The festive season always brings back a host of memories from days gone by, and is a natural time for nostalgic reflection. I remember the seemingly never ending Christmas Eves, torturing me with the promise of presents mere hours away. I remember when Christmas finally arrived, and the sheer unbridled excitement of present opening. I remember the annoying periods in-between opening presents, where you had to allow other people to open theirs. I also remember wheeling home my brother’s mate in a wheelbarrow full of his own vomit and urine. But mostly, I remember the presents.

From very early on, these presents tended to be largely football related; when I received a Sega Master System in 1987 I began a love affair with football computer games which led to pretty much every Christmas since involving hour upon hour of football game playing. The following is a list of my favourite (and a few of my most hated) football games of all time, both table top and computer simulated. Being a personal list, it is far from exhaustive (I know, for example, that recent FIFA games are hugely acclaimed, but it still just feels a little style over substance for me – perhaps due to lingering Pro Evo fanboyism), and can not be viewed as definitive in any way, but hey, t’is the season to be self indulgent I believe they say:

For the record, I didn’t forget either Subbuteo or Kick Off 2, for example; I simply hated them both. I realise that it is borderline treason for a thirty-something male to hate Subbuteo. Before I ever played it I was the same as any kid, seeing adverts for it and dreaming of having the floodlights and the grandstands. Then I played it, and spent an hour flicking players who summarily missed the ball entirely, before falling over on the follow through and squashing Peter Beardsley. I do concede though, that if I could have afforded some one-to-one coaching from this winner that I may have been converted:

I also know that Kick Off 2 has similarly devoted fans, but my did I hate that game. I know, for example, that every pitch marking, corner flag and player is supposed to be spot on proportion wise. But what that meant to 11 year old me, particularly with the zoomed in camera, was that the pitch seemed humungous. It was made even more humungous by the fact that, without practice, you regularly swiped at and missed the ball. If my mate just put down his joy stick (fnar fnar, etc.) and left me to get on with it, I could just about make it from one end of the pitch to the other in the space of a half. However, I still wouldn’t score, as my fascination with the fact that you could “accurately” curl the ball always led me to try and score spectacular goals, which without fail ended with me either missing the ball entirely or slamming it out with very little curl for a throw in. I used to watch other people play, and could see what you were supposed to do; I simply had neither the patience or the motor skills to do it.

Now to the list of those games I did like:

10. World Soccer (Sega Master System) (1987)

I may as well start where it all began, with the first football computer game I ever owned. I recall reading in C&VG magazine that this featured ‘hyper-realistic’ gameplay. Being 9, I’m not certain that I knew for sure what realism meant, but adding the word ‘hyper’ to it made it a must have. Watching the clip of this now, I realise that I still remember every sound effect. I think that even today I subconsciously believe the Japanese national anthem to actually sound like it does on this game. I also still get a sense of wonderment from watching the video; wonderment that even in the mid-1980s I ever thought that this bilge was playable, let alone hyper-realistic, or indeed good. It would appear that each player is only able to move in a couple of directions; similarly they are only able to kick the ball really high or along the ground. This certainly makes the list for nostalgia reasons only.

9. Cup Final (1980s table top game)

I am acutely aware of how ridiculous it is to select this for a feature in which I express my disdain for Subbuteo (perhaps I liked this more because the players were able to survive pitch invasions – i.e. when we overstretched and fell on the pitch). Deep down I know this is rubbish: three-a-side; one of the two outfield players (who kicked the ball via a button on their back) having a Sideshow Bob foot in order to ‘chip’ the ball. Not that there was really any point in chipping the ball, as whether you continued in possession was not down to the trajectory of your pass but whether the ball landed with your team’s colour showing. The same firm’s Test Match cricket was far superior, but I wasted many an hour on this too. It appears that this game is held in such little reverence that YouTube denies its existence (which may be the modern day equivalent of the “if a tree falls in a forest..” conundrum), so you’ll have to make do with a clip of something vaguely similar, plus a link to a website in which a table top football aficionado basically slates it.

8. Peter Shilton’s Handball Maradona! (Commodore 64) (1986)

This is the last of the games that were actually, on reflection, terrible, to make my Top 10. To those that think the rank commercialisation of football is a Sky-era blight then this provides conclusive proof that the problem started many years earlier. So keen were Grandslam Entertainments to get a World Cup tie in on to the market as quickly as possible, they forgot to come up with a title that made any sense. To compensate for the fag packet title, an exceptional game was required. Or, a rubbish game that made equally little sense. I’m not certain that Maradona even knew the game existed. If he did, he certainly wasn’t consulted on the gameplay mechanics. You control the goalkeeper only, having to save shots from various distances and angles with the implausible side effect of each save improving the skill set of your entire team. Oh, and the sound effect accompanying a goal being scored past you sounded like the onset of the apocalypse. So why has this made the list? Purely because it had digitised speech when you loaded the game, which I remember genuinely sounding a bit like Barry Davies. At a time when speech in games was a rarity, and the majority of speech that there was sounded like Metal Mickey attempting to make himself heard over a particularly loud commercial aeroplane, that is more than enough for Peter Shilton’s Handball Maradona! to make the list.

7. Football Manager 2 (ZX Spectrum) (1988)

In many ways this game seems laughably simplistic today in terms of scope and detail. Back in 1988 though, it was one of the most immersive computer game experiences around. Being able to buy and sell players, pick a team, adjust tactics (albeit limited essentially to long and short passing), attract sponsors and watch highlights of your side in action was mind-blowing. So mind-blowing in fact that it helped me get over a childhood phobia of dogs, as to play the game I had to go to a friend’s house and brave his German Shepherd. Who said games can’t provide positive experiences?

6. FIFA International Soccer (Sega Mega Drive) (1993)

Of all the games in this list, this game arguably represented the biggest single leap forward in gameplay terms from what had gone before. Not only did it feature fully licensed teams, but it eschewed traditional side scrolling or top down views in favour of an isometric camera angle which allowed for a genuine sense of being able to weigh up your options before deciding whether to pass, shoot or run with the ball. It all just seemed so much more polished than anything else on the market. In the years that followed, EA decided that actually making a decent game was far too much effort, and it was much easier to just peddle the same guff as last year, but with updated player lists and Rockafeller Skank. FIFA 99, I’m looking at you. But the first couple of iterations of this franchise were genuinely excellent. My personal memory of this game involves me attempting to play a full 90 minute game against my brother’s mate, only for my Belgian cousin, feeling neglected, to switch the Mega Drive off in the 88th minute. There’s a moral to this tale: do not let Belgian relatives in your house.

5. Sega Worldwide Soccer ’97 (Sega Saturn) (1996)

I am in a unique position to speak authoritatively on this game, being one of only 11 people to buy a Sega Saturn. Actually, this was a critically acclaimed game, which until ISS arrived to make it seem positively archaic overnight, was about as sophisticated as console football got. It had proper commentary for a start, provided by none other than…Gary Bloom (me neither). You could also play something akin to proper football, with a crisp passing system and the ability to score vaguely realistic goals.

4. Tomy Super Cup Football (1980s)

For some reason, my football hating brother loved this game as much as me, which meant that this electric table top game got played to death. So many memories: the god awful racket that the game made, scrambling around to find the tiny balls when they invariably went astray, the cool way in which corners and throw ins involved the ball being sucked into the corner and then spat out again, the long delays in games where the ball landed in one of the game’s blind spots where none of the players were quite able to touch the ball, er..players going up and down, other things. Sorry, this game turns me into a raving Ron Manager; wasn’t it?

3. Sensible World Of Soccer – Amiga (1994)

“Goal-scoring Superstar Hero”. Need I say more? Ok, aside from its bespoke musical accompaniment, this was a near flawless combination of fluid football (its top down view was far easier to get to grips with than the likes of Kick Off 2) combined with a balanced management simulation. A very, very mid-90s management situation in which the likes of Paul Warhurst, Chris Bart Williams and, er, Ronnie Mauge were regular buys. This has been re-released on Xbox Live in the last few years; while still being extremely playable there can be little doubt that the definitive version was on the Amiga. “And every goal goal goal, says you’re the best in the land”..

2. Championship Manager 01-02 (PC) (2001)

Tonton Zola Moukoko. Mark Kerr. Kennedy Bakircioglü. The great Maxim Tsigalko. Just a few of the players that are etched into the memories of any Championship Manager 01-02 veteran. Subsequent versions may have featured an ever more bewildering array of features (I believe this year features an innovative way of making the game run at a snail’s pace on all but high end machines), but this was undoubtedly where the game peaked, featuring the ideal blend of depth and accessibility. Sure, there were flaws – when you were playing in Europe and had a man sent off, if you attempted to discipline the player he automatically threw a wobbly, for example, but the overall game was the most addictive thing known to man. Speaking of which, if you had the game running in your bedroom, and needed to go elsewhere to have a cigarette, this game proved an excellent way of reducing your nicotine intake. Sure, you’d also forget to go to work every now and again, but you’d save money from not smoking anyway. You wouldn’t be much use at work anyway if you found yourself regularly conducting press conferences in your head relating to your big name striker’s latest misdemeanour. Imaginary press conferences. For a computer game. Which doesn’t even feature press conferences. But how else are you to get the Daily Mirror’s columnist to understand the nuances of your 4-1-3-2 (attacking full backs, one central midfielder with a free role) formation, which of course is tweaked for tough away games to a 4-1-3-1-1? I have managed to wean myself off this series of games over subsequent years, coming to realise that I prefer being able to maintain healthy human relationships. However, in the interests of research I downloaded it (for free, from http://forums.championshipmanager.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=63494), which goes some way to explaining why this list was not completed in September when I first decided to compile it.

You can even download an update to the database featuring contemporary players. God help me, and all those I hold dear..

1. ISS Pro Evolution (Sony Playstation) (1999)

I’d been won over to the ISS Pro series via the 1997 Playstation version. At the time I was obsessed with and dedicated to Sega Worldwide Soccer (see 5.). One day I saw ISS Pro on offer and, as my brother had a Playstation, decided to buy it and see what all the fuss was about. Or, rather, I bought it so that when I proclaimed it to be rubbish in future I would at least be able to back up my claim by saying I had actually played it. Before I put the game in the machine, I looked at the controls. Of course, they looked so much worse than the Sega Worldwide Soccer Controls. After all, as if ‘Through Ball’ (Triangle) could possibly work. I started my first game, with a derisory sneer etched onto my face, won possession for the first time, pressed that stupid triangle button and never played Sega Worldwide Soccer ever again.

Pro Evolution was released in 1999, smack bang in the middle of my university degree. There are a great many combinations in the world whose components compliment each other perfectly: fish and chips is a good example, cheese and pickle another. To this list I would have to add playing Pro Evo and missing lectures. The amount of times that I would challenge my flat mate to “just one game” before a class, only to still be there seven hours later, down to our last teams (we used to play a competition whereby you got to keep a team until you were beaten, then you had to pick another team that you hadn’t used thus far), in a vegetative state as far as conversation goes, but still able to play the game to an implausibly high standard. Now, especially as FIFA has upped its game in recent years and is actually a more realistic football simulation as well as having the licenses and the polish, Pro Evo’s lack of licensed authenticity seems anachronistic and frankly annoying. In its late 90s heyday, however, the lack of correct player names (R. Corlos, Insoghi and Geags) was a loveable idiosyncrasy. Pro Evo was like a little indie band in a transit van taking on a vacuous major label behemoth in FIFA, and winning. The football you could play in Pro Evo was on a completely different level to its rival; far more realistic yet far more fun, and it still remains unsurpassed. Though I do also single-handedly blame it for being the reason why I am not currently writing hard hitting, award winning investigative pieces for The Guardian for a living.

@OllyRicketts

We don't mind blowing it, but we could do with a helping hand

LATE TACKLE has been on sale for three weeks now, but we still need a big helping hand to spread the word.

It’s a bi-monthly magazine, so it’s still on the shelves for just over a month. And how it fares sales-wise will have a big say in it’s future (because we’re skint…).

We think there’s plenty of room in the market for another decent footie mag – particularly one written by real fans of the game – but do you?

If you’ve bought it already, thanks. But make sure you tell your mates and spread the word online.

We’ve had loads of nice feedback so far, and the Daily Star thought our Mick Quinn interview was so good they nicked the quotes (and attributed them to be fair, which was nice) – see: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/209245

If you haven’t bought the mag yet, well don’t just take our word for it’s quality, check out what people have been saying about Late Tackle so far:

Via Facebook – www.facebook.com/LateTackleMagazine

Simon Lacey Loved it .. best footy mag for years.

David Fleming Something the Market needs. For our national game, not many general football magazines for the more mature reader. Keep up the good work.

Matthew Lee Cunningham Really good read – a bit like WSC’s less stuffy upstart younger brother – long may it continue! I’ve already asked my local newsagent to order in issue 2 for me. Well done

Marek Portland As a WSC avid reader and subscriber for many a year i would have no qualms on subscribing to your magazine it’s very good. I will pass it to my mates and hopefully they have same impression. Keep up the good work.

Rachel McDonald An excellent read…will more places start to stock it as I only popped into whsmiths by chance, so I’ve looked in the supermarkets to see if they’re selling it but no sign…I’m just making sure can get hold of the next copy cos I enjoyed it that much?

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And a bit more in depth…

On a Crystal Palace forum:

Telodaja Came across the first edition of the above mentioned new football magazine yesterday. It has the tagline of “The football magazine made by fans”. I am reminded of the old style fanzines from the 80s and for those of you who can remember the magazine, 90 minutes when it first started life, before being swallowed up the corporate press.

The opening editorial describes itself by explaining what the magazine isn’t. ie It is agenda driven journalism trying to keep contracts sweet. It isn’t a vehicle for meaningless drivel, it doesn’t believe the Premier League is the be all and end all, it doesn’t believe football began in 1992.

It is written by genuine fans and accepts well written pieces from anyone, if they like it they will use it. Proof of that is that they have included in this first edition the brilliant piece by the Millwall fan describing how he and his Dad found common territory in Millwall instead of continuing their strained relationship. There is a thread somewhere on here with the piece but I cannot find it.

All in all a good read and well worth £2.99

On an Oxford United forum:

Slappy I picked up the first issue of this new magazine (Sep/Oct ’11), (next issue due 26 October). It is from the same editor, Gareth Roberts, as Well Red – an independent Liverpool magazine ‘by the fans, for the fans’.

“The football magazine made by fans” is the cover line, and continues with ”If you’re passionate and knowledgeable about a subject, write about it. And if we like it we’ll use it. The mag features journalists, bloggers, website owners and just plain old fans”. They say it is not Premier League driven, and they don’t believe that football started in 1992.

It has a Private Eye feel to it, printed on slightly thicker newspaper rather than a glossy magazine, but is full colour throughout, and for a first edition is completely devoid of adverts, apart from one for Well Red. There are 23 separate articles in the 64 page edition, and it reads like an expanded fanzine / matchday programme. A mixed bag of articles on all aspects of football life: A Robin Friday article (by the co-author of the recent book); an interview with Mick Quinn; pieces about Everton, Colchester and Wigan Athletic; a very teary eyed and nostalgic “my dear old man used to take me to Milwall”; and more with features on international teams, and classic games.

It seems to be a little brother to “When Saturday Comes”, without the formal layout and house style of articles that WSC uses. This does allow the contributors to be a bit more aggressive in their thoughts, but it does seem a bit of a mish-mash of articles on anything football related by anyone who will send one in.

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On our Twitter: @latetackle

<Football Correspondent, The Times> @OliverKayTimes Just had a good read of @latetackle magazine Issue 1. Everton, tackling, @SwissRamble, Robin Friday, being the manager’s mate etc. Excellent

<Editor of Kerrang> @jamesjammcmahon Bought @latetackle. Pleased to see another ‘by fans, for fans’ football mag. Great Michael Owen piece by Peter Simpson

@Deb_Decisions#FF @latetackle An excellent new football magazine produced and written by fans. Get it ordered.

@melly2508 #ff @latetackle an excellent footy mag written by fans of the game. Worth the £5 to have shipped Stateside. Great first issue, get it now!!

@blastedfrench @latetackle A top notch read. Loved the Mick Quinn interview!

@SamIanHughes Just read issue 1 of @latetackle magazine. Some great stuff in there. Another addition to my monthly collection, I think.

@unitedite Would recommend picking up Issue 1 of new football magazine@latetackle I particularly enjoyed articles by @SwissRamble and@ALS_Fanzine

@LinkedInWolves @latetackle Great first issue. Couldnt put it down.

 @bigraythomas For a good read on all things footy buy @latetackle pieces on following Millwall with Dad, Robin Friday and Wigan all excellent

@m_salmon Great new magazine out for any football fans - @latetackle - can get it in WH Smiths, 1st issue includes a piece on Robbie Savage being shit

@obscurefootball #FF @latetackle is an excellent addition to the football magazine market; it’s nice to see Dinnington Town getting some attention, too.

@SwissRamble #ff Speaking of footy magazines, @latetackle is an interesting new kid on the block.

@jwilloughby26 @mervpayne Thought your piece in @latetackle the other day was brilliant, mate. Sensational read.

@lemondash Bought a copy of @latetackle very good read indeed and very well written. #RobinFriday

@daboychlfc Those interested in general football might want to purchase@latetackle magazine, only £3 a pop, very well written and thought provoking

@iainmhepburn Very much enjoying new football mag @latetackle - old school fanzine feel to it, in best possible way.

@birstallblue jc @latetackle what a great magazine, its just a pity its bi monthly, can’t wait for issue 2 to come out.

@Cloudymanpoker @latetackle Very enjoyable read! Can’t you make it monthly?? )

@Chrismackin New mag. @latetackle: superb, especially article about Milwall fan’s dad. Amusingly spiteful piece by ALS editor on their Reid Out campaign.

@stevemanser Just finished issue #1 of @latetackle mag – wow, fantastic articles, banter, retro and sentiment for all football fans. It’s a must-buy.

@ArsenalColumn New footy magazine @latetackle is great. I’ll admit; I judged the publication by it’s cover in my first trip to WHSmiths but not the second.

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So there you have it. Sounds like we got something right. Now we just need people to buy it. Spread the word…

By Ed Aarons

PITSO Mosimane had more to worry about than just results on the pitch when he took over as South Africa’s new manager last July. 

After an era of Brazilians culminated in Carlos Alberto Parreira’s failed to take Bafana Bafana past the first round of the World Cup on home soil, the former assistant nicknamed ‘Jingles’ not only faced a test of his considerable coaching skills as he finally assumed the top job.

Besides inheriting a team that performed admirably despite becoming the first hosts to exit the tournament at the group stages, Mosimane also faced the usual questions about race that still come with the territory in these parts – even almost 20 years after the end of apartheid.

“If you’re black you have to deal with a lot of perceptions and stereotypes,” reflects Mosimane the former midfielder who won four caps for his country and enjoyed spells in Cyprus and Belgium in the early 1990s.

“Had I failed when I got here, I would have failed a lot of people and confirmed that those who have wrong perceptions about us – that we can’t do this job – would succeed. There’s a wrong mentality of not believing in local black coaches, some sort of mental colonialism, and that’s bad for our football.”

For that very reason, there are plenty of football fans in South Africa who are very happy right now. An easy-looking qualifying draw for the 2014 World Cup in a group containing Central African Republic, Botswana and Somalia or Ethiopia is the reward for the superb start to Mosimane’s reign.

In the space of just 14 months, Bafana’s ranking rocketed from 90th to the heights of 38th as the team won five out of seven matches so far and concede just one goal. The vagaries of Fifa’s ranking system may have seen them drop to 49th in the latest list, but even more impressive was the way they now stand on the verge of booking their place in next year’s African Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Yet to concede a goal in four matches so far, the latest clean sheet came against triple-reigning champions Egypt in their own backyard. That and a 1-0 win in Johannesburg back in March pushed The Pharaohs to the brink of elimination and saw the resignation of their legendary coach Hassan Shehata. Not a bad return for your first year in the job.

“Of course, beating Egypt in March was a highlight for me but the draw in Cairo was a great team performance and we should probably have won,” says Mosimane.

“Now we need to finish the job off when we go to Niger in September.”

Most people scoffed when the new coach declared in his first press conference it was his goal to take Bafana back to the pinnacle of the African game – a position they have not occupied since the famous African Nations Cup triumph on home soil back in 1996.

But it was the performance of the team in the final match of last year’s World Cup that has proved to be the catalyst to South Africa’s revival.

Faced with the humiliation of becoming the first World Cup hosts to be eliminated in the group stages a year ago this week, the spirited 2-1 victory over an albeit disjointed France team in Bloemfontein helped salvage a nation’s wounded pride.

“I think that after that game, a lot of the players – especially the core of the team – realised that we are good enough to beat some of the bigger countries,” admits Katlego Mphela, the 26-year-old Mamelodi Sundowns striker who scored the opener against France and the winning goal against Egypt with the last kick of the game in March.

“Since then we haven’t really looked back and now we want to keep that run going for as long as possible. We now work much better as a team and try to help each other when we are under pressure.”

Having spent time on trial with Celtic this summer after taking his international tally to 19 goals in 39 matches, Mphela is part of a group of South African-based players who form the core of Mosimane’s side.

World Cup goalscoring hero Siphiwe Tshabalala – captain in Steven Pienaar’s absence against Egypt in Cairo – and his Kaizer Chiefs’ colleague goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune are mainstays of the team, while Orlando Pirates midfielder Andile Jali is one of the most exciting players to have emerged in the country for many years.

“Most of the team that played against Egypt were from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and they are all doing very well,” says Mphela.

“That shows our league is improving all the time. We are competing with countries like Egypt mainly with local players and that is very encouraging. But for me, the dream has always been to go overseas and I’m still hoping that will happen. We will have to see but I think you can still have a career as an international and be based in South Africa.”

In the days when record goalscorer Benni McCarthy was in his pomp, the same certainly couldn’t be said. The former FC Porto and Blackburn Rovers striker regularly shunned call-ups for qualifying matches in less glamorous locations around the continent and his approach ensured the locally-based players called up instead were felt to feel like second-class squad members.

However, the general improvement in standards in last season’s PSL show that – just like at USA 1994 and Korea/Japan 2002 – the legacy of the World Cup could go further than just brand-spanking new stadia.

Last 16 appearances for all three at South Africa 2010 indicates how much the former hosts have reaped the rewards of a more competitive domestic league after FIFA’s blue-riband event has left town and there is every chance that could inspire Bafana Bafana to continental glory as early as next year.

“The most difficult thing is to qualify but if we make it, I’m sure we can go far,” says Mphela.

“If you check the rankings then we are already among the top sides in Africa and we have showed we are growing as a team all the team. If we keep confident then who know, maybe we could go all the way.”

Mosimane is not the type of coach to be drawn into that kind of speculation just yet. A tricky trip to Niamey to face the surprise package of Group G awaits and the man who spent time on a training course in Scotland last year as he acquired his ‘B’ coaching licence will be typically confident in his approach.

“I don’t think we’ll lose there,” he says

“I still can’t believe that both Egypt and Sierra Leone lost there. But if we give the same performance we did against Egypt, we will win in Niger.”

The way things are going for ‘Jingles’, you believe anything might be possible in the new South Africa – even if the circus has left town for good.

Pic by RambergMediaImages, Flickr

FINANCIAL Fair Play Rules, to the layman, appear to be having little impact on Premier League club’s spending and high-profile figures including Arsene Wenger and Liverpool owner John W Henry have already voiced concerns that the measures aren’t tough enough. With this in mind, we spoke to football lawyer DANIEL GEEY

IF most fans are like us, they will have had a go at reading the FFP rules…then given up when their heads started to hurt. The rules aren’t exactly straightforward – have UEFA created problems for themselves by making the rules so complex? 

There is little doubt that the rules are dense, detailed and complicated. I’m sure that UEFA would argue that the rules have needed to be drafted in such a way so that there is adequate detail, guidance and explanation as to what clubs need to do to comply with the rules. Let’s not forget that the Financial Fair Play Rules (FFPRs) are probably the most significant rule changes that have been brought into govern football club finances in a very long time.

In very general terms, FFP is advocating that clubs don’t spend more than they earn. That being the case, why are Man City (£121m loss in one year to summer 2010) and Chelsea (£70.9m loss in one year to summer 2010) seemingly unconcerned and happy to continue to fork out massive transfer fees and huge wages? 

There was an interesting symmetry that on the same day that Chelsea announced £71m losses it spent an almost identical amount in transfer fees on David Luiz and Fernando Torres.

Many commentators believed such spending would mean Chelsea would be in real trouble of passing the FFPRs. However, when looking at Chelsea’s spending on youth development and infrastructure (which can be deducted as a cost from the FFPRs), wage reductions from high earners in the past like Carvalho, Ballack, Deco and Cole who had all left the club in the previous season’s accounts, a profit made on transfers and deductions on Annex XI wages for contracts entered into pre-June 2010, it starts to become apparent that it may well be possible for Chelsea to make a ‘standard’ accounting loss in the next few years but still receive a UEFA license to participate in the Champions League[1].

Manchester City because of their latest sponsorship deal with Etihad are obviously now in a much stronger position to comply with the FFPRs. Compared to previous seasons however, City’s net spending is considerably down.

From £117m in 2008-9, £99m in 2009-10,  £126m in 2010/11[2], City have so far spent £35m net on Gael Clichy, Stefan Savić and Sergio Agüero. [This is before the impending Nasri purchase which may take the figure north of £50m]

With the likelihood of Bellamy, Adebayor, Bridge and Tevez substantially reducing the wage bill further and City recouping some transfer revenue too, there is certainly a trend towards wholesale spending reductions. It may be that some additional players are recruited but I would still expect City’s net spend to be considerably down from previous years in part due to the need to comply with the FFPRs.

There can be little doubt that the FFPRs are affecting the financial plans of every club wishing to play in European competition.

Clubs will have done their sums and worked out their financial breathing space. This will certainly be the case because the clubs have been in consultation with UEFA for a significant amount of time before the FFPRs were adopted in May 2010.

I would be mightily surprised if a club wanting to participate in UEFA club competition in the 2013-14 season was significantly over the standard deviation provisions.

To our eyes, too many of the rules contain subjectivity, or in other words, potential get-out-of-jail-free cards. So there’s the possibility of writing off wages on contracts signed before 2010 and there’s plenty more in the rules suggesting UEFA won’t be particularly strict, certainly for the next three or four years. Would you agree, and why do you think UEFA have set it up this way? 

Clubs have had a large say in the drafting of the rules; and as a result some provisions do give clubs leeway to comply with the FFPRs.

The rules are a product of collaboration and negotiation between UEFA and many of football’s interested parties. The FFPRs are there to give clubs time to comply.

My understanding of the consultation process with UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA) is that a number concessions were made (i.e. the Annex XI provisions (see below), the staggered acceptable losses approach and the removal of all infrastructure and youth development costs from the break-even calculation) in order to gradually get clubs across the finishing line.

My belief is that the rules are not in place to catch clubs out; they are there to guide clubs into a more responsible era of spending where everyone plays by the same rules of the game. UEFA describes it as adding “rationality” into the football finance game.

I think fans need to understand the overall objective for the rules is to bring clubs into line. This may not happen overnight and people may not be happy that break-even from the first monitoring period is not actually break-even.

However the benefit of this incremental approach is that the top clubs will have to ensure that over a limited time they break-even. UEFA believe this approach safeguards the long-term sustainability of European football.

In making specific reference to the Annex XI(2) provisions that you mention, the rationale for the pre-June 2010 carve-out is that first publication of the rules occurred in May 2010.

Quite understandably, clubs believed it would be unfair for contracts that were entered into before publication of the rules to be subject to the rules. In practice, this does provide a significant buffer for clubs in the first two years of the FFPRs.

The other point of contention for many commentators at present is the related party transaction issue with Etihad and Manchester City. I will deal with this below.

The ultimate sanction is barring a club from European competition – can you see this happening to a big club?

The UEFA Disciplinary Regulations provide for a whole host of possible sanctions including a reprimand, a fine, disqualification from competitions in progress and/or exclusion from future competitions or withdrawal of a licence.

UEFA’s general secretary, Gianni Infantino, has recently stated: “we would bar clubs in breach of the rules from playing in the Champions League or the Europa League. Otherwise, we lose all credibility.”

I believe if a club falls significantly outside of the standard deviation provisions and does not fall within the Annex XI carve-outs there is every likelihood it will be refused a license. There is precedent too. Real Mallorca were refused entry into the 2010-11 season’s Europa League because they failed to meet the UEFA Club Licensing entry criteria.

Similarly, Romanian team FC Timisoara have not been granted a UEFA license for the upcoming season. Such instances illustrate the power UEFA has (through national associations) to refuse a club license application. When the FFPRs are added to the license criteria in time for the 2013-14 season, the rules will be stricter than those that applied to Real Mallorca and FC Timisoara.

A future high profile UEFA club license refusal should not be ruled out.

Man City’s reputed £400m naming rights deal is the largest of its type in sport. How is that fair? Isn’t the point of the rules to dilute the power of sugardaddy owners?

The issue from UEFA’s perspective with the Etihad deal is three-fold. First, UEFA will need to establish whether the sponsorship deal is a related party transaction (RPT).

The Abu Dhabi government own Etihad Airways whose ruler Sheikh Khalifa is the half-brother of Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour. In order for the deal to be caught under the UEFA RPT provisions, it would need to be demonstrated that Sheikh Khalifa had some type of influence over Manchester City.

It would be for UEFA to join the dots. If the agreement is not a RPT, UEFA will not look at the value of the deal in any more detail.

Second, if the Etihad deal is deemed to be a RPT, UEFA will be faced with an interesting issue of how to divide the deal revenues between the shirt sponsorship, the stadium naming rights deal and the Etihad Campus development.

A type of benchmarking exercise will need to be carried out to assess what UEFA considers will be “fair value.” If UEFA considers the deal has been at a fair value, that will be the end of the matter.

Lastly, if UEFA concludes the deal has not been at a fair value, the revenue for the benefit of calculating Manchester Ciy’s license application will be reduced to the level UEFA believe is appropriate.

My understanding is that any investigation into the sponsorship agreement will only take place when all the information is requested from City in time to consider its 2013-14 license (i.e. when the FFPRs actually kick-in and not before).

Pic by dullhunk, Flickr

Platini has suggested that if clubs try to circumnavigate the rules in ways UEFA didn’t think of, they may change the rules to close any holes in FFP. What do you think the rules should include if they are to achieve what UEFA set out for them to do?

That is a tricky question because it all depends on each individual’s perspective of what the rules are there to accomplish. The RPT issue discussed above is one of massive interest because a number of clubs believe the sponsorship deal is a way of circumventing the rules.

Article 53 of the FFPRs state that UEFA  “will at all times bear in mind the overall objectives of these regulations, in particular to defeat an attempt to circumvent these objectives.”

I think that only after the first couple of monitoring periods where licenses have been submitted and further investigations carried out by UEFA will the organisation be able to forensically police the regulations and uncover any practices that go against the spirit of the rules. In this sense, UEFA will have to be somewhat reactive to close potential loopholes.

FFP was about creating a more level playing field – making football more ‘pure’ if you like – but isn’t it already having an unwanted side-effect? Aren’t clubs now even more savagely capitalist as they chase the increased revenue that will allow them to sustain the crazy spending levels? And isn’t there only one loser in all this – the fans? 

I’m not convinced that one of UEFA’s main aims is to create a more level playing field.

If you look at the FFPRs in the objectives section, I believe the main idea is one of self-sustainability and responsible spending. This translates into clubs spending what they earn which in turn may level the playing field because only revenue generated by the club can be reinvested in the playing squad.

I believe that a consequence of the rules will actually be fewer ‘crazy’ owner-generated spending sprees (though I may be wrong!).

A result of incentivising clubs to grow their commercial revenues will be a reassessment about ticket prices. But that is a club decision to ensure that the right balance is struck between disenfranchising fans with large ticket price hikes and affordable ticketing policies.

I’m not sure the FFPRs can be solely blamed for ticket price increases when there are many different ways for clubs to further commercialise their revenue streams.

Similarly, the FFPRs are encouraging clubs to invest in sustainable, long-term revenue generating assets like stadiums or youth development (which is removed as a cost for break-even calculations).

This potentially allows more people to watch games, with improved facilities including corporate entertainment thus driving greater revenues to be reinvested.

The bottom line is that UEFA does not want clubs “chasing the dream” spending big, and not having revenues to service debt, wages and transfer fees etc.

There is a statistic in the excellent Supporters Direct No.2 Briefing Paper[3] that 81 clubs who are, or who have been, in the top five English divisions have suffered from an insolvency event since 1986. Fans have borne the brunt of over-zealous spending and the consequences of administration.

UEFA is trying to find a solution to such football club financial failure in order to make European clubs self-sustainable.

By motivating clubs to only spend what they earn, clubs know the regulatory framework that they have to keep to. With the rules likely to come into force in the Football League in the next few years, it appears the UEFA concept is gaining momentum.

This issue does also feed into the recent Select Committee Report into Football Governance which recommended a form of club licensing. Many fans will be comforted in the knowledge that kamikaze spending by owners (without the revenues to back it up), will be outlawed.

This should have the effect of safeguarding the long-term viability of clubs in European competition and lessening the risk of administration or even worse.

Contact

Email Daniel at daniel.geey@ffw.com with any comments. His personal website is www.danielgeey.com for a full range of football law articles. Follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/footballlaw, listen to his podcasts HERE and read his extended article on the FFPRs HERE.

Experience  

Daniel advises clients in the football industry. Such guidance has included advice on the Fit and Proper Person Test, ownership requirements, parachute payments and the football creditors rule, disclosure obligations under the relevant football authority’s rules, conflicts of interest and third party player ownership contracts. Daniel has also provided guidance on UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations and how the rules may affect the future financial planning of football clubs. He has also given briefings and spoken at workshops and conferences on the interplay between Competition Law, Football and Broadcasting.

I remember Wembley

When West Ham beat West Germany

Peters one and Geoffrey three

And Bobby got his OBE

THERE is a lot of fun to be had with the claim of West Ham fans that they “won the World Cup”, but let’s be honest about this for a second, the East London club have produced a hell of a lot of talent over the years. Under the tutelage of Tony Carr since 1973, the academy has churned out plenty of internationals and top division players; players that had they the financial clout to keep, would have the Hammers in a position considerably stronger than the one in which they now find themselves.

Like so many clubs, West Ham’s move towards an academy was borne out of a struggling financial situation. Ted Fenton, a former Hammer himself and manager of the club from 1950-1961, pushed for the academy to be put in place, ensuring that the club had a steady stream of low cost talent. It was an immediate success; twice between 1956 and 1959, West Ham reached the FA Youth Cup Final and the seeds had been sewn for the glory of the following decade.

Though many of the players were inherited from the side left by Fenton, it was under Ron Greenwood that the term ‘The Academy of Football’ was first used. Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore and Martin Peters were the most famous trio of the side, but the squad was built with many others who had come through the club’s academy. Names such as Ronnie Boyce, John Sissons and Harry Redknapp, who between them played 644 games for the Hammers under Greenwood, came up through the academy that Fenton had established.

Greenwood ‘moved upstairs’ in 1974, becoming the club’s General Manager, with John Lyall, who had come through the academy before his career was cut short by injury, taking over the first team affairs. In 1973 they had made arguably their most important decision, however, naming Tony Carr, another academy graduate, as their Director of Youth Development.

Carr has remained in the post ever since and has overseen a wonderful array of talent coming through the West Ham ranks. There are many current Premier League and international players who rate Carr as one of the biggest influences in their career, and it is upon his work that the tradition of West Ham being a club who play good football and give youngsters a chance has been cemented.

Through the managerial reigns of Redknapp, Sir Trevor Brooking, Alan Pardew, Alan Curbishley and Gianfranco Zola, this commitment has remained and flourished, but on the 1st June 2011 a decision was made that will potentially challenge the entire philosophy of the club.

When one thinks of ‘good football’ and ‘promoting young players’ perhaps the last name to spring to mind would be Sam Allardyce. There is no doubt that the former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn has established himself as a successful Premier League manager, but alongside his appointment comes a distinct style of football.

In the words of football writer, Iain Macintosh, “He will buy big bastards at the back,and big bastards up front and then he’ll kick the ball high enough that only big bastards can get it.”

Allardyce is unashamed of the ‘percentage’ based game that he employs, and nor should he be. From the 1950s, when Charles Reep published his theories that most goals were scored from moves of less than three passes, the ‘long ball’ game has been a perfectly valid manner in which to play the game; it even took clubs such as Wimbledon to heights which they wouldn’t have achieved otherwise. For some clubs, however, their style is their identity.

As a Liverpool fan, I recently had a brush with someone who didn’t ‘get’ the style and philosophy upon which the club is built. Roy Hodgson breezed into Anfield extolling his “36 years of management experience” and announcing to all and sundry that he wasn’t going to adapt his methods for anyone. Twenty leagues games of rigid 4-4-2, kick and rush football later, Hodgson found himself out of a job and Liverpool could move back to their pass and move tradition.

West Ham are a club built on a similarly strong philosophy, inspired by the incomparable Mighty Magyars, and it seemed a strange move – although less so when you consider the megalomaniacs in charge – to appoint a man who is anathema to those ideals. Their reasoning is that, having suffered the ignominy of relegation, they cannot afford to be parted from the Premier League money pit for long. It may not be pretty, but Allardyce does offer probably their best bet at getting back quickly into the top flight and then establishing themselves firmly in mid-table.

The question that West Ham fans must be asking themselves right now, however, is whether Premier League solidity is worth selling their soul, or at very least renting it out for a few years? The football was hardly sparkling under Avram Grant, but if Allardyce recreates the sort of team he built at Blackburn then it is about to get a whole lot worse. Even if they emulate Allardyce’s late period Bolton, when the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff played some decent stuff, it is unlikely to be enough for the fans.

Speaking about the style of the club, Greenwood said, “The fans at West Ham have never been rewarded by results, but they keep turning up because of the good football they see. Other clubs will suffer from the old bugbear that results count more than anything. This has been the ruination of English soccer.” With the appointment of Allardyce, West Ham have become one of those ‘other’ clubs, and Greenwood will be turning in his grave.

This month as the new football season gets underway, Late Tackle Magazine will be hitting the shelves at WHSmith newsagents for less than the price of a fish supper.

Be first to get your hands on a copy of issue one and get your teeth into something more substantial than clichéd TV punditry.

And who knows, maybe your opinion will get printed in a future issue.

Late Tackle Magazine: Your New Bargain Signing!

Well, issue one is as good as done now and it will be in WHSmiths and major newsagents around the UK and Ireland.

Which brings us onto planning for future issues…

One of the things we’re aiming for is the mag to be a true ‘voice of the fans’ – so we hope to establish a regular team of contributors who are A1 writers.

We’ll also be inviting other top writers who work in journalism to contribute but until they agree to it, not much more to say on that right now.

But we don’t want that to put everyone else off, and so this is my attempt to encourage YOU to send in your rants, opinions etc and so on.

This can be about a player, a manager, a topic, a certain game (your first one, worst one etc), away trips etc etc.

If your submission is valid, punchy, well argued or from the heart, then it stands a great chance of making it into a future issue of Late Tackle.

First though, before you go scurrying off to your keyboards, here’s some guidelines (not set in stone like, so don’t let it stem your fantastic individual style if you have one):

Length: For a one-page article, approx 400-500 words. For two pages, 1,000 tops. Any more than this, let me know in advance what your in-depth report is about, I’m open to ideas…

Less, well if you have **suitable** and copyright-free images we can use, all the better.

Structure: Have a think about your piece before you kick off – think about its beginning, middle and end. Look at how the pros structure their work. Endless ramble and straying too far off topic will confuse (and bore) the reader – and we don’t want that now do we?

In general, suggest an idea, back it up with facts and examples, consider the other side of the story and then come to some kind of conclusion.

Accuracy: Don’t make things up (I don’t want to end up in court…). Check your facts using a reliable source (soccerbase, official site, club history etc).

And finally: Dropping me an email – or a tweet – before you go off and write a new Bible is a good idea. Your topic of choice may already have been covered.

Send submissions – ideally as a Word document – to latetackle (at) gmail.com

Good luck!

Subscribing to a football magazine when you have all the football websites to read online you could ever want, is a step further beyond that again.

So what makes someone want to put their hand in their pocket, take out their credit or debit card and sign up for a monthly footie mag?

For starters, not everyone likes to read via a screen.

Reading a printed magazine means you’re less likely to be distracted by yet another Facebook status update or email alert.

You can escape the digital realm for a brief time and forget about work, your hectic life and whether or not your team should really sign that left back.

There’s a whole world of football writing to explore and ponder over without interruption.

So reading your favourite magazine isn’t about just what you’re going to read, it’s about how you’re going to read it.

This is the one moment in the day when you take half an hour out from everything and enjoy having an entertaining read.

Now that’s an idea worth subscribing to…

We’ll post the latest information on how you can subscribe as soon as we have it. 

A new national football magazine written and produced by fans.

We think there’s some damn fine football writers about that deserve a platform to air their views about the not-quite-so-beautiful-as-it-once-was game.

That’s why we are launching Late Tackle, an independent, not club or country specific, publication packed with, er, damn fine football writing.

Anyone who can write and has something to say can feature in Late Tackle. It’s not a closed shop. Pitch your ideas/send some work examples to latetackle@gmail.com

Look out for the first edition in August in WHSmiths and other major newsagents.

We’ll post the latest information on how you can buy the first issue as soon as we have it.