Has The Sporting World Gone Mad?

Posted by Roy on June 13th , 2009 under Sports News | Be the First to Comment

The World Wide recession has hit us all hard. Since last year there have been thousands of  job losses, house repossessions and families going hungry. Share prices are at record lows as the boom time of the late 90s and early 21st century has well and truly come to an end. But then again try telling that to the sporting world. Despite the rest of us pinching pennies and living on beans on toast the money that is being splashed around on players, wages and sponsorships could finance most third world countries.

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) President, Michel Platini, has slammed the recent excess in soccer labeling Spanish giants Real Madrid and English Premier League clubs a disgrace for throwing astronomical amounts of money around on players wages and transfer fees. This came after Madrid spent $117 million to secure the services of Brazilian superstar Kaka and then a world record $163 million for Manchester Utd winger Ronaldo just a week later. Add to that that they have both signed long term deals reported be worth alomst $17 millon a year you have to wonder where all this money is coming from. French great Platini feels that it is just not fair “These transfers are a serious challenge to the idea of fair play and the concept of financial balance in our competitions,” he said. Platini is also worried that unless a cap or a fairer transfer system is put in place that a lot of the clubs will go bust because they are over capitalising just to compete.

But Soccer clubs are by no means the only culprits. In American Baseball, Basketball and NFL there is no such thing as a transfer fee as there is in soccer, so all the money goes directly in to the players paypacket.  Madona’s toy boy and New York Yankee star Alex Rodriguez is reportedly earning $42 million a year and Pittsburg Steelers quarterback Ben Roethilsberger is earning just shy of that at $41 million a year, while Australian basketballer Andrew Bogut scrapes by on just $13.8 million. Read more of this article »

Rebuilding Needed at Manchester Utd

Posted by Roy on May 30th , 2009 under Soccer | Be the First to Comment

It may be hard to comprehend that a team that has just won its 18th league and 3rd in 3 years needs to do any sort of rebuilding, but with Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez on their way out of Old Trafford there is definitely going to be a lack of creative talent in the squad.

There are two games from this season that really stand out to me as showing up the cracks in the Manchester Utd Armour, the 4-1 defeat at home to Liverpool and the recent Champions League defeat to Barcelona. Both times Ronaldo failed to show up and both times the Manchester Utd midfield was out classed. The likes of Carrick and Park Ji Sung just aren’t good enough and unless Alex Ferguson has some big signings up his sleeve Utd will struggle next season.

I can see all the Utd fans jumping up and and down chucking stuff at their computers as they read this saying “what about Giggs, Scholes, Rooney and Berbatov”. Giggs had a great season there is no doubt about that, he didn’t win the PFA Player of the year for nothing. But he is 36 now and there is now way he can keep it up for much longer.

Scholes is 35 and as far as I am concerned he hasn’t been the at his best for a few years now. Berbatov is already whinging about the rotation system and hasn’t been the success that many people expected. Sowing flashes of brilliance one moment and then damn right laziness the next. Read more of this article »