Football club owners and the lack of patience - Beginning of the end of the beautiful game?

Over the last few years, the commercial value of football has increased manifold. With the ever increasing fan-base, the beautiful game is undoubtedly enjoying its best period, both ethically and commercially. Domestic leagues around the world are wildly popular, even in the countries without much footballing history.

The bigger clubs are no longer afraid to venture into unchartered territories, with a view to tapping into the potential goldmines of revenue. Football academies are being set-up in countries like India, China and most of the Asian countries due to the above reasons. The sale of football accessories and merchandise is at an all time high. In the European countries, the passion and emotions run so high that fan hooliganism and violence are often encountered in the “derby” games. A nation, and even a city, for that matter, is divided by certain matches like Manchester United vs Liverpool, United vs Manchester City, Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce, West Ham vs Milwall, to name a few. With the huge crowds being drawn to the matches, the cash registers are certainly ringing louder than ever.

This financial boom in football has not gone unnoticed in the eyes of the billionaires around in the world. They seem to view it as a goose, laying golden eggs, with apparently endless potential of revenue generation. Hence, billionaires and giant business conglomerates are showing great enthusiasm in procuring the ownership of football clubs. Some of the biggest clubs in world football have already been taken over by these money hounders. Manchester United by the Glazers, Chelsea by Roman Abramovich, Manchester City by the Arab sheikhs, are only a few examples. These businessmen bring with them truckloads of funds, which are utilised for the infrastructural development of the club as well as in the transfer market. The fans, no wonder, are not complaining. Till a few years back, no Manchester City fan would have dreamt of seeing their club playing in the Champions League, let alone winning the Premier League. Same is the case with Paris St-Germain, and in the latest case, Monaco.

But, as is always the case, no development takes place without a subsequent hazard. The influx of these business tycoons, no doubt, has enabled many small clubs to reach dizzying heights of glory, not to mention the commercial success of football, in general. But seldom are these owners equipped with the footballing know-how required to run a club. They are only concerned with the number of silverware the club is winning. This is, however, natural on their part and is also expected. But what is disturbing is their utter lack of patience in this regard. They want immediate results, and money seems to be their only weapon in the battle to success.

Roman Abramovich, the notoriously ambitious owner of Chelsea F.C., has changed innumerable managers till date. Even hugely successful gaffers like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Claudio Raneiri, Liuz Felipi Scholari have been given the axe. It is, however, interesting to note that some of them have been sacked even after successful campaigns in the domestic leagues.

Manchester City, having sacked Roberto Mancini, the man who guided them to silverware after a gap of four decades, are no different in this regard. These wealthy owners seem to be obsessed with an insurmountable greed and hunger of success and revenue. They are not ready to be second-best at any cost. They seem to be having the belief that money, and money alone, can bring success and silverware to the club.

A football club cannot be successful in a season or two. It takes years of hard work, dedication and skilled man-management to enable a team to be successful in the long run. It took Sir Alex Ferguson 26 years to make Manchester United the force they are today. A group of players, along with a manager, need to be given at least 3-4 years to mould themselves into a well-oiled machinery, capable of delivering success for a considerable period of time. But the thought processes of these impatient, ambitious and result-oriented owners seem to be anything but along these lines. The players, managers, the fans and most importantly, the beautiful game, are the victims of this ownership saga.

Football is changing, let it for the better.