Untold returns and the old problems are still there

 

 

Could Arsenal’s defence be even more solid this coming season?

By Tony Attwood

First off sincere apologies for the problems with the Untold Arsenal site in the last few days.  We have moved across to new, better, faster, nicer, happier, sweeter and altogether more friendly servers and … oh what a surprise.  It didn’t go according to plan.

But we are here now for the moment and we didn’t miss much except a narrow win by England and total chaos at a Uefa evening in which according to the Guardian there was chaos on the railways, and all other approaches to the stadium for the England game.

I had one eye on the game on TV and didn’t hear or see any coverage of the chaos, but the Guardian is adamant it was there and it was big time chaos not just a few isolated incidents.

And that makes me think, where have we had chaos before?   Oh yes, at other Uefa organised events such as the Champions League final, that match at Wembley where thousands broke in, and, well it goes on and on.

Now in any other area of life in the western world, the response to constant chaos would be to dismiss the organisation in charge and let someone else have a go.   But the problem with football, Uefa is not only the organisation in charge but the only organisation there is.

So if we kicked them out, what next?  Who next?

This is the problem: football is a monopoly, and Uefa have made it clear that they want it to remain a monopoly (which is why they were totally against the notion of Super League because it took power away from them).

And that brings me to the contradiction in all this.  Manchester City FC is challenging the power of the Premier League as a monopoly supplier, which I really don’t like, because if Manchester City win their case, we might as well all go out and choose another sport.   Unless the football clubs see sense and form a new league without Manchester City, lay down the rules and have as rule number one that any attempt to challenge the legal validity of the rules will mean instant expulsion from the league.

At the heart of all of football’s problems is the monopoly supplier..   And maybe that is how it has to be… except why couldn’t there be a Premier League which includes Manchester City, Newcastle United and other oil-state-funded clubs, and a different Premier League that includes the rest of the current Premier League.

And why can’t they all have regulations that say “if you choose to challenge any of the following regulations that are deemed absolute;ly fundamental to the league, then you will forfeit you right to play in the league forthwith.

The point of course is that Manchester City could resign from the league and go and form their own league with other clubs funded in the way they are funded.   But they want to have what my dad used to call “your cake and eat it”.   They want dominance, and world recognition, which of course they won’t get if the rest of the clubs do the obvious thing and resign and set up another league.

Arsenal and others leaving the Premier League so that Man City could have their own way could have another benefit – the new league might not be under the control of Uefa and Fifa.  The new football regulator we are promised in England after the election could show its independence and recognise the new league, and off we go.

As a result we could even see the by[passing of the crusty old FA and have an organisation in which at least two people are under 80 years old and at least three people are of the non-male species (I say species because that is how most members of the FA seem to see women – as a different species.)

Maybe that last part won’t happen, but bypassing Manchester C by forming a new league still looks like the best move to me.