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Written by Maarten Heida
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Sunday, 08 July 2007 |
Is money really all that talks in football nowadays? More and more footballers are trying to force a big-money tranfer by taking their current employer to an arbitration court.
Some recent examples are Argentinian Gabriel Heinze, who tried to force a move to Liverpool, and Dutchman Royston Drenthe, who tried to force a move to Real Madrid. In the end both players got their wish and transferred to another club, Drenthe to his club of choice and Heinze joined the Dutchman at Real Madrid.
A disturbing trend if you ask me. All a big club seems to have to do nowadays is wave a big pile of money in front of the nose of any player and their heads are spun in all kinds of directions. Suddenly loyalty means nothing and wellmeant advice is waved away.
Up until 3 weeks into the season all fans of lower to mid-level teams have to quiver in fear waiting for the next player of their squad to be lured away by the big bucks. Even teams with reasonable records in Europe like Ajax or PSV are affected by these shenanigans.
While these teams are capable of paying a salary that a prime-minister would be jealous of, it’s still not enough to maintain their best players. After all……who wouldn’t want to have a golden tooth…or wear a 10 kilo golden necklace?
And who are the ones who suffer? The fans, off course. Naturally the big teams have more fans, but what about the local teams? Isn’t football supposed to cater to all layers of society? Imagine having bought a season ticket for Ajax, expecting a strong titlerun and then seeing your two most influential players, Wesley Sneijder and Ryan Babel, taking off. It’s like paying to see the Beatles play and Milli Vanilli turning up.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 September 2007 )
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