Last weekend comes to an end with me and the wife having a Sunday afternoon drink in our local boozer.
It was an amazing place once, packed out, with free Irish Stew on a Sunday and TV screens showing all the football and horse racing. Local old guys from the Estate propping up the bar (many with fading CFC tattoos).
Not anymore, it is now a sterile bar that serves Thai street food. Bar prices have literally doubled and bar snacks are billed with a service charge. I chat with some twenty somethings on the next table. They are Chelsea fans, off to see Chelsea play Man City in the Premier League and cannot wait to see Haaland play “in the flesh”… Well dressed, well spoken and obviously affluent young men without an accent between them.
The weekend had started with me ducking out of after work drinks and heading home. I put on Radio 5 and believe it or not, the BBC has a debate about the Premier League putting forward plans to stop Newcastle United or similar teams being able to loan players from clubs their owners also have an interest in. Ruben Neves is thrown into the debate but for once the BBC has actually got someone who can explain what is going on. Watford, Forest and several others clubs have an eye on this situation because they also have conflicting interests with their “feeder” clubs. Even though the so called big six are attempting to stop the possible media fueled loan deal of Ruben Neves by pressuring the Premier League into changing the rules mid-season, they will need clubs like Forest to vote with them and against their own interests.
So, this Thursday evening I head off to Champion Hill, the home of Dulwich Hamlet, to listen to Kevin Day and Kieran Maguire discuss their new book – Unfit and Improper Persons: An Idiots Guide to Owning a Football Club.
Kevin Day arrives on stage to the music of American hardcore band the Misfits. He opens proceedings with a bit of Stand-Up comedy liberally using the C word to describe different members of the Tory party to get the audience onside and in the mood. He also being a Palace fan, cannot resist a pop at the Middle Class Dulwich fans and their left wing festooned surroundings.
Earlier in the day, news had broken of dodgy financial activity at Chelsea during the Abramovich years. This is the starting point for Kieran Maguire to go into forensic detail of the corruption at Chelsea but then explaining how having lived in Russia he had experienced living in a Mafia state, so was not at all surprised at what journalists had brought to light.
He then moved on to the sale of Man United and explained all the goings on within the Glazer family and the huge sums of money involved and why a billionaire wants to buy shares in them and what financial gain he stands to make.
Focus then moved on to Saudi investment in sport and he was clinically explaining the detail behind the Saudis but no criticism of the Newcastle United owners, simply telling it like it is.
Half time break, more Peckham Pale ale and people getting their books signed.
Second half was Q and A.
When we arrived, everyone was asked to write down their name, football team and a question that Kieran Maguire could answer. The questions were selected randomly by Kevin Day.
This is where Maguire demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of the financial workings of football. The humorous anecdotes flowed, with some great tales of the goings on at Watford and their foreign ownership in particular making everyone laugh.
My Newcastle question was not drawn out, nor was my Forest mate’s question.
The evening had been entertaining and enlightening and was drawn to a close with Maguire predicting the future as being similar to Abba Voyage, where ‘live’ games would be played simultaneously in stadiums across the globe. Virtual Avatars playing out live to paying fans in packed arenas.
His very final closing point was Bury FC, where their owner had actively sought the destruction of a football club to make personal financial game. The people of Bury would not let it happen and fought back.
You cannot choose the team you support. It is bigger than business.
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