The World Cup final: A day of reflection

By Olly Deed

As the World Cup draws to a close, England fans will reflect on what could have been. As Casillas or Van Bronckhorst stride up to receive the World Cup the vast majority of England will be wishing it was Steven Gerrard popping the champagne. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Yet, it is hard to get that nagging question out of your head. Why? Does England’s failure reflect something more endemic in our domestic game? Let us have a look.

Are English clubs successful? English teams featured heavily in the Champions League this season, as they have done over the past decade. 2 of our top teams made it to quarter finals. Since 1998, English teams have won the competition 3 times and featured in 6 finals. That is a decent record by anybody’s standard. However, this artificial level of analysis hides the true reality. Liverpool’s Champions League winning side featured two English players, similarly Arsenal’s losing side in 2006. In the all-English encounter in 2008, English players represented under half of the starting line ups. Contrast this to Barcelona’s winning side in 2009 which featured 6 Spanish players and Bayern Munich’s side this year featured 5 German starters and 5 on the bench. English clubs may feature regularly in Champions League finals, but English players don’t. It is no coincidence that Spain and Germany have had extremely successful tournaments, as their players regularly compete at the highest level for their clubs.

Nobody can argue that lack of money is an issue. The Premier League may have been overtaken by the Bundesliga but it is still the second most profitable league in the world according to Deloitte’s annual Football Finance report. But again, this masks the true picture. In 2008/09 the overall revenues of the top 92 professional football clubs in England exceeded £2.5 billion. However, those clubs paid their players in excess of £1.8 billion, an eye watering sum. These sums accumulate as Premier League clubs attempt to attract the best players in the world, who earn some of the most staggering salaries. Deloitte says ‘[w]ith wages growth outpacing revenue growth in 2008/09, the Premier League’s wages/revenue ratio increased to 67% – a record high’. The ratio in amongst Football League clubs (those in the 3 divisions below the Premier League) is 86%. This begs the question, how much money are clubs spending on the development of their young players?

So at this point you’re wondering why this post appears on LabourList, a political blog rather than a football message board. Fair question. Well, I would like to contend that there are political solutions to this problem.

The first point of inspiration comes from Robert Halfon, Conservative Member of Parliament for Harlow. Mr Halfon has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling on the coalition government to democratise the Football Association (FA). The electorate would constitute members of the EnglandFans group, a membership organisation that we are all free to join. The hope would be that an accountable FA board would spend more time and resources investing in our talented youngsters, rather than wasting vast sums of money on managers who fail to deliver.

Building on this, the second point of inspiration comes from Spain where members vote for the President of their football club. Again, democratising football clubs could lead to an increasing focus on youth development. There is nothing a football fan likes more than to see a local boy lining up in their club colours. The President would ultimately be accountable to the fans if he or she fails in the task of producing home grown talent. Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the most successful teams in the world and produce the vast bulk of Spain’s young talent. Democracy hasn’t harmed them. English clubs should embrace democracy

The third point of inspiration comes from an idea trailed by the last Labour government. The plans would have required football clubs to hand a stake of up to 25% to fans, giving them a real say in the running of the club. This would guarantee a refocusing of efforts on youth development. In Germany, 51% of a football club must be owned by its members. Has German football suffered as a result? Absolutely not. Germany continues to produce world class youngsters who go on to perform on the international stage. There would still be room for the expertise of those who currently run our football clubs, but there would also be for supporters to find scope to have real tangible engagement with the way in which a club is run.

Accountability and democracy will deliver improvement in our international fortunes. The outcry amongst fans has been palpable as England have failed to achieve yet again. We need to recognise that the failure of our domestic game to deliver top class talent will not change unless fans are represented within the structures of our football clubs and our priorities are represented within club structures. So its time for a democratic revolution in England football. If it doesn’t happen we will be experiencing World Cup pain for years to come. And I don’t think I can take it anymore.