All posts by h79snht.top

The Premier league has up to 40 international stars who originate from Africa, making them one of the smallest minorities in the top English tier.

The question has to be asked, would Premier League clubs benefit from starting football academies out in Africa? The answer is most certainly yes. It would be naive to cut off hot prospects of African football, a continent which have portrayed their love for the game for so many years.

Players in the past have shown they have what it takes to showcase their talents on the biggest football platform in the world. The likes of Tony Yeboah, Nwankwo Kanu, Jay Jay Okocha, and more recently Didier Drogba have graced the Premier League to great effect.

It is essential that the Premier League continually acknowledge the wide spread football potential in Africa, not only does it compliment the works of the western world in the long run, but it implements a new platform and new opportunities for the youth in deprived areas.

The world is still yet to witness a ‘World FIFA’ player of the year since the legendary George Weah. That’s not due to the lack of talent in Africa (because there is talent) but it’s simply because there is not enough exposure of the African market within the Premier League.

Nonetheless, the likes of Liverpool’s Craig Bellamy and Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand have set up foundations in Africa which have created a platform for young footballers to follow their dreams on that long road to success. It will only be a matter of time before player power will prevail and mount a positive influence on their respective clubs.

There is no harm in investing in African talent in my opinion; the only flaw will probably be wage demands as we saw with John Obi Mikel for Chelsea, but you have to expect that from any player in this day and age.

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However, one must look at the benefits in the long run, constant nurturing, plying his trade gradually to become the complete player without spending lucratively.

The only way is forward for both parties to be honest, if the Premier League open up a new doors to fresh talent then the young players within the continent have a chance to show what they are made of.

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Where are the majority of us Premier League followers looking during the final few weeks of the season? The battle for the title? Or, the scrap to stay in the division?

Come the end of the campaign there are ordinarily two or three sets of fans focused on the title race and further four looking purely at the chance of European football. So what’s left for the other 13 tribes? The relegation dogfight of course.

We see season after season the same teams involved in the fight to stay in, arguably, Europe’s finest league, but the scrap never ever gets dull. Last season the axe swing precariously over Wolverhampton and Birmingham on the final day, until the wind of a combined Stephen Hunt wonder goal and a Roman Pavlyuchenko brace, edged the razor-sharp blade toward the blue sector of the midlands. Charles N’Zogbia once again dragged the Premier League’s barnacle team Wigan Athletic kicking and screaming to safety, while Blackpool suffered the gut wrenching drop, with defeat away to confirmed Champions Manchester United.

It’s not uncommon to go into the final day of the season with five teams all staring at the abyss, relying on a mixture of passion, faith and of course luck to drag themselves clear of the trap door. Not very often can we say that five teams have the chance to win the league on the final day, Actually, we can barely say even two teams even have that chance.

True, if we had the 20 best teams in the world in a league, three would have to be relegated, but would the passion and the humour be as evident at mega stadiums instead of arenas such as the DW or Molineux? I’m going to say no.

Some sides may not be glamorous, or even that good, but we are a ‘David Vs. Goliath’ nation, who love to see the underdog triumph against all the odds. The Premier League regularly offers this on a cold Wednesday night, under the floodlights, as the rain pours into the stands. We may moan at the time, but secretly we wouldn’t have it any other way.

When you ask followers of teams throughout the league of their favourite away stadiums, you’ll get the obvious answers such as Old Trafford or Anfield with their vast size and history, but often thrown in with this there will be a Craven Cottage or perhaps a Carrow Road. The ambiance created at the smaller ground is something to cherish, especially when compared to the ‘only sing when you’re winning’ atmosphere of stadia such as the Emirates.

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The truth remains that the relegation fight and the teams involved are a key part of the cocktail we call the Premier League, and offer just as much week on week as the title contenders.

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This week sees something every Fantasy player yearns for – a double gameweek. Liverpool and Everton play Sunderland and Spurs respectively before facing off against each other next Tuesday evening. Bearing this in mind, should your captain be from one of the Merseyside clubs or is it best to stick with someone who’s been bringing in regular points?

The Captaincy Debate

Let’s start with a consistent point scorer – Robin van Persie. The Arsenal striker is the Premier League’s top scorer with 25 goals. He netted in midweek against AC Milan before missing a golden opportunity to tie the game. The latter is a very strange occurrence these days as he continues to carve out a reputation as one of the best forwards in the world. Newcastle come to the Emirates on Monday night. The Toon have conceded 10 goals in their last two visits to London which bodes well for van Persie to extend his recent scoring record.

However, Ashley Young has hit form for Manchester United since returning from injury. In his last two games against Norwich and Spurs, he has helped to produce match-winning moments. He crossed in for Ryan Giggs’ late strike at Carrow Road whilst last weekend, he netted two and provided the assist for Wayne Rooney in United’s 3-1 victory at White Hart Lane. Even though United have an array of talent in the final third, Young will be a key player in the final third against West Brom on Sunday.

Then again, with the lure of a double gameweek, Royston Drenthe is a very tempting option. The ex-Real Madrid midfielder has been deployed irregularly by David Moyes. When he has been on the pitch for the Toffees, Drenthe has excited Everton fans. He scored a superb long range strike against QPR last week, his second wonder goal in West London this season having netted at Craven Cottage in October. The Dutchman will be hoping to reproduce this form in Everton’s next two, as David Moyes side come up against tough opposition in Spurs and Liverpool.

Yet Drenthe hasn’t started too many games this season so perhaps it’s worth looking to Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan perhaps hasn’t been as prolific as many expected this season with only six league goals. If Liverpool are to make a push for the Champions League spot, Suarez needs to be netting more often than he is currently. Suarez remains a very dangerous proposition though and his opponents will be wary of this.

The Captain: Luis Suarez – Back the Uruguayan in this double gameweek – it’s a gamble which might just pay off

Vice Captain: Robin van Persie – If in doubt, keep RVP in mind for the sole reason that he can’t stop scoring.

Long Term Look

When Bobby Zamora left Fulham on Transfer Deadline day, Pavel Pogrebnyak’s arrival at Craven Cottage was seen by some as a puzzling replacement. He’d only scored one goal, that being a penalty, in 14 Bundesliga appearances. It’s been a different story for Pogrebnyak in England though.

The Russian international has five goals in his first three appearances including a hat-trick against Wolves last weekend. What’s more, Fulham’s new striker has only had five shots on target. The man now known at Craven Cottage as “the Pog” is priced currently at £6.3 million on the Fantasy Premier League which makes Pogrebnyak a must have as the season enters its final eleven games.

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For more on the Premier League, follow @arhindtutt on Twitter

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A strong end to a difficult season must give Lion’s fans reason for an optimistic summer. There seems to be a magical word in the Championship and it begins with ‘M’. When teams have it they are feared, without it they can stumble. Southampton had it and then Reading found it. Momentum!

As the season came to a close it appeared we had finally found it, the form team in April, all of sudden we were sweeping aside all opposition with a new found swagger and exuberance.

A surprisingly smooth finish to a turbulent campaign, seven games unbeaten, culminating in The Lions finishing above our South London rivals Crystal Palace seems to have masked a season spent flirting with relegation. Our Achilles heel was no doubt what had, over the last few seasons, been such a key ingredient to our success.

The Den was no longer a fortress. Especially at the turn of the year, it seemed as if teams were arriving with a smile on their faces, relaxed and licking their lips at the prospect of playing in front of the Lions’ faithful. The opposite could be said of the hosts.

When a team isn’t winning at home, momentum is suddenly a foreign word. Strong home form is vital for any successful side in this division; it releases pressure and provides a platform for confident away performances.

Occasional convincing away wins, at Oakwell and Turf Moor, kept the murmurings of discontent from becoming anything more. But with any poor form questions around the suitability of the manager seem inevitable.

Kenny Jackett is the longest serving manager in the division. He has provided stability following a difficult period, where we saw a frequent change in management and personnel coinciding with the club falling into League One and struggling; League Two suddenly became a scary possibility.

But this year saw his biggest challenge since his first season, turning around the fortunes of a losing side, this time a side which he was responsible for. January signings of Shane Lowry and Andy Keogh have not only turned out to be very astute acquisitions, but also shown that Jackett has the backing of Chairman John G Berylson. A partnership which will certainly be crucial to any progress the club makes over the coming seasons.

Jackett has come through a turbulent spell with his reputation in enhanced. Whether promotion-chasing or survival-seeking, Jackett has shown he is the best man for the job.

Off the back of our tremendous end of season run-in, we have cause for optimism as we look forward to next year. Keogh will be crucial and if Jackett can get young Harry Kane again for another year, then the partnership that has already yielded 13 championship goals in such a short period, will undoubtedly shine again.

We have also spent the season without our previous player of the year, Tamika Mkandawire, who in our first season back in the Championship was perhaps the main reason for us holding the third best defensive record in the league behind promoted QPR and Swansea.

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With these positives at either end of the pitch and a Chairman willing to back his Manager financially, we must be itching for August to come around already. We can learn from the experiences of this season, take the momentum we seem to have generated, thus making The Den a fortress again and becoming a feared side in this division.

It can be a funny old division, with pre season favourites such as Nottingham Forest, Leicester and Middlesbrough all underachieving. Southampton got off to a strong start and held on as the season drew to a close, Reading came from nowhere at the turn of the year and powered to promotion.

Perhaps if April hadn’t have shown as many positives we wouldn’t have reason to be so optimistic but continue our form into the start of next season and you just never know. In the Npower Championship, momentum can take you a long way.

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As we sit here on the day of the Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, I decided to take a look back down memory lane at the great European Cup finals of all time. There have been some classic finals in the past decades and we can hope tonight’s showpiece in Munich proves to be another one of those occasions.

Manchester United 4 Benfica 1 (1968)

The Red Devils became the first English side to win the European cup, and what made it sweeter was the fact it was won at Wembley (perhaps a good omen for SAF tomorrow). The game is remembered for European footballer of the year and football writer’s Footballer of the Year, George Best’s ‘wonder’ goal, but it could have been so different for United if goalkeeper Alex Stepney hadn’t saved from Eusebio, when the score was 1-1, when the Benfica forward broke through in the final moments. United sealed an emphatic win in extra time, with ‘that’ goal from Best, another from 19 year old Brian Kidd and another from Bobby Charlton.

Celtic 2 Inter Milan 1 (1967)

Celtic broke Britain’s European duck, in a remarkable game of attack versus defence, with the Scottish club managing 42 attempts on goal, with the Italians only achieving a measly five. Inter Milan took the lead on seven minutes via a Sandro Mazzola penalty, but that is as good as it got for the Italians, with Celtic unleashing wave after wave after attack, which eventually paid dividends with Tommy Gemmell and a deflected Bobby Murdoch shot, sealing the win.

Manchester United 2 Bayern Munich 1 (2000)

Everyone related with the German giants started to celebrate when the clock ticked over the 90 minute mark but 36 seconds later, the party was abruptly halted thanks to a Teddy Sheringham equaliser. Everybody began readying themselves for extra time but somebody forgot to tell Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who scored a dramatic winner on 92 minutes and 17 seconds to clinch the Treble for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3 (Liverpool win 3-2 on pens) (2005)

AC Milan fans are still recovering from this historic night in Istanbul, where Liverpool achieved, what was deemed impossible at half time. 3-0 down against a stereotypical Italian defence, the game basically over, but in a mad seven minute spell Liverpool showed us all why we love the beautiful game with Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso completing a sensational come back, to take the game to extra time and eventually penalties, which of course the Merseyside outfit won.

Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (1960)

This cup final is viewed by many as the greatest European final ever, and it is hard to argue against with ten goals, two hat tricks (Ferenc Puskas 4 and Alfredo di Stefano 3) and world record number of fans at Hampden Park (127,261). This victory was Real Madrid’s fifth consecutive European Cup final victory in a row.

Benfica 5 Real Madrid 3 (1962)

Real Madrid were looking to reclaim their European dominance after Benfica had taken the trophy the year before, and with two early goals from Puskas it looked like Madrid would do just that. However within ten minutes Benfica were level again, only for Puskas to complete his hat trick before half time. Benfica managed to draw level in the second half and eventually went on to retain their crown with two goals in four minutes from Eusebio.

Nottingham Forest 1 Malmo 0 (1979)

Just two seasons earlier Forest were playing in the old second division, something of a fairytale football story. If that wasn’t enough of a story for you, UEFA rules meant that Trevor Francis Britain’s first £1 million signing couldn’t play in European matches for three months, which meant the Cup final was the former Birmingham City man’s Euro debut, a huge gamble by Old Big ‘Ead but one that paid off with Francis netting the winner.

Milan 4 Ajax 1 (1969)

This Milan performance destroyed the cliché of Italian football being negative and defensive, with Pierino Prati scoring the last hat trick in a European final to date. This Ajax side would eventually go on to be European Champions three years in a row in the early 1970s.

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Real Madrid 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1 (2002)

A very close encounter with Raul opening the scoring after eight minutes for Madrid but Leverkusen’s Lucio levelled the score only five minutes later. It is what happened in the 45th minute that gets this game onto such lists, arguably one of the greatest UEFA Champions League goals was scored by Zinedine Zidane who volleyed a high arcing cross from Roberto Carlos into the top corner from the edge of the area, a goal worthy to win any match, especially a cup final.

Borussia Dortmund 3 Juventus 1 (1997)

Everyone loves an underdog and the German’s duly obliged in giving us a victorious one. The German’s went 2-0 up before Del Piero (who else) pulled a goal back but Dortmund sealed the win with a Lars Ricksen goal, 16 seconds after he came on as a substitute, which was and still is the faster goal by a substitute in the Champions League ever.

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A patch of grass. Painted white lines. Two sets of goalposts. And that’s about it; the only common constituents shared by our two most imperial of sports, football and rugby. Despite emerging from the same cultural and ideological backgrounds, the two have rarely found mutual ground as they abide by diverging societal paths. Football; opium of the people, the embodiment of the working classes. Rugby; penchant of public schoolboys, attached to society’s middling masses.

As football becomes increasingly opulent and demographics of followers of both sports constantly shifting, the two can no longer be so acutely separated along such strict philosophical lines. Likewise, it is progressively evident that the realms of football and rugby are entwining further as groundshares between clubs on both sides becoming a more salient feature in British sport. Can they really get along?

With London Welsh’s victory over the Cornish Pirates on Wednesday night at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium raising the prospect of promotion the AVIVA Premiership, further debate has been ignited by the potential presence of Welsh on a permanent basis at the League Two club. Though embroiled in murky dispute with the RFU over the issue, there remains a fair chance of rugby being played regularly at the Kassam next season.

Reaction to the decision is a potent mix of cautious apprehension and outright revulsion. As mere tenants of the ground, Oxford United hold little sway over the decision as all negotiations go through the stadium company. Besides the obvious anxiety with regards to the state of the pitch, fears linger that the club will be conceding a segment of its identity. Likewise, London Welsh Managing Directon John Taylor claimed that “it could be a match made in heaven with both seeing financial benefits”, yet with the club receiving only a fraction of the profit generated through the stadium’s activities and paying substantial rent, this seems less a realistic prospect and more an attempt to mollycoddle fans into placating hostilities.

If made prime tenants, London Welsh will have priority over fixture scheduling and stadium branding; on Wednesday night, all traces of Oxford United were abolished and pasted over with Welsh signage. Understandably, many Oxford fans are unwilling to relinquish the stamps which define the club’s presence at the ground, as abounding efforts have been made in recent years to brew a greater sense of belonging where previously detachment was the prevailing sentiment. Supporters group OxVox have established a ‘heritage project’ in recent years in an attempt to promote a more visible poise at the ground; there is a real prospect that all this may be vanquished. The arrival of rugby will only exacerbate the disconnection between club and home.

With an attendance of around 3,000 for what is the biggest game in domestic rugby outside the top flight on Wednesday, many are rightfully skeptical as to the feasibility of London Welsh playing at the Kassam Stadium. With a traditionally small fan base, the club would be reliant upon a combination of larger swathes of visiting supporters and an unlikely growth in local enthusiasm to vindicate such a move. History suggests that may be hard to come by; Oxford previously held the final of Rugby’s Europa League equivalent in 2002 and 2005, the latter attracting a crowd of just over 7,000 for European Rugby’s second most prestigious event. With Oxford averaging more than this in the fourth level of English football, the implication is that the city has firmly marked its preference for football.

There are of course a number of examples whereby football and rugby clubs have coincided in relative harmony for a number of years. Wycombe Wanderers, Reading and Watford each share with London Wasps, London Irish and Saracens respectively, with manageable levels of friction. The difference being here, however, that each is a secondary tenant to the football club: Wasps were forced to move a Heineken Cup tie to Coventry’s Ricoh Arena in 2007 as Wycombe had an FA Cup tie at home the same day. If a similar scenario were to arise in the case of London Welsh and Oxford, it is most probable that the football club would have to move their fixture in order to accommodate the rugby tie. Whilst fixture lists are easily workable around both sports, postponements and cup ties cannot be accounted for, throwing up contentious logistical quandaries for both parties.

Whilst the practical hurdles are manageable, it is the ethical dilemmas which pose most menace in groundshares. Football and rugby fan cultures exist in entirely different spectrums and as such attrition between followers of both codes is inevitable. Supporters of Wigan Athletic and Rugby League side Wigan Warriors have been embroiled in constant bickering for many years. There is only a limited crossover of consensus between the two sports, despite progress being made in recent years to alter stereotypical perceptions. The crux of the matter is that ultimately the cultural leanings of football and rugby are incompatible.

Whether London Welsh are able to win their appeal with the RFU and assume tenancy at the Kassam Stadium or not, the issue has undoubtably reignited tensions between the two sports and further emphasised the inherent disparities which are present.

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Though most poignantly, most ardently and most importantly, there lies one fatal flaw at the heart of London Welsh’s bid. With a car park occupying the vacant end of the three-sided Kassam Stadium, London Welsh will have a crippling amount of insurance claims for smashed windscreens to deal with.

Do you think football/rugby groundshares are workable or should the two remain separate? Tweet me @acherrie1

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 It took all of 17 minutes at this years European championships for Polish striker Robert Lewandowski to make his mark. The 23 year old met a cross from Dortmund teammate Jakub Blaszczykowski, bouncing a header into the ground and past the despairing Greece goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias. Warsaw and the rest of Poland burst into jubilation, and Lewandowski had further announced himself onto the European footballing stage.

Followers of the Bundesliga will be all too familiar with Lewandowski and his goals, as he scored 22 of them in Borussia Dortmund colours this year, guiding them to their second successive German title. His hatrick in the German Cup final contributed significantly to the demolishing of Bayern Munich 5-2, as The Borussians won their first ever domestic double.

There is no question that Poland’s number 9 is a goal getter. His goals in Germany this season may have put him on the radar, but he has been a consistent scorer throughout his short career. Prior to his move to Westfalenstadion, Lewandowski scored 41 goals in 82 appearances for Lech Poznan, a commendable rate which he further improved in the Bundesliga this year.

In recent weeks, a move to Old Trafford for Lewandowski has been circulating transfer gossip columns, although the Pole remains tight lipped on any speculation. Polish manager Franciszek Smuda however, has announced that the striker will almost certainly be on his way to Manchester United after Euro 2012, where he will join former teammate Shinji Kagawa.

So where would the Pole fit in should he move to Old Trafford? Last season saw Wayne Rooney playing predominantly as a supporting striker, with Danny Welbeck the first choice as an advanced forward. The proposed arrival of Lewandowski could potentially stunt Welbeck’s development should he find himself behind the Pole in the pecking order.

The most recent target man Sir Alex Ferguson signed was Dimitar Berbatov. Having initially excelled at Spurs, the Bulgarian is now a more prominent figure on the Old Trafford bench than on the pitch if last season is anything to go by. Manchester United failed to accommodate their last target man, and this is something that Lewandowski should be wary of prior to a move away from Dortmund.

At 23, a big move now could potentially excel Lewandowski to one of the best strikers in Europe in a short space of time. Manchester United are desperate to challenge the dominance of their rivals Man City following a season which reached its climax in a gut wrenching final day for United. The Polish forward is just the kind of signing that would be the perfect addition to Sir Alex Ferguson’s team. The creativeness of United that has been further added to with the signing of Shinji Kagawa could make Lewandowski an even more prolific striker at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Whilst the speculation may suggest Lewandowski is on his way to join the Premier League runners up, there is no guarantee the move will pay off. Although should the move prove to be a success, the Polish striker could excel in spectacular fashion.

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However, Borussia Dortmund are hardly one of Europe’s smaller clubs, as the last two seasons have demonstrated thanks to the contribution of their prolific number 9.

Franciszek Smuda may believe Robert Lewandowski is due a move to a big club in the form of Manchester United, but it would be criminal to dismiss Borussia Dortmund and the foundations they already have in place to become one of Europe’s giants once again, something Lewandowski would no doubt play a key part in.

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Zaha is better than Beckham, and is going for gold at the Olympic Games.

It’s official, Zaha is better than Beckham! Well, this is what I was going to write if Stuart Pearce had included him in the Olympics squad.(at the time of writing both Zaha and Beckham are rumoured to be on the ‘backup list’.)

Golden Balls announced his own failure to make the Olympic team last week, usurping the official announcement on 1st July. I am a massive David Beckham fan, but was it really necessary to make it all about him, and gazump the announcement of the men’s team this week, and the ladies last week?

The cynic in me comes to two conclusions:

1. Either Beckham’s PR manager was working overtime, ringing around everyone from Jack Rodwell to Robbie Savage asking for support;

2. or Seb Coe is a genius in whipping up interest in an Olympic competition which the majority of Great Britain doesn’t give a monkey’s about (with the exception of Beckham, Bale, Pearce and a selection of officials from ticket sellers to sponsors).

It does beggar the question, what is the point of Olympics Football?

The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” , or “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” for those of you that didn’t go to grammar school. I’m confident that there are several GB players that can surpass Becks in all three of those categories! Having tweeted last week, questioning the outcry over Beckham’s exclusion, and pedantically asking if they’ll be tears if Seb Coe is left out of the 1500m, it was pointed out to me that Coe hasn’t run for a long time. But Beckham hasn’t played elite football for a long time either!

For me the Olympics should be the pinnacle of the sport that is involved, and for the vast majority of sports, London 2012 will be the biggest stage since Beijing in 2008. Football however has the World Cup, and it really doesn’t need the Olympics does it?

In fact the Men’s Olympic Football isn’t even an elite tournament with the under-23 restriction and 3 ‘over-aged’/over the hill players, basically ensuring there are no players in their prime competing.

I know that other countries such as Nigeria and Argentina have used the Olympics as a springboard for future success at elite level, but with our weird English/Welsh hybrid team, will this really work for Team GB?

With Wilfred Zaha included in Stuart Pearce’s shortlisted squad of 35, and potentially on stand-by for the final 18, it’s another feather in the cap for Palace’s famous academy, even if he didn’t make the cut. It’s a shame that Nigeria haven’t qualified as Victor Moses could have featured. There was a slim chance that Nathaniel Clyne could have been included, and Antonio Pedroza could have been involved through his Mexican heritage too.

Zaha’s inclusion would have certainly meant more interest in the tournament for Palace fans, myself included. Like Beckham, Zaha doesn’t have the benefit of playing at the highest level at the moment, but if the Olympics is going to be treated as aid to developing young talent, then it would have been a great opportunity for the player. He broke into the England under-21 squad towards the back end of the season, and this was another opportunity to add to his experience.

With Senegal and Uruguay in the GB’s group, he would have been able to pit himself against some talented and developing teams, who might also be able to match him for flair. Not sure what sort of opposition UAE will present, but they are historically much weak at senior level.

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It’s a shame Pearce did not pick him. Perhaps the Olympics came a year too early for Wilf. At least Palace can claim to have aided the development of one of those selected. Scott Sinclair made 6 appearance on loan from Chelsea in 2008, scoring 2 goals. In fairness, he’s not a dissimilar player to Wilf, but ahead in the development curve and age.

So Beckham is consigned to history, having made a significant impact on England’s football heritage. If Wilfred Zaha can have half the impact that Becks has done on the global stage, he’ll have done alright. But for now, Wilf will have to make do with destroying the Championship and Manchester United full backs instead.

Oh, and Psycho, if you’re reading this, “He’s just too good for you…”

For anyone that’s interested, check which countries will be playing the Euro2012-format here: http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/london-2012-olympic-football-tournament-draw-made.html

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We have probably all signed our fair share of contracts in our time. Whether that be for a new house, a new mobile phone or when starting a new job, contracts are a formal way of committing to something. They are proof that you have come to a mutual agreement with another party, stating that you will abide by all of the said terms and will not breach any agreements reached in your contract.

In football, we see some of the most coveted contracts signed by some of the most high profile individuals for enormous sums. The contracts signed are normally much talked about and very much kept in the eye of the public. We all know how much half of the Man City team earn a week for example, and how little lower league players earn in comparison.

Unless you live under a rock, or have been on media lockdown of late, you will know that we have recently seen Arsenal Captain Robin Van Persie announce on his personal website his desire to leave the club regardless of the contract he is currently under. With a year left on his current deal, he still spoke out against the terms he was subject to, effectively cutting all affiliation with his current employees, and putting himself in the shop window for any other club to secure his services.

Should this turn into a growing trend, there is a serious concern for the way our beautiful game could be heading. The security that a contract offers a club of keeping hold of its best players from big money moves could count for nothing, as individuals speak out anyway and make their position at clubs virtually untenable.

However, the problem is just as much that of the clubs as it the players. The fact of the matter is, a team of Arsenal’s organisational stature shouldn’t be letting a star player such as Robin Van Persie get down to the last year of his contract in the first place. In this specific example, the Gunners could learn a thing or two from their North London rivals Tottenham, who sensibly tied down the services of star players Gareth Bale and Kyle Walker on long term contracts this summer, and have since remained committed to the club.

Robin Van Persie is not the first example of this we have seen, nor will he be the last. Gareth Barry, Pierre Van Hooijdonk and even Wayne Rooney have all put their clubs in these positions, a predicament of whether or not to sell the player in question. Thus proving the consistent inability of clubs to wisen up to the motives of the modern day footballer. Now more concerned with monetary wealth than domestic triumphs, clubs need to adapt to what the modern day footballer has become and not assume that they possess such loyalties that they may have done in a former era.

Whilst the reaction to Robin Van Persie’s statement may provoke anger amongst the Arsenal faithful due to the way he went about his business, technically he has done nothing wrong given the freedom of his contract. His club however, should have possessed the authority to sell him for maximum profit sooner or renew his contract long before the situation arose.

As financial prowess is just as important as sporting ability in football nowadays, those clubs faced with losing players to their more money laden rivals need to adapt their own models suitably to keep their prospects alive. The security of a contract needs to be the first port of call, and keeping individuals subject to the demand of the club can only be achieved with a long term deal honoured by both parties. Should an agreement not be reached long in advance, a transfer for maximum profit is surely the next priority, with minimal impact on the rest of the team. The recent comparative successes of Tottenham can, to some extent, be seen thanks to strengths in this department of their clubs management.

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As cliché as it sounds, the beautiful game has changed considerably from what it was twenty or thirty years ago. No longer can clubs rely on player’s loyalty, as individual talents now focus their attention on financial imperatives rather than pledging allegiance to a club they love being a part of for the right reasons. Until clubs realise and catch on to a growing trend amongst players, the sanctity of a contract might not offer the safety net it once could unless agreed long in advance and with the willingness of the player.

The fact that players can announce their ambitions to move elsewhere, and within the freedom of their contracts, is a dangerous precedent we are yet to escape. It is something clubs will need to put a stop to in order for our game to remain an entertaining, competitive and compelling one.

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Tottenham Hotspur chose to sell Luka Modric to Real Madrid for £10 million less than the amount they could have secured in England, it has been claimed.

The Sun reports that the £30 million deal that Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy agreed with the Spanish giants is £10 million less than what Chelsea or Manchester United may have been willing to pay.

Levy took a calculated decision to sell the Croatian cheaper abroad, rather than risk the midfielder improving any Premier League rivals’ armoury.

Last season, the north London club boldly refused a £40 million offer from Chelsea for the play-maker, who has now agreed a five-year deal at the Bernabeu.

It is reported that Madrid will pay an initial £25 million for the 26-year-old, with a further £5 million being paid in instalments.

Another significant development to emerge from the move is the start of a new partnership being announced between both clubs. Details of what this entails haven’t been made public, but it could signal further player moves between the clubs.

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Levy commented: “Luka has been terrific for us and while we preferred not to part with him, we are pleased it is to Real Madrid, a club we look forward to sharing a long and productive partnership.”

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