Chinese v The Saudis

The general consensus that the Saudi Pro League is here for the long term will not be sustainable if the Saudi government pull the financial plug on their continued prosperity to continue funding. In the light of their fancy the Joshua v Wilder fight has been abandoned due to the kingdom having a conflab about forking the money out for this particular hit, so it can happen. Previously the Chinese football revolution in 2013 to kick start into the world’s global arena and sanctioned by Chinese government investment was the same concept as we now see with the Saudis, the similarities are stark, time to shine the light on the yellow bellies, one fell by the wayside and does the other have the stomach for longevity. The paltry attendance figures in the Saudi Leagues does not auger well, perhaps the government will frog march the population to the stadiums, brain washing, sports washing it’s all the same, is that right? Believe the believers on bullshit mound.

In 2013 the Chinese honcho set a plan to make Chinese football a world dominant force to become a footballing powerhouse by the year 2050, inserted in the grandiose project was to be the creation of 20,000 soccer schools and 70,000 pitches with the ultimate end game being to participate, host and win the World Cup, the government offered the country’s businessmen and billionaires to jump on board with investments to kickstart the Chinese football explosion as mandated through state power with funds to match, a handcuffing to deliver. The gravy train had to begin with foreign player in drain on excessive wages alongside the highest acclaimed coaches in world football to be enticed, sounds familiar the Saudis. The Chinese discomfort zone was placed with the national side raked at number ninety-one in the FIFA rankings alongside the Chinese domestic leagues at the lowest of orders, an immediate impact was to be the role play. The first big explosion with the league’s bribery, corruption and match fixing to be squatted aside alongside the illegal gambling to be diluted. First off the rank came the titled ‘Evergrande Real Estate’ the second largest property developer in China began pumping money in the mid ranged club of Guangzhou Evergrande with managers Lippi, Scolari and Cannavaro becoming high profile managers to manage the club with Tardelli, Paulino, Oscar and Robinho to name a few players jumping on board the Chinese chop suey train, mercenaries they became, the highest paid players and managers in world football. Renamed to Guangzhou Evergrande, the club rose above the league’s pretenders and claimed six successive Chinese League trophies from 2011 to 2017.

The theme continued with the IPT group, the International Port Group investing into Shanghai Football Club, one of the largest trading companies in China. Sven-Goran Erikson was employed on their port of call with the unknown, non-capped Argentine Dario Conca signing on the Shanghai dotted line to become the third highest paid footballer in world football behind Ronaldo and Messi, crazy loon tunes with the spending at the GBP outstripping the wealth of many a small country, bonkers or conkers the Argentine led the club to the league title in 2018. Three other clubs to welcome significant investment were Shijiazhuang, Hedze Zhongi who employed the former Manchester manager Manuel Pelligrini on a 12 million pounds a year contract and Jango Guxih Sainty with Fabio Capello taking the reins, the club lifted the title in 2020. The domestic league was in lift-off zone but the Chinese state seen the youth infrastructure as non-progressing alongside the national team’s decline, a fast track on the project was ear marked within a decade, that was not the case and disenchantment set in. the domestic TV viewing figures were not of the standard required with most Chinese football supporters following English clubs becoming the fundamental reason for the eject button on the eventual bailout.

The Chinese state decided to scale down the industry with a series of measures implemented to smash the Chinese wall of football down. The clubs’ owners were being discouraged from spending large amounts of money making players unaffordable, the directives were coming from the Chinese FA, they became the government’s glove puppet. Clubs were handcuffed further with a salary cap implemented to not breach the new limit set on players wages to be marked down at 50,000 pounds a week, transfer fees doubled and foreign players became twice as expensive with the off-loading of the foreign brigade becoming the norm alongside the introduction of a one hundred percent tax rate on overseas signings. The manager and player drain accelerated to strip bare the leagues with businesses instructed to a no buy of football clubs. The Chinese age of the insane wages came to an end, the league became disjointed into chaos, it was rounded off before the Chinese introduction to the world of the COVID closure, perhaps they saw the writing on the wall world closure and that’s before another ball could be kicked.

Another dawn was arising with the state pointing the arrow for the country’s affluent business people and companies to invest into European clubs and to purchase. Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and inter Milan all have Chinese investment or ownership. It became a case of the Chinse hovering balloon looking to gain an insight into clubs’ infrastructure and how they are run and to link to the Chinese national team, crazy loon tunes and confirmed with the project in England scrapped, the concept was not proving not to be useful. There is still Chinese investment in European clubs, but the mandate is there to pull the plug. As for the floating balloon it’s time to pin it, that took a lot of gas. The gravy train in Saudi Arabia is in full flow alongside the Saudi’s paltry crowds and substandard league to cause a road block further down the line, it’s possible, the Chinese could outweigh the Saudis at throwing money at state controlled football. The Saudis have shown a dithering on occasions on handling over the fatted cheques particularly in the world of boxing so the shit fan could hit their sports washing wall, ask the Chinese, the ideals, the same result? Pour some oil on that one, the sands of time will reveal all.