Why Cesc has to go

As the latest set of transfer tittle-tattle hog the back pages of the newspapers –there is one story which dominates all others.
If the latest reports emanating from Cataluña and London are true and Arsenal are about to lose their skipper and talisman Cesc Fabregas to his boyhood club Barcelona then this provides Arsene Wenger with his sternest test.
When Manchester Utd finally caved in and allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to leave Old Trafford last summer to join Real Madrid the deal was negotiated from a position of strength.
Sure United had just been outclassed in the Champions League final against Barcelona but they had also just secured their third successive Premiership.

Moreover the Portuguese had won everything there was to win at Old Trafford and desired a fresh challenge to reignite the fortunes of a flagging Madrid who were flashing the cash like never before to restore their glory days.
For Fabregas the situation is entirely different.

Not only is he set to rejoin the club where he was taken as a nine month old baby by his grandfather to his first game, where as a youth team player he shared the same dressing room as Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique, but he is moving to a team which humiliated Arsenal in this season’s Champions League quarter final.
Obviously the lure of returning to the club which is in his DNA would be almost too strong for any player to resist, but since Cesc has been at Arsenal the only medal on his mantel piece is a rather forlorn looking FA Cup winners medal and a European Championship with Spain.
In the meantime the Catalans have bagged 2 European Cups, 4 La Liga titles, 1 Copa Del Rey, 1 World Club Championship and are widely regarded as the finest football team on the planet.
Now could you imagine if the situation was reversed?
If Barca had been trophyless and Arsenal were securing titles – do you think Cesc woud be pinning for a homecoming ?
No I very much doubt it either.
For Arsenal fans – these facts are hard to stomach.
Fabregas is set to leave a club which has failed to match his own talents, ambitions and dreams.
The midfield maestro is one of the finest in the game yet in every match this season against top opposition whether it is Manchester Utd or Chelsea at home or Barca in Europe he has had to watch his teammates humbled and embarrassed.
The Arsenal skipper can deliver all the probing passes, goals and assists, but when Wenger refuses to buy a decent goalkeeper then all his brilliant work is in vain.
So Gunners’ fans can hardly blame their talisman for leaving –he has given them 7 years of sterling service and has at times carried his team to some wonderful victories.
But Fabregas is a winner and is tired of losing, and that is the brutal truth for all Arsenal lovers to endure.

D-Day for Ronaldo and Messi

They are the two brightest stars in the football galaxy and yet for Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, heartbreak awaits one of them.
For you see tonight, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two irremovable mountains of Spainish football, it is D-Day.
After what seems like endless weeks of pummelling the rest of the league into submission, it’s the penultimate round of games which could finally seal the destiny of the championship.
To recap reigning champions Barca, Messi’s home since the age of 13, lead their arch rivals by a point and tonight travel to fourth placed and Champion League hopefuls Seville.
Meanwhile Madrid, who smashed the world record when they shelled out a whopping 94 million Euros for Ronaldo, entertain Athletic Bilbao who are eighth and bidding for a Europa League place.
If Barca win, and Madrid slip up, then Pep Guardiola’s side will retain their titile, as they won both this season’s Classicos and head-to head separates sides if they are level on points.
As both are expected to win their final games of the season, tonight’s events at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in Seville, and the Bernabeu in Madrid, will seal the leagues fate.
This season La Liga has resembled something akin to a Rocky slug-fest.
Two heavyweights searching for the knockout blow while leaving the rest trailing in their wake.
Third placed Valencia are a massive 24 points behind Madrid, surely not healthy for any competitive league.
But should anyone be surprised?
A look at the World’s 20 Richest Clubs helps explain why the gap between the top two and the rest of Spain has gone from being a disparity to a yawning chasm.
Real Madrid and Barca are ranked 1st and 2nd with income reaching a jaw dropping 401 and 365 million Euros respectively.
No other Spanish club makes the list.
The reason for such disparity is largely due to the sale of TV rights.
In England and Germany, the EPL and Bundesliga sell their rights collectively and the money is then distributed among all the clubs.
However in Spain, Barca and Madrid negotiate their massive contracts individually which leaves the rest of the league fighting for the rest of the TV pie like two bold men over a comb.
So the duopoly is set to continue and while events tonight will be no doubt enthralling as the two best players in the world try and drag their respective clubs over the winning line, the claim that La Liga is the best in the world is a hollow one until the rest of Spain catches up.

Killing the golden goose -The slow death of T20 ?

It's hard to remember a world when T20 did not dominate the cricketing landscape.

The 'wham-bam thank you ma am' format has revolutionised the game and despite the ongoing financial scandal of the IPL, the many advantages of T20 drown out the voices of those doom-mongers who predict the death of the sport they once cherished.

I for one love the pace and energy of the shorter format.
It's ability to attract a captive new and young audience is vital for the games long term health.

But as we sit and watch (or is that endure) a third T20 World Cup in less than three years are we in serious danger of overkill ?

Only an organisation as greedy and brazen as the ICC could stage this event barely 11months after Pakistan were declared champions at Lords in June of last year.

The bean keepers at the ICC must realise that staging this potentially great tournament so frequently could lead to its downfall.

Even for the most obsessive cricket nut, after the marathon IPL, surely eight weeks of almost daily T20 is too much for the brain.

All the great sporting events, be it the football World Cup or the Olympics realise the power of less is more.

FIFA and the IOC stage their respective jamborees every four years and these events are all the more stronger for it.

Like any football obsessive my childhood and adolescent years were shaped by the long summers of World Cup year.

The rarity of these events only heightened the tension and anticipation not only to players but also, and perhaps most crucially, to the fans.

Mexico 86...Italia 90....the halcyon images of these tournaments still burn in the consciousness of millions of people because these events were given time and space to breathe in the sporting calendar.

One only has to look at the heady excitement building for this summers tournament in South Africa to realise the strength of this policy.

Despite security concerns, tickets for Africa's first World Cup have sold well and there will hardly be an empty seat at any one of the 64 matches.

Compare that to the paltry crowds on view so far in the Carribean and it seems the great West Indian cricket public have voted with their feet.

And who can blame them ? It's only been three years since the fiasco of the 2007 50 Over World Cup were held on their islands - an event so badly organised and woefully attended because of exorbitant ticket prices, it should still come with a government health warning.

The event only lives long in the memory because it's a recurring nightmare.

But do you think the ICC care ?

Billion dollar TV contracts means their coffers are well stocked but only the future will determine whether this policy of short term greed leads to long term pain ?