One of the first players I recognized in England was Ian Rush in the eighties. A player who used to hide in the shadows of the match for 89 minutes and 59 seconds giving the 21 players on the field the chance to showcase; then before the referee’s final whistle hammers the players’ eardrums, Rush rush and strike. He was my father’s favorite and I remember my father ignoring all the match scenario and only waiting for the Rush moment that change the game. The player’s quality made that appreciation infectious. 

I can’t say I was a Liverpool fan at any time -which make this article an opinion of an outsider rather a judgment of an expert. But from Ian Rush to “you’ll never walk alone” to the uniquely refreshing red jersey and the culture surrounding the club and the city, from the Anfield , to The Beatles leads any observer and football follower to respect this amazing club in world football. 

The early nineties witnessed the birth of the English premier league. The new competition was structured to meet two interrelated needs: Competition and financing. Yet, handing the competition management to the division clubs’ corporation prevented the ability of the football Association to tune the development process and maintain stability - that’s if we assume that they would have had enough vision and awareness in that matter. The result was an inflated drive to create competitive clubs regardless of any club resources and abilities to meet the challenges of competing to win the title or reach the European competitions. The traditional strategy of creating a club good enough to survive in the first division for few seasons needed to build a more competitive club was not appropriate anymore. The possibility of getting relegated for a season to enhance the team building and prepare a successful comeback became an unacceptable nightmare, because the huge return in the Premier division makes it almost impossible for any club that relegates to catch up later on. 

If your club’s financial returns were not sufficient to meet the competition demands, you had one of three options: Loans, Acquisition, or death. None of the English clubs proved suicidal enough to avoid barking after destructive loans or strip to tempt wealthy buyers. The only flag up the hill was the competitiveness needs regardless of the price paid, or lack of fulfilling. 

Football clubs became too fragile to acquisitions that a clash on a horse between an owner and a coach led to selling the wealthiest club in the Premier league to a buyer who paid the price demanded through taking loans, much of which were secured against the club's assets. In other words, a buyer who was financially poorer than Manchester United, still succeeded to buy the club - for free.

Chelsea in the other hand felt no need to check the books of Roman Abramovich to figure how he made his fortune before handing him the club. He may not be as amazing as one of their ex-owners like Elton John but he can make the fans sing by creating a competitive squad. That’s all what is needed. Manchester City knights were willing to go as far as offering the club to the likes of Thaksin Shinawatra. The uniqueness of each club faded under the new business oriented approach and there were no more fans, but customers.

Liverpool had more reasons to be aggressive while seeking their competitive spell. The club’s records were threatened by the dominance of Manchester United in the new league format. After the amazing era of John Smith ending 1990, the club lacked the suitable leadership to engineer the club and meet the challenges of the new league (EPL). 

In 2004, David Moores decided to sell the club. Yet it took him three years of inappropriate bids (including a bid from the one and only Thaksin Shinawatra himself) to find the right buyers. Inspired by Roman Abramovich model at Chelsea, and Malcolm Glazer’s tale at Manchester united, George Gillett and Tom Hicks stepped in and bought the club. 

The new owners of the club a club recently won the Champions’ league were welcomed by the fans and the coach. The expectations were high and everyone had the belief that Liverpool success in Europe will extend to dominate the English League again. I do believe that the crisis started there.

No one can argue that it is insane to sell a great football club to someone who has absolutely no idea not only about the history and the culture of the club, but even the game itself. It is true as well that the conflicts between Hicks and Gillett were destructive and served the club no favor. Yet, the main reason leading to fans upset was the team’s performance. In that matter, it is hard to blame the owners for being the reason why the team collapsed. The list below can give some indications:

Josemi, Xabi Alonso, Antonio Nunez, Luis Garcia, Fernando Morientes, Bolo Zenden, Scott Carson, Godwin Antwi, Mauricio Pellegrino, Besian Idrizaj, Peter Crouch, Jack Hobbs, Pepe Reina, Miki Roque, Mohamed Sissoko, Paul Anderson, Antonio Barragan, Robbie Fowler, Mark Gonzalez, Jan Kromkamp, Gabriel Paletta, Fabio Aurelio, Ryan Crowther, Martin Hansen, Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Nabil El Zhar, David Martin, Astrit Ajdarevic, Craig Bellamy, Alvaro Arbeloa, Daniel Pacheco, Alex Cooper, Fernando Torres, Andriy Voronin, Jordy Brouwer, Francisco Duran, Sebastian Leto, Ronald Huth, Gary Stevens, Daniele Padelli, Mikel San Jose Dominguez, Javier Mascherano, Daniel Sanchez Ayala, Jermaine Pennant, Gerardo Bruna, Yossi Benayoun, David Amoo, Lucas, Damien Plessis, Andras Simon, Emiliano Insua, Dean Bouzanis, Charles Itandje, Krisztian Nemeth, Ryan Babel, Lauri Dalla Valle, Martin Skrtel, Emmanuel Mendy, Andrea Dossena, David Ngog, Vincent Weijl, Philipp Degen, Vitor Coutinho Flora, Peter Gulacsi, Robbie Keane, Zsolt Poloskei, Diego Cavalieri, Albert Riera, Nikola Saric, Christopher Buchtmann, Victor Palsson, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Glen Johnson, Alberto Aquilani, and Chris Mavinga.

A coach who buys 70 players for a club like Liverpool in 5 years is a confused coach who has no idea what he wants, or what his team need. I will not go as far as claiming that Rafa Benitez spent £229m on players, because he recovered some through selling the players he bought. Yet, that’s only a financial evaluation that must not cover the fact: Benitez created a chaos. Such Chaos cost the club money (transfers and salaries), and it damaged any chance to create any harmony in the squad. That’s a need if you want to win any titles. This habit started long time before the new owners’ arrival. The difference was that during the first seasons there were no expectations. That’s the environment where Benitez can do magic. When the club won the Champions’ league and welcomed the new owners with the likes of Mascheranos and Fernandos the expectations rocketed high, and Rafa suffered a panic attack leading him to continuously change players and tactics, and fighting with managers and criticizing everyone else, but himself. Some may argue that there are some players who were bought for the reserve team but the question is how many of the mentioned players served the first team later on? 

Nowadays, with more businessmen running clubs, as businessmen, the role of managers became vital. It is true that Liverpool owners were unwilling to keep on financing Rafa Benitez “Football Manager” antiques forever, but if we compare the effectiveness and budgets of coaches like Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson, one can only wonder what would have happened if one of the mentioned would have been in Benitez shoes. The coach is the hostage of his team’s results and if he was able to achieve anything in the last few seasons he would have been able to dictate his conditions on the club owners. The owners made a bet on the coach and the squad he structured and when the bet failed there was no way to recover. 

With the team underperforming and the owners lacking any charm and vision, it was a matter of time before the fans revolt. At the end of the day, competitiveness is the ultimate goal. There was no way back from there on.

Everyone who was involved in the acquisition in the first place carry the main responsibility for how the story ended. Some of those figures started Liverpool’s mess long before the arrival of the new owners. There should be strict guidelines governing this matter. Liverpool is neither the only victim nor the first one to fall. Portsmouth is another example. Manchester United already stands in the queue. One can only wonder what will happen if Abramovic failed to rejuvenate the aging Chelsea and the list is long. 

Then there is a coach who failed to create a project and present a vision leading to Permanente success and forcing the owners to adopt. 

In the English Premier league, managers role nowadays exceed their team building responsibilities on the field to their role in club building in the offices through contributing in the creation of the club business and football module. Genius technicians place is on the Assistant manager bench, while managers need to act as innovators.

Hicks and Gillett were just two naïve gamblers in a bad Casino; putting their bets in a game they don’t know its rules. They lost their money and were thrown out of the door for new wealthy candidate to take their place. Only time will tell if the new owners will start by setting rules and guidelines or will just lead the club to another gamble.

From Manchester and Arsenal, to Liverpool and Chelsea across the English Premier League the term “bandwagons” rings in every direction. From Juventus and Roma to Milan rivals the claim that “there are no glory hunters supporting our club” is a claim written on every supporter chest and echoing in each corner at Serie A. And let’s not start talking about La Liga, and mainly the two poles of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.  Bandwagon fans and Glory haunters, Who are those people?

"A bandwagon fan is a phrase used among sports fans and sports writers to describe a fan that only roots for popular and successful sports franchises, then when they fall and are unpopular they switch to the new team. Sometimes people may change teams due to many factors, such as bad management, scandals involving the team, poor draft decisions, or unfavorable conditions in the current residence (which often could cause them to adopt their hometown's rival team as their own)... Bandwagon fans are usually despised by fans who consider themselves die-hard". (Source)

Before getting into the threat this slice of football fans can present for big –popular- clubs, it is relevant to go back in time to figure how the big-popular- clubs became big and became popular. It usually starts with one or handful football entrepreneurs collecting players and organizing a team like many in the city or the region. The team develops and shows enough promise to be recognized by the neighborhood that starts following the team regularly. At that early stage, if the team fails to secure continuous improvement, the followers start to vanish, attracted by other clubs with more potential in the same surrounding. The club ends up being one of numerous small clubs worldwide with few hundreds of followers competing on local minor rivalries and unrecognized competitions. 

If that small team succeeds to satisfy the followers hunger to victorious joys (A.K.A. results) dipped in the bragging opportunities to tease those living across the street, it sets the cornerstone to win over the followers hearts. With time good memories, cultural and social concurrence starts to tie the fans and the club more. That’s when temporary failure becomes more forgiven. It is no more this street club against the club of another street, but the club that represents the City best against the clubs of other cities. The more the club succeeds, the more its fan base expands the same way it was initially created: Results increase awareness. Awareness makes more people interested. Interest creates addiction. Addiction structure loyal supporters, added to the support inherited from father to son originated in that small street, then through the City, the nation, and worldwide. 

I am not sure if the term “Bandwagon” is originally offending. I am not an expert in English terminology. But if we use it with good intentions and based on the definition and argument above, there are two kinds of club followers: Ex-bandwagons outcome (Loyal fans), and current bandwagons (fan base contenders). So called bandwagons are people who became interested in the club when the club proved capable of bringing pride, joy, and satisfaction. Some of them became loyal fans and the rest decided to aboard the ship when the wind started to blow in another direction. But there is an important question here. Is it only about the people? It seems that the club has nothing to do in this matter, which is not the case at all. 

To understand the clubs’ role and responsibility we need to consider the club as any other firm, organization, or business. If you own a restaurant, you invite people to visit and try your food. If the first time they visit you fail to satisfy them, you are done and dusted. If they leave your restaurant smiling and praising, you can be sure they will come back again. But it will take more than just few successful trials before you can consider them as loyal customers. They need to enjoy some more lunches and dinners, to start recognizing the staff faces and names, to feel comfortable with the way food is served and the food diversity available, and most importantly start sharing the nostalgia of the memories they share with that restaurant. When they become that loyal, then they will forgive you if for once the launch was overcooked. A bit too spicy. Or the service was not up to the expected standards. During trial period they forget you. When they become loyal, they forgive you.

That’s how clubs create fan bases. Like loyal customers. Using marketing terms, clubs successful period is the marketing campaign. Bandwagons are the leads. Permanent supporters are the loyal customers. Successful periods -full with titles- act as marketing campaigns. It generates leads and increases awareness and attractiveness. Leads may visit your showroom because your marketing campaign was successful. That’s your opportunity brought to you on a golden plate. Now it’s your job to turn the leads to loyal allies. If they end up visiting your showroom without buying anything, then it’s your fault not theirs. If they buy just to get advantage of the offers promoted through the marketing campaign then you are lucky because that will buy you more time and extend your opportunity to do your homework. If they vanish the moment the marketing campaign cycle ends, that’s because you –as a club- failed to show more interesting features about your club/business beside titles/offers. You failed to create a more personal/human-like relation with them. You failed to make them aware that your club is so special in many ways that bring even more pride to its fans than titles. 

If they jump out of your ship when your club wins no more, don’t call then glory hunters. They are so, because you failed to show them the glory lies behind supporting your club, regardless of the titles won or lost.

English premier league was the subject of the first part about the best league in the world. I apologies first for some spellings in the first part –I updated the post fixing where I thought there was a need for editing. This part will be brief as there are lots of factors the EPL have in common with the rest of the world leagues.

If it’s not convincing to consider the EPL as the league to crown, its more unlikely to find a sold case for the liga to consider it the best league in the world.

Evaluating the EPL in the first part was based on what the league generally stands for:

For being an exhibition, the liga and the Serie A are the same. They are more like a Shakespearian theater than a music concert. In a Shakespearian theatre, you can expect the artists to have more quality, the music is more correct and the lyrics are of the best ever written. Yet, lady gaga will always generate more headlines than Andrea Bucelli. More audience. More dancing and chanting and fun.

The liga is the place where you find the Picasso type of footballers. The techniques and skills. The offense and the flair. But it’s also where the stadiums are only attended in occasions. The fields are not always up to the standards and the media coverage ranges from “not that good” to embarrassing. Matches schedule is also a bug that hurts the liga’s market value. 

As mentioned in the first part, it’s not accurate that the EPL is generally more competitive than the liga. Yet, while competitiveness means different objectives from avoiding relegation to qualifying to the Europa league, champions’ league or winning the title, the competition for the title is still the most attractive face of all. 

The gap between Barcelona and real Madrid as title contenders and the rest of the liga teams is getting wider every season. The solution must not count on blocking the improvement of the big two so the rest can catch, but to help the rest to grow in a stable manner. Some of the teams were so close to break through, and the failure was mainly the result of sloppy management than anything else. The most recent example is Valencia. They were up there. They needed two more seasons of stability with some smart signings and a new monster will start competing for the title. Instead, they decided to take risky shortcuts. The most irresponsible decision was to start building a new stadium while not sure how to sell the existing one. From there on, it was a free fall. Deportivo was another example. And the list is long. That shows the need to put some guidelines to channel the clubs’ management on the proper path. That’s even more important than injecting more money. With bad management that will not really make a difference. Ask the English premier league teams.

Taking about the EPL, the main demand in Spain is that the TV revenues should be distributed as it happened in England because that will help to create a more competitive league. While I agree on the first part (the distribution) I don’t believe in the second part (enhance competitiveness). It didn’t happen in the EPL anyway. The teams competing on the title are the ones financed by sugar daddies, not TV returns. The rest are less competitive than the liga clubs as I pointed out in the first part. 

Still, there is a need to reconsider the distribution of TV revenues. The change will not damage the big two as much as it will help the other 18 teams to finance their operations (even though at the moment, the change will be bad for Valencia because they will earn less money than they do through the existing system- proving that the change will not solve problems alone). 

On the bright side, the liga is no doubt the best big league when it comes to feeding the national teams. Not only the first team but all the way through the youth squads. Barely can you find a Spanish club without a proper youth setup. Its hard to predict how long that will last, but at the moment the liga is perfectly fitting to develop domestic talents into world class players.

Unlike the liga, the Serie A suffered a decline in football quality in the last few years. It’s a heartbreaking to compare this Serie A to that’s of the nineties for example. Other than sharing all the mentioned defects of the liga, the continuous scandals Italian football faces make things only worse for the Calcio to heal. 

Even though, the tactical level of the Italian football is still superior in many ways, that’s not enough to rescue one of the most popular leagues in the world. Unless the clubs start to trust the youth more, invest in the infrastructure and the stadiums (some are disastrous even for amateurish leagues), and until the FIGC gain the trust of all its members and maintain enough stability, the Calcio will never be the league we knew. 

Then where can we find the best league in the world? 

It’s possible to build a case for any league. In fact, leagues of France, Holland, and Portugal for all the players they generate for the national team and the number of players they export (economical factor) added to the level of competitiveness (regardless of the quality of competitiveness) can build a case. South American leagues are also unfairly overlooked. 

But in my opinion, the best league in the world at the moment is the Bundesliga. It’s not the best league for any specific reason but it generally ticks more boxes than any other league. Financially it is stable and the clubs are governed by strict regulations to control the books. The competitiveness is improving. The youth setup is impressive feeding the national teams. The stadiums are also wonderful. I can’t claim that a football fan will straight forward find it more exciting to follow the Bundesliga than the liga, the EPL, or the Calcio as the German teams will need some time to build their fan base abroad. But if there is a module to follow, that’s the one I can recommend.

The IFFHS Issued the new leagues ranking and it was met with the same controversial vibes as usual. I do believe that the leagues are a matter of taste. Each favors different flavor. We already made a trial here to create criteria to rank leagues. Yet, because this is a relatively new site that is basically visited by friends who support and follow specific leagues, it was still too early to put this study in place. But till then, what are the elements that really make a league better or worse?

What does the league stand for in the first place? Is it an exhibition to enjoy the game? Is it the level of competition? Is it the mechanism that helps the domestic level to improve and feed national teams that represents the respective country? Is it an environment that helps the game’s evolution throughout the tactical clashes that take place between the clubs involved? Is it the mean that transform football from a game to an economic module helping the country and the people financially? Or maybe, it’s a mix of this and that. 

EPL was the league that claimed superiority more than any other league in the world, so let’s start from there. Is it true that the EPL is a league that should be ranked over the rest?

Based on the understanding of the term, the leagues should be ranked. If it’s an exhibition and a show, then probably the English premier league (EPL) takes the lead. Make no mistake, it’s not solely about the quality of the show but how entertaining it is. That includes the infrastructure, the stadiums, the field, the media, and the fans. 

 

But how far is it really helping the domestic level to improve? When was it the last time an English player won or even been nominated to seriously win an individual award of any kind? How many of them? How many English players moved to play in another league and succeeded. Unlike the first impression there are teams outside UK that can pay better salaries than the English teams. May be its not easy for a player from the competitive teams in UK to move but how about the rest? The limited tactical maturity and being mono-dimensional type will never help the English players’ case no matter how good they will be in doing one specific thing. The league with all its foreign players and coaches is yet to upgrade the domestic football from that aspect. While it might not be obvious within the league or on continental club competitions because there is a bit of identical-ity between domestic players upgraded by the foreign stars imported, It leaves an impact on the national team where the English players are left without any help to face the quality of the opponents. When was it the last time the national team won a continental tournament or a world cup or even proved being a serious title contender? On the youth level they had some good results, but aside of that they only brought disappointment when the level of competition became higher.

English football is still struggling to upgrade its identity. When Brazil wins a world cup the imitation to the Brazilian style become a trend that’s not attainable. When Italy wins it then its defense with counter attacking. When Spain does so then there is a need to apply more possession with ball pressure. That’s not helping in producing new coaches with clear football vision. That’s obvious from the confidence shown in English coaches whether it’s on clubs’ level or national team. 

On the economic side, football has more a passive impact on the country’s economy than it is the other way. What we see is lot of business generated throughout the game, which is good. But when the clubs are all in huge debt and the owners are in more debts and waiting the moment a club get some cash so they draw it and water their own personal loans, that leave a sour taste. Football in UK shakes the market and sucks its juice to reduce financial crisis of people serving in another markets. English fans buy their tickets and their clubs merchandise and say goodbye to every pound they spend while staring on their money sailing abroad. Now compare that to the economic impact of football in Brazil as an example. 

Is it the most competitive league? What does that mean? All the teams must have a chance to compete for the title? That’s naïve. Simply put. It’s impossible to create a league where all the clubs are cloned Chelsea and Manchester United. Imagine it, 20 Manchester-united-like teams in the league. Great right? Well, one detail missed here. Two of the teams need to relegate to the lower division by the end of the season. Being a Man Utd cost money. I am not sure how the two relegated Man utds will afford surviving outside the EPL heaven. Unless if we will have Man Utd-s all the way from the premier league to the lowest division. Craziness.

Clubs on different levels with different objectives is a need in any league. When people started to forget that, the clubs and the leagues started to collapse. You need Barcelonas in the league for ultimate performance but you also need ambitious Sevillas where the focus is more on creating players than buying them aiming to compete on the long term, not the day after tomorrow. That's where players like Alves can have a stage in Europe to mature under less pressure than in a club like Barcelona. How many south American star succeeded by moving directly to a big club in Europe? You also need the Mallorcas and Getafes for the youth or unaccomplished players to be loaned to play and polish their skills. If all the teams are equal then the talents flow will be crushed and the league will collapse.

No matter how you change the regulations, one team will win at the end. Handful teams will play in continental competitions which will give them an advantage for the following year while the rest will struggle under the impact of failing to play in the Champions league. 

Still, based on last season, were there more possibilities for Portsmouth to win the EPL than there were for Xerez to win the liga? Xerez were 65 away from the title. Portsmouth were 67 point behind Chelsea (it’s also the league fault if one of its clubs collapses financially).

But the league is not just the title. To evaluate the competition level we need to get in some more details. Xerez (the 20th team in the liga) were 29 points away from the Champion’s league qualifying position. The 14th team in the EPL was 31 points far from the Champions league. The 19th –Hall city was 40 points away while Portsmouth was 51 away. So, if qualifying to the CL bring more opportunities to the underdogs get closer to the big names by earning more money to build their squads, strangely, the liga has an advantage here.

Between the last champions league position 4th in the liga (Sevilla) and the first Europa league position 5th in the liga (Mallorca)one point difference (63/62). While it is 3 points between Tottenham and Man city.

Between Xerez (last in the table) and Mallorca (first Europa league qualifier) 28 points. Between Man city and Portsmouth its 48 points. If we will consider Portsmouth as a special case and take the 19th team Hull city they were 37 points from Man city. In a more specific statement, Xerez needed 24 points more to qualify to the Europa league as 6th in the liga. Even with one extra spot for the EPL (the 7th qualify to Europa league) Hull city the 19th –putting Portsmouth aside- still needed 33 points to qualify to the Europa league as 7th. How can we say the teams in the EPL are more competitive? How far is it true that the clubs in the EPL are closer to play on the big stage than the Liga teams?

Unless if the general quality standard in the EPL is stronger than that’s of the liga. The common field where they meet –continental competitions-does not inspire so. Let’s take the last 10 years where the English teams reached their peak in Europe:

Since 2000, Three Spanish teams reached the Champions league final (Valencia, Real Madrid and Barcelona), five times all together and won it 3 times. In return, four teams from England (Man utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea) reached the final six times and won it twice. Even though Spain won it once more, it’s fair to admit that the four English teams were more successful in this competition than the Spanish teams. But the league is not just those.

In the Europa leagues Five Spanish teams (Alavés,Valencia,Sevilla,Espanyol, Atlético) reached the final five times and won it four times. In return, four teams reached the final from the EPL (Middlesbrough,fulham, liverpool, Arsenal) and won it once (Liverpool). 

To sum things up, seven different Spanish teams played finals in European competitions and won more titles than the six EPL teams that reach the finals in the same tournaments. At least, that doesn’t cast any doubts on the quality of the teams in Spain. Adding that to what's mentioned above, makes it a long shot to suggest that the EPL is more competitive than the liga.

The fact that the big two in Spain gathered 90 points last season is based more on the strength of the two teams than the weakness of the rest. It’s easier to knock a team out of a competition over one or two games than outclassing it during the whole season. It’s true that Lyon defeated Real Madrid out of the Champions’ league, but Real Madrid would have won any league of 19 weeks last season. For Barcelona to be able to beat them to the liga says a lot. 

The second part will make a fast analysis about few other leagues and the league I believe it is the best.