generally, players asking to be released get what they want eventually; simply by virtue of the fact that - in football - no one wants to work with someone who doesn't want to be there. in just about any other business, workers in varying fields of endeavor are routinely held to contracts; where their reluctant delivery of performance is usually acceptable, based on the assumption of personal ego and their inherent sense of craft delivering adequate product. even the rolling stones squirming out of one of their first recording deals, did so by producing a piece of work in order to fulfill their contractual obligations... nothing more. in this case it was a song called "cocksucker blues" and was designed to be unusable - by virtue of its overly explicit lyrical content - by the company to which the song was owed. it did however produce (for better or worse) an interesting piece of art. it shows a commitment to something, anyway. but a footballer who does not want to honour his contract is useless and possibly even detrimental, produces nothing, lacks any sense of commitment; and considering what a footballer costs these days, you would generally want to get him off the payroll as soon as possible.
that is the way i feel about robbo, anyway. he's 30 years old, has no international career to protect (unlike morrison, whose considerations in leaving have more to do with his aspirations as a scottish international than anything else) and last year was part of one the worst defenses in the premier league. so i have to wonder what he's talking about when he says he can't "face another season in the championship".
the premier league - and especially the existence of the "big 4" - has seriously devalued the worth of all other english football; and the promotion/relegation issue between the first and second tier of play is turning into a perilous joke, with less and less of the league being able to stay competitive. nowadays - and in the big setup - teams in the premier league and championship fall into three basic levels of competition: "the big 4"... well that just speaks for itself, and is as much of an institution, at this point, as is the "old firm" in scotland, or the dominance of real madrid and barcelona in spain. then there are the rest of the "top 10" level clubs, in the likes of teams such as everton, aston villa, spurs, manchester city, blackburn rovers, bolton wanderers, west ham united etc... these are all teams that generally finish in the top 10 and occasionally will struggle for a season, but are rarely relegated.
a notable exception to this rule would be newcastle united in being relegated this last season. for these teams, relegation is the worst possible scenario, as the structure at these clubs - financial and otherwise - demands that they regain promotion within 2 years or face the possibility of spiraling downward into league 1 and possibly beyond. recent victims of this syndrome being charlton athletic, leeds united, nottingham forest, leicester city, norwich city, luton town, southampton and going a little further back, swindon town have never been back to the top flight after being the first team to be relegated from the premiership; and, both notts county - now in league 2, and oxford united of the blue square premier league were first division teams less than 20 years ago.
after this you have the group of teams that struggle against relegation from the premiership as often as they are playing for promotion from the championship: west bromwich albion, wolverhampton wanderers, birmingham city, reading, crystal palace, watford, stoke city, portsmouth, sheffield united, fulham, sunderland, wigan, hull city, middlesbrough - and a group of teams who might become competitive at this level on any given year: coventry city, cardiff city, burnley, derby county, bristol city, QPR, preston north end etc. these clubs make up the bottom half of the premiership and the top half of the championship. beyond that - and with a few notable exceptions... well, football is localized and of interest only to the teams and supporters involved.
while the former category of these clubs are capable of staying in the premiership for as many as four or five years at a time - and even produce top ten finishes replete with qualification for european competitions, and so forth - they will still inevitably and eventually find themselves back in the bottom 7 or 8 where the threat of relegation is always just around the corner and as imminent as your next 3 losses.
if paul robinson really believes that the championship is below the level at which he should be playing - then something is out of whack in the overall structure of football in england, and at its highest level. there are players of such a caliber that they could not entertain playing for anyone outside the "big 4". some of these players can be lured to other clubs in the "top ten" category - but only for "big 4" money - or they can go and play for real madrid. while there is another grade of player - like robbo - who will play for anyone as long they have a defensible and consolidated position in the premier league - i mean, you wouldn't want to leave west brom to play at hull, because their chances of a miserable season ending in relegation is more likely than not, and west brom are expected to regain promotion immediately.
the problem lies in the financial structure of these institutions, and the way in which they are allowed to operate. with the exception of west bromwich albion - who were the first team relegated this last year - every single premiership club operated by accumulating massive debt. manchester united, for example, couldn't afford to be manchester united if they couldn't attract the money and keep things running smoothly under the weight of this massive debt. they just wouldn't be able to meet the wages that they want to be able to meet, nor the incredible transfer fees made at the game's highest level that must be paid out. west brom, on the other hand, are a team that depend on prudent management, good buys, loyalty, player development in conjunction with signing young players, and making sure that there is enough money in the till to deal with whatever problems or opportunities might come up. not only did the baggies avoid debt last year, but they were the only premiership club that turned a profit. this may be why they can afford to go "sponsor-less" and actually look like a football team instead of 11 mobile billboards.
newcastle united, having spent many years in the premier league and first division prior to that - are a huge club... one of the biggest in the country. their financial structure calls for big investors, top name players on big salaries, acquired on big transfer money, and to be in the appropriate amount of debt to ensure that this all happens. this structure will absolutely sink a team when relegated to the championship. while albion will have the money and structure to deal with a championship campaign - and are expected to be favourites for promotion back to premier league, newcastle are in big trouble and will have to re-organize their financial structure, sell off their most expensive players, figure out what kind of team they need to put on the field week after week and will still need to get promoted within 2 years or face being broke, further in debt and possibly suffer deeper relegation.
No comments:
Post a Comment