The Hindu : Beckham hype masks misery of poorer clubs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

Sport

Sport - Football

Beckham hype masks misery of poorer clubs

LONDON June 19. While David Beckham's future grabs all the headlines, the plight of clubs like Oldham Athletic and the future of its players and hundreds of others is a much greater concern to many in the English game.

``Oldham Athletic AFC are on the verge of going out of business. Payments to all creditors have been suspended and the club's bank accounts have been frozen,'' was the stark message on the second division club's website last week. Manager Iain Dowie described the situation as a `nightmare.'

``We've got three or four young lads, who are the future of the club, who are in limbo at the moment because they haven't signed their contract yet,'' said the Oldham boss, whose team reached the playoffs last season before losing to Queens Park Rangers.

Oldham's players are not the only ones worried about their future. The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) said earlier this month that 586 players had been discarded by English premier and Football League clubs at the end of their contracts.

``We could lose a third of the 586,'' said an increasingly worried players' union chief executive Gordon Taylor.

``Our job is to try to get them fixed up but I'd be pleased if two-thirds stayed. People talk about players' salaries but are not as eager to look at the insecurity of the profession.''

PFA deputy chief executive Mick McGuire added: ``In what other industry is 20 per cent of its workforce technically out of work at the end of each year?''

The players have responded in various ways. Most are still looking to secure a contract with another professional club and some have taken up coaching courses. Others are learning a new trade such as becoming a cab driver or a journalist.

The financial troubles affecting the game have prompted the All-Party Parliamentary Football Group to launch its first football inquiry and a cross-section of people will be quizzed.

The group, chaired by Labour MP Alan Keen, has over 150 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords. It focuses on policy issues affecting football at all levels. But the problems faced by league clubs are very high on the agenda.

Spiralling wage costs, increased debt, limited transfer income within smaller windows, uncertainty over future television revenue, variable share performance and the spectre of insolvency are among the problems affecting the game.

The Football League clubs in divisions one, two and three are introducing wage-capping next season and most chairmen hope they can now work within more sensible budgets. But wages would have come down anyway.

Ipswich Town midfielder Matt Holland this week joined Charlton Athletic because the Suffolk club, who just missed the first division playoffs last season, can no longer afford his salary.

Ipswich, offered $6.70 million for the same player by Aston Villa less than a year ago, accepted 750,000 Pounds for the Ireland international.

Their chairman David Sheepshanks had no choice but to sanction the transfer of his club captain and he conceded: ``For any club outside the premiership, it's not just about transfer fees but also the size of wage commitments.

``Matt was not on huge money by premier league standards, but nevertheless on a level that is simply unaffordable in the first division. This is particularly tough to digest.''

Such enforced realism is set to be a feature of the close-season transfer market and Holland will not be the last player who has to leave a club because they simply cannot afford to pay him.

Reuters

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