- Journalists turn on Arsenal as a way of avoiding considering the neighbours
- How Fifa is wrecking club squads and forcing clubs to buy more players
By Tony Attwood
Every two years, clubs lose players, not because they are transferred or injured or out of form, nor indeed because the player is overtaken in the rankings by a new arrival, but because they are not only African, but they have opted to play for their country, rather than for the people who pay their salaries.
I’ve now retired from work, but for many years ran a business – one of those writers who realised that the best deal on offer was to own his own publishing company rather than let a regular publisher take on the work and give the poor author just 7.5% of the money. It was a decision that taught me what business is all about.
But some players seem to me not to have a fulsome grasp of what a business is, and believe that they have the right to be paid even when not turning up for work. Now I agree most of us do get paid even when we are off sick, but I am not sure that is the same as expecting to be paid if one has gone off, played for one’s country, got injured and then returned home for treatment.
I find that ludicrous. My employees were offered a salary and holiday time in return for work, and of course got paid when they were off sick through no fault of their own. But they were not offered breaks to travel overseas to work for someone else.
Of course, sport in general and football in particular is different from most employment activities, but from the point of view of Premier League clubs, they are still employees. We may not always like that aspect of the show, but without clubs either making a profit or (more commonly) an owner willing to pour money into the club, the club doesn’t survive. So losing players, even if just for a few weeks, while they trot off and play elsewhere, is not everyone’s idea of sport.
I would imagine that most top African players (or at least players who, through the tangled arrangements determining nationality in football) can play for an African nation, upon coming to a Premier Leaguee club, will be asked what their intentions will be as and when their country gets into this bi-annual tournament, so I guess such defections don’t come as a surprise.
But if a player entitled to play for an African country says he won’t go, and then on being picked for the squad, changes his mind, I doubt that the club would have much luck in forcing him to stay.
What I do wonder, however, is whether clubs that lose their top players to the African Cup keep paying their players during the time they are away. It would be interesting to know.
I think I should also stress that here this is not an anti-African thing on my part – I tried to express my thoughts quite clearly about the Arsenal captain going to play for his country after being injured, and then getting injured again and so having another long spell out of league football. And although I am not sure it is totally relevant, in my younger days, I did work in Africa for a year.
Of course, clubs are obviously not going to boycott signing players who represent their countries. But I do think that the balance between the salary payer and the country that imperiously demands a player leave his employment for a while and can then be handed back in far worse condition needs to be reset.
There are 24 countries in the Africa Cup this time around, and the process runs from 3 to 18 January. Fifa set December 15 – three days ago – for all clubs to release their players who are “called up” for the event. They will be returned, undoubtedly many with injuries, after their country is knocked out of, or wins the event. I imagine that the players coming back to England will themselves then need a break to acclimatise to the English winter. After all, the weather forecast for January in England shows temperatures above freezing point, but actually not that far above freezing.
This time around, however, Arsenal have no one going to Africa. With six players called up, Sunderland, the surprise package of the early Premier League season, is the most represented non-African club at the tournament in Morocco. Burnley, Fulham and Manchester United have three each, while Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hots, West Ham, Wolverhampton and Manchester C each lose two players.
One can only feel for Wolverhampton. Bottom of the league with no victories and they now lose two players because of their nationality. It is indeed a funny old game.
