the monthly magazine about the beautiful game of football

Futbols24 magissue 3June2013

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June 2013Issue Nr. 3

Summer haS finally came! We SaW Some amazing football at the end of thiS SeaSon and i think you’ll agree With me - it WaS a great Sea-Son. a lot of SurpriSeS, a lot of epic matcheS. for uS, laSt month WaSn’t So eaSy. We had Some minor problemS and that WaS the rea-Son Why We didn’t added feW more articleS to thiS iSSue. time WaS againSt uS.

Editor in chiefRolands Juhna

Design and LayoutCristian LiberumNastya MendezAsuman Dogan

AuthorsAlessio LoginovRob o'Connor

DespIte all the problems, here’s the JuNe Issue 2013! You woN’t fIND treND-INg topIcs IN thIs Issue, we DecIDeD to look at some DIffereNt topIcs. maIN hero thIs tIme Is baYerN muNIch wINg-er fraNck rIberY, who receNtlY woN champIoNs league trophY together wIth germaN graND. fraNck Is reallY uNDerrateD plaYer IN mY opINIoN aND I hope to You’ll eNJoY mY artIcle about hIs career.

gooD News thIs moNth are that we have some New authors oN boarD. warm welcome to oNe of the best russIaN football wrIters alessIo logINov! he’s passIoNate about Ital-IaN football aND he reallY has the kNowleDge about It. IN thIs eDItIoN, alessIo explaINs how gIampaolo pozzo Is workINg aND brINgINg success to uDINese. also, he gIves hIs owN vIew oN poteNtIal future of ItalIaN football.

rob o’coNNor Is also JoININg our mag. he brINgs You two INterestINg sto-rIes. oNe Is about aJax amsterDam, It’s polIcY aND future perspectIves. secoND oNe Is about football faNs aND theIr role IN football. for some clubs, sImple faNs have turNeD INto somethINg more. theY Do everYthINg theY caN to save theIr beloveD clubs. some of them eveN become the co-owNers of theIr clubs!

of course, there are some artIcles from mY colleagues crIstIaN lIberum aND NastYa meNDez. I suggest You to share some love to them too! I reallY hope that You’ll NotIce lIttle chaNg-es IN DesIgN aND You’ll love It. we Do our best to Improve thIs mag aND I hope that Next moNth wIll brINg less oDDs aND more eNergY to us, so we’ll brINg You eveN more INterestINg aND excItINg storIes! staY tuNeD!

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Rolands Juhna

best regarDs,eNJoY the magazINe!

iSSue nr. 3

3 underrated french Starfranck ribery

9 Johan cruyfftotal football in barcelona

11 children of cornthe future belongS to udineSe

17 aJax amSterdamheading the right direction

21 arSene Wenger doeS it again

25 balancing actSimpact of fan oWnerShip in football

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french winger franck ribery has been outstanding in bundesliga and uefa champions league this season. It’s clear that frenchman deserves to be one of the main candidates for 2013 fIfa ballon d’or award. In the opinion of futbols24 mag, ribery should be the winner of this award. here’s the some reasons, why he should be the winner.

for example, lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo. they are known even for usual people, such, who never fol-low football. and mostly thanks to these awards, which are so many for them, in such way they appear more in mass media sources. apparently fIfa and uefa are sharing these awards by following some exact criterias. and they try to be objective as well.

In most occasions player of the team, if he is very gifted and talented and shows great performance for years, in such way being a real leader of his team, sooner or later gets awarded with some big individual award. It is com-mon practice in all kinds of team sports. some say that those awards doesn’t matter, they are made just for sat-isfying own ego, although noone can deny that getting such award or trophy, or title means to become notice-able. It is attention from apart. some kind of gratefulness about player’s performance and hard work.

rolands juhna

fraNckrIberYunderratedfrench JeWel

however, they haven’t noticed and showed any respect to one player, who is not far away from messi and ron-aldo by performance and with his hard working has al-ways deserved to be nominated for some of the main awards from fIfa or uefa. and his name is Franck Rib-ery.

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he returned to his hometown biggest club boulogne, where in 2000 he started his professional senior career. he was just 17 and already started to show solid performance. So in his first real season he appeared just in four matches. Next season at boulogne was already better – 25 league games and also scored five goals. However, team didn’t succeed to stay in the division they were playing, so it dropped one level down. In same time ribery left the team.

following next three years were not easy for him. he played for three french teams but neither managed to prove his per-formance at any of them. then came year 2005. ribery was brought up by galatasaray manager gheorghe hagi and this move gave Ribery his first major honour. He scored the open-ing goal in the 16th minute and also assisted on another goal, in such way helping galatasaray to win the turkish cup. but ribery didn’t stay long there and already on 15 June 2005 re-turned to france, joining marseille.

time spent at marseille, without any doubt, was the spring-board for franck from high class footballer to the highest class competitor. although ribery played there just for two seasons, scoring „only” 11 goals in 60 appearances, it was more than enough to notice his potential, his working abilities and natural talent. also at the same time he was called up for France national team and became a very important figure for this team in the World Cup 2006. Ribery earned his first cap with the france national team in a 1–0 victory over mexico on 27 may 2006 appearing as a substitute in the 74th min-ute for striker David trézéguet. his solid performances in the friendly matches ahead of the 2006 fIfa world cup led to his

ribery’s way to the football elite and successes was not an easy one to say the least. actually, he has been proving him-self as hero already from the beginning. ribery was born in boulogne-sur-mer (city in northern france) and raised in a low-income neighbourhood on the fringes of the city. when he was two years old, he and his family were involved in a car accident in his hometown, colliding with a truck. ribery suffered serious facial injuries that resulted in more than one hundred stitches and left two long scars down the right side of his face.

already from the beginning of his life destiny was not kind against him, bringing such a „present” that will remain on his face for all life, in such way remembering this horrific acci-dent. many kids would get into big mental trouble after this and not even try to get to the success. but ribery already then had such character that didn’t allow him to feel sorry about destiny. sooner opposite – problems made even bigger push for him to the future achievements.

ribery began his football career at age six playing in the youth section of amateur club fc conti de boulogne-sur-mer. after a seven-year stay, in 1996, he joined professional outfit Lille, who were playing in the second division. while at lille, ribery excelled athletically, but developed academic and behavioral problems, which led to lille releasing him. behaviour, prob-ably, has been the biggest stumbling block for all career of franck. but he is the greatest example – if you are really tal-ented and have passion for the game you are playing, then even such little minuses in your character won’t drawn you to the depth. same happened with ribery. after leaving lille,

Jupp heynckeS

“fraNck got aN INsatIable appetIte for success.”

the most important and long-waiting title came just recently. On June 25, in the Wembley stadium Bayern had a final game against borussia Dortmund in the uefa champions league tournament. It was not a typical final match of this tourna-ment, because very rare comes such situation when 2 clubs from one country competes against each other. this time it came and came not in an ordinary way – simply because noone expected Borussia Dortmund to be in this final.

but the ending result came as most part of people expect-ed. Bayern finally got their Champions League title, beating borussia 2:1, while scoring their second goal late at the end of second half. It was third Champions League final for several players of the team and also Ribery. Before the final he said it will be too much to lose third time in a row, so he almost promised that this time bayern will win. and he was right.

they won... because of the great performance from franck! It was he who made brilliant pass to arjen robben, who scored the winning goal. all the time during the match ribery was very visible – he collected fouls, ran past opponents. he did what he can do the best – earn free kicks for his team, bring yellow cards for opponents and create very dangerous and effective counterattacks. the best player of the game was named robben, although I would give this award to ribery. without any doubts. You will ask - why? because with or with-out him – even such team like bayern munich is not same. he is like messi. we all know how good barcelona plays when messi is playing and how their game changes when he is ab-sent. two different teams.

inclusion in the team for the competition. ribery appeared in all seven matches france contested, starting six. on 27 June, he scored france’s opening goal in the team’s 3–1 round of 16 win over spain after receiving a through ball from patrick vieira, which allowed the winger to dribble past an oncoming Iker casillas and shoot into the empty net. he later played in the final where France lost to Italy on penalties. Ribery’s only shot on goal came in extra time and he was later replaced by trézéguet.

after successful world cup ribery was close to get brought up by Arsenal and Real Madrid, both teams offered fine money for french international. however, at the end ribery claimed he will remain at the club for one more (2006/2007) season. already then came clear it is his last season at mar-seille and it was true. after year, on 7 June 2007, german club bayern munich announced that they had reached an agree-ment with marseille for the transfer of ribery with the player agreeing to a four-year deal and bayern paying marseille a then club-record €25 million. Ribery was given the number 7 shirt, which was freed up due to the retirement of midfielder mehmet scholl at the end of the previous season.

and till now ribery is playing in bayern munich. for 5 years already and seems the amount of them will increase, because not likely he is leaving the team. all this time when ribery was playing for bayern, was more than successful for him and his team. he has won 3 bundesliga titles with bayern, twice tri-umphed in german cup, but these achievements are not the main ones for franck.

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and here we come to the main topic of this article. Is ribery ever been rated high? Don’t misunderstand me, I know that all write and say he is very talented, skilled and highest class player etc. It is well known. but I mean individual awards, how many have been for him? once, in the far 2008 he was named german footballer of the year while playing for bayern, at same year also french player of the year. In 2008 also put in the uefa team of the Year. and probably that’s all. If these are not notable awards, then those few which I could put as well are even less important. and since 2009 he has not been even close to any big award like fIfa ballon d’or, uefa player of the Year, not talking about receiving european golden shoe for example. for cristiano ronaldo list about awards is almost endless. when you open his list of individual honours, then can’t even understand what is what. In franck’s case view is quite poor. such can be found for some average play-ers as well. But Ribery isn’t such. Thanks to him France went to final in the World Cup 2006, thanks to him Bayern had so successful season like this, thanks to him many people in france were more passionate, calling him as a replacement of legendary zinedine zidane. performance clear, achievements as well, but where is approvement of all that in the way of some important awards? strange to say the least...

here we can say that ribery is still underrated no matter many talk about him and he plays for the strongest european club at the moment. Is it because of not typical appearance? No, that can’t be truth, it is football and noone rates how you look. then what else, his previous behaviour? scandals about prostitutes? also that sounds too weird to believe it would mess him getting some notable award. or maybe it is messi and ronaldo? they take all what possible to take (at least took) and noone has been even close them, except xavi and Iniesta and some real madrid players. sooner truth can be such. but then again comes question about objectivity from uefa and fIfa. they just see what they want to see and rate in the same way. It’s not really fair against other football superstars. this year everything must be different and ribery without any doubts must be in the top 3 candidates for some of these major awards. If even after such successful season he will be forgotten once again, then there’s no comments needed anymore. then it’s really hard to understand this football world. because franck understands it more than anyone else. he has passion to this game and without doubt will give happiness to all fans for long time yet. Does football world understand and appreciate ribery’s performance? for the moment, my answer remains to be „No”.

back IN 2009, realmaDrID were reaDYto paY £55 mIllIoN forthe freNch superstarbayern reJected thiS offer, Setting the price tag of £70 million. thiS WaS a Smart deciSion from the management of bayern munich. riberyhaS been a key player in their SucceSS.

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Johan cruyff has a special place in the history of football. he’s one of the main reasons, why barcelona had such an impressive dominance in recent years. Cruyff was one of the finest examples of “total football”.

nastya mendez

JohaNcruYffin barcelonatotal football

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one thing is to play and lead team, while being on pitch. being a coach is a totally opposite thing. we often are used to see that great players can’t really prove themselves as a great managers. they have the fame and the ambitions but they lack that managerial talent and vision. cruyff proved that a legendary player can turn into a legendary manager. Just look at his career in barcelona. his return to spain saw catalan side winning 11 titles from 1988 till 1996. he has been the club’s longest serving manager, which also is a notable fact. cruyff introduced tiki-taka and taught his players, how to play this tiki-taka the right way. what’s even more important - cruyff was a role model for Josep guardiola, who played under the guidance of Dutchman. guardiola was a great pupil, as he later surpassed his teacher, winning 15 trophies with barcelona.

I’m sure there’s possible to write a lot more about the influence and importance that Johan cruyff had. It’s important to remember such people - pioneers. barcelona would be a totally different team without cruyff. he took a great role in history of barcelona. lead-ing role - as a player and as a manager. Not many can influence football the way, as cruyff did. times may change, new heroes are taking their place each decade. legacy of Johan cruyff remains. legacy of that perfect “total footballer”, who always was looking for a chance to play football the beautiful way. to impress and bring a joy to the fans. maybe that’s something what modern football is missing so much? beauty, soul, passion.

Johan cruyff

every sphere of our life always had pioneers. people, who dared to do things differently. football isn’t an exception. Game has changed a lot since 1863, when the first football match was played. Despite fact that football slowly turned into a worldwide business and billions of euros are spent each year on sponsorship, television rights, transfers and many other things, the human factor is still actual. It always has been ac-tual. and here we go again to the pioneers, who loved to bring something new into football. one of the brightest pioneers in the history of football, without any doubts, was the legendary Dutchman Johan cruyff. his exceptional talent helped rinus michels and amsterdam ajax to take football on a new level. they ignited a new philosophy - “total football”. Dynamic and attractive football. cruyff once commented on it: “simple football is the most beautiful. but playing simple football is the hardest thing.”

season after season, cruyff dominated the eredivisie, when there came an offer from spanish side barcelona in 1973. there he rejoined michels and together they brought barce-lona to a new level. arrival of cruyff quickly helped catalans to win their 9th spanish league title. Dutchman scored 16 goals in his debut season and he quickly became the local hero. fans didn’t saw a lot more titles coming in next few seasons but that wasn’t the most important thing. football was impor-tant, cruyff was important. It was a pleasure to watch barce-lona games. fans had a unique chance to enjoy an inspiring football, performed by the best player in the world at that time. No wonder that Cruyff slowly became an iconic figure in Bar-celona. he changed the way game was played, he inspired his teammates. that was an important breakthrough for barce-lona. Those were first steps to their own identity and style of play. cruyff gave us the barcelona we all know and love now.

“football Is a game You plaY wIth Your braIN.”

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Children of Corn

THE fuTurE bElongs To udinEsE

francesco guidolin did it once again! eight victories in a row helped Udinese to finish sea-son at 5th place, above lazio, Inter and roma. fans of udinese said that if serie a would be extended to few more rounds, friulians would finish even above Milan and Fiorentina.

Alessio Loginov

many football fans have cold feelings against udine (friuli-venezia giulia province) based club. there’s some logic in their attitude against udinese. It’s not only because friulians have managed to leave their more famous and powerful opponents out of uefa champions league and this year, out of europa league action. reason is even more simple. It’s because bianconeri is managed clearly different way than other, more bourgeois-minded, Italian clubs. “we sold, we’re selling and we gonna sell even more!” that could be the motto of udinese.

following the Italian traditions, club, which once brought under its colours such names as zico, edinho, bierhoff and balbo, should be clothed in garment of impoverished aristocracy and silently fade off in the walls of sprawled castle, living with the memories of the old-good times. some clubs still live such way. look at to-rino, where the dust from portrait of luigi radice is still carefully brushed away. Neighbor from verona is still living with the sweet memories of scudetto 1985. If you visit club store, there’s still a strong feeling that legendary preben elkjær is still captaining his side at stadio bentegodi. You can’t also forget vicenza, which re-cently faced relegation from serie b. they also had some glorious moments in past. Just remember the names of paolo rossi, rob-erto baggio and even the francesco guidolin, who brought last trophy for vicenza more than 15 years ago.

It’s a nice feeling, when you have that nostalgia about the glorious times but you can’t say the same about club from udine and their owner giampaolo pozzo, who has always been a realist. “we’re a small club and our main goal is surviving.” that’s how you could describe the philosophy of pozzo. that’s the reason why many former grands and venetian neighbors have cold feelings against udinese, which is regularly taking a higher position in the league table at the end of season. serie a is facing the end of feudalism and future will be in the hands of such clubs, as udinese. this fact makes opponents feel jealous and angry.

AllAn - THE friuliAn Pirlofew years ago udinese had terrible start of the season, getting just one point in first five games. Situation was slick and Franc-esco Guidolin was just one step away from being fired. Later on, Guidolin found the right solutions and Udinese played so confi-dently till the end of season that they got past lazio and earned the chance to play in qualification of UEFA Champions League. after such success club sold its best players - alexis sanchez and gokhan Inler. without leading players udinese had to face loss against Arsenal in Champions League qualification and after this loss, there were a lot of discussions about guidolin. maybe man-agement should give him chance to work more than just a sea-son with leading players in squad? soon all discussions stopped, because it was clear that pragmatic philosophy of giampaolo pozzo won’t allow such sentiments. If there’s a good offer on ta-ble - player will be sold! that’s a strict rule without any exceptions and no one should even try to teach pozzo, how to get good deals. he would never allow to appear such situation, as it’s now around roma and potential transfer of Daniele De rossi. club is willing to

sell him for miserable €20 million, when just few years ago his val-ue was around €70 million. Interesting, could someone sell alexis sanchez for sum barcelona paid for him?

history turned to be the same this season, when kwadwo asa-moah and mauricio Isla were sold to Juventus. once again udinese was left out of champions league group stage and there was a really slow start of season. club was waiting for the ar-rival of winter, being placed no higher than at 10th spot in league table. pessmists were saying: “we should avoid relegation!” situ-ation was even more dramatic because of fact that some of the newcomers (willians, maicosuel and mathias ranégie) failed to impress and quickly adapt in club. this trio looked like a strange exception of club’s selection policy. they all are already 25 years old and older. for club like udinese, such players are almost a veterans. club shouldn’t work this way, bianconeri needs to buy young players, teach them and sell for the maximum possible price. only pragmatism, no sentiments. that’s why udinese has one of the biggest scouting networks in europe. Youngsters are well-informed about the policy of club and they try to do their best to show a rapid progress.

It’s not a coincidence that youngsters saved udinese this season. Francesco Guidolin admitted that it’s impossible to find another club in Italy, which would have such an inexperienced squad. allan (the friulian pirlo), luis muriel, roberto pereyra, gabriele angella, Gabriel Silva, Piotr Zieliński (despite he didn’t played so often) - it’s a bunch of young footballers, who were able to mature through the season and pull udinese into europa league in that amaz-ing race they had in spring. they all feel inspired by their coach, saying: “he’s the best teacher of calcio.” and then they add: “and of life too.” It’s easy to understand them because foreign players always have some difficulties, when they arrive to a new country. guidolin isn’t even considering a move to some bigger club. Now he wants to stay in udine for a long term and build a new team. glory of makarenko proved to be more attractive than titles.

Joy of frAncEsco guidolin

winning streak of udinese can’t be explained only by tactics. eve-rything is much more complex and most important is the rela-tionship between coach and players. that’s why I always smile, when I hear that key to guidolin success was switching the for-mation from 3-5-1-1 to 3-4-1-2. they say that team started to play tighter and gaps between the lines were removed. but if you look back at the last autumn, same inexperienced players couldn’t play other way, than just doing endless crosses into penalty box to lonely Antonio Di Natale. In April, they were finally ready to take initiative in their own hands. If guidolin would ask, players would easily perform every possible tactical aria for their coach - from 4-3-2-1 to 4-3-3. without any problems. It’s because they learned a lot in udinese. eat corn porridge (polenta), drink the right wine and quickly readjust on pitch after the command of coach. and most importantly - take the initiative by themselves, without rely-ing only on captain.

figure of Di Natale is iconic for udinese. after euro 2012, as al-ways, he had slow start at the beginning of season. later on, he got back into his rhythm and scored more than 20 goals per sea-son. he’s an absolute authority. leader on and off the pitch. some scouts of udinese confessed that many young players are willing to join club because of Di Natale. after toto will retire, his qualities should be still useful for job in club’s structure.

guIDolIN haD some slIck momeNts wIth uDINese but IN the eND he has proveD that he’s the rIght maN for thIs team.

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udinese, by the way, now is working on a new project. similar pro-ject in Italy has only been done by Juventus. Next season team will be forced to host its home games in another stadium, as pozzo has launched the reconstruction of stadio friuli. many are sur-prised, when they hear that reconstructed stadium will have less capacity than before. friulians are used to work their own way, ignoring current trends. Quality will be brought over capacity. res-taurants, stores, conference rooms, new parking spots and even access to wi-fi (miracle for Italian stadiums) will be enabled in this new project. these extras should bring solid income for club. No doubts about that, because signor pozzo probably has cal-culated everything till the last cent. president even promised that increasing club’s income, there could be higher salaries paid for leading players, helping keep them in club for a bit longer period - one season that guidolin was always missing.

In such case, guidolin won’t be forced anymore to build castles from sand and his players, these children of corn polenta, won’t be immediately sacrificed after their first success. They will have more time to spend in udine. It could even bring some chances to dream about scudetto. If such scenario will become a reality, Italian football gonna live through the great bourgeois revolution. Dozens of clubs, who have miserable existence, gonna see that it’s possible in Italy to be successful and earn good money. that

nEw sTAdium of udinEsE will bE oPEnEd in sEPTEmbEr 2014

old aristocrats will be left headless, they will be brought to the ex-ecution scaffold, as the master of the great east Italy masonic order - giampaolo pozzo - will see the rejoice of the raging crowd and when the glass of prosecco will be raised to the sky, crowd will hear about the beginning of new era. an era, where winners will be those, who truly understand how to this football business. fancy titles and names won’t be actual anymore.

of course, I will miss my calcio with all those tanzi, cecchi gori, sensi and cragnotti. I will dream about the restoration. put-ting hand on heart, I can say that those gentlemen are already a ghosts. good example is the eternal silvio berlusconi. If he starts to make decisions, which makes you feel worried about him, then it’s a clear sign that there’s no chances left for the old Italy.

capacItY of New uDINese staDIum wIll be reDuceD. gIampaolo pozzo Is goINg to relY oN QualItY more thaN oN QuaNtItY. It’s goINg to be oNe of most moD-erN staDIums IN ItalY. thIs proJect Is goINg to brINg uDINese some extra INcome. smart move.

giAmPAolo Pozzo

will be a proof, that there’s no need to await the arrival of mid-dle east sheikhs and there’s no need to mortgage the estates as franco sensi did. It’s possible to live with a bright view on future, leaving memories about glorious days in past.

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ajax is a club with a rich history. many legendary players have been raised in the academy of ajax. Names, like Jo-han cruyff, marco van basten and Den-nis bergkam are written in the history of football with a golden letters. times have changed but ajax remains a club, which produces talents season after season. Dutch club is a good example, how to run a football club. here’s a story and some numbers about ajax.

directionheading the right

As UEFA strains to arrest the priority of financial deregu-lation amongst its members, one national association is doing more than most to infiltrate the complex plans of the corporate hedonists and dictate the terms of engage-ment. If early success is any measure it might not be too long before clubs and governors alike find themselves en-gaged in a whole new ball game.

the kNvb have progressively over the last six years taken the Dutch club game by the scruff of its neck and shaken it to within an inch of the life to which it had become ac-customed. the new rules that make operating licences mandatory for any club wishing to compete in the profes-sional leagues may not be revolutionary in tone but it has been earth-shattering in its rigorous application. the con-ditions that kNvb members must meet in order to qualify for the professional game are strict and the regulations they impose upon clubs make most european league au-thorities look criminally irresponsible.

the legislation is simple. clubs must surrender their ac-counts tri-annually to the authorities for inspection, in-cluding full-year’s results, projections and budgets for the coming year. should the books be judged to be in the third of three categories of health – inadequate – a warning is

club’S financial figureS (€ euroS)

revenueS2010 €69.1 2011 €97.7 2012 €104.1

groSS profit2010 €65.1 2011 €93.1 2012 €98.3

operating expenSeS2010 €90.9 2011 €84.6 2012 €82.9

operating income2010 -€25.1 2011 €8.5 2012 €15.4

net income2010 -€22.8 2011 €5.5 2012 €9.7

You can see that in last few years have been suc-cessful for ajax. club is working the right direc-tion and there are still plenty of talents, who will definitely bring some more money for the club’s budget. everything is working well for the mo-ment and there’s no doubts that ajax gonna have stable future without any major financial difficul-ties. system is working well.

aJaxamSterdam

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the swing in policy under former energy magnate coronel and his com-mercially minded allies is symptomatic of a change in focus from the reliance on home grown produce for which the club is famed to an ob-session with acquiring the finished product at a bloated market price to lubricate the quick assent to the top of the european football ladder. “this isn’t ajax anymore” lamented cruyff in his weekly press column. the fer-vent backing he received from the fan base for his subsequent take over suggested the great majority felt similarly.

that the new regime is looking to acknowledge the traditional source of the club’s prestige in its plans for moving forward – the rearing of ex-ceptional new talent in its youth academy – has been brought about by necessity as much as by philosophy and a longing for a lost sense of identity. the domestic and global media has a limited appetite for the Dutch game, as an income of just €7 million from broadcasting con-tracts recorded by the club in 2010 bears witness to, and game-changing transfer kitties aren’t funded by such contextually modest returns, es-pecially when one looks at the revenue potential of the clubs that ajax would have to usurp to regain a crown they haven’t worn for nearly two decades.

the key to renewal, it seems, is through the academy system that con-tinues to be the most effective in europe. the International centre for sports studies puts the number of professionals operating in europe this season that came through the ajax academy at 69 and the club’s future on and off the pitch seems to pivot around the continued success of the production line. regularly allowing a young crop to represent the club at first team level rather than be shunted to the margins by over-priced foreign imports could be as crucial to the team’s success on the pitch as it is off it.

a return to what the club does best under the dual stewardship of cruyff and manager frank de boer has seen the healthiest period the club has known for a generation, both financially and in terms of footballing suc-cess. Yes, there is still debt – around €25 million of it at the close of the last financial year – but this is the nature of the beast; Manchester United continue to be the most profitable enterprise in world sport with debts topping €560 million and the most that modern day proponents of regulation can realistically hope for is that debt remains moderated and doesn’t bring the industry to its knees. moderation seems to be the watchword for the amsterdam club under its new direction – a limited outlay on outside imports combined with careful and democratically ap-plied investment in the youth program, which recently opened up a new arm to source new talent in southern europe and the mediterranean. New links forged with the club’s namesake in cape town are further signs of an institution looking for growth from below rather than through expensive and clumsy acquisitions.

It may be that we’ve seen the last of ajax as a european superpower. things are different now to when amsterdam was the state capital of the continental game and the Dutch product, though held in esteem for its romantic flair and stellar roll call, no longer comes up to spec as far as keeping pace with a game going into overdrive is concerned. but all signs point to a club that has rediscovered its niche. fiscal limitations may yet lend themselves to a cultural renaissance and a generation of fans may learn to hold the famous old name in reverie the way its forefathers did.

issued that unless a transparent and austere action plan is drawn up and applied to the irregularities there will be consequences. the country’s oldest club haarlem found out the hard way last year that the threat of action is a real one – fail to comply and the licence to compete profes-sionally will be revoked.

the tightening grasp of economic discipline has thrown the declining fortunes of holland’s most famous club into sharp relief. eighteen years and only one appearance in the Champions League quarter final since they were last kings of all europe, together with the irrefutable fact that they are a club that still produces world class talent but ships it on long before its peak, Ajax’s financial accounts tell the story of a club finally coming to peace with its new position on the continent.

the memory takes some stirring now to recall with any fluency when seedorf, Davids and kluivert began the exo-dus that was to be the break-up of the ’95 cup winning team, but the production line that leads out of the amster-dam arena and on to europe’s more illustrious leagues is still moving, reminding everyone in amsterdam and be-yond that the club which once wore the european crown for three successive years is now a feeder club to the real movers and shakers of the global game.

flash back to 2011 and the management hierarchy at the club was in tumult. Name calling was the primary weapon in a childlike battle for supremacy between then-chairman uri coronel and self-appointed messiah Johan cruyff. the latter prevailed, as his demi-god status at the club always promised he would, and ajax found themselves with a business plan based more on where they had come from than where they were likely to be heading. but the future is brighter than this verdict suggests. the accounts then showed an organisation with dwindling revenue potential, spiralling debts and a conspicuous lack of purpose about the position it hoped to occupy in the continental game. the pugnacious hot air being pumped out by cruyff’s spin campaign suggested they still counted themselves among Europe’s big hitters; the numbers – in the books and in the trophy inventory – told a different story.

under the new regime operating expenses at the club have been slashed whilst losses of over €20 million have been turned into healthy profits. It’s all a far cry from the last financial year under Coronel’s supervision; the club was haemorrhaging money and debts were mounting - it all makes claims made by cruyff and his new board of directors that coronel had left the business riddled with unsustainable risk and a frightening lack of financial fail-safes feel conspicuously close to the mark. a num-ber of high profile forages into the transfer market at in-flated prices left a cumbersome squad weighed down by the weight of expectation and over-valued players. Just where, wondered nostalgic purists, was the academy production line that had produced bergkamp, overmars, cruyff and the rest? Robert o'connor

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“le professeur” has done it once again. ar-senal is on the way to the 16th consecu-tive champions league journey. as sir alex ferguson has retired, arsene wenger now is going to be the only living icon of english premier league. frenchman doesn’t get any younger but his qualities always remain the same. experience, stability and never-ending passion for football.

arseNe weNger

cristian liberum

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If we consider fact that all of these players had their debut in english football, they all done quite a good job. sure, podolski wasn’t so bright and consistent, same we can say about giroud, who often had that tendency to miss great goal-scoring opportuni-ties. Despite that, they both added 11 goals for arsenal in premier league. german also added 9 assists, but frenchman was strong in aerial duels, winning most of them. giroud was used slightly different way than he was used to play in montpellier and probably that was the main problem. he rarely had a chance to help his teammates to launch those attacks, as he was doing that in france. while playing for montpellier, giroud often supplied his partners with quick and short passes. he often played a lot “deeper”. In arsenal his role changed and he wasn’t always able to handle

arsenal. he just needs to stay motivated and focused. Next season will be a great chance for arsenal and cazorla to prove everyone their ambitions. with some proper additions this summer, performance and statistics of cazorla could be even more impressive next season. I believe he has his best seasons ahead.

I think the main reason, why Arsenal managed to finish fourth was the arsene wenger and his experience. even in a slippery situation, frenchman was able to handle the situation and bring an impressive run in the final stage of season, when those points were needed the most. I think even that fact “hey, our manager is arsene wenger!” is like a good boost for all arsenal players. he makes his players feel calm even in hard situations. that’s important moment and it could be one of the biggest advantages next season, when almost all leading premier league clubs gonna have new (old) managers coming up. It’s a chance to shine through that little chaos.

of course, arsene wenger has to work on problems his team had throughout the season. for example, defence. cap-tain of gunners thomas vermaelen had an awful season.

may 19, Newcastle. last game of the season. arsenal needed a victory against magpies to secure their place in 2013/14 uefa champions league qualification. Match was decided on 52nd minute. cross by theo walcott, little flick by lukas podolski and ball goes to frenchman laurent kosciel-ny, who finished the episode with a so needed goal. 1-0! In remaining 40 minutes, arsenal defenders managed to keep score the same. It was a sad moment for all tottenham hotspur fans. they got such an important win over arsenal in their march meeting and situation looked much better for spurs at that time. In last round they got 1-0 victory over sunderland on white hart lane. Despite win, spurs still were 1 point short of champions league ticket. tottenham wasted their chances in the last part of the season...

the situation. good thing is that giroud brought some extra physical presence for arsenal. even if he’s not the quick-est and technically gifted man on the pitch, opponents still have to be care-ful, otherwise frenchman can cre-ate a lot of problems. It will be really interesting to see, how giroud gonna progress (or maybe not?) next sea-son. I think giroud has the potential of striker, who’s capable to bring 20+ goals per season.

everything was much more positive and impressive, if we talk about santi cazorla. little spaniard, without any doubts, did a great job this season. 12 goals and 11 assists in premier league. he had some moments of “silence” throughout the season, but overall cazorla individually still was one of the brightest players in league. No wonder he was named as the player of the season by the members of arsenal. cazorla is gifted by some great football and personal qualities. It’s hard to have any negative feelings against this little and always smiling Spanish midfielder. Cazorla has great chances to write his name in history

It wasn’t an easy season for arse-nal. since the last summer, arsene wenger had a lot of headache. he saw departure of robin van persie to manchester united, he had to re-build team once again, as their leader and captain was gone. van persie had amazing 2011/12 season, scoring 30 goals and winning premier league golden boot. It’s almost an impossi-ble task for manager to find immedi-ate replacement for such striker. You can even buy the striker like zlatan Ibrahimovic or radamel falcao but you still will be left out of guarantees that one of these gonna bring you those 30 goals.

wenger isn’t the man, who gonna spend all money on just one player. Instead of hunting one superstar, frenchman brought to club three to-tally different newcomers. arsenal paid €19 million for spanish interna-tional santi cazorla, €12 million for rising french striker olivier giroud and another €12 million for former bayern forward lukas podolski. this trio was supposed to fully replace robin van persie and take arsenal to a new level.

arSene Wenger

“I’m prouD of the character aND spIrIt after all we have

haD to Deal wIth through thIs seasoN. theY are specIal, theY

have showeD It IN the last two moNths. theY have beeN abso-

lutelY exceptIoNal.”

after victory against newcastle

throughout the 2012/2013 season there were some moments, when arsenal wasn’t able to per-form well. Disappointing team work and unsuc-cessful individual efforts. little spaniard santi ca-zorla also lost some enthusiasm at some parts of this season. anyway, he still was one of the main reasons, why arsenal made it to the top 4.

againSt all the oddS...

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health. Injuries. here comes the bad news. abou Diaby. he played just 15 games this season and got injured once again. those injuries are slowly ruining career of french midfielder. He had some great potential to become a cornerstone of Arsenal’s midfield but... It looks that his career is slowly coming to the end. that’s sad. very sad. and a big loss for arsenal.

and here we come to one vital position arse-nal needs to strengthen - defensive midfield-er. after departure of alex song, no one could really replace cameroonian in this position. good news are that there can be found some good players in france. look at toulouse’s etienne capoue or lyon’s maxime gonalons. I believe that any of these two could improve Arsenal chances to fight for the titles. They both have that international experience, they both are strong, with a good shot and pass. and they’re french, so there should be no ma-jor problems for them to adapt in arsenal. If wenger won’t bring any of these two to lon-don this summer, I’ll be surprised.

I’ve seen a lot of discussions about goalkeep-er and striker positions in Arsenal. If Szczęsny still is a young and perspective goalie, then about striker position there could be some questions. If arsenal will buy gonzalo higuain or Stevan Jovetic, Wenger will have to find a balance and right rotation for his attacking line. he already has giroud, podolski, walcott, oxlade-chamberlain and gervinho. maybe gervinho someone is going to the exit in such case?

a lot of questions remain about additions and perspectives for the next season. anyway, I see one good sign for arsenal fans. You still have the arsene wenger. this season was a good proof that he still can handle a difficult situations. he didn’t had a squad, who could win the premier league. he did maximum he could with resources he had. and that’s good. some may like, some may dislike his philoso-phy and style of management but arsenal still remains one of the best clubs in england. as I said before, next season will be a chance to shine. who knows how David moyes will handle the pressure in manchester united? It’s damn hard to take a seat of sir alex fer-guson. who knows how manchester city will play under new manager? same we can say about chelsea and Jose mourinho. there’s no guarantees that he will bring those titles immediately. arsenal should take the initiative right from the start of 2013/14 season. It’s a new challenge for arsene wenger. he has a great chance to shut down all the critics.

brightest arsenal addition of 2012 summer without any doubts. ca-zorla showed some brilliant individual touches and he quickly became one of the fan favourites. that smile...

12 Santi cazorla

poldi could play better. he has always been great together with germany, but with clubs his performance isn’t always so consistent. podolski has place for improvements. that’s good.

11 lukas podolski

mighty frenchman lacked some ac-curacy, but he still managed to im-press with his strength in aerial bat-tles. Next season should be even better for the frenchman.

11 olivier giroud

there was a feeling that he shouldn’t be given that captain’s armband. pressure and responsibility were too hard to handle. vermaelen was too unpredictable and his mistakes often led arsenal to conceded goals. his partnership with per mertesacker was a failure. luckily for arsenal, we can’t say the same about Koscielny&Mertesacker duet. Together they looked really confident. After Ko-scielny fully recovered from injuries, he had some weak performances but later on he got back to his best form and arsenal got those so needed wins. add the most important goal of the season against Newcastle and hey, koscielny is named as second best arsenal’s player of season.

wenger will have to make some decisions for the next season. It’s clear that vermaelen has lost his place to koscielny and mertesacker. It will be hard to regain his position. as a captain, he failed his exam, so there should be no surprise, if next season we’ll see a new player wearing the captain’s armband. Artera, Mertesacker or maybe Koscielny? Who knows, but definitely not the Belgian.

If we look on arsenal squad we see some positive and some negative moments. good news are that andrei arshavin, sebastian squillaci and Denilson are leaving the club, as their contracts have expired. That’s good. Also Arsenal fans can hope on Jack Wilshere, who has finally came over all those injuries. his impact and performance weren’t so impressive this season but it’s okay. Next season should be different. wilshere will have the chance to prove that he’s the future of arsenal and english football overall. most important thing is to stay healthy for a full season.

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diSappointing SeaSon for the captaincaptain’s armband sometimes can become too heavy. this season proved that arsenal’s captain thomas vermaelen can’t handle the responsibility that was given to him by team. he lost his place in starting eleven and there’s not much optimism about next season. future looks really unclear for the belgian international. he will have to work hard to impress the manager and the fans. It’s always easy to lose your position, but it’s 10 times harder to regain it...

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balancing actS

fAns cAn HAvE A mAJor imPAcT on THE fuTurE of clubs THEy lovE And suPPorT. TimEs HAvE cHAngEd And now you cAn find somE rEAlly insPiring sToriEs, How fAns sAvE THEir bElovEd fooTbAll clubs in EnglAnd And sPAin. TAkE A look!

with the advocacy of fan ownership in a glob-al market place, two contrasting business models may find they have to learn to live in harmony or face an uncertain future.

one of football’s most enduring disaster stories made a giant leap towards concluding this month with the ruling in the high court that the ports-mouth supporters trust be allowed to buy both the club and fratton park, taking the club out of the reckless game of pass the parcel that has seen it change hands 4 times since it arrived in the premier league in 2003. It marks the end of a torturous chapter in portsmouth’s history that looked for the most part like it would end in liquidation and has served as a much needed example of how the often romanticised power of fan loyalty can have a practical impact in overturning years of corporate poisoning. but a dense forest lies ahead for the pst and the prospects for a fan owned club in a globalized, digitised market are uncertain.

Of course Portsmouth aren’t the first to experiment with this model. AFC wimbledon have risen 5 divisions in a decade under fan ownership and exeter city have experienced one of their most stable and progressive pe-riods with the supporters calling the shots. but the rules of the game are different in the lower leagues, if not actually on the pitch then certainly at the level of financial management and assuming PST have designs on returning to the top division in the future questions present themselves about how compatible a fan owned club is with the rate of growth required to compete in the cut throat premier league.

so far there’s little evidence. the 20% stake that swansea city’s support-ers take in their club is a further suggestion that the new model is growing but doesn’t provide a case study for full ownership – the supporters don’t have a definitive say in the running of the club and control still ultimately rests in the hands of private shareholders ie. the premier league blue-print. but the thing to note here is that a trend is developing. ten years ago there was no fan ownership in the professional game but now nearly 5% of the Football League is experimenting with the arrangement. These fig-ures may sound negligible but given football’s propensity for accelerating trends it could be that we are witnessing the first timid gusts of a potential whirlwind of change.

and so what are the prospects for those clubs who embrace change from below and trump for supporter control? In the lower leagues where in-come is generated overwhelmingly on match days and clubs operate lo-cally it makes sense to give those residents who literally keep the club alive a stake in its management. the fans are often the only resource between a club and its extinction so to formalise the relationship in the shape of own-ership seems the logical, fair and in some sense inevitable next step in the process of modernisation. on the other hand a league two or conference club is in most circumstances unlikely to be a major money spinner for speculative investors, and big-time backers historically tend to be drawn from the ranks of fans who made good. the vested interests of genuine fans in the well-being and sound management of their club also acts as a fail-safe against smaller outfits being hijacked by reckless and clumsy outside interests looking to invest heavily for a quick fire ascent up the leagues towards the riches of the promised land.

somehow it seems a surprise that we haven’t arrived at this point before now. Likely the high profile success story at AFC has and will continue to act as an inspirational blueprint for what can be achieved through blending passion for a small club with measured financial investment and carefully observed democracy. the story at the other end of the league ladder how-ever looks like a cocktail of conflicting ownership models.

the premier league, if it needs restating, is a global business in the tru-est sense. Large profits are drawn from match day activities but income swells disproportionately from commercial activities abroad and with the big media corporations. purists won’t like it but the big clubs have to think more broadly now when it comes to courting the favour of potential back-ers and the local fans, whatever their number and passion, no longer have the deepest pockets when it comes to attracting game-changing income. how forward thinking then is the idea that power should be concentrating locally just as the clubs’ interests intensify abroad? surely the potential for domestic growth must soon find itself bumping against a ceiling, its expansion outstripped by the insatiable appetite for the english game in asia, the far east and in digital media?

maybe. on the other hand maybe not. whoever owns the shares, the big decision makers at any club will naturally be the captains of industry of boom-and-bust eighties cliché. football governance happens in a dense mist and the stakes are too high for Joe terrace to be allowed too influ-ential a say in how corporate strategy is planned. but shareholders are shareholders and theirs is a voice that the free market demands be heard, even if it’s only a question of dividends and returns.

Robert o'connor

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football fandom is an altogether different animal, besides which the world of capital investment pales in its timidity. the fans who own portsmouth are bred locally and will have their community as well as their club in the hearts – quite how a globalised brand attracting investment from abroad and partaking in multi-billion pound tv deals would accommodate such sentimentalism is a tricky one to assess from here.

ultimately all those involved with a football club have its best interests at heart. the potential for difference comes in the interpretation of those interests. fans and directors all want the club to succeed but when the shareholders clash with the board over what constitutes success and how it should be sought the pressure mounts and relationships sour. the professional game is at a unique stage in its development, having been carried for over a century by supporters who feel a local connection all the signs now point to an industry under global ownership. this brings a sense of disen-franchisement that community driven fans are reluctant to accept and now a new battle for supremacy looks set to garner pace. perhaps there’s a happy ending in store. maybe there’s synergy to be found between two opposite powers vying for control of a local game gone global. maybe.

real ovIeDo haD some maJor fINaNcIal DIffIcultIes aND club was close to baNkruptcY IN 2012. maNagemeNt of ovIeDo calleD supporters for a help, gIvINg them a chaNce to purchase shares aND become co-owNers of club. It was success! real ovIeDo was saveD!

formEr lA ligA club rEAl oviEdo wAs sAvEd by THE suPPorTErs