I was about to go to sleep and then read in interesting blog article here on OleOle. And frankly it got me thinking a tiny bit and then made me write this post.

So money in football, good or bad? That's the main question. The aforementioned blogger things it's ruined football, and I think it's done quite the opposite.

When you think about football you have to think of it as an economy -the football economy - driven by the football business enterprise.  Being the sport with by far the largest audience (2 billion people roughly), there is a lot of money involved and a lot of development. Everything is about money... war, religion, welfare programs, and even charity - because either you pay money to charity or volunteer your time (which means you can afford to take time off from working.. I mean.. do you see the mine workers in Africa volunteering at their local food bank?).

So understanding that everything is about money is essential. Then comes what ideas you have about how economies work and what the best approach would be. The way it's working right now is through sort of a trickle down - free market system. And I'll go into why I think that's working in a bit.

I never like the arguments that certain clubs have monopolized football. If there really was one true monopoly in the football industry, then we'd have only one champion every year of everything, and football would get really boring. The fact that teams fluctuate so much eliminates the possibility of even considering that any one team has an absolute monopoly. Then comes the argument that the top clubs have some kid of cartel formed, where they just dominate. But that doesn't explain how come every season there is the surprise team breaking through, and they haven't spent more money than a team they place above in the league. 

Big clubs with big bank accounts help smaller clubs more than they hurt them by "dominating". It's no coincidence that there are by far more professional footballers now than there were 50 years ago. Money that has been pumped into big teams has been spent towards transfers, stadiums, youth systems, academies, tournaments. Teams are making their living and growing because big clubs pay them money for talent they grow. The money they get, they invest in better facilities, higher paychecks, more youth, etc. For some teams it pays off, for others it does not. 

Manchester United spent the money they won from Champions League revenue and the money they got for winning the league on all their transfers. The money they spent was earned through performance, and they received so much money because WE watch their games and see the advertisements, WE go to their stadiums for the matches, and WE buy their merch. Once clubs mature and profit like United has, they invest only money they win. And that's all they need to invest to maintain or add some youth. They don't spend 100 million extra to buy one super expensive player that they don't really need.

Think how much Tottenham have stimulated the football market in the past few years. They've paid high prices for crap players and they've won nothing (well some cup) and they're just abosulte shit. But the prices they paid helped other teams, and in turn that money helped other teams and so on. 

The money invested helps the global football business grow, expand, and frankly employ more people and raise standards. We have a faster game, more exciting, and with more attention than ever before. And we still don't have a monopoly!

I can tell you when I did see a monopoly in football - during communism in Romania, at the peak in 86. No one was allowed to invest in any clubs, they were run by government organizations. The organization with the biggest budget was the Military, and their team was Steaua. They won basically every season, league and cup. And one season they won the Champions League too, with no foreign players. But they completely monopolized football in Romania and there was no money invested to make any kind of difference, making our league pure crap after those years. And we're still recovering from that now. Finally through investment and good management, a small team broke through the ranks and won the league - CFR Cluj. They spent far less money than Steaua, they spent much less time match fixing and hiring referees, but then won the league. And that to me makes a big statement. 

When you have any kind of control and you don't allow the market to do it's job and allow a freedom of flow of money through the system you can't expect progress. You might have some for a short time, but then it all starts to snowball. Money makes people want to do things... like continue playing football, because it pays as well or better than working on a farm, cleaning shit off of toilets, or for a group of footballers, it pays better than managing a big company or being a doctor.

My last example is Arsenal, who spend very little money compared to other big teams in the Premiership, and continue to do well. They don't win the league every season, but they might be able to dominate for the next few years if they can keep their players - WITH MONEY! And with Hleb, Flamini etc. leaving, it's just another bit of proof that it's hard to monopolize football even if you have a completely created team and not a bunch of 50 million dollar superstars. Barcelona are suffering from the "too many superstar" syndrome. And they're changing their ways, selling players, promoting youth, etc. 

But in the end, football has benefited from influx of money over the years. The rise of Eastern European leagues for example is due to money being invested. You've seen Romanian and Bulgarian teams in the Champions League groups for the past few seasons (though they didn't do very well.. but still..) and they were there because  of money. The industries in these countries are growing in terms of football, and it will just give more and more young kids the opportunity to play an amazing game and maybe make a living out of it and entertain us. 

Football sales and industry in Brazil also represents the amount of GDP that it cost to switch from oil to ethanol as their fuel. Eliminate the money in football in Brazil, and you would not have an energy-independent nation. Think about that for an impact.

Plus, if there wasn't so much money in football, you wouldn't have places like OleOle... and that would be no fun. ;)

So I was reading the press before going to sleep tonight and found some interesting news. More sources rumor that Kaka might be on his way to Barcelona. The "alleged" proposition from the Catalans would be Zambrotta+Ronaldinho and 20 million euros for brazilian Kaka.

It seems a little bit ambitious for Barcelona, but considering that Milan are suffering in defense and they wanted Zambrotta, and they did show a lot of interest for Ronaldinho, there is a slight chance it migh happen. The 20 million euros could come in handy as well by being put into a young defender. It's also roumored that Alberto Gilardino is heading to Fiorentina, so there is some open space in attack. Milan are also linked with Borriello whom they share a co-ownership with Genoa. He scored 19 goals this season and is joint top scorer of Serie A with Trezeguet and Del Piero. 

We'll see what materializes, and it would be interesting to see Kaka at Barcelona. Eto'o is speaking out again about his desire to be in the Premier League and Spurs are linked with him at a massive price of 40 million euros (which I think would be yet ANOTHER waste of money from Tottenham.) 

Either way, non-english clubs are being very ambitious  so far and I think it's partly due to the English domination of the club scene this season. We'll see what happens as time goes on!

BARCELONA

The fabulous goal scored by Scholes which was born from Zambrotta's mistake could mean the transition from the past to the future. The Italian defender will be left with this, and not the neutralization of Cristiano Ronaldo in the two games against Manchester United. Even though Barcelona had their two best games of the season against United, means the final point in a a 5 year cycle, in which the Catalans won two league titles and one champions league, but also threee seasons of underperformance in the League. 

It's time for Barcelona to repopulate the team with new faces, new aspirations, and new motivations. However, the changes likely won't stop at the team level, and will include the staff.

Manager:

When Laporta went on the Rijkaard route, there was a bit problem: nobody wanted to manage that Barcelona, a loosing team with a weak budget and a depressed fanbase. Now the problem is the opposite: everyone wants to manage Barcelona who reinvigorated its finances and will have a reported 350 million euro budget for next season, with 100 million euros for transfers. A lot of names have been thrown out to replace Rijkaard. Guardiola, Ludrup, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Lippi, and Scolari are the most prominent of these names. The Catalan press is almost certain that Guardiola, 37 years old, the current manager of Barcelona B will be named the first team manager.

Players: 

At the team level, the biggest change in Barcelona history is highly anticipated. There are 13 players that could leave the team, and others to replace them. 

Like Rijkaard, Ronaldinho has closed his catalan cycle as well, and will leave. The two came together, and they will leave together. Other than Ronaldinho, the other certainties are: Thuram, Edmilson, Zabmrotta, Ezquerro, and Pinto. Deco, Marquez, Gudjohnsen, Henry, Giovani, Oleguer, Silvinho, are highly likely to be sold, and for the first time Barclelona will listen to offers for Eto'o and Xavi.

The list of possible purchases is even longer than the list of players leaving. There have been over 50 names that are speculated by the media. There also is a riddle going around Catalonia recently after Laporta's laptop was stolen and the names of 10 players were found out. There will be 2 french players, 2 brazilians, 2 spaniards, 1 dutch, 1 mexican, 1 german, and one argentinian. 

Here are the possible answers to the Barcelona riddle:

French players: Benzema, Ribery
Brazilians: Lucio, Daniel Alves
Spaniards: Cesc Fabregas, David Silva
Dutch: Huntelaar
German: Lahm
Argentinian: Garay
Mexican: Guardado

The other possible names rumoured are: Coloccini, Poulsen, Seydou Keita, Klose, Capel, Drogba.

Out of that list, Cesc will not come, Klose is almost past it, Drogba does not fit the Barcelona style, Coloccini is not always on his game, Capel would be another experiment, and Keita has promise, but I don't think it's worth the money OL will ask for him. 

The spine of the team will be Valdes, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, and Bojan, all products of Barcelona. 

The team next season could look something like this:

GK: Valdes
DF: Alves/Guarado, Garay, Puyol, Lahm
MF: Ribery, Iniesta/Xavi, Silva
AM: Messi
FW: Benzema/Bojan, Huntelaar/Bojan

That would be a pretty scary team, one that has hard working players and less superstars, but just as much flair. I personally can't wait to see how much of this happens, and I hope to see at least some of those players play for Barcelona starting this summer.