Super-rich takeovers in soccer don't always pan out as perfectly as expected.
By JEREMY LASTjeremy last new 298.88(photo credit: Jeremy Last)
Manchester City fans beware - ultra-wealthy new owners may walk in with bundles of cash and promises but things don't always pan out as perfect as expected.
There has been an amazing rush of confidence around the City of Manchester Stadium in the past few days, since the Abu Dhabi royal family, represented by its sovereign economic fund the Abu Dhabi United Group, shocked the sporting world with a swift takeover of the club on Sunday and the sudden purchase of Brazilian star Robinho from Real Madrid on Monday.
The Robinho move was clearly intended to make a statement to the second richest man in the UK - Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, whose club had been expected to clinch the striker before City swooped.
However, what now waits to be seen is how much involvement the trillion-dollar ADUG, headed by the shady Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim, intends to have in day-to-day affairs at the club.
It has been reported that Al-Fahim is interested in bringing any number of superstars to the blue side of Manchester, including Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Kaka, Fernando Torres and Cristiano Ronaldo - not all of whom would necessarily play well together as a team.
Abramovich brought success to Chelsea by, more often than not, taking a back seat, especially in the best years when former coach Jose Mourinho was in charge and won the English Premier League two years in a row.
When the Russian began meddling in club affairs towards the end of the 2007/08 season, and throughout the last campaign, the atmosphere at the club became far less relaxed and performances on the pitch suffered.
Instead of allowing the coach, an expert in soccer tactics, to make the decisions about which players to use, Abramovich reportedly insisted that Mourinho take on AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Shevchenko never fitted in at Chelsea and the move is considered one of the major reasons for the breakdown in Mourinho's previously great relationship with the club owner and his decision to quit Chelsea in September last year.
In general, soccer success comes when there is a stable environment for the playing staff to work in. While club owners have every right to get involved, and can of course fire and hire who they like, they should take as much of a back seat role as possible, and avoid making rash decisions.
And if the case of one meddling Russian oligarch isn't enough, right here in Israeli soccer there is another exasperating prime example in the offices of last season's champion Betar Jerusalem.
Everyone involved with Betar had every right to be disappointed by the most expensively assembled team in Israel's failure to gel well over the summer even though most of the players had played together for the previous season and all apart from Barak Itzhaki attended two preseason training camps in Europe.
But the way owner Arkadi Gaydamak dealt with the situation on Monday was far too reactionary and showed a lack of vision.
Gaydamak appeared so incensed by Betar's drab 0-0 draw with Bnei Sakhnin in its first league game of the season on Sunday that the next day he went on a crazy sacking spree, firing not only the club chairman and team spokesman but also the marketing manager and legal adviser, all in one stroke.
He then waited a day before finally getting rid of coach Itzhak Schum and bringing in former Maccabi Netanya coach Reuven Atar.
This is not the way to run a business, especially a business so much in the public eye as a top soccer club.
The series of sackings were miscalculated, and left the club without a spokesman, marketing manager and legal advisor. So far the only man who has been replaced on the management team has been chairman Eli Arazi, whose job has been taken by former Betar goalie Itzik Kornfein.
That in itself is probably a good move. Arazi was a liability for the club, putting his foot in it time and again while having no idea how a chairman should dress.
However the other moves have left an extremely negative feeling at Betar and will not have helped the situation on the pitch one bit.
Of all the club owners in Israeli soccer Maccabi Netanya's Daniel Jammer seems to be the wiliest. New coach Lothar Matthaus may not have set the league on fire just yet, but Jammer knew that to move up a level he needed to bring in an experienced man so he got rid of Atar over the summer.
So how can it be that Gaydamak is so convinced that Atar, Jammer's castoff, is the right person to lead Betar into Europe?
Schum should have been sacked the day after the 5-0 Champions League qualifier loss to Wisla Krakow and the club's management should have spent much more time looking for an appropriate replacement with real European experience.
The fiasco over the eventual non-appointment of former coach Luis Fernandez was embarrassing and showed how lazy those working at Betar, and Gaydamak in particular have been.
Now the club has been lumbered with a low quality coach and is in disarray, all due to Gaydamak's inefficient decision-making.
As we said, Manchester City fans beware.
jeremylast@gmail.com
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