4. Scotland in the sun: How La Liga’s problems are more than just skin deep

Comparison with other leagues

La Liga is occasionally referred to as ‘Scotland in the sun’. This is a reference to the dominance enjoyed north of the border by Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic. The Scottish league is widely recognised as bordering on the ridiculous as the Glaswegian giants play each other several times a season to decide who wins the major trophies, while the matches against Dundee United and Arbroath are treated merely as shooting practice for the nation’s top two. The league is bereft of money and even Rangers and Celtic are a long way off making the latter stages of the Champions League.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are enjoying a similar level of success over their domestic rivals. In the 2009/10 season Sevilla, who finished 4^th, were closer to the relegation places than they were to winning the league.

In the same year in England, Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth and were 16 points from the top whilst their Spanish equivalents were 36 points from the summit. To illustrate the point still further, Spurs reached the last eight of the Champions League in 2011, whilst Sevilla went out at the before the group stage even began. Spain’s top two may be strong in Europe but the rest of La Liga’s Champions League contingent are nowhere. Valencia, Spain’s other Champions League representative, limped out at the first knockout stage at the hands of Schalke.

Real Madrid enjoyed their most successful La Liga season ever, in terms of points haul, in 2009/10 and yet still finished second thanks to Barcelona achieving the same feat. No statistic highlights the gap between Barca/Real and the rest more than this. Barcelona and Madrid, under Jose Mourinho, achieved similar levels of success last season.

There was another European League, however, where the 4^th placed team were closer to relegation than the top – the Scottish Premier League.

The German league is in stark contrast to their Spanish and Scottish counterparts. The competition is far greater, epitomised by having four different league winners in the last seven years, compared to La Liga’s two.

Bundesliga correspondent, and co-founder of German fanzine Der Toedliche Pass, Claus Melchior, reasoned: “More clubs than in other leagues benefitted from the occasional foray into the Champions League. It has been the case for a long time now that no club has been able to establish itself permanently as a major force besides Bayern. Moenchengladbach were big in the late sixties through the seventies, then Hamburg had some dominant years, then Werder Bremen were Bayern's major opponent, from the mid-nineties on it was Dortmund, then Bremen again, and so on. But in every decade there's also been a “freak” champion that came more or less out of the blue, most recently Wolfsburg.”

In the 82 years since La Liga’s began there have been just nine different winners, averaging an inaugural winner every 9.11 years.

In England, during the 123 years of domestic competition, there have been 23 teams that have won the domestic league title. An average of once every 5.35 years a new name is inscribed onto the trophy.

Germany has a newly crowned winner of the Bundesliga once every 3.86 years and in France it is every 4.03 years.

Even in Italy they have a more had more league champions than in Spain, 16 in all. Averaging a new winner every 7.06 years.

So there’s no denying this is an historical problem in Spain but it is the modern day margins that are of most concern.

3. Scotland in the sun: How La Liga’s problems are more than just skin deep

Financial Matters
 

Spain has never had more people unemployed. Currently, that figure stands at five million.

Even Latin Americans who moved to the Iberian peninsular in search of work are seemingly desperate to return home, much like the Polish exodus from English shores in the last couple of years.

Government ministers insist it has reached a peak and that it won’t get any worse but the people of Spain are not convinced.

Football mirrors these troubles.

Spanish football writer Sid Lowe wrote on the website cbc.ca in 2010:

Luis Manuel Rubiales, the new president of the Spanish players union, the AFE, explained that 85 per cent of footballers in Spain's top three divisions either get paid late or not at all. Then there's the fact that the Spanish Football Federation, the RFEF, still owes the AFE €8 million.

According to Rubiales's predecessor, €100 million are still owed to footballers in unpaid wages.
The situation, Rubiales said, is the worst it has ever been.

Spanish football is in crisis according to José María Gay, Spain's leading expert on football finance and an adviser to Uefa: "La Liga is dying."

The Osasuna president, Patxi Izco, admits: "I fear a financial meltdown."

"Football," insists another director, "is seriously ill."

Real Madrid were saved from the threat of bankruptcy a few years ago only when the municipality of Madrid agreed to pay a large sum for the land on which their training ground sat.

The fact that the Spanish government and the country’s banks have helped Real is greeted with little more than a sigh from the other clubs in Spain. Can you really imagine the outcry in England if the government helped Manchester United stay on top or Barclays, at their customers’ expense, came in to rescue Liverpool from the oblivion of relegation? How would fans of Portsmouth, Leeds United and Southampton react to such news? These last three clubs have had to bite the bullet and accept their fate as they slid down the divisions due to the enforced sale of their best players, enabling them to stay in business. Manchester United would be expected to do the same. The Spanish government, seeing a similar fate bestowed on its most famous club, bought their training ground.

In England such actions are treated with a mixture of suspicion and bemusement. In Iberia, and perhaps throughout the Latin countries, it is treated as the norm.

Sid Lowe argues that it was in the country’s interests to help Real Madrid in their time of need, though he concedes it was not without some underhand tactics.

He said: "Institutional support in Spain is relatively normal but Real Madrid would argue the support is reciprocated as they do a lot of work for the community in terms of tourism and image. They would also argue that as the club represents the community they should get support."

And what about the deal whereby Madrid sold their training ground to the local government only to get it back again? "This is the big bone of contention. Real Madrid will say that the council got a good deal in terms of what they paid but it was Florentino Perez (the club President) who enabled the deal to happen. He, with the government, re-classified the land so that it was apt for construction.

"Perez is a construction magnate whose contacts are very strong in local government. This kind of tactic, though, is relatively normal. It has been used before and it will no doubt be used again."

Barcelona are not without their own problems on a financial front. Last summer they were late in paying the players’ wages and had to take out an emergency loan to help alleviate their difficulties in meeting their wage bill.

Sports lawyer Javier Tebas believed neither case was comparable to the troubles at the smaller clubs. "Barcelona and Real are a money making machine. They don’t have significant problems," he said. "Certain newspapers eight years ago said Real Madrid were going to go bankrupt and look at them now."

Well, with the government’s help and the aid of Madrid’s banks is it any wonder they survived?

"It was a help,” Tebas agreed, with a gesture suggesting inverted commas when he said ‘help’. "But with the help the competition can become distorted," he admitted

"The problem is not just that the big two have a greater budget than the rest," Tebas explains. "It is that all the other clubs have a lot of debt. There some smaller clubs where the interest repayments on their debts alone could pay for the salaries of Lionel Messis and Cristiano Ronaldo combined." In other words, €15 million in interest.

 

2. Scotland in the sun: How La Liga’s problems are more than just skin deep

Falling behind - Real Zaragoza, Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad

Real Zaragoza

The stadium is in disarray and is located, ironically, next to a hospital. To add insult to injury, the section of said hospital happens to be 'urgencias'.

There is a pretty glum feeling around La Romareda. The graffiti adds to the sense of despair and even the main pub in Plaza de San Francisco, just down the road from the downtrodden ground and beside the university, is a subdued, dark Scottish pub rather than a vibrant Irish establishment. It is as if they tried to be different but in doing so went in the wrong direction, much like Real Zaragoza.

It was not always thus. The Blanquillos finished in the top five on a consistent basis throughout the 1960s during what has been described as a golden era for the club.

In England, the club are most associated with beating Arsenal in the 1995 European Cup Winners' Cup final thanks to an outrageous lob from Nayim towards the end of extra-time. Nayim, an ex-Spurs midfield maestro, bought pleasure to his former club, as he sent their arch rivals into a state of apoplexy.

Nevertheless, the club's official name is Real Zaragoza S.A.D. The acronym stands for Sociedad Anonima Deportiva, meaning a sports corporation, and not Seasonal Affective Disorder, though some locals may disagree.

Valencia

The city celebrated the opening of their opera house in 2005 after 14 years work. The city was on a high at the time: its football team, Valencia CF, had won their second La Liga title in three seasons the year before.

On top of that they finished runners-up in two Champions League finals in a row just after the turn of the century. Things were certainly looking good, the club was in the midst of the most successful period in its history and they were set to move into a new stadium in 2009.

Unfortunately, on the field things turned sour and Valencia have never looked like repeating their success of the early part of the 21st century.

To make matters worse they are still stuck in the old, decrepit stadium that is the Mestalla as they cannot afford to finish the newer, 75,000 seated version. The club are beset with financial problems and many of their best players are regularly sold on to service their debts. £60 million came in the club's direction during the summer of 2010 thanks to the sales of David Silva and David Villa but little of this was re-invested in new players.

Atletico Madrid

Fifth highest point scorers in the history of Spanish football history, and third most successful in terms of La Liga titles, Atletico Madrid have plenty of off the field problems as they are €300 million in debt. They have even been accused of being the worst run club in Europe, as well as being described as a ‘madhouse’. Apart from that, they have little to worry about...

Real Sociedad

Situated in the picturesque coastal town of San Sebastian, Real Sociedad have had to come back from the brink of late.

Their plight has been largely attributed to Jose Luis Astiazaran, the current LFP president and former president of Sociedad.

Sid Lowe and Phil Ball have both claimed that he ran the club into the ground.

Thankfully, they appear to be over their troubles and have even inflicted a rare defeat on Barcelona in the 2009/10 season.

Sociedad won their only league title in 1981.

From the index to his captain having sex: the stumble and fall of Fabio Capello

It is almost two years to the day since the now ex-England boss Fabio Capello's decline began with the ill-fated 'Capello index'. This was a weird notion where points would be awarded for the overall performance of each player, then even more bizarrely making that information public.

It is as if ever since that day things just seemed to have gone from bad to worse for the former Real Madrid boss.

He was a hugely successful manager with a CV as glowing as you could possibly want, titles in Spain and Italy, not to mention a Champions League winner. He had spells with something not too dissimilar to a who's who of European football (Roma, AC Milan, Juventus and Madrid).

For the first two years it looked like the English Football Association had finally found their man. A proven winner who was continuing that rich vein of form for his new employers.

England qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with consummate ease and Don Fabio could do no wrong. Then came the index and it all began to unravel just prior to FIFA's showpiece event.

Bad preparation

After the index, there was the decision to play England at altitude in their friendlies prior to the last World Cup, as well as base them at a training camp in Rustenburg 1500 metres above sea level in South Africa and not giving the players sufficient rest from the rigours of a Premier League season.

Graeme Souness was highly critical of such preparation. He told  The Sun: "Your body is demanding oxygen.

Your brain is telling your kidneys 'I need more EPO' which is a growth hormone which helps you produce more red blood cells, which enables you to push more oxygen through your body.

"So, for three or four weeks that's happening, so you're going down and down and down. After that, you start to recover."

The players looked laboured throughout the debacle in South Africa and Capello has to take some repsonsibility for that.

The wrong squad in South Africa

There was immense surprise and disappointment at the decision to omit Theo Walcott from his squad for the 2010 World Cup. Then news filtered through that he wanted to take Owen Hargreaves who had not started a game for nearly two years. Sir Alex Ferguson ridiculed the idea of taking his non-playing crippled midfieler. Capello eventually plumped for Gareth Barry, who also looked well short of fitness having not played for the last two months of the season.

The wrong goalkeeper

Then we had the lamentable situation regarding the number one jersey in South Africa. It was clear to all and sundry that the most talented goalkeeper in the squad was Joe Hart. Capello claimed he lacked experience, but it was the manager's fault for that lack of game time for not picking him prior to the tournament, particularly in the friendly against Ghana three months before the World Cup began.

The wrong formation

We had one decent striker going into that World Cup - Wayne Rooney (albeit his performances never lived up to expectations). The best thing to have done would be to have played Rooney up front with Steven Gerrard in support. From Gary Lineker to Michael Owen, it was clear to all the experts the way to go but our £6 million a year head coach could not spot it.

Capello claimed that English players only new how to play 4-4-2. The 65 year-old clearly hadn't watched much football in recent years as he would have seen English clubs dominate the Champions League with just one up top in something that could be described as anything but 4-4-2. Furthermore, Rooney had performed remarkable feats as the lone frontman, and Gerrard had had a similarly successful season playing as an attacking midfielder (behind Torres).

Captain not so fantastic

What I just do not get with this whole John Terry business is it was Capello who was angry with JT after his now infamous press conference in South Africa, undermining the Italian with his comments about standing up to the coaching staff.

It was also Capello who stripped Terry of the captaincy for a far less serious issue (sleeping with the ex-girlfriend of a former team-mate) than we are currently dealing with.

Then we see the Italian gifting him back the armband soon after the World Cup, and now apparently resigning as he did not want to see the Chelsea centre-half lose the captaincy once more.

Just to add to the confusion, Capello has always stated his amusement at the English fascination with the whole importance of who the captain is.

Finally on this whole JT story: why on earth has the trial been postponed until July anyway? Ron Gourlay, Chelsea's chief executive, informed the judge it would be impossible for all the necessary witnesses to appear in court due to work commitments. First of all that's rubbish. And even if it were true, completely irrelevant. You cannot skip a court appearance due to such frivolous reasons.

Anyway, I digress, Fabio's reputation, at least in England, is in tatters and the guy who accused him of 'killing' Gerrard a couple of years ago for playing the Liverpool man out of position has a stock that could not be any higher. Maybe Paul Gascoigne calling him 'Sir' Harry earlier this evening on Sky Sports was not so ill-placed afterall.

1. Scotland in the sun: How La Liga’s problems are more than just skin deep

The pie

“Well, you’re not looking at the whole pie Jenny,” David Brent muttered confusingly to his boss. “Wernham Hogg is one big pie, and if they’ve let me in charge of that one big pie, I’ll be in charge of the pie, and the people are the fruit, and I’m-”

“I don’t have time for the pie thing, David,” his boss retorted.

“...Pie thing...you don’t want it, no,” Brent realised.

These are the words of a failing manager of a paper merchants, based in Slough, in a fictional, satirical comedy. His boss, however, had had enough of the pie thing. 

Ricky Gervais has won worldwide acclaim with his BBC hit show The Office thanks to his creation of Brent and the hideous way in which he manages his work.

Brent’s boss is not the only one who has had enough of the pie thing. Sevilla’s president, Jose Maria del Nido, amongst others, is not happy with it either. This is the television money pie shared amongst the clubs in Spain’s top flight.

Only, this is no laughing matter.

As Barcelona and Real Madrid have accelerated ahead in the last few years, the rest of Spanish football trail in their wake, both on, and off, the field.

Barca and Real can argue that they generate all this money through their success on the pitch, with ticket sales and through merchandising, so they deserve such a large percentage (currently that share stands at 49%) of the pie but the long-term health of club football in Spain is at risk, with many clubs in financial disarray throughout the country.

Just last year former Almeria coach, Juanma Lillo, said: “The difference between Madrid and Barcelona and the rest is insuperbale. How can Valencia ever hope to keep hold of (David) Villa and (David) Silva? The rest of us have been turned into mere suppliers of players for them.”

If this was just down to gate receipts, good management and fine marketing then it could be tolerated. After all, there is little to be done about that, other than to be admired, and even attempt to match it elsewhere by applying similar strategies in an effort to catch up. The highest form of flattery is, after all, imitation.

Other big clubs around Europe are pushing these boundaries too, both in their domestic leagues, and in European competition, most notably Bayern Munich and Manchester United.

However, Spain’s top two have a distinct advantage over their rivals, both in La Liga and in European competition. This stems from the television deal they are able to negotiate. Last year their combined television revenue totalled €280 million. The other eighteen clubs in the country’s top flight earned a similar amount – between them.

In Germany, things could not be more different, as German football writer, Claus Melchior, describes: “The Bundesliga is more competitive than most of the other top European Leagues. I think it has quite a bit to do with the distribution of TV money. Whereas clubs in Spain have individual contracts with TV stations, Bundesliga rights are sold collectively. They bring less money than TV rights in Britain, but the money is fairly evenly distributed.”

Javier Tebas, sports lawyer and a central figure in the new television rights deal, claims part of the problem is mentality. He illustrates the difference between the Spanish and Anglo-Saxon perspective perfectly when he says: “The Anglo-Saxon philosophy is a lot different to the Italian and Spanish philosophy (in terms of promoting the competition). In the Latin world people always think: what can I get out of this? The Anglo-Saxon way is more long term: what can I give to this and then what can I get out of this later? What can I bring (provide) to the table? Then what can I take away. The Latin idea is much more immediate: what’s in it for me (as in right now)? Whereas the English idea is more long term. It’s the (difference in) mentality.”

The German way is not too dissimilar to the English. “They are like the Anglo-Saxons in their mentality,” Tebas added.

However, he could not conceal his contempt for his compatriots’ thinking. “The problem is with the Latins. It’s a problem because they always want immediate results. They have no patience. The Germans, but more the English, have lots of patience.

“In conclusion: the English and the Germans believe in their leagues and this philosophy but the Spanish clubs don’t believe in La Liga. This is the problem.”

And he had words of praise for the Premier League as he felt their mindset gave them a significant advantage over their Latin counterparts. “The Premier League is the biggest competition in the world and it’s not just by co-incidence. Ten years ago it wasn’t so big but they have put in a lot of hard work into the competition itself.”

Nevertheless, the differences can be attributed to more than just attitude. “This is because in Spain, the league doesn’t manage the TV rights,” Tebas opined. “In England, they do. And you have no power if you have no control over the main income source. This is the fundamental difference. The money in England is for the Premier League, then the competing clubs. In Spain this is different.”

When the Glazers took over at Manchester United they did so in the belief that the Premier League model had to follow that of its Spanish rival. The Americans were convinced that United would ultimately end up with a greater share of the television money.

The BBC’s business editor, Jeff Randall, confirmed to BBC Radio 5 live at the time of the takeover in 2005: "The key point of Glazer's business plan is football television rights. If United can break with the Premier League collective agreement and negotiate on their own then maybe they can jack up their income. “

The Premier League were quick to quell their ambitions. The League’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said in response to those ideas: “It's always proved impossible to break away. If they want to do so 14 of the 20 clubs have to do it and it is almost impossible to think that can happen.”

Today, that prospect looks even less likely and in 2010/11 the Premier League enjoyed one of its most competitive seasons since its inception nearly 20 years ago.

Surely the most outspoken advocate of change in the distribution of television money in Spain is Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido.

“We demand a fair distribution of television rights,” Del Nido told Marca. “There cannot be much difference between them. The league is going to be s***. According to the current deal only Madrid and Barcelona benefit and in the coming season the same thing as happened this year will happen where they get 100 points, nearly thirty points away from third place.”

“You have to lay a fair foundation. Clubs have to be serious in this matter because, as it stands, it will end up with only Madrid and Barcelona having to face each other 19 times.”

Del Nido wants to see a more competitive league and would love to see La Liga offering up the kind of random results on offer in England.

He added: “Sevilla are championing the fight for a better deal. Look at the Premier League results. Manchester United win 2-0, Chelsea lose 1-0 and Tottenham beat Arsenal at home. That is a league!

“Not Almeria losing 8-0 or Athletic Bilbao losing 5-1 at the Bernabeu. That is not a real competition. I call on all football fans to fight for a settlement of equal rights so that competition can exist and not sell the league from the opening day to the two largest teams.”

In October 2010 a revolt was threatened but such a movement was merely no more than a threat, like the proverbial kid in the playground telling a supposed friend he wanted his ball back only to realise he had no hope as he was infinitely smaller than the thief.

The next set of TV rights for La Liga is almost certainly going to be sold collectively, rather than individually, as the clubs have recognised that they can make more money from this kind of deal. But don’t expect Real Madrid or Barcelona to lose out as a result.

The Guardian’s Spanish football writer, Sid Lowe, explains: “The new package will still enshrine the inequality because Real Madrid and Barcelona, within the league, have the power to say: ‘you want a league without us, go ahead’.”

The big two can say this because they know the broadcasting companies will be less attracted to La Liga without them and therefore the other clubs would solicit far less money from any future deal.

"The reason why clubs have accepted the new deal is realism," Lowe continued. "A club like Osasuna looks at this and thinks: ‘my overall amount of money will be better, I’m not going to win the league anyway, why not enshrine my inequality to make sure I protect myself.”

Barcelona and Real Madrid’s share of the pie may diminish with a new deal (from 49% to 34%) but their overall income will increase as the collective deal will be worth so much more than its predecessor. As a result, it is clear to see the advantages from their perspective.

For Barca and Real they believe this new arrangement can help them dominate the rest of Europe, as well as their domestic rivals.

Sid Lowe described the other winners and losers: "The teams that have some sort of pretension of challenging Madrid and Barcelona are the ones who’ve had a difficult decision to make.

“Atletico Madrid and Valencia are reasonably happy because they have been enshrined as 3^rd and 4^th in Spain by this new deal.

“Sevilla and Villareal, who aspire to those positions, are the ones who are furious. They’re saying this means Madrid and Barcelona are going to win the league forever more. Of course, they are absolutely right but they are slightly dishonest because they manoeuvred themselves to try and be those 3^rd and 4^th placed teams. They’re criticising Valencia and Atletico Madrid for enshrining their weakness against Real and Barca, but protecting their strength against the rest, whereas if they had been able to manoeuvre themselves into that position, they would have done exactly the same thing.”