Real Madrid showed off their £80 million signing Cristiano Ronaldo in some style the other day as a nearly full Bernabeu gave him a rapturous welcome.
Ridiculous
Whilst, on the whole, I still felt that the price, the wages, the debt and all the other issues surrounding the ridiculous finance currently involved in football were bad, destructive and ultimately, a little bit obscene, much against my better nature, part of me found the whole thing pretty exciting.
As a football fan, I can’t wait to see what the new galacticos Real Madrid side will be like to watch. Although it seems very wrong for one team to simply buy all the best players, I can’t deny that last time around I loved watching Zinedine Zidane jinking past players and slotting the perfect through ball between the opposition defenders for Ronaldo to run onto, drop his shoulder and take the ball past the despairing keeper to score yet another goal.
Appetizing
As a neutral, the prospect of watching Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and who knows, David Villa, Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery, together with whoever else they might buy, is certainly an appetizing one.
Even with the great players they will have at their disposal there is no guarantee that they will be able to overcome Barcelona either domestically or in Europe. They may come unstuck against one of the Milan sides or Liverpool or Chelsea, but whatever happens, it should be enjoyable to watch.
Attitude
Teams that take the attitude that no matter how many goals the opposition score, we will get at least one more, tend to give their manager’s and fans heart attacks, but are a joy to watch for the neutral football fan. During Kevin Keegan’s first spell in charge at Newcastle they became nearly everyone in England’s second favourite team for that very reason. They played the game in such an exciting and attacking way that they produced a huge amount of entertainment. Ultimately, of course, they didn’t produce any success to go with it and that is why that style of football is rare.
The English version of Real Madrid at the moment financially, is Manchester City. They have the money to buy whoever they want, but the difference is that they don’t have the romance, history or footballing pedigree to attract the players they need. Whilst money is important to everyone, the chance to play Champions League football and be at the very top of the game with a glamorous club is still more important to most.
Challenge
As long as Manchester City keep their investors they will eventually be able to make inroads to the top four in England and start to challenge in Europe. It will not be a particularly quick process as can be seen by the purchase of Gareth Barry rather than Kaka who preferred to move to Madrid. However, the likes of Barry will improve City’s chances of a top four finish and once that happens, they will be able to compete for the top players.
In the past, clubs in England such as Blackburn and Chelsea have been able to buy success. For Blackburn the process was quick but short lived. At Chelsea, they had started to turn the corner before the big money came in from Abramovich. Their success has been more sustainable although the big dream, the Champions League, has still eluded them.
Success
It will be really interesting to see this season if Real Madrid and Manchester City can achieve the sort of success that their ambitious investors are so desperate to see. I wouldn’t like to say if they will or not, but I would be prepared to bet that they both have better seasons than they had last time out.
Whether or not that will be enough for the men supplying the money remains to be seen. Whatever happens, I am going to enjoy watching it all unfold.
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