‘Americans have a saying in business that if you are going to sell your soul, do it at the height of the market. The trick is knowing when the market has reached that point. Has English domestic football peaked?
‘The game has been selling its soul by the pound for more than a decade now since the arrival of the Premiership, on the back of television money that has altered its landscape. Kick-off times all over the show, stadiums named after airlines. Anyone nostalgic for an evocative old movie called 'The Emirates Stadium Mystery'?
‘Now there are signs of disenchantment, however. The Premiership has become too predictable. The top three are pulling farther and farther away through purchasing power. For former big clubs such as Tottenham and Everton, the summit is a Uefa Cup place, possibly that fourth place and the Champions League if lucky. Fourth place, for goodness sake.
‘This season, attendances are down, along with the number of goals per game. Fans being turned off by the sordid off-field behaviour of some too-much-too-young players is one thing, but when the entertainment value - the uncertainty of outcome - dips as prices increase, it becomes altogether more worrying.
‘We are in annual accounts and AGM season. On Friday, Newcastle announced pre-tax profits down by almost 25 per cent, largely as a result of not qualifying for the Champions League proper. After tax, there will be a loss. This for a club who regularly play to crowds of 50,000, all of whom seem to be wearing a costly black-and-white striped shirt.
‘Even Manchester United, the world's most profitable club, saw profits fall from £39.3million to £27.9m. So why is Malcolm Glazer so keen to buy United?
‘Call me suspicious - along with many United followers, shareholders and demonstrators at reserve team games - but I am not sure Mr Glazer simply loves 'sarker'. Nor am I convinced that he just wants a business for his son Joel, who is apparently a fan, to run.
‘It may well be that the game in England has peaked. It may well also be, however, that the English club game around the world has not. Chelsea do not think so. It went almost unnoticed last week that they have signed a marketing deal in the United States with the William Morris Agency, who also look after the NFL.
‘America remains a market ripe for football of a high quality, as the attendances and coverage of the 1994 World Cup illustrated. Major League Soccer has never taken advantage of that impetus and attendances are distinctly ordinary, largely because of the absence of big names and quality players.
‘Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have them. So do Real Madrid and Barcelona, Milan and Juventus, Bayern Munich, too. There is still development left in the Champions League, with the G14 clubs eyeing a proper European League. There could even be a World League, once the great clubs of South America have had a bit of money and marketing thrown at them.
‘Why stop there? Milton Keynes is but a small step for man. Let's plonk a franchise down in Sydney, Johannesburg, NYC and LA. And Beijing. After all, those mobilising Chinese capitalists will pay money to watch Li Tie warming up as an Everton substitute.
‘There's gold in them thar balls. I suppose, being a sucker of a fan - which is what they all bank on - I will subscribe and watch New York Kicks v Manchester United when my TV and computer are one and the same.
‘Those left behind may form a Premiership that is more closely contested. We may even see Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea fielding reserve teams domestically while their elite jet off. What Mr Glazer and his ilk should never underestimate amid their global strategy, though, is the desire of domestic audiences to see United play City, Real play Atlético and Milan take on Inter at least twice a season. Who can say where it will all lead? Who could say that the Premiership would be what it is when the game was on its knees in the dark 1980s days of the Heysel, Bradford, and Hillsborough? Doomsday may not be not far away according to some: but then it never has been. And football does have a curious knack of pulling back from the brink and saving itself.’