Where the Big Boys Play #39

[BrickHithouse]

This is fascinating stuff. I have too many questions, not really suited for a wrestling board. Is there a board somewhere that a know-nothing person can go to and ask questions without being driven away within 5 minutes?

 

I see a guy like John Terry has spent his entire career with Chelsea. How often does a player stick with one team for his entire EPL career? What is the average career length for a top (or solidly above average) player that avoids major injury?

 

Don't know a lot about Henry (but owning the Red Sox you can pretty much print your own money without much effort), but am amazed that that the Glazer clan was allowed to purchase a team. Do other owners have to vote in a new owner or is it whoever flashes the most cash/assets?

 

I'd better stop with the questions here. I'll wear you out.

 

Should I just buy Football Manager and learn that way? (it looks spectacular)

[JerryvonKramer]

I have yet to find an even semi-intelligent football message board. They tend to be horrible. I mainly read The Guardian football coverage, who have some good commenters, and http://www.zonalmarking.net/

 

Players who spend their whole career at one club are very rare these days and a special breed. You can probably name them on two hands from recent history: John Terry, Ryan Giggs, Carles Puyol, Stephen Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Iker Casillas, Paul Scholes, Francesco Totti, Gary Neville, and the legendary Paolo Maldini. If you went and read the Wiki articles for those 10 players, you'd be getting a decent taster of European football history from about 1988 on.

 

One-club men of this sort are exceptionally rare though at the top flight, and the norm would be for a player to ply his trade for several clubs during his career.

 

The trajectory for an average player would be breaking into the first team around the age of 20-22, they hit their peak around 26-30. 33 is "aging". Most players would retire between 35-7, some even at 34. Some players keep going till they're 39-40 (see Giggs, Maldini) but these are, again, exceptions to the rule.

 

Goalkeepers are a different case and peak later in their early 30s. And it is common for them to play on until they are 39-40 (see USA's own Brad Friedel).

 

With club ownership: it depends on the club. The majority are owned as private companies and can be bought and sold to the highest bidder -- there are some rules around who can own a football club though. Some clubs are publicly traded and have shareholders. They work much like any other stock company with a Chairman and a Board of Directors and public meetings with all the shareholders. Finally, some special clubs are 100% "owned by the people". Barcelona are one such club. Bayern Munich are another -- in fact, it's more common in Germany than in other countries. These clubs are special cases but as such have tons of money because they are fundamentally locked into the local sports setup at every level. I think Ajax in Holland may run along these lines too. Most clubs though have private owners, even the biggest ones. AC Milan, for example, are owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

 

The story of the Glazers buying Man Utd is complex because they were publicly traded for a while. I still don't really understand it but the Glazers were somehow able to leverage Man Utd's own credit to raise the funds for the bulk of the purchase. It's something I can't get my head around because of how bat-shit insane it is. Essentially, they came in and immediately saddled the club with a £700 million debt!

 

Finally, as regards Football Manager, it is the deepest, most complex management sim ever made and has been known to cause divorces. I have had every edition since 1996 and have spent a ridiculous amount of time playing it. It's not a game, it's a way of life. I think it has got to the stage now where it's so in-depth and so hardcore that someone like you who is new to football in general might feel totally at sea.

 

Right ... we better stop talking about "soccer" before Goodhelmet Will bans me for life.

[goodhelmet]

I was thinking about it. Fucking soccer.

[ButchReedMark]

Right ... we better stop talking about "soccer" before Goodhelmet Will bans me for life.

All I've seen is discussion about boring, faceless, soulless, passionless, fairweather top flight shite.

 

C'mon Wrexham FC. Real Soccer for Real Men.

[BrickHithouse]

[ButchReedMark]

Oh, Wrexham aren't superior at all. In the 5th tier of the English league pyramid in fact. I just get annoyed when people only talk about heartless, dull, killing the game from the top down, top flight Pel Droed like it's all that exists. It's like when people act like England didn't even have a league system until Sky jumped in for 1992-93.

[JerryvonKramer]

I can't remember where it was Butch, but I did explain this somewhere. Might have been in a PM. Not sure if I mentioned the conference though

[bradhindsight]

Great show but come on guys, the cherry on top is the loop of Ranger Ross commentary at the end. Parv's hollow "...it's Ranger Ross!" stuff is great.