tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/chelsea-15087/articlesChelsea – The Conversation2022-03-18T10:12:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1795052022-03-18T10:12:46Z2022-03-18T10:12:46ZLasso-ing Chelsea FC? Why super-rich US sports owners are looking to buy a London soccer team<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452894/original/file-20220317-23-1ulw0kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C208%2C2102%2C1168&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Putting the Blues in the red, white and blue.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chelsea-fan-in-a-stars-and-stripes-hat-cheers-on-his-team-news-photo/681569006?adppopup=true">Bradley C Bower/EMPICS via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ted Lasso, the story of an American football coach bringing his unique management skills to a fictional soccer club in West London, has <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10986410/">entertained TV viewers since 2020</a>. It now appears that some investors stateside are looking to experience this close up by buying a real English Premier League club in West London: Chelsea FC.</p>
<p>For the fictional Lasso, swap in the very real Ricketts family. The Chicago Cubs owners have joined up with hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin to bid for the club and have <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/12572802/chelsea-sale-ricketts-family-fly-to-london-as-race-to-buy-the-blues-hots-up">flown to London</a> to meet with Chelsea stakeholders.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets and a former Ambassador to the U.K., also <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/chelsea/news/report-woody-johnson-makes-big-solo-offer-for-chelsea-as-raine-review-takeover-offers">reportedly threw his hat into the ring</a>.</p>
<p>The fire sale of the club is part of the fallout from the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. The current owner is the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/world/europe/roman-abramovich-russian-oligarch-sanctions.html">Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich</a>. Facing pressure over his links to Vladimir Putin, he promised <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2022/03/02/russian-billionaire-roman-abramovich-to-sell-chelsea-fcdonate-proceeds-to-help-victims-in-ukraine/?sh=7a7129ca44a0">to sell the club and donate the proceeds for Ukraine relief</a>. Then the U.K. government froze his assets and imposed conditions on the sale process to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10029291-roman-abramovichs-assets-frozen-needs-uk-governments-permission-to-sell-chelsea">make sure there was no impropriety</a>. The expected price tag for the club is <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/cubs-ricketts-family-ken-griffin-make-joint-bid-chelsea-fc">in excess of US$3 billion</a>.</p>
<p>But why are Americans so interested in the fire sale of this club? </p>
<p>Chelsea is one of the best known soccer clubs in the world and current holder of Europe’s prestigious <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/29/manchester-city-chelsea-champions-league-final-match-report-kai-havertz">Champions League trophy</a>, which the team also won in 2012. Chelsea is a five-time champion of the English Premier League (EPL). </p>
<p>But the interest is driven not so much by what Chelsea has been, as what it might become. The EPL is already the <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1948434-why-the-premier-league-is-the-most-powerful-league-in-the-world">dominant soccer league on the planet</a>, and it might plausibly go on to become the dominant league across all sports – a kind of NFL Global if you will. And that makes Chelsea, one of the league’s biggest clubs, a very attractive prospect. Its location in one of London’s most fashionable districts also helps, even if the <a href="https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/news/chelsea-new-stadium-stamford-bridge-19601375">stadium itself could do with an upgrade</a>.</p>
<h2>An open goal …</h2>
<p>This interest of American investors in English professional soccer is not new. In fact, it can be dated to 1998 when, temporarily, Manchester United became <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/football/543805.stm#:%7E:text=Nine%20British%20clubs%20in%20total,did%20not%20win%20any%20trophies.">the world’s most valuable sports team</a>.</p>
<p>The flood of TV money that started to <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/385002/premier-league-tv-rights-revenue/">swell the coffers of England’s top teams from the early 1990s</a> piqued interest in the U.S. and led to a series of acquisitions.</p>
<p>By 2005, the Glazer family, owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/who-owns-manchester-united-who-are-the-glazer-family/18j8f1yu1tliv1hrp93zeffh7n">acquired Manchester United</a>. A couple of years later, St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke <a href="https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/how-much-money-stan-kroenke-17273593">started buying shares in</a> London club Arsenal, eventually taking overall control. In 2010, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/483802-liverpool-sold-after-years-of-uncertainty-to-boston-red-sox-owner-john-henry">purchased Liverpool</a>. </p>
<p>For those already super-rich individuals, the move into soccer has paid off. Between 2004 and 2021, the value of these three clubs plus Chelsea increased from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0412/126tab.html?sh=761f8fa23425">$2.5 billion</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2021/04/12/the-worlds-most-valuable-soccer-teams-barcelona-on-top-at-48-billion/?sh=7618731916ac">$14.3 billion</a>, a healthy 11% compound average growth rate.</p>
<p>While Europe’s Champions League gives these clubs international exposure – the final of that competition in 2020 <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/super-bowl-vs-world-cup-champions-league-viewing-figures/blte47db8809dbd0a6d">pulled in 328 million viewers worldwide</a> – it’s the global reach of the English Premier League that makes its clubs attractive in the long term. The EPL now generates over 50% of its broadcast revenues from <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/news/970151">overseas contracts</a>. It recently signed a <a href="https://theathletic.com/news/premier-league-agrees-new-six-year-us-tv-deal-worth-more-than-two-billion/GJhr8eHhi3ke/">$2.7 billion contract</a> for the U.S., even though most games air on weekend mornings, meaning people living on the West Coast having to wake up at 4 a.m. to catch some games.</p>
<p>There is almost no country in the world where you cannot get access to EPL games. While Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga are popular, they lag far behind in <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/annual-review-of-football-finance.html">revenues and reach</a>, and no other league generates even half the revenues of the EPL. </p>
<h2>… or an own goal?</h2>
<p>But acquiring an English soccer club is not without risk. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ups-and-downs-of-european-soccer-are-part-of-its-culture-moving-to-a-us-style-closed-super-league-would-destroy-that-159316">promotion and relegation system</a>, in which the bottom three teams in the EPL annually go down a division to the less glamorous second-tier Championship, means that teams that fail to win on the pitch are threatened with commercial as well as sporting failure, as several American owners learned the hard way.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A supporter holds aloft a corner flag while another holds a sign saying 'Glazer out.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452899/original/file-20220317-12943-1bgknar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporters protest against Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/supporters-protest-against-manchester-uniteds-owners-inside-news-photo/1232648557?adppopup=true">Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool, the club was <a href="https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-george-gillett-tom-hicks-19947788">briefly owned by two other Americans</a>, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who nearly drove the club into ruin before selling it.</p>
<p>Randy Lerner, the billionaire who once owned the Cleveland Browns, bought Aston Villa FC in 2006 with hopes of bringing success back to a storied team situated in the U.K’s second-largest city, Birmingham. But he decided to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2016/05/18/randy-lerner-suffers-400-million-loss-with-sale-of-aston-villa/">sell a decade later</a> after the club was relegated from the EPL, losing a large chunk of TV revenue in the process.</p>
<p>Similarly, American businessman Ellis Short bought Sunderland AFC in 2008 and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/29/chris-coleman-sackedd-manager-sunderland">sold it in 2018</a> following relegation in that year.</p>
<p>Chelsea’s neighbor Fulham FC – the two teams’ stadiums are only a mile apart – was purchased by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan in 2013, but the club <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jacksonville-jaguars-premier-league-europe-soccer-nfl-a00ffa7a55925ff226842a9dfb75f222">was immediately relegated</a>. And in 2017, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40789323">bought Portsmouth FC</a> – a famous team languishing in the third tier of English football, where it remains today.</p>
<h2>Moving the goal posts?</h2>
<p>Because of the financial and sporting risks of relegation from the English Premier League, successful clubs must continually invest in talent, making it hard to generate profit.</p>
<p>In the past five years, based on the club’s <a href="https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04784127/filing-history">audited financial statements</a>, Chelsea has reported a cumulative net loss of £227 million ($299 million) on revenues of £2.166 billion ($2.85 billion). The accounts also show that this can be attributed to player wage costs, which have averaged 65% of revenues over the past five seasons, and reached 77% of revenues in the 2020/21 season, when COVID-19 kept fans out of the stadium.</p>
<p>The obvious solution for big clubs like Chelsea is to limit risk by abolishing the promotion and relegation system and then instituting salary caps and other restrictive measures employed in U.S. leagues. </p>
<p>However, when the big clubs proposed something along these lines in 2021 – the ill-fated European Super League – the <a href="https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-espn-fc-united/story/4366927/super-league-collapses-how-fan-reactionrevolt-helped-end-english-clubs-breakaway">opposition from fans was so intense</a> that the clubs were forced to back down.</p>
<p>American owners frequently mention a steep learning curve when describing the acquisition of an English soccer club. The attractions are easy to see, the pitfalls are perhaps a little less obvious to the untrained eye.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefan Szymanski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The deadline for formal bids to buy Chelsea FC is March 18. Expect some very rich US businessmen to be in the running.Stefan Szymanski, Professor of Sport Management, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609392021-05-27T15:37:35Z2021-05-27T15:37:35ZChampions League final 2021 – a game of two sides powered by gas and oil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402635/original/file-20210525-19-4c4z6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=78%2C0%2C5719%2C3389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-england-may-8-2021-manchester-1970696186">Shutterstock/kovop58</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the night of the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final, Chelsea and Manchester City will battle it out for European glory. Only one of the two English teams will walk away with the trophy – but despite the rivalry on the field, both sides have plenty in common off the pitch. </p>
<p>They were, for instance, part of a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56824628">doomed attempt</a> to usurp the very tournament they are trying to win, with the establishment of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/european-super-league-owners-have-witnessed-the-power-of-fans-and-should-listen-to-them-to-avoid-future-failure-159469">European Super League</a>. That plan, involving 12 of the biggest clubs in the world, collapsed in the face of unfiltered outrage from <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/20/football-vs-greed-what-is-behind-the-outrage-over-the-european-super-league">fans, pundits and politicians</a> – and crucially, a change of heart at Chelsea and Manchester City. </p>
<p>The Super League house of cards seems to have truly started falling when Chelsea announced its intention to <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/football/chelsea/story/4365461/chelseas-landmark-super-league-withdrawal-a-victory-that-overshadows-draw-vs-brighton">withdraw from the competition</a>. Their move was followed a few hours later by a similar <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/man-city-withdraw-european-super-league-b1834691.html">statement from City</a>. </p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://tribuna.com/en/news/chelsea-2021-04-23-putin-reportedly-behind-chelsea-withdrawal-from-super-league-for-3-key-reasons/">reports</a> that Chelsea’s U-turn was prompted by a telephone call from Russian president Vladimir Putin to his compatriot Roman Abramovich, the billionaire who owns the London club. Some media outlets have even suggested that Putin declared a super league would be <a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/522011-kremlin-abramovich-chelsea-super-league/">“against the spirit of the fatherland”</a>.</p>
<p>But however those decisions came to be made, the reality of the geopolitical and economic basis of European football is clear. And this is where the Champions League action becomes particularly interesting, especially in its associations with oil and gas. </p>
<p>Russia’s Gazprom – a corporation with origins as a state energy producer dating back to the old Soviet Union – has been a major sponsor of the competition since 2012, and has just announced a <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/0269-124ffe0cee51-2308c1da4764-1000--gazprom-partners-with-uefa-national-team-football-and-renews-ue/">big new deal with UEFA</a>.</p>
<p>Gazprom was privatised during the early 1990s reform period in Russia, but Putin’s ascent subsequently led to a majority of the company’s shares being taken back into <a href="https://www.piie.com/commentary/op-eds/folly-renationalization">state ownership</a>. Gazprom later acquired a rival energy company, the oil firm Sibneft, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/sep/29/oilandpetrol.russia">owned at the time by Abramovich</a>. </p>
<p>Gazprom, which is based in Putin’s home town of St Petersburg, also owns the local club, <a href="https://grantland.com/the-triangle/gazprom-zenit-st-petersburg-and-the-intersection-of-global-politics-and-world-football/">Zenit Saint Petersburg</a>. The former president of Zenit is Alexander Dyukov, a man who is also <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/movers-and-shakers/russian-football-president-dyukov-mutko-gazprom">president of the Russian Football Union</a>. In addition, Dyukov is chief executive of Gazprom and, in the middle of the Super League debacle, he was elected to the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0268-12163b1d0543-7ab0ff2e27b1-1000--alexander-dyukov/">executive committee of UEFA</a>.</p>
<p>If Putin really did call Abramovich about the Super League, it could be seen as yet another episode in Russia’s engagement with football as a geopolitical and diplomatic tool. </p>
<p>For many years, <a href="https://www.iris-france.org/154279-gazprom-and-its-sponsorship-of-football-from-sex-without-a-condom-to-major-strategic-threat/">some observers have wondered</a> why an organisation that sells gas to governments sits alongside the likes of McDonald’s and Coca Cola as a Champions League sponsor. But the answer to this can be found in the way that Gazprom enables Russia to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15377857.2020.1723781?journalCode=wplm20">project soft power and build legitimacy</a> through its associations with the world’s favourite game. </p>
<p>During his time as US president, <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/09/08/trump-pipeline-russia-germany-natural-gas-merkel-navalny-poisoned-nord-stream-2/">Donald Trump was bullish</a> towards Russian energy suppliers, and even imposed sanctions upon Gazprom. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-congress-nord-stream-idUSKBN28E31I">Trump claimed</a> that Europe’s growing dependency on Russian energy supplies, especially in Germany (where <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-has-devoted-its-energy-to-the-beautiful-game-46174">Gazprom sponsors FC Schalke 04</a>), constitutes a strategic threat to the continent’s security. The Joe Biden administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/05/biden-ted-cruz-russia-pipeline-473910">holds similar concerns</a>. </p>
<p>But perhaps being a sponsor of the tournament and having a strong relationship with both UEFA and Chelsea isn’t enough. For Gazprom also continues to strengthen its relations with Abu Dhabi, the small Gulf state which, via a member of its royal family, owns a majority stake in Manchester City. </p>
<h2>Gas goals</h2>
<p>Like Russia, Abu Dhabi owns some of the world’s largest carbon fuel reserves. In this sense, the Champions League final will therefore be a game powered by gas and oil.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, relations between Russia and Abu Dhabi have strengthened, leading to a series of strategic agreements, the most significant of which was <a href="https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-russia-forge-strategic-partnership-1.2230246">signed in 2018</a>. <a href="https://lobelog.com/understanding-russia-and-the-uaes-special-partnership/">Described</a> as a watershed in bilateral relations, it covered all manner of issues in investment, trade, culture, space, tourism and security. </p>
<p>One outcome of this was the acquisition by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Mubadala Investment Company of a $US271 million (£191 million), 44% stake in one of Gazprom’s subsidiaries. In 2019, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company then signed a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/adnoc-signs-strategic-framework-with-russia-s-gazprom-neft-1.924222">strategic framework agreement</a> with Gazprom to explore for and extract new oil reserves. </p>
<p>This led to a <a href="https://ntc.gazprom-neft.com/press-center/news/gazprom-neft-i-mubadala-petroleum-razvivayut-tekhnologicheskoe-sotrudnichestvo/">2020 announcement</a> that Gazprom and Mubadala will engage in technological cooperation in Siberia, where coincidentally Abramovich began building his gas powered fortune.</p>
<p>Come match day, most fans of City and Chelsea will not be overly concerned by the origins of the cash that has fuelled their clubs’ success. And with talk of a super league fading and many football fans hailing its defeat, some will see the Champions League Final as a victory parade for normality.</p>
<p>But this would be naive and misguided. For football has not merely been commercialised and industrialised over the last 30 years. It has also become intensely geopolitical, and sits at the heart of a complex global network of interests and investments. Indeed, for some powerful players, the sport has become a tactically astute means to extremely lucrative other ends – as epitomised by this year’s Champions League final.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160939/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chelsea and Manchester City have similar goals on and off the pitch.Simon Chadwick, Global Professor of Eurasian Sport | Director of Eurasian Sport, EM Lyon Business SchoolPaul Widdop, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593122021-04-20T14:47:49Z2021-04-20T14:47:49ZEuropean Super League: a history of splits over money in professional sport<p>The world of European football experienced one of the biggest shake-ups in its history when a prospective <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56794673">European Super League</a> (ESL) was announced. Fans, football associations and even the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/the-european-super-league-what-can-boris-johnson-do-about-it">government</a> united in condemning the new tournament, which was criticised as “a cynical project founded on the self-interest of a few clubs”.</p>
<p>Described as a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2021/apr/19/european-super-league-latest-reaction-to-breakaway-football-competition-live?page=with:block-607d82a78f08080a7ae65413with">new midweek competition</a>”, the league was initially announced with 12 founding members from across Europe, including the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56795811">six “top” English football clubs</a> (who have now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/20/european-super-league-unravelling-as-manchester-city-and-chelsea-withdraw">reportedly pulled out</a>, throwing the creation of the tournament into jeopardy). These founding clubs could not be relegated from the competition – one of the major points of contention. </p>
<p>The draw for these clubs is easy to understand. Each of the founding teams <a href="https://qz.com/1998582/how-much-tv-money-could-the-european-super-league-command/">would receive</a> an expected €3.5 billion (£3.02 billion) to join, plus €10 billion (£8.6 billion) for an “initial commitment period”. </p>
<p>In a statement, the Football Supporters’ Association voiced: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This competition is being created behind our backs by billionaire club owners who have zero regard for the game’s traditions and continue to treat football as their personal fiefdom.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is an overwhelming sense from all angry parties that owners of the already wealthy clubs have sought further financial domination by distorting competition. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1383909222895603716"}"></div></p>
<p>The initial outrage will give way to more measured thought and criticism, but the burning questions are whether this model represents a realistic challenge to the current style of competition and what the consequences would be for both the European and domestic English game. The history of sport can offer some clues.</p>
<h2>A history of break-ups and conciliation</h2>
<p>Sport has historically been mired in splits and divisions. Football experienced such episodes during the last quarter of the 19th century with the separation between football and rugby football and then the latter into the amateur Rugby Union and the professionalised Rugby League. </p>
<p>The Premier League itself was the result of a split away from the Football League in 1992. The Football Association wanted to exploit the developing commercial opportunities, notably the sale of broadcasting rights. The legal challenge by the jilted Football League failed and the Premier League clubs have since prospered, largely thanks to the new subscription model of broadcasting.</p>
<p>Cricket’s great split occurred in 1977 over the allocation of broadcasting rights to Australian cricket. TV magnate <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/haigh-on-the-wsc-323297">Kerry Packer</a> wanted the rights to show Australian matches but was rebuffed as the traditional relationship with the state broadcaster (ABC) prevailed. </p>
<p>Packer’s response was to launch his own competition, the innovative World Series Cricket, and in great secrecy contracted the world’s leading players, including England captain Tony Greig. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/13/newsid_2512000/2512249.st">Greig was duly sacked</a> and players earning a living in England who had signed were banned from playing in England. The resulting court case went in favour of the players and the bans were rescinded. World Series Cricket ran for two seasons, embracing new ideas such as coloured clothing and games that were played later in the day and continued into the evening (known as day/night games), which attracted spectators and made the more traditional offering appear jaded. </p>
<p>The financial pressure on the Australian Cricket Board led to an inevitable compromise and Packer gaining the broadcasting rights. </p>
<p>More recently, the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) fought off the challenge by the broadcasting-driven India Cricket League (ICL). A combination of player bans and improved prize money in existing competitions were used. However, it was the formation of its own competition, the highly successful <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ipl-history/indian-premier-league-how-it-all-started/articleshow/19337875.cms">Indian Premier League</a>, that proved the trump card. The ICL was strangled in infancy. The Packer affair and the Indian Premier League clearly demonstrate that new markets for a traditional sport could be developed and exploited.</p>
<h2>Possible outcomes</h2>
<p>These examples point towards possible outcomes for football. </p>
<p>Broadcasting income is a key driver of sports and since the formation of the Premier League and sale of the rights to Sky, new players – BT and Amazon – have entered the market, driving up the value of the content. The big clubs want a larger slice of this and other commercial income, arguing that it is their profile and popularity that attracts subscribers and viewers. </p>
<p>A new formula for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/07/premier-league-big-six-win-battle-overseas-television-rights">international broadcasting income</a> has already been agreed upon. Where previously the income from sharing rights was split equally, the top six clubs now receive larger sums. Any changes to the system would no doubt apply pressure to approve a new domestic formula. </p>
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<p>A threat to potentially <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56795811">ban teams and players involved in the ESL</a> from the Premier League will have concentrated the minds of those clubs who are dependent on broadcasting income for their viability. The smaller clubs have less in the way of gate receipts and other commercial income so are very vulnerable to any decrease in TV revenue. A domestic league without the big six clubs has significantly decreased value and the same arguments apply at European level. </p>
<p>Fans have protested about the rich clubs getting richer and the betrayal of tradition, but the combination of the attractiveness of the Premier League product, ironically created by a split orchestrated by the FA, and the willingness of club owners to exploit their assets suggests a willingness to actively pursue change. The decision for the national governing bodies across Europe and the Uefa itself is whether to embrace and incorporate change and inevitably cede some control or stand firm and fight off the threat and with it consign professional football into a maelstrom of uncertainty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Greenfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From the emergence of Premier League to Cricket’s newer formats, the history of professional sport is full of breakups.Steve Greenfield, Professor of Sports Law and Practice, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592922021-04-19T17:49:10Z2021-04-19T17:49:10ZEuropean Super League: why punishing the breakaway 12 could backfire badly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395796/original/file-20210419-23-hqr4jf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/soccer-ball-95315320">Mikhael Damkier</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The football world has been rocked by the announcement of a breakaway European Super League (ESL). The majority think it a bad idea, from governing bodies <a href="https://www.fifa.com/who-we-are/news/fifa-statement-x3487">Fifa</a> and <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0268-12121411400e-7897186e699a-1000--statement-by-uefa-the-english-football-association-the-premier-/">Uefa</a> through to national bodies such as the FA and English Premier League. </p>
<p>The same goes for the fan groups at the six English clubs that comprise half of the ESL’s initial membership of 12: Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal from England. The remaining founders are Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid from Spain; and Juventus, AC Milan and Inter from Italy. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/bayern-munich-and-borussia-dortmund-not-joining-european-super-league">top German</a> and French clubs are <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakgarnerpurkis/2021/04/19/why-paris-saint-germain-and-bayern-munich-bailed-on-the-super-league/?sh=43482dd299f5">not participating</a>. </p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/explainer-how-will-the-new-european-super-league-work">proposed system</a>, these 12 clubs would join three more unconfirmed founder members and five additional clubs that would have to qualify each year. They would play midweek fixtures in two mini-leagues of ten clubs, with the highest finishers progressing to knock-out stages and eventually a final each May. </p>
<p>Effectively replacing the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/">Uefa Champions League</a>, the founders stand to receive €3.5 billion (£2.5 billion) in initial infrastructure payments between them, plus €10 billion for an “initial commitment period”. The 12 clubs propose to compete in their national leagues as normal. </p>
<p>The proposals are considered so outrageous that even the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/ministers-urged-to-take-action-over-european-super-league-plan">vowing to</a> find a way to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/government-pledges-to-stop-english-clubs-joining-european-super-league">block them</a> – despite not being known for his love of football. Pundits, <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12279996/gary-neville-on-european-super-league-plans-im-fuming-but-it-wont-go-through-not-a-chance">including Gary Neville</a>, the former Manchester United defender, have also been showing exasperation. </p>
<p>The ESL is being condemned as money-grabbing, since it would mostly be a “closed shop” without the jeopardy of relegation for founding clubs. Many consider it against the spirit of football’s long history, particularly with lower-league outfits struggling from the pandemic. </p>
<p>Neville thinks there is “not a chance” the proposals will go ahead, given the huge opposition. Others <a href="https://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/features/european-super-league-teams-champions-league-reforms-arsenal-man-utd-city-liverpool-tottenham-chelsea">suggest they could</a> be intended as a bargaining chip as <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/0268-1213f7aa85bb-d56154ff8fe8-1000--new-uefa-club-competition-formats-from-2024-25/">Uefa unveils</a> a revamped and expanded Champions League, which it says will take place regardless of the ESL proposals. </p>
<p>In England, many also want the football authorities to punish the “big six”. Relegations, expulsions and bans on players competing in the Euros and World Cup are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/super-league-players-face-world-cup-and-euros-ban-warns-furious-uefa-chief">being mooted</a>. </p>
<p>But we suggest that everybody pauses for breath. Acting harshly against these clubs could achieve exactly the opposite effect to what is intended. </p>
<h2>Pots and kettles</h2>
<p>Authorities such as the English Premier League (EPL) may struggle to win hearts and minds by invoking football’s history. The EPL itself broke away from the English Football League in 1992, and the football authorities and fans were just as enraged at the time. Relegation was included in the proposal, although the clubs did not ask permission for the structure they created. </p>
<p>With the lion’s share of English football broadcasting revenues going to Premier League clubs, many in football <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/05/10/premier-league-spending-obscene-greedy-threatening-future-lower/">already criticise</a> the footballing pyramid. Not enough money filters down to the lower leagues, they argue, while years of transfer-price and wage inflation drove numerous clubs to the brink even before the pandemic.</p>
<p>Amid the empty stadiums of 2020-21, <a href="https://theconversation.com/english-football-why-financial-calamity-facing-clubs-is-even-worse-than-in-mainland-europe-147156">football is facing</a> a choice: watch more clubs go to the wall or consider some kind of reset with reduced player salaries, regulated transfers, agents removed from the game, and resources distributed more equally. </p>
<p>The clubs behind the ESL appear to be rejecting this form of sustainable austerity. They are positioning themselves above rather than atop the existing pyramid. Of course, with some <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/football/barcelona/story/4301666/barcelonas-debt-is-greater-than-1-billion-forget-bringing-back-neymarthey-cant-even-afford-eric-garcia">sitting on</a> more than €1 billion of debt, receiving a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f00bb232-a150-4f7d-b26a-e1b62cd175c3?desktop=true&segmentId=d8d3e364-5197-20eb-17cf-2437841d178a#myft:notification:instant-email:content">signing-on bonus</a> of €200 million to €300 million may solve their own financial crises.</p>
<h2>What happens next</h2>
<p>The ESL could be a bargaining chip, of course. The big clubs have long sought Champions League reforms that benefit them financially, and timing the announcement a day ahead of Uefa confirming the Champions League revamp was clearly no accident. </p>
<p>Adding games to the congested football calendar is not something any leading club will relish. So perhaps the ESL proposal melts away in the coming days on the back of a compromise with Uefa. As Neville has pointed out, <a href="https://accessaa.co.uk/project-big-picture-scrapped-manchester-united-down-70m/">something similar happened</a> with the English Premier League in 2020 having a plan to further strengthen the big clubs called <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/gary-neville-european-super-league-sky-sports-interview-b930353.html">Project Big Picture</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the big clubs could be seeking an extreme reaction from football authorities to enable them to go further. Maybe a standalone league is what the owners really have in mind, rather than the parallel mid-week league proposed.</p>
<p>The model we need to consider is that of top American sports such as American football or basketball, where there is no relegation and teams travel thousands of miles to play. They schedule matches abroad on neutral venues, and often move the team to a new city without any care for their local fan-base. </p>
<p>That owners refer to clubs as “franchises” is <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/raiders-las-vegas-move-explained/26kge720q0dv1stx8mwfqij0q">instructive</a> here: four of the proposed ESL founder clubs have US owners with arguably little interest in football except for its earning potential. </p>
<p>You can imagine them thinking a group of 20 clubs from Europe will act like a gigantic vacuum cleaner to suck all the cash from football broadcast revenues and sponsorship. Teams can play multiple times each year, and why not have the local Madrid or Manchester derbies played to packed audiences in Rio, Shanghai or LA? Indeed, why restrict yourself to European clubs when you could also add rivals from South America, the US or China?</p>
<p>To counter this threat, the governing bodies and national leagues need to keep the 12 teams in their competitions. If such a standalone league effectively became – excuse the pun – the only game in town, it might matter little to individual players if they were banned from playing for national teams. They could console themselves with the even greater salaries likely to be on offer as the whole world watches their every game.</p>
<p>We certainly don’t think the ESL would be good for the game, but knee-jerk measures could do untold damage to all outside of the elite. It could squander a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remodel the Champions League and ensure that football at all levels remains financially viable. It may come down to who has the strongest brand: the football authorities, leagues or clubs – at the moment it seems the clubs have confidence in the answer to this question.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian R. Bell receives funding from the AHRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Brooks receives funding from Innovate UK and the ESRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Urquhart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Everyone seems united against the new proposals, but can they really be stopped?Adrian R Bell, Chair in the History of Finance and Research Dean, Prosperity and Resilience, Henley Business School, University of ReadingAndrew Urquhart, Associate Professor of Finance, ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of ReadingChris Brooks, Professor of Finance, Henley Business School, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1176132019-05-23T08:14:59Z2019-05-23T08:14:59ZArsenal’s Mkhitaryan omission from Europa League Baku final highlights football’s global politics at its most fragile<p>When English Premier League sides Chelsea and Arsenal meet in UEFA’s Europa League final on May 29, one of the latter’s big name players will not be with his team. Henrikh Mkhitaryan <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/21/arsenal-henrikh-khitaryan-miss-europa-league-final-safety-chelsea-baku">won’t be playing</a> in the match – one of the most important games of the season for Arsenal.</p>
<p>The reason? The game is being played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. Mkhitaryan is an Armenian – and Armenia and Azerbaijan have an <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/05/21/the-footballer-caught-up-in-armenias-conflict-with-azerbaijan">enduringly fractious relationship</a>, dating back to the fall of the Russian empire in 1917. Currently, there are no diplomatic relations between them, principally because of a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory inside Azerbaijan’s current borders. Arsenal said, in a statement: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have thoroughly explored all the options for Micki to be part of the squad but after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our travelling party. We have written to UEFA expressing our deep concerns about this situation. Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Under normal circumstances, Mkhitaryan wouldn’t be allowed into Azerbaijan, though <a href="https://talksport.com/football/547273/henrikh-mkhitaryan-arsenal-baku-europa-league-final-azerbaijan/">Azerbaijan’s UK ambassador has insisted</a> that he is welcome (and would be safe) providing he confines himself simply to playing football. The Armenian international and his club seemingly think otherwise.</p>
<p>We’ve been here before – earlier in the season <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/03/qarabag-gurbanov-arsenal-saved-henrikh-mkhitaryan-home-azerbaijan-europa-league-football">Mkhitaryan didn’t travel to play against Qarabag</a>, an Azerbaijani team, in a previous round of the Europa League. Furthermore, we know that clubs and national associations are often mindful of the consequences that international conflicts between countries can have on football.</p>
<p>Already this year we have seen issues with Qatar qualifying to play in the AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates, a country with which it doesn’t have diplomatic relations. Matches involving Israel or Israeli players frequently prove difficult – for instance, in 2006, Yossi Benayoun and Yaniv Katan <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/apr/11/newsstory.sport6">were left out of a traininng trip to Dubai</a> by their club West Ham. There have been issues in the UK, too, including when <a href="https://thesefootballtimes.co/2015/05/30/ossie-ardiles-tottenham-and-the-falkland-islands/">Argentinian Osvaldo Ardiles</a> needed to move on loan from Tottenham Hotspur to Paris Saint Germain following the outbreak of the Falklands War in May 1982.</p>
<h2>Level playing field?</h2>
<p>UEFA itself is not blind to the sometimes highly charged, political nature of the sport. Indeed, during draws for both international and club matches, European football’s governing body keeps some countries apart given the state of relations between them. As such, Azerbaijani and Armenian teams <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/21/footballs-unbreakable-records">don’t face one another in competition</a> nor do, for example, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-uefa-russia-ukraine/uefa-keeps-russian-and-ukrainian-clubs-apart-idUKKBN0FM1V520140717">Ukraine and Russia</a>.</p>
<p>Yet there’s something different about Mkhitaryan’s case, not least because he can hardly be characterised as a mainstay of the Arsenal team following his <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42762918">big money move</a> from Manchester United early in 2018. Rather, UEFA’s selection of Baku to host a game of this nature has been controversial from the outset, most recently because of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/10/arsenal-chelsea-6000-tickets-europa-league-final">unusually small number of tickets</a> – 6,000 per team – allocated to Arsenal and Chelsea. This is despite the city’s National Stadium having a capacity of 68,000.</p>
<p>One apparent reason for this is that Baku’s airport is <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/baku-airport-too-small-to-accommodate-more-chelsea-and-arsenal-fans-8w9tvm7l9">unable to handle large volumes of people</a>, an explanation that has provoked derision from a mass of London fans keen to attend the game. It doesn’t help that Azerbaijan is not easy to get to from Britain – it’s a 6,000 mile round trip that is costly and time-consuming to undertake. Even before Mkhitaryan’s withdrawal from the match, many had been calling for it to be played elsewhere.</p>
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<p>Several groups, including <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/azerbaijan">Human Rights Watch</a> and <a href="https://rsf.org/en/azerbaijan">Reporters Without Borders</a>, have long been highlighting the actions of government in Baku. Azerbaijan is frequently accused of denying press freedoms, violating human rights, and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gv77m7/human-rights-abuses-and-the-european-games-in-azerbaijan">using sport</a> as a means through which to wash the country’s tarnished image and reputation. The country is also scandal riven, most notably the <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/azerbaijanilaundromat/">Laundromat money laundering scam</a> which ultimately engulfed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.</p>
<h2>Winds of change</h2>
<p>All of which begs the question as to why UEFA took its decision in 2017 to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/16/uefa-handed-azerbaijan-europa-league-final-baku-chelsea-arsenal">award Baku the hosting rights</a> to the 2019 Europa League final. In simple terms, over the past decade, the winds of egalitarianism have been blowing through the corridors of the governing body’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Former president Michel Platini was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/18657633">elected on a manifesto</a> that included awarding hosting rights to countries beyond Western Europe.</p>
<p>In many ways, the current president, <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/president/">Aleksander Čeferin</a>, is part of Platini’s legacy: a Slovenian lawyer, he is supposedly committed to ensuring that European football is not controlled by a small number of powerful nations. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it was on his watch that the Azerbaijani capital won the race to stage this season’s Europa League final (even though, just three weeks earlier, the Laundromat scandal had just broken).</p>
<p>At the time, UEFA likely had an eye on the financial benefits of playing matches in a wealthy oil and gas-endowed nation that has been spending big on sport. Not only does Baku have newly built infrastructure capable of successfully delivering mega events, it also has an affluent middle class willing to spend on them. It’s also worth remembering that, in recent years, UEFA has benefited from a lucrative <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/newsid=1952828.html?redirectFromOrg=true">sponsorship deal with SOCAR</a> – the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic.</p>
<p>It seems ironic that Azerbaijan’s growing international prominence and its massive programme of spending on sport are embodied in the “<a href="http://bakuprocess.az/forums/baku-forum-2019/introduction/">Baku Process</a>” – an initiative launched by the country in 2008 with a mission to promote international understanding, dialogue and respect. Whether the country likes it or not, Mkhitaryan, two English clubs and a European football match are now shining a spotlight on the differences between the country’s rhetoric and its reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick teaches on UEFA's education and professional development programmes. He has previously undertaken research for UEFA.</span></em></p>Arsenal’s Armenian star will not travel to Baku in Azerbaijan for the clash with Chelsea – and nor will many of the clubs’ fans.Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sports Enterprise, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1090962018-12-20T14:05:46Z2018-12-20T14:05:46ZIs there a way back for José Mourinho? As a sport psychologist, I see a hard road ahead<p>It is no shock that José Mourinho has been sacked by Manchester United. The results on the pitch said it all. The most commercially <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/deloitte-football-money-league.html">successful</a> club in the world is having its <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/manchester-united-in-middle-of-worst-season-in-28-years-calls-time-on-manager-mourinho-2018-12-18">worst season</a> in 28 years – with its playing assets inevitably depreciating in value as a result. </p>
<p>Mourinho has spent around £390m building this team since his appointment in 2016, yet he recently described it as nowhere near his ideal. In truth, he has roundly failed to create an environment where the players could perform. A new generation of coaches led by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool have developed a high-tempo attacking style which made Mourinho’s more pragmatic approach look dated.</p>
<p>They also have a more collaborative approach to coaching, alongside the likes of Mauricio Pocchetino’s Tottenham and Unai Emery’s Arsenal. These are environments in which trust, honesty and mutual respect are the key building blocks of their teams’ culture.</p>
<p>In contrast, both Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea (2013-15) and his reign at Manchester United have been marred by poor relationships with key players, the media and sometimes, it appears, with himself. From a career zenith in 2010, when he was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW0R-DuvAxY">acclaimed</a> as the FIFA World Coach of the Year, the “Special One” increasingly looks like a man who has come to believe his own hype. </p>
<p>So is there a way back? I believe there is, but it won’t be easy. Self-belief is a prime asset for any consistent high performer in sport, whether athlete or coach. Unlike many struggling sports stars, however, Mourinho has no shortage of this. Though Mourinho’s record in numerous countries certainly entitles him to a sense of satisfaction, his self-aggrandisement appears to know no limits. </p>
<p>I should declare I am not a clinical psychologist, nor have I ever worked in any capacity with Manchester United or Mourinho. But as a sport psychologist who has worked with personalities at the top of numerous sports, Mourinho’s behaviour shows some worrying signs. </p>
<h2>Understanding Mourinho</h2>
<p>The accepted rubric for diagnosing narcissistic personality disorders is set out in the <a href="https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</a> as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from other people;</li>
<li>Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc;</li>
<li>Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and institutions;</li>
<li>Needing continual admiration from others;</li>
<li>Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others;</li>
<li>Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain;</li>
<li>Unwilling to empathise with the feelings, wishes, and needs of other people;</li>
<li>Intensely envious of others, and the belief that others are equally envious of them;</li>
<li>Pompous and arrogant demeanour.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the past five years, Mourinho’s public behaviour has displayed hints of some similar characteristics. Take the start of this season, after Manchester United lost two of their opening games, including a 3–0 home defeat to Spurs. Mourinho held a bizarre press conference where he demanded more respect from the media. He held three fingers aloft – indicating not how many goals Spurs had scored but how many English championships he had won – “I won more alone than the other 19 managers together. Three for me and two for them”. It was directed specifically at his rival across Manchester, Pep Guardiola. </p>
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<p>Mourinho has long had an antagonistic, self-justificatory relationship with journalists. He also shows little empathy with the demands of their job: later the same week, for instance, he held a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45297106">press conference</a> that many journalists missed because he started it half an hour early. Mourinho dismissed any questions about his relationship with Ed Woodward, the chief executive at Manchester United, and left the room after just four minutes and 19 seconds. </p>
<p>There are also many more examples of arrogant behaviour towards other managers. Famously, for instance, he described Arsene Wenger, one of the most successful managers in English football, as a “specialist in failure”. At the same time, there have also been numerous high-profile fallings out behind the scenes, such as with Chelsea doctor Eva Caneiro <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3631427/Got-smile-Eva-day-Chelsea-issue-grovelling-apology-settle-reported-5million-former-team-physio-beaming.html">in 2015</a>, or more recently the Manchester United star midfielder <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11584813/paul-pogba-deletes-cryptic-tweet-following-jose-mourinho-sacking-as-man-utd-boss">Paul Pogba</a>. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Some of Mourinho’s public behaviour could be part of the “act” that high-performance sport arguably demands of managers nowadays. His lack of humility and unwillingness to accept responsibility for any setback, in public at least, are what made him such a successful manager in the first place. For any clinical assessment, the key question is how someone behaves in private. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/problems-disorders/personality-disorder">Treatment</a> for a personality disorder is slow and challenging. It requires specialist support to facilitate a fundamental reassessment of habitual behaviours. The approaches to the type of narcissistic behaviours set out above are based around talking therapies. A good option might be Cognitive Analytic Therapy, which involves a clinician working in collaboration with the patient to identify problems and come up with ways to change behaviour, with particular emphasis on the importance of relationships. </p>
<p>Priorities would include getting the patient to accept responsibility for his actions and learning to relate to people in new ways; showing empathy, tolerating failure and using criticism and reflection as a means of self-improvement; developing a way of regulating emotion so that it doesn’t go from zero to 100 in seconds; and recognising and celebrating the achievements of others. </p>
<p>Pogba could have been the lynchpin of a United team, for instance, but Mourinho appears to have undermined and antagonised him. In my view, Mourinho would greatly benefit from working with a sport psychologist. He appears stuck in 2010, or even before that, when players had less power and football was played in a different way. Most clubs have embraced the term “culture” now – the strongest ones develop from the “bottom up”, not the “top down”. Managers need to adapt to this nowadays. </p>
<p>I would begin by challenging him to work on every aspect of his thinking, feeling and behaving – to relearn how to interact with people without demanding admiration or respect, and in return not labelling others as unworthy or weak. I would anticipate a long involvement, since these are well established habits. </p>
<p>Whatever is going on behind the scenes, I believe it would be very wrong for José Mourinho to try and make another quick return to management. At the very least, he needs to reflect and develop. If there is a way back, he must change. He must want to change and he must work hard at changing. Should he succeed and claw his way back to the top, his place among the greatest managers of all time will be beyond any doubt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Westbury does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once again, the Special One has become the Unemployed One. Here’s the case for a period of rehabilitation.Tony Westbury, Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/852832017-10-11T12:30:53Z2017-10-11T12:30:53ZPremier League giants go hunting for a bigger slice of the pie … and it will harm the game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189647/original/file-20171010-17673-1028mlt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C40%2C3301%2C2182&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-thailand-august-5-logo-manchester-690392746?src=z46AN09ocNAiiWwZaVqSpw-4-69">charnsitr/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the English Premier League was founded in 1992, clubs agreed an egalitarian system for distributing Sky TV money. Skip forward 25 years, and that model is under threat after the 20 Premier League clubs <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-england-finance/smaller-premier-league-clubs-to-argue-for-balance-in-tv-cash-split-idUKKCN1C80TX">met to discuss</a> how to share future international TV rights.</p>
<p>Overseas broadcasters have discovered that Premier League football is a key vehicle to deliver subscriptions. The money paid to broadcast football has increased considerably. Glancing back to 1992 shows broadcast <a href="http://www.totalsportek.com/money/premier-league-tv-rights-deals-history-1992-2019/">revenue of £192m</a>. In the current cycle (2016-19), these payments total about £8.1 billion (£5.1 billion from the UK and £3 billion international). The cost of international rights is expected to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4525808/Premier-League-earn-billions-thanks-foreign-TV-deals.html">rise further</a>. </p>
<p>Six clubs now want a change in the formula for spreading this source of revenue. They <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/sports/soccer/premier-league-tv.html">want a bigger</a> slice of the pie but, perhaps unsurprisingly, many other clubs are opposed to the proposals. No consensus has yet been reached, and a vote on the matter has been deferred until November.</p>
<h2>The Big Six?</h2>
<p>The dissent in the ranks is driven by the “Big Six” clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. They believe they are the key force behind the popularity of the Premier League in overseas territories, and are therefore entitled to greater financial reward.</p>
<p>In 2016, the Big Six received 70% of Premier League matchday income, 77% of commercial income, but “only” 43% of broadcast income. In their mind, they are effectively subsidising the other clubs. The argument put forward is that overseas TV fans will only tune in to watch the Big Six. They evidence this by the viewing figures for individual matches. </p>
<p>Premier League TV rights are initially divided into a number of “pots”. Domestic rights consist of three pots: 50% divided equally, 25% based on the number of TV appearances, and 25% on final league position. International rights are split evenly between all 20 clubs. </p>
<p>Overall, the ratio between the club generating the highest amount of Premier League TV income in 2016/17 (Chelsea) and that of the club bottom of the league (Sunderland) was 1.6:1. So for every £100 of Premier League TV income generated by Sunderland, Chelsea earned £160. This ratio in other European countries is at least 2:1. </p>
<p>The Big Six also believe that the present TV arrangement <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/sports-business-group/deloitte-uk-sport-football-money-league-2017.pdf">gives them a financial disadvantage</a> in relation to other large European clubs, such as Real Madrid and Barcelona. </p>
<p>Premier League chairman, Richard Scudamore, has <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/27/premier-leagues-big-six-fail-first-attempt-increase-tv-share/">proposed a change</a> for international rights whereby 65% would be shared evenly and 35% based on league position (“merit payment”). But this has caused a falling out between club owners. The Big Six want more, ideally identical to the domestic TV rights formula. </p>
<p>One side effect of these proposals is that money paid to relegated clubs under “parachute payment” rules is likely to decrease, as they would not be entitled to merit payments. This would result in about £40m of existing parachute payments moving from relegated clubs to those remaining in the Premier League. </p>
<p>The chart below shows how things would change if Scudamore’s proposal was approved. </p>
<h2>Driving revenue</h2>
<p>Professional team sports need to benefit from the concept of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24748668.2012.11868603">competitive balance</a>. First pioneered in the 1950s and taking its origins from North American team sports, the theory suggests that to make a strong competition, you need a contest with equally matched opponents. </p>
<p>However, what tends to happen is that professional sport leagues produce games between teams with <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjpe.12066/full">unequal market power</a>. One team becomes dominant, reducing the spectacle of the competition and, therefore, its value to spectators, broadcasters and sponsors. </p>
<p>Professional team sports are intrinsically different from other businesses, in which a firm prospers if it can eliminate competition and establish a monopoly supplier position. In sport this doesn’t work. Competitive opponents are required at a level that produces excitement and jeopardy.</p>
<p>This is important in relation to the vote on Premier League TV rights. The league has even <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/this-is-pl/the-premier-league/final-standings">praised itself</a> for keeping broadcast distribution relatively equal compared to other big European leagues. And as a result the games tend to be more competitively balanced too. Smaller teams can invest money to secure better playing talent and compete more effectively. </p>
<p>It is true that top teams in the league have a bigger appeal to fans in a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27369580">global market</a>. But it is also true that what makes the Premier League such an attractive product is that, on any given day, any team has a realistic chance of beating another. And in extremis, a team like Leicester <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35988673">might even win the league</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dYgHALKrY2o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>The thin end of the wedge?</h2>
<p>If clubs agree to the Scudamore proposals, or accede to Big Six demands, then the outcomes will be challenging. </p>
<p>First, when most international rights are renegotiated from 2019 it is likely they will see an increase in value, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/10/05/premier-league-big-six-want-greater-share-overseas-tv-money/">by an estimated £1.2 billion</a> over three years. This will increase the money gap. If distributed evenly, every club in the Premier League would receive an extra £20 million a year. </p>
<p>Let’s not forget, the Big Six clubs are also far more likely to qualify for UEFA competitions, such as the Champions League, where they have a £30-90m financial advantage from separate TV rights. </p>
<p>The proposals will make the Premier League less competitive, potentially reducing the value of the competition’s brand and making it less attractive to viewers. The Leicester miracle will look more and more like a one-off; more likely will be Crystal Palace’s season so far, which has seen the London club lose its opening <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/manchester-united-4-crystal-palace-0-marouane-fellaini-hits-two-as-palace-lose-seventh-straight-game-a3647606.html">seven games without scoring a goal</a>. </p>
<p>When the clubs vote, any proposal will require a two-thirds majority to be approved. The Big Six must therefore convince another eight clubs that they have a sniff of tasting the increased riches on offer for league success. That will deliver another hit to the egalitarian spirit of 25 years ago. Turkeys don’t normally vote for Christmas but if these ones do, the future of the Premier League looks less competitive and ultimately, worth less too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Will England’s top-flight teams really decide to weaken their global blockbuster brand?Rob Wilson, Principal Lecturer in Sport Finance, Sheffield Hallam UniversityDan Plumley, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business Management, Sheffield Hallam UniversityKieran Maguire, Senior Teacher in Accountancy and member of Football Industries Group, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/798562017-07-02T08:37:11Z2017-07-02T08:37:11ZWhy African fans love European football - a Senegalese perspective<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175826/original/file-20170627-24782-7bkqjt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The local game in Senegal is underdeveloped.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hann/GLOBALSPORT</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Casillas throws the ball to Thuram, standing on the edge of his penalty area. The big defender passes to Zidane, who turns and dribbles past two opponents before playing a precise through-ball for Iniesta, who lays it on for Alves on the right wing. Alves curls in an accurate cross, Tevez rises at the far post to meet it with a powerful header – goal!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This may sound like the commentary for a testimonial or charity match, at which an all-star team of football legends past and present line up for a good cause. But at this match there are no supporters cheering the players on. There are no TV cameras recording the play, and not even a single blade of grass on the pitch. </p>
<p>And Frenchmen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/04/zinedine-zidane-manager-more-successful-player-real-madrid-champions-league">Zinedine Zidane</a> and <a href="http://www.thuram.org/site/en/the-foundation/who-is-lilian-thuram/">Lilian Thuram</a>, Brazilian <a href="http://www.eurosport.com/football/dani-alves_prs206480/person.shtml">Dani Alves</a>, Argentinian <a href="http://www.goal.com/en/news/8/main/2017/05/14/35504562/introverted-tevez-has-been-a-colossal-waste-of-money-for">Carlos Tevez</a>, and Spaniards <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-za/people/spain/1219/iker-casillas">Iker Casillas</a> and <a href="https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/staff/players/2016-2017/a-iniesta">Andrés Iniesta</a> – fabled names from the upper echelons of European football – are nowhere to be seen. </p>
<p>Instead it’s Ameth “Zidane”, Mbaye “Thuram”, Mamadou “Alves”, Saliou “Tevez”, Mohamed “Casillas” and Abdou “Iniesta”, all nicknamed after those footballing icons. We are in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, on a dusty pitch, watching a cup game between two local under-19 teams.</p>
<p>In Senegal European football is hugely popular. While local league teams play in almost deserted stadia, audiences crowd around televisions to follow the latest matches of the English <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/">Premier League</a>, the Spanish <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/laligafootball">La Liga</a>, or the pan-European <a href="http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/">UEFA Champions League</a>. </p>
<p>The latest goals, controversies and transfers in Europe are the subject of passionate debate and discussion on the streets of Dakar. By contrast, the local leagues attract hardly any interest. This is true in very many African countries. But I explore what lies behind this discrepancy in Senegal. As well as why a nation so in thrall to the beautiful game seemingly ignores the major competitions taking place on their own doorstep? </p>
<h2>Why the big attraction</h2>
<p>There are a number of reasons.</p>
<p>Jean Bertin Uwarugaba, a telecoms engineer of Rwandan origin who has lived in Senegal for over two decades, provided me with one obvious answer: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The local game is underdeveloped. It’s not attractive, because there are no historical rivalries between the teams.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the <a href="http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/1946/comment-page-1">deregulation of football broadcasting</a> since the 1990s, the European game has become accessible and affordable to many Africans, especially those living in urban areas. Why should people consume a sub-par product when they can watch the elite level of the game in the comfort of their own homes? </p>
<p>Dakar-based Uwarugaba is a fanatical fan of top English club <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/chelsea?INTCMP=searchAutoComp">Chelsea</a>. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I first started watching European football around 1999, in particular <a href="https://www.om.net/en">Olympique Marseille</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/didier-drogba">Didier Drogba</a> emerged as the leader of that team. After Drogba’s transfer to Chelsea in 2004, I started following the Premier League. I’ve been a fan of Chelsea ever since.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another reason is the growing presence of African football stars in the top European leagues. This is certainly a big attraction. The Ivorian superstars Drogba and <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/players/4148/Yaya-Tour%C3%A9/overview">Yaya Touré</a>, or the Cameroonian striker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/08/samuel-etoo-world-cup-2010">Samuel Eto'o</a> are icons to fans in Senegal. There’s particular pride at the emergence of exciting young Senegalese players such as Liverpool’s <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/players/6519/Sadio-Man%C3%A9/overview">Sadio Mané</a>, Lazio’s Keita Baldé Diao or <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/kalidou-koulibaly">Kalidou Koulibaly</a> who’s playing for Napoli. </p>
<p>However, the two most popular clubs in Senegal at the moment are the Spanish giants, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/barcelona">FC Barcelona</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/realmadrid">Real Madrid</a>, neither of whom currently has an African player in their first team squad – other than the Cameroonian born French international <a href="https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/news/2016-2017/10-essential-facts-about-new-fc-barcelona-signing-samuel-umtiti">Samuel Umtiti</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Top league matches in Senegal are normally poorly attended.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hann/GLOBALSPORT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Specific local context of football</h2>
<p>In Senegal, perhaps, the reason for this European obsession can be found by exploring the specific context of football – and sport – in the country. It’s worth looking at one local exception that attracts as much passion and fervour as the European giants – the navétanes inter-district championship, which includes the aforementioned team containing the illustrious names of Casillas, Zidane and Tevez. Saliou “Tevez” is the team’s centre forward, a fast and athletic young man who dreams of a career in Europe.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I played in the local navétanes team. Everyone started calling me Tevez, because I played like [Argentine player] Carlos Tevez. I worked hard, I scored goals, I was technical. We won the cup that year. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows me as Tevez.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saliou’s exploits in the inter-district team are a reminder that there is a local football competition which ignites the passions and loyalties of Senegalese fans. It just isn’t the official league championship.</p>
<p>The navétanes championships take their name from the Wolof “nawet”, referring to the rainy season, and it’s primarily during these summer months that they take place. Since the 1950s, local teams have competed against one another to defend the honour and pride of the neighbourhood or village, and the navétanes matches often attract huge crowds. </p>
<p>Much is at stake: violent altercations and accusations of occult activity among fans are often reported, making the competition resemble Senegal’s other hugely popular sport of <a href="https://theconversation.com/senegalese-wrestle-with-ethnicity-while-reaching-for-dreams-of-success-66073?sr=1">wrestling</a> known for being saturated in magico-religious practices. The popularity of the navétanes championships and the national wrestling arena demonstrate that there’s a large appetite for local sports competitions.</p>
<p>The high demand for European football comes in addition to, not instead of, sport at the local level. </p>
<p>Ultimately, they represent two very different things. The navétanes championships, like wrestling, offer a visceral experience of sporting competition which is rooted in complex local meanings, regional loyalties and historical rivalries. In contrast, the viewing of European football matches on TV allows African fans to partake in the aspirational dreams exported worldwide by the Premier League or the Champions League.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many young Senegalese boys dream of playing for big European clubs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hann/GLOBALSPORT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether as a consumer, like Uwarugaba, or as a player, in the case of Saliou “Tevez”, there is a strong desire to participate in the football economy at the highest level. In this context, the local league championships are neither here nor there. They lack the passionate support of the navétanes teams, but are also unable to pay competitive salaries necessary to attract the best players. </p>
<p>In a sense, the popularity of European football in Africa is a direct consequence of neoliberal economic transformations, the liberalisation of media and the influx of satellite broadcasting into the African market. The commodification and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/as-the-premier-league-sells-its-wares-in-south-africa-the-local-league-will-suffer-9222573.html">marketing</a> of European football to an African audience generates profits for telecommunications companies based in the global North, thus exacerbating inequalities and restricting the growth potential of the local game.</p>
<p>But, as pervasive as the globalisation of football may be, there is no denying the genuine passion it inspires among its African fans, and the creative ways in which the global game is incorporated into local narratives. </p>
<p><em>This article is based on research conducted as part of the <a href="http://global-sport.eu/">GLOBALSPORT</a> project based at the University of Amsterdam and funded by the European Research Council.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Hann receives funding from the European Research Council. </span></em></p>European football matches allow African fans to partake in the aspirational dreams exported worldwide by the Premier League or the Champions League.Mark Hann, Doctoral student in Anthropology, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/546052016-03-05T14:40:16Z2016-03-05T14:40:16ZBehind the unpredictable Premier League year that put Leicester top of the pile<p>Few Premier League seasons have produced as many upsets as the one currently unfolding. In August, Leicester City began the English football season at 5,000/1 to win the top-flight league, Chelsea were favourites for the title, while last year’s promoted trio (Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich) were strongly tipped for relegation. Yet with 10 games to go it is Leicester who are (still) top of the league, Chelsea languish in mid-table, while other high profile “mega clubs” have so far failed to sustain a title-push (see Manchester United and Liverpool). </p>
<p>Alex Ferguson famously tried to explain football’s twists and turns with the elegant phrase: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfDA4pADaWo">Football!? Bloody hell!</a>”. But dig a little deeper and there are concrete factors that can help us to explain this trend to unpredictability in England’s top-flight division.</p>
<p>The most powerful explanation is linked to contemporary patterns of player recruitment, and what appears to be a more even spread of playing talent across the Premier League. Such a trend was, indeed, mooted earlier this season by then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in reference to lowly Bournemouth’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/33796997">capture of Ivory Coast winger Max Gradel</a>. With the money on offer from the current/impending Premier League TV deal (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31379128">soon to sit at £5.1 billion</a>) all Premier League clubs, it would seem, are now able to exploit a global labour market of playing talent in ways not previously envisaged. A <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/sep/02/financial-fair-play-manchester-city">relaxation of UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) restrictions</a> also suggests that future spending across the Premier League will remain lavish. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113697/original/image-20160303-9470-x9plcz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>You can see from the chart that by February this year total spending <a href="http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10152807/premier-league-spending-tops-1631billion-after-deadline-day">passed the £1 billion mark</a> for a single season. While high fees may seem typical for the biggest clubs competing at the top, it is worth noting that within this figure Bournemouth and Sunderland sank around £15m (each), while Norwich spent more than £21m in January’s transfer window alone. Stoke City, a team which has never finished higher than 9th in the Premier League, recently outperformed Italian giants Lazio on the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/deloitte-rich-list-2015-stoke-outperform-lazio-as-tv-riches-and-costly-tickets-put-premier-league-on-9994111.html">Deloitte 2015 rich list</a>. Subsequently, they are now signing players of a higher calibre than before (including <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/02/stoke-city-newcastle-united-premier-league-match-report">Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri</a>, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35552774">ex Barca forward Bojan Krkic</a>) while other “mediocre” PL clubs have resisted efforts to prize away their top talent.</p>
<h2>Regulating the game</h2>
<p>The ability of top-flight clubs to spend big on foreign talent, coupled with advances in scouting technology and capacity, has resulted in a league dominated by foreign talent. In recent seasons English players in the EPL have accounted for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z9wjq6f">less than a third of the total playing time</a>.</p>
<p>As a counter-weight to encourage the uptake of British players, regulatory changes have included the <a href="http://www.premierleague.com/content/premierleague/en-gb/youth/elite-player-performance-plan.html">Elite Player Performance Plan</a>, passed in October, 2011, which allows top-flight clubs to offer standardised (many would say heavily reduced) compensation fees when recruiting young talent from non-elite academies. </p>
<p>This means that even average Premier League clubs operate with incredible resources and recruitment options, resulting in the relentless expansion of top-flight squads, incorporating layers of reserve and youth team football. For the year ended May 31, 2015, Everton’s playing, training and management staff averaged a total of 98 according to data from Companies House, while an average of 38 employees worked in the club’s Youth Academy alone (this for a team that finished 11th out of 20). The FA’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/mar/03/johnstones-paint-trophy-premier-league-b-teams-england-world-cup-wembley-walsall-bristol-city">controversial decision</a> to allow Premier League B teams to compete in lower league competition, the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, indicates the authorities are more willing to accommodate mammoth squads of playing talent rather than impose restrictions on squad sizes and the stockpiling of talent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113734/original/image-20160303-9496-1h8t2m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Has Billy Beane changed how British clubs look at scouting?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/JEFF KOWALSKY</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The proliferation of star players, or more importantly potential star players, has resulted in interesting moneyball-type twists on this season’s Premier League narrative. <a href="http://grantland.com/features/the-economics-moneyball/">Developed by Billy Beane</a>, moneyball is the theory that sporting data can be used to source, sign and cleverly combine players currently undervalued in the transfer market, thus allowing clubs with less resources to compete.</p>
<p>With enough due diligence (<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/forget-2002-this-years-oakland-as-are-the-real-em-moneyball-em-team/279927/">as with baseball’s Oakland A’s</a>), it is possible for clubs to scout and secure the right combination of undervalued talent at the right time, allowing teams to punch far above their expected weight. First perfected in England by <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2014/12/31/7529012/wengers-arsenal-transfer-strategy-is-sound-insists-grimandi">Arsene Wenger at Arsenal</a>, sophisticated scouting of foreign and local talent is now viable for all clubs in the PL division – not least as even those who finish bottom receive £60m in broadcast revenue. </p>
<h2>Holding on</h2>
<p>Moreover, once stars emerge, healthy revenues have allowed most Premier League clubs to hold out for radically inflated prices on their players, thus allowing them to build in ways not previously possible. West Brom’s <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3424663/Saido-Berahino-Tottenham-drag-final-hours-West-Brom-unwilling-sell-striker-25m.html">resistance to sell Saido Berahinho</a> to Spurs, despite a player protest and a bid in excess of £20m, is a case in point. Accordingly, the efficiency of the market is stalling, and the landscape of successful clubs is undergoing something of a change. </p>
<p>In Leicester’s case their success is largely based upon a squad of previously underrated players who have flourished in a single period: Riyad Mahrez (a reported £330,000 <a href="http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-City-winger-Riyad-Mahrez-ranked-50/story-28475654-detail/story.html">signing from Le Havre</a>), <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leicester-city/12021886/Leicester-slap-30-million-price-tag-on-Jamie-Vardy-to-ward-off-interest-from-Chelsea-and-Manchester-United.html">Jamie Vardy</a> (£1m from Fleetwood), Danny Drinkwater (undisclosed) and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3471105/Arsenal-target-Aubameyang-Ighalo-Kante-70m-spree-players-stand-best-chance-signing.html">N’Golo Kante</a> (a still trivial £5.6m) would now command a collective value of somewhere between £50m and £100m. Whether or not Leicester’s title tilt remains a one off remains to be seen, although the potential for such seasons to emerge again should remain intact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Hastings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Moneyball tactics and a deluge of new money have served up a season of shocks and drama.Thomas Hastings, Research Associate in Work, Employment and Political Economy, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/525462015-12-18T11:31:25Z2015-12-18T11:31:25ZJosé Mourinho: pride came before the fall of football’s special one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106629/original/image-20151218-27875-g0gn7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">End of an era. Again.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Andy Rain</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The demise of Chelsea Football Club this season has been spectacular. And it has been made all the more so because the man at its helm was considered by many, not least himself, to be a “special one”. </p>
<p>In just four months Chelsea have gone from red hot favourites to retain the title – not least because of the man in charge – to hovering one point above the relegation zone after nine premier league losses in 16. José Mourinho’s departure from Chelsea <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34670192">“by mutual consent”</a> is his first real encounter with failure as a manager. Few would have predicted such a catastrophic fall from grace.</p>
<p>But things went wrong almost immediately after Chelsea lifted their third league title under Mourinho last season. Totally against his previous strategy of leading from the front, he decided to have a shortened pre-season, with the players having almost a month’s holiday and only three matches, all lost, before the Community Shield game against Arsenal, which they also lost. </p>
<h2>Living by the sword</h2>
<p>When Chelsea kicked off their league campaign <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/08/chelsea-swansea-city-premier-league-match-report">against a pretty underwhelming Swansea team</a> they looked jaded and, worse, lacking in the confidence expected of the Champions. What happened in those few weeks before they returned to action was that Mourinho had contracted a bad case of an under-reported but fairly common disease among special ones – hubris. Mourinho’s three witches, the media, the fans and his own players had convinced him, Macbeth like, of his invulnerability. If he said something would work then it would surely work. Why? Because he had said so. </p>
<p>A shortened pre-season? No problem. Resistance by Everton to his advances for defender John Stones? No problem; they’d give in. But the mask was slipping; the Chelsea players were ill prepared and Everton were mightily annoyed by the Mourinho’s arrogant shenanigans. There was <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/22/chelsea-manager-jose-mourinho-admits-he-doesnt-have-many-friends-in-football-5450424/">nobody close to Mourinho</a> to “speak truth to power” to him and that’s a dangerous place to be.</p>
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<p>In the end, Mourinho has to live by his own sword. He always argued that the <a href="https://next.ft.com/content/3fcb0618-15aa-11e3-950a-00144feabdc0">ends justified the means</a>. At Real Madrid, for example, he pointed to the record goals scored, the record points delivered as justification for his counter-attacking style that <a href="http://worldsoccertalk.com/2012/01/25/for-jose-mourinho-and-real-madrid-it-is-la-liga-title-that-matters-not-copa-del-rey/">so aggravated the Madrid faithful</a>. Forget style he argued, look at the results. Well, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich must have said, yes, let’s look at the results. So, it’s goodbye José, again. </p>
<p>The truth is that Mourinho is right, if the results are there then the witches will put up with all of his rubbish. Remove that shield and there is a problem.</p>
<h2>Where to, now?</h2>
<p>Chelsea fans should not be too worried about their club’s future. A number of good replacement options will be in the sights of their deep-pocketed owner. An interim manager in the shape of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/guus-hiddink-confirmed-as-chelsea-interim-manager-by-australian-fa-a6777826.html">Gus Hiddink</a>, who enjoyed his previous stint at the Bridge and who was also enjoyed by the players; followed by a move in the summer to lure Pep Guardiola, currently of Bayern Munich, can be expected. </p>
<p>And why not? Guardiola has made no attempt to hide <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3286420/Pep-Guardiola-keen-manage-Premier-League-team-London-fails-agree-new-deal-Bayern-Munich.html">his preference for London</a> over other British cities. And, if not Guardiola, then Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone would seem <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3364445/Chelsea-sound-Diego-Simeone-replacing-Jose-Mourinho-Atletico-Madrid-boss-remains-unconvinced.html">a good fit</a>.</p>
<p>And where now for Mourinho? Paris Saint-Germain has always seemed the obvious choice but with PSG some 13 points ahead in the league and set fair in the Champions League why would they move out the successful and genial incumbent, Laurent Blanc, for a currently unsuccessful and irritable Portuguese?</p>
<p>At one stage Manchester United looked a possibility but they are looking, perhaps forlornly, for the next long-stay incumbent. Manchester City? If Guardiola goes to Chelsea then Manuel Pellegrini should be safe for another year. The Portuguese national team? Not yet. England? Not likely.</p>
<p>All in all, a forced sabbatical might be the best answer. Time to let the environment calm down and maybe to take stock. Maybe time to learn that while the witches’ predictions might seem to be suggesting everything you thought about yourself you should probably view them with a good dose of scepticism. To paraphrase another literary giant, <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175772">Rudyard Kipling</a>: when you meet those two impostors, Triumph and Disaster, treat them just the same. And beware the hubris.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Brady does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>José Mourinho’s second departure from Chelsea is his real encounter with failure. Few would have predicted such a catastrophic fall from grace.Chris Brady, Co-Director, Centre for Sports Business, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/501742015-11-04T14:58:45Z2015-11-04T14:58:45ZWhy sticking with your manager is better for football clubs in the long-run<blockquote>
<p>You’re not special, you’re not special, you’re not special anymore!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, football fans <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/31/liverpool-fans-chant-youre-not-special-anymore-to-chelsea-boss-jose-mourinho-as-sack-talk-continues-5473226/">have been chanting</a> at Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, who famously once referred to himself as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybQAg2YUxY">“special one”</a> for his managerial skills. The mockery is not without reason.</p>
<p>Last season’s champions are currently languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League table and speculation has been rife about Mourinho’s future. His truculence before the media should not be taken as an indication of a desire to quit, though. Jose has always been the master of creating a siege mentality, deliberately positioning the clubs and players he has coached as victims of great conspiracies.</p>
<p>But it is hard to recall a time when one of his teams has performed this badly. Chelsea already have lost six Premier League games – they lost just three during the entire 2014-15 season. Many are therefore questioning just how much longer Mourinho should be kept on as manager.</p>
<p>Having arguably mismanaged Mourinho’s first departure from the West London club <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/jose-mourinho-left-chelsea-2007-after-falling-out-roman-abramovich-over-transfers-1496984">back in 2007</a>, Chelsea’s board of directors don’t seem to be making too many noises publicly about him. But the club’s Russian oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich, is known for being rather impatient with the managers he employs, so for many it’s a case of when – not if – Mourinho is sacked. </p>
<p>The question is, then: is it better for a club to sack a manager sooner, or later?</p>
<p>There is conflicting research about the point in a season at which a struggling manager or coach should lose their job. By sacking a manager straightaway, the argument is that there will still be time to attract a new one. After all, the replacement will also need time to settle into their new position, and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21649480.2013.768829">turn the club’s performance around</a>. Indeed, in Chelsea’s case, if Mourinho were to be sacked at this point it would leave the incumbent 27 games (or 81 points) to hoist the club back up the league. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00668.x/full">other research shows there may be a “honeymoon period”</a> for new managers, during which results initially improve … before continuing in a downward trajectory. So Mourinho could be given a chance to turn things around into the new year and if results fail to pick up, a new manager could be brought in for the second half of the season. The club may then benefit from a new manager’s probable honeymoon period of good results.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wbs.ac.uk/downloads/research/football-managers-0106.pdf">Other commentators alternatively contend</a> that the apparent failure of a manager is too often used by directors to mask other failings inside their clubs, such as the paucity of financial resources they provide their manager with. But having spent £66m (with net transfer spending of £32m) during the last player transfer window, Mourinho can hardly claim to have been constrained in this regard. </p>
<p>There is a possibility, too, that dismissing Mourinho would merely be a proxy for confronting more fundamental issues faced by the club. <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/22818467">Reflections on his first spell in charge</a> reveal that even back in 2007, Chelsea was grappling with damaging internal matters. If this is the case, whether it is acknowledged by the club or not, there would be little to gain by replacing him.</p>
<h2>Benefits of stability</h2>
<p>The alternative scenario to an imminent sacking is that Abramovich, having courted Mourinho for a second time in 2013, might be inclined to give his manager until the end of the season to change the club’s fortunes. There is some sense in this approach; after all, a world-class manager with a strong record of achievement doesn’t become a total failure in just 11 Premier League games.</p>
<p>Another body of research becomes applicable at this point, as it emphasises the importance of retaining a manager, at least until the end of a season. <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bas_Weel/publication/220289546_Manager_to_go_Performance_dips_reconsidered_with_evidence_from_Dutch_football/links/0046352cecdbfb5ba5000000.pdf">Some researchers argue that the performance benefits</a> of managerial stability outweigh whatever advantages might come from a mid-season swap. Stability is acknowledged as being important in helping turn around a team’s fortunes, largely because it brings a degree of certainty and clarity to plans for the remaining months of a season.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The ‘special one’.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This may account for the respective current approaches of both club and manager in handling the uncertainty surrounding Mourinho’s future. As the Chelsea boss <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/11971623/Chelsea-news-Jose-Mourinho-press-conference-live.html">said</a> in his Champions League pre-match press conference: “I’ll face bad results with honesty and dignity.” </p>
<p>Ultimately, if the Chelsea board wants to draw inspiration from the academic research then, on balance, the evidence appears to suggest that leaving Mourinho in charge is probably the best course of action – at least until the end of the season. Statistically, it is likely that keeping him in post will yield more points than replacing him with someone else. This is especially the case right now, as few high quality replacement managers are currently available for hire. </p>
<p>But Premier League football is an uncompromising business. Chelsea needs the financial rewards that a top-four finish generates, not least because it brings the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-much-is-the-champions-league-worth-42376">riches of UEFA Champions League qualification</a>. Furthermore, Mourinho and the club are constantly being scrutinised and the Portuguese is prone to making controversial statements, attention neither of them needs. </p>
<p>The academic research – and his reputation – may support his case, but if Mourinho wants to stay on at Chelsea, even the “special one” will have to dig deep.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Is it better for a club to sack their manager now or wait until later?Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/461742015-08-24T16:17:36Z2015-08-24T16:17:36ZHow Russia has devoted its energy to the beautiful game<p>As the new European football season starts and the tiresome FIFA corruption scandal rumbles on, most of us are inevitably preoccupied either by who will win the coming season’s titles or how the governing body will cope with the pressure. But there is an intriguing, and strengthening, agenda hidden behind both the new season and FIFA’s ongoing travails – global energy supplies.</p>
<p>In their <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-ugly-game-by-heidi-blake--jonathan-calvert-book-review-10231887.html">recent book The Ugly Game</a>, Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert discuss what it seems to take for a nation to win the right to host football’s World Cup. Notwithstanding the levels to which all the bidding nations seemingly stooped in the race for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, Blake and Calvert highlight a couple of specific episodes that reveal how deeply embedded football is in global geopolitics and, more specifically, energy supplies.</p>
<h2>Deal makers</h2>
<p>The first episode describes how, while it was seeking the support of the Thai FIFA Executive Committee, Qatar agreed a 20-year gas deal with the government of Thailand. In 2011, one year after the Middle East nation’s success in its bid to host the 2022 tournament, Qatargas delivered its maiden cargo to Thailand’s first and only Liquified Natural Gas receiving terminal, Map Ta Phut. Since then, Qatargas has supplied Thailand with 27 more cargoes.</p>
<p>In the second episode, Blake and Calvert observe that in the midst of the horse trading for support during <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/fifa/11686691/Brazil-delegate-comfirms-illicit-World-Cup-vote-trading-between-backers-of-Spain-and-Qatar-bids.html">FIFA’s problematic 2010 double World Cup vote</a> there emerged an agreement for Qatar and Russia – the world’s two largest natural gas suppliers – to exploit deposits that had been located beneath the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia.</p>
<p>There is an argument that such incidents amount to simple coincidence – <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/05/qatar-yamal-lng-idUKL6N0BXH2Y20130305">recent reports in fact</a> indicate that Qatar has decided against taking its involvement in the project any further. However, Blake and Calvert’s observations add further credence to the idea that football is increasingly taking centre-stage in the global geopolitics of international energy supplies. In particular, the authors note that several members of the 2018 Russian bid committee were former employees of Gazprom.</p>
<h2>Gas giant</h2>
<p>Gazprom is both the world’s largest extractor of natural gas and one of its biggest corporations. Formerly Russian state-owned, <a href="http://www.gazprom.com/about/history/company/">Gazprom was created in 1989</a> and then later partly privatised, although the country’s government retains a majority ownership stake. Despite sanctions against Russia, which have hit Gazprom’s business in recent years, the company <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0078c61c-52d5-11e4-a236-00144feab7de.html#axzz3j4Fy5HJs">still supplies around one-third</a> of the European Union’s gas and actively operates in countries such as Brazil, Germany, Iran and Nigeria.</p>
<p>Gazprom has an <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/be5b2017943e416e98eef2fc29740df8/world-cup-center-gazproms-sponsorship-empire">impressive array of relationships</a> across football – ranging from deals with FIFA and UEFA, <a href="http://grantland.com/the-triangle/gazprom-zenit-st-petersburg-and-the-intersection-of-global-politics-and-world-football/">through to ownership of Zenit Saint Petersburg</a>, its reported interest in buying Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade and sponsorship contracts with Schalke of the German Bundesliga and Chelsea of England’s Premier League. This has recently <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/be5b2017943e416e98eef2fc29740df8/world-cup-center-gazproms-sponsorship-empire">led some commentators</a> to question what Gazprom is seeking to achieve from such deals, especially as the corporation does not sell gas directly to domestic customers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92082/original/image-20150817-25727-1gjbhk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schalke stars plug Russian gas in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dsteffek/4714217565/in/photolist-8bzADc-aa4UQs-gs7fx-bkAboN-dnF2UK-dnF7Ks-dnF3nx-dnF7o1-tp6U-9q1MHr-bpewD-dnF7Fh-dnF7vw-dnF3vx-dnF7Bo-dnF7yw-vUAFpp-8bCz8h-8bzzk8-8bCMRf-8bCRyq-8bzjiT-8bCAvS-8bCPtE-8bCNNW-8bCytW-8bCNpq-8bzyHZ-8bzgta-8bCzZ5-8bCxbf-8bCzGb-8bCQqQ-8bCBaY-8bzzCT-8bzBee-8bzf9x-8bCSRG-8bCSy1-8bCMe5-8bCMxo-8bCLXE-wby1ki-wbxx8n-wbxxnk-hCdKev-hCcWg3-hCcuC1-8bCxQw-8bzwF6">dsteffek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consider the Schalke deal; the club signed a shirt sponsorship contract with Gazprom in 2007, a move which at the time led <a href="http://www.11freunde.de/liveticker">German football magazine 11Freunde</a> to claim the club’s move was “like having sex without a condom”. Schalke is based in Gelsenkirchen, northern Germany, which is part of the country’s industrial heartland, the Ruhrgebiet. Many would argue that Schalke is emblematic of German football’s culture and of its industrial roots.</p>
<h2>Serbian routes</h2>
<p>As one of the biggest consumers of Russian gas, in 2005 the Germans agreed to collaborate with the Russians in building <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/18/energy-gazprom-pipeline-idUKL5N0Z42OB20150618">the North Stream gas pipeline</a>. The pipeline, which begins in Russia and terminates in Germany, was inaugurated in 2011. <a href="http://www.css.ethz.ch/publications/pdfs/RAD-81.pdf">One view</a> is that Gazprom’s deal with Schalke was a means through which to influence German opinion, particularly at governmental levels. As an interesting aside to this, it is worth noting that the North European Gas Pipeline Company (later renamed Nord Stream AG) which owns North Stream is incorporated in Zug, Switzerland – coincidentally the home of FIFA, of which Gazprom is a partner.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92085/original/image-20150817-5124-68hiat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red Star fans light up the stadium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dzindzer/4971458850/in/photolist-ff9tn6-8zf2rq-8zf28h-7yw7yK-7Z4E6r-kbGSx-6evajk-9yXx4M-9z1AfC-9yXytB-ozP1-9oCJDJ-ndCT6S-8zj2vL-7szdUL-7svfAi-7szdMh-9oCMiW-9oCKYW-dxZ9xD-7Z4Dpa">dezindzer</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>History may now be repeating itself, as Gazprom has for some time been flirting heavily with <a href="http://www.crvenazvezdafk.com/en.html">Red Star Belgrade</a> (Serbia’s most famous club) to the extent that the Russian corporation <a href="http://keirradnedge.com/2014/09/02/gazprom-poised-for-red-star-takeover/">may yet buy the club</a>. This should come as no surprise to anyone as Russia has long been seeking a route for its mooted <a href="http://www.rt.com/business/218635-gazprom-owner-south-stream/">South Stream gas pipeline</a>, a project of which Gazprom became the 100% owner in late 2014. Serbia was at one time a country through which South Stream could have passed, but it has been struggling to reconcile its aspirations to become a member of the European Union with a desire to remain close to Russia. Alongside that, Gazprom’s attempts to influence Serbia’s position through the purchase of Red Star have remained up in the air.</p>
<h2>Life, death and oil</h2>
<p>In the meantime, Gazprom has continued its headlong march into football. It’s rotational signage and animated television adverts have become a staple of UEFA Champions League games, while the company’s logo has started to become prominent on FIFA properties as a result of the Russian corporation’s 2013 partnership deal with football’s world governing body. Such deals have taken Gazprom into the boardrooms and corporate hospitality suites of football’s aristocracy, facilitating easy access to the politicians and officials who make the types of energy decisions Gazprom no doubt wants to affect. Football has clearly become a focal point for the fossil fuel diplomacy of countries across the world – Qatar and Russia are not alone in using football for this purpose. </p>
<p>Whatever the outcome of proceedings against FIFA officials, the activities of those such as Gazprom already reveal that those among us who still think that football is all about the game, are guilty of an increasingly naïve assumption. Indeed, one is reminded yet again of former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly’s words about football being more important than life and death. Seems like he was right after all: in the 21st century it is increasingly about oil and gas, international energy supplies and global geopolitics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
What does Gazprom hope to achieve with its deep and generous relationship with football?Simon Chadwick, ‘Class of 92’ Professor of Sports Enterprise, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379882015-02-25T13:07:29Z2015-02-25T13:07:29ZFootball fans must take the lead in the fight against racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72915/original/image-20150224-25702-syq4o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=217%2C473%2C4679%2C2980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Over to you ...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronmacphotos/6270740698/in/photolist-ay8bJW-7cLuGT-7d7j9Y-794qvo-6VKkzS-4UknCV-7d7a6w-ay5uMx-hceWQh-8CCvkH-8CFX2s-7cQozu-8CFXqN-6VF8CX-8CFrYd-84a3pY-8CCFvM-8CCQFD-8CCAU8-8CCuvr-pMFT97-pPRK1s-8CFNjh-8CCv3p-6S4LYr-8CF7U1-6VFqLD-8CFnHq-8CFWyo-78qtvH-8DG2X9-8CCoU4-dsLouo-8CF7oo-dvV8na-8CCgUz-8CCyAV-8CC9bB-8CCyo2-8CF6Tb-dda7ep-8CFvHy-8CCka8-8CCb4K-8CF6mS-8CFQnG-8CFPYd-8CCL3V-avoPhC-8CFR5N">Ronnie Macdonald</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the racist behaviour of a group of Chelsea supporters on the Paris Métro last week, a range of excellent critical commentaries emerged, pondering what these actions signified and how English football should respond. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/18/racist-poison-paris-metro-chelsea-football">argument has been made</a> in the Guardian newspaper that a range of organisations need to intensify and co-ordinate their efforts in eradicating racism from the professional game: clubs, the Football Association, the Premier League and UEFA. In reality, though, it will all boil down to one crucial part of the game: the fans. </p>
<p>The majority of real football supporters have been outraged by the events in Paris. Indeed, they are prepared to articulate, publicly or online, their concerns over broader racial injustices in football, especially when they affect their own clubs. Opposition to Lee Bowyer’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/jan/11/newsstory.sport">transfer to West Ham United</a>
in 2003 and the appointment of Malky Mackay <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/cardiff-city-board-boycott-wigan-5220975">as manager of Wigan Athletic</a> last year are cases in point. There is also <a href="http://www.kickitout.org/get-involved/report-it/the-kick-it-out-app/">now a smartphone app</a> that allows anonymous reporting of racist incidents, enabling monitoring and retrospective action. </p>
<p>However, directly and immediately challenging the racism that still occurs at English grounds, and on the way to and from matches, remains a different proposition, even if incidents occur more sporadically than in the past. </p>
<h2>Stand up, speak up</h2>
<p>The difficulties facing those many individuals appalled by the racist speech acts and behaviours of other football fans are apparent. Unfortunately the tribal ethos of football fandom makes some supporters feel that they cannot, or should not, speak out against their fellow fans. </p>
<p>Other factors are perhaps easier to acknowledge and accept. For instance, challenging bigots head-on requires guts and certainly benefits from a critical mass of support. It is also arguably easier for those individuals whose identities reflect the dominant demographic of the crowd – white males – to oppose racism, with those who do not fit this profile understandably anxious about how their difference might become the target for further abuse. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72919/original/image-20150224-25659-17hvb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A thankless task?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rcolonna/4737222560/in/photolist-7Yfvun-9Jsrnp-4eLiTb-5f1u2m-7o8X6u-8dBve3-7NrfdG-7NasnD-9McVbt-5axDuy-65KY9Q-4qvbSY-7hG5Zw-gdwRW-fdX7CW-6e8maS-a8qxwf-6WJh6M-b6v2u-xArxK-waWiu-L318E-6xwXRV-bsrVuQ-dTAFk7-c527j-6WaPtu-6iSfTV-bHgcRz-7s2EPD-7uoUJM-82Gpxd-nb2YPA-7YfsZp-7J1bcK-6UkcUu-82BC2H-cPvFLm-5Gt6yf-nutuMK-92S5Bc-2sYzjx-e7nbVm-6fsd1t-6iSeZr-B5sMx-Rrg41-9odKtQ-cT6ar5-CPuJK">rob colonna</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crowd stewards, many of whom are themselves from minority ethnic backgrounds, often lack the power to prevent prejudicial behaviours. With <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/aug/10/police-uk-riots-football-postponements">police officers taking a back seat</a> inside grounds, fans are left fundamentally to regulate themselves. Yet one of the crucial, if overdue, observations of the incident in France was that the multicultural spectacle on the pitch and elite clubs’ diverse global fanbases have become more distant from the demographic of match-going followers than ever. </p>
<p>While statistics suggest that football crowds are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11079597">becoming slowly more ethnically diverse</a>, they are still overwhelmingly white and male, with an average age of over 40. Live football fandom remains a peculiarly exclusive activity. </p>
<p>Combined with <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/dapper-laughs-is-not-dead-9995062.html">a re-emerging culture of laddishness</a>, and residual ones of misogyny and homophobia, this can inhibit the existence of a progressive politics found in other areas of popular culture. </p>
<h2>Leading by example</h2>
<p>Then there is the very serious issue of fans feeling disillusioned in their capacity to challenge racism in the stands. It is understandable that they may feel unsupported by lip-service-paying authorities, or lack faith in a positive outcome being achieved, given the negligible punishments enforced when their idols on the pitch, in the dugout or in the boardroom behave in such a way. </p>
<p>As the World Soccer website <a href="http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/image-of-the-day-chelseas-support-for-john-terry-at-odds-with-anti-racism-credentials-359788">pointed out last week</a>, Chelsea’s public condemnation of their supporters’ behaviour in Paris seems a world away from their steadfast and stubborn <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11425639/Chelsea-news-Shadow-of-John-Terrys-racial-abuse-of-Anton-Ferdinand-still-hangs-over-Stamford-Bridge.html">defence of their captain, John Terry,</a> even after he had been found guilty in 2012 by an FA commission of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72918/original/image-20150224-25659-u9zq3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Terry takes issue with a decision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronmacphotos/498025271/in/photolist-L1vyB-L1x7c-L1xbx-L1qcj-nQhJM-6X9pyV-mXUjNc-5iAstc-5HWjTB-5HWjor-L1xZr-L1y5x-5J1Bfq-7AnjRx-Bfuuf-8Swbvf-9hbnAP-2fDJnE-743Yju-bAwZ2w-bAx19A-UgjNv-fsqPVa-5oGi3z-L1myb-5Zkosp-fsF4Xy-c3ghL5-78RbKs-86KXto-L1mJq-6FS1w2-c2u5CU-2fzeCK-86GKEz-2fyVRv-efhPbo-6MfQTb-bPrTZe-bHHgyD-6GaXZh-78RbJL-6FRZAF-6GaKYu-4Qq2Mw-6GaRVo-2fzd6n-6FRZVT-4Rss1a-6G6Bzi">Ronnie Macdonald</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Silence can represent opposition to racist chants; a refusal to validate the perpetrator’s presence and intentions. But the absence of opposition might also be read, even if mistakenly, as complicity. A few years ago I rebuked a group of young followers of the Premier League club which I follow, who I encountered chanting racist slogans outside Wembley before an FA Cup semi-final. My objection was met with incredulity, with one teenager asking me, “What’s your problem mate? You’re as white as we are.” </p>
<p>As <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/sof/summary/v087/87.4.watkins-hayes.html">Lesley Houtts Picca and Joe Feagin highlight</a>, certain forms of racism occur when individuals interpret their surroundings as signifying a value consensus, and believe their actions will not cause offence or be resisted. At Wembley, these young people were wrong on all counts. </p>
<p>In the early 1990s, when the majority of English football’s dominant institutions looked the other way, a small number of fan groups at different clubs took the lead in creating an anti-racist presence. This involved challenging overt racism on the terraces, opposing the sale of Far Right publications outside grounds and producing fanzines with a distinct anti-racist ethos. Without such activist collectives, the climate and political space for nationwide initiatives such as <a href="http://www.kickitout.org/about/">Kick It Out</a> and <a href="http://www.srtrc.org/">Show Racism The Red Card</a> to exist would not have been possible. </p>
<p>A quarter of a century on, the anti-racist football movement has changed immeasurably. It has become formalised and institutionalised. Such a transformation has enabled anti-racist campaigns to achieve many successes and the profile of anti-discrimination work has been raised exponentially. </p>
<p>However, these processes have also seen notions of everyday anti-racism move inadvertently away from the identities, proclivities and involvement of the average fan. For those who are politically inclined, new times present new issues, such as <a href="http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-fc-fans-protest-against-8198307">opposing ticket prices</a> or the corporate negligence of club owners. Others perceive that the battle has been won amid a supposed shift to “post-racial” times. Within probably the largest segment, a casual apathy towards anything that impinges on their leisure time and the spectacle of the game prevails. This complacency needs to be challenged and anti-racism returned to the forefront of fan agendas.</p>
<p>Professional clubs, the Football Association, the Premier League and UEFA may have the power and institutional clout to enforce the penalties that could make a difference, but if the fight against racism in the stands is to be won, then fans must be positioned, as my colleague Mark Doidge notes, “<a href="https://theconversation.com/malky-mackay-text-affair-shows-it-is-time-to-give-football-back-to-the-fans-30848">at the vanguard of anti-discrimination</a>”. </p>
<p>We have the numbers to make a difference. History tells us that fighting for social justice is often most successful when it is organic, populist and involves a bottom-up approach; an anti-racism that is cultural as much as institutional.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Burdsey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the wake of the racist behaviour of a group of Chelsea supporters on the Paris Métro last week, a range of excellent critical commentaries emerged, pondering what these actions signified and how English…Daniel Burdsey, Principal Lecturer, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.