Winner takes all

First the Roy Keane fiasco and now the TV rights row. Really, there are times I despair of the FAI and the way everything sacred in the game is being sold off to the highest bidder. The Government should have intervened and said, “No, Ireland games have to be shown on terrestrial television as a public right.” They’ve done it in Britain with ‘heritage’ events like the FA Cup Final, so why not here?

It’s not so bad if you’re living in an area that’s got cable TV but if you’re out in the country, you’re going to have to buy a dish, pay for it to be installed and then cough up for the subscription or pay-per-view. I’ve heard mention of €10 or €15 per game, which is a hell of a lot of money for low income or unemployed households to cough up.

There’s something rather calculated about the way they’ve announced it so close to the World Cup. They know that people are fired up and desperate to see the European qualifiers, no matter how much it costs.

To me, it’s symptomatic of the way international football has been devalued. I love the club game, but if you asked me whether I’d rather see Man U win the Champions’ League or Ireland lifting the World Cup, I’d definitely go for the latter.

It’s not just an Irish problem. It’s a sad indictment of the Premiership that Sven said the only 100% fit and fresh player in his squad was the Bayern Munich lad, Owen Hargreaves. If the English football season had ended in, say, March, I honestly think England would’ve had the legs to beat Brazil. It was extremely hot, sure, but the way they wilted in the second-half was a direct result of the nine month league slog they’d had. The idea of the Premiership was to reduce the number of games clubs have to play, but there’s more football now than ever.

The FA have to decide just how important England winning the World Cup is. As it stands, they’re seriously denting their chances by not cutting down the number of league fixtures.

It also saddens me to hear lads like Jason MacAteer, who are still in their prime, talking about retiring from international football. Crack your ankle in an international game and your worth as a player nosedives dramatically. If you lose your place in the team because of it and eventually get transferred, the money you’ll get at your next club will be a lot less. That might sound selfish given that they’re millionaires, but it’s a short career and they have to make sure they’re secure.

Jason is as proud as anyone to pull on a green shirt, but he has to protect the biggest part of his earnings which is playing for Blackburn Rovers.

The other side of the coin is that somebody like Gary Breen went to the World Cup without a club, performed well and can now virtually name his price – as Everton found out to their dismay!

I don’t know what they get nowadays, but when I started playing for Ireland my match fee was a hundred and fifty quid! Not that playing for Ireland has anything to do with money. It’s the pride of representing your country. I’d be very surprised if any of the present Ireland players feel differently. They’d have got on that plane if they’d had to pay for the ticket themselves. Which knowing the FAI, they’ll probably start having to do!

Something that would greatly improve the FAI is if more ex-players were involved. The mediating – or lack of it – in Japan was highlighted how out of touch they are with the players. If there had been a Ray Houghton or Frank Stapleton there – people who’d have known where both Roy and Mick were coming from – the whole thing could’ve been defused. Other associations make far better use of their former players – just look at Michel Platini with France and Franz Beckenbauer with Germany. At present, the only FAI job occupied by an ex-international is the manager’s one.

What I hope the FAI are doing at present is having a long hard look at what went wrong in Japan and making sure it never happens again.

With the new season just a few weeks away, everyone’s checking the back-pages to see what £10 Brazilian their club are trying to buy! The deal I’m most interested in is the Damien Duff one. It’s a tough call, but I have a sneaking suspicion he’ll plump for Manchester United over Liverpool. Especially if Rio Ferdinand is one of Alex’s other signings! Damien wants to win things and, despite last season’s blip, he’s most likely to do that at Old Trafford.

I’m not too keen on the ‘transfer window’ that’s being introduced this season. It’s not so bad for the rich clubs who have enormous squads, but if Southampton were to lose three of their strikers and not be able to buy in a replacement, they’ll be in serious trouble. I honestly think it’s enough to get teams relegated, which is ridiculous. Another scenario is that a lad can’t get into the first-team, wants away but isn’t able to get a transfer.

There’s a lot of money in football nowadays, but precious little common sense!