Fixing markets for failure never works...

****

The manager of former world cup winning side, West Ham United, Sam Allardyce has this to say about the Football League's incoming "fair finance" rules:

"The rules are going to cause absolute chaos and are going to destroy football as we know it unless we are very careful," he says.

"It's making finance more important. I am not saying that we want to put clubs into jeopardy – the Portsmouth scenario – but this is the entertainment industry, not a financial institution whose only aim is to balance the books."

The point Big Sam makes here is that the current rules aren't making lower league football in England less competitive - he comments in the same article about how the league is more "ferocious and volatile" than when he last managed in the Championship. Whenever the word "fair" crops up alarm bells should ring - indeed these new rules won't stop clubs failing but will make it ever more difficult for smaller clubs to build a successful run. And it won't stop clubs getting into financial trouble either.

But then no-one's listening. Always and everywhere fixing markets to favour failure doesn't work.

....

Well that about does it for 2010 (thank heavens) - here's to 2011. Now how does that song go?

Another year sputters to its end. Exhausted, fractious and, like the overtired toddler, definitely in need of a rest. So what do we do? We throw a party. Not just any old party but a big party - a party where everyone has to go out, drink, make a fool of themselves, be happy, sing crappy Scottish dirges while holding hands in an odd way and get all maudlin about what good, bad or tragic occurred in the preceding 365 days.

I guess a bit of remembering is a good thing - taking a moment in time to survey the wreckage of 2010 and to peer into 2011's crystal ball. For my part, I shall look forward rather than back - mostly because 2010 was a pretty crap year for me, bad enough for me to believe that things really can only get better.

So here's some thoughts for 2011 - not predictions, I don't do predictions - just thoughts:


1. May sees an important set of elections - not just those in Scotland and Wales but across English local government. And the Coalition parties stand to do badly. For the Conservatives this is to be expected but for the Liberal Democrats it could prove something of a shock should their dire poll position continue.

In England, the Liberal Democrats will be defending 1,830 seats, Labour 1,600 and the Conservatives just over 5,000. In the equivalent elections in 2007, the Liberal Democrats polled 26% of the vote, about twice its current poll level. A third of the seats in Metropolitan councils and all the seats in the 30 unitary councils are up for election. A total of 124 district councils have all their seats up for election, and 70 have a third.

With Conservatives losing hundreds of seats (although I hope this won't be the case in Bingley Rural), it will be the performance of the Liberal Democrats that will get the focus - if they lost half the seats they are defending it will place further pressure on the deal with the Conservatives. We could see high profile defections to Labour from Liberal Democrat ranks - certainly at local level and possibly a national figure or two.

2. On the policy front, I expect to see the free schools movement accelerating - there are large places without proposals (there are none in Leeds, for example, compared to three in Bradford) and, as the first schools get closer to opening interest will rise. This is the most exciting - and I expect most change-making - of Coalition proposals and one that will benefit the lives of thousands of children many from poorer backgrounds. Coupled with the reassertion of didacticism and teacher authority, this is the most welcome change in education since 1944.

3. We will see further strikes, protests, sit-ins and such - all greated with frothing nonsense by both left and right. Two things will come of this - the police will be granted more power to deal with 'unrest' and those protesting will undermine their argument and their cause. The first is a crying shame (but always happens) and the second is the consequence of protests - 1968, 1981, 1990: remember those protests as the "people" took to the streets, were "mobilised" to fight for their rights. In each case, two years later saw the return of a Conservative Government. Most people don't like violent protest - it's as simple as that really.

4. On other fronts - the public health proposals will see the New Puritans on the rise again as the active campaign against working-class lifestyles takes on a new order. Local councils - and us councillors - will do what we do so well. Fuss, irritate, intervene and generally make a nuisance of our selves. This time in the interests of 'healthy living'. I shall be opposing all this - but will be a lonely voice.

Finally, I hope to find some more remunerative work, spend some quality time with my family and enjoy the company of those few friends I have left. Oh, and see West Ham stay in the Premiership (although this is looking a little unlikely right now). And I'll pen the odd word or two here - including a welcome return to the Friday Fungus.

I hope you all enjoy 2011 - after all 2010 has been and gone so all that rubbish is behind us. And the coming year will be a good one - I know so!

....

Well it cheered me up!

West Ham 4 Manchester United 0

After a thoroughly rubbish day this is the kind of cheering up I needed. Simple, straightforward and emphatic.

Thanks!

.....

Hooligans - it's not football they follow it's violence

A couple of weeks back this bar - the Foundry Hill in Bingley - had its windows smashed in, stock destroyed or stolen and customers threatened and intimidated. By men who claimed to be supporters of Bradford City - a "firm" known as Ointment. I am sure that up and down the country people can tell of similar tales - whether it is of the Brighton Headhunters, Palace's Dirty 30 or the Service Crew from Leeds. For all the adoption of a particular badge, these men are more lovers of violence than lovers of football.

Yesterday evening saw the seemingly inevitable violence break out at the game between West Ham and Millwall - long-standing rivals in London. Others like The West Ham Process and Darren Lewis in the Daily Mirror described the experience first hand and it did not sound pleasant or enjoyable - emotions we should be able to associate with a sporting occasion.

Some - like our sports minister - have responded with the obvious knee-jerk condemnation accompanied by calls for books to be thrown and stones not to be left unturned. I find this unhelpful since it heaps too much of the blame on the police, the stewards, the club and the ordinary fan. These reactions, however much they might be understandable, do not get to the heart of the matters, do not ask why such violence takes place and simply fuel the calls for more draconian restrictions on football - and by extension other sports as well.

Other observers - before and after the game - seem more wise, more thoughtful and should be paid more attention. Peter Preston in the Guardian reacts as a long-standing Millwall fan by saying it's not the game but the people. And before the game West Ham fan and regeneration writer, Julian Dobson asked what it is that creates divisions and prejudice - in society generally as much as in football.

And these writers appreciate that this hooliganism, this violence, reflects our wider society and culture - football is victim not a perpetrator. The solution - if there is one - lies within the minds of those who join these "firms" of hooligans. And with a society that is at best equivocal towards violence and at worst rewards it with license.