The Real Thing

Euro 2008 over, and you might have thought that football would go onto the summer back-burner. It would were it not for Freddy Shepherd, he once of Newcastle United and he who wants to buy Real Mallorca. It would had it not been for what was a distinctly odd piece in "The Bulletin". Well actually it wasn't that odd, just the conclusion which said that a Shepherd purchase would give the British community on the island a boost at a time of credit crunch and would also signal that British business "continues to have great belief in the region and is not afraid to invest in Mallorca". You what?

You're going to have to help me here as I'm struggling. There's nothing wrong with bigging up Mallorca as a place to invest, but what has that got to do with buying a football club? When Abramovic, the Glazers and Gillette and Hicks bought their Premier League clubs, was this because they believed that England was a good place to invest in? No it was not. The geographical location of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool was irrelevant. They were buying football clubs that happened to be in England. Moreover, and this is relevant, football clubs that happened to offer the possibility of making a whole wedge of money, much of it from a cheque signed by the bosses of TV companies and from sales of merchandise to the Chinese who probably made the stuff in the first place, so coals to Newcastle and all that - as Mr. Shepherd will be particularly aware.

There are different motivations for buying football clubs, and making shedloads of dosh is but one of them. Ego and self-aggrandisement can both be found on the list. Many moons ago, I used to deal with the company that was the making of Robert Maxwell, the scientific journal publishers Pergamon. I was once at Pergamon HQ in Oxford, this being at the time that Maxwell was sniffing around Man United. I asked my contact what on Earth Cap'n Bob wanted with buying United. The answer was swift and simple. "He wants to be loved." I suppose there is nothing more egotistical than seeking the fan's love in return for buying his football club. Then there are the serial football entrepreneurs and directors - Peter Ridsdale, Ken Bates, Sam Hamman and now Freddy Shepherd - not all of whom have covered themselves in glory or have been honoured with the fan's undying love.

When Freddy Shepherd says that Real Mallorca has always been his "second team", this may well be the case and good luck to him if he wants to buy the club. But to nuance this as evidence of British confidence in investing in Mallorca per se is, I would submit, stretching the goalposts of mere football business beyond the touchlines. And quite what any of this has to do with the British community, credit crunch or no credit crunch, I am at a loss to explain. It is, perhaps, a simple case of serendipity. Mr. Shepherd spends a fair amount of time in Mallorca, the owner of the club needs to sell in order to pay off debts, and Mr. Shepherd has the proceeds from the sale of his Newcastle shares. All makes good sense, I suppose, but a case of investing in the island? Sorry, but I don't think so.


Oh, and another of these comments that are not sent as emails to me, but it's appended to yesterday's piece. Basically it is a big-up for The Monkees and the greatness of their show. You know something, I loved The Monkees when I was a kid, I had at least three of their albums, and some of their singles retain a distinct evocativeness - "Pleasant Valley Sunday", for example. But the vid with Peter Tork in "I'm A Believer" ... I don't know. Still, many thanks to one who keeps the flame burning for The Monkees.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Blur (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrZu_1ppCeI). And the chain question - Neil Diamond wrote "I'm A Believer". Today's title - could be a number of things, but I'm looking for an album by an influential American rock band of the 80s and 90s.

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