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Pacman to the point

Greed is threatening to ruin the beautiful game

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Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco recalls the "Bogarde" affair, the Ronaldo World Cup 98 incident and the part played by the FA's greed as England failed to qualify for Euro 2008

"Why should I throw €15m away when it is already mine? This world is about money, so when you are offered those millions you take them. I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don't care."

Those were the words of former Chelsea full-back Winston Bogarde, who famously played just 11 times for the club during a four-year spell during which he reportedly earned £40,000 a week. After being discarded by the newly-arrived coach Claudio Ranieri, Bogarde chose to train with the reserves, youth team and at times by himself rather than try to find himself a new club.

It goes down as one of the most cynical examples of greed and selfishness amongst footballers, as well as being a recurring nightmare for Chelsea's accountants. Bogarde argued in his autobiography that it was Chelsea who decided to offer him such inflated wages and that he looked for a new club who could offer him a similar salary but given he was in the twilight of his career, he found none. Bogarde would be well within his rights to ask how many readers of this column would have acted differently if put in his position. Either way, the truth is he chose to take advantage of a ridiculous contract and cash in rather than exercise his chosen profession.

I wonder how much of a factor money was in England not making it to Euro 2008. I spoke in my column last week of the estimated £2 billion loss to the British economy that missing out on qualification brought about but I doubt the players will have sleepless nights over that. Whereas I'm sure all the players wanted to be at the competition next Summer, I have doubts about the fact they gave 100% during the whole campaign like they do for their clubs week-in-week-out. Why? Because it's their clubs that pay for their Bentleys and Cheshire mansions, not the FA.

A few more questions for you. Why did England play a meaningless friendly (in which Michael Owen got injured) just days before their most important match of the year? The answer: money. Why was an NFL match (which destroyed the pitch) played at Wembley a couple of weeks before the Croatia match? Money. Why were John Terry and Ashley Cole left out of the England team, only for both to start for Chelsea just three days later against Derby? As it happens, I don't know the answer to this last question but I think one thing is clear - if they were fit to start for Chelsea, they were probably also fit to start for England. Read into that what you will. The irony of the whole situation is crystal clear: England's greed to make money during the campaign ultimately contributed to them missing out on the really big prize.

Cast your memories back to France 98 where the world's greatest player at the time, brazilian Ronaldo (in his slimline days) started the World Cup final appearing to be half-fit, mentally unstable and in a world of his own. He had a shocker; Brazil lost 3-0. Coincidence that both he and Brazil were at the time sponsored by Nike? Decide for yourselves.

I'm not advocating that football was better off in the days when players earned the same money as the punters who came through the turnstiles to watch them. Huge amounts of money pumped into the game courtesy of television, sponsorship and advertising have brought us such successful phenomenon as the Premiership and the Champions League. Unlike my good pal Gary Boswell who writes a superb non-league column on this site, I'm not a romantic when it comes to the beautiful game. By that I mean I want to see the best players on the planet play as often as possible as opposed to football of a lower calibre watched by fans who were all born within a stone's throw of the ground. Ten years ago it would have been impossible for Fulham (where I'm a season-ticket holder) to regularly field 8 or 9 internationals in their XI, now I watch them do it every week.

The riches on offer have also brought us a new breed of player. Premiership favourites Man Utd, who are [2.86] shots to defend their title have two unbelievable players in Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo who in their early twenties show more skill, speed, strength, flair and genius than the world's best players did over their whole careers twenty or thirty years ago. That can't be a bad thing. But the men who put all the money into the game need to beware of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. A few more Bogarde or Ronaldo incidents and the fans may turn their back on the game for good.