It was England’s worst ever defeat in the finals of the World Cup. Now an inquest begins that will rumble on for weeks and indeed months. If England’s overall performance had not been so inept and the German win so well deserved the focus might have been on the wrongly disallowed goal. There will still be discussion of the need for goallline technology, but Sepp Blatter has said no and Fifa is his personal fiefdom.
It was England’s worst ever defeat in the finals of the World Cup. Now an inquest begins that will rumble on for weeks and indeed months. If England’s overall performance had not been so inept and the German win so well deserved the focus might have been on the wrongly disallowed goal. There will still be discussion of the need for goallline technology, but Sepp Blatter has said no and Fifa is his personal fiefdom.
Fabio Capello’s future will be discussed and in particular the decision by the Football Association to grant him a new contract just before the World Cup began. If he is forced out, considerable compensation will have to be paid. Once again the question will be: do the FA really know what they are doing? No doubt they would argue there was a risk of him going to a big European club but with hindsight that might look like a risk that was worth taking.
The contest was also one between the Premiership model and the German Bundesliga. The Premier League relies on mult-million pound earners who cost their clubs huge sums in wages and transfer fees and who never seem able to play as well for England as they do for their clubs. In part this is often because England seems to be a team of individuals rather than a cohesive unit – but reliance on individualism, improvisation and, yes, indiscipline is very English.
Germany has its Nachwuchsleistungszentren (I think that’s right) academy system which costs the clubs €80m a year. The system was set up to help clubs remain competitive without having to splash out on expensive players. The Bundesliga claim that they have a balanced competition in which you can still earn very good money, play in front of big crowds and have the chance to appear in the Champions League.
For its part the Premier League argues that the Bundesliga got a boost from government-funded stadium development for the last World Cup. They claim that despite recent tax increases they will continue to attract top international talent which will play before global television audiences. They consider that clubs get little credit for the clubs’ investment-led model and funds redistributed to the Football League and non-league system.
One concern that may well be followed up is that Premier League players play too much football. One can expect arguments for the winter break to surface again (probably after the lucratiive Christmas/New Year period) but also for a smaller Premier League. And that would suit many Premiership clubs very well.
