The Seppuku of an internet blogger

[bossy 0]

Rather bizarrely he barely rates a mention in all of the stuff revealed by Charlotte Fakes.

 

Dave King plays his cards close to his chest. I very much doubt that he is willing to shoot emails around right left and centre which could then become hostages to fortune. His experience with SARS will have taught him that the less information you leave around for others to exploit, the less vulnerable you are.

[bossy 0]

I suppose I would admit that events of the last few years have made me completely intolerant of anything other than Rangers getting back on top, coupled with a visceral desire to see certain clubs suffer, for decades, in revenge. I won't see that on the back of good intentions.

 

You and me both.

[chilledbear 16]

You and me both.

 

Aye it'll be good, sooner the better.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

dave king is good news for rangers so not on cf radar.

 

or at least there can be nothing damaging to be had.

[Zappa 0]

The best club side in Europe and arguably the world currently are Bayern Munich, wealthy certainly, but not bankrolled or debt laden, indeed run by the archetypal 'committee' in many ways. The runners up were Dortmund, a club with a genuine connection with their support and again no debt or sugar daddy.

 

I don't really see how those clubs aren't bankrolled though. Ok, so they're not bankrolled by individual "suger daddy" businessmen owning and investing in each club, but it's almost impossible to say they aren't bankrolled when yearly Bundesliga revenues are in excess of 2 billion euro, the majority of which comes from sponsorship and broadcasting. I don't know the exact figure, but IIRC the Bundesliga match-day revenues only account for about 25-30% of overall revenue with the rest coming from sponsorship and broadcasting which means the league's getting something like €1.5bn handed to it on a golden plate.

 

Yes, it's not a system where the clubs are bankrolled in the traditional sense, but such vast levels of financial support are exactly what allow them their freedom and ownership structures whilst maintaining high levels of success. A state of the art 70k+ seat stadium that sells out every home game and having over 200k club members certainly helps a club like Bayern too, but it's highly doubtful whether they'd have those if they hadn't been given so much financial support over the years.

 

Likewise, would the Bundesliga itself have anywhere near the level of support (highest average attendances in Europe) if it hadn't had so much money thrown into it? IIRC, Bayern have been getting considerably more than 50% of their annual revenue from sponsorship for a number of years, so where would they be without it?

[forlanssister 3,050]

Dave King plays his cards close to his chest. I very much doubt that he is willing to shoot emails around right left and centre which could then become hostages to fortune. His experience with SARS will have taught him that the less information you leave around for others to exploit, the less vulnerable you are.

 

It was King himself who claimed there was a mountain of email correspondence going back and forth between him and Craig Whyte which King could put forward as part of proving that he was indeed "fit and proper", just seems bizarre that none of it has come to light given how trivial and peripheral much of the releases have been.

[bluebear54 0]

Sorry guys, in my book, any discussion of morality in the context of Scottish football is totally misplaced.

The way I see it is that morality plays no part whatsoever in the sordid operation of our media, our larger clubs, their fan bases or particularly our governing bodies.

For a long time now we have been swimming in an extremely filthy pond and it's becoming filthier by the day.

[bossy 0]

It was King himself who claimed there was a mountain of email correspondence going back and forth between him and Craig Whyte which King could put forward as part of proving that he was indeed "fit and proper", just seems bizarre that none of it has come to light given how trivial and peripheral much of the releases have been.

 

I think that, if it existed, we would have seen some of it.

[amms 0]

All fair points but even in Germany, the tripartite business model involving management, government and workers is breaking down even as we write; Fr.Merkel's desire to impose Thatcherism on her country will see it, too, move toward the model where the gaining of capital rather than the means of gaining it is all that matters. I can see no reason why the German municipalities will be able to resist when the full power of the federal govt. is turned on them: assuming the CDU follow through on their market led reforms, when the central funding is cut things like community partnerships in sport will be amongst the first to go, directly affecting football clubs.

 

Maybe the Lander will be able to mobilise regional feeling to the extent that they can fight off such things, but a glance across Europe in the last two decades does not fill the left-inclined onlooker with much cause for hope. Maybe some civic minded German citizen can even take it to the BVfG and get a ruling...I'm not optimistic.

 

Give it five years and I think we'll see Arab and Russian money in the Bundesliga as well. dB will know more about the nuts and bolts of this than I, mind you.

 

I don't disagree with your views, but I don't think we can operate as the sole 'Islamic Bank', so to speak, in British football.

 

I just watched two episodes of Borgen and was filled with European idealism and hope. Your post has just brought me plummeting back to earth. Bastard.

Your grasp of German politics if far better than mine, I'm unaware of the changes there. Ho hum.

 

I never thought I'd see Rangers described as the 'Islamic Bank', that's brilliant. There are posters I've come across over the years who'll combust spectacularly at that. Almost makes up for bursting my German bubble.

[D'Artagnan 173]

You can't eat principle, unfortunately. Nor will you attract many players to your club side on the grounds that you are morally superior to the team offering £1m a year more.

 

It's all relative anyway. There's someone at the Tim agm fantasising about how they bring a smile wherever they go...perhaps the speaker doesn't actually go to many games, or lives in Scotland. Or Holland.

 

You'll never convince me that capitalism holds any solutions to the world's problems. Alas, as I was aware when we debated the point on RM a decade ago, I can't convince anyone that socialism or anything of that ilk is the answer either. So, like Rangers, I shall try to get myself as far up that ladder as I can, drawing it up behind me.

 

I suppose I would admit that events of the last few years have made me completely intolerant of anything other than Rangers getting back on top, coupled with a visceral desire to see certain clubs suffer, for decades, in revenge. I won't see that on the back of good intentions.

 

Making me feel old with that line old friend - a lot of water under the bridge since then. We have been proven right on a few things and wrong in others. Life is a continual learning curve for us - all irrespective of age.