DAMN EVIL MONEY

The invasion by the filthy rich Arab sheiks in English football is likely to derail the culture,passion and excitement we have become accustomed to, week in - week out for decades.From the days of Nottingham forest,Queens Park Rangers,Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon ,to the later day premiership dominated by a team from the north of London,we have come so far to give up the English way,to the Sheiks of Arabia.

Contrary to what we keep fooling ourselves,sometimes life is not worth all the fuss associated with it.Sometimes damn evil money can't buy you happiness.The recent raid of AC Milan's Kaka by Manchester city shows how vulnerable the english game has become.Probably,i am a bit biased to love the English game the way i do.Afterall i was brought up under the dosage of the English game.Buying Kaka will not transform the English minnows in to a formidable outfit.And that's a fact.

Real Madrid tried it a couple of years ago by buying the best players in each position the world had to offer.They even bettered themselves by ensembling the second best players in each position.The dream was to built an invincible empire of talented footballers from around the globe.There were players from Portugal,Brazil,England and even from the Democratic republic of congo - Claude Makelele. What a grave mistake?What they didn't realise was that they were not building a dream team but destroying other teams in the process.Their ruthlessness came to the fore when they snatched a half-fit Ronaldo from Inter Milan.Ronaldo had suffered a horrific injury playing for Inter Milan and the poor team had stood by him through the rehabilitation.In spite of all that, Real Madrid came up with an offer which was above market value.And Ronaldo lost his allegiance with Milan and headed for Madrid.Now with Milan crippled and suffering back to back defeats,they turned to a raw teenage Nigerian Obafemi Martins for inspiration.

Upto this day Real Madrid are renowned for paying the highest transfer fee for any player in history,£48M for Zinedine Zidane.In contrast Manchester city are preparing to pay a record 10 times than the previous world record for a player less talented than Zizou.How intriguing?

The justified expenditure remains that of Diego Maradona in 1984,when he left Barcelona for Napoli in a world record fee, by then of 12 million Italian liras.He was a player in a class of his own.Between 1984 and 1991 he had made 259 appearances and scored 115 goals.The 1986-87 season was the landmark in Napoli's history;they won the double,securing the Seria A title by three points and also lifting the Coppa Italia.Because a mainland southern Italian team had never won the league before,this turned Diego Maradona into a cultural,social and borderline religious icon for Neapolitans,which stretched beyond the realms of just football.And to cap it all in the season 1988-89 Napoli won the UEFA cup.Now that's what i call talent and worth all the money associated with it.

For that reason,Arab money is bound to erode English football.Chelsea tried to buy success and momentarily we thought English football was in for a rude awakening until they fired Mourinho.Success is a process and takes time.The money that the Sheiks are disposing to buy Kaka could have been used to develop more indigenous talent.

Arab money is on the verge of whitewashing our beloved sport.