By Tony Attwood
Behind the scenes, and occasionally in front of the scenery, there is a multiplicity of battles going on as various forces try to ensure they are in control – or at least partially in control.
And this is one of those things that the media don’t like to talk about, largely because they are part of the battle….
Yet it is an important battle because the winners dictate how football exists, in terms of whether the very rich clubs are controlled, what is on TV, how competitions are run, how much it costs to get into the ground, and above all what is said about football in the media.
Let’s take that last one first. The story that BBC staff are protesting about comments made by Gary Lineker in relation to England on his podcast is worrying because it suggests that certain commentaries are not to be allowed in relation to football. And there is a difference between disagreeing with comments and not allowing them at all.
England has a very poor record in terms of allowing comments about football into the media – one only has to look at how the media refuses to comment meaningfully about referees and the activities of PGMOL which runs the refereeing system in England to see how certain topics can be declared off limits.
Linekar declared that England’s performance against Denmark was “shit” and the argument is not that he was wrong and that his verdict should be debated, but rather that he should lose his place as a commentator on mainstream media for saying it. In short, not only are some topics not available for discussion (such as which referee gets which match) not all opinions are allowable. Something that I find incredibly worrying.
Yes of course opinions that urge people to violent or otherwise criminal acts should not be given widespread publicity, but this was an opinion about a football team. That takes us into the realm of the thought police in “1984”, and really needs to be resisted
I don’t demand the right to urge people to criminal acts, but I do want the right to express legal opinions about football, and referees.
Besides it wasn’t even an extremist opinion. Linekar said, “They’re just a little bit lost tactically. And that comes from the manager….”
In the debate there is talk about impartiality guidelines – but what upset some people was this opinion about the approach of the manager. If that cannot be expressed, we don’t get impartiality we get blandness. In fact impartiality went out around 60 years ago when it comes to commentating on England.
But this is not the only question of who controls football. For there is a real case to be made over how much control in terms of football the media, has for in France several clubs in Ligue I are facing financial collapse after media companies refused to pay what the League was demanding for TV rights.
In essence one media organisation after another has said that the money wanted by the League is too much, and they won’t bid. Unfortunately, the clubs have been budgeting for next season on the basis that a bumper deal with the broadcasters would be forthcoming – which effectively gave all the power to the likes of Canal+, BeIN Sports, DAZN, Discovery etc who together said, “no”. As the previous President of Ligue 1 said, all the clubs have now is “a choice between the plague and cholera.”
Clubs like PSG and Monaco are ok of course, but not the bulk of the clubs are not and there is a talk of many clubs teetering on the edge of administration.
One way out of this is for poor clubs to be bought by rich clubs, especially after Uefa allowed Mancheseter City and Girona (both owned by the same people) both to participate in the Champions League. That suggests Uefa are likely to kowtow to the demands of the Group by finding neat ways around the rules.
Following this pattern, the owner of Liverpool is said to be looking into buying Bordeaux, which looks attractive now that Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev is offering his share in Monaco for sale.
Meanwhile as we reported recently the clubs in Cyprus are fighting back by refusing to pay their tax bills, until the government come up with ways of helping them. The Cyrpiot government is said to be ready to help the clubs but it is expected that the European Union will say no to this as a fundamental of EU rules is that the state cannot interfere with the market.
Part 2 – how the clubs are seeking the wrestle back control – follows shortly.
