Al-Fahim: Arrival is a wake-up call for Big Four
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TEAMtalk Tirade: City Sheikh it up
TEAMtalk Editor Simon Wilkes has welcomed the arrival of Manchester City's new owners - and feels it is a huge wake-up call for the 'Big Four'.
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Stuart Pearce has expressed fears about the future of English football following the arrival of a new billionaire owner to the Premier League - but I think it's thrilling for the game.
The Abu Dhabi United Group's multi-million pound takeover of Manchester City on transfer deadline day earlier this week came totally out of the blue - but has laid down the gauntlet to the so-called 'Big Four'.
The Arabs flexed their financial muscle in barely batting an eyelid at shelling out £34million for Real Madrid's Robinho.
And although Manchester United and Chelsea, or the Glazers and Mr Abramovich to be more specific, will relish the challenge, it is Liverpool and Arsenal who face the greatest threat after many seasons in the comfort zone.
All four teams plan their budgets around being in the lucrative Champions League and reaping the rewards of the many millions it brings in to the coffers.
Last season saw Everton push their Merseyside rivals hard for fourth place before ultimately running out of juice and finishing 11 points behind the Reds.
But this time around Messrs Wenger and Benitez must tame an altogether different beast that spent nearly £70million in the summer transfer window, compared to Arsenal's £18.55m and Liverpool's £37.5m.
New City owner Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim and his company (ADUG) reportedly has a wealth touching on a mind-boggling £500billion, totally eclipsing Roman's roubles, and has already talked of bidding £135m for Cristiano Ronaldo and trying to sign Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas.
That may be fanciful talk, but who cares? It makes for brilliant headlines, sparks lively debate down the boozer and puts the Premier League bang in the glare of the world's media.
Football needs characters as they're a rare breed these days. Last season provided one of the most exciting title races in recent memory - and the hunt for Champions League glory was pretty spicy too. But it was a snorefest due to the involvement of Avram Grant (remember him?) in both contests.
We here at TEAMtalk welcomed Big Phil Scolari to the Premier League with open arms as Sir Alex once again has a rival to stand toe to toe with him in the verbal stakes, something sadly missing since the exit of Jose Mourinho.
And now City must be considered part of a new 'High Five', because if they manage to stay on the coat-tails of the league leaders come January, Al-Fahim will not think twice about splashing out a few hundred million on the likes of Messi, Kaka, Torres or Fabregas.
It's unlikely he'll actually lure any of them to Eastlands, but who would have thought Robinho - who had his 'heart set on Chelsea' - would turn his back on Champions League football and trophies with Real for a move to City, who are doing battle for the 'tinpot' UEFA Cup.
In this day and age, the power of the pound rules supreme - and although some see the arrival of the world's best players to the Premier League as a negative, surely it also raises the standard throughout the league and pushes our English superstars to their absolute limits.
It'll be interesting to see what happens when City lose a few games and the current wave of euphoria fizzles out - but Mark Hughes and City supporters will already be dreaming of January's window of opportunity, and I'm sure Al-Fahim will not disappoint them.
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Your Comments
magarboy (Arsenal fan)
"About the billionaires taking over the premiership I would welcome it. For one players would be more unpredictable teams more unpredictable and fans "especially us outside England" more unpredictable. I know alot of chelsea fans who were liverpool fan now can you imagine Stoke city being taken over by some billionaire. all I have to say virtually every week players will be transferred, managers fired. Fun times are really in for the next couple of years. my only regret is I am not a footballer cause I will be filthy rich today. "
sk (Arsenal fan)
"I can't believe mu fans are trying to deny they bought success and fergie is just average, if it not for the money he spent. Don't try and cover up the facts of your spending spree year in year out. Fergie's a lot of rubbish and the biggest cheat in football history. "
wizartar (Liverpool fan)
"You need money if you want the best players, sometimes you get lucky and the player you want is a fan of the club so you can get him on the cheap. All this talk about wage / transfers caps is ridiculous, its protectionism from the clubs that already have the reputation to get the best, because if it was a choice of playing for a top 4 club or mid-table team, most will go to the top 4 club. Caps stop other clubs from gaining an advantage by spending more since they have less of a reputation, reputations have to be built overtime. Chelsea are a good example 6 years a go they were just a strong team now they are world class, as the investment level has brought in all the top talent wanted. Now it looks like this could be happening for Man City and I say great for them, as they still need to prove it on the pitch. All this talk of tradition is junk, it¿s for those who want to live in the past as their team is doing nothing in the present, as a Liverpool supporter I know this well. It doesn¿t matter what we did in the past only what we¿re doing now and this goes for all clubs.
From the players¿ perspective why should they have their salaries caped? They have skills, the good ones should be paid more then the run of the mill players. Why should the clubs say you can only make 100,000 a week that¿s it, will the club¿s have their profits caped??? NO! This is capitalism, you earn what you can earn, we don¿t need some idiots coming in and saying this is a limit that¿s a limit. No club is force to spend more then they want. You could say look at Leeds, but they were lead by stupid people and the sad part for me is Liverpool is just one 5th place finish from become the same, as those Yanks would liquid the assist then sod off leaving us to go back to the 1st Division."
jeepsy (Manchester United fan)
"money wont guarantee you anything but it certainly improves the chances..Man Utd is a big success story.."
Devilz_4Life (Manchester United fan)
"Reidy (Liverpool fan), man utd have bought success for years? bought what success? its the club itself that "brought" not bought success. the history of this club from the owners, directors, managers, players and the fans. the manager himself, Sir Alex has achieved more then liv's whole history. under one manager himself, he has guided Man Utd to greatness. Liv can have the wealth just like chelsea but it has only brought them 2 season of domestic glory and that i have to admit is also because of Mourinho, the manager. So coming back to your comments abt clubs buying glory, think again, cos it's actually down to the structure of the club, the believe the players have in the manager. good luck in wrestling with city for the 4th spot this season...
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zendenling (Chelsea fan)
"You have the money but players doesn't have the desire to play for UEFA position or Carling cup silverware. Only certain players like robinho realised with 180k a week, he can go party all night long. I'm looking forward for Chelsea to show him what he is missing. "
keanothered (Manchester United fan)
"This is bad for football, I love the fact that United are up there every season competing but my opinions of the boring premiership are that the main rivals are the same every year. Of course I want United to be there every year but as all fans of lower league clubs say, I would like there to be different teams challenging for it as well. The only way this is going to change now is if every club has multi-million pound owner so they can compete in the transfer market with the same clout, or if a fee/salary cap is introduced. I know this would be difficult to implement as it would be required the world over but it would ensure that players are kept (to a certain extent) down to earth. It would mean that if there are two clubs going for a player, he is going to go for the club he wants to play for. For example, a £20m transfer fee cap, Chelsea and City both going for Robinho, honestly, where would he be? Surely no City fan can honestly think he would have chosen them?
A transfer limit/cap would also see that money earned in the big competitions is kept away from the pitch to be used as owners/clubs see fit. Hopefully for youth development but even if it ended up just lining the pockets of the owners it would be better than being thrown over the egotistical chavs that are todays EPL footballers."
liver17 (Liverpool fan)
"Reidy (Liverpool fan)
"man utd have bought success for years, why not let other teams do it?!"
I totally agree with you.It seems there was no complain then. Since Chelsea had started challenging them,that is where the complain started.Come on Man City knock them off.
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supareds4eva (Liverpool fan)
"Gillet and Hicks please sell to DIC NOW"
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