Each day we’ll bring you the very latest tabloid rumors as the biggest clubs around splash the cash to bolster their rosters. True or not, they’re always entertaining…

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Juventus are edging ahead in the race for Robin Van Persie as they prepare a £20m bid to tempt him away from the Emirates Stadium.

DAILY MIRROR

Manchester United are chasing River Plate’s Argentine midfielder Ezequiel Cirigliano whom Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain both want to take on trial.

Roberto Mancini had had a major bust-up with Manchester City over their failure to land Robin van Persie.

Tim Cahill has quit Everton for New York Red Bulls – and will team up with Thierry Henry in the Big Apple.

Fleetwood want QPR midfielder Joey Barton to play for them in a friendly on Friday night.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is still looking to spend during the transfer window.

Andre Villas-Boas last night blasted “unprofessional” Luka Modric as Tottenham insisted Real Madrid must cough up £40million to sign him.

Frank Lampard is refusing to rule out a move to the MLS – if he cannot extend his deal with Chelsea.

Nottingham Forest’s new owners will signal their intent on making a Premier League return by swooping for former City Ground favourite Jermaine Jenas.

Bayern Munich have launched a cut-price bid to sign Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong for £8million.

German clubs Hamburg and Wolfsburg want to sign Nigel Reo-Coker.

THE SUN

Luka Modric has made a grovelling apology to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy for going on strike.

Roberto Mancini is furious Manchester City are falling behind in the race to sign Robin van Persie.

Golf bosses will consider a crackdown on caddies after Carlos Tevez bunked into The Open.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has finally admitted that he is battling to land Brazilian wonderkid Lucas Moura.

Put your skills to the test for a chance to win bragging rights and prizes, including a VIP trip to two Barclays Premier League games.

REGISTRATION | PREMIER LEAGUE

 

Nottingham Forest’s new owners want Jermaine Jenas to be their first big signing.

Gabriel Agbonlahor has rejected speculation linking him with a move from Aston Villa to Sunderland.

Tim Cahill is poised to leave Everton for New York Red Bulls.

Everton face a battle with Newcastle and Tottenham for Getafe midfielder Abdel Barrada.

West Brom are closing in on agreeing a deal for Argentinian midfielder Claudio Yacob.

Brighton have beaten Spurs, Arsenal, AC Milan and Valencia to land Jeremy Balmy from Le Havre.

Southampton look ready to sell Lee Barnard, Ryan Dickson and Jonathan Forte.

DAILY STAR

Andy Carroll has told Liverpool they will not force him out of Anfield.

Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker has been ruled out for up to six weeks with an Achilles injury.

Brighton and Burnley will battle it out for Wolves striker Sam Vokes.

DAILY MAIL

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas last night branded Luka Modric unprofessional over his mini-strike.

Roberto Mancini fears Manchester City have lost the initiative in the scramble for Robin van Persie’s signature.

Bayern Munich will make a £6million bid for Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong.

Zenit St Petersburg have joined the chase for Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and hope to tempt him with a £110,000-per-week deal.

Fulham are looking at Hoffenheim forward Ryan Babel.

Al Hilal are keen on Arsenal striker Park Chu-young and West Ham forward Frederic Piquionne.

DAILY EXPRESS

Tim Cahill will bring the curtain down on a distinguished Everton career today by moving to Major League Soccer with New York Red Bulls.

Nigel de Jong is set to be left behind when Manchester City fly out to China today with Bayern Munich closing on a cut-price £8million deal.

METRO

Serie A giants AC Milan have opened talks with Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner over a deal to bring the Dane to Italy.

Liverpool are set to make a bid of £10m for Swansea midfielder Joe Allen.

The Major League Soccer All-Stars have not fared particularly well in America’s summer showcase over the past few seasons.

Playing English Premier League heavyweight Manchester United in consecutive matches left the team battered, bruised and licking their wounds, falling to the 19-time league champions by a combined score of 9-2 over the two games.

But don’t be fooled by that small sample size. Since the MLS All-Star Game switched from the prototypical “East vs. West” format to a match that pits all of the league’s best players against a world-renowned team, the All-Stars have done more than simply hold their own.

Aside from the two humbling defeats to the mighty Red Devils, the MLS All- Stars have produced a 5-0-1 record against their foreign opponents (though the draw ultimately turned into a loss to English side Everton on penalties).

Wednesday, the MLS All-Stars will be out to prove that their losses to Manchester United were nothing more than outliers in an otherwise impressive record against the world’s best as they face reigning European champion and FA Cup winner Chelsea at PPL Park.

The idea to face international clubs began in 2003 with a 3-1 win over Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara. The East vs. West format manifested itself once more in 2004 before the league reverted back to contests with international powerhouses, and MLS has not looked back since.

The All-Stars crushed Fulham, 4-1 in 2005 before Dwayne De Rosario helped them squeak past Chelsea with a 1-0 win in 2006. After taking successive wins against Scottish giant Celtic (2-0) and English side West Ham United (3-2), the All-Stars played to a 1-1 draw with Everton in 2009, ultimately losing on penalties.

Major League Soccer has fought a battle to gain notoriety in a crowded sports marketplace for some time. In many ways, it is still fighting – there are plenty of people who contend that soccer in America will struggle to gain long-term popularity and that players from the United States won’t be truly competitive in the world’s game.

The All-Star Game, in its current format, was viewed as a tool to combat this notion – putting our boys against global footballing giants and proving that we’re good enough.

But even on the back of two sizable losses to Manchester United, Ben Olsen, head coach the MLS All-Stars, is much more realistic with his expectations. The D.C. United boss is not feeling the pressure to get a positive result in a glorified friendly.

“If anything, I should feel less pressure with that,” said Olsen in response to how the two previous All-Star Games will affect his approach. “I’d feel more pressure if they won both of them [against Manchester United].

“Look, it’s a situation where you fly guys in with games on the weekend, you try to get them on the same page, give them a template to succeed, but you can only do so much in 36 hours. That’s the beauty of this; it’s about the individuals and they go out there, they try to gel under quick circumstances and help each other out. We’ll see. We’ll give it our best shot, that’s for sure.”

Landon Donovan knows a thing or two about All-Star Games having been voted to an MLS-record 12th appearance this year. The Los Angeles Galaxy star echoed Olsen’s mentality, but believes his All-Star teammates still have the motivation necessary to pull off the desired result.

“It’s an All-Star Game at the end of the day,” Donovan said. “But I think guys take some pride in it. And it’s good to have guys who are experiencing it for the first time because they’re probably a little bit more excited than guys who have been there before.

“I think we’re going to be a lot more competitive this time around.”

The Major League Soccer All-Stars have not fared particularly well in America’s summer showcase over the past few seasons.

Playing English Premier League heavyweight Manchester United in consecutive matches left the team battered, bruised and licking their wounds, falling to the 19-time league champions by a combined score of 9-2 over the two games.

But don’t be fooled by that small sample size. Since the MLS All-Star Game switched from the prototypical “East vs. West” format to a match that pits all of the league’s best players against a world-renowned team, the All-Stars have done more than simply hold their own.

Aside from the two humbling defeats to the mighty Red Devils, the MLS All- Stars have produced a 5-0-1 record against their foreign opponents (though the draw ultimately turned into a loss to English side Everton on penalties).

Wednesday, the MLS All-Stars will be out to prove that their losses to Manchester United were nothing more than outliers in an otherwise impressive record against the world’s best as they face reigning European champion and FA Cup winner Chelsea at PPL Park.

The idea to face international clubs began in 2003 with a 3-1 win over Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara. The East vs. West format manifested itself once more in 2004 before the league reverted back to contests with international powerhouses, and MLS has not looked back since.

The All-Stars crushed Fulham, 4-1 in 2005 before Dwayne De Rosario helped them squeak past Chelsea with a 1-0 win in 2006. After taking successive wins against Scottish giant Celtic (2-0) and English side West Ham United (3-2), the All-Stars played to a 1-1 draw with Everton in 2009, ultimately losing on penalties.

Major League Soccer has fought a battle to gain notoriety in a crowded sports marketplace for some time. In many ways, it is still fighting – there are plenty of people who contend that soccer in America will struggle to gain long-term popularity and that players from the United States won’t be truly competitive in the world’s game.

The All-Star Game, in its current format, was viewed as a tool to combat this notion – putting our boys against global footballing giants and proving that we’re good enough.

But even on the back of two sizable losses to Manchester United, Ben Olsen, head coach the MLS All-Stars, is much more realistic with his expectations. The D.C. United boss is not feeling the pressure to get a positive result in a glorified friendly.

“If anything, I should feel less pressure with that,” said Olsen in response to how the two previous All-Star Games will affect his approach. “I’d feel more pressure if they won both of them [against Manchester United].

“Look, it’s a situation where you fly guys in with games on the weekend, you try to get them on the same page, give them a template to succeed, but you can only do so much in 36 hours. That’s the beauty of this; it’s about the individuals and they go out there, they try to gel under quick circumstances and help each other out. We’ll see. We’ll give it our best shot, that’s for sure.”

Landon Donovan knows a thing or two about All-Star Games having been voted to an MLS-record 12th appearance this year. The Los Angeles Galaxy star echoed Olsen’s mentality, but believes his All-Star teammates still have the motivation necessary to pull off the desired result.

“It’s an All-Star Game at the end of the day,” Donovan said. “But I think guys take some pride in it. And it’s good to have guys who are experiencing it for the first time because they’re probably a little bit more excited than guys who have been there before.

“I think we’re going to be a lot more competitive this time around.”

NEW ADDRESSES

Get caught up with all the movers and shakers in this summer’s transfer window.

Rafael has urged Lucas Moura to join Manchester United and has claimed his fellow Brazilian is excited about the prospect of moving to Old Trafford.

Teenage midfielder Lucas is one of world football’s most coveted talents and has reportedly been the subject of an offer from the Red Devils.

His current club Sao Paulo claim to have turned down a bid of €35million (£27m) for the 19-year-old, who is also a target for Inter Milan.

Lucas is presently part of Brazil’s squad for the Olympics, alongside Rafael, and it appears the two have spoken about the chance to sign for United.

Full-back Rafael said in the Daily Star Sunday: “Yes, I have told Lucas he should come to Manchester United, of course.”

And, when asked whether Lucas was excited about coming to United, Rafael replied: “Yes, yes!”

Another member of Brazil’s Olympic squad who could be on his way to the Premier League is Oscar, who has undergone a medical at Chelsea.

Oscar has confirmed he will make a final decision on his future after the Olympics and Rafael feels the midfielder can enjoy an impact in English football.

He added: “I have heard about Oscar coming to Chelsea and he is a good player and very important to Brazil.

“I really think he will do very well in the Premier League because he is a talented player.”

ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

NEXT VIDEO

• ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012
  

  ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

• Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win
  

  Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win

• FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers
  

  FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers

• Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union
  

  Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union

A ball has yet to be kicked in the 2012-13 English Premier League, but the looming season already has a lingering stench of the predetermined.

Summertime is traditionally cluttered with blockbuster transfer deals, but give or take an Eden Hazard or Shinji Kagawa, this offseason’s moves have been overshadowed by storylines of strained cash flows at major clubs.

Arsenal and Manchester United are struggling to keep up with last season’s champions, Manchester City, which increasingly resembles the chip leader in a high-stakes poker game, bullying the pot on every hand by shoving its colossal stack of petrodollars to go all-in while watching other teams fold around the table.

None of this surprises The Guardian soccer writer David Conn. “The degree to which football’s financial issues dominate is a symbol that even as more and more people around the world become glued to the Premier League, it is rife with problems,” he said. “Next season, City will be very strong, and so will Chelsea, another club that has an oil billionaire pouring money into it. Premier League success has come to depend on how rich a team’s owner is and how much money they are prepared to put in.”

[+] Enlarge

Conn, English soccer’s leading investigative journalist, has captured this transition in his crisply written new book “Richer Than God: Manchester City, Modern Football and Growing Up.” In it, he traces City’s journey from its 1968 championship victory through decades of suffering spent “mostly in gloom and several shades of cock-up” to the Mancunians’ 2008 takeover and makeover by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi who pumped $1.56 billion into the club, culminating in a startling last-minute title victory on the final day of the 2011-12 season.

Expertly intertwining economics, history, soccer and memoir, Conn explores the evolution of English soccer in the Premier League era, contrasting Manchester’s decline from industrial power to the poorest, wettest city in Britain with the explosive rise of Abu Dhabi, a subsistence desert economy that became the fast-growing home to 10 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves.

Conn’s personal experience of fandom simmers beneath the surface of every page, his life shaped by what he refers to as a “fundamental awakening” — the transformation from passionate adolescent who believed the soccer team he adored was a “true club” belonging to its supporters to an adult realizing that it was a business with a board and shares that could be bought, sold and owned by a single human for personal gain.

“Most fans have not had this awakening yet,” Conn said, referring to soccer as if it lives in the same innocent domain as tooth fairies and Santa Claus. “Football plays such a massive role in their lives that they cling to the myth their club belongs to them even though it’s registered in the Cayman Islands and is about to be floated on New York’s stock exchange.”

Conn is eluding to Manchester United’s impending IPO, an attempt by the club’s Palm Beach, Fla.-based owners, the Glazer family, to raise $300 million dollars by selling shares in what they call an “emerging growth company.” The move is interpreted by many as an attempt to restore the club to a healthier financial footing so it can remain competitive at the elite level.

[+] Enlarge

“The Glazers have owned the team that makes the most money in the world for seven years now and are yet to make a statement about their motivations,” said Conn incredulously. “It is clear from the public offering prospectus that the money they hope to raise is just going to pay off debt accrued when they bought the club in 2005. Their fans have already had to suffer as they drained over $782 million out of the club to service that debt, while three miles across town, Sheikh Mansour has poured a fortune into Manchester City.”

Conn doesn’t believe United is at a breaking point, but prohibitive interest payments on the club’s outstanding $688 million are preventing the Red Devils from being aggressive in the transfer markets.

“The club is a money-machine revenue-wise,” he said, “but it is no longer attracting the best players in Europe to compete seriously for the Champions League.”

Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial cloak of invincibility has been dented by more than just the mocking “yapping hand” unleashed by Roberto Mancini on the sideline during City’s crucial late season 1-0 triumph. Ferguson’s complaining about overpricing in the transfer market is an excuse for the side’s struggles, financially and on the pitch, Conn said.

In Conn’s mind, Premier League soccer has become an arms race to pay players’ salaries. He harbors no illusions about those factors underpinning City’s recent league triumph.

“The club finished 10th the year Mansour took over,” Conn said. “Now it is the champion. Why? Because of the $1.56 billion poured into the club, which stands in stark contrast to when we last won the league in 1968 by simply relying on great coaching and a terrific squad of young players that included many local lads.”

Tweet, tweet

Don’t miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join »

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been among the leading critics of Manchester City’s methodology, saying the Sky Blues have “destroyed his work” by cherry picking six of his former players since 2009 and threatening to turn the Gunners into a feeder club. Conn has little sympathy.

“Arsenal used to have a halo over it,” he said. “Everyone marveled about its discipline, how it did not spend resources it did not have, how its board members did not take money out of the club and how the team still played beautiful football.

“When Wenger first complained that Manchester City was not working off its own revenue, it felt like the argument had moral worth. But Arsenal lost that in 2011 when Stan Kroenke bought control of the club and the English board members whose shares he purchased pocketed $469 million collectively and walked off into the sunset without putting anything back into the club.”

For Arsenal, Kroenke’s takeover was a critical juncture where the self-sustaining model was seen for what it was: “An accident of geography through which Arsenal could force its fans to pay more for tickets than any northern team and was able to sell its old stadium for conversion into luxury flats in an expensive part of London. Arsenal should have been the last club to plead poverty.”

The North London team’s ability to hold onto Robin van Persie has become a bellwether of its financial future, triggering a public brawl between board members about the Gunners’ lack of ambition.

“I suspect van Persie had a meeting with Arsenal, was told about the ‘self-sustaining strategy’ and he realized the club are no longer able to play with the best,” said Conn. “He sees former teammates [Samir] Nasri and [Gael] Clichy on the winning podium with City and rationally wants to leave.”

UEFA is attempting to uncouple the connection between money and glory by imposing Financial Fair Play Regulations. The new rules threaten to bar clubs from European competition if they exceed $56.6 million in losses over a two-year period to ensure teams live within their means, but Conn is skeptical.

“It remains to be seen if UEFA will enforce their own rules,” he said. “If Barcelona or Chelsea signal huge losses, will UEFA really take a stand and prevent them for participating in their own elite tournaments?”

[+] Enlarge

For Conn, the solution lies in the American sporting model.

“The United States is the home of capitalism, but even there they have realized that revenue has to be shared if even competition is to thrive. Football needs to look at that model to ensure it stays the ‘people’s game’ and not just a competition to see who has the richest owner.

“In England, we love the game more than ever, but it is such a hyped reality that we have not stopped to think what our game stands for, which is precisely why the commercial side has been allowed to dominate.”

This delusion does not have to be, he said.

“In countries like Germany, they have thought through an ideology about the social function football plays in people’s lives,” Conn said. “There, most clubs have to maintain a majority ownership by their supporters or members. English football doesn’t have that kind of coherent philosophy and so as fans growing up, we inherit a love for the clubs, but not a clear idea of how the game and clubs should be structured and governed.”

Despite his rational analysis, Conn couldn’t prevent himself from clenching a fist and roaring in appreciation when Kun Aguero rifled home City’s league-clinching goal.

“My emotional reaction did not ignore everything I have come to learn, but the club’s title run took me back to the sense of wonder I had as a boy, a connection to the first match I went to with my father 37 years ago, to my mates with whom I used to go to games who still attend but now in the company of their own kids and to the city of Manchester, which, despite all of its grimness, I adore,” he said.

Toward the end of his book, Conn tells the story from the final game of the season in which he randomly encounters a 44-year-old acquaintance who had his father in tow. The older man, who had been suffering from terminal cancer, had known all season that City would be Champions. “You were born when we last won it,” he told his son, “and this year we are going to win it again and I’m going to die.”

To Conn, this is what soccer is really about.

“It’s more religious than religion,” he said, “and it’s such a precious thing that it should not be exploited until the foundations creak.”

Roger Bennett is a columnist for ESPN and, with Michael Davies, is one of Grantland’s “Men In Blazers.” Follow him on Twitter @rogbennett.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

NEXT VIDEO

• ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012
  

  ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

• Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win
  

  Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win

• FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers
  

  FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers

• Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union
  

  Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union

A ball has yet to be kicked in the 2012-13 English Premier League, but the looming season already has a lingering stench of the predetermined.

Summertime is traditionally cluttered with blockbuster transfer deals, but give or take an Eden Hazard or Shinji Kagawa, this offseason’s moves have been overshadowed by storylines of strained cash flows at major clubs.

Arsenal and Manchester United are struggling to keep up with last season’s champions, Manchester City, which increasingly resembles the chip leader in a high-stakes poker game, bullying the pot on every hand by shoving its colossal stack of petrodollars to go all-in while watching other teams fold around the table.

None of this surprises The Guardian soccer writer David Conn. “The degree to which football’s financial issues dominate is a symbol that even as more and more people around the world become glued to the Premier League, it is rife with problems,” he said. “Next season, City will be very strong, and so will Chelsea, another club that has an oil billionaire pouring money into it. Premier League success has come to depend on how rich a team’s owner is and how much money they are prepared to put in.”

[+] Enlarge

Conn, English soccer’s leading investigative journalist, has captured this transition in his crisply written new book “Richer Than God: Manchester City, Modern Football and Growing Up.” In it, he traces City’s journey from its 1968 championship victory through decades of suffering spent “mostly in gloom and several shades of cock-up” to the Mancunians’ 2008 takeover and makeover by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi who pumped $1.56 billion into the club, culminating in a startling last-minute title victory on the final day of the 2011-12 season.

Expertly intertwining economics, history, soccer and memoir, Conn explores the evolution of English soccer in the Premier League era, contrasting Manchester’s decline from industrial power to the poorest, wettest city in Britain with the explosive rise of Abu Dhabi, a subsistence desert economy that became the fast-growing home to 10 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves.

Conn’s personal experience of fandom simmers beneath the surface of every page, his life shaped by what he refers to as a “fundamental awakening” — the transformation from passionate adolescent who believed the soccer team he adored was a “true club” belonging to its supporters to an adult realizing that it was a business with a board and shares that could be bought, sold and owned by a single human for personal gain.

“Most fans have not had this awakening yet,” Conn said, referring to soccer as if it lives in the same innocent domain as tooth fairies and Santa Claus. “Football plays such a massive role in their lives that they cling to the myth their club belongs to them even though it’s registered in the Cayman Islands and is about to be floated on New York’s stock exchange.”

Conn is eluding to Manchester United’s impending IPO, an attempt by the club’s Palm Beach, Fla.-based owners, the Glazer family, to raise $300 million dollars by selling shares in what they call an “emerging growth company.” The move is interpreted by many as an attempt to restore the club to a healthier financial footing so it can remain competitive at the elite level.

[+] Enlarge

“The Glazers have owned the team that makes the most money in the world for seven years now and are yet to make a statement about their motivations,” said Conn incredulously. “It is clear from the public offering prospectus that the money they hope to raise is just going to pay off debt accrued when they bought the club in 2005. Their fans have already had to suffer as they drained over $782 million out of the club to service that debt, while three miles across town, Sheikh Mansour has poured a fortune into Manchester City.”

Conn doesn’t believe United is at a breaking point, but prohibitive interest payments on the club’s outstanding $688 million are preventing the Red Devils from being aggressive in the transfer markets.

“The club is a money-machine revenue-wise,” he said, “but it is no longer attracting the best players in Europe to compete seriously for the Champions League.”

Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial cloak of invincibility has been dented by more than just the mocking “yapping hand” unleashed by Roberto Mancini on the sideline during City’s crucial late season 1-0 triumph. Ferguson’s complaining about overpricing in the transfer market is an excuse for the side’s struggles, financially and on the pitch, Conn said.

In Conn’s mind, Premier League soccer has become an arms race to pay players’ salaries. He harbors no illusions about those factors underpinning City’s recent league triumph.

“The club finished 10th the year Mansour took over,” Conn said. “Now it is the champion. Why? Because of the $1.56 billion poured into the club, which stands in stark contrast to when we last won the league in 1968 by simply relying on great coaching and a terrific squad of young players that included many local lads.”

Tweet, tweet

Don’t miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join »

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been among the leading critics of Manchester City’s methodology, saying the Sky Blues have “destroyed his work” by cherry picking six of his former players since 2009 and threatening to turn the Gunners into a feeder club. Conn has little sympathy.

“Arsenal used to have a halo over it,” he said. “Everyone marveled about its discipline, how it did not spend resources it did not have, how its board members did not take money out of the club and how the team still played beautiful football.

“When Wenger first complained that Manchester City was not working off its own revenue, it felt like the argument had moral worth. But Arsenal lost that in 2011 when Stan Kroenke bought control of the club and the English board members whose shares he purchased pocketed $469 million collectively and walked off into the sunset without putting anything back into the club.”

For Arsenal, Kroenke’s takeover was a critical juncture where the self-sustaining model was seen for what it was: “An accident of geography through which Arsenal could force its fans to pay more for tickets than any northern team and was able to sell its old stadium for conversion into luxury flats in an expensive part of London. Arsenal should have been the last club to plead poverty.”

The North London team’s ability to hold onto Robin van Persie has become a bellwether of its financial future, triggering a public brawl between board members about the Gunners’ lack of ambition.

“I suspect van Persie had a meeting with Arsenal, was told about the ‘self-sustaining strategy’ and he realized the club are no longer able to play with the best,” said Conn. “He sees former teammates [Samir] Nasri and [Gael] Clichy on the winning podium with City and rationally wants to leave.”

UEFA is attempting to uncouple the connection between money and glory by imposing Financial Fair Play Regulations. The new rules threaten to bar clubs from European competition if they exceed $56.6 million in losses over a two-year period to ensure teams live within their means, but Conn is skeptical.

“It remains to be seen if UEFA will enforce their own rules,” he said. “If Barcelona or Chelsea signal huge losses, will UEFA really take a stand and prevent them for participating in their own elite tournaments?”

[+] Enlarge

For Conn, the solution lies in the American sporting model.

“The United States is the home of capitalism, but even there they have realized that revenue has to be shared if even competition is to thrive. Football needs to look at that model to ensure it stays the ‘people’s game’ and not just a competition to see who has the richest owner.

“In England, we love the game more than ever, but it is such a hyped reality that we have not stopped to think what our game stands for, which is precisely why the commercial side has been allowed to dominate.”

This delusion does not have to be, he said.

“In countries like Germany, they have thought through an ideology about the social function football plays in people’s lives,” Conn said. “There, most clubs have to maintain a majority ownership by their supporters or members. English football doesn’t have that kind of coherent philosophy and so as fans growing up, we inherit a love for the clubs, but not a clear idea of how the game and clubs should be structured and governed.”

Despite his rational analysis, Conn couldn’t prevent himself from clenching a fist and roaring in appreciation when Kun Aguero rifled home City’s league-clinching goal.

“My emotional reaction did not ignore everything I have come to learn, but the club’s title run took me back to the sense of wonder I had as a boy, a connection to the first match I went to with my father 37 years ago, to my mates with whom I used to go to games who still attend but now in the company of their own kids and to the city of Manchester, which, despite all of its grimness, I adore,” he said.

Toward the end of his book, Conn tells the story from the final game of the season in which he randomly encounters a 44-year-old acquaintance who had his father in tow. The older man, who had been suffering from terminal cancer, had known all season that City would be Champions. “You were born when we last won it,” he told his son, “and this year we are going to win it again and I’m going to die.”

To Conn, this is what soccer is really about.

“It’s more religious than religion,” he said, “and it’s such a precious thing that it should not be exploited until the foundations creak.”

Roger Bennett is a columnist for ESPN and, with Michael Davies, is one of Grantland’s “Men In Blazers.” Follow him on Twitter @rogbennett.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

NEXT VIDEO

• ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012
  

  ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

• Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win
  

  Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win

• FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers
  

  FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers

• Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union
  

  Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union

A ball has yet to be kicked in the 2012-13 English Premier League, but the looming season already has a lingering stench of the predetermined.

Summertime is traditionally cluttered with blockbuster transfer deals, but give or take an Eden Hazard or Shinji Kagawa, this offseason’s moves have been overshadowed by storylines of strained cash flows at major clubs.

Arsenal and Manchester United are struggling to keep up with last season’s champions, Manchester City, which increasingly resembles the chip leader in a high-stakes poker game, bullying the pot on every hand by shoving its colossal stack of petrodollars to go all-in while watching other teams fold around the table.

None of this surprises The Guardian soccer writer David Conn. “The degree to which football’s financial issues dominate is a symbol that even as more and more people around the world become glued to the Premier League, it is rife with problems,” he said. “Next season, City will be very strong, and so will Chelsea, another club that has an oil billionaire pouring money into it. Premier League success has come to depend on how rich a team’s owner is and how much money they are prepared to put in.”

[+] Enlarge

Conn, English soccer’s leading investigative journalist, has captured this transition in his crisply written new book “Richer Than God: Manchester City, Modern Football and Growing Up.” In it, he traces City’s journey from its 1968 championship victory through decades of suffering spent “mostly in gloom and several shades of cock-up” to the Mancunians’ 2008 takeover and makeover by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi who pumped $1.56 billion into the club, culminating in a startling last-minute title victory on the final day of the 2011-12 season.

Expertly intertwining economics, history, soccer and memoir, Conn explores the evolution of English soccer in the Premier League era, contrasting Manchester’s decline from industrial power to the poorest, wettest city in Britain with the explosive rise of Abu Dhabi, a subsistence desert economy that became the fast-growing home to 10 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves.

Conn’s personal experience of fandom simmers beneath the surface of every page, his life shaped by what he refers to as a “fundamental awakening” — the transformation from passionate adolescent who believed the soccer team he adored was a “true club” belonging to its supporters to an adult realizing that it was a business with a board and shares that could be bought, sold and owned by a single human for personal gain.

“Most fans have not had this awakening yet,” Conn said, referring to soccer as if it lives in the same innocent domain as tooth fairies and Santa Claus. “Football plays such a massive role in their lives that they cling to the myth their club belongs to them even though it’s registered in the Cayman Islands and is about to be floated on New York’s stock exchange.”

Conn is eluding to Manchester United’s impending IPO, an attempt by the club’s Palm Beach, Fla.-based owners, the Glazer family, to raise $300 million dollars by selling shares in what they call an “emerging growth company.” The move is interpreted by many as an attempt to restore the club to a healthier financial footing so it can remain competitive at the elite level.

[+] Enlarge

“The Glazers have owned the team that makes the most money in the world for seven years now and are yet to make a statement about their motivations,” said Conn incredulously. “It is clear from the public offering prospectus that the money they hope to raise is just going to pay off debt accrued when they bought the club in 2005. Their fans have already had to suffer as they drained over $782 million out of the club to service that debt, while three miles across town, Sheikh Mansour has poured a fortune into Manchester City.”

Conn doesn’t believe United is at a breaking point, but prohibitive interest payments on the club’s outstanding $688 million are preventing the Red Devils from being aggressive in the transfer markets.

“The club is a money-machine revenue-wise,” he said, “but it is no longer attracting the best players in Europe to compete seriously for the Champions League.”

Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial cloak of invincibility has been dented by more than just the mocking “yapping hand” unleashed by Roberto Mancini on the sideline during City’s crucial late season 1-0 triumph. Ferguson’s complaining about overpricing in the transfer market is an excuse for the side’s struggles, financially and on the pitch, Conn said.

In Conn’s mind, Premier League soccer has become an arms race to pay players’ salaries. He harbors no illusions about those factors underpinning City’s recent league triumph.

“The club finished 10th the year Mansour took over,” Conn said. “Now it is the champion. Why? Because of the $1.56 billion poured into the club, which stands in stark contrast to when we last won the league in 1968 by simply relying on great coaching and a terrific squad of young players that included many local lads.”

Tweet, tweet

Don’t miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join »

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been among the leading critics of Manchester City’s methodology, saying the Sky Blues have “destroyed his work” by cherry picking six of his former players since 2009 and threatening to turn the Gunners into a feeder club. Conn has little sympathy.

“Arsenal used to have a halo over it,” he said. “Everyone marveled about its discipline, how it did not spend resources it did not have, how its board members did not take money out of the club and how the team still played beautiful football.

“When Wenger first complained that Manchester City was not working off its own revenue, it felt like the argument had moral worth. But Arsenal lost that in 2011 when Stan Kroenke bought control of the club and the English board members whose shares he purchased pocketed $469 million collectively and walked off into the sunset without putting anything back into the club.”

For Arsenal, Kroenke’s takeover was a critical juncture where the self-sustaining model was seen for what it was: “An accident of geography through which Arsenal could force its fans to pay more for tickets than any northern team and was able to sell its old stadium for conversion into luxury flats in an expensive part of London. Arsenal should have been the last club to plead poverty.”

The North London team’s ability to hold onto Robin van Persie has become a bellwether of its financial future, triggering a public brawl between board members about the Gunners’ lack of ambition.

“I suspect van Persie had a meeting with Arsenal, was told about the ‘self-sustaining strategy’ and he realized the club are no longer able to play with the best,” said Conn. “He sees former teammates [Samir] Nasri and [Gael] Clichy on the winning podium with City and rationally wants to leave.”

UEFA is attempting to uncouple the connection between money and glory by imposing Financial Fair Play Regulations. The new rules threaten to bar clubs from European competition if they exceed $56.6 million in losses over a two-year period to ensure teams live within their means, but Conn is skeptical.

“It remains to be seen if UEFA will enforce their own rules,” he said. “If Barcelona or Chelsea signal huge losses, will UEFA really take a stand and prevent them for participating in their own elite tournaments?”

[+] Enlarge

For Conn, the solution lies in the American sporting model.

“The United States is the home of capitalism, but even there they have realized that revenue has to be shared if even competition is to thrive. Football needs to look at that model to ensure it stays the ‘people’s game’ and not just a competition to see who has the richest owner.

“In England, we love the game more than ever, but it is such a hyped reality that we have not stopped to think what our game stands for, which is precisely why the commercial side has been allowed to dominate.”

This delusion does not have to be, he said.

“In countries like Germany, they have thought through an ideology about the social function football plays in people’s lives,” Conn said. “There, most clubs have to maintain a majority ownership by their supporters or members. English football doesn’t have that kind of coherent philosophy and so as fans growing up, we inherit a love for the clubs, but not a clear idea of how the game and clubs should be structured and governed.”

Despite his rational analysis, Conn couldn’t prevent himself from clenching a fist and roaring in appreciation when Kun Aguero rifled home City’s league-clinching goal.

“My emotional reaction did not ignore everything I have come to learn, but the club’s title run took me back to the sense of wonder I had as a boy, a connection to the first match I went to with my father 37 years ago, to my mates with whom I used to go to games who still attend but now in the company of their own kids and to the city of Manchester, which, despite all of its grimness, I adore,” he said.

Toward the end of his book, Conn tells the story from the final game of the season in which he randomly encounters a 44-year-old acquaintance who had his father in tow. The older man, who had been suffering from terminal cancer, had known all season that City would be Champions. “You were born when we last won it,” he told his son, “and this year we are going to win it again and I’m going to die.”

To Conn, this is what soccer is really about.

“It’s more religious than religion,” he said, “and it’s such a precious thing that it should not be exploited until the foundations creak.”

Roger Bennett is a columnist for ESPN and, with Michael Davies, is one of Grantland’s “Men In Blazers.” Follow him on Twitter @rogbennett.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

NEXT VIDEO

• ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012
  

  ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

• Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win
  

  Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win

• FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers
  

  FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers

• Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union
  

  Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union

A ball has yet to be kicked in the 2012-13 English Premier League, but the looming season already has a lingering stench of the predetermined.

Summertime is traditionally cluttered with blockbuster transfer deals, but give or take an Eden Hazard or Shinji Kagawa, this offseason’s moves have been overshadowed by storylines of strained cash flows at major clubs.

Arsenal and Manchester United are struggling to keep up with last season’s champions, Manchester City, which increasingly resembles the chip leader in a high-stakes poker game, bullying the pot on every hand by shoving its colossal stack of petrodollars to go all-in while watching other teams fold around the table.

None of this surprises The Guardian soccer writer David Conn. “The degree to which football’s financial issues dominate is a symbol that even as more and more people around the world become glued to the Premier League, it is rife with problems,” he said. “Next season, City will be very strong, and so will Chelsea, another club that has an oil billionaire pouring money into it. Premier League success has come to depend on how rich a team’s owner is and how much money they are prepared to put in.”

[+] Enlarge

Conn, English soccer’s leading investigative journalist, has captured this transition in his crisply written new book “Richer Than God: Manchester City, Modern Football and Growing Up.” In it, he traces City’s journey from its 1968 championship victory through decades of suffering spent “mostly in gloom and several shades of cock-up” to the Mancunians’ 2008 takeover and makeover by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi who pumped $1.56 billion into the club, culminating in a startling last-minute title victory on the final day of the 2011-12 season.

Expertly intertwining economics, history, soccer and memoir, Conn explores the evolution of English soccer in the Premier League era, contrasting Manchester’s decline from industrial power to the poorest, wettest city in Britain with the explosive rise of Abu Dhabi, a subsistence desert economy that became the fast-growing home to 10 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves.

Conn’s personal experience of fandom simmers beneath the surface of every page, his life shaped by what he refers to as a “fundamental awakening” — the transformation from passionate adolescent who believed the soccer team he adored was a “true club” belonging to its supporters to an adult realizing that it was a business with a board and shares that could be bought, sold and owned by a single human for personal gain.

“Most fans have not had this awakening yet,” Conn said, referring to soccer as if it lives in the same innocent domain as tooth fairies and Santa Claus. “Football plays such a massive role in their lives that they cling to the myth their club belongs to them even though it’s registered in the Cayman Islands and is about to be floated on New York’s stock exchange.”

Conn is eluding to Manchester United’s impending IPO, an attempt by the club’s Palm Beach, Fla.-based owners, the Glazer family, to raise $300 million dollars by selling shares in what they call an “emerging growth company.” The move is interpreted by many as an attempt to restore the club to a healthier financial footing so it can remain competitive at the elite level.

[+] Enlarge

“The Glazers have owned the team that makes the most money in the world for seven years now and are yet to make a statement about their motivations,” said Conn incredulously. “It is clear from the public offering prospectus that the money they hope to raise is just going to pay off debt accrued when they bought the club in 2005. Their fans have already had to suffer as they drained over $782 million out of the club to service that debt, while three miles across town, Sheikh Mansour has poured a fortune into Manchester City.”

Conn doesn’t believe United is at a breaking point, but prohibitive interest payments on the club’s outstanding $688 million are preventing the Red Devils from being aggressive in the transfer markets.

“The club is a money-machine revenue-wise,” he said, “but it is no longer attracting the best players in Europe to compete seriously for the Champions League.”

Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial cloak of invincibility has been dented by more than just the mocking “yapping hand” unleashed by Roberto Mancini on the sideline during City’s crucial late season 1-0 triumph. Ferguson’s complaining about overpricing in the transfer market is an excuse for the side’s struggles, financially and on the pitch, Conn said.

In Conn’s mind, Premier League soccer has become an arms race to pay players’ salaries. He harbors no illusions about those factors underpinning City’s recent league triumph.

“The club finished 10th the year Mansour took over,” Conn said. “Now it is the champion. Why? Because of the $1.56 billion poured into the club, which stands in stark contrast to when we last won the league in 1968 by simply relying on great coaching and a terrific squad of young players that included many local lads.”

Tweet, tweet

Don’t miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join »

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been among the leading critics of Manchester City’s methodology, saying the Sky Blues have “destroyed his work” by cherry picking six of his former players since 2009 and threatening to turn the Gunners into a feeder club. Conn has little sympathy.

“Arsenal used to have a halo over it,” he said. “Everyone marveled about its discipline, how it did not spend resources it did not have, how its board members did not take money out of the club and how the team still played beautiful football.

“When Wenger first complained that Manchester City was not working off its own revenue, it felt like the argument had moral worth. But Arsenal lost that in 2011 when Stan Kroenke bought control of the club and the English board members whose shares he purchased pocketed $469 million collectively and walked off into the sunset without putting anything back into the club.”

For Arsenal, Kroenke’s takeover was a critical juncture where the self-sustaining model was seen for what it was: “An accident of geography through which Arsenal could force its fans to pay more for tickets than any northern team and was able to sell its old stadium for conversion into luxury flats in an expensive part of London. Arsenal should have been the last club to plead poverty.”

The North London team’s ability to hold onto Robin van Persie has become a bellwether of its financial future, triggering a public brawl between board members about the Gunners’ lack of ambition.

“I suspect van Persie had a meeting with Arsenal, was told about the ‘self-sustaining strategy’ and he realized the club are no longer able to play with the best,” said Conn. “He sees former teammates [Samir] Nasri and [Gael] Clichy on the winning podium with City and rationally wants to leave.”

UEFA is attempting to uncouple the connection between money and glory by imposing Financial Fair Play Regulations. The new rules threaten to bar clubs from European competition if they exceed $56.6 million in losses over a two-year period to ensure teams live within their means, but Conn is skeptical.

“It remains to be seen if UEFA will enforce their own rules,” he said. “If Barcelona or Chelsea signal huge losses, will UEFA really take a stand and prevent them for participating in their own elite tournaments?”

[+] Enlarge

For Conn, the solution lies in the American sporting model.

“The United States is the home of capitalism, but even there they have realized that revenue has to be shared if even competition is to thrive. Football needs to look at that model to ensure it stays the ‘people’s game’ and not just a competition to see who has the richest owner.

“In England, we love the game more than ever, but it is such a hyped reality that we have not stopped to think what our game stands for, which is precisely why the commercial side has been allowed to dominate.”

This delusion does not have to be, he said.

“In countries like Germany, they have thought through an ideology about the social function football plays in people’s lives,” Conn said. “There, most clubs have to maintain a majority ownership by their supporters or members. English football doesn’t have that kind of coherent philosophy and so as fans growing up, we inherit a love for the clubs, but not a clear idea of how the game and clubs should be structured and governed.”

Despite his rational analysis, Conn couldn’t prevent himself from clenching a fist and roaring in appreciation when Kun Aguero rifled home City’s league-clinching goal.

“My emotional reaction did not ignore everything I have come to learn, but the club’s title run took me back to the sense of wonder I had as a boy, a connection to the first match I went to with my father 37 years ago, to my mates with whom I used to go to games who still attend but now in the company of their own kids and to the city of Manchester, which, despite all of its grimness, I adore,” he said.

Toward the end of his book, Conn tells the story from the final game of the season in which he randomly encounters a 44-year-old acquaintance who had his father in tow. The older man, who had been suffering from terminal cancer, had known all season that City would be Champions. “You were born when we last won it,” he told his son, “and this year we are going to win it again and I’m going to die.”

To Conn, this is what soccer is really about.

“It’s more religious than religion,” he said, “and it’s such a precious thing that it should not be exploited until the foundations creak.”

Roger Bennett is a columnist for ESPN and, with Michael Davies, is one of Grantland’s “Men In Blazers.” Follow him on Twitter @rogbennett.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

NEXT VIDEO

• ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012
  

  ESPNsoccernet Press Pass: 20 July 2012

• Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win
  

  Donovan Scores 2 In Galaxy Win

• FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers
  

  FC Dallas Chops Down Timbers

• Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union
  

  Cooper Leads Red Bulls Past Union

A ball has yet to be kicked in the 2012-13 English Premier League, but the looming season already has a lingering stench of the predetermined.

Summertime is traditionally cluttered with blockbuster transfer deals, but give or take an Eden Hazard or Shinji Kagawa, this offseason’s moves have been overshadowed by storylines of strained cash flows at major clubs.

Arsenal and Manchester United are struggling to keep up with last season’s champions, Manchester City, which increasingly resembles the chip leader in a high-stakes poker game, bullying the pot on every hand by shoving its colossal stack of petrodollars to go all-in while watching other teams fold around the table.

None of this surprises The Guardian soccer writer David Conn. “The degree to which football’s financial issues dominate is a symbol that even as more and more people around the world become glued to the Premier League, it is rife with problems,” he said. “Next season, City will be very strong, and so will Chelsea, another club that has an oil billionaire pouring money into it. Premier League success has come to depend on how rich a team’s owner is and how much money they are prepared to put in.”

[+] Enlarge

Conn, English soccer’s leading investigative journalist, has captured this transition in his crisply written new book “Richer Than God: Manchester City, Modern Football and Growing Up.” In it, he traces City’s journey from its 1968 championship victory through decades of suffering spent “mostly in gloom and several shades of cock-up” to the Mancunians’ 2008 takeover and makeover by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi who pumped $1.56 billion into the club, culminating in a startling last-minute title victory on the final day of the 2011-12 season.

Expertly intertwining economics, history, soccer and memoir, Conn explores the evolution of English soccer in the Premier League era, contrasting Manchester’s decline from industrial power to the poorest, wettest city in Britain with the explosive rise of Abu Dhabi, a subsistence desert economy that became the fast-growing home to 10 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves.

Conn’s personal experience of fandom simmers beneath the surface of every page, his life shaped by what he refers to as a “fundamental awakening” — the transformation from passionate adolescent who believed the soccer team he adored was a “true club” belonging to its supporters to an adult realizing that it was a business with a board and shares that could be bought, sold and owned by a single human for personal gain.

“Most fans have not had this awakening yet,” Conn said, referring to soccer as if it lives in the same innocent domain as tooth fairies and Santa Claus. “Football plays such a massive role in their lives that they cling to the myth their club belongs to them even though it’s registered in the Cayman Islands and is about to be floated on New York’s stock exchange.”

Conn is eluding to Manchester United’s impending IPO, an attempt by the club’s Palm Beach, Fla.-based owners, the Glazer family, to raise $300 million dollars by selling shares in what they call an “emerging growth company.” The move is interpreted by many as an attempt to restore the club to a healthier financial footing so it can remain competitive at the elite level.

[+] Enlarge

“The Glazers have owned the team that makes the most money in the world for seven years now and are yet to make a statement about their motivations,” said Conn incredulously. “It is clear from the public offering prospectus that the money they hope to raise is just going to pay off debt accrued when they bought the club in 2005. Their fans have already had to suffer as they drained over $782 million out of the club to service that debt, while three miles across town, Sheikh Mansour has poured a fortune into Manchester City.”

Conn doesn’t believe United is at a breaking point, but prohibitive interest payments on the club’s outstanding $688 million are preventing the Red Devils from being aggressive in the transfer markets.

“The club is a money-machine revenue-wise,” he said, “but it is no longer attracting the best players in Europe to compete seriously for the Champions League.”

Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial cloak of invincibility has been dented by more than just the mocking “yapping hand” unleashed by Roberto Mancini on the sideline during City’s crucial late season 1-0 triumph. Ferguson’s complaining about overpricing in the transfer market is an excuse for the side’s struggles, financially and on the pitch, Conn said.

In Conn’s mind, Premier League soccer has become an arms race to pay players’ salaries. He harbors no illusions about those factors underpinning City’s recent league triumph.

“The club finished 10th the year Mansour took over,” Conn said. “Now it is the champion. Why? Because of the $1.56 billion poured into the club, which stands in stark contrast to when we last won the league in 1968 by simply relying on great coaching and a terrific squad of young players that included many local lads.”

Tweet, tweet

Don’t miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join »

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been among the leading critics of Manchester City’s methodology, saying the Sky Blues have “destroyed his work” by cherry picking six of his former players since 2009 and threatening to turn the Gunners into a feeder club. Conn has little sympathy.

“Arsenal used to have a halo over it,” he said. “Everyone marveled about its discipline, how it did not spend resources it did not have, how its board members did not take money out of the club and how the team still played beautiful football.

“When Wenger first complained that Manchester City was not working off its own revenue, it felt like the argument had moral worth. But Arsenal lost that in 2011 when Stan Kroenke bought control of the club and the English board members whose shares he purchased pocketed $469 million collectively and walked off into the sunset without putting anything back into the club.”

For Arsenal, Kroenke’s takeover was a critical juncture where the self-sustaining model was seen for what it was: “An accident of geography through which Arsenal could force its fans to pay more for tickets than any northern team and was able to sell its old stadium for conversion into luxury flats in an expensive part of London. Arsenal should have been the last club to plead poverty.”

The North London team’s ability to hold onto Robin van Persie has become a bellwether of its financial future, triggering a public brawl between board members about the Gunners’ lack of ambition.

“I suspect van Persie had a meeting with Arsenal, was told about the ‘self-sustaining strategy’ and he realized the club are no longer able to play with the best,” said Conn. “He sees former teammates [Samir] Nasri and [Gael] Clichy on the winning podium with City and rationally wants to leave.”

UEFA is attempting to uncouple the connection between money and glory by imposing Financial Fair Play Regulations. The new rules threaten to bar clubs from European competition if they exceed $56.6 million in losses over a two-year period to ensure teams live within their means, but Conn is skeptical.

“It remains to be seen if UEFA will enforce their own rules,” he said. “If Barcelona or Chelsea signal huge losses, will UEFA really take a stand and prevent them for participating in their own elite tournaments?”

[+] Enlarge

For Conn, the solution lies in the American sporting model.

“The United States is the home of capitalism, but even there they have realized that revenue has to be shared if even competition is to thrive. Football needs to look at that model to ensure it stays the ‘people’s game’ and not just a competition to see who has the richest owner.

“In England, we love the game more than ever, but it is such a hyped reality that we have not stopped to think what our game stands for, which is precisely why the commercial side has been allowed to dominate.”

This delusion does not have to be, he said.

“In countries like Germany, they have thought through an ideology about the social function football plays in people’s lives,” Conn said. “There, most clubs have to maintain a majority ownership by their supporters or members. English football doesn’t have that kind of coherent philosophy and so as fans growing up, we inherit a love for the clubs, but not a clear idea of how the game and clubs should be structured and governed.”

Despite his rational analysis, Conn couldn’t prevent himself from clenching a fist and roaring in appreciation when Kun Aguero rifled home City’s league-clinching goal.

“My emotional reaction did not ignore everything I have come to learn, but the club’s title run took me back to the sense of wonder I had as a boy, a connection to the first match I went to with my father 37 years ago, to my mates with whom I used to go to games who still attend but now in the company of their own kids and to the city of Manchester, which, despite all of its grimness, I adore,” he said.

Toward the end of his book, Conn tells the story from the final game of the season in which he randomly encounters a 44-year-old acquaintance who had his father in tow. The older man, who had been suffering from terminal cancer, had known all season that City would be Champions. “You were born when we last won it,” he told his son, “and this year we are going to win it again and I’m going to die.”

To Conn, this is what soccer is really about.

“It’s more religious than religion,” he said, “and it’s such a precious thing that it should not be exploited until the foundations creak.”

Roger Bennett is a columnist for ESPN and, with Michael Davies, is one of Grantland’s “Men In Blazers.” Follow him on Twitter @rogbennett.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print