Question of the Week: Foreign investors and loss of identity.

[theo]

this always intrigued me. first off, this topic can go many places but I'm more interested in the tendency to sign foreign players rather than domestic.


now I've been blessed to support teams that still try to strike a balance between the two. but let's say you've been a french PSG supporter before the takeover. now some rich consortium bought your club, spends hundreds of millions and you end up winning a title or two. but there's almost no french players in the team, so basically the owners could have done the same thing in a different city, or even country. they just woke up that morning, took a dump and the shit resembled PSG's logo so they've made the decision, or something more random even (see Chelsea). now of course, things could have been worse, look at Cardiff with the whole logo and colors issue.


it doesn't matter for most foreign fans I reckon, but I think I wouldn't like Juventus for instance going the same route. it's just me I guess. also, it's not always a matter of foreign investors. look at Arsenal a few years ago, Inter or Porto since forever.

 

[FCPorto13]

Porto is not owned by foreign investors and never will be as long as Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, Porto's president and also the oldest football club president in activity and with most titles won, still be the president.

I look at the Portuguese league and I see Porto, Benfica and Sporting (none of them owned by foreign investors, therefore we see their performances in Europe aren't as good as Manchester Sheiky or Paris Money Germain) full of foreign players and it's just not right.

I agree with foreign players in all leagues but, and as Portugal used to have some years ago, there should be a limit to foreign players like they do in Israel for example.

No wonder our national team is getting weaker, our greatest players, Ronaldo, Nani (ok now he's in Sporting but loaned by Man Utd), Pepe, etc play outside the country and our clubs don't invest in their B squads much although Portugal has been getting some good results in under 21 and under 19 national teams for example. We reached the final last year against Germany in under 19 european championship and qualified to this year's european championship in under 21 only with wins.

But if we don't invest in our players we won't have solutions to the national team :/

 

[yoyo913]

No wonder our national team is getting weaker, our greatest players, Ronaldo, Nani (ok now he's in Sporting but loaned by Man Utd), Pepe, etc play outside the country and our clubs don't invest in their B squads much

That is the norm for almost all countries except the top big leagues (Big 4).

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Yeah, England's national team is doing so well with all their best players playing in England.

 

[Xifio]

^ lol ...


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No wonder our national team is getting weaker, our greatest players ... play outside the country

the Portuguese NT is getting weaker? as compared to when?


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football is a lucrative business not because of domestic fandom, but because of lucrative international markets ...

I want to know -- from proponents of the "local" bias -- how an international fan from halfway across the world can be expected to understand/appreciate the Manchester/Liverpool intra-regional rivalry when the talisman of the Manchester team he's chosen to follow is Liverpudlian?

 

[kp41]

Tbh, short term investment like Monaco, Malaga and Anzhi is even more annoying ... I think it may make the league more challenging and increases the quality but at the same time so many foreign talents come to the league and replace local talents.

City only regular Enghlish player is Hart ... Does PSG have any French player except Matuidi?

 

[Mus]

Tbh, short term investment like Monaco, Malaga and Anzhi is even more annoying ... I think it may make the league more challenging and increases the quality but at the same time so many foreign talents come to the league and replace local talents.

City only regular Enghlish player is Hart ... Does PSG have any French player except Matuidi?

Digne, cabaye, rabiot, baheback, douchez to name a few

 

[FCPorto13]

^ lol ...


--


the Portuguese NT is getting weaker? as compared to when?


---


football is a lucrative business not because of domestic fandom, but because of lucrative international markets ...

I want to know -- from proponents of the "local" bias -- how an international fan from halfway across the world can be expected to understand/appreciate the Manchester/Liverpool intra-regional rivalry when the talisman of the Manchester team he's chosen to follow is Liverpudlian?

It's getting weaker compared to say 10 years ago, from 2004 to 2006 we had one of the best squads in the world and many more players from the usual 23 played in Portugal unlike now.

And yeah it's a lucrative business but I'm talking about my country's own league and clearly the Primeira Liga hasn't a big impact internationaly so domestic fandom here still counts much more than in the Barclays Premier League or the Liga BBVA, that's why here we don't have big games at 1:30 pm

 

[kp41]

Digne, cabaye, rabiot, baheback, douchez to name a few

I mean in starting lineup
City has Milner and Lampard and maybe few others ...

 

[Xifio]

It's getting weaker compared to say 10 years ago, from 2004 to 2006 we had one of the best squads in the world and many more players from the usual 23 played in Portugal unlike now.

04-06 was basically a mix of the Golden Generation, Cristiano, and Mou's Porto ... a Golden Generation, by definition, would have to be a rare occurrence -- i.e. they wouldn't be golden if you typically produce that much talent all at once, all the time ... so expecting a new Golden Generation so soon after the previous one is unrealistic ...

but, to be honest, your NT's performances have been fairly consistent ever since I've been watching football:

World Cups
94: DNQ
98: DNQ
02: Groups
06: Semis
10: 1st Knockout
14: Groups

Mode: DNQ / Group Stage

Euros
96: Quarters
00: Semis (one of my favourite team performances of all time)
04: Final
08: Quarters
12: Semis
16: ???

Pattern: Q, S, F; Q, S, ?

City only regular Enghlish player is Hart ... Does PSG have any French player except Matuidi?

Digne, cabaye, rabiot, baheback, douchez to name a few

I mean in starting lineup
City has Milner and Lampard and maybe few others ...

Sakho was Paris' homegrown captain, but his time at Liverpool has confirmed that he's just not developed as much as his early potential suggested ...

and anyway, Leonardo chose a firm, calcio-based direction for PSG ... it worked wonders, and it worked immediately ... I lament his absence ...

the only Frenchie other than Matuidi who's gotten regular games for QSG has been Zoumana Camara ... no coincidence that he is a former Serie A man (Inter) ... but Papus is getting on a bit, and has been mostly injured this season ...

the other Frenchies have sucked (Cabaye), stagnated (Rabiot, Digne), or just aren't good enough (the rest) ... once again it'll take a Serie A man to buck the trend: Juve's Paúl Pogba (sorry Joe, Jeroen, theo, et al) ...

 

[kp41]

Can I ask a follow up question?

Do you think projects like City/PSG improved English/French League? ... any positive/negative effect on national team? ...

 

[ARIAGA II]

City's brought Agüero and Touré to the league so yeah, they are also interested in developing future talent
most of their future talent rather than purchasing it that's why they spent all that money on the new academy.

http://www.theguardian.com/football...ootball-academy-sheikh-mansour-pablo-zabaleta

More importantly clubs shouldn't be held to the responsibility of helping the national team of the country they're based in, it isn't their responsibility.

 

[Bobby]

Southampton's owners are foreign and their investment in the academy will help England a lot down the road.

 

[FCPorto13]

04-06 was basically a mix of the Golden Generation, Cristiano, and Mou's Porto ... a Golden Generation, by definition, would have to be a rare occurrence -- i.e. they wouldn't be golden if you typically produce that much talent all at once, all the time ... so expecting a new Golden Generation so soon after the previous one is unrealistic ...

but, to be honest, your NT's performances have been fairly consistent ever since I've been watching football:

World Cups
94: DNQ
98: DNQ
02: Groups
06: Semis
10: 1st Knockout
14: Groups

Mode: DNQ / Group Stage

Euros
96: Quarters
00: Semis (one of my favourite team performances of all time)
04: Final
08: Quarters
12: Semis
16: ???

Pattern: Q, S, F; Q, S, ?

Yeah, our Golden Generation that won both 1989 and 1991 under-20 FIFA World Cup (Figo, Rui Costa, etc) plus CR and as you said, Porto's 2004 squad, so basically a team was the spine of the national squad, like Barça in 2010 for Spain and Bayern Munich in 2014 for Germany.

What I meant was, despite the performances we have acheived, how we qualify: if you notice, in the last 3 international competitions, WC 2010, Euro 2012 and WC 2014, we always needed to go to the play-offs. In 2006 to the WC, we easily finished 1st in the group having won 7-0 against Russia at home but now these results are impossible. Here in Portugal we know we got a weaker team and we don't want only to pass the group stage and last WC, our squad was really tired and some key players, including Ronaldo, were not 100% fit.

Thanks for liking our 2000 performance! I don't remember it, I was 3 at the time, but from what I've seen in videos, we had some great games including the coming back vs England and that 3-0 against Germany with the less used players.

About not going to the WC 1998... it was simply because FIFA couldn't allow Germany to fail it and so, they nominated, how ironic, a French referee to ref the match against Germany in the qualification and I quote Wikipedia: On 6 September 1997, during a World Cup qualifier in Berlin between Germany and Portugal, he (Marc Batta) notably sent off player Rui Costa as he was being substituted, for considering the midfielder took too long to leave the field: Portugal were then leading 1–0, but eventually let in the equalizer with ten men, finishing in third position in its group and being eliminated.

Portugal has lots of people living in France, it would have been great for them but since Germany brings more money... Oh and Platini, UEFA president, never liked Portugal since he played against us in 1984 and I don't know why anyway, maybe now it's because our country is ahead of his when it comes to league rankings xD