It has been a long time. Actually it’s been eighteen years to be precise since Liverpool won their eighteenth league title. Since then, Manchester United’s dominance of the Premier League has threatened to overthrow the Merseyside club as most the successful domestic side in the country. Yet after a number of years, that has seen the style of play change, managers come and go and the club itself change hands to Americans, is 2008/09 finally the year in which Liverpool win the title?

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Mastering the art of commentary and punditry is a rare feat these days. Too often the man behind the microphone is pigeonholed as a caricature. Since the days of Barry Davies and Brian Moore, the quality has diminished. The voice of a great commentator encapsulates the crowning moment of a football match perfectly. These days, many stunning goals, immaculate tackles and finely-threaded passes are not appreciated for what they are by the summariser on television.

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Enter the top ten defeats of all time. Naturally many matches are remembered for incidents occurring of and on the pitch, perhaps with violent clashes, technical master-classes and shifts in power concerning who rules the footballing world.

No.10 France (4) 3-3 (5) West Germany 1982 World Cup Semi- Final

An epic football match marred by Harold Schumacher’s tendency to rush out to take out man or ball, in a mindset where the end justifies the means, as it did for the Germans. The match was level between the two sides with Littbarski rifling in a shot and a Platini penalty to equalise. Then Schumacher took out substitute Battiston (whose attempted shot went just wide), knocking him unconscious and leaving him with two less teeth. Later when Platini went for a header, when Schumacher came to claim the ball; Platini was left clutching his shoulder. Tresor scored with a hooked finish for France, followed by a thunderbolt from Giresse, Rummenigge pulled one back, before Fischer sent the match to penalties – a first in the World Cup. Schumacher made the headlines, by moving early off his line (a ploy not noticed by the officials) and saving twice from Six and then Bossis. The great French team of Platini and Tigana could not progress ‘because the officials did not do their job’ as the BBC commentator put it.

No.9 Real 0 -5 Barcelona 1973 Primera Division

After being voted out of the captaincy at Ajax, Cruyff left for a club that too was valued on playing beautiful football. In this match he crossed superbly twice to result in goals, and scored a gorgeous goal. Receiving the ball in the edge of the area from the left he burst forward to the left past the despairing lunge of a  Real defender, running towards another defender, he quickly shifted the ball onto his right then again onto his left, always shielding the ball from the defender. To top off a superb performance, he finished with aplomb, blasting the ball through the keeper’s legs. To this day Cruyff and his Barcelona team-mates hold the record for Real’s heaviest defeat in the Bernabeu in an El Clasico, an astonishing achievement.

No.8 Arsenal 4-5 Man Utd 1958 Old Division One

The Busby babes came to North London, with a brand of exciting attacking, youthful football. They raced up a 0-3 lead in the first half, and the match seemed to be as good as over. Yet in the space of three minutes The Gunners came racing back and clawed back to a 3-3 score-line. The reputation of the Manchester United side came through, showing mental strength to score twice through the devastating Denis Viollet and Tommy Taylor to an unreachable 3-5 lead. Yet in the dying minutes The Gunners pulled a goal back, leaving a tense finish in which Vic Groves almost equalised. A few days later, the Red Devils flew out to Belgrade to meet Red Star in the European Cup. After a victory, their plane stopped to refuel in Munich. Therefore the game at Arsenal’s historical Highbury was to be the last arena where the famous ‘Busby Babes’ strutted their stuff in England.

No.7 England 3-6 Hungary 1953 International Friendly

The first defeat at Wembley by a team outside of the British Isles broke an undefeated streak since 1901 against such teams. Finally showed how different styles had evolved in contrast to the stereotypical gung-ho British football and it was no fluke. The Hungarians played a pass and move style, with a strike-force of ‘that fat little chap’ (The England player who referred to the Hungarian legend would later live to regret his words) Ferenc Puskas and Nandor Hidegkuti, who played in a revolutionary half-striker role, ghosting between the lines of midfield and attack, impossible to pick up. ‘The Mighty Magyars’ were seen to many as the influence to Rinus Michel’s ‘Total Football’ concept with their fluid formation and interchange of positions. The return game in 1954 was even more one-sided with Hungary annihilating England 7-1.

No.6 Real 11-4 Barcelona 1943 Kings Cup Semi Final

The words Generalissimo or Franco will crop up in remembrance of this semi-final. 3-0 up from the first leg, the Catalans were favourites to meet Bilbao in the final. Yet before the start of the second leg, they were paid a visit by the director of state security, who emphasized the unpatriotic Catalans were only living in Spain on behalf of the generous Franco. Therefore they were forced to throw the match, and even with ten men at half time, it is believed that only such a reason would cause such a loss. The conspiracy theorists continue to look to this dressing room visit. Real still managed to lose the final to Bilbao, after all of their favourite dictator’s help against their arch-rivals.

Brazil could take lessons from Russia. The national side, have world stars splattered all over the Selecao set-up. But a defensive approach, with two ‘volantes’, and a lack of cohesion in the side has led to media criticism and pressure for the panache to return.

In comparison, Russian football is at an all time high. The sides are bankrolled by rich oligarchs (well, have you ever heard of a poor one?) and despite the recent economic crisis – Roman Abramovich is £11.9 billion pounds poorer – things are looking up. In Brazil, the fans are disillusioned by these huge names that represent their nation, and escape to Europe as soon as possible predominantly for money.

Russia’s national team and Premier league has undergone a renaissance over the last few years. Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow have won the UEFA Cup in 2008 and 2006 respectively. The national side, under the stewardship of miracle worker and occasional manager Gus Hiddink, reached the semi-final of Euro 2008. They were hugely attacking, with that defensive frailty which was often Brazil’s Achilles’ heel.

The adventure of the full-backs Zhirkov and Anyukov often but opposition wingers on the back foot, while the clever movement of the forwards created a fluid attack, which many were quick to call the second coming of ‘totaalvoetbal’. This was the obvious headline for many media outlets after the stunning win over Holland. Yet the former USSR were playing with such creativity and élan with this current side finally overcoming that inferiority complex and returning to Russia’s football heritage.

This country first saw Dinamo Moscow on their “passovotchka” tour of 1945. Or rather they didn’t. A match full of goals against Arsenal at White Hart Lane was played in thick fog. The Russians had beaten an Arsenal side, reinforced by the presence of the great Stanley Matthews, by four goals to three. Yet the interchanging of positions and ease of movement was barely witnessed under the blanket of fog - until the game against Cardiff. The Eastern Europeans walked in 10 goals against the Welsh side. The imprint Dinamo forged on English minds faded until another side from the Soviet bloc arrived under the nickname the Magical Magyars. Eight years later, England endured their first defeat at Wembley, a 6-3 thrashing, whilst being humiliated 7-1 in Hungary a year later.

It was this tradition which club side Zenit and the Russian national team have returned to. Is it a coincidence that the two men in charge of both teams are Dutch? Probably not, as Russian football has similar purist ideals to that of the wonderful Holland side of 1974. Unfortunately, there is that profligacy and defensive fragility which has seen these sides fall to defeat having dominated for most of the game. On Saturday night, while Wembley was enduring one of the least one-sided thrashings in football history, in Germany fans actually saw a game of two halves. In the first half, Podolski and Ballack gave a strong Germany a deserved lead. But they woke up a sleeping giant.

Russia ripped the Germans to shreds, the intensity of the movement, pace and precision of every pass led to the German box being flooded with red shirts every few minutes. Arshavin pulled a goal back, with Hiddink’s side hitting the post and forcing Rene Adler into making some stunning saves. But in the end, the inability to take their chances told. It would have been worse if Roman Pavlyuchenko was in the side. A similar sequence of events occurred in the Champions League, with Zenit humiliating real Madrid’s defence but never able to make the killing blow. One commentator compared them to Arsenal, with the appreciation of style present, along with the many telling weaknesses.

What is brilliant is how both sides continue to stick to their principles rather than bow to the stoic, defensive football of many other international sides. You could spend 10 minutes listing these teams: England, Greece, Sweden, but Brazil? Under Dunga’s reign, the complacency has gone but the flair has vanished. Yes, Brazil won 4-0 away against Venezuela on Sunday, but it was more to do with facing a side who seemed to make it their mission to show budding footballers how not to defend. It wasn’t really to do with the fluent ‘Brazilian’ style, although there were some fine individual efforts from Kaka and Robinho. Dunga’s 1994 side were known for their efficiency and work rate but this new mentality has seen the ‘Brazilian’ football trademark vanish and is being left to other nations. Russia is one of these countries.

While Dunga may have won the 2007 Copa America, it was through a powerful and physical performance rather than the flicks and short passing game for which the samba nation are renowned for. We are present during a period of stylistic change and identity for many nations. Stereotypes are fast being discarded in the modern game but some things always stay the same. MOTD presenter Gary Lineker once said:

‘Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes – and at the end, the Germans win’

 

Unfortunately for Russia, the ex-footballer, who is quite fond of fake-tan, once more proved to be right.

Continuing on from yesterday, here is the next five, which were influenced by pieces of magic, the event and social and moral talking points.

No.15 Real Madrid 0-1 Ajax 1973 European Cup Semi-final second leg

According to David Winner, author of ‘Brilliant Orange’ the greatest moment of Ajax’s ‘Golden Age’ was not a goal or a great save. It was a simple piece of juggling by a player who had idolised the legends which had graced the turf of the Bernabeu before him. Gerrie Muhren had the 110,000 fans applauding, rather than the customary white handkerchiefs away teams were used to. It was said to be the moment Ajax took over from Real Madrid as the true Kings of Europe. Having already won the two previous European cups, Ajax strolled to their third successive European Cup victory, having raised the Bernabeu to applaud the brilliance of totaalvoetbal.  

No.14 Italy 3-2 Brazil 1982 World Cup Second Round

This was truly an occasion was for a phoenix to rise from the flames. His name blackened from a betting scandal and his critics rounding on the poor performances of his and the national’s teams poor ‘aimless’ play. They reached the second round on the back of three draws to meet a Brazilian side that truly brought back beautiful football. Falcao, Zico and Socrates, formed a midfield of vision technique and unlimited flair. Yet it was Rossi who struck first blood, ghosting in to score a free header.  John Motson said the Brazilian school of footballing philosophy shows ‘how to play when you’re behind’. He was proved right when an awesome turn by Zico allowed him to release Socrates with a threaded pass. Yet Rossi replied with a brace, and even with a Falcao thunderbolt, Italy prevailed with Dino Zoff making crucial saves. ‘Thankfully skill will still prevail even though teams try to destroy it’. In hindsight, Motson’s words truly marked the ‘death of joga bonito’ as one internet forum member put it. Brazil’s light, glowing football did not prevail and it was loss for football in the long run.

No.13 Arsenal 2-1 Sheffield United 1999 Premier League

The unwritten rule can have a strong influence and it did until the English FA decided to ignore it from this previous season and onwards. Kelly was putting a ball out, so that his team-mate could receive treatment, or rather so that Bergkamp didn’t score. The resulting throw-in, was taken by Parlour to the Sheffield United players, but was intercepted by Kanu, who crossed for Overmars to slot home. The fact that giving the ball back is seen as an unwritten rule, no-one cannot be sure if all 22 players are playing to the same rule! The match was followed by a generous offer by Arsenal to replay the match, which Steve Bruce ‘expected’, yet in truth he had no right to. Arsenal won the return match 2-1, with no controversy.

No.12 Peru 0-6 Argentina – 1978 World Cup Second Round

The situation: Argentina needed to win by more than four goals to reach the final. Why? Brazil’s superior goal difference was blocking their path to World Cup glory. The conspiracy theory: The game was fixed. The Peruvian keeper had only let in 6 goals in his previous five games; He had Argentinean nationality too. Argentina had only scored 6 in their previous games; the exact margin they won this game by. Argentina progressed to the final where they used stalling tactics to unnerve the Dutch team in Estadio Buenos Aires, a cauldron of blue and white. The greatest mystery of all: they were winners of the FIFA Fair Play Award.

No.11 Germany 2-1 Holland 1990 World Cup Round of 16

After the second World War, the Dutch had moved away from it and had rebuilt. A few generations later, books were released about concentration camps, and trials were held for war crimes. Thus the new youth, which included the footballers, coached by Cruyff, in van Basten, Gullit and Rikjaard saw Germany as the enemy. This boiled over onto the pitch, with Rikjaard spitting at Rudi Voller, and this settled the match. Another aspect to the rivalry was the setting. Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The AC Milan team of the nineties had a Dutch spine, and in contrast the Inter team, contained a number of Germans. Thus the match reflected a rivalry that was on a number of planes; club and international. The defeat also caused violent clashes on the Dutch-German border.

Following on from exploring more unusual reasons of defeat, indulge yourself in an ‘epic’ list of defeats, which have caused a great impact in the course of footballing history. Here is the first five…of which most have been chosen of the circumstances and the drama involved.

No.20 Inter Milan  0 – 5 AC Milan 2005 Champions League Quarter Final

One of the most infamous Milan derbies in recent history, with a 2-0 lead from the first leg, AC were set to win, with a 1-0 lead from Shevchenko when the unruly Inter Ultras struck in protest to a goal from Argentine Cambiasso ruled out by referee Markus Merk. The objection consisted of bottles and debris being thrown onto the pitch and soon escalated to lit flares, one of which hit Milan keeper Dida on the shoulder, suffering first-degree burns. Therefore, the game was abandoned and Milan were awarded a 3-0 win, and the Nerazzurri fined €200,000, a UEFA record.

No.19 Bayern Munich  v Manchester United 1999 Champions League Final

Three minutes of injury time had changed the outcome of this game. Man United had played poorly in Barcelona and it seemed to be Bayern’s trophy. The Bavarian club’s ribbons had been attached onto the cup, and it was only till after Munich substituted Basler and Matthaus that United came back into the game. A scuffed Giggs shot reached Sheringham, who scored from six yards. Then came another Beckham corner as ITV commentator asked: ‘is this their moment?’ Sheringham headed the ball down and Solskjaer instinctively swung his boot at the ball and lashed it into the roof of the net with virtually the final kick of the game. Having played an effective counter-attacking game-plan and hit the woodwork a number of times, against all the odds, the Mancunians completed the infamous treble and rival fans would never hear the end of it.

No.18 AC Milan 3-3 Liverpool 2005 Champions League Final

An impossible defeat. A Milan side, who scored inside a minute, and tore Liverpool to shreds through the clever running of Kaka, the smart passing of Pirlo and the killer instinct of Crespo and Shevchenko. It should have been four, if not for a poor decision by the linesman to deny Milan a fourth before the half time whistle. Then inside a six minute period, doubts crept into Milanese minds, when Gerard scored with a looping header. Reminders of previous matches against Deportivo La Coruna and close scares against Lyon and PSV Eindhoven cropped up. Even after the score was level, now cult hero Jerzy Dudek made to awesome saves from Shevchenko in the dying moments of extra-time at point-blank range. The penalty shoot-out brought out a Grobbelaar-esque instinct in Dudek who won the cup for the Merseyside club. Milan took revenge two years later.

No.17 USA 1-0 England 1950 World Cup First Round

Dubbed ‘Miracle on Grass’, it also has a film made after it released in 2005. This defeat finally took away the English belief of superiority in the game of football, and it displayed an urgent need to change the outlook upon the English game. New styles were being developed; most were tactically and aesthetically superior. Having refused to play against countries against whom they had fought in the war previously, and arguments on bonuses amongst other things, they finally arrived in Brazil, ready to prove their dominance. Or so they hope. Gaetjens scored against in defiance to the English dominance. It was beautifully summed by victorious American footballer Harry Keough in the aftermath through, ‘Boy, I feel sorry for these bastards. How are they ever going to live down the fact we beat them?’

No.16 Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal 1989 Division One

It was the final game of the season. The situation to George Graham’s Gunners was clear. They had to win by two clear goals. For Liverpool defeat was unthinkable and not a possibility against an Arsenal side with a defeat and a draw in their previous two home games. Enter Michael Thomas. Arsenal was leading by a goal through Alan Smith. Appeals of offside were waved away, and the final seconds are remembered by Brian Moore’s commentary: ‘Thomas, charging through the midfield… it’s up for grabs now… Thomas, right at the end!’ Liverpool had lost in unbelievable circumstances.

 There have been football matches over various times, which have shaped the game as we know it. The result has been creation of new formations, new styles and the making and breaking of reputations within the game. What is the cause of such great change? Defeat: an enigma that occurs on many occasions, yet the cause of defeat itself lies on a number of factors rather than a solitary, crystal-clear reason. Surely it cannot be as Ronaldo suggested in a 2000 hearing, analysing the loss against France a few years previous?

On a number of occasions, the defeat is often self-inflicting, with poor tactics being exploited by the opposition team, with the manager being criticised. For example in 1950, Brazil’s reliance on the opposition playing the WM formation (devised by Herbert Chapman of Arsenal), which they easily took apart, was the predominant factor in their 2-1 defeat to Uruguay. The Uruguayans, in contrast to Spain and Sweden took up an offensive looking formation, and found faults in the Brazilians defensive line, which was covered up by their brilliant attacking play. The consequence of the defeat was so great that even now it is seen as the greatest national tragedy in Brazilian history, where the overwhelming favourites lost. According to Alex Bellos’s Futebol, in the 28^th minute, Obdulio hit Bigode, Brazil’s left half, and this punch changed the psychological advantage that Brazil had over their opponents. And in the 79^th minute, Gigghia caught out Barbosa, by shooting at the near post rather than crossing as he did for Uruguay’s first goal. It is now known as The Fateful Goal.

A similar national tragedy occurred in 1974, when Rinus Michels reunited the majority of the legendary Ajax team for the World Cup. Similar to 1950, the fate of the final had already been sealed according to the public and the media. Jules Rimet had already prepared a speech in Portuguese; The Brazilian Federation had ordered gold medals for the players and for the 173,850 Brazilians, losing to local rivals, recently disposed of, in front ‘almost 10%’ of Rio’s population’, a world record at the time, according to Bellos. Countless books and articles have been published since then, analysing why such an impossible result had indeed happened. Overwhelming favourites in Germany 1974, against the hosts themselves, this defeat is blamed on a plethora of reasons, but most intriguingly against Bild, the German tabloid, who ran a story of a pool party before the final itself. The party may have caused a change in mood in the Dutch camp, with the wives and girlfriends calling to seek the truth. In the years after the defeat, they acknowledge its existence, but deny their partners’ involvement in it.

 Another reason is political. The Nazi invasion of Holland in the World War is one that is almost always mentioned in the build up to any Dutch-German match up, and many see this as an inferiority complex in Holland’s disfavour. Yet when the Dutch found themselves a goal up inside a minute from Cruyff’s run and the penalty which it fashioned, they ‘forgot’ about the second goal and killing the game off. They wanted to embarrass their ‘German oppressors’, which their fellow finalists had no part in. This taunting football, angered the Germans, led by Beckenbauer, Der Kaiser, and soon they rallied, with Paul Breitner and Der Bomber, Gerd Muller scoring an awkward yet balletic goal. As the second half progressed, the Dutch played their usual game of ‘Total Football’, but could not breach the Deutsch rearguard, led by the original libero Beckenbauer.

What other reasons can one conjure up, rather than inferior quality? The fact that Cruyff, man-marked by Berti Vogts, played too deep in the first half to have impact through his sublime technical ability, shows that even a tactical genius such as the Dutchman himself is prone to flaws. Another reason, why defeat occurs is through refereeing decisions. The words by Beckenbauer to English referee Jack Taylor in the appeals to the first minute Dutch penalty award may have affected his unbiased view throughout the rest of the game. ‘You are an Englishman’ must have echoed through his mind when awarding a penalty to the Germans, for which Holzenbein dived. This was countered when he disallowed a potential second Muller goal for offside, perhaps in his mind evening up the consequences of his previous decision.

Rene Mercet is a name which lies with Italy’s 1934 World Cup success. The Swiss referee had a hand in Italy’s path to World Cup glory. With the use of this global sporting event hosted in Italy, Mussolini used it to his advantage to promote his fascist views. Mercet is thought to have favoured Italy through controversial refereeing decisions, seen in Italy’s 7-1 win against the USA and the Quarter Final replay against Spain. He was later suspended by the Swiss Football Federation. Calls for use of goal-line technology were heightened when teams were saved from defeat due to a lack of communication. The first incident was in early 2005, when Pedro Mendes’s shot from 50 yards was fumbled by then United keeper Roy Carroll, but the linesman Rob Lewis defends the ‘non-goal’ claiming he was ‘doing my primary job’ which was ‘watching for offside’. Worse was the ‘lack of concentration’ in a regional tournament in the state of Sao Paulo, where female referee Silvia Regina de Oliveira awarded a goal when a ball boy kicked the ball in jest into the net, allowing Santacruzense to draw level late into the game. As was the case with Cruyff’s decision not to go to the 1978 World Cup, the decision was blamed on his wife Danny; it seemed easy to blame defeat on women then.

Unlike Mussolini, who was promoting his Fascist party, Franco, the notorious Spanish dictator, used to apparently allow Barcelona the occasional victory in the El Clasico derby in order exploit morbo, and in this way he portrayed the Catalan club and everything connected with it to be taboo. He banned Catalan to be spoken amongst other things. In 1943, Barcelona were 3-0 up front the first leg in the King’s cup match, and lost 11-1 in the second leg after a visit before the game from the director of state security threatening the players that they are only living in the country due to the generous nature of Franco. This bullying nature still appears to live on in Madrid through their tactics in the transfer market.

The final reason is financial. Of course aside from the watch worth £18,000, that Moggi gave to a referee in Italy, in return for certain favours within the recipient’s profession, there lies a reason why defeat occurs instead of corruption and match-fixing. Conspiracy theorists will be glad to see the return of contemplating the reason of Ronaldo’s zombie-esque movement in the 1998 World Cup final. Many say it was a fit of some sort, but what was the reason for the inclusion in the starting XI? Perhaps a boot contract that requires him to play? This was also reported to be the case why Rensenbrink of the Netherlands played in the 1974 final, when it was clear he was not fit with a thigh injury.

Or maybe you could forget all this and just believe Ronaldo’s input, which is to put it simply: difference in quality, conceding goals and also poor team performance.

Football Association Chairman Lord Triesman revealed on Tuesday that English clubs currently owe an estimated £3billion. This was followed by UEFA general secretary David Taylor’s threat of exclusion from European club football for clubs who are currently in the red. With the global ‘credit crunch’ causing banks to fall, many fear football clubs could be the next to fall, with a huge amount of money and debts in the world’s biggest game.

Ironically, this threat of exclusion comes from the organisation which initially prompted the overspending that is currently occurring. UEFA, upon their rebranding of the European Cup as the Champions League, formed the elitist cartel, as one commentator put it. The increase in money which followed this move forced clubs to act if they wanted to remain at the top of the game. This meant many clubs acted outside of their natural means and overspent. This risk could backfire, as Leeds United learnt - the side now plays in the third tier of English football.

The need to stay in the Champions League forced clubs to spend huge amounts on players, who were deemed to be of the required value and quality. The increase in debt in terms of player wages meant even more relied on reaching the Champions League, with the television money and merit payments key to the club keeping its status in the upper tier of football. Some clubs such as Arsenal decided that a new stadium would be the way to keep successfully competing with the other big names in Europe. Naturally, the club will have large debts after receiving loans to fund the building of the new stadium and other projects, such as renovating the famous Highbury site into an apartment complex.

Yet these appear manageable. But if the game continues to go into the world where football clubs are the playthings of billionaire owners, such a strategy won’t be enough to keep these clubs at the top of the game. Chelsea went for the billionaire investor and is now not run as a business. Their expenditure is greatly outside of their natural means, with the club not working as a business but a machine which sucks the money out of Roman Abramovich’s very large pocket. The plan to break even by 2010 seems far-fetched even for their ambitious standards. The debts accrued by the side are to be repaid to Abramovich with no interest or time scale on the repayment.

UEFA have created a cycle which will one day lead to financial collapse. With the richest men in the world buying up clubs as if they are sweets to make them European champions in a time period as short as three years, we could one day have all 20 sides in the Premier League owned by a benefactor of some sort. These men see football as a business and not a sport. Someone has to finish last. The likelihood is if an owner sees his side in the lower parts of the league table, after having written all those cheques to improve the side, there will see that as making a loss on their investment.

This leads to an owner abandoning his toy, which is now bloated, full of players being paid wages that cannot be sustained by the natural resources. And then we would have another Leeds. Finally the instigators of the current football economic climate are attempting to distance themselves from being labeled the root of the problem, but now as the solution. And thus we come to the warnings of exclusion or perhaps points deductions. Maybe rather than creating this monster and now discouraging it, football associations should follow the example of Football Associations such as Germany and Switzerland.

In these countries, stronger requirements are put on clubs in terms of bank guarantees and having no negative equity. This stops clubs being in the red, but the regulations have seen these leagues fall away from those which are known as the elite. The lack of risky investment means sides have less odds of breaking into the big leagues. Sides such as Bayern Munich fell away, unable to compete with other sides for the best players, despite their historic standing and huge fan base. In France, Lyon has monopolized Ligue 1, but cannot break through in Europe, mainly due to the no-debt requirement. The absence of money in their national league will be positive in the long run but the demand for success is present.

If the game continues in this manner, the outside effect of the global recession will hit football hard. The money (and debt) filled English Premier League could feel the greatest force of the ‘credit crunch’. London side West Ham, owned by Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson is a major shareholder in Landsbanki, a bank which went into receivership on Tuesday. This a huge issue, with several of these billionaires having a large amount of their money tied up in other investments - investments, which could be the downfall of many of these clubs. After all not every owner has the wealth of the Abu Dhabi Group.

“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

Orson Welles, The Third Man, 1949

Is controversy and change what Italian football needs right now? Because that’s probably what it will be getting. The prospective break-away will shape the future of Italian football, having suffered many twists and turns over the past few years, from corruption to fan violence. Will it rise out from the dark and produce the goods on the big stage as other Italians have done in the past?

In an attempt to emulate the success of the 1992 Premier league formation, Serie A is set to break away from Serie B. Realising how the English top division has prospered through the ability to negotiate its own television deal and how it has become the most lucrative competition in the world, the top Italian division is looking to bring more money into the division to enable it to compete on a level playing field with the other top football leagues.

The major factor in the move is the disagreement with Serie B over television rights, with a final offer of 65 million euros, but second tier clubs are widely expected to refuse that deal in a meeting later this week. Serie B clubs have struggled with a lack of a television deal last year and falling attendances but feel the money offered does not represent value. In comparison to England’s Coca Cola Championship, the Italian league is not even close in terms of money, while attendances are also much higher in England, despite inflation ticket prices, with QPR pricing some seats at a landmark £50 recently.

In February 1992, the old Division One broke away from the English League in a bid to compete with foreign opposition, with Serie A the leading competition in world football at the time. The clubs decided to sell the rights to BSkyB, a move which proved correct over time, and raked in the pound notes, with even more profitable deals being negotiated until present day for broadcasting rights at home and abroad. Unsurprisingly the competition seems as healthy as ever, with 50% of the television income split among the clubs, while another 25% depends on the number of broadcast matches a club is involved in. The final quarter is determined on merit, with Manchester United earning up to £50m last season for winning the title.

While there is a disagreement between the top tiers of Italian football, another issue is the fragile situation concerning how television money is split. With 26 of the 30 million (87%) football supporters supporting one of the ‘Big Three’ sides (Juventus, AC and Inter), there is little left for the other sides. The household names negotiate their own deals, earning huge sums in the process. This means roughly three quarters of the league, excluding Lazio and Roma, have an income of up to 10 times less then their rivals. The huge gulf in monetary terms subsequently causes another one in footballing quality. It does not help that Inter and AC Milan both have billionaire owners backing their cause.

If Serie A is to compete with its rivals, a joint deal much first be made to increase internal competition to help more sides break the stranglehold over the Scudetto. After all, money from European competition, gives the big clubs an advantage anyway, and to promote Serie A, this has to be done. After the Calciopoli scandal, and the emigration of Italian international abroad after the 2006 World Cup success, the popularity of the league was at an all time low. But with big names returning, it has undertaken a renaissance. With Jose Mourinho arriving in the black and blue half of the San Siro, the media have gone into overdrive, with the Portuguese manager criticising Claudio Ranieri amongst others before boasting of his annual salary of 14 million euros. On the other side, the Rossoneri have brought in fading superstar Ronaldinho. The name alone drove season ticket sales through the roof.

Other sides seem to be building on youth to compete, with Napoli and Fiorentina prime examples. Young talents such as Hamsik and Lavezzi signal a different approach to bridge the financial chasm in the league between the big sides and the chasing pack. Juventus have returned and should give a challenge for the title this time around, despite currently languishing in mid-table. Even if the Serie A revolution goes through, Europe now remains a number of years away. With England emerging as a major rival, even if the Italians can compete on a fiscal level, in footballing terms, their teams have been comprehensively beaten by the youth and pace that typifies English football.

Arsenal and Liverpool beat both Milan sides with ease, and they weren’t even the strongest sides in the league. That honour went to European Champions Manchester United and runners up Chelsea. Roma lost once again to Manchester United in last season’s competition, a year after losing 7-1 in the quarter final at Old Trafford. This year they face Chelsea in the Group Stage. If the idea of the big clubs is to bridge the European gap, which already seems huge, despite an Italian side winning Europe’s premier competition just in 2007, then they may be mistaken.

The Milan owner Berlusconi, now serving his fourth term as Prime Minister of Italy, doesn’t seem to be a fan of a shared television deal. In 2006, before he was defeated in the general election, he refused to pass legislation which would make such an agreement become reality. The action prompted Maurizio Zamparini, president of Sicilian team Palermo, to speak his mind, upon seeing Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party refuse to sanction the deal.

“Democracy doesn’t exist in Italy. All there is is a group of powerful clubs that try to get their hands on something that will suit them and help them win for the next few years. We are constantly reinforcing the power of the big clubs at the expense of the smaller ones.”

The controversial president with a penchant for going through managers like a serial womanizer had a point. If the Italian league is going to reach its previous heights, maybe corruption and internal warfare is not what the game needs, irrespective of what similar conditions in the nations’ past produced. Orson Welles’ character Harry in the 1949 film may have had a point but it isn’t relevant for modern Italy and its football.

The decision later this week will be pivotal for the European game. And more importantly, more money will be pumped into the game. As if it needed it.

Philippe Auclair recently claimed in an interview with Gooner Talk that UEFA president gives him ‘the mental equivalent of a nappy rash’. The music producer-turned-football journalist voiced an opinion as to what most think. The outspoken Frenchman he referred to has an altruistic view of the world’s biggest sport and has the power to make his vision come true. But are his ideals totally driven by this pure vision or is there a monetary reason behind the dream? Will he ‘kill’ football as he accuses others of doing so?

His idea of increasing the number of teams in the UEFA European Championships from 16 to 24 can only be described as baffling. Having witnessed one of the finest footballing spectacles in recent years, Platini decided to increase the number of sides in the competition. Most fans realise the World Cup lacks the quality of a smaller tournament, with mediocre sides qualifying for the 32 man finals. These teams adopt a defensive mentality and lower the quality of attacking football. Therefore why allow these sides an easier path to the biggest stage?

It would be more difficult to find a host which would support an even greater number of sides for a few weeks in the summer. If the idea is to rejuvenate poorer countries such as Poland and the Ukraine, it isn’t working. These sides formerly of the Soviet bloc are struggling to have the infrastructure in place for sixteen sides in time for 2012, so how could they do so for twenty four teams? Obviously, a larger number of sides mean more matches, and so more revenue from television and tickets. Not to mention the amount of advertising and business partners UEFA accumulates when the time of the main event arrives.

This money-motivated agenda continued with Platini announcing a new format for the second tier European club competition. The UEFA Cup is already bloated despite Platini’s assurances:

 “The new format will give the UEFA Europa League a successful new impetus”

Most realise that this apparent urge to give more fans a taste of European club football is just a ploy to gather more money by the executives at UEFA. The recent Champions League final included Manchester United and Chelsea, whereas the UEFA Cup involved Glasgow Rangers and Zenit St. Petersburg. Which game do you think had the bigger draw?

UEFA can rebrand the tournament as many times as they like, but the fact remains the same. It will remain a second tier competition as long as the Champions League exists. After these business-based actions, Platini has no leg to stand on in criticising Arsene Wenger for a similar attitude. The long-serving Arsenal boss was attacked by his countryman who seemed to be on an agenda. The hypocritical UEFA president spoke of Wenger only wanting:

“To talk about football, he (Wenger) only cares about business. We must shut up with Wenger and everything. He is an extremely selfish person.”

How ironic considering his recent actions to make UEFA even wealthier. The Euro 1984 winner was a wonderful playmaker but as a politician he is fast losing his highly esteemed reputation.