DIG THE NEW BREED

Football club owners, eh? Overbearing egos, mystery finances, shadowy backers, questionable human rights records. But enough of Ken Bates. What to make of the new breed of Premiership football club owners and investors who must surely dominate the landscape of any self-respecting preview of the football season…

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‘FRIENDLY FIRE’

Summers like these used to be the worst for football fans, with neither a World Cup nor a European Championship to plug the gap between play-off finals and Community Shield. But it was a World Cup year, 1998, which brought home how much the ‘pre-season friendly’ has done to reduce that gap.

As Marcel Desailly lunged his way to a long-forgotten red card late in France’s 3-0 final victory over Brazil, someone cried out: “Does that mean he’s suspended for next week?” as Chelsea were due to play their opening friendly against the local non-league side, a mere six days after France ’98 had finished.

Within the living memory of most with whom I watch football, ‘pre-season’ meant a single trial match between the ‘Probables’ and the ‘Possibles’ within the one club. The concept of playing even one match against other clubs was a child of the sixties. These days, you can’t move for friendlies, tours and tournaments. Most of which seems to be on Channel Five, which I think says a lot…

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