Money: The root of all evil in football

Paris Saint-Germain have been found guilty of FFP violations, yet the punishment will barely slow them down.

Three minutes is an eternity on the football field. Three minutes was all it took to prevent the triumph of good over evil. Three minutes that Atletico had to hold on to its slender one goal lead over its crosstown rival Real Madrid and every football fan in the world but for the Real Madrid faithful and Gareth Bale’s immediate family would have rejoiced. Alas, Sergio Ramos broke our hearts with that crushing header.

Diego Simeone’s gamble in starting Diego Costa had backfired. His opponents had one pair of fresher legs on the field, soon compounded by an unfortunate but debilitating injury to Juanfran. Simeone finally ran out of magic dust. After all, what else could have possibly helped the thin Atletico squad pip not one, but two, much-moneyed rivals to the La Liga crown and brought them to within three minutes of an impossible double? Sadder than seeing the spent Atletico players in tears after the game was the realization that this squad would be dismembered over the summer – rumour already having Diego Costa signed, sealed and all but delivered to Chelsea.

If this season has proved one thing, it is that you can literally buy your silverware. Atletico’s triumph proved to be a lone silver lining (pun intended) on an ominous dark cloud of money. Even that was snatched away with Real’s buying of the Decima. In France, it was PSG, who had scattered money to anyone who would take it and to some who wouldn’t, walking away with the Ligue 1 title. The EPL was closely contested and, in the end, it was the depth of Manchester City that helped them outdistance valiant Liverpool.

If ever there was a clear sign that evil reigns over the world, it was Steven Gerrard’s fateful slip against the other money grubbers, Chelsea. Move over to Germany and one saw Bayern, who raided rival Dortmund’s closet, romping to the Bundesliga title with about half the season to spare. Just to rub salt into Dortmund’s wounds, Bayern also acquired Dortmund’s star striker, Robert Lewandowski, for next season.

For those of us who were looking up at the sky, waiting for the knights in shining Financial Fair Play (FFP) armour to swoop down and smite the wrongdoers, FFP proved to be as real as the toothless fairy. True, they investigated several clubs and true, they found some very noteworthy culprits. Aha, we, the meek who are waiting to inherit a level playing field, rubbed our hands in anticipated glee. At last, those who were rubbing our faces in their Euros would finally get their come-uppance.

Man City and PSG – wow, they actually fingered the worst offenders in the very first go-around. Hell, these UEFA “heroes” tossed Malaga out of the Champions League just for being poor. Surely, they would at least do the same to these egregious rule-breakers, maybe even add some fines to boot? The only boot that appeared was the one that kicked justice in the teeth. The punishment – they would have to play the Champions League with four less players in their squad! Oh, that hurt so much, PSG promptly spit in everyone’s eye by paying a record breaking transfer fee for a central defender, one who couldn’t even crack into the starting lineup of his club!

The root of all evil has taken a hold of our most beloved game and instead of superheroes to fight for us, we have Michel “I will assign more see-nothing, do-nothing goal line refs” Platitudini and his cousin on the world stage, Sepp “Tell me you are using slaves and I will look the other way” Blather!