When Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK (I’m not kidding), won the Bundesliga in 1997-98, it was one of the most astonishing achievements in modern football.
They became the only club in German history to win the Bundesliga immediately after their arrival.
Their adventure with the Champions League lasted one season and in 2006 they were relegated back to Bundesliga 2.
They filed for insolvency (bankruptcy) in 2020 while in the 3rd division. They clawed their way back to Bundesliga 2.
What happened to them happens to any team that shows promise but doesn’t have the financial infrastructure or support to support their success.
Kaiserslautern did not have the financial strength to:
Keep top players long term
Replace them with equal quality ones
Absorb mistakes in the transfer market
The Vultures smoked success without financial support and picked their best players.
In the 2015-2016 season, Leicester City FC did the impossible and won the Premier League.
Oh, how everyone celebrated the miracle – oh wonderful. Less than ten years later they were relegated.
What happened? The same thing happened to Kaiserslautern: no financial infrastructure to support their success. Once again the vultures came sniffing and pecking at the carcass.
The same thing happened to Southampton. Their best players were picked by Liverpool year after year and relegated. This season we are seeing the kneecap of Crystal Palace, with the loss of Olise, Eze and Guéhi over the last two seasons, now Mateta wants to leave.
If you show any success, if you have the courage to raise your head above the ground without money, you will be crushed. This is how it is. It’s brutal. Talk about football romance all you want – this is the cold, hard reality. Money is the only thing that matters.
The Old Lady and the Oligarch
The Agnelli family (Fiat and Ferrari) has owned Juventus (also known as the Old Lady) for decades. Over the past ten years they have pumped a billion into the club financially, but this kind of support cannot continue indefinitely.
What Juve, despite all their trophies, including 36 Serie A titles and success, don’t have is a huge stadium to back that success. Their turnover is currently lower than that of Inter Milan and AC Milan, both of which have larger stadiums.
When Abramovich owned Chelsea, his losses during his tenure were around a million a week. For all their trophies and success, there was one thing Chelsea didn’t do: build a new stadium. Little fact: Tottenham is richer than Chelsea based on the latest financial results. They can surpass Chelsea if they want, now that the financial loopholes have been closed. If Chelsea are successful on the pitch they can rise above Tottenham, but Tottenham could fail there year after year and we would need decades of success to match their revenues. Once that success doesn’t continue, Tottenham will surpass us.
To the Yellow Wall
In the 1994-1995 season, Dortmund won the Bundesliga. Based on that success, they increased their capacity. It currently stands at 81,000+. They are the second richest club in Germany. They can have fruitless years without success and it won’t matter because the stadium will generate revenue for years to come to keep them at the top of the table.
So it comes down to three options
Option 1:
We become victims of our success and the vultures pick on our players year after year, which leads to disillusionment in the locker room, which leads to more players wanting to leave, and this can cause teams to implode.
Option 2:
By some miracle we become very successful with less money than the competition and sustain success for decades until it all goes to shit and revenues drop and we can no longer compete financially with the top clubs in the league.
Option 3:
We’re building the biggest stadium possible, which will give us more money and the chance for sustainable success for the next 100 years. The San Siro was built in 1926 and Milan teams have been reaping the benefits of the stadium for 100 years.
Man United and Arsenal are moving forward. Arsenal want to increase capacity to 80,000, Man United to more than 100,000. So 80,000 should be the minimum for us. That should be enough not only to fend off the vultures, but also to compete.
Be careful what you wish for the brigade.
Look at West Ham, look at Arsenal, yes we did that and we can see their mistakes so we don’t follow them. It’s not rocket science: build the stands as steep as possible, build the stands as close to the field as possible and ensure the right acoustics. do all three and we’re on to a winner.
Currently we are stuck in option 1.
The vultures have already struck with Isak and his replacements are currently inferior. It looks like Tino Livramento will be the next player to be ripped from our hands. In the meantime, as a fan base we discuss whether we should stay or go. When you look at it, there is only one viable option, and the sooner the better.
So stop hesitating while our team is being taken apart and let it be built anywhere. Town Moor, Leazes Park, both will do. Just do it quickly, for FCK’s sake.
Football is ruthless and the PIF in Saudi Arabia is at a standstill with Newcastle United.
#Saudi #Arabia #PIF #stagnates #Newcastle #United