tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post8265827813289885040..comments2024-03-28T07:14:01.343+00:00Comments on donpaskini: Learning from the Germansdonpaskinihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963534291677598324noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-71390905836222563912010-07-08T02:37:57.867+00:002010-07-08T02:37:57.867+00:00Nick is correct - there are no frontline staff get...Nick is correct - there are no frontline staff getting the kind of salaries that the top football players get. Most people value the work of police, firefighters, and medical staff over that of football players and think Premier League ticket prices and wages are a cruel joke.<br /><br />And Tim - did you not hear, the mines and railways have been privatised.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11443724356434212172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-77338608593559753192010-06-30T15:34:03.131+00:002010-06-30T15:34:03.131+00:00But the millionaire players at the top of the Prem...But the millionaire players at the top of the Premiership are a tiny fraction of the total workforce, which includes not only players at all other levels, but the vast army of staff that clubs employ to run every aspect of their operations other than what happens on the pitch for 90 minutes at three o'clock on a Saturday. <br /><br />Many of the cleaners and stewards and the like are on agency contracts and the minimum wage. <br /><br />No doubt the same applies in the public sector workforce, but I'm sure that Don is just as keen to see a better deal for the poorest staff AND consumers in both contexts. No contradiction. <br /><br />Not that I think you can really compare "consumers" of football and public services in quite such a neat way, and I wouldn't call them consumers either. <br /><br />I am a football fan and a citizen of Britain, not a "consumer of football and public services"...Nicknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-73536689529614949392010-06-30T07:23:23.799+00:002010-06-30T07:23:23.799+00:00"Fans of top teams pay huge sums of money to ..."Fans of top teams pay huge sums of money to watch live football, money which goes to multi millionaire footballers and owners of football teams."<br /><br />Most owners are making a loss....because most clubs are making a loss.<br /><br />The money flows through to hte players (a well known outcome of these sorts of "tournament" markets").<br /><br />So, what you're suggesting is that regulations should be changed in order that the returns to the workers by hand and foot be reduced in favour of the consumers.<br /><br />Now, if I grant you the ability and right to do that, will you grant me the same ability and right to reduce the returns to hte workers in favour of consumers in, oooh, the public sector? The railways, mines, social services, NHS, local councils and the rest?<br /><br />And if not, why not?Tim Worstallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13161727860817121071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-81628936617786908862010-06-28T22:29:44.216+00:002010-06-28T22:29:44.216+00:00PS
Before some smart arse posts about Kevin Princ...PS<br /><br />Before some smart arse posts about Kevin Prince Boateng's tackle in the FA Cup Final on Germany's Michael Ballack (an irreplaceable player according to many German's -though they seem to be doing very well without him).<br /><br />That was just the cherry on an already substantial cake.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09743397422503719901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-69635505742374380882010-06-28T21:36:02.884+00:002010-06-28T21:36:02.884+00:00Hmmm.
As somone who goes to matches regularly (st...Hmmm.<br /><br />As somone who goes to matches regularly (still a very much minority pursuit - around 1% of the population) I agree about many of the unattractive aspects of English football today. But I wouldn't read to much into one result.<br /><br /><br />The German national team has been better than the England team for decades. It was a lot better back in the football's <i>"good old days"</i> of the '70s, when English football was a very different game, equality in the UK was at its highest and we had a social democratic Labour government for most of the decade.<br /><br /><br />As for:<br /><br /><i>"the national team has benefited from the liberalisation of the immigration laws in 1999, to the point where they proudly talk about how they are the "multicultural" or "liberation" generation"</i><br /><br />It's not all sweetness and light.<br /><br />Portsmouth's Kevin Prince Boateng was born in Germany his father was Ghanian. He played for the German junior and youth teams 41 times and impressed many Germans as someone with a good international future ahead of him.<br /><br />Then he decided he wanted to play for Ghana.<br /><br />To say the Germans were not best pleased is an understatment. He got terrible abuse.<br /><br />The depth of negative feeling was such that German fans in South Africa wore T-shirts reading: “Wanted Dead or Alive – Kevin-Prince Boateng.”<br /><br />Before the recent Germany v Ghana World Cup match the German's general manager Oliver Bierhoff had to say: “We are playing Ghana and not Kevin-Prince Boateng. Feelings about one person have to be set aside.”.<br /><br />Kevin Prince's brother, Jerome still plays for Germany (they faced each other in the World Cup match). But the abuse even reached him, to such an extent the German manager had to speak up for him and say he would "protect" him.<br /><br />There's a lot to be said for German football, but it is not the utopia some English fans believe.<br /><br />(See also: "clubs owned by fans" in Spain like Barcelona and Real Madrid)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09743397422503719901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-60807738402601403512010-06-28T17:18:56.766+00:002010-06-28T17:18:56.766+00:00I understand why these changes would make football...I understand why these changes would make football more enjoyable, and would mean fewer bankrupt clubs (or fewer newly-bankrupt clubs), but I don't understand why this would make us more likely to win the World Cup. But then, I'm not quite sure why you think we lost...Will Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04768064015074853263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33451096.post-64690180092631223122010-06-28T17:09:40.054+00:002010-06-28T17:09:40.054+00:00That's a good post Don.
One of the first post...That's a good post Don.<br /><br />One of the first posts that I did on my own site back-in-the-day had a half-baked means of making your plan work.<br /><br />http://nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com/2005/04/how-football-clubs-could-be-owned-by.html<br /><br />WDYT?Paul E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15234456385928668896noreply@blogger.com