Manchester City Could Kill Off Competitive Football As We Know It

It’s 1973. Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and Francis Lee are drinking at Warren’s night club. ‘Half a million pound wouldn’t buy you that lot,’ says one wag. If you’re a fan of Life on Mars, you might recognise Gene Hunt’s observation, and allow yourself a smile of recognition. Such an innocent time, such an acute observation. Back then, half a million pounds was beyond the ken of mere mortals, and maybe you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s still beyond the grasp of them.

Fast forward thirty-five years – at least one generation, but an absolute lifetime in football terms. It’s been reported today that following the audacious signing of Robinho by Manchester City, the club’s Arab owners are talking about signing Cristiano Ronaldo in January. Their spokesperson has put his finger on the problem – if Real Madrid quibbled over a sum like £80 million, there’s not a prayer. Except if you offer more. Much, much more.

£135 million for a footballer. One footballer. That’s pounds sterling, by the way, not out of date Lira. Wherever your feelings about such a ridiculous sum of money lie, you have to admit that once again, for the umpteenth time in a few short years, the balance of power in football is changing. It’s been done so fast that we might not even see how much until a good decade or so has passed.

The Premier League is sixteen years old this season. In that time, football has changed irrevocably. Some changes have undoubtedly been for the better – footballer is more attractive, better supported, safer and more professional that it ever was. Some changes, like the ever widening gulf between the top division and the rest in terms of wealth and infrastructure, has been an open wound for pretty much the whole of the league’s existence. But never ever has there begun to be such a disparity between rich and poor. We’re talking megalithic.

A lot of the commentary on Manchester City’s takeover has included the referral to the Abu Dhabi United Group’s rumoured wealth. The figures mooted put Roman Abramovich in the category of ‘can you spare ten pence for a cup of tea?’ I don’t know the exact figure, and nor do I want to, because it sounds like the kind of figure asked for by Dr. Evil as a ransom for not laying waste to the Earth, but if some are right the combined wealth is around half a trillion dollars.

This is a very tricky situation. We all thought Abramovich had a bottomless pit. Now, it’s possible that not even Roman can save the Premier League from too much cash.

So what, you might say. If Manchester City can afford to pay top dollar, then good luck to them. After all, they had a billionaire owner with a dodgy background, and he’s been replaced by a conglomerate with nary a stain on their bedsheets. They’ve broken the British transfer record and for all other fans misgivings, Chelsea and Manchester United’s vast wealth didn’t ruin the league. Chelsea haven’t dominated, rather made the top four competitive. Money can’t buy you everything.

Only, the right amount of money can. The president of Real Madrid has been very vocal (and some would say, bitter) about Robinho’s decision to move to City, positive it’s not for footballing reasons. No matter how much of a City fan you are, you can’t delude yourself Robinho has arrived for the sky blue tradition.

But I’m not having a go at Manchester City. They’ve hit the jackpot. But what does worry me is the ridiculous disparity Manchester City now work on. Having access to such vast wads of cash is mind-blowing, and if they want a player, there’s nobody they can’t afford. In the modern game, especially in a summer where contract loyalty has been severely squashed into the muddy ground, money goes a long way to deciding that loyalty.

In a decade, just as the ADUG predict, Manchester City could be the biggest club on the planet. Their squad could be worth over a billion dollars. They never have to negotiate or bid against anybody else again. Can you see the problem?

It’s not that everybody else just won’t have the money, just that Manchester City have too much of it. Technically speaking, everybody else apart from them is on a level playing field. And just like the rich kid who can’t get anybody to play with him because he’s just too spoilt, who’s going to want to play in a league with a team that can afford to buy out the competition? They’ll have to form their own group – the G1.

What I’m getting at is that while City’s new owners have the new toy and are making predictions of spending this or that amount of cash, there has to be a limit set on transfer fees NOW. I’m not saying this to deny City their moment in the sun, but when you have a company that can afford to destroy any obstacle in their way, it’s not fair. There is no competition. They call it antitrust law in the States, and competition law here. Microsoft got taken to court over it, because it was killing trade that they were so massive.

So what will FIFA or UEFA do to prohibit this? Probably nothing. Because anybody with money is welcome in football. Every decade, English football is dominated by a club with all the money, and as time has progressed you needed more and more to stay ahead of the competition. In the Noughties, a respectable top division club needed their own billionaire. Now, it seems they need to have a hundred billion just to give their club a fighting chance.

I’m not saying ban the multi-billionaires, because that’s parochial. But in ten years, unless the warning signs are heeded, even the most basic football transfers could cost a club over £50 million. There’s no way your Macclesfields or Walsalls can compete with that. There’s no way your Boltons, your Evertons or your West Hams could do it either. There will be one great big European super league, just like the top clubs wanted, but only because there will only be about twenty teams that can afford to play in it.

I can imagine the fans of a lot of League One and Two teams laughing at such histrionics, scoffing at a fan of a Premier League team worrying about money. Good point – most clubs in the league live hand to mouth, and they’re just about coping while the Premier League turns a deaf ear. It’s just possible the Premier League would keep going, as a small national competition that receives inches rather than pages, while the European Super League dominates our thoughts.

Pie in the sky, I hope. But then again, it’s easy to imagine a real life Gene Hunt talking about his paltry half million thirty five years ago, wondering what madman could ever talk about a player worth over £100 million. Much as it would be a real coup to take Ronaldo across the city, Manchester City could yet put in motion a process which sees them kill the game through sheer financial irresponsibility.

Chris Stanley