You don't have to be an astrophysicist
My wife knows as much about football as I do about knitting. She knows that Coventry lose most games, that she fancied David Beckham 'before he married that stick insect' and, although Portuguese, hates Portugal because they cheat (good gal!). But that's about it. I caught her watching a match on Sky recently and she proudly announced that she had been watching the Bolivia v Checkoslovakia (sic) game for the last ten minutes, and the guys in white had no strategy. It was actually Bolton v Cheslea, but I didn't have the heart to tell her. (Or that Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in 1993).
Every time Coventry lose, which is rather too frequently, she asks me why I don't support a good team, like 'Manchester'. I tell her that I support Coventry because they are my team, Man United and the rest are other people's teams. I am from Coventry, I have no choice. (Although I have a friend who supported Sunderland and then unbelievably changed to Newcastle, and had to cover his Sunderland tattoo with a big magpie. Another friend switched allegiance from Man United to Chelsea, but that one was inevitable. He's from Brighton). She doesn't quite understand my loyalty. Anyway, I digress, the subject of explaining football loyalty to a woman needs it's own blog.
Recently after another Coventry defeat, I commented to her that we can't buy a goal these days. The conversation continued thus:
'Why don't Coventry just buy a player that can score goals?'
'Well it isn't that easy, good goalscorers are hard to come by, and are very expensive. Although we had a guy called Gary McSheffrey who was brilliant, he was our top goalscorer last season with 15 goals. He played in the midfield as well which makes it even more remarkable as to how many goals he got.'
'So what happened to him?'
'We sold him to Birmingham and he's scored 13 goals already.'
'Why did you sell him?'
'We needed the money.'
'How much did you sell him for?'
'Well the transfer went through as £4 million, but we only got £2.5 million up front, the rest is tied up in clauses, which could mean us never seeing the rest of the cash.'
'£2.5 million doesn't sound a lot of money.'
'In the grand scheme of things you are right, it isn't. But to a club like Coventry, who are in a lot of debt, it could mean the difference between survival and death.'
'So the money has sorted out the clubs financial problems?'
'Well no, we are £30 million in debt, so it's a drop in the ocean really. And we've pretty much spent that money trying to replace McSheffrey.'
'So you get rid of your top goalscorer because you need the money, but then spend it all on players that don't score goals? That doesn't sound like good business to me.'
She has a point.
Every time Coventry lose, which is rather too frequently, she asks me why I don't support a good team, like 'Manchester'. I tell her that I support Coventry because they are my team, Man United and the rest are other people's teams. I am from Coventry, I have no choice. (Although I have a friend who supported Sunderland and then unbelievably changed to Newcastle, and had to cover his Sunderland tattoo with a big magpie. Another friend switched allegiance from Man United to Chelsea, but that one was inevitable. He's from Brighton). She doesn't quite understand my loyalty. Anyway, I digress, the subject of explaining football loyalty to a woman needs it's own blog.
Recently after another Coventry defeat, I commented to her that we can't buy a goal these days. The conversation continued thus:
'Why don't Coventry just buy a player that can score goals?'
'Well it isn't that easy, good goalscorers are hard to come by, and are very expensive. Although we had a guy called Gary McSheffrey who was brilliant, he was our top goalscorer last season with 15 goals. He played in the midfield as well which makes it even more remarkable as to how many goals he got.'
'So what happened to him?'
'We sold him to Birmingham and he's scored 13 goals already.'
'Why did you sell him?'
'We needed the money.'
'How much did you sell him for?'
'Well the transfer went through as £4 million, but we only got £2.5 million up front, the rest is tied up in clauses, which could mean us never seeing the rest of the cash.'
'£2.5 million doesn't sound a lot of money.'
'In the grand scheme of things you are right, it isn't. But to a club like Coventry, who are in a lot of debt, it could mean the difference between survival and death.'
'So the money has sorted out the clubs financial problems?'
'Well no, we are £30 million in debt, so it's a drop in the ocean really. And we've pretty much spent that money trying to replace McSheffrey.'
'So you get rid of your top goalscorer because you need the money, but then spend it all on players that don't score goals? That doesn't sound like good business to me.'
She has a point.
posted by SkyBlueSnowy @ 8:57 am
1 comments
1 Comments:
Neither you nor your missus have taken into account the positive effect the movement of football players has on the overall economy.
Although Coventry FC have undoubtedly lost out on the deal, McSheffrey's agent will be very pleased with the business, and with the way these things are done nowadays, probably one of the managers has a little bit of extra spending money too.
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