The Land of Cheerful Page 3 Girls

Yesterday was my first ever trip to Essex in my time here in the UK, so it was with some excitement that I gazed out of the window as we exited the M25 to the unseen territory east of the metropolis. I know that you are not supposed to get excited about going to Essex. Travelling anywhere new, and I mean anywhere, always brings a smile to my face, though.

For my American readers I should explain that Essex has a bit of a reputation as a county. Spitting Image once described it as "where page 3 girls buy their mum a bungalow." Sort of like New Jersey without the toxic waste or the organised crime. Some of my best friends are from New Jersey, though, so I came with an open mind, and eyes peeled for any page 3 girls on the loose.

After a four hour journey the coach pulled into sunny Melbourne Park, home of Chelmsford City FC. One thing that was immediately noticeable: whereas many club grounds are called 'Park,' in this case the name was literally true. On the approaching road there was a very inviting and enormous expanse of parkland, tapering off into a cluster of shiny municipal-looking buildings around a running track and a football pitch. That cluster is Melbourne Park.

I had two initial impressions upon entering the ground. The first was that everyone was extraordinarily friendly. The turnstile man, the program sellers and the lucky-draw ticket sellers all seemed genuinely pleased to welcome me to the match in a way that was almost, well, American (I mean that in a good way). The second impression I had was that I felt a bit unsure what was going on. Everyone was milling around an open area outside the clubhouse but it wasn't at all clear where to stand to watch the match. There was a maze of temporary fences between me and the pitch and it was not obvious where my standing ticket allowed me to stand. I decided not to worry about it, though, and milled around with everyone else.

I did not get to mill around by myself for long, though, before a Chelmsford fan made a bee-line for me and started asking me about my journey from the west country. As I was wearing my replica Bath City kit I stood out at a distance. It took me a bit off guard, to be honest. Non-league fans have a natural camaraderie, but no one had ever sought me out for conversation at any other ground. As an American I'm much more used to being the one being forward. Tim, as I later found out, has been following Chelmsford all his life and gave me a quick summary of the club's history. Having lost their ground in 1997 they had been forced to ground share for nine years until after an agreement with the local council they were allowed to locate themselves in this corner of Melbourne Park. Both the club and the council have spent a lot of money fixing the place up, and despite a few drawbacks, Tim was very happy his club had its own home again. Like most Chelmsford fans, he was also proud of the club's tradition of good support. Judging from the streams of people in claret tops filing into the ground I had agree he had reason to be proud. The attendance for the day was officially 1,216 - almost 400 more than the next highest match in our league on the day. We swapped our expectations for the season ahead (he seemed sure we were destined for a top ten finish, but that was before he had seen our keeper in action), and wished each other well.

The Bath City players arrived at the ground during my talk with Tim, seriously delayed by bad traffic on the M25. They must have hurried through their dressing room routines because they were out on the pitch a few minutes later. Players access the pitch by a accordion-style tunnel that is pulled from the side of the clubhouse across the eight-lane running track. It seemed curious, but I am sure Conference rules require a separate access to the pitch for the players. In order to make this work, though, more temporary fences come into play to cordon off that corner of the track. This cuts off the access for the fans between the clubhouse and the main stand. This caused a huge bottleneck at the end of the match.

I wandered over to a section of fencing to watch Bath City warm up. Again, within moments of being alone again I was approached by a friendly chap I have now identified from the program as Rob Hill. Rob carried a walkie-talkie and appeared to be in charge of operations for this part of the ground. I had a similar conversation as I had with Tim but Rob was able to shed more light on Chelmsford's finances as he identified himself as one of the 147 owners of the club. In a nutshell, Chelmsford is now very well financed but last year they spent way too much on players who failed to produce when it counted. More than one player was on £900 a match, which is astronomical for step-two of non-league. At the end of last season the manager let go of most of the old guard and they have been replaced by younger, cheaper players. The strategy is to focus the funds on infrastructure improvements to the ground rather than expensive players. A new £1m stand was in the works. My main impression of this exchange, though, was that Rob seemed as pleased as could be that I was there. He had a welcoming, friendly smile beaming from his face whenever I saw him during the course of the match. He's got the same smile in his program picture. I asked Rob about the ground, especially the distance spectators are from the pitch. He said it was not perfect, but it was what they had. They were going to make the best of it. They certainly were trying hard from what I saw.

Once the match was nearly underway the series of temporary fences were opened up and the Bath City fans gathered behind the goal City would be attacking. Sticking with the temporary theme, there was even a portable terrace installed for our benefit. There were Chelmsford fans on the other three sides. The main stand was separated by not only the eight lanes of the track, but also a long jump arena. It almost looked as if this stand had been built for something else but as it was possible to see the pitch from it the Chelmsford faithful might as well make use of it. Along our right were a few rows of (temporary?) seats up against the side of a municipal building, running the length of the pitch. Opposite us, on a similar temporary terrace, several hundred Chelmsford fans were packed in. It is perhaps one of the few grounds in our league where the view behind the goals is as good as anywhere else.

At the interval I had two more Chelmsford fans approach me and make conversation. Not just a passing comment. They really wanted to talk. Again, in America this might be normal but I have sort of lost the knack of it after ten years in Blighty. Still, I was happy for the opportunity and I did my best not to seem like a dumb American who doesn't really understand soccer yet. It was at this point I got a good view of the extraordinarily tough looking stewards Chelmsford employs. I have no doubt they spend their evenings successfully controlling the crowds outside Essex's most popular night clubs. They seemed a little out of place in such a friendly, peaceful environment. True to the club's form, though, they still smiled and seemed happy to be out at the football.

As the second half was drawing to a close several Chelmsford fans made for the exits. It seemed very odd because the match was still in the balance and it seemed unlikely that traffic would be a problem after the match. The reason became evident, though, when the players left the pitch and the tunnel was extended, cutting off the exits for 500 or so Claret fans for ten minutes. Not good if you've been holding it in. When they did get free, though, they had access to one of the spiffiest looking clubhouses around. Non-league only in name.

I hated seeing Bath City lose, but I did come away feeling lucky to be a non-league fan. The hostility and intimidation that go along with being an away supporter at league matches was nowhere to be seen. This is usually the case at all of our away matches (okay, except maybe Newport County), but I think the Chelmsford fans are special. There is a big difference between being polite and greeting complete strangers like old friends as they did. I count myself unlucky that I saw no page 3 girls, but I have decided that the general judgement of Essex is unfair. Anywhere that cheerful has a lot going for it.

In fact, I think the people of Chelmsford would find life in America a very easy adjustment. You can chat up complete strangers there all you like and no one will bat an eyelid. If anyone is applying for a green card and needs a reference, let me know.

(You can get a bird's-eye-view of Melbourne Park by adjusting the Google Map below)


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Reasons to be Cheerful

Okay, the honest truth is that we lost. It hurts, and it hurt all the way back on the four hour journey from Chelmsford to Bath. BUT, City fans can take a lot of encouragement from today's match.

Before I begin my description of today's match, I first want to outline what I will be doing on the blog for the next few days. Today I'm going to describe the match play from my perspective. Tomorrow I'm going to talk about the Chelmsford City ground and the very friendly Chelmsford supporters I met there. On Monday I'm going to finish up by talking about the unique phenomenon of the supporters coach and away match travel - just in time for me to talk about the home opener against Maidenhead on Tuesday. But now, today's match.....

Due to some really shocking traffic on the M25 the City players' coach did not arrive at Melbourne Park until half an hour before kick-off. Despite this City played for the first ten minutes like a team ready to take command of the match. There was good passing, intelligent play, and pressure on the Chelmsford goal. Then, at ten minutes, against the run of play, a long free kick was fumbled by our on-loan keeper, Will Putty. Chelmsford's Danny Hocton was in the right place to capitalise and was able to tap the ball in to give his team an early lead.

Perhaps Puddy was suffering from nerves. Perhaps the team's late arrival at the ground had thrown his composure. Perhaps the shocking state of the pitch in front of the goal contributed. Whatever the reason, his composure got much worse and his keeping skills totally deserted him for the next fourteen minutes. A simple lob shot, maybe not even intentionally aimed at the goal, from Jason Hallett four minutes later bounced over Puddy's outstretched fingers. Hallett scored again five minutes after that, this time after heading in another looping pass in a six yard box Puddy was unable to take control of. By this time the City faithful were in a state of shock. We sat helpless at the opposite end of the ground while it appeared that our hopes for the season were being shattered by a single hapless player. Puddy looked decidedly shaky for the rest of the match. Every time he touched the ball without letting it roll into his own net the Chelmsford fans cheered sarcastically, but the City fans cheered too. Any touch at this point that did not end in a goal for the opposition was an improvement.

But improvement was still a ways off for Mr. Puddy. At twenty-five minutes Putty failed to control a ball in his six yard box again, and after pinging about a bit it was volleyed into the net by Anthony Cook. Four goals had been allowed in fifteen minutes. The only positive thing at all anyone in the Bath City crowd could say was that at this point Norwich City were losing 5-0 to Colchester after the same amount of play.

Things appeared to get even worse. Sido Jombarti's arm was struck by the ball in the box. A penalty was awarded, and Puddy was in the spotlight again. And he stopped it! The keeper who had just let in four goals stopped a penalty! The brave band of City fans at the far end of the pitch went crazy (me among them) and suddenly the momentum switched back into City's favour.

From this point of the match City took control. To me, this was a remarkable achievement, and the biggest sign of improvement over the City team of last year. It was not that last year's squad lacked spirit. Continuing to play to win when you are 4-0 down, and I mean really playing to win and not just shouting about it, is a really impressive achievement. It was not one player either. The whole team raised their game a notch and starting pressing hard against the Chelmsford goal.

A defensive lapse by Chelmsford helped. Darren Edwards set up Richard Evans for a tap in goal after a mistimed back header went over the Chelmsford keeper's head. The goal needed a defensive mistake, but City had to work hard to capitalise on it and Edwards showed a composure he has sometimes lacked in the past.

A soft penalty later, scored by Edwards, and City had managed to make a horrifically embarrassing performance half-way respectable. You won't get any points for it in the standings, but I think a lot of chutzpah was demonstrated in that first half.

The second half had a completely different character, which is good or I would have arrived back home having aged ten years. After a tentative minute or two City began to impose themselves again. The Clarets had either decided to rest on their two goal lead, or had been spooked by City's fight back or something, because they started to unravel, especially in defence. Clearing the ball out of their half suddenly became a real challenge for them.

Last season there were two consistent gripes about City's play. One was the dependence on the long ball, or 'hoof and run' as it is known. The second was that even against lower opposition City was often unable to even appear likely to score without 'walking the ball in.' Players would get the ball in a good position in front of the opposing net and not know what to do with it.

Both those concerns were laid to rest today. I can only remember a handful of long balls coming from the back four over the midfielders' heads. High balls were chested down and controlled in a way I have not seen before. Intelligent, creative passes made an appearance. Chelmsford's defence was decidedly ropey, but after seeing City stall in front of the goal against Aylesbury United (from two leagues below) in last year's FA Cup exit I was very pleased to see the team's progress.

At the hour mark ex-Team Bath player, Mike Perrott, came on for Browning and, although in theory a mid-fielder, played as a forward coming down the right hand side. His first activity with the ball was to make an excellent cross in front of the Clarets' keeper. This was a sign of things to come. I like watching Perrott play because he seems hungry to score and he shows the knack for being in the right place at the right time. At 80 minutes Jim Rollo beat a defender, made an excellent cross to Perrott who then replied with a header right on target past the outstretched arms of Craig Holloway. The Bath City support went bananas!

Oh yeah, not long before this Mark Badman was shown his second yellow card and sent off by a very inconsistent referee, Andrew Parker. So we really went Bananas because City had just scored with ten men!

With ten minutes to go it seemed like City would pull off an impossible fight back. They continued to play with pace and vigour and kept Chelmsford on the back foot. In the end, they ended up a goal short.

Today's match showed up a few problems for City, with goalkeeping being the obvious top of the list. With first and second choice keepers injured it is a tough situation. Still, going into today's match everyone was worried about strikers and scoring goals. City scored three, equalling the goal tally of the first four City matches last season.

And, as I have said repeatedly now, City played with a lot of heart. The Black and White Army showed their appreciation with a long ovation for our heroes. We were clapping long after the Chelmsford fans were queueing for the exit.

Why I am a Happy Man

Tonight, as I drove to Sainsbury's to pick up milk and bread for the weekend, I felt one of those rare feelings of contentment that require one to pause and take stock of how good things are.

On the car radio I was listening to Radio 5 Live's commentary of the first match of the Football League season -- a Championship tussle between Sheffield United and the freshly relegated Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough was struggling to adapt the the frenetic pace of Championship play, but I was enjoying the sense of optimism that comes from the fresh start to a new season. I didn't care who won or lost, but hearing the Boro crowd chanting in the background of the commentary was a great harbinger for what is coming tomorrow.

Tomorrow Bath City launch their campaign against Chelmsford City. AND, I am going. That's right. The wife has given me a free pass. This is a pretty serious free pass. I will be doing a lot of laundry to make up for this one. I will need to drive to a town about ten miles away and board the supporters away coach just before 10 am. I am expected to return at about 9:30pm. On a Saturday I am leaving her to take care of the kids for the whole day. Really serious amounts of laundry we are talking.

And so I will join a couple score of fellow City fans on one of the longest away journeys of our season to play a strong team knowing all the while that the team roster only has one uninjured, recognised striker. I know this, but in my heart I am full of optimism. I can't help it. I know I probably shouldn't, but I have let hope spring eternal once more.

One other reason I'm excited. Last year arguably the most exciting match of the season was City's 3-2 victory over the Clarets. This was despite our only keeper, Paul Evans, being sent off and veteran midfielder Steve Jones having to take his place between the sticks and fend off a lot of Chelmsford shots. I was not there. I had to make do with sitting in front of the computer waiting for the results to update. This year I will be there.

And I am a happy man.

Pretending to Be Calm with Two Days to Go!

The day before the day before the season and I am a bundle of nerves.

Everything kicks off in Essex against Chelmsford City on Saturday and although we really need a good start I have no idea how we are going to begin. The evidence is decidedly mixed.

Last year we struggled to score goals in the preseason and the regular season. This year, despite having a weaker team offensively on paper, we have scored more goals and in every preseason match. We only have one recognised striker who is not injured at the moment, Darren Edwards, and he is generally seen as a support striker rather than a goal machine. Still, like I say, City appear to be in good form on the pitch.

Last year Chelmsford were one of the top teams but City beat them home and away. The away match was by general consent, City's top performance of the year. Chelmsford went through a lot of turmoil off the pitch midway through their season. The manager axed seven players after they were ejected from the playoffs. Things do not appear to be completely settled. And yet, most pundits are picking them for another top five finish. It could be that City will be beginning the competition with an away match against one of the best teams in the league.

One of the things I like about the level City play at is it is completely unpredictable. Despite the surprising number of journalists who cover the Blue Square South, the clubs are too small and introverted for anyone to know what is happening at all twenty-two of them. Like last year some clubs who everyone expects to do well will fail as Havant & Waterloo did. Some club will come out of obscurity to fight for and maybe win a promotion place, a la Hayes & Yeading. The City discussion board is full of anxiety, but we don't really know how the season will shape up at all.

And of course, I am full of anxiety too. I pace around the house nervously. I scan the Chelmsford City discussion boards for what their fans expect (the majority are expecting a draw - I could live with a draw). I pretend, to my wife and to people who do not also have the bug, that it is all just a bit of fun. But we NEED a win. At most eleven of twenty-two teams can begin the season with a win, but please make sure that Bath City is one of them!

The Pros and Cons of Ups and Downs, part four

As an American I realised very quickly that following an English football club, especially at the lower levels, was a very different experience to being a fan of a similar team in America. There are lots of obvious differences, but there is one that runs very deep and is difficult to express in words.

From early childhood I followed the Atlanta Braves with sincere devotion. I went to, watched, or listened to most games most seasons (and this is in a 162 game regular season). I knew the players. I knew the team history. I hunted autographs. I befriended the usher who manned Ted Turner's box and he invited me to come and sit in it for the last few innings of games I was attending. I wore a Braves cap every day for my first year of University. I was, I thought, pretty serious.

Looking back on this, though, my relationship with the Braves has always been that of a loyal customer. I came and I paid my money. It never occurred to me that the Braves needed me or that I was anything other than an observer to their successes and failures. It would be like me claiming credit for Julia Roberts' rise to stardom because I went to see Pretty Woman in the theatres. Now that I am no longer an Atlanta resident I don't get to follow the Braves live and in person, and because I have no one to talk to about it my relationship with the club can get a bit detached. Someday I will get back to Atlanta again, though, and the Braves will still be there, still playing at Turner Field and still playing in the National League.

My relationship with Bath City has been very different from the outset. Last season City came very close to a playoffs spot. The club's player budget is modest and the squad is small. Injuries racked up as the campaign went on and it became clear that another striker was needed. The budget was small because, like most clubs at this level, attendances have been falling. In other words, City failed to make the playoffs, in part, because not enough fans wanted to watch them play. They failed for lack of support.

When the Braves came in second in the National League West in 1983, manager Joe Torre sighted a lot of reasons for this. Lack of attendance was not one of them. Football is different. Football clubs rise and fall based on short term results. To get good short term results you need short term money. The most reliable source of short term money is from the fans (or debt, but that is a great way to kill a club in the long term). An extra hundred people a match this season would mean roughly £20,000 for the club. That would boost the playing budget by 25% I will go to every game I can, and bring everyone I can along with me. I make a difference, and this is not just because it is a small club. English fans are called supporters because they support the club, whatever the level it plays at. Even though I might not say it out loud, if they did make it to the playoffs this year I will give myself a small sliver of the credit.

There is one more thing that relegation and promotion brings to life as a fan. The football season is, in essence, an enormous gamble of each club's future on its performance on the pitch. The key word of the last sentence is 'gamble.' It is both terrifying and exhilarating to think about what might lay ahead in the next ten months. We might get lucky and find ourselves on the brink of national competition, or we might get in real trouble and find ourselves on the brink of insolvency. Like all forms of gambling, the terror and exhilaration are addictive, and we the fans are the junkies. We tell ourselves that we can stop anytime we like, but.....

Major League Soccer's fans try to copy the passion of their European counterparts. They have 'ultras.' They sing. They even, somehow, mange away match travel. Without the fear of relegation, though, American soccer fans will really never know what it is like to invest all of your emotions on the progress of their club. The best they can achieve, a poor copy, is to be passionate customers.

The Pros and Cons of Ups and Downs, part three

So far I've been explaining how relegation and promotion, and its absence, changes the way professional sports operates in Europe and America. Now I want to discuss some possible explanations for how sports culture evolved so differently between continents.

This is not scientific, but I can think of two main reasons why movement between leagues would be attractive in England, and unworkable in America. The first and most obvious of these is geography.

After ten years of living in England places like Chelmsford and Dover seem like a long way away to me. This is a complete illusion. Especially when the extensive rail network is considered, it is impossible to travel any linear distance in England that would be considered a long trip by American standards. Most places can be reached in a few hours. You can even drive to Scotland if you want to in a single day. This has led to the wonderful tradition of 'away' supporters travelling to watch their club - something that is largely unheard of in America. Also, despite the grumbling of the occasional club chairman, there is no scenario in any of the top five English divisions where away travel by itself could cause a club to have financial difficulties. Even if a Cornish team was in a division over-represented by the northeast, it would be manageable (although very inconvenient). This means that the natural setup for any league is for all teams, nationwide, to compete against each other.

All professional sports in America have some sort of geographic division even at the very top levels. There are no leagues where every team competes equally with every other team regardless of location. Normally clubs are divided into geographic 'divisions' of five to ten teams and tend to play teams in their division more than teams outside the division. Division winners progress to a round of playoffs (to determine the overall champion, not second place). This system only works because the same teams are in the league every year. If a team in Seattle was dropped in favour of a team in Miami, it would throw the divisional structure into chaos. What's worse, it would risk undermining the most important revenue earner in American sports: television. Most leagues spread teams out across the country, careful to cover the top twenty or so television markets.

I do not think geography is the critical factor in this difference, however. The most important difference, I think, is to do with the differing attitudes in sports to amateurism versus professionalism.

Outside of football, the term 'professional' is a strangely negative term in British sport. I think this is more a phenomenon of southern England rather than the whole country, but for better or worse, southern England often controls what happens in the UK. Historically, amateur sportsmen were considered noble and pure. A professional's need to accept money for playing sport betrayed his lower class background. Cricket has been particularly plagued by this dichotomy, with all English players being classified as either 'gentlemen' or 'players' up until the 1960s. Football has escaped this scourge by and large (probably due to its popularity in the north of England where such niceties are recognised for the nonsense they are), but there is still a strong desire to leave space at the table for the amateur sportsman. The Football Association is a keen proponent of amateur football for all ages. The 'football pyramid,' which allows any team to have a chance to climb through the leagues to compete at the highest level (no matter how practically impossible) sits well with the British values of fair play and hard work. The fact that I could register a team composed of myself and ten friends and begin a long assault on the Premiership is an important component of the English sports ethic (even if it is practically impossible without the intervention of a millionaire or two).

Despite some early attempts, national amateur sports organisations in America failed to take hold. Maintaining a national competition was too expensive for anyone but proper businessmen to administer. The first professional league to last more than a few years was the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (or National League) in 1876. It was formed when Chicago businessman William Hulbert convinced seven other owners to form a league with enough central authority to impose discipline on member clubs. When the Athletics stopped travelling to away games in the west to save money, he expelled them. The league survived and the owners were able to concentrate on doing what they had always wanted to do: make money. Kicking a fellow owner out of the league because his team had not played well was not on the agenda. The National League was, and continues today, to be a closed shop. The American people did not mind that the new league was a overt attempt to make money from sport. What could be more natural? The fact that the National League was not open to all comers would have bothered no one as long as it delivered a quality product to its fans.

And this points to the other huge difference in sporting culture. In America fans are customers. In England supporters are stakeholders. Tune in tomorrow for the final instalment on this discussion (whew!).

The Pros and Cons of Ups and Downs, part two

Yesterday I described the ways relegation and promotion, or the lack thereof, impact decision making at the top level of sports organisations. A knock-on effect of this is that America and Europe attract different types of club owners with different priorities. Again, this might not sound important, but read on.

In 1976 Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves baseball club. The Braves had been in Atlanta for ten years previous to this, but there is no record that Turner had shown a particular interest in the team. He wanted it for one reason only:programming . Turner owned a small, independent local television channel called WTCG. Major League baseball teams play a 162 game regular season, so owning the Braves equated to roughly 486 hours of quality programming that was virtually guaranteed to get good ratings in the south-eastern United States. Even if the Braves played badly having their presence on the broadcast schedule would give the fledgling station enough cache to expand beyond the local Atlanta market. After a name change to WTBS and the cable television explosion of the late '70s, Turner created the first of the 'superstations' that continue to be a big presence in the American media today. Four years later, using the revenue from WTBS, Turner launched his second channel. This was based on a crazy idea to have a channel that only showed news. He called it the Cable News Network, or CNN, and the rest is history.

The Braves did play badly. In the following fifteen seasons they placed last in their division nine times. They did win the division once, in 1982, but failed to win a single game in the playoffs. Since 1991 the Braves have racked up one of the most remarkable records in baseball history, but the important fact remains that for the initial fifteen years of his ownership Turner was able to leverage his ownership of the club into a worldwide media empire despite the fact that they were consistently one of the worst teams in baseball. They would never get relegated, so no matter how badly they played he knew he could still offer Major League Baseball on his airwaves the next year. And as long as he had Major League Baseball, no cable company was going to not carry WTBS in its channel package. The fans suffered, but Turner made good on his investment.

There have been businessmen who have bought Premiership football clubs in England, but rarely as in investment. A football club is a millionaires' bauble, a hobby that can occupy the otherwise idle rich. Roman Abramovich has spent roughly £600 million on Chelsea FC since his arrival in 2003. No one expects him to recoup his investment. Lord Alan Sugar sited the time and money he spent on Tottenham Hotspur as the main reason for the decline of his computer firm, Amstrad. There are plenty of rich men in English football, at all levels. The difference is that they almost always become rich before they get involved in football. No one, bar players and managers, gets rich from the business of football.

The reasons for this are simple. If you own a team that cannot be relegated you have a fixed asset. It can decline in value if it is badly managed as a business, but not significantly if it is badly managed on the pitch. Short term results will not make or break you. In other words, it will be a fairly normal business.

If you own a team that can be relegated, suddenly your investment is in constant jeopardy. If you get in a financial pickle off the pitch, you cannot cut costs on the pitch or you will find yourself in an even bigger financial pickle than you were before. In fact, if you don't dedicate any and all available funds to getting better and better players you are going to be outspent by the other teams in your league and you will be relegated anyway. You need a ready supply of cash at all times, and don't expect the banks to be your friends with such a crazy business model. In short, a football club cannot really operate like a normal business. If you buy shares in a football club you are crazy to think of it as anything other than a charitable contribution.

And here is an important irony. In European sports, money (as in short-term cash flow) is the most discussed topic in sports news after the results themselves. American sports franchises, which run like small corporations, very rarely discuss money publicly. Who woulda thunk it?