Problems In The Championship

There has been a lot in the news this week about a couple of clubs in the Championship and I firmly believe that the problems that are at Vicarage Road and Ewood Park have been caused by foreign ownership. Laurence Bassini has been banned from football involvement for three years after alleged misconduct with accusations of financial misdemeanours flying about before he sold Watford to the Pozzo family.

Since then, thanks in no small part to a very odd partnership with Udinese which has allowed them to loan EIGHT players, this modest club in the South of England are now in third place with a real chance of promotion to the Premier League. The loan system is skewed so that those are not recognised as loans, and the only player they have who is recognised as a loan is the highly rated prospect Nathaniel Chalobah from Chelsea.

What a blatant and ridiculous manipulation of the rules, how can it be fair competition for this family to have interest in other clubs in Europe and manipulate the competition in such a way?

I completely and utterly agree with Ian Holloway whose Crystal Palace side are looking like one that could lose out as a direct result of the goings on at Watford. The Football League rules say there is a maximum of five loan players that should be allowed in a match day squad. When Watford played Palace recently, there was seven players in their squad. They haven’t been deducted any points but for me, it’s cheating, and it’s no surprise considering the origin. It should be a stipulation when a family or business takes over a club that they don’t have an interest in others or that they won’t manipulate it in this manner.

Rules, it seems, are there to be broken. It’s been four years since the problems at Portsmouth and there has been talk since before then of a “fit and proper persons” test for owners of football clubs. And what has happened since then? Countless clubs that look to have had dubious takeovers. It seems as if the FA and the Leagues are happy as long as they have the required number of teams in the league, and as if they close their eyes to certain things. Look no further than the Venky’s ownership at Blackburn. Rovers have sacked Michael Appleton – that club is getting worse, they change their manager like they change their underwear. The club is an expensive toy for the owners and they don’t know what they’re doing.

Whether temporarily a good thing for clubs fortunes, as Watford’s seems to be, or a bad thing, as at Blackburn, foreign ownership is damaging the game because more often than not the people who own the club do not have a proper working knowledge of the game. Roman Abramovich is the perfect example, but to go back to Watford, my football roots were in Millwall, a club who are a similar size to Watford. Watford get a distinct advantage not because of effort and merit but because of a blatant manipulation; Lance Armstrong won all those titles and had them stripped because of the recent revelations. Tell me what’s different with that and football?

The victims are clubs like Millwall who try and get by with what they have but find their path to achievement blocked by situations like this. “We will win at all costs” – if Watford get promoted, which they now look like they can do, they’ll benefit also from the cash windfall that comes from being involved in the Premier League. All those clubs sweating their balls off just trying to get by, while others look for an easier way. The FA have got to take a big stand on it. It’s a slap in the face and seems like the Football League have turned their back on most of the clubs. These terrible problems always go on until it goes too far, but how can that be so? These things are happening in the front of their eyes, there’s no surprise.

Ian Holloway is absolutely right to have said what he did, and if I was in his shoes, I’d have said exactly the same or even worse. I think it sucks and it stinks. It’s incredible to think about what has happened and continues to happen, but as long as they can continue to get away with it like Watford have, can you see it stopping?

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There was a slightly less controversial story regarding a management change in the Football League this week. I found it fascinating that Gary Johnson’s son, Lee, has got the job at Oldham – I wish him the very best of luck, but that will be a hell of a baptism. He got off to a good start last night with a big win, and I hope he continues in the same form.

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In Other News…

Other than the issue of foreign owners, there have been a number of events I’ll give a brief comment on. United won and City lost which moves us three points closer to the title; I have to admit I don’t think we were too clever at the weekend but Everton did us a massive favour and although we can’t celebrate until the fat lady sings (as we well know) we are in a really strong position.

After Arsenal, the last English club in the competition, were eliminated from the Champions League last week, so my interest in the competition faded. Truth be told, I had really lost the flavour for it after the refereeing decision at Old Trafford the other week. Arsenal did a good job to come back but Munich held on and I quite fancy them as a dark horse for the trophy, as they seek to avenge their disappointment from last season.

Rio Ferdinand pulled out of the England squad; you might have not batted an eyelid if it was a friendly, but he pulled out of a World Cup Qualifier. I’m not entirely convinced by the public story, I feel there’s more than meets the eye with it. Roy Hodgson strikes me as a “yes man” for the FA, someone right up their street, but there’s been a right mess over the whole Terry and Ferdinand saga. I don’t want to comment on anything other than the quality of the players, and out of the two, Ferdinand has always been the better, and much less trouble. Terry as a centre back – he’s okay, but not the best. I’ve played with better, Kevin Beattie, Roy McFarland, Brian Greenhoff. With Terry there has always been a drama and he has always been trouble for his managers – any player that can stoop as low as he has in his career, well I wouldn’t trust him. There has been talk of miscommunication with England and Ferdinand and that is scandalous when you think it could be sorted with one phone call. “Do you want to play?”. “Are you fit?”. Easy.

On the subject of international football, Wales play Scotland at the weekend and it would be lovely to see something like the Home International tournament seriously restructured and reprised. It might go some way to giving some pride back to the shirt.

I do want to give some praise to a Chelsea player this week and that is Frank Lampard. He scored a great header at the weekend to get 200 goals for Chelsea – he’s a player who I really like, a player who still wants to play for England whether he gets a game or not. He has gone out and played the same way, he hasn’t kicked off or anything, he’s just been the model professional.

One last thing – I was surprised to hear Dave Whelan’s views on the tackle by young Callum McManaman at the weekend. It was an awful challenge, he went right on the kids knee, and you would have thought that Dave, who had his own career ended by a bad tackle, would have known better. Try telling Massadio Haidara that the tackle was a good one, Mr Whelan! It’s a tough sport, yes, but it shouldn’t be a vicious one.