of total revenue, UEFA said.
More than half of teams “reported a weakening in their balance sheet, indicating a lot of club owners did not cover the losses,” the governing body said in the report.
This news comes out against the backdrop of UEFA’s upcoming Financial Fair Play rules, which prevent clubs from posting excessive losses. The current situation is untenable and despite Tevez’s undoubted talent he’s not worth the cost, both disciplinary and financial, to Europe’s money-losing clubs. Player power has met its match in simple, cold economics.
Canada
Canada will face Mexico in the semifinal of the CONCACAF womens Olympic qualifying tournament.
Stephen Brunt on “little, humble us.”
A daily Toronto FC training camp report!
TFC Academy follows the Ajax roadmap.
It’s always sunny in Philadelphia.
Paul James on Soccer podcast.
England
Cardiff confident of success in the Carling Cup following their win over Crystal Palace.
Howard Webb should be “banned for life,” says Mario Balotelli. Player power!
More stuff on the Harry Redknapp tax evasion trial.
Chelsea move closer to signing Genk’s Kevin de Bruyne.
Fabio Capello will give Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a run out ahead of Euro 2012.
QPR and Chelsea chairmen appeal for calm ahead of their fourth round FA Cup tie. I suggest you take or leave the Mirror’s “exclusive” on this matter.
Police will take hardline on Liverpool v. United.
Italy
Inter may not want Tevez, but they’d sure take Mourinho.
Alessandro Del Piero has still. Got. It.
Spain
Now this is just getting silly.
Mourinho’s struggle with Madrid fans.
Eric Abidal the world’s best left-back?
Sid Lowe previews today’s El Clasico on telly.
Bits and bobs
Jonathan Wilson on Ghana’s fragility at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Last chance for USA hopefuls to jump onboard the Klinsmann covered wagon to glory.
In praise of poor, unloved John O’Shea.
And that, give or take, is the story so far…
The end of player power? Hyperbole much?
Tevez has discovered that he can’t continue to recieve his salary while completely ignoring the wishes of his employer (a club that paid a ridiculous fee to acquire his services and then pay him an equally ridiculous wage). Limiting that kind of excessive self indulgence is not the death knell of player power – rather it is simply underscoring the idea that players can not act without reason or accountability.
Everything about this blog since Whitall et al. took over has been hyperbole.
If everybody who felt like you two went away and never read this blog again, this site would still be far better ad more successful that it has ever been in the past.
Which is a long way of saying “Who needs you?”
You should stay if you can get a sense of humor and perspective and enjoy content that may not be as literal as your perfect world would prefer. If you can’t get enjoyment out of it, you should just not read the site.
I’m sure you’re absence will lack significance.
Gotta love thescore commentors and their agree-or-die approach wherein anybody who doesn’t wholeheartedly agree with the writer or prevailing opinion on the comment board is an idiot, is preventing the success of the site, and is essentially worthless in the eyes of those who are correct in their own eyes.
They basically want this to be their favourite porn site where the girl their watching is the one that REALLY wants to be with them, rather than their mustachioed overweight wives. Everything comes up their way, even when reality rarely does.
Really, a flame war? What are you, 16? I`m crying over here, my feelings are hurt.
Who says I need my opinions to match? I can have polite and informed disagreements with anyone on this blog, and have long before Whitall et al took over here.
All that being said if you think that rampant hyperbole in damn near every post is somehow *humor* or *quality writing*, by all means have this site. I hope you do not mind the half-finished thoughts or the posts that kind of tail off…
This was once one of the best blogs on the Score. I don`t visit often, if at all anymore, despite my love for football and that has everything to do with Whitall et al. That in a nutshell is doing exactly the opposite of what a blog for a tv channel is supposed to do. It is not supposed to alienate people, it`s supposed to draw them in. This place used to but not anymore.
Imma just going to point out that the blog is unchanged in almost every respect from what it was before I got here. Almost everyone who wrote in this space before me is still here. It’s just grown.
Oh, and while I’m sure I drive away all sorts of readers, I should assure you our numbers demonstrate our wonderful contributors from around the globe most certainly do not.
Everything i’m hearing about Ox and about his performances and England situation…it’s all so freakin similar to Walcott a few years back. Look how that turned out…
In a day where people are struggling to make a living in order to feed their families day to day…this asshole… who is gifted beyond all imagination, and is lucky enough to make the insane amounts of money he does throws it all away to stroke his own ego. That £9.3m should be donated by the club to the people of England, who woke up to the news that they’re edging closer to a second recession in 5 years.
Fuck you Carlos Tevez.
“Howard Webb should be “banned for life,” says Mario Balotelli. Player power!” – his agent said the quote, not him, Mario is stupid, but hopefully not stupid enough to drop a quote like that while still in the league.