MY last column on the dysfunctional 2019-20 season was on the good, the bad and the ugly in football.
To recap: we had financial meltdown projected; empty stadiums; players refusing to take pay cuts; curfews being broken and the PFA . . . well, just being the PFA — an obstructive, outmoded and antiquated organisation.
Lionel Messi has finally accepted he has to stay at Barcelona after his transfer request but should be allowed to leave for freeCredit: PA:Press Association
Wales superstar Gareth Bale now seems to be contemplating life away from his lavish Real Madrid dealCredit: AFP and licensors
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looks set to stay at Arsenal – with a huge new contractCredit: Getty Images – Getty
As we prepare for the new season, what fresh delights await us? What have we learnt? Surely, changes must be afoot?
Well, no.
Good old, ever-reliable football carries on with ambivalence and dismissivenes.
It never disappoints in its crass ignorance of the current climate.
No sooner had financial Armageddon been avoided — for the time being — then we are under starter’s orders.
Chelsea have raced to spend a quarter of a billion, followed by the Manchester clubs and others continuing to spend big.
Given the required recession in football, surely there would be some respite in wage demands from understanding players?
Of course, reality comes knocking and back in his box went Mr Messi.
No chance. Look at Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moving nonchalantly into a £15million annual salary.
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale realises maybe playing elsewhere is better than sitting at Real Madrid drawing enormous wages.
Then the daddy of them all, arguably the world’s greatest player Lionel Messi starts a feeding frenzy by deciding that Catalonia was no longer for him.
He wants his independence and it cues £600million transfer demands, £100m salaries and the mess that apparently is Barcelona. Please!
Apparently, Messi is entitled to leave for free and he’s earned that right.
Okey dokey, so the best part of a billion quid he’s earned as a Barcelona employee isn’t reward enough and somehow player power will prevail.
Of course, reality comes knocking and back in his box went Mr Messi.
There is some smattering of good form.
Despite the howls of derision from Newcastle fans, that sham of a takeover came to nothing (and prompted tears from self-publicist Amanda Staveley).
The Saudi deal failed to be concluded, preventing us seeing another ravenous spend-fest and the type of owner that perhaps isn’t in the best interests of the game.
Outside of the Premier League, the EFL have finally woken from their slumber and started to introduce controls to save clubs — if not from themselves, certainly from the dire financial circumstances they face.
Despite the mutterings of the PFA’s Gordon Taylor — the Muttley-like character from Dick Dastardly — on how it is unlawful introducing salary caps, they are needed to ensure clubs are sustainable, and not dependent on the whims of owners.
Phil Foden and Marcus Greenwood were sent home by England after breaching coronavirus guidelinesCredit: PA:Press Association
My feeling is that it should have been a percentage of turnover rather than one-size-fits-all flat budgets in Leagues One and Two — but something is better than nothing.
Then back to the bad. We have the uplifting news of two of England’s most prodigious talents, Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood, being sent home in embarrassment for smuggling girls into their hotel.
Gormless sometimes isn’t enough to describe these players. Perhaps they got the idea from their team-mate Kyle Walker?
So, some lessons learnt, some battles still being fought but, all in all, football rumbles on.
This season, like all others, will be packed full of suspense and intrigue with the doof-doof of the EastEnders theme tune.
Let the games begin.
- Listen to Simon Jordan and Jim White on talkSPORT at 10am Monday to Thursday.
Man City’s ‘Lionel Messi transfer bid LEAKED’ with Barcelona offered £181m over 12 months and extra £18m in bonuses
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
