Changing Of The Guard

Posted on May 16, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Deep down we knew like this day would come. No good thing lasts forever and that rings true for legendary football players as well. In fact, the careers of most football players end too abruptly. Those that do not end soon enough makes us often wish they had (I am looking at you Michael Owen.). Therefore, it should come as no surprise that so many legendary soccer players and coaches that we grew up with have decided to put their cleats back in their lockers and slip on a pair of Oxfords. It should not, but it does. These players represent a part of our football fandom that has been so much a part of us that it is not as easy to let go of as Jack was to Rose in that frigid Atlantic ocean. While it is always hard to lose a football legend, English football is losing several in a very short period of time. Fate is not always fair.

At the end of this season we must wave goodbye to four English greats: Jamie Carragher, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Sir Alex Ferguson. As tears well up in our eyes we must take time to reflect on what they have given us. Their loyalty (Beckham was loyal to England), their durability, their will to win, and their love of football are admirable qualities that do not manifest themselves in every great football player. There is an old adage that says “They don’t make them like they used to” and this holds true for all these men. Their talents were many and they gave everything they had to English football. However, like they do at Buckingham Palace, there must be a changing of the guard. These legendary players and coaches must retire so that other up and coming players and coaches can step-in to fill the void. Nostalgia is a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that it helps us fondly remember our past through rose colored lenses, but also a curse because it prevents us from looking forward. Who knows who will be the legends of the future. Whoever they are though, they have pretty big cleats to fill.

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The Fan Is Always Right…If He/She Is German

Posted on May 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Sports only exist because there are fans to watch. There is a reason that cricket has not taken off in America for the same reason arena lacrosse players have side jobs, not enough fans to support the league. Those leagues that are bereft of fans understand the importance of fan satisfaction because every fan they lose is one less fan that they have. The influx of fans to lower level sports leagues is so minuscule that there are no guarantees that a lost fan will ever be replaced. This emphasis on fan satisfaction is refreshing but it is a misnomer. The demand is low for these leagues so their business strategy has to reflect that but that is not a reflection of how much they care for their fans because they are forced to care.

For the most popular sports leagues the fans flock to them in droves. As a result, the teams and the league can start to charge more and cater to a more expensive clientele because they have no worries of losing fans. Of course they could lose some casual fans but casual fans are a dime a dozen. The avid fans are too committed to the team to walk away and the average fan will always return when the team is successful. Therefore, teams can risk raising ticket and concession prices because they know that at the end of the day fans will pay these prices. Of course they will cry and complain about the prices but when push comes to shove they will pay those prices. Their commitment to the team is too entrenched.

Fans must accept part of the blame. Capitalism is nothing new to society and fans have been around long enough to see why they are the ones who continue to encourage this greedy behavior. We could just walk away but the problem with sports is that walking away is easier said than done. Nick Hornby phrased it well in his book Fever Pitch when he said

Loyalty, at least in football terms, was not a moral choice like bravery or kindness; it was more like a wart or a hump, something you were stuck with. Marriages are nowhere near as rigid—you won’t catch any Arsenal fans slipping off to Tottenham for a bit of extra-marital slap and tickle, and though divorce is a possibility (you can just stop going if things get too bad), getting hitched again is out of the question. There have been many times over the last twenty-three years when I have pored over the small print of my contract looking for a way out, but there isn’t one.Each humiliating defeat (Swindon, Tranmere, York, Walsall, Rotherham, Wrexham) must be borne with patience, fortitude and forbearance; there is simply nothing that can be done, and that is a realisation that can make you simply squirm with frustration.

In essence this phrase says that we could walk away from the team but we can never be a fan of another team. It is all or nothing for most fans.

The power wielded by these leagues has led to ever rising ticket and concession prices. With each passing year, more and more fans are priced out in favor or richer fans. The Premier League has recently taken a lot of flak because they are pricing out the lower working class fans on which the league was built on. No matter how loyal a fan is, team owners very rarely reciprocate that loyalty. It is a sad day when a sports fan realizes they only matter as much to their team as the money they pay.

The recent popularity of the Bundesliga may seem out of the blue for casual football fans. However, for those who study and love the game it has been storm on the horizon that we have been waiting to finally arrive. The Premier League remains dominant but the Seria A has lost international popularity and the La Liga has become too top-heavy. The German Fotball Federation has spent a considerable amount on increasing the quality of their football and that progress has been demonstrated by the increased skill level of the German national team and the Bundesliga. On the heels of this success the Bundesliga has begun to expand it’s international profile, first by focusing on Asia and then they will start to expand elsewhere. The mountain they had to climb to catch up with the Premier League may have looked insurmountable a few months ago but the upcoming Champions League final proves that the Bundesliga may be further along than most had previously believed.

All of this success would bring one to believe that the German football fans are paying the price. Bayern Munich, even before the Bundesliga’s international success, has been a perennial powerhouse. If any German team was going to over-charge their fans in the Bundesliga then all signs would point to Bayern being the perpetrators. Instead, Bayern Munich have the cheapest season tickets in the world with a standing room adult season ticket package only costing 104 Euro. Why is Bundesliga ignoring the basic tenets of capitalism? Is it because they skipped their economics lesson in school? No it is because they are following an ideal that is so rare in the sports business world. The ideal that the fan should never be taken for granted.

When asked about there cheap prices, Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness remarked,”We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody.” This quote sums up the sports business world and why the Bundesliga is such a pariah when it comes to ticket pricing. The fan can always be easily be exploited because the owners have everything to gain and nothing to lose in a financial sense as long as they increase the prices they charge incrementally. However, when considered as a moral question the fan should not be abused because of their loyalty, they should be celebrated  because of their loyalty. No other brand enjoys that type of unconditional loyalty and for that very reason it should be appreciated by sports owners. Bundesliga owners are the part of the rare few who abide by that ideal.

They are not the only club in the Bundesliga either who do follow this ideal. Borussia Dortmund, the other team in the Champions League Final also charges an exceptionally low price for their tickets. In fact, their prices are so low that they have priced out their young fans. Oddly enough the tickets are so cheap that all the season tickets are consumed by the existing fans and young fans have no opportunities to buy tickets because they are already purchased. As a result, Borussia Dortmund has had to come up with initiatives to get tickets for younger fans so that they can maintain an influx of new fans. It has worked because Borussia Dortmund has been inundated with half a million ticket requests for the champions League final for just the 24,000 that are up for grabs. Suffice it to say Borussia Dortmund has developed a loyal and rabid fan base.

The rest of the Bundesliga follows a similar pricing strategy, and although their international popularity may not be as high as Borussia or Bayern, they are still excelling at keeping their fans loyal. These German teams are helping to prove wrong an idea that sports teams must charge more money to excel. Thanks to the Bundesliga sports teams around the world should learning that catering to the fan may reduce the profit margin but the result will be a much more loyal and rabid fan base. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are helping to prove that this sports marketing strategy could very well pay off in the long run. Hopefully it does because most fans around the world can agree that the prices they pay to watch the game they love are getting out of control.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2318209/Bayern-Munich-season-tickets-low-104-putting-Premier-League-shame.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-borussia-dortmund-is-good-2013-4

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So Long Sir Alex, Hello _________?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

You all already know that Sir Alex Ferguson has announced he will be stepping into an administrative role effective at the end of this season. You all know that he is the best British manager of all-time. You all know that his direction has created a global culture of mighty red soccer only rivaled by mega-giant Real Madrid. He is a legend. He is a footballing god. He is an incredible story and one that could have ending before it started when he was almost sacked in the early 90′s. And now he is gone in every sense but the literal one. Still a few games remain in the swan song of his career. And the question remains for us (apparently the team was told who the replacement will be at training this morning) who will replace this man? Who can come into an incredible opportunity and continue the ridiculous success that Manchester United has become accustomed to?

The answer is not overly simplistic. There are many viable candidates for the job.

1) The self-proclaimed Special One

Could we be seeing this celebratory slide at Old Trafford next season?

Mourinho is a great option for Manchester United. He has proven his managing ability in each of the top three leagues in the world. He has won trophies with Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. He has managed some of the most unmanageable players in the world. But, he is rumored to be on his way back to the land of the overly rich and incredibly insecure, the Chelsea Abramovich’s. Does he really want to go back to where he was so cruelly sacked? I don’t think so. I also think that his close relationship with Sir Alex is playing a major role in why Ferguson is stepping down now. He has set it up. Mourinho’s desire to leave has already been out in the open. Manchester United is high profile. Mourinho is high profile. He wants to be back in England. I think it’ll be in red.

2) David Moyes

Does he have what it takes to succeed at this level?

David Moyes is an incredible manager. He has turned zero transfer budget into a well-built machine of a team that was only a few results away from a spot in the Europa or in an incredible season the Champion’s League. With the budget he has, there was never a chance to win the league but he has continually proven to mold a team that will fight and scrap til the end. Fellaini and Baines could possibly be out at the summer transfer window and it is the right time for this boss to make the jump to the big time. I am not convinced that this will happen but all the tabloids seem to feel that it will.

3) My man Klopp

That smile and energy could bring any team to victory

Brought a team from the bottom half of the Bundesliga with a less than satisfactory budget to become Bundesliga champions. Check. Brought said team to the Champion’s League final using many homegrown players brought through the Dortmund youth system. Check. Jurgen Klopp is touted as the next big manager in the game. “Next” should be switched to now. He is the real deal. He is devoted to his teams as he showed when he managed Mainz 05 even after they were relegated. He loves his job. His passion is relentless and his philosophies are apparent in his teams play. Could his style be successful in the Premier League with a team selected from the cream of the crop? Probably but it would be a transition from Fergie’s ways and do the Glazer’s have that kind of time to wait? I know the fans are expecting instant success. This is a long shot but a move I am secretly holding out for.

This is an exciting time for English Football Management. I use the term management because it can be argued that the Bundesliga has overtaken the Premiership as the best league in the world. Two massive jobs are open and there are plenty of well-qualified and hungry managers ready to grab the.

What do you think will be the outcome? Will United make the right choice or find themselves struggling to compete for a Champion’s League spot next season?

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Posted in Alex Ferguson, Barclay's Premier League, David Moyes, Everton, Manchester United, Mourinho, Real Madrid

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Champion’s League Madness

Posted on May 1, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Real Madrid almost did it. I will go out on a limb and say that the only people who thought they could were those die hard Real Madrid fans and anyone without any idea of the degree of difficulty their task really was. Real Madrid had to beat a Borussia Dortmund side that hadn’t lost a Champion’s League match. A side that could score goals at will in the first leg and a side that was beaming with confidence and bravado. But Real Madrid still came close.

klopp

I’d be smiling too if my under budget team was in its first Champion’s League final since 1996.

This game was an interesting one for me. On one hand you knew what to expect from both teams. Dortmund would sit in and take the brute force Real Madrid attack and hang on to the seemingly insurmountable lead they took in the first leg. But, if they planned to sit in and defend, how is it possible that Real Madrid had so many exceptional chances in the game, nevertheless the first twenty minutes of the match? Real Madrid’s pressure was relentless. Jose Mourinho had a game plan to thwart any defensive ideas. The self-proclaimed “special one” had waves and waves of Madrid’s guns swarming the Dortmund defense and pelting the goal with shot after shot. It was awful finishing and some damn good goalkeeping from Roman Weidenfeller that kept Madrid off the scoresheet until the 80th minute. I think we all knew that Madrid would score but no one believed it would take so long.

I was not in attendance at the Bernebeu but one would have to assume that the first goal ignited a crowd that could carry the lowly QPR out of the relegation zone. Once the crowd was behind them, Madrid brought the pressure again and it looked as if the toll of defending for 80 minutes had been too much for Dortmund and that they would fall to mighty Madrid. It was not to be. Madrid grabbed a second but could not break Dortmund again, even with an extra minute of stoppage time.

Bye bye ronaldo and bye bye mourinho

Chances are that Mourinho and Ronaldo are out of Madrid at the end of the season. Who knows where they will end up but that isn’t my topic here. Madrid exposed some incredible weaknesses in Borussia Dortmund. As good as they had been in the first leg, the second leg they resembled a team of middleschooler’s taking on the varsity squad in an attempt to prove their worth, only to get run ragged for the entire game. If it was not for Hummels massive performance centrally, their could have been more goals and Dortmund might not have gone through. From the looks of the match, Dortmund cannot solely defend. They are a team of defending by attacking and without the attack flowing they will struggle and pending an implosion by the machine of Bayern Munich, they will have a tall task against them in the final.  Still, Dortmund missed a plethora of chances yesterday and given Lewandowski’s goalscoring record in the past month, I see them putting on a show at Wembley. No matter who they end up with, they will persevere. I see a 3-1 victory coming their way and another chance to live the glory of this team: 

Barcelona will win today’s game 2-0 but won’t come close to scaring Bayern. Bayern is a machine and Barcelona does not have the outrageous athletic ability of Bayern. Even the best player in the world can meet his demise.

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Posted in Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Champion's League, Lionel Messi

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Dortmund’s Best Chance to Win Champions League is Now

Posted on April 26, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Robert-Lewandowski

Borussia Dortmund pulled off a very impressive 4-1 victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday.  I thought it was even more impressive when you factor in the huge blow to the club that was made public on Tuesday when Dortmund announced it will be selling German wonderkid Mario Gotze to Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.  This article even goes so far as to say he turned down bigger offers to go to Bayern instead.  From a fans perspective, that has to sting Dortmund fans.  Gotze has been with Dortmund since he was 9 years old.  So much for loyalty, right?

TheinterestingcaseofMarioGotze

You would think the news of losing one of the best young talents in the world would demoralize a squad.  Actually, the effect was just the opposite.  Barcelona were outclassed immensely by the home side.  Dortmund played the match with huge confidence when many had predicted an inevitable all-Spanish Champions League final.

The obvious choice for man of the match was Robert Lewandowski who knocked home all 4 of Dortmund’s goals.  Entering into his final contract year, Robert will be considered one of the most highly sought after goal scorers in the world, especially after the performance he just put on against Barcelona.  His agent just announced today that a deal has been reached with an unnamed club (fancy timing).

Could he be joining his teammate Gotze at Bayern?  That would be quite the transfer window for Bayern – taking two of the best players from it’s closest rival.  Or perhaps, like this articles mentions, could he be on his way to Manchester United with the possible departure of Wayne Rooney?  Eden Dzeko would make a nice consolation prize for Dortmund, but he has hardly been in the class of Gotze or Lewandowski.

Last season, Dortmund watched Shinji Kagawa leave for Old Trafford.  Now, two of its brightest young stars are “confirmed” to be moving on this transfer window.  Marco Reus is another highly rated player possibly on the move within the next couple of transfer windows.  With all these departures, one has to assume it could be quite a while before Dortmund are back in a Champions League semi-final, let alone surviving the group stage.

It was the first time in Champions League history that two German clubs advanced to the semi-finals.  Now Bayern and Dortmund look poised to make even more history by facing off in the finals.  It could be one very awkward final for Mario Gotze should that hold true.  

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Posted in Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, Champion's League, Edin Dzeko, Manchester City, Manchester United, Transfer News, Wayne Rooney

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The Uruguayan Witch Hunt

Posted on April 25, 2013 by | Leave a comment

           

              It is impossible to feign a true belief that Luis Suarez is a great person. He is not. In many ways he is exactly what is wrong with soccer; he dives, he complains, and he pouts. However, he has qualities that endear him to soccer fans but unfortunately those qualities he possesses are usually only noticed and appreciated by fans of his team. Opposition fans conveniently ignore anything that sheds Suarez in a positive light.

“Passion” in football is a word that is thrown around so much that it has become a hollow deflated shell of what it used to mean. Not to be misunderstood, passion in football is not scoring goals or winning games. Instead passion is when a player put all his effort into every game. These special players traverse the field like generals who refuse to accept that the battle is ever lost.  When Luis Suarez steps on the field he puts his heart and soul into a team he is clearly better than. Most people would understand if he was disgruntled by the lack of offensive support from Liverpool’s owners but he never seemed to put anything less than 100% effort into every game. Sometimes his effort manifested itself in complaints and dives but there was never any indication that he did not leave his heart out on the pitch after every game.

However, Luis Suarez was a foreign player, with foreign sensibilities. He was destined to never fit in properly in the English Premier League and the more he played, the larger that fact loomed on the horizon. Despite his amazing talent and proficiency on the football pitch, fans of the Premier League would only see his follies. They would accuse him of diving and then conveniently ignore Gareth Bale’s incessant diving. They would mock his complaining while ignoring the many other Premier League players who do so on a constant basis. Hypocrisy surrounded the Liverpool fans like smog on a warm Sunday afternoon in Hong Kong and it took ever bit of effort to not choke on it.

Any Liverpool fan saw this length-ban coming. Luis Suarez was viewed negatively even before his two incidents and those incidents only further entrenched opinions of his character. This article is not being written to excuse his supposed racism (still not enough evidence to completely verify Evra’s claims) or biting incident. Instead it is meant to point out that Suarez was and never will be given the benefit of the doubt in the English Premier League. His apologies and actions were destined to always fall on deaf ears. Liverpool fans support him with undying allegiance because they have seen his true character but their opinions are cast aside as fan-boy chatter. Unfortunately, the opinion that is most publicized is the opinion of the the non-Liverpool fans around the league who have held a jaded viewpoint towards him since he arrived. This ban is not just a strict punishment. It is an excommunication. The FA and EPL fans do not want Luis Suarez in this league and they are hoping that this punishment finally forces his transfer.

There was a double-standard when it came to Luis Suarez whether or not fans of the league wanted to admit it. His actions have been inexcusable but they have also all been met with glee by those who disdain him. Luis Suarez lived in an environment where people were watching him under a magnifying glass, just waiting for the moment he screwed up. Maybe if Suarez was treated with the same level of respect as many other players he would have become a truly special player that would have gone down in the annals of English Premier League history. Instead he has been driven out like Shrek. A monster we never took the time to understand and appreciate who will come back and wreck havoc on all those who doubted him when he returns.

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The Best English Import Since the Beatles and Dr.Who

Posted on April 18, 2013 by | Leave a comment

(This Picture isn’t entirely relevant but God is she gorgeous)

        I can still remember those dark days of my early years. Till this day they haunt my dreams like the monster under my bed who escaped discovery every time my parents went to check. During those medieval times I would risk the life of my laptop in the foolish hope of watching soccer. Down I would go into the dark netherworld of the internet in the search for a quality stream of an English Premier League game, eschewing caution while I navigated through questionable pop-up ads just to watch the game I loved. My desperation was so palpable that I would sometimes watch a VHS of the English Premier League’s greatest goals just to get a taste of the quality of soccer played across the pond.

Before the wide availability of English soccer on TV, Steven Gerrard’s name was just an idea. I would hear stories of his soccer prowess but to me they seemed almost like tall tales, legends that had grown larger as they made their way from Liverpool, England to Oceanport, New Jersey. I can still remember my feelings of constant anger. Anger that us soccer fans were dismissed by major sports networks and anger that MLS could not provide the same level of excitement as the English Premier League. Why did I have to sit there and watch Clint Mathis wander around the Meadowlands like an apathetic cat while people in England got to watch Gerrard gallivant around Anfield like knights of yore? It was not fair.

Thankfully, as soccer grew in this country, so did the soccer coverage. By high school I could watch a good percentage of English Premier League games on my TV and even get Champions League coverage; if my parents were nice enough to buy the sports tier with Fox Soccer Channel on it. However, my insatiable thirst for top-level soccer was still unquenched The increasing number of games only served to highlight how many games were not on TV. There were weekends where I would miss big English Premier League games that were inexplicably not on television. Hope was the only thing driving me those days, and I was beginning to run on fumes.

When NBC acquired the rights to the English Premier League I was wary. For so long all I had known was the Fox Soccer Channel. They were by no means perfect but I knew what they were capable of. NBC Sports was an enigma, what if they provided even less coverage of the English Premier League? The dread of an unknown evil clouded my judgement. It began to make me question whether we were doomed to having to watch more choppy streams from some server in an island in the middle of the Baltic Sea. The subsequent rumors of the collapse of the Fox Soccer Channel brought upon more terror. What would soccer become in this country with the last bastion of American televised soccer being dismantled like a young child cleaning up his Legos. I feared the worst.

But alas NBC has quelled my fears. Fast on the heels of its fantastic MLS coverage, NBC has shown with its proposed EPL coverage that it will cater to the soccer fans of this country. Every game will be available on some medium along with various soccer shows to support its live game coverage. The English Premier League will no longer be a niche sport shown during off-hours on ESPN or the hard to find FSC. NBC is bringing the EPL to the forefront of its network and the brilliance of that move will not go unrewarded. The only caveat is that some will suspect it will decrease interest in MLS. However, have no fear my friends, for more soccer in this country will only help the growth of the sport and MLS in America.

 

 
So rejoice my fellow soccer fans! Crawl out from under the crushing weight of American soccer obscurity and breathe in the fresh air of acceptance. Our prayers have been answered, people want to sell to our soccer-obsessed demographic.
(See program coverage details below)

Details of the 2013-2014 NBC Sports Group Premier League programming include:

  • All 380 matches presented live on television with studio pre- and post-game coverage;
  • All 380 matches streamed live via NBC Sports Live Extra;
  • Games not aired on a designated NBCUniversal channel will be made available to distributors viaPremier League Extra Time, a package of overflow television channels available at no extra cost for each of their customers who receives NBC Sports Network;
  • Championship Sunday – May 11, 2014, when all 10 Premier League matches will be available live on a different NBCUniversal channel;
  • 76 Spanish-language telecasts, 10 on Telemundo, 66 on Mun2;
  • More than 600 hours of Premier League original programming.
  • NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA: Every Barclays Premier League match will be streamed live via NBC Sports Live Extra, the NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktop, mobile and tablets and, in most cases, on the digital platforms of participating cable, satellite, telco and other video subscription services. The vast majority of Barclays Premier League matches will be streamed via “TV Everywhere,” available on an authenticated basis to subscribers of these services.

http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2013/04/16/nbc-sports-groups-2013-14-premier-league-programming-plans/

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