Nothing on the telly...I think I fancy buying a football player

By Nuwan Peiris

There are two things that money can't buy: Happiness and a team. Remember that!

May 24th might be the saddest and yet one of the more exciting days of the year for a footy fan...shame on you if you don't know why!
Well this year at least, it was the end of the Premier League season. Sad sad day, especially for fans of those three teams that won't be playing Premier League football next season...

But there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel, yes even in England where it is most likely dreary and cold outside...because the end of the season signals the beginning of a summer of transfers, and more annoyingly transfer speculation!

As far as speculation goes, there are the easy ones to weed out...you know, Robinho from Real Madrid to Manchester City and...wait, sorry!

But really transfer speculation is crazier than ever. Yes, it's that grand old story of the age we live in, the speed that information (and misinformation) flies around the globe. A glance at the transfer section on any footy forum will show you this. Over-zealous fans drooling over the prospect that they heard the biggest name in football and their club mentioned in the same sentence on the sports news, or heard someone mention it in the adjacent bathroom stall...you get the idea!

Now there's lots to be said in articles about summer transfer...an easy place to start is speculating about the big names that could be shipped about in the next few months. Perhaps am examination of a worryingly increasing trend where insanely rich owners are taking control of football clubs, and issue "wanted" lists to managers like a shopping list. Except this case is more like receiving a shopping list from someone who has no idea what to cook...or what to buy in this case. Am I still making sense?

Ok, it's taken me far too long to get to the point of this article. Certainly a point that's in everyone's mind given the events of the last couple days (I'm getting to it!), if not for the last couple years.

35.5, 37, 45.6, 56, 80...those have been the World record transfers that have been set, and subsequently broken, this century...sorry, that's in British Pounds by the way...millions of British Pounds.
Quick facts about the transfer record in the last century...starting with Alf Common's £1000 move from Sunderland to Middlesborough.

• That record lasted 17 years...since then, only once has the record lasted for longer Bernabe Ferreyra (20 years)
• The record has been broken as many times in the last 25 years, as it was in the 75 before that...

At this point I realise I could go on with unnecessary (though pertinent) statistics for a while...but I'll stop, because I think anyone who has read this far probably knows enough about the current state of football.

It's a game that is increasingly, like everything else in this World, being driven by money. Bigger stadiums are comprised by more expensive seats, and more expensive players are the reason that these seats are being filled.
Imagine your team just spent £80M on a player, wouldn't you want to see him?!

The sad story is the transfer record means so little (I'm tempted to say nothing) anymore. It was broken twice in the matter of a week, by the same club. I personally don't think Kaka is worth £56M, nor is Ronaldo worth £80M!
But it's just the latest in an increasingly worrying trend of excessive spending. We're definitley going to be seeing it at more clubs, as the newest accesory of the multi-millionaire becomes not a Ferrari, not a yacht or a private plane, but a football team!

Writing blank cheques for managers to go star-player-hunting is going to become a permanent stain on the game, and while fans of teams like City and Portsmouth may be licking their chops thinking it will help them win the league, it won't! Sorry, just not happening...

Ok, so call me a hypocrite. I support Man United, who everyone seems to think are one of the biggest spending teams ever. Can't totally deny that, but I'm talking about wise spending, and homegrown talent. Maybe the latter is unlikely these days, but look at Barcelona. Probably two of their best players are products of their youth system. Players who I'm sure played a pivotal role in their treble this year, certainly in the Champions League Final.

Then again, we are talking about Barcelona. They had enough players to keep the trophy cabinet from collecting dust, while Xavi and Iniesta developed their skills.

As Gerry Sutcliffe said, sustainability is at greatest risk with these financial giants ruling football. What's the next Ronaldo going to fetch? £100 plus?
And yes, it is a very serious problem! While money can't buy you trophies (at least in football), not having it will make trophy winning a lot lot harder!