World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

riseofronaldo 35

O

utrageover record-breaking

transferdealsinthe world

offootballis nothingnew.

WhenJoseLuisRodriguez

Zapatero,the primeministerof Spain,

condemnedRealMadridfor payingan

“excessive”fee of £ 80 milliontobuy

CristianoRonaldohewasfollowing

ina grandtraditionofpublicdisgust.

Thefirst£1, 000 transfer, paidin

1905 byMiddlesbroughtosignAlf

CommonfromlocalrivalsSunderland,

provokedsucha stormofcriticismthat

theEnglish FA broughtina rulebanning

transferpaymentsabove£350. It lasted

fivemonthsbeforethe FA rescinded

theruleasunworkablebecauseit

encouragedunder-the-counter

payments betweenclubsinstead.

Almost everyworld-record transfer

sincehas sparkedanoutbreakofmoral

concern,whetherit waslegendssuch

asDiegoMaradona,JohanCruyff or

JuanSchiaffino(why,by theway,is

theUruguayanof the 1950 s always

overlookedintoptensofall-time

greatplayers?)tothehopelessly

overratedrecord-breakerssuch

asDenilsonandGianluigi Lentini.

It’sthesamequestionevery time:

howcanany footballerbeworth so

muchmoney?

Thereis onecredibleanswer, but

onlyone.RealMadridpointtofinancial

calculationsthata specific footballerwith

globalpopularity– DavidBeckham,

ZinedineZidaneorCristianoRonaldo,

forexample– canrecoup a clubfar

morein commercialincomethan

theypaidforhimintransferfees

andsalaries.

Itisthedefencebeingusedby

Real’s newpresidentFlorentino Perez

towardoff whathecalls“ignorantand

misguided”criticismofthe clubthat

becamethe first in historytobreak

thetransferworld-record twicein

thesamesummer, havingalso

paid£56mforKaka.

Yet,thistime,itdoesfeeldifferent.

Itdoesfeelasiffootball,andbyno

meansjust RealMadrid, hasmoved

beyondanacceptablemoralboundary

withthemoney it is currently

spendingonplayers.

EverywhereI havebeeninthe

pastmonththereactionhas been

unanimous:absolutedisgustatthe vast

amountsofcashnowbeingsplurged

withabandon.

An£18mfee agreedbyLiverpool

formoderatefull-backGlenJohnson

astoundsordinaryfans.

Thereported £ 20 0,000a week

demandedby Barcelona’sSamuelEto’o

tojoinManchester City(that’s£10mper

year)doesmorethanastoundpeople.

Itappalsthem.Itrevoltsthem.It

acceleratesa processalreadybegun

ofalienatingpeople from thesport.

CristianoRonaldo,allegedly, hasbeen

seekingevenhigherwagesstillfrom

RealMadrid.Andhe is scorned forit.

Ina timeofdeepglobalrecession,

whenmillionsarelosingboththeirjobs

andtheirself-esteem,the explosionof

moneybeingsocasuallyand obscenely

thrownaroundfootballis,itseemsto

me,a dangerousriskbeingtakenby

thegame.

Footballdoesnotexistina vacuum.

Itonlyhastolookatthe reactionofthe

Britishpeopletothe expensesscandals

ofMPs to seehow willfulextravagance

anddecadencecanturnthepublic

deeplyhostile.

Itisanobscenitythatplayerwages

risesohighwhenthe money couldbe

usedinsteadtolowerticketpricesfor

spectatorsand

create more

grassroots

facilitiestoenable

youngsterstoplay

thegame.

Itisanobscenity

thatthemoneyis

chuckedwantonly

outoffootball.

MichelPlatini,one

ofthe greatest

players,and

nowtheUEFA

president,senses

this.Hesaidof

Madrid’s two

megadeals:

Jim Holden

Falsemarket boom is

threateningfootball’s values...

Wanted...

butataprice

“Itisverypuzzlingata timewhen

footballfaces some of itsworst-ever

financialchallenges.Thesetransfersare

a seriouschallengetothe idea of fairplay.”

Specificfactorshavecausedthis

summer’slunacy– a combinationof the

billionaire oilmoneyat ManchesterCity

andChelsea thatallowsthemtodistort

a normalcommercialmarket,together

withtheunparalleledborrowingby

RealMadridintheirambitionto

overtakerivalsBarca.

Somecriticsarguethatyou should

justletthe free marketdo itsworkin

football. Butwhatwe have now, surely, is

a falsemarketratherthana freemarket

• andonethatisunderminingboth the
  financesandthe values of thegame.So,
  ina caseof historyrepeatingitself, we
  havetoask, as theEnglishFAdid1 00
  yearsago,whetherregulationisrequired.
  Platinihaslongbelieved thatitis
  necessary, andrecentevents are
  provinghimcorrect.

Thepriceoftransferfeesmay be hard

tolegislatefor, butthe outrageous levels

ofwagescan,and should,becontained

byuse of salarycappingthatexistsinso

manyothersports aroundthe world.

I believethe Luxury Taxsystem

ofAmericanbaseballisthemost

appropriateas it allows clubssuchas

RealMadridandChelseatopay high

wagesiftheywish,but“taxes”them

fordoingso,withthatmoneybeing

redistributedto alltheclubswho stay

belowan agreedclubsalarylimit.

Itissimple,effectiveandfair– andit

wouldsenda messagethatprofessional

footballhasstarted to understandits

responsibilitiestoa publicthatitnow

veryfoolishlytakes forgranted.

“Thereported£200,0 00 a weekdemanded

bySamuelEto’o to joinManchester Citydoes

morethanastoundpeople,itappalsthem”