Spanish Football is in trouble..

[Shrimper]

The death knell of Spanish Football as we know it is sounding. The rampaging bulls of Barcelona are over-taking the now wounded lion of Madrid in an attempt to show dominance not just in Spain, but in Europe as well. With the capture of David Villa for around £34.2million the sands of power are moving across Europe and settling nicely in Spain giving power to a different base and creating a league to be feared which will be ever-present over the coming years and see an era of grace, virtuoso and success. Or will it?

With the English game still suffering the effects of a recession, as evident during the January transfer window in which the English Premier League only spent £30million on players compared to the £170million the previous season. This shows that clubs aren't able to spend as freely as they were able to in the previous season. Spain followed suit in the winter but with Barcelona and Real Madrid still in the Champions League and Valencia still in the Europa League there was little need for recruitments other than at clubs such as Tenerife, Xerez and Valladolid. The summer months tell a different story for Spain.

This summers transfer window has begun with a bang with the aforementioned sale of David Villa. Spain has become accustomed to extortionate fee's and is used to getting what they want when it comes to the World's best. Last year we saw Real spunk £80million on Ronaldo and over £50million on Kaka. Two of the World's best midfielders in an attempt to reform the galacticos that Perez is determined to build and mold into his own creation. It's not just Real Madrid that are doing this though, Barcelona are now following suit and following the capture of Ibrahimovic are beginning to spend freely. If they capture Fabregas then they will have spent over £70million on two players, something that would be unheard of for one club in England.

This simply shows a business model that cannot surely work in any environment and when you see that the Spanish League is reportedly full with £3.5bn of debt, you see that they are eating away at their own club in the hope of glory. Sure, Barcelona might have made a profit last year, Madrid too, but when you see the level of debts you struggle to understand how they can sit holding that debt without seemingly have a regard to paying it off.

One final point is the story of Valencia, Deportivo and countless others that have fallen from grace. Valencia and Deportivo la Coruna used to be seen in the top four during the early years of the 00's. In fact, in the 2003/4 season Valencia won the league with La Coruna in 3rd. These clubs however are now feeling the pain of debt that they accumulated to get their. High wages and clubs risking everything on that one jaunt in the Champions League or to win the league prove costly and it's something that could happen to Barcelona and Real Madrid should the banks get fed up with their borrowing and demand the money back.

Should this happen, it'll set a wheel spinning and all money owed in loans to banks will be immediately demanded causing a whole sale of the World's best that they spent so long to build, leaving the Spanish League whimpering, floundering in a mire of troubles. England could go the same way, there is debt here, but Spain are an interesting case in that seem insistent on following one path, which could destroy Spanish football as we know it.

--------------

A little blog piece i've been meaning to do. I'm not the best when it comes to doing it, far from it but it'd be nice to receive some feedback. Thanks guys/gals.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Interesting post.
Especially in a season which finished with Mallorca finishing up with a place in Europe and voluntarily going into administration just days afterwards.Fortunately the Spanish club which I support-Espanyol-are in rather better shape to cope with any -ahem-sucess that might come their way next season.
Sevilla and Athletico Madrid should also be mentioned here.Unlike the other clubs you mention such as Valencia, who are crippled with debt despite selling Villa, and Deportivo and Villareal-for years models of how small well run clubs can suceed-Sevilla have continued their sucess story over the last few seasons, again qualifying for Champions league football and beating Athletico in a closely contested Copa del Rey Final here in Barcelona.While Athletico won only their second European trophy in their history by beating Fulham in the Europa League Final in Hamburg.

 

[Shrimper]

Barcelona have taken out a 125million loan to help pay wages.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Good post, but make sure you spell-check. I've seen one "their" when it should say "there". If you're trying to impress potential employers (such as magazine / newspaper / footy website editors), grammatical solecims like that are simply unacceptable.

Other than that, good piece.

:)

 

[BrettieAngell]

Good post, but make sure you spell-check. I've seen one "their" when it should say "there". If you're trying to impress potential employers (such as magazine / newspaper / footy website editors), grammatical solecims like that are simply unacceptable.

Other than that, good piece.

:)

huh?? :dim:

 

[A Century United]

Good post, but make sure you spell-check. I've seen one "their" when it should say "there". If you're trying to impress potential employers (such as magazine / newspaper / footy website editors), grammatical solecims like that are simply unacceptable.

Other than that, good piece.

:)

huh?? :dim:

MtS wasn't following his own advice, but he meant:

sol·e·cism (s

l

-s

z

m, s

l

-)
n. 1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction.
2. A violation of etiquette.
3. An impropriety, mistake, or incongruity.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

huh?? :dim:

LOL. But then I'm not trying to impress any football editors...

;)

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

One reason it's not in trouble is that it only costs me 465 euros to sit on the halfway line and watch Espanyol.Compare that to what it costs to watch a midtable Prem club these days.

 

[ldnfatso]

Barcelona have taken out a 125million loan to help pay wages.

This is where Ron Martin gets his ideas then!

 

[haveaguiness]

This is a good post about the state of Spanish football, and generally, apart from Germany and France where very strict rules are applied (in short: wages caps on earnings in France, and a complete business model for every club in Germany), debt is across the entire world of football, so this theory could be written about pretty much any league. I'm even sure a couple of the exiles in Australia will tell you that a few clubs are already close to the wire out there.

What is interesting in this case, is that Real Madrid and Barcelona, are possibly two of the only football (sports) clubs in the World, where even amongst the banks, government and politics they are more than just "CLUBS".

Everyone knows about the Real Madrid's bailing out by the Spanish Royal Family and that even the government have struck deals whereby Real makes more from the deal than the government (the training ground farce a few years ago was one of these).

But a similar mentality applies for Barcelona, with Catalonia, being one of the most economically important areas for the Spanish government, accounting for roughly 25% of all of Spain's production companies, there are a vast number of extremely wealthy fans that are willing to back the club (even the not so wealthy fans also, through their fans member shares scheme, which raises ten of millions every season) and Banks that are willing to hand out loans because Barcelona almost single-handedly (sorry BarnaBlue) promote the whole region of Catalonia, which all in all helps to push the idea that they want to be recognised as a separate country/state to Spain.

Now, I'm not saying that the banks won't call the money in, but you can pretty much bet that these two clubs would be the last name on the list of debts to be collected. You compare that to the clubs in this country and you can bet that a number of them will be on the top of the banks lists, mainly because of pressure from the government and the media.

Oh yes the price of tickets in Spain are also ridiculous, unless you want to sit in the back row of the Camp Nou of course...

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

According to new Bar$a President Sandro Rosell the club are "not bankrupt." Now where have we heard that before? ;)

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

This is a good post about the state of Spanish football, and generally, apart from Germany and France where very strict rules are applied (in short: wages caps on earnings in France, and a complete business model for every club in Germany), debt is across the entire world of football, so this theory could be written about pretty much any league. I'm even sure a couple of the exiles in Australia will tell you that a few clubs are already close to the wire out there.

What is interesting in this case, is that Real Madrid and Barcelona, are possibly two of the only football (sports) clubs in the World, where even amongst the banks, government and politics they are more than just "CLUBS".

Everyone knows about the Real Madrid's bailing out by the Spanish Royal Family and that even the government have struck deals whereby Real makes more from the deal than the government (the training ground farce a few years ago was one of these).

But a similar mentality applies for Barcelona, with Catalonia, being one of the most economically important areas for the Spanish government, accounting for roughly 25% of all of Spain's production companies, there are a vast number of extremely wealthy fans that are willing to back the club (even the not so wealthy fans also, through their fans member shares scheme, which raises ten of millions every season) and Banks that are willing to hand out loans because Barcelona almost single-handedly (sorry BarnaBlue) promote the whole region of Catalonia, which all in all helps to push the idea that they want to be recognised as a separate country/state to Spain.

Now, I'm not saying that the banks won't call the money in, but you can pretty much bet that these two clubs would be the last name on the list of debts to be collected. You compare that to the clubs in this country and you can bet that a number of them will be on the top of the banks lists, mainly because of pressure from the government and the media.

Oh yes the price of tickets in Spain are also ridiculous, unless you want to sit in the back row of the Camp Nou of course...

To get a decent ticket at Bar$a(eqivalent to where I sit at Espanyol's ground it would cost you around 100 euros a game.:'(

 

[Uncle Leo]

In terms of ticket prices in Spain, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I went to see Atlético de Madrid a couple of times last year and for €30 you can get an excellent view of the game (although it better not be raining or blazing down with sun becuase there is very little cover). On the other hand, I got a ticket through work to a Real Madrid game last year and the face value (I didn't pay this) was €175.

Going down a division, I saw Rayo Vallecano play last season and although €20 was fair enough for a game in the equivalent of the Championship, the stewarding and the crowd control were worse anything I have ever seen. "Got a ticket? Good, that gets you in to the stadium. Now stand/sit/crouch wherever you like."

 

[Beefy]

One reason it's not in trouble is that it only costs me 465 euros to sit on the halfway line and watch Espanyol.Compare that to what it costs to watch a midtable Prem club these days.

That's more than twice what a season ticket at Blackburn costs. There's more games at Blackburn too.

On the downside of course, you'd be in Blackburn.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

That's more than twice what a season ticket at Blackburn costs. There's more games at Blackburn too.

On the downside of course, you'd be in Blackburn.

Um..that's quite a downside to be fair! ;)

 

[Beefy]

True. But the point still stands. I've just checked and you could get an adult season ticket for less than what you pay at Espanyol at 12 of the 20 clubs in this season's Premier League.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

True. But the point still stands. I've just checked and you could get an adult season ticket for less than what you pay at Espanyol at 12 of the 20 clubs in this season's Premier League.

Yeah, but my season card's not a bog standard one behind the goal.It's an excellent seat bang on the half way line, opposite where the fat cats sit.
An equivalent seat at Fulham in the Johnny Haynes Stand would cost me a cool 749 quid for a season card, so 465 euros represents quite a saving on that.