This is something that it hasn’t been confirmed nor dismissed from the FIFA board…which seems to me that they are thinking of it. However, that should be something they should have thought long ago before they took their decision to give the tournament to Qatar.

The concern is that the high level of heat that exists in Qatar during those months will cause problems to the players and the level of football we will see.  Even if I agree that playing football in times where you 45degrees is not the best thing…I don’t believe that this is a viable reason to change the dates.

I was listening the exact same thing during the USA World Cup 94 when football players were playing in extra ordinary conditions and still managed to produce some fantastic games in a tournament that will not be remembered for its organizational success but for its few but intense games and moments like the famous Roberto Baggio miss in the final.

Changing the dates of the world cup towards the end of the year is really risky business. That means that a lot of other things must change in order to accommodate this.  Football season will stop for almost more than a month all over the world. Even if they do it either way in the northern European countries, it’s something that needs a lot of programming for the rest.

Also, what is most important for me is…that its not a “dead” season for customers and the fans.

You see, when it’s in the summer the World Cup, you don’t have anything else to see. TV is playing the same shows from the winter season, people are going out for holidays , there is no other sports that the Media can rely on to keep their viewers online or in front of their TV. When the WC is during the summer then everyone is going crazy…new ad’s on tv, the pubs in the UK are selling pints like crazy (if England has qualified) , shops are selling WC’s shirts and souvenirs  in a time that people wouldn’t be consuming or watching TV at all..

So what will those sponsors do? My belief is that they don’t really want the world cup to happen during Christmas as people will lose focus on the product and they will lose their investment and eventually they will press to keep it as it is. Mixing up the World Cup during Christmas or after Christmas isn’t the best idea and especially at a time that most of the people will be focused on work rather on the holiday mood that they are for three months (again if you are not in the UK) during summer.

Someone will say that I don’t think about the football players and the fact that they will have to play in inhuman conditions. Well…I am not! There is a funny story about David Moyes not letting his players wearing snoods during the last Everton vs Man City game and Rio Ferdinand talking also to twitter about that.  My view is that they are all well paid football players- entertainers and if they need to play in snow or in 40c well…they can do it. That’s what we were doing when we young during the summer times when school was over…why can’t  you do it now when you are getting paid also 100k per week?..

All these remind me the media during the time when Greece lost the Olympic Games back in 1990 if I remember correctly from Atlanta. Then everybody thought that we should get the Olympic Games as it was morally correct the 100^th Olympic Games to return to the country that gave them birth. Nope…it didn’t happen…

As well when Greece did took the responsibility to organise the 2004 Olympic Games it wasn’t because the IOC understood there mistake and felt sorry about us…it was mainly because the greek members managed to show them a certain…plan I guess about how those Olympic Games will improve the brand name and of course because many more …deals were arranged …and more business offers were promised to the IOC sponsors.  You have to remember that at the time there was the failure of the over commercialized 96 olympic games in Atlanta…and it was before the Sydney Olympics success. So IOC was looking something to improve the brand name of the Olympic Games and Athens was the perfect case.

Bidding for such an event certainly you need to offer a certain vision to expand the product to even bigger territories than before and that’s exactly what Russia and Qatar did.

Sure UK had the stadiums ready and offered security at times where economies around the world crumble. However, it didn’t prove that football will bring that necessary change in the country on the same extent as it will happen in Russia and Qatar. Over there the stadiums, the new transport system and all the additional works that are needed will boost the economies (especially Russia that is) and will create new opportunities.

In addition to that….and the most important thing is….that the sponsors will have the chance to access really effectively countries that they were founding difficulties until now. Russia and the former Eastern Block countries are up for grabs and that’s really important. UK market is already a mature market for them so not many more could be won. There is nothing new for them….but getting into the back yard of the former Soviet Union….hmmm..thats another thing…

The same applies for Qatar as companies will have the opportunity to infiltrate markets that had limited access before for whatever reason…. So isn’t that a big reason to vote for them? As for the infrastructure….well…I’m sure Qatar has the money and the will to make those stadiums on time….after all their country is full of buildings delivered on time and more complex than those stadiums.

Not only that …but they offered to build stadiums that will be able to move after the end of the tournament and put them in various countries of Asia and Africa.  Don’t know how it will work but for surely it helped showing the humanitarian role of football and FIFA.

So why is UK complaining? Well…hard to say…Sepp Blatter came out today and said they are bad losers. Possibly…  They are complaining because they were promised voted that they never took… But that’s the game they already agreed to play… It is really funny when you agree to play the game and then react like a small child …like Boris Johnson…

“Boris Johnson has taken revenge on Sepp Blatter and the other FIFA delegates who destroyed England’s bid to host the World Cup by kicking them out of London’s Dorchester hotel for the 2012 Olympic Games.FIFA president Mr Blatter and his team had been invited to stay in exclusive £1,000-a-night suites at the five-star hotel for more than a week during the Olympics.The gesture was part of the charm offensive designed to woo FIFA – football’s world governing body – in the run-up to Thursday’s 2018 World Cup vote.”

… “charm offensive”…  you mean bribery that didn’t work and now we take it back?

Well in the end of the day…everyone knows exactly how those voting’s work…Panorama said it in there show about FIFA’s dirty secrets three days before the voting and everyone where aware of it. In fact some of them in the beginning tried to stop the show….im sure now they may put it again in BBC

However, even if FIFA members didn’t liked the publicity of the show is a little bit harsh to say that UK lost it because of that.

They lost it because other countries offered more prospects for growth for FIFA and there sponsors…and as good business men..they choose those… fair enough.

Greece didn’t organize the 2004 Olympics before it was morally correct …as Greeks gave “birth” to them…They did it because the timing was correct for the Olympics brand name to head back to Greece.  If UK wants the world cup they will need to find other reasons to support it…rather than saying that they have the stadiums ready and they gave birth to Football. They need to show why it will be better as a business opportunity for FIFA to give them the World Cup…and right now it just isnt.

Maybe they should ask the organizing committee of Greece at that time? …Just saying..

Watching however the game made me loose panorama on BBC1 and the show regarding corruption in FIFA, 3 days before the final vote for the 2018 world cup.

There was tension before the show went on air and there is still some tension after the show was launched.  I read some comments on twitter and one interesting opinion from Jim White on Telegraph. I have to be honest I was kind of surprised as there is a feeling that Panorama didn’t offered any new evidence.

“But to administer his telling blow, Jennings needed something more than pictures of him shouting questions at Fifa committee members from the wrong side of a car park. If there were, as he claimed, “massive kickbacks on World Cup contracts and secret payments of $100million” it would have been good to see more recent evidence than an unsophisticated-looking ledger dating from more than a decade ago.” However, whether the evidence are from a decade ago or not doesn’t make any difference…they are still evidence of corruption. Aren’t they?  Also the selling tickets allegation for the world Cup isn’t of the last decade…is something that is happening repeatedly.

Either way I believe what panorama says is that in order to manage and get the organisation of the World Cup you need to have talks under the table and deal with people that are open to corruption… something that by now everyone knows… Panorama said the obvious ..and kind of reminded it to us.

That is important to know on the final days going for the voting and it is important to know exactly with what you are dealing with.   Those people that will make the decisions about the next World Cup have been accused of bribery (rightly or not it remains to be seen) and according to Panorama there are hard evidence for that.. but those will be the people that the fate of the London 2018 bid (which tax payers paid for it I’m guessing) and of all the others will be sealed…  That’s what everyone wants?

Many people will point out that they are prepared to play the game in order to seal a big tournament like the world cup and take advantage of all the economical advantages that this will bring to the country. However, it is not absolutely certain that World Cup Tournaments , Olympic games always bring economic prosperity for years and years to come…sometimes they bring bankruptcy…and everyone will look on that..after the voting.

Steven Gerrard

The most difficult thing I guess right now for Liverpool is to asses which one of the potential buyers that appear is saying the truth or not. What everyone knows by now is that the club is in a crucial path as the time is running out and the RBS bank is ready to put the historic football club into administration ..which will mean .. Deduction of 9 points and fight for avoiding relegation…hard stuff.

There is an article today by Rober Preston saying that another businessman from Singapore Peter Lim, wanted also to buy the club. However, his offer was rejected by the Liverpool chairman and I think I can guess why.

History showed that all those big multimillionaires that come to Premier League invest heavily in the Premier League teams for the first few years buying any player that they can find. Chelsea and Manchester City are very common and recent examples. Nevertheless, with UEFA’s financial fair play coming into action in 2-3 years every team must show sustainable financial books that will not be determined by the big pocket of their owners.

The New England Sports Ventures owners seem more reliable potential owners as there background shows that they kept their businesses out of debt and in a winning style without however investing enormous amounts of cash that could endanger the companies.  All those seem quite nice but the fans of Liverpool will have in mind what the previous American owners have managed….absolutely nothing…

There is a long debate in UK nowadays about Premier League and where the most famous football championship is heading. There is no mistake that Bundesliga is now much more exciting to watch and the teams are making enormous profits without having the same amount of costs. One thing that should be taken into consideration is the players’ salaries. Years now we have that discussion about whether a salary cup should be enforced or not and many people fear that if that happens then many of the talented players would leave the league…

The other problem is the new owners that are coming and buying teams. Portsmouth was the first club that paid the price last year. Liverpool is really close to be the second.

Everyone was really “jealous” in a way from the Manchester United takeover from Glazer’s and Chelsea’s from Roman Abramovich that wanted to do the same. However, the “red devils” are a club with unique marketing revenues that help them being sustained even now. On the other hand the Russians billionaire was clever enough to stop injecting cash to the “blues” and focus on making it a sustainable company… and he is really close to make it!

I have always believed that because of the enormous revenues that Manchester United has they will be able to pay off eventually the debt Glazers have created. There biggest asset is Sir Alex, and he can guarantee that the club will be on the top clubs for the following years and will bring more titles and money to the club. His focus is on creating new talent and that means he will need less money for transfers which is always good for the directors.

So where Liverpool does goes from here?

I believe that as long as the deal goes through , the offer from NESV is the best possible, as long as they fulfil all they promise. This is to cover the debts of the club without creating new ones on the expense of LFC, something that is quite important in our days.  However, the fact that they will not have the possibility to inject a large amount of cash directly to strengthen the squad that means that there fans will be waiting for many more years until they manage to see their team as Premier League Champions again.

It remains to be seen…

Usually the main focus on those researches is England as everyone knows there love for Football and there agony to claim –finally- the world cup after so many years. Marketing magazine reports that the World Cup campaign of Fabio Capello’s team will have as an effect of 1.3 billion increases in retail spending in UK with focus on food and grocery.

The normal thing is that during world cup some specific industries will have an increase…ofcourse the betting industry but also a 5.8 per cent increase in footwear and clothing, about GBP 380 million, in June and July. Companies like Sports Direct and JJB Sports will get the most out of it and everything will depend as much further in the competition England will go…

So, everything is set for the biggest event of 2010, all the companies have made there marketing campaigns for the World Cup and they are ready for the final push. Even if there have been noted problems in the organisation until now we shouldn’t forget that the important thing is to see what will happen afterwards in South Africa and what the aftermath will be of such a big tournament.

But until then..lets enjoy the Beautiful game!

In the mean time they are pressing all the time fans to stop going to the stadium for the games but recently they announced they want to press the sponsors of the club. According to MUST  a change of ownership at the club would “create hugely enhanced value” for sponsors because it would bring the “whole Manchester United family back together”.

Ok, all these are really nice to hear and bring back a little bit of romance to the game ..but we need to be honest about the chances we have right now for the sponsors to live United.

In the middle of a world wide recession companies look places to advertise where they will be sure about there payback. They need to invest there money in companies that they are sure they will provide them profits and brand exposure to as big audience as possible. Those companies are hard to find nowadays…and one of those –yes man.utd is a company – is the Football club owned by the Glazer family.

I don’t believe that Nike will ever consider pressing the Glazer’s  even if the whole Manchester revolted. The Red Devils are a universal business and as long as they can manage to start lowering there debts and win titles in the same, no sponsor will care if the fans are coming to Old Trafford with yellow, red or even blue scarf’s….as long as they buy the tickets.

In this time is a big ask to tell fans not to buy tickets to see there team…so Glazers will not worry about that. People in times of recession want to see football and want to see there team and the team of Sir Alex Ferguson has a large variety of fans that would be happy to come the stadium even if 150000 decided to boycott attendance to Old Trafford.

I don’t like either to see such a team to have such debts that would threaten there future. However, to support an organisation that is being headed by a chief economist of Goldman Sachs –the bank that amongst others underwrote a £507m bond issue, earning £15m in fees in the process in order that Glazers can take over Man united in the first place –  in order to  save your Football team from its debts…is ironic….isn’t it?

Well, I love united also from the moment I saw Cantona playing there years ago…but MUST, is not must for the Red Devils right now…and I think the sponsors know it.

Sir Alex Ferguson

Today Manchester United won the League Cup by defining goal from Wayne Rooney in the second half. Sir Alex Ferguson and his players have still hopes for a treble this season that will increase the silverware in Old Trafford but also increase the revenues and…decrease the debt of the team. According to the report of UEFA “The European Cub Football Landscape” the English Premier League clubs have a total debt of £3.5 billions and Liverpool together with Manchester United is responsible for more than the half of it.

The problems started when the Glazer family took over Manchester United borrowing a large amount of money that put them on the clubs. So even if the “Red Devils” have enjoyed a lot of success since the new owners took place they have a big financial burden that became even worse during the financial crisis.

UEFA was a little slow to react in the change of the football industry. In the beginning of the millennium there were a lot of businessmen that were sensing the opportunities that football was offering and decided to invest on it. The Bosman case open the borders for football players but also for owners. Abramovich took over Chelsea and managed to settle his debts. If all things go well the London Club could brake even by the end of this football period.

Robert Preston in an article on his blog described really nicely the economic situation of the Red Devils and if they had money to spend in the January transfer market.

In his foreword Michel Platini writes that there are increasing warning signs about financial stability of most of the clubs around Europe. The plan of UEFA is to make some rules under where all the clubs should operate. Until now most of the clubs were directly dependable from the cash inflow of there owners. If something happened to them then immediately they would have problems.

If you take into consideration that we are in the middle of an world wide economic crisis then its easy to understand why everyone is concerned. The clubs should be able to operate without being dependable on the Glaziers and Abramovich’s of this world.

The state where the Football industry is right now has a lot of common things with the state that the banking industry was before the crisis. All the banks of the world were operating with “loose” rules. Governments accepted that and gave them freedom to choose were to invest and how to use the money. However, bankers got greedy asking for more which had as a result the biggest economic crisis of our time.

US President Barack Obama decided that the solution was to have tougher regulations to the industry and force the banks to minimize there risks. That’s more or less what mr.Platini wants to do. Putting regulations on the way the clubs are operating means that there will be less chance for big clubs like Manchester United , Portsmouth to go into bankruptcy something that any fan fears. Nevertheless , that is something easier said than done.

If you want to put the clubs into tighter regulations you have to help them cut there costs. Right now 56% of the clubs costs go to employees –according to the report- which means among others, football player salaries. So you have to come into direct fighting with the players, which is not easy.

In addition if surpassingly some club doesn’t meet the required targets to enter the UEFA competitions….what do you do? You disqualify Manchester United or Real Madrid? That I have to see…

I am really curious how this will go on. I believe that most of the clubs will find a way to sort out there financials but I believe that this is an effort of UEFA and its president Michel Platini tobetween the big clubs and all the other teams. After all he got elected with the help of the smaller football countries and not the big 4 (UK, Spain, Italy, and German). Ideally it’s the right time to have some regulations in the clubs and how they operate… it remains to be seen how the big clubs will accept those rules.

You can read and download the The_European_Club_Footballing_Landscape_2009 report here.