The Sun-Herald

Money (and Snacks) Makes The Ball Go Round

Recession? What recession?

No one seemed to mention the global cash crisis to the owners of Manchester City, the English football club that last weekend offered somewhere near €90 million (AUD$188 million) to another club in order to buy the contract and services of a player.

OK, that player was Kaka, aka Ricky Leite, the Brazilian striker justifiably rated among the top three in the world.

(For some perspective, consider ALL the people who play football across the world - an awful lot - and then consider being in the top 100 and then consider the top three - mind-boggling).

There were several layers to this unfolding story.

One, Manchester City is not to be confused with Manchester United. Although its comparative lack of success on the field pains its fans, City does have one thing over United.

Money.

Manchester United is owned by an American family that took a loan so large to buy the club, United's profits pretty much all go to servicing that debt.

It has the mortgage from hell.

City, by contrast, is effectively owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family. It has funds as deep as its oil wells.

Which is where things get interesting.

"It's about playing with the best team, with the best players in the world, and winning trophies and it's not always about money," chimed in David Beckham, offering his unique perspective.

Beckham, remember, is the guy who joined Los Angeles Galaxy, the worst team in America's lame Major League Soccer, in a deal where he earns $25 million over five years.

But he is sort of right.

It's not always about money but it mostly is, as Manchester City conveniently demonstrated.

City's Chief Executive Garry Cook claimed Milan "bottled it" after the Kaka deal fell through.

Cook is an intriguing character, a former Nike executive who claimed to be disinterested in the human rights abuse allegations aimed at his former boss, ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"Is he a nice guy? Yes. Is he a great guy to play golf with? Yes. Does he have plenty of money to run a football club? Yes. I really care only about those three things. Whether he is guilty of something over in Thailand, I can't worry... I worked for Nike who were accused of child-labour issues and I managed to have a career there for 15 years. I believed we were innocent of most of the issues. Morally, I felt comfortable in that environment."

Jolly good, then Mr Cook.

But rather than bottle it, the Italians agreed to sell their player to Manchester City for the huge dollars on offer.

It was Kaka who was unimpressed with Manchester City's sales pitch. He, or at least his father who is also his agent, wanted to know how much money, exactly, was on offer for his son.

City, or at least Cook, wanted to know how much, exactly, Kaka earned (answer: around AUD$42 million).

Neither was forthcoming - deal off.

But Cook was as unimpressed with Milan's hospitality as he was with the deal's failure.

"We were confined to a room with no food or drink," he said. "We were starving by the time it finished. They gave us a cup of coffee so it would be unfair to say there was nothing. But the hospitality wasn't the finest. It was interesting to see how they worked. The dynamics of it were strange, very unnerving. It wasn't a place we would want to be in."

Maybe Beckham is right.

It's not just about the money.

It's about the snacks.

(Which makes the Sydney FC soap opera seem like a park picnic, right?).

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