Not a level playing field

On Friday, as Liverpool closed in on Porto forward Luis Diaz’s transfer, #ENICOut and #LevyOut started trending on Twitter. Joe Lewis’ English National Investment Company (ENIC) Group owns 85.5 per cent stake at Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel Levy is the club chairman.

Spurs fans voiced anger at Liverpool reportedly forking out £50 million to hijack a player who was heavily linked with the north London club. In the Premier League, Liverpool are in the title race with Manchester City, while Spurs are battling for a top-four spot. The Reds are showing ambition, while Spurs apparently are letting another transfer window go by without any signing to speak of. This is said to have irked Spurs manager Antonio Conte as well, and the fans are legitimately discontent.

But there’s a catch. Some posts on social media urged fellow fans to take their protest to Spurs’ training ground. There’s a stark difference between keyboard warriors and real supporters, the match-goers and season ticket holders who really care for the club. Still, such social media posts are disconcerting.

Hooliganism in English football returned with a section of Manchester United fans storming Old Trafford and invading the pitch in an anti-Glazer protest last year, in the wake of the club’s failed breakaway European Super League attempt. The rowdy fans forced the postponement of United’s Premier League game against Liverpool.

Then, there was the Euros final last year, when ticketless fans tore down barriers and forced their way into the Wembley Stadium, causing violence and disorder. More recently, Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne and Matty Cash were hit by bottles while celebrating Emi Buendía’s goal against Everton at Goodison Park. Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger had a lighter thrown at him during their match against Spurs at Stamford Bridge. Four West Ham United fans were arrested after their 1-0 loss at Manchester United.

Of course, even collectively, this is nothing compared to the dark days of the 1980s, when hooligan firms used to cause mayhem at almost every football venue in England and beyond. A sharp increase in ticket prices, all-seater stadiums, CCTV, better policing and stricter measures have helped curb hooliganism to a great extent. But over the last one year, things have started to become a little more violent. The recent UK’s Football Policing Unit report showed that football-related arrests in the first half of the 2021-22 season have increased by 47 per cent.

It’s one thing to contaminate social media with keyed-in diarrhoea, but taking protests, if they are violent in nature, to stadiums and training grounds are a completely different ball game. That can harm the players, coaching staff and every other person involved with the game. Tribalism is one of the downsides in English football and it spreads its tentacles during transfer windows.

Usually, January is a dud month to buy and sell. The majority of top players are already cup-tied as regards to the Champions League and the chances of roping in a real top-drawer are very slim in this transfer window. The likes of Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Bruno Fernandes have been exceptions. It’s easier at mid-table clubs that prefer to add to their squad depth. Demands at top clubs are completely different, but fans on social media hardly care for perspective.

Take the case of United… They are in the knockout rounds of the Champions League, but even the world’s biggest miracle, or fluke, is unlikely to take them to the title triumph. They have an FA Cup to play for, but their biggest priority at the moment is to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League. The team is in desperate need of a holding midfielder, but at United’s level, players aren’t available for that position in this window. United hierarchy covets West Ham’s Declan Rice, arguably the best No. 6 in world football at the moment. Jude Bellingham is the club’s Plan B. But neither West Ham nor Borussia Dortmund would allow their prized possessions to go in the winter. They have their respective targets to achieve. As for United, there’s no point looking at a lower level, queering the pitch for a better signing just six months down the line, in the summer. A vast majority of match-going United fans understand this and they aren’t coming down hard on their beloved club. Rather, the process of loaning out the players, surplus to requirements, is laudable and interim manager Ralf Rangnick deserves praise for trying to cut the squad flab.

Similarly, real Spurs fans certainly understand the club’s difficulty to go shoulder to shoulder with other top teams in the transfer market, especially after shifting to the state-of-the-art £1 billion Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Yes, not winning trophies hurts. But ENIC has given the Spurs fans something more tangible, a stadium they can be proud of.

Financially, Arsenal still haven’t recovered fully after moving from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium in 2005-06. At the end of the day, however, they have their own stadium and a superb one at that. Fans need to understand that clubs like Spurs, United and Arsenal aren’t state or oligarch-owned, unlike Manchester City, Newcastle United and Chelsea. It’s not a level playing field when states are owning football clubs, inflating transfer market. Incidentally, Newcastle, owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, are said to have a 14-man transfer shortlist.