JackBauer
Has killed 185 people in 6 days
So there it is. The process of plundering billions from the Russian state and people, crippling that once-proud country's economy in the process, and laundering it through one hitherto unremarkable English football club in order to purchase international legitimacy, has now reached its apex. That Abramovich was allowed to saunter into Britain in 2003 in the first place was a disgrace. That most of those who celebrate the gigantic exercise in money-laundering that has taken place in west London over the past nine years do not know about this, or if they do know, they do not care, is simply depressing.
In many ways it's fitting, I suppose, that Chelsea are European champions and Manchester City have won the Premier League. It had to happen, one day. When the club game is now simply a race to lose the most money, it was inevitable. For me, it's simply the latest chapter in the [Mark May] show that is modern football.
I am not so naive, of course, as to believe that Abramovich was the first crook to get involved in football. Off the pitch, it?s been a masterclass in corruption and immorality ever since Joao Havelange took control of FIFA in 1974, then handed-off to his like-minded lieutenant Sepp Blatter two and a half decades later. From the cosy and illegal deals with Adidas in the seventies and eighties to the corrupt manner in which Mexico were awarded the 1986 World Cup, the bloating of the biggest competition in world football in order to increase profits and ensure votes from Africa and Asia, and on to the suspicious manner in which Blatter himself was elected, FIFA has been the worst role-model in the world. Then there was the farce of the Colombian league in the 80s, as competing drug lords sponsored different teams and took over the game in that country as another vehicle through which to engage in their own rivalry.
But, you see, it was only Johnny Foreigner who engaged in that skulduggery. In Britain, we still worshipped Bobby Moore, Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney. Gentlemen. In Britain, fair play and a man's reputation was far more important than winning. In the words of Matt Busby, the British did not "set the prize above the game." Not any more. Now it does not matter that a man who has enthusiastically participated in the systematic looting of a country's resources and infrastructure has pitched up in Britain and is laundering the proceeds of that looting, because (so far as the British authorities are concerned) he has "invested" large amounts of money into the country and it is irrelevant where it came from, and (so far as the Premier League and Chelsea fans are concerned) he "rescued" a club from insolvency and has pretty much single-handedly turned that club into a winner.
Oh sure, your average Chelsea fan will dismiss this as the bitter ranting of someone whose team was nowhere close this year. But this isn't about football, or the petty rivalries and absurd tribalism that football inspires and encourages. This encompasses much more than football. This is about the destruction of a country. This is about the shameless embrace and celebration of those who worked so hard to destroy it. This is about the utter indifference to such behaviour, and the misery left behind in the wreckage. We don't care about that. We celebrate those individuals. We are indifferent to the misery and the wreckage. What does that say about us?
In many ways it's fitting, I suppose, that Chelsea are European champions and Manchester City have won the Premier League. It had to happen, one day. When the club game is now simply a race to lose the most money, it was inevitable. For me, it's simply the latest chapter in the [Mark May] show that is modern football.
I am not so naive, of course, as to believe that Abramovich was the first crook to get involved in football. Off the pitch, it?s been a masterclass in corruption and immorality ever since Joao Havelange took control of FIFA in 1974, then handed-off to his like-minded lieutenant Sepp Blatter two and a half decades later. From the cosy and illegal deals with Adidas in the seventies and eighties to the corrupt manner in which Mexico were awarded the 1986 World Cup, the bloating of the biggest competition in world football in order to increase profits and ensure votes from Africa and Asia, and on to the suspicious manner in which Blatter himself was elected, FIFA has been the worst role-model in the world. Then there was the farce of the Colombian league in the 80s, as competing drug lords sponsored different teams and took over the game in that country as another vehicle through which to engage in their own rivalry.
But, you see, it was only Johnny Foreigner who engaged in that skulduggery. In Britain, we still worshipped Bobby Moore, Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney. Gentlemen. In Britain, fair play and a man's reputation was far more important than winning. In the words of Matt Busby, the British did not "set the prize above the game." Not any more. Now it does not matter that a man who has enthusiastically participated in the systematic looting of a country's resources and infrastructure has pitched up in Britain and is laundering the proceeds of that looting, because (so far as the British authorities are concerned) he has "invested" large amounts of money into the country and it is irrelevant where it came from, and (so far as the Premier League and Chelsea fans are concerned) he "rescued" a club from insolvency and has pretty much single-handedly turned that club into a winner.
Oh sure, your average Chelsea fan will dismiss this as the bitter ranting of someone whose team was nowhere close this year. But this isn't about football, or the petty rivalries and absurd tribalism that football inspires and encourages. This encompasses much more than football. This is about the destruction of a country. This is about the shameless embrace and celebration of those who worked so hard to destroy it. This is about the utter indifference to such behaviour, and the misery left behind in the wreckage. We don't care about that. We celebrate those individuals. We are indifferent to the misery and the wreckage. What does that say about us?
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