Associate
From a Chelsea Blog I look at from time to time - an interesting look at the changes in European/Domestic Football since the advent of Television/Premier League and Champions League.
Staggering (and saddening)stats on what teams have won since this group was formed. Is this healthy?
It also puts into contrast the perceptionmany people have of Chelsea ruining football/not a level playing field.
After last night's draw Jose Mourinho was asked what needed to happen
to improve Chelsea's chances of winning the Champions League. His
reply was blunt: turn G14 into G15. When asked to explain further
Mourinho refused to elaborate and walked away. So who exactly are
G14? And why does Jose want them to become G15? Well, the destiny of
the Champions League and G14 are most definitely linked. Jose is
right about that.
In the 1991/1992 season the European Cup took the first steps toward
becoming the Champions League. Group stages were introduced to what
had always been a straight forward knockout competition. Bizarrely
the knockout rounds were played first, followed by the now familiar
mini leagues. This was subsequently changed, after complaints that
the absence of quarter and semi finals diluted the excitement.
The difference between then and now is nicely illustrated by
Nottingham Forest. In their 1978/79 European Cup winning campaign
Forest played a total of nine games, including the final. They
eliminated Liverpool, AEK Athens, Grasshoppers of Zurich, and FC Koln
all over two legs before beating Malmo, 1-0 in the final. With
respect (and I am not having any kind of dig at Forest here) how many
viewers across Europe would sit their fat arse down to watch Forest v
Grasshoppers, or even Forest v Malmo?
This was the primary reason the format was changed, there weren't
enough games and certainly not enough mouth watering fixtures for the
pan-European TV audience. Television, the new hand feeding football,
wanted the competition bigger and better. They wanted the big clubs
to survive until they were the only ones standing. Then they would
play off against each other in bumper fixtures, watched on TV by
every football fan in Europe
What TV and these elite clubs wanted was more Milan v Barcelona, less
Forest v Grasshoppers. That would maximise revenue, for everyone
involved. The change was actively sought by Europe's leading clubs,
who aggressively lobbied UEFA. Predictably, in the face of a tempting
cash offer, UEFA capitulated. Europe's premier club competition,
designed as a knockout challenge between title winners only, was to
become a money spinning TV league.
That group of Europe's top clubs, who had successfully bullied UEFA,
would ultimately cement their relationship and become G14. The
mission statement in their manifesto is clear enough: "To promote co-
operation and good relations between G14 and FIFA, UEFA and any other
sporting institutions and/or professional football clubs, paying
special attention to negotiating the format, administration and
operation of the club competitions in which the member clubs are
involved." In other words, to control the Champions League.
A second idea was then introduced, one which would expand the
competition even further. The problem was that some countries had
more than one 'big' club, while others had none; Grasshoppers, Malmo,
Bruges, with respect, are not global audience pullers. So UEFA
allowed teams who had finished as low as fourth in their respective
leagues into the so called 'Champions' League. Barcelona and Real
Madrid couldn't both win the Spanish title every season, and similar
situations existed in England, Italy and Germany all valuable TV
markets.
So the modern Champions League was born, specifically designed for
television and artificially inflated to ensure every 'big' club
participated, every season. With a not so hidden agenda of funnelling
as much cash as possible into the coffers of the members of G14. The
dominance this cash has helped G14 clubs to achieve is mind blowing.
In fact it is little short of absolute.
Since the league format was introduced all 14 Champions League finals
have been won by clubs who are members of G14. In fact only two non
G14 clubs have even reached the final since the changes were made;
Monaco who were thrashed in the 2004 decider and Sampdoria who lost
the first one back in 1992. Every other final has been exclusively
between G14 clubs. Impressed? It gets better, the effect on domestic
leagues is truly unbelievable.
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the same year the
European Cup format was adjusted, G14 clubs have failed to win the
English title only twice; Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers, both fuelled
by independent wealth, were the party poopers. Chelsea could be about
to make that three times, but I am not in the poultry counting
business.
Over the same fourteen year span in Spain only two non G14 clubs won
La Liga: Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna. In Italy's Serie A
the picture is identical; in the last 14 years only the Roman clubs,
Lazio and Roma, have managed to steal the title away from G14, once
each. Both effectively bankrupting themselves in the process.
Put into perspective; since the Champions League changed format the
titles in England, Italy and Spain have been won by G14 clubs 36
times out of a possible 42. In fact just six G14 clubs shared 34 of
those 36 titles between them. Add this to the record of G14 clubs in
the Champions League over the same period, a perfect 14 out of 14.
Now that's what I call dominance.
This season a G14 club will win the title in Spain, same in Italy,
same in France, same in Germany, same in the Champions League. In
fact the only non G14 club who might win a major European title is,
well, you guessed it. Yet some claim it is Chelsea who are making the
game "uncompetitive". Of course we are. Everything was just hunky
dory before Roman arrived. Returning to reality, why does Mourinho
want G14 to become G15, and who exactly are G14?
G14, ironically, was originally formed with 14 members but 4 more
were added in 2002, including Arsenal. So really they are G18, but I
guess G14 has a better ring to it. The prime movers and shakers are
Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real
Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal. There are 9 other members but the
aforementioned 9 are the ones who wear the trousers. And let me
assure you these are expensive trousers.
If you look at when football first became a real money pot, and
television's bitch, back in the early nineties, you'll see a clear
break from the past. Leagues which had been won by a multitude of
teams suddenly became the preserve of a just a handful of elite
clubs. Older fans will remember a time when second division teams won
the FA Cup, when the league title was won by a different club every
year. When the European Cup was won by teams like Nottingham Forest,
Aston Villa, Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade.
Those days are long gone, what killed them off and changed football
forever was money, television and G14. We are now indisputably in an
era where financial muscle is the single most important factor in
determining if a club will be successful. About 14 years ago a line
was drawn in the sand; if you were in the elite at the time you were
virtually guaranteed to stay there. If you were not already part of
the elite then tough, you needed a miracle, an extraordinary amount
of luck or possibly a Russian billionaire in order to compete.
Obviously I'd like to sell you the Rom-antic notion that Chelsea are
now crusading on behalf of football against G14, sadly we are not. We
applied to join G14 before the oil had dried Roman's first down
payment. Shame on us, really. However the club did not secure the
necessary votes; Manchester United, Arsenal and Barcelona were three
who objected I believe you need unanimous agreement to join. Though
oddly enough Liverpool supported Chelsea's application.
Why Mourinho feels we need to be part of G14 in order to improve our
chances of winning the Champions League is another matter. There are
rumours that G14 clubs have an informal agreement not to sell their
star players to anyone but each other. On known evidence that doesn't
seem to be true, we bought Makelele from Madrid for example. To
counter that we haven't bought a genuine mega star in his prime, no
Ronaldinho, Henry or Shevchenko. But my view is that there are only a
handful of players in that bracket, so it's more likely to be lack of
supply than conspiracy.
The other rumour, which I believe is mainly paranoia, is that G14 has
an influence over which referees are appointed to Champions League
games. I suspect Mourinho was unhappy with the apponitment of Merk, a
referee known to be whistle happy. I'm guessing Mourinho was implying
a referee designed to slow down the game was deliberately choosen, as
this would favour the team defending a lead. Merk had previously
controlled a Porto game when Mourinho was in charge there, and he
complained at the time that Merk had destroyed the game by whistling
incessantly. I don't believe that at all, despite Merk giving a foul
every 90 seconds, and I wish Jose would sometimes accept that we can
be beaten without the aid of a global, anti-Chelsea, conspiracy.
What I do believe is that it is desperately unhealthy (to put it
politely) for a handful of powerful clubs to exercise so much
influence, in particular over the Champions League and how it is
organised. The fact that this influence enables these clubs to
utterly dominate the major European leagues is scandalous. Despite
what opposition supporters think of us, and our new found wealth, I
would prefer it if you didn't need the arrival of a billionaire in
order to compete. My allegiance to Chelsea aside, I would love to see
a club like Bolton, or Wigan or even (God forgive me) West Ham win
the league. The chances of it happening? Who to blame?
You can figure out both answers yourself.
Staggering (and saddening)stats on what teams have won since this group was formed. Is this healthy?
It also puts into contrast the perceptionmany people have of Chelsea ruining football/not a level playing field.
After last night's draw Jose Mourinho was asked what needed to happen
to improve Chelsea's chances of winning the Champions League. His
reply was blunt: turn G14 into G15. When asked to explain further
Mourinho refused to elaborate and walked away. So who exactly are
G14? And why does Jose want them to become G15? Well, the destiny of
the Champions League and G14 are most definitely linked. Jose is
right about that.
In the 1991/1992 season the European Cup took the first steps toward
becoming the Champions League. Group stages were introduced to what
had always been a straight forward knockout competition. Bizarrely
the knockout rounds were played first, followed by the now familiar
mini leagues. This was subsequently changed, after complaints that
the absence of quarter and semi finals diluted the excitement.
The difference between then and now is nicely illustrated by
Nottingham Forest. In their 1978/79 European Cup winning campaign
Forest played a total of nine games, including the final. They
eliminated Liverpool, AEK Athens, Grasshoppers of Zurich, and FC Koln
all over two legs before beating Malmo, 1-0 in the final. With
respect (and I am not having any kind of dig at Forest here) how many
viewers across Europe would sit their fat arse down to watch Forest v
Grasshoppers, or even Forest v Malmo?
This was the primary reason the format was changed, there weren't
enough games and certainly not enough mouth watering fixtures for the
pan-European TV audience. Television, the new hand feeding football,
wanted the competition bigger and better. They wanted the big clubs
to survive until they were the only ones standing. Then they would
play off against each other in bumper fixtures, watched on TV by
every football fan in Europe
What TV and these elite clubs wanted was more Milan v Barcelona, less
Forest v Grasshoppers. That would maximise revenue, for everyone
involved. The change was actively sought by Europe's leading clubs,
who aggressively lobbied UEFA. Predictably, in the face of a tempting
cash offer, UEFA capitulated. Europe's premier club competition,
designed as a knockout challenge between title winners only, was to
become a money spinning TV league.
That group of Europe's top clubs, who had successfully bullied UEFA,
would ultimately cement their relationship and become G14. The
mission statement in their manifesto is clear enough: "To promote co-
operation and good relations between G14 and FIFA, UEFA and any other
sporting institutions and/or professional football clubs, paying
special attention to negotiating the format, administration and
operation of the club competitions in which the member clubs are
involved." In other words, to control the Champions League.
A second idea was then introduced, one which would expand the
competition even further. The problem was that some countries had
more than one 'big' club, while others had none; Grasshoppers, Malmo,
Bruges, with respect, are not global audience pullers. So UEFA
allowed teams who had finished as low as fourth in their respective
leagues into the so called 'Champions' League. Barcelona and Real
Madrid couldn't both win the Spanish title every season, and similar
situations existed in England, Italy and Germany all valuable TV
markets.
So the modern Champions League was born, specifically designed for
television and artificially inflated to ensure every 'big' club
participated, every season. With a not so hidden agenda of funnelling
as much cash as possible into the coffers of the members of G14. The
dominance this cash has helped G14 clubs to achieve is mind blowing.
In fact it is little short of absolute.
Since the league format was introduced all 14 Champions League finals
have been won by clubs who are members of G14. In fact only two non
G14 clubs have even reached the final since the changes were made;
Monaco who were thrashed in the 2004 decider and Sampdoria who lost
the first one back in 1992. Every other final has been exclusively
between G14 clubs. Impressed? It gets better, the effect on domestic
leagues is truly unbelievable.
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the same year the
European Cup format was adjusted, G14 clubs have failed to win the
English title only twice; Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers, both fuelled
by independent wealth, were the party poopers. Chelsea could be about
to make that three times, but I am not in the poultry counting
business.
Over the same fourteen year span in Spain only two non G14 clubs won
La Liga: Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna. In Italy's Serie A
the picture is identical; in the last 14 years only the Roman clubs,
Lazio and Roma, have managed to steal the title away from G14, once
each. Both effectively bankrupting themselves in the process.
Put into perspective; since the Champions League changed format the
titles in England, Italy and Spain have been won by G14 clubs 36
times out of a possible 42. In fact just six G14 clubs shared 34 of
those 36 titles between them. Add this to the record of G14 clubs in
the Champions League over the same period, a perfect 14 out of 14.
Now that's what I call dominance.
This season a G14 club will win the title in Spain, same in Italy,
same in France, same in Germany, same in the Champions League. In
fact the only non G14 club who might win a major European title is,
well, you guessed it. Yet some claim it is Chelsea who are making the
game "uncompetitive". Of course we are. Everything was just hunky
dory before Roman arrived. Returning to reality, why does Mourinho
want G14 to become G15, and who exactly are G14?
G14, ironically, was originally formed with 14 members but 4 more
were added in 2002, including Arsenal. So really they are G18, but I
guess G14 has a better ring to it. The prime movers and shakers are
Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real
Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal. There are 9 other members but the
aforementioned 9 are the ones who wear the trousers. And let me
assure you these are expensive trousers.
If you look at when football first became a real money pot, and
television's bitch, back in the early nineties, you'll see a clear
break from the past. Leagues which had been won by a multitude of
teams suddenly became the preserve of a just a handful of elite
clubs. Older fans will remember a time when second division teams won
the FA Cup, when the league title was won by a different club every
year. When the European Cup was won by teams like Nottingham Forest,
Aston Villa, Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade.
Those days are long gone, what killed them off and changed football
forever was money, television and G14. We are now indisputably in an
era where financial muscle is the single most important factor in
determining if a club will be successful. About 14 years ago a line
was drawn in the sand; if you were in the elite at the time you were
virtually guaranteed to stay there. If you were not already part of
the elite then tough, you needed a miracle, an extraordinary amount
of luck or possibly a Russian billionaire in order to compete.
Obviously I'd like to sell you the Rom-antic notion that Chelsea are
now crusading on behalf of football against G14, sadly we are not. We
applied to join G14 before the oil had dried Roman's first down
payment. Shame on us, really. However the club did not secure the
necessary votes; Manchester United, Arsenal and Barcelona were three
who objected I believe you need unanimous agreement to join. Though
oddly enough Liverpool supported Chelsea's application.
Why Mourinho feels we need to be part of G14 in order to improve our
chances of winning the Champions League is another matter. There are
rumours that G14 clubs have an informal agreement not to sell their
star players to anyone but each other. On known evidence that doesn't
seem to be true, we bought Makelele from Madrid for example. To
counter that we haven't bought a genuine mega star in his prime, no
Ronaldinho, Henry or Shevchenko. But my view is that there are only a
handful of players in that bracket, so it's more likely to be lack of
supply than conspiracy.
The other rumour, which I believe is mainly paranoia, is that G14 has
an influence over which referees are appointed to Champions League
games. I suspect Mourinho was unhappy with the apponitment of Merk, a
referee known to be whistle happy. I'm guessing Mourinho was implying
a referee designed to slow down the game was deliberately choosen, as
this would favour the team defending a lead. Merk had previously
controlled a Porto game when Mourinho was in charge there, and he
complained at the time that Merk had destroyed the game by whistling
incessantly. I don't believe that at all, despite Merk giving a foul
every 90 seconds, and I wish Jose would sometimes accept that we can
be beaten without the aid of a global, anti-Chelsea, conspiracy.
What I do believe is that it is desperately unhealthy (to put it
politely) for a handful of powerful clubs to exercise so much
influence, in particular over the Champions League and how it is
organised. The fact that this influence enables these clubs to
utterly dominate the major European leagues is scandalous. Despite
what opposition supporters think of us, and our new found wealth, I
would prefer it if you didn't need the arrival of a billionaire in
order to compete. My allegiance to Chelsea aside, I would love to see
a club like Bolton, or Wigan or even (God forgive me) West Ham win
the league. The chances of it happening? Who to blame?
You can figure out both answers yourself.
and tho we benifitted from the 4 Eng teams concession,no more so than Chelsea,Newcastle and a few other non-g14 clubs who have had a shot at the CL without being champions
