The British are coming to Europe this summer, no, not to Euro 2008, but to both Moscow and Manchester (does the latter count?). Later this month, England’s Chelsea and Manchester United will contest the Champions’ League final, while Scotland’s Rangers will go into battle with Russia’s Zenit St Petersberg for the UEFA Cup.
While that may be good that British teams will be contesting the finals, I believe however that the game has been devalued by their presence. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be there, but many people across Europe will not be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of watching an inferior style of football that only British teams are good at.
The games involving British teams in both Euro club competitions this season, with a few exceptions, have in my opinion been very poor, and often display negative tactics. Also, it is often stated by sports commentators that British teams only got through because of the good influx of technically-gifted foreign players. Can you imagine a British team with predominately home-grown players (or managers) doing just as well?
Despite the extra TV and sponsorship money flowing into the British game, it hasn’t lead to teams developing good, home-grown talent. Most teams, particularly the Big Four in the English Premiership (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United), often backed by rich foreign owners, see only the short-term bottom line, and spend most of their transfer money on players from abroad. If things go wrong, they can either replace their players or their manager very quickly. Little time is taken to encourage them to gel together both on and off the pitch.
Most football fans have got used to seeing the technically-gifted teams from the rest of the continent playing in major Euro club finals, but with British teams there this year, I fear this may yet become a boring turn-off… and that’s bad for football worldwide. Still, we need to be thankful that none of their national teams will be at Euro 2008 this summer.
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