UEFA will get their finale after all, albeit one that is crammed into a mini-tournament of the kind that belongs to the pre-corporatisation era. Although the eight-team format played in neutral Lisbon is a solution to a problem, in normal circumstances, having eight of the world’s best club sides in the vibrant Portuguese capital would induce a carnival spirit like no other football jamboree.

The competition is dominated by clubs from the big five leagues, over the past 10 campaigns, just eight teams from outside that group have made it to the quarter-finals and this season, the entire last 16 was from England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain.

Given that Portugal, fine football nation that it is, has only been represented three times at this stage (Benfica x 2 and Porto) since 2010-11, the choice of Lisbon was a good neutral venue. The locals will not have Benfica to cheer on (from their TVs), and now they have been deprived of the chance to support Cristiano Ronaldo after Juventus’ elimination at the hands of Lyon.

If you consider that all World Cups have their weak teams and fairly anonymous players that mean little to a lot of fans, then this reconfiguration has the potential to really capture the imagination of the Lisbon public. The last eight won’t include holders Liverpool, Juventus or Real Madrid but the line-up will involve Manchester City, Atlético Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Lyon and Atalanta as well as possibles Bayern and Barca – that’s a fair sprinkling of some of the best teams on the planet with about 40% of the world’s leading players.

So it’s a stellar cast that will assemble in Lisbon. With a crowd, these games could be a marketing executive’s dream even if the host city doesn’t have a team involved. However, how many Barcelona, Bayern and Manchester City fans are there in the city?

There’s another theory that may be high up there in the conspiracy stakes, but could this be the shape of Champions Leagues to come? Euro 2020, when it eventually happens, has the look of a tournament slightly out of control. In 24 years, we’ve gone from 16 teams (the optimal tournament size in many people’s eyes) to 24 and it will probably not stop there. As we have seen with the World Cup, greed sets in and the way the money men and women see a successful finals format is how much cash can be squeezed out – the more teams, the more income and TV markets to tap into. We now have the ridiculous prospect of a 48-team (a 50% increase on 2022) structure for the 2026 cross-border tournament hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico.

A 48-team format will exclude most countries from staging the competition, so it is likely that more hosting consortiums will become the norm. The bigger the Euros become, that scenario may eventually be replicated on a regular basis. Hence, the carnival element of hosting a major sporting element will become diminished – if not by the bills the competition generates, but also logistics. You can imagine an advertising team coming in, sunglasses perched on head and flat-whites in hand and advising UEFA: “Hey guys, how about making the Champions League closing stages into an old-style, small-format shoot-out over a couple of weeks?”. Like it has never been invented before.

Club football at the top level has overtaken the national team game. We live in a tribal age and the tribes are not necessarily international football sides, they are the heavily-marketed, media-hungry clubs that appear on our screens every week. The world’s best football competition is not the World Cup, it is the Champions League. A country like Portugal will never host the World Cup or European Championship on its own as these competitions both expand like Monty Python’s exploding pasta-hungry gentleman, but you can imagine UEFA being seduced by the idea of a glamorous annual finale to the season. If FIFA can have their Club World Cup (where does the coronavirus leave that?), then UEFA may feel they can sweep-up with their blue riband event.

On the other hand, UEFA may just see this as a one-off, a convenient way to draw a line under the season. We’re not so sure. We’re cynics and we believe that governing bodies are keen to fill the calendar with as many competitions as possible, to emphasise their importance, leverage the financial take and to protect the strength of their confederation. The Champions League climax looks intriguing, but it would look a whole lot better if there were spectators in the stadium.

@GameofthePeople

Photo: PA

Categories: Europe

Tagged: Coronavirus, Lead, Lisbon, Portugal, top slot, UEFA Champions League

England’s league champions – passing the baton

GOTP Editorial Team

Posted on August 8, 2020

HOW OFTEN have you heard someone explain away a poor title defence with a comment like, “They needed to turn things over….they needed to rebuild”? It is true that nothing lasts forever in football and sometimes, a title winning team burns itself out in lifting the big prize. A manager gets the best out of a group of players and then they’re done. That’s unlikely to happen to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, especially in the age of massive imbalance within leagues.

The fact is, a title winning team does not last forever, but the core of a talented young team can extend its influence for a considerable period.

It may be getting harder to do that, largely because managers come and go so quickly that no longevity is built into the system. Teams are rarely nurtured but generally purchased, and in an age of inflated investment, TV money and impatient boards, nobody can wait for that youngster to develop into a rare gem. Usually, it’s a team for a job and when that job is done, or the manager goes, whichever is the sooner, the team changes.

Champions	Defence	Finished
Manchester City	1937-38	21^st – R
Leeds United	1992-93	17th
Everton	1928-29	18^th
Ipswich Town	1962-63	17^th
Chelsea	1955-56	16^th
Sheffield United	1898-99	16^th
Aston Villa	1900-01	15^th
Liverpool	1906-07	15^th
Everton	1970-71	14^th
West Bromwich	1920-21	14^th
Manchester City	1968-69	13^th
Manchester Utd	1908-09	13^th
Arsenal Leicester C	1953-54 2016-17	12^th

Some teams buck the trend and go on for years. Manchester United were fortunate to have a generation of players that did just that – the Class of ’92 and all that. In fact, United’s 1998-99 treble winners managed to squeeze some 66 years out of the title winners beyond 1999. In that team there were three lads that went on for 39 of those 66 – Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.

United’s neighbours, City, accrued 70 years out of the regular line-up that won the Football League championship in 1968. The last man to leave the party was Colin Bell, who retired in 1979. Long-running sagas are fine if the team is young, which City’s was – with the exception of Tony Book, who was 33 when the title was won. But there wasn’t the quality to maintain the league success of 1968, although City did have a golden period between 68 and 70 where they lifted four trophies. But they were rarely title contenders, with the exception of 1971-72.

Coventry City goalkeeper Bill Glazier misses the ball under pressure from Manchester City’s Tommy Booth – 1968-69.

Conversely, some teams break up quickly. Blackburn Rovers’ hired guns of 1995 lasted a combined 29 years after their title win, while Arsenal’s “Invincibles” went on for 30. Nottingham Forest’s 1978 champions lasted 32 years between them, with their front line of Woodcock and Withe disappearing within a season. Forest’s line-up was certainly a team with a purpose and despite adding bigger names than those that shocked the system, they could never recapture the magic of 1977-78. To quote Monty Python’s Spanish inquisitors, Brian Clough had “surprise” as a weapon.

The break-up of a title team, though, is invariably a slow process and it takes skill to do it gradually while maintaining momentum. Sir Alex Ferguson was one of the few managers to turn change to an advantage, and in Liverpool’s glory years, transition became an art form. Some managers struggle to replace much beloved players who have brought major success to a club. Sir Matt Busby and his successors found it hard to rebuild his last great United team in the late 1960s.

Player	Deb.	Last season	Departure and age
Noble	1962	1966-67	1967 (23)
Foulkes	1952	1967-68	1968 (35)
Stiles	1961	1968-69	1970 (27)
Crerand	1963	1970-71	1971 (32)
Aston	1965	1969-70	1972 (25)
Dunne	1960	1972-73	1973 (32)
Best	1963	1971-72	1973 (27)
Charlton	1956	1972-73	1973 (35)
Sadler	1963	1971-72	1973 (27)
Law	1962	1971-72	1973 (33)
Stepney	1966	1977-78	1978 (35)

Alan Gowling and Carlo Sartori, were never going to match up to the likes of Denis Law. From Busby to the early stages of Tommy Docherty, United relied on old-stagers like Stepney, Dunne, Crerand, Charlton and Law, some popularist purchases like Ted MacDougall and Ian Storey-Moore, and a succession of defenders and half-backs that failed to live up to past occupants of the shirt. Put bluntly, United’s decline in the 1970s was largely due to poor succession planning, hampered by a period on instability following the exit of an iconic manager. Seven years after winning the title (and six after being crowned European champions) United were – to the horror of the football establishment – relegated.

Boom to bust – the post-war champions and the years from title to relegation

Yrs	Team & title year	Down
2	Ipswich Town (61-62)	1962-64
4	Blackburn Rovers (94-95)	1998-99
5	Derby County (74-75)	1979-80
6	Wolves (58-59)	1964-65
6	Aston Villa (80-81)	1986-87
7	Chelsea (54-55)	1961-62
7	Liverpool (46-47)	1953-54
7	Manchester United (66-67)	1973-74
8	Leeds United (81-82)	1981-82
9	Portsmouth (49-50)	1958-59
11	Burnley (59-60)	1970-71
12	Leeds United (91-92)	2003-04
15	Nottingham Forest (77-78)	1992-93
15	Manchester City (67-68)	1982-83
16	Tottenham (60-61)	1976-77

Take Tottenham Hotspur’s 1960-61 double winners as an example of the replacement process in action, and in some cases, how succession becomes a problem. In the case of Bill Nicholson and Tottenham, rebuilding was very difficult, which underlined the exceptional nature of the team he was trying to rebuild. Nicholson never achieved his holy grail, although he enjoyed an “Indian Summer” in the early 1970s before leaving the dugout. His constant search for a team to pass the baton onto never really succeeded.

Example 1: How Spurs’ 1960-61 double team was replaced

1960-61: Tottenham win the League and Cup double
1961-62: Jimmy Greaves is signed mid-season
1962-63: Les Allen
1963-64: Bobby Smith, Danny Blanchflower, John White*, Peter Baker
1964-65: Terry Dyson, Ron Henry
1965-66: Bill Brown, Maurice Norman
1966-67
1967-68: Dave Mackay, Cliff Jones

*Died after being struck by lightning

The Spurs team that won the double in 1961

Nicholson made a number of signings to replenish his triumphant squad. Some were seen as direct replacements for the key members of the double team, Blanchflower and Mackay. Both Alan Mullery and Terry Venables, costing £72,500 and £80,000 respectively, were considered ideal successors, the latter failing to win over the Spurs crowd, the former eventually forging his own reputation. For the rest of the 1960s, Nicholson tried to rekindle the spirit of 1961, but players like Frank Saul, Jimmy Robertson (admittedly both Wembley winners in 1967), could never replace the men who had worn the white shirt before them. By 1963-64, Spurs were in relative decline from the 1960-63 period when they won four trophies.

Example 2: Chelsea’s 2004-05 title winners and the years they were replaced/departed

2005-06: Mateja Kežman, Thiago
2006-07: Glen Johnson, Damien Duff, William Gallas, Eidur Gudjohnsen
2007-08: Arjen Robben
2008-09: Claude Makalele
2009-10: Wayne Bridge
2010-11: Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho
2011-12:
2012-13: Didier Drogba*
2013-14: Paulo Ferreira
2014-15: Frank Lampard
2014-15:
2015-16: Petr Cech
2016-17:
2017-18: John Terry

*Returned

Despite Chelsea’s reputation for being a revolving door in terms of players and management, the team that won the title in 2005 and 2006 relied on a core of stalwarts: Cech, Terry, Lampard and Drogba. Others came and went, but between these four players, Chelsea benefitted from a further 31 seasons of service after the first Premier victory.

The five-year records of selected champions (two years either side of their title)

		-2	-1	0	+1	+2	Av.
1896-97	Aston Villa	3	1	1	6	1	2.4
1925-26	Huddersfield	1	1	1	2	2	1.4
1932-33	Arsenal	1	2	1	1	1	1.2
1948-49	Portsmouth	12	8	1	1	7	5.8
1932-33	Arsenal	1	2	1	1	1	1.2
1951-52	Man.Utd	4	2	1	9	4	4
1955-56	Man.Utd	4	5	1	1	9	4
1958-59	Wolves	6	1	1	2	3	2.6
1960-61	Tottenham	18	3	1	3	2	5.4
1965-66	Liverpool	1	7	1	5	3	3.4
1966-67	Man.Utd	1	4	1	2	11	3.8
1968-69	Leeds United	4	4	1	2	2	2.8
1969-70	Everton	5	3	1	14	15	7.7
1970-71	Arsenal	4	12	1	5	2	4.8
1973-74	Leeds United	2	3	1	9	5	4
1974-75	Derby Co.	7	3	1	4	15	6
1978-79	Liverpool	1	2	1	1	5	2
1983-84	Liverpool	1	1	1	2	1	1.2
1984-85	Everton	7	7	1	2	1	3.6
1990-91	Arsenal	1	4	1	4	10	4
1993-94	Man.Utd	2	1	1	2	1	1.4
1998-99	Man.Utd	1	2	1	1	1	1.2
2003-04	Arsenal	1	2	1	2	4	2
2016-17	Chelsea	1	10	1	5	3	4
2017-18	Man.City	5	3	1	1	2	2.4

Arsenal’s Tony Adams (r) shoots for goal as Everton’s Craig Short (l) looks on – 1997-98

The above table shows the records of selected championship teams down the years. Going on the assumption that it takes two years to build a credible challenge (in old money, that time span would not be afforded to today’s managers!), and that a team stays together for two years after, we’ve given each champion a five-year period to prove its worth. There’s little doubt that the three highlighted teams represent the most successful (there may another Liverpool side in there somewhere), and given no team has won the title for four consecutive years, the most any team can have in any five year period is four championships. Arsenal in the 1930s, Liverpool in the 1980s and Manchester United in the 1990s – their records are unmatched.

@gameofthepeople

Categories: History

Tagged: champions, featured, managers, players

African football – when?

GOTP Editorial Team

Posted on August 6, 2020

THERE CAN be no denying that Africa has some outstanding and charismatic footballers at the moment: Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané at Liverpool, Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City to name but a few. The continent has never had too much difficultly in producing exciting individuals who can light-up a stadium.

It has been 10 years since South Africa hosted the World Cup and although the competition was a cultural success, demonstrating that Africa could host a major football event, African countries do not seem to have progressed on the world stage since. Indeed, in two subsequent World Cups, only two countries (Algeria and Nigeria) have reached the last 16 of the competition. In 2018, all five African finalists were eliminated at the group stage. Only one African nation, Nigeria, has appeared in all of the last three World Cups, underlining a lack of consistency, which means progress is often difficult to maintain.

2010 – legacy?

Nevertheless, a decade on, the legacy of 2010 is not just about colourful memories, the droning of the vuvuzelas and Spain’s tiki-taka team, the competition was managed so effectively that Africa yearns to stage another World Cup. “The whole continent was behind us,” said former Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba at the World Football Summit. “South Africa was ready and it showed we finally understood what was required.”

Abdel Bah of the Confederation of African Football added: “We also let the world know that we have the passion and the will. I hope we will try and stage another soon, perhaps 2030.” Morocco have already thrown their hat in the ring to host the centenary competition, but the nostalgists will be hoping the Uruguay (the first hosts)-Argentina-Paraguay-Chile bid will be successful.

Africa might produce a considerable amount of footballing talent, but it doesn’t stay long enough in domestic competitions to have a lasting effect on the game. Sadio Mané, for example, left Senegal at 19 straight from a football academy in Dakar. Didier Drogba has never played domestic football in the Ivory Coast.

Some clubs, such as Congo’s TP Mazembe, have developed a model that enables them to monetise the talent they develop themselves. They are backed by politician Moise Kitumbi, one of the richest and most influential men in Congo. They have the confidence to play hard with the European club and have a fixed price on their best players and also negotiate a percentage on resale. But many clubs in Africa have very fragile finances and are desperate for liquidity, which means Europeans can pick-up a potential star at around a third of the market price.

Promise

One of the biggest groups of beneficiaries of the continent’s ability to unearth skilful youngsters appears to be the intermediaries who take players to France, Belgium and other countries. Just take a look at the number of “agencies” that have been established to deal with African talent. Corruption is rife as some of the men claiming to be agents are merely spotting for clubs in Europe and are able to secure a young player – who may well be underage – for a bundle of empty promises. Ultimately, African youngsters have the raw talent, the ambition to succeed and, most importantly, they are inexpensive and can be sold for huge transfer fees later in their career.

The gulf between African clubs and their counterparts in Europe is vast. There are fewer than a dozen clubs that are worth more than US$ 10 million and three of them are from Egypt – Al-Ahly, Pyramids and Zamalek – and two apiece from Tunisia and South Africa. It’s no coincidence that five of the top 10 have been Champions League contenders in the past few years.

Al-Ahly, the red devils, are the wealthiest club in Africa, worth just under US$ 30 million. They play at the 74,000-capacity Cairo Stadium, an arena designed by the architect who built Berlin’s iconic Olympic Stadium. They may not be there very long, though, as a new purpose-built stadium is in progress. They are the most decorated club across the continent of Africa, winning the CAF Champions League eight times and the Egyptian title on 41 occasions. The club provided six players for the Egypt squad in the 2018 World Cup.

The key to success for any emerging football nation is not just player production, the development of home-grown coaches is also of paramount importance. There are still too few local coaches in charge of national teams in Africa – in 2019, the African Cup of Nations, which had 24 teams participating, had just 10 – that’s 42%. That’s an improvement on the past, but Africa is still a good pay day for coaches from France, Belgium, Germany and Mexico.

10 wealthiest African clubs

		Country	Net worth ($m)
1	Al-Ahly	Egypt	28
2	Kaizer Chiefs	S.Africa	23
3	Pyramids FC	Egypt	22
4	Club Africain	Tunisia	20
5	Zamalek FC	Egypt	18
6	Orlando P	S.Africa	15
7	Wydad Cas.	Morocco	12
8	TP Mazembe	Congo	11
9	L’Esperance	Tunisia	11
10	MC Algier	Algeria	10

Money matters

Not that African football is awash with cash and there’s every chance the coronavirus crisis will have a very negative economic affect on the game. Dealing with the pandemic is costly for cash-strapped African football clubs, said Pitso Moisimane of Mamelodi Sundowns. “It’s an expensive process, both the testing and hygiene measures we have to take, but we want to play.”

The final stages of the African Champions League are in doubt because the rate of infection is on what is called a dangerous path. Africa took 100 days to get to 100,000 cases, but that figure doubled in 18 days and then doubled again in another 20. In South Africa, the death rate is 6.4%, while in Cameroon, where the Champions League was going to be held, the rate is 1.4% and rising.

Any plan by FIFA to stage a credible Club World Cup will lack some substance if the participants are not drawn across the continents and each of them has a chance to properly compete, otherwise it’s a European competition with a couple of dozen makeweights involved. Therefore, it is in the interests of the game that African football can fulfil its potential and not just act as a nursery for wealthier clubs. How the continent would rejoice if one of their clubs could emerge as a worthy opponent to the Real Madrids and Manchester Uniteds of the football world. Actually, how we would all love it.

@GameofthePeople

Photo: PA

Categories: Africa

Tagged: Africa, agents, Didier Drogba, Egypt, poverty, World Football Summit

Thwarted genius – QPR’s total footballers of 1975-76

GOTP Editorial Team

Posted on August 6, 2020

IN THE aftermath of the 1974 World Cup, English football was fascinated by Dutch and German football. England’s failure to qualify for that competition and the decline of league football into a physical, defensive product that had started to drive people away, meant that a lot of soul-searching had taken place. The conclusion was that English domestic football needed a lift.

In 1975-76, there were signs that the industry was getting the message. Tommy Docherty’s Manchester United served up some of the best fare seen in years, West Ham were keeping with their tradition of attractive, but ultimately fruitless, football and Derby County, as reigning champions, were also keeping the purists happy. But the club that everyone was talking about as the season got underway was Queens Park Rangers.

London’s best

QPR was an unfashionable club, despite its proximity to the BBC, but in 1975, “the superhoops” represented the best that London had to offer. Arsenal, just four years on from their memorable double, were in decline; Tottenham, now without legendary manager Bill Nicholson, had struggled to replace an ageing team; and Chelsea were languishing in Division Two, hampered by player unrest and massive debts. QPR had former Chelsea manager Dave Sexton in charge and the quiet, cerebral man who won silverware over the other side of West London had two of his team – David Webb and John Hollins – at Loftus Road.

Sexton was one of the few English managers who made the effort to attend the World Cup in Germany and he was excited by what he saw. Always keen to experiment with continental methods, Sexton had never forgotten the Hungarian team of 1953 and when he saw the likes of Ajax and Bayern Munich, not to mention the Dutch and German teams that lit up the 1974 World Cup, he was keen to bring the concept of “total football” to England. At QPR he had a team that was equipped to serve up the most progressive football west of Hilversum.

(L-R) Queens Park Rangers’ Stan Bowles gets away from Leeds United’s Trevor Cherry, Norman Hunter and Frank Gray

The men from the bush

QPR’s squad was relatively small, certainly by the standards of the 21st century. The team picked itself. In goal was Phil Parkes, a huge man with equally large hair. So notable was Parkes’ hair that he was used to advertise Cossack, a gentlemen’s hairspray. That aside, he was a fine keeper and played briefly for England. The full backs, Dave Clement and Ian Gillard, also played for England. They were fast overlapping defenders with a bit of steel in their make-up. Hollins, Frank McClintock and David Webb brought immense experience to the team, but Sexton gave them all an Indian Summer in 1975-76. There was also youthful vigour in the form of David Thomas, a fast winger, and the new England captain Gerry Francis, who was never as impressive as he was in this memorable season.

The guile and craft, not to mention headlines, were provided by Stan Bowles, a sublimely gifted, but flawed individual. He also had a stab at playing for England, but he was never going to win many caps in the era of Don Revie. Goals also came from Don Givens, a much underrated striker who played for the Republic of Ireland. Don Masson, a Scottish international, was a cultured midfielder who came to prominence late in his career. The rest of Rangers’ squad comprised dependable pros like Mick Leach and Don Shanks. The starting eleven was arguably the best team in the First Division in 1975-76.

The season

QPR kicked off with a 2-0 win against Liverpool at Loftus Road. They followed that up with a 5-1 success at Derby, a result that stunned the media as much as it did the Baseball Ground. A typical headed goal by Webb enabled QPR to beat early-season pacesetters Manchester United 1-0 and it was not until October 4 that Sexton’s men lost their first game, at Leeds. It was tight at the top right up until the end of 1975 and a few frustrating results pushed Rangers down to fifth place at the turn of the year.

From the end of January, QPR went on a superb run that included 11 wins and a draw in 12 games. On March 6, Rangers went top after beating Coventry 4-1 and after overcoming Manchester City 1-0, they were one point ahead of United and Derby and two in front of Liverpool. The media had now accepted that QPR could win the league. Some journalists – those that eulogized about European football on a regular basis – went as far as suggesting that QPR should form the nucleus of the England team and that Sexton was the man to lead the country’s troubled national side.

Rangers barely put a foot wrong, producing some wonderful flowing football. But when they went to Carrow Road, home of Norwich, they were beaten 3-2, despite outplaying the East Anglians. It was a costly defeat that sent a signal of hope to the other clear challenger for the title – Liverpool. Rangers ended the campaign with a 2-0 win against Leeds United at Loftus Road. It put them top of the table with 59 points, but Liverpool – one point behind – had one game to play, against struggling Wolves. This finale was vital for both teams – defeat would send Wolves down, victory would enable Liverpool to deny QPR their first championship. It ended 3-1 to Liverpool. Rangers were destined to finish runners-up.

Queens Park Rangers’ Gerry Francis gets away from Liverpool’s Phil Thompson

The best team to never win the league?

QPR certainly rank alongside the best sides to finish as bridesmaids. There wasn’t much wrong with the team, but it was never going to stay together for long. Why? Players like Hollins, McClintock, Masson and Webb were not in their prime and Francis was injury prone. Bowles was a mercurial talent, never likely to stay anywhere very long. And Rangers were not a rich club – they were always in danger of losing talent to bigger outfits. Sexton was also coveted, moving to Manchester United a year later. Basically, if he had been able to hold together his former club’s talent, QPR 1975-76 were what Chelsea 1970-72 might have become. QPR were great to watch and they deserved the title. It’s almost as tragic as Holland’s failure to win Munich ’74.

Photos: PA

Categories: Teams

Tagged: 1975-76, Dave Sexton, featured, QPR