The Beautiful Game

We all know that there is previous between England and France. It started a long time ago and still seems to rumble on. With Michel Platini's surge to power at UEFA it seems as though each season there is something new to talk about that demonstrates his passion against the success of the Barclays Premier League.

Right now it is the amazing decision against Chelsea that will stop them buying any new players till 2011. The punishment was dealt out by FIFA after the club was found guilty of getting a young winger, Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Lens in 2007.

Since achieving UEFA Presidency in 2007 Platini has tried to launch, and shared an official opinion on a number of new ideas and innovations to the game. However, to me it seems that often these are born out of Platini trying to fight the dominance of the English game in Europe.

The vast TV Rights money, huge transfer fees, foreign ownership and clubs mounting debts has created an aura of negativity across Europe against the Barclays Premier League, and the Chelsea ruling seems to be the latest battle. I am sure that this kind of thing has gone on in football for decades and all the top teams from all the top leagues must be guilty of it. I am not saying that I agree with it, and think it is very harsh to punish the young player as well as the club, it is just that it always seems that English teams suffer most.

I grew up watching Italian, Spanish and English football and Eduardo's 8.0 against Celtic looked like a cruncher compared to other examples I have seen throughout European football. Yet it is Arsenal who suffer the ban. It would not surprise me if the paper talk is proved right and Manchester United are the next team to suffer the same kind of ruling as Chelsea, then probably Manchester City. With these two incidents the authorities have set the precedent, and they now have to enforce them each time - I can't wait to see what happens the next time there is a dodgy penalty award against Arsenal.

Platini has recently backed the 6+5 idea (six home international players and five foreign players) to be introduced in top flight team in Europe. Platini has also backed caps on wages and transfer spending - and all foreign ownership of clubs. He has stated that he wants to cut the number of Italian, Spanish and English teams in the UEFA Champions League to a maximum of three instead of four and has also talked about banning clubs from European competition based on the debts of the clubs. All are valid ideas, but it seems that English clubs will get hit the hardest.

Too much money, not enough home-grown talent, clubs built on debt and foreign ownership, money taking over the game, players running clubs. These are Platini's view of the English game and he seems set to try and disrupt it.

I love the Barclay's Premier League, and it is so great because of the big business it has become and I have enjoyed English clubs having success in Europe (and the benefits this seems to be having on the national side) and hope that an English team can lift the UEFA Champions League trophy in Madrid in May and see Platini grit his teeth and applaud.

Sod it, I even wouldn't mind if it's Chelsea.

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Manchester United are on the verge of signing Michael Owen on a free transfer from  Newcastle United.

Only time will tell if Fergie has lost his marbles, but I have a feeling he likes the odds of this bet..

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So Kaka has done the decent thing by Milan. Thankfully he turned down Man City and has actually joined a club with great history & one of the biggest teams in world football. But at £50-odd million he also represents a massive jump back in time by Madrid. The re-election of Perez as President comes after rivals Barcelona secured a historic treble in the 2009/10 season.

This could cause a massive shock-wave throughout European football if it continues. Milan now have a bundle of cash in their pocket and will be looking to improve, Chelsea and Man City are itching to get their Oil money out. If Real also bag Ronaldo then there will be a big swell across the big teams land grabbing the talent that is out there. And this causes some interesting thoughts as brands look to activate endorsement deals.

Kaka follows David Beckham's example of sticking to Adidas Teams (AC Milan - Real Madrid), which is probably a good thing as he, alongside Messi is their leading light to talk about in World Cup year. I guess I would be a bit gutted if I was Mr Sony and Fallon and just put out a massive campaign, which was likely to be scheduled to grow, with Kaka in a Milan kit nice creative treatment, but now very dated. ...oh the commercial dangers of the transfer window.

As more and more brands take up independant sponsorship deals with key talent (Castrol & Ronaldo, [Insert Brand} & Beckham), more and more issues develop on creative planning and the impact that a big cheque book can have. I am certain this is of no concern to Mr Perez, but anyone with top talent involved in their activation planning might want to check on how a white kit would look in the scamps...

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