G14 LOOK TO KARL MARX

It may seem incongruous to describe Europe’s wealthiest clubs as oppressed workers uniting to throw off their shackles, but after spending an hour or so with Thomas Kurth, the group’s general manager, it is hard to escape the sense that this is exactly how they see themselves. And, like their trade unionist forefathers, they are ready to fight for their rights. The G14’s headquarters are in Brussels, on Avenue de la Toison d’ Or, or Golden Fleece Avenue, which is somehow appropriate as they contend that they are being milked by football’s governing bodies, Fifa and Uefa.

“Clubs have to raise all the funds to run a football business,” Kurth said. “Associations take players for free, organise matches, get revenues but don’t pay any costs. They make money and use it for purposes which they decide.” According to Kurth, the G14 recognises that much of the money is well spent — on coaching, the grass roots and refereeing — but wants a balance in where the money goes. The G14 would like to see as much as 15 per cent of revenue from the World Cup and European Championship funnelled back to the clubs.

Their research shows that, in a typical season, a top player will spend some 20 per cent of his time with his national team. Moreover, even while a player is on national team duty, the club are responsible for his insurance liabilities. So if Luiz Felipe Scolari goes mad, forces Cristiano Ronaldo to go on a 50-mile run while with the Portugal squad and the boy wonder grinds his kneecaps into a fine dust, it becomes Sir Alex Ferguson’s problem, not the Portuguese FA’s. And if a player turns down a call-up from the national side, Fifa has the power to suspend him for four full days after the match (five, if the game is held on a different continent).

“The club assumes all the responsibility for the player, and if he doesn’t want to go, he is punished by Fifa,” Kurth said. “That’s not fair. The clubs should have a say. We are not against the national teams, but these issues should be discussed and any decision must be balanced. But at the moment, they won’t listen to us.” If anything, that is an understatement. Fifa has turned down all attempts at dialogue. Uefa goes one better: European football’s governing body will not recognise the G14, electing to pretend that it does not exist.

“Look, we are not as radical as some people would like us to appear,” Kurth said. “We’re not going to deny someone the right to defend the colours of their country. We’re not going to ask Ivory Coast for money every time Drogba plays for his country. What we’re saying is that every two years, when there is a big international tournament with central marketing and massive revenue, the clubs should receive a slice of the revenue. Say 15 per cent, possibly a little less . . .”

Issues such as these underscore why the G14 exists. In a perfect world, Uefa and Fifa would deal with these questions via their constituents, the national FAs, who represent the interests of their domestic clubs. Except therein lies the problem. As Kurth points out, not all FAs are created equal: the big ones may well stick up for their domestic giants, but the little ones have no interest in doing so, since any concession to the clubs would ultimately come out of their end.

“The reality is that, in Uefa, there are five big associations out of 52 and everyone has one vote,” he said, “and so the major FAs are always outvoted. The smaller ones fear that the big five will take away their power and their star players. So nothing gets done.”