As is the case with the exploitation of natural resources, the less developed the region, the cheaper you can buy the resource and the more profit you can ultimately make. As such it is never in the best interest of those buying the resources to develop the region of origan. And this much can be said to be true in a footballing sense. While teams do want to improve a certain amount of the footballing

Before I begin this article, I would like to state for the record, I am a member of the AKB. I firmly believe in the project and direction of the club. It is a financially savvy and frugal system that flows against the unsustainable and in many ways corrupt strategies employed by so many other teams around the world. There is no point naming names, but in my opinion ( I’ll stress this point, for this is a blog that provides the platform for everyone to express there opinions and not dress opinion as fact) the money that comes into the EPL has raised the levels for potential corruption. There have been more than a few articles that look into Football investment as a means of money laundering. That is not the focus of this article.

I would like to take a different angle on football. As pointed out above, the buy buy buy philosophy in many ways can lead to the corruption of the sport, and as such I prefer the build build build philosophy, the philosophy of Barca, Ajax and Arsenal (and many more). However, on a moral level, is this actually any better than the former (yes I know, I am probably contradicting myself, but frankly my dear I don’t give a damn, I want to express the thoughts that I have been pondering).

Is it possible that both paths are fundamentally morally dubious? Could it be that whichever path leads to success is the right path and that in fact the ends do justify the means???

What I would like to posit is that the system in place at Arsenal and Barca can in many ways be seen as just a new form of resource exploitation for the profit of uncaring private investors. Sport is an entertainment business and behind any business there are those who merely concern themselves with profit. It is how you make profitability that can fall into the imoral or moral. Or is profit ever moral, that is the point I guess I am getting at. Look at Enron, Fannie Mae, AIG and Lehamnn brothers, or even further still, the Robber Barons or even European Monarchies. The profitability of all the above institutions all had one thing in common, they were ruthless in their pursuit of profit.

In the case of colonial economies, the system worked as such: they would ruthlessly exploit undeveloped nations resources, export them back to Europe, manufacture them and then sell them on at a massive profit. Such is the same model of Neo-Colonial capitalism (Coca Colonisation for example).

Is this not very similar to what Arsenal and Barcelona are doing? We find diamonds from underdeveloped regions, such as Latin America, Africa and in some cases different parts of London (yes that is a joke intended to lighten the mood) in turn those diamonds are removed from these areas, processed into finished products which can be sold on for profit.

These areas barely see the money that these diamonds are worth and the real money more than likely goes to private investors in the region. The players themselves, while they earn a fortune (especially in comparison to their national compatriots) are in most cases unprepared for the money they earn and tend to retire from the game in financial ruin.

As is the case with the exploitation of natural resources, the less developed the region, the cheaper you can buy the resource and the more profit you can ultimately make. As such it is never in the best interest of those buying the resources to develop the region of origan. And this much can be said to be true in a footballing sense. While teams do want to improve a certain amount of the footballing infrastructure so that they can continue to exploit a partially developed product, the true profit is never seen in the players community nor for the region.

Maybe teams like Arsenal develop the area closer to home, but what do they do for their players from further afield? How much financial training do they give to their young players to provide them with protection from the dark financial realities of a professional footballer? Do they even provide any?

Arsenal is a team of development, but is that development meant to only increase the profit of some soulless private investor or is it spread out to include the regions that are used to provide this industry with it’s products?

I love this team and this club, but I also think it is important to ask such questions, so that when we as supporters criticize other teams for their direction (buy buy buy or grow grow grow) we can say theirs is wrong while knowing we aren’t doing equally harmful things, that may not be as noticeable because they are not as close to home.

This is a think piece, so think about it and criticise don’t just criticise the action of thinking…

Mean Lean’s Response

Certainly a think piece with some very interesting questions.

Arsenal like any other club, in fact like any business try to do the very best for ourselves and ourselves only. If this means pinching assets from other clubs for a value far less than said player is worth then we are likely to do just that.

I had a recent debate with several other Gooners about Arsenal making a profit from the youth development system we have in place and as supporters I suppose it can be easy to think of Arsenal as a club just set up to satisfy it’s support, or at least attempt to satisfy the support.

The reality is that Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Oxford City, Ipswich Town and FC Barcelona are all businesses. Businesses that have to compete ferociously with competition on all levels.

‘How much financial training do they give to their young players to provide them with protection from the dark financial realities of a professional footballer? Do they even provide any?’

I am not certain about how other clubs operate but I do know that, at Arsenal we educate all our young players and try to develop them as people as well as players. Education, media training, English language (in some cases) as well as many other things are part of the Arsenal way.

The moral or immoral question is interesting. Whilst you could probably argue for and against artificial cash being thrown around from rich billionaires, you could argue that Arsenal do much more for young men than most clubs. We may not fill the pockets of a club from an underdeveloped country but we certainly do great things for individuals. Educate both footballistically and academically, teach them how to become men and if they cannot manage to equal the quality of Robin Van Persie then they are perfectly prepared to further their careers elsewhere.

I think that is about as moral as a club will get in 2011.