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Platini’s anti-English sentiment continues unabated.

Published by Ian John on November 5, 2009

Considering he holds the post of UEFA president, one of the most powerful positions in football, you would think that French football legend Michel Platini would try to be careful about what he says. This is usually the case when Platini is talking about many other European countries, but I must not be alone in thinking that the president of UEFA seems to have something against English football or English clubs. This week it was the debt incurred by some English clubs that was his main talking point;

“The philosophy to participate in our competitions is you must not spend more money than you receive.

“If (Manchester) United have 300 million euros and they spend 400 million euros – no!

“If Liverpool pay 60 million euros (in interest) every year to the banks, it’s a lot of money.

“Every owner has asked me for a better philosophy, for better transparency. In Germany, debts are not accepted. In England they are.”

Platini also then lauded the Barcelona ownership system where the fans have shares in the club and technically own it. Citing this as wonderful. Strange that he didn’t have too much to say about Real Madrid and their incredible debt run up over just one summer to fund their Galactico recruitment. Inter Milan were named by Platini as a club in debt, an issue which made Inter president Massimo Moratti issue a statement contradicting the assertions of the UEFA president.

In 2008, on the eve of the European Championships, Platini stated about English clubs who go into debt to fund player purchases, wages etc;
“The goal is not to win titles but [to make] money to pay off debts. Look at the debts of Chelsea and Manchester United. Fifa and Uefa owe it to themselves to fight this. Because today it’s those who cheat who win.”

But Platini has remained stoically silent on the troubles of Valencia, who are around £450m in debt and at one point owed £13m to their own players. Nor or the half a billion pounds the Spanish clubs owe in tax alone, or their combined debt of around £2.5bn. Real Madrid’s debt, before the summer transfer splurge was around £488m. However their signing of Cristiano Ronaldo was lauded by Platini who said if clubs could afford it, they should be allowed to. Yet Manchester City’s £100m bid for Kaka the same year was deemed to be unethical and evidence of how clubs debt will kill them eventually, even though Manchester City have a far stronger financial basis and wealthier owner.

There’s threats of banning English clubs in debt (Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) from European competition. No word on Valencia, Barcelona or Real Madrid. The fact Platini felt that English clubs monopolising the Champions League was a bad thing, yet had no problems when it was two Italian or Spanish teams contesting the final.

But perhaps the biggest joke in Platini’s argument is that this is the fault of the English clubs. It isn’t. The fact is that the English game is attractive to wealthy investors. That is why you have a Russian in charge at Chelsea, Americans in charge at United and Liverpool, an Arabian billionnaire at Man City and another American seemingly set to launch a takeover bid at Arsenal in the next few days. It is they who have sanctioned the spending, not the English clubs. It is they who are underwriting the debts, and yet Platini continues to blame the English. One wonders if a similar takeover were to happen at Valencia as at Manchester City, would the Frenchman be so quick to criticise?

The thing is with Platini, is that that he has some good ideas about the future of the game. I agree in principle that clubs should not go into debt to fund player purchases, I think there should be some form of salary cap, that young, homegrown players should be brought through the squad and given a chance at clubs, that clubs should not just be able to buy any youngster they like and be damned with the consequences. I am all for a fairer sporting arena in Europe for teams to participate in. However, I am not for justifying this by continually slamming the one league in Europe that actually is attractive to foreign viewers, because while the points he make may be valid, they can also be easily applied to many other teams in Europe, but Platini does not do so. His continual sniping at the English game is as predictable as it is tiresome.

Platini’s arguments however are somewhat waylaid by the obvious fact he has a chip on his shoulder about the English game. A chip that really is not befitting of the president of UEFA.

Image Courtesy of ***Anders V*** at Flickr.com

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