Jun
26
Michel Platini talked to French newspaper Le Monde expressing his desire to exterminate debt for European soccer clubs. Actually, his plan is to force teams to better manage their money by threatening to block teams that owe money to creditors from playing in large European soccer competitions such as the Champions League.
The truth is that a large number of soccer clubs around Europe operate on credit and they have been doing so for a few years now. Interestingly, even popular and successful clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester United are facing the same issues. It is not wonder that teams are in trouble considering that the spending for players is starting to get out of hand. I think establishing a salary cap for teams would be a better choice than Platini’s threats; not to mention that a salary cap will very likely create more competitive leagues around Europe considering that clubs such as Chelsea won’t be able to go out and buy all the talent for themselves. Platini is determined to exterminate soccer club debt in the next 3 years but I get the feeling that this is well wishing more than anything else.
Other than debt, Platini also talked about the European Championships competition. He said that he would like to see the tournament move to later in the summer and more specifically August. He wants the tournament to take place after the players had a chance to rest after long seasons in local leagues and European club competitions. He fails to notice that August is when us, mere mortals, actually go on vacation. You know, the people who watch the games and make Platini and all those players and managers into millionaires who seem to be the only ones that count on this planet. The tournament is fine being played in June as far as I am concerned. Don’t ruin it!
Finally, the UEFA president had a chance to talk about the 2012 European Championships which are scheduled to be organized jointly by Poland and Ukraine. There seems to be some unrest as to whether the two countries will have the venues ready for the tournament. Platini expressed his belief that everything will be ready to go on time but he is still going to pay them a visit soon to check. I guess it can’t get any worse than the current Euro at Austria and Switzerland. When was the last time that the broadcast of a semi-finals game was interrupted several times and up to 5 minutes due to a power failure? I know that oil is expensive these days but go buy a generator already and spare us any more grief during the 2 remaining soccer games!