A look at the job of chairman

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In the game of football, the role of the club Chairman or Chairwoman is an interesting one. They are certainly not all alike. Usually the job of the Chairman/woman is to try to earn as much income for the club as possible to either generate a profit or at least not make a loss.

Retained earnings can later be used to provide the funds to make significant player purchases from other clubs in order to bolster the player ranks as some of the older players prove that perhaps their best playing days are behind them.

The case for Chairmen/women for non-league football clubs is no doubt not that much different except that there is far less opportunity to generate income for the club, which makes it challenging to purchase players of a calibre to elevate the club out of non-league status.

Some leaders in football leave a lasting impression though. Matthew Harding left such an impression with Chelsea football fans when he ensured he managed club affairs in a transparent manner.

Over at Cardiff City, Mehmet Dalman the Chairman, recently apologised for the way he behaved in his dealings with the previous manager of the club, Malky Mackay. Fans are loyal to their clubs so this kind of openness creates more of a sense of forgiveness.

Manchester United on the other hand are seeing things a little differently with the current challenge of bringing down their debt which still stands in the hundred of millions of pounds.

David Moyes is overhauling much at United presently, so it is difficult to see how things will shake up in the medium term, but maybe Moyes will make the tough decisions needed to take United fiscally back in the first direction. Results on the pitch are not as strong either with a top 3 finish looking unlikely.

 

 

Death of a footballing legend

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One day in 1960, Bela Guttman sat in a chair in the barbers to get a hair cut. Guttman was a successful football coach at the time who had become a man of the people when he led Benfica, the Portuguese football club, into the European Cup.

Despite this success, the coach wanted more. He was pondering how to make his club better and mulling over his options. Sat in the next chair across was the coach of the Sao Paulo football club from Brazil whose club regularly toured around for away matches.

The coach shared a secret – coach to coach – about a young man who the top clubs were chasing and no one had successfully managed to recruit to their own team yet. His name was Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, who in some circles was known more simply as the Black Panther.

The player had been kicking balls around in the youth team in what later become the capital of Mozambique, Maputo. He was the son of a white father and a black mother from a local community in Mozambique.

The swarthy mother had already spurned substantial offers from clubs such as Juventus offering to snatch up the young player in exchange for a lucrative multi-year deal. Bela Guttman liked what he heard and decided to make an offer of his own.

Some time later, Eusébio da Silva Ferreira came to play at Benfica football club where his record of 733 goals spread over 745 matches impressed everyone who loved the game and came to watch the panther play.

At the end of his playing career, the legendary footballer maintained his connection with Benfica by becoming their Ambassador.

At his death recently, Portugal declared a three day period of mourning for the nation. The funeral was held in Lisbon where thousands came out, including both Portugese and fans from around the world, who all came together to celebrate the legacy of the man Portugal came to call their own.

 

 

 

 

 

Fancy playing football inside a bubble? Well now you can

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First there was the crazy inflatable ball, filled with some water, that you roll around inside typically down a hill, called Zorbing. Now, there is a new form of indoor bubble football from Bubble Sports Scotland that is developing a wave of interest from social channels like YouTube.

The basis of the game is not so different to regular football except that all the players are inside their own large inflatable ball. The ball does act as a protection against fouls and injuries that can occur on the pitch which is good news.

Players try to run around the indoor pitch inside their inflated balls, often bouncing around the pitch more than they are running around it, in order to try to score a goal. This is easier said than done because, remember, we said that all players have their own protective bubble. So the goal-keepers are similarly protected and their inflated ball covers most of the open goal making it damn hard to score with Bubble Sports!

The initial spark of interest to make this a business first came up for co-owner Jak Carlin when he saw bubble football being played on a clip on social tube channel, YouTube. He and his business partner tried to find something similar somewhere in Edinburgh, and then around Scotland, but couldn’t find this being offered anywhere.

Trying to buy the equipment proven expensive as it wasn’t something locally sourced. Instead, the founders located the inflatable bubbles over in China and imported them. His partner came in with extra funding to pay for the initial purchases. They played their first game and posted a video on YouTube. Many comments and over 10,000 views later, the team has a small hit on their hands.

 

Robert Lewandowski moves to Bayern Munich

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There was much debate and speculation recently over the fate of Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski who looked set for a move away from the club to pastures new. Ultimately, the player agreed to be transferred to Bayern Munich who are Bundesliga league rivals, as a free transfer.

Arsene Wenger, the popular Arsenal manager has said that he did consider Lewandowski for the Arsenal Football Club, but he knew that the played signed with Bayern over a year ago so unless that situation changed he wouldn’t be able to seriously consider him.

Wenger also went on to point out that the team at Arsenal continue, like with all other clubs, to keep and eye on the transfer market to see which players might be looking to change teams or whose contract is coming up for renewal.

It is difficult to get big players because they are already at the largest clubs. Occasionally it’s possible to pick one up if the football club is experiencing some financially difficulties, but otherwise it is quite difficult, Wenger pointed out.

As with most clubs, they look at their youth teams and the youth teams of other clubs to see where there might be undiscovered talent that can develop with their club.

With Lewandowski going to Bayern Munich this summer, this brings into question the future role of Mandzukic who is another forward at the same club. The player from Croatia is not looking to move away, according to his football agent.

While the Bayern CEO Rummenigge stated that Mandzukic is not on the market, Wenger didn’t act surprised because the football season is not finished yet. At that time, people may start to sing a different tune and eventually be wearing different football jerseys too.

 

 

Vitessa Arnhem player refused entry into UAE

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The Dutch football club Vitessa Arnhem was dealt a blow recently when a member of its squad, Dan Mori, was refused entry into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend a training camp there.

The position is a confusing one because the club says that they had sought and received a verbal confirmation that the defender from Israel would be allowed into the UAE, but this proved later to be worthless.

A spokesperson for Vitesse Arnhem said that the move was strange because both Israel and the United Arab Emirates are both members of the football organisation, FIFA.

The plan has been for players to practise at the training camp at UAE before playing in some friendly matches with German Bundesliga clubs, namely Hamburg SV and Vfl Wolfsburg.

The club felt they did not wish to walk away from their commitment to play the German teams, however the Dutch minster for finance, Jeroen Dijsselbloem was on television recently to condemn the decision to still go ahead with the trip to the UAE. He felt that the club should have backed their player, rather than leave him back practicing with the reserve team.

This is not the first time that the great sport of football has become a political punching bag instead of being a simple game of sport to be enjoyed by club owners, players and their supporters.

One would have hoped that in one of the more progressive and forward-thinking of nations in the Middle East that is experiencing a steady growth in visitors from tourism and luxury shopping markets, that the United Arab Emirates would have a more open stance when it comes to international football, including the players who participate in it.

With this kind of old fashioned political thinking, it is difficult to imagine peace in the Middle East region when even the simple elegance of a game of football cannot see people overcome their differences.