TWO years ago, the executive chairman of the English Premiership, Richard Scudamore, issued a chilling warning that Manchester United’s struggles on the pitch had the potential of seriously damaging the global appeal of the world’s most popular top-flight football league. Since arriving as the English Premiership chief executive, in November 1999, Scudamore has overseen its transformation into a money-making monster, which dwarfs all the major top-flight leagues in the world, with the new television rights deal set to rake in more than £13 billion from around the world.

There is more money, now, in the English Premiership than the UEFA Champions League.

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Given his phenomenal success story, in the corridors of corporate football, it’s inevitable that when Scudamore talks, the entire global football family not only listens, but does so attentively.

And his decision, to go public back then and warn that Manchester United’s on-the-field troubles could impact negatively on the worldwide appeal, with the financial implications that come with that, on the English Premiership was not only a brave one, given the wrong signals it could send among the Red Devils’ rivals, but a significant — if not highly controversial — one.

“There’s lots of fans around the world who wish Manchester United were winning it (the league title) again,” Scudamore told Bloomberg during a promotional tour of South Africa in March 2014.

“But you have to balance that off against putting on a competition. It’s a double-edged sword. WHEN YOUR MOST POPULAR CLUB ISN’T DOING AS WELL, THAT COSTS YOU INTEREST AND AUDIENCES IN SOME PLACES.”

Of course, Manchester United are not only English football’s biggest club, they are one of the world’s greatest sporting franchises, but it was inevitable that Scudamore’s comments, in which he appeared to regret the Red Devils’ spectacular fall from grace, would provoke a storm of controversy among the major rivals of that Old Trafford club.

After, all, as the league’s boss, he is expected to play for all the clubs in the league, sing for all the clubs in the league, love all the clubs in the league rather than creating an Animal Farm scenario where all the clubs in the English Premiership where equal, but some clubs were more equal than others.

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Critics slaughtered Scudamore, pointing to the fact that the English Premiership has transformed itself into a global box-office attraction on the basis of its competitiveness, where any club can beat any side, where results aren’t as predictable as those in La Liga or the Bundesliga and where a small club like Leicester City can write a fairytale by becoming champions.

There was fury, among the Liverpool fans, who are United’s biggest rivals and derive a lot of joy in the Red Devils’ misfortunes, and social media exploded with group debates, featuring the Merseyside giants’ supporters.

One contributor said, “all I can assume from these comments is he (Scudamore) is pro-Man U and maybe thinks they should be given special status — auto Champs League qualification, added time at end of match to be discussed by referee Howard Webb and Webb to handle all the games at Old Trafford.”

Another contributor, Johnny Zidane, said he thought “United had been given special status, all these years, with all the dodgy decisions and the number of people high up in the FA with Man U backgrounds,”while another one called Scudamore’s statement “absolute rubbish, four teams in with a shout of the title and all they do is cry because their beloved Man Utd are nowhere to be seen.”

Another fan said he “wouldn’t be surprised if the FA helps, in a certain way, to influence a certain big name player to join Man Utd,” while another said he wasn’t surprised because “Manure (the name they use to mock Man U) have got their finger in every pie throughout football, maybe he should just start a League that consists of just Man United and Man United reserves.”

ARE DEMBARE’S WOES TOXIC TO THE DOMESTIC PREMIERSHIP?

Dynamos, just like Manchester United in England, are the dominant bull in the domestic Premiership kraal, with the Glamour Boys being crowned champions a record 21 times while the Red Devils have been champions 20 times.

Even though DeMbare have struggled to make an impression in the championship race this year, falling 11 points behind leaders FC Platinum, they were still named the 13th best club in Africa this week by Football Data Base who ranked high-flying South African champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, as the top club on the continent followed closely by the likes of Esperance, Etoile du Sahel, TP Mazembe and Vita Club.

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For the first time, in a decade, the Glamour Boys lost a league match to big rivals Highlanders and, for the first time in seven years, Dynamos also fell, in a league contest, to their biggest city rivals CAPS United and that both defeats were inflicted at Rufaro, before their fans who had been fed on a regular diet of dishes that had a taste of superiority, compounded the pain of the defeats.

Their leading goal-scorer, a midfielder trying to banish the demons of the injuries which have stalked his return to the capital after a very successful spell in the City of Kings, where he made such a big impression he was labelled a later-day Judas Iscariot, complete with a front page story in the Chronicle, for choosing to leave Bosso and join DeMbare, has only scored FOUR goals, including two in the last two games.

The self-proclaimed Prince, weighed down by a baggage of failure that doesn’t match his showmanship — which his critics say he mistakes for his confidence — and haunted by a destructive obsession of wanting to always be the main man even when his goal return is the stuff of Mickey Mouse characters not Glamour Boys’ legends, has only TWO goals all season.

Nineteen games into the season, he has scored as many goals as Coutinho scored, in just more than an hour, in one game at the Emirates last weekend, but while the Brazilian rising star, whom his Liverpool skipper says can become the next superstar in world football, is content to remain in the shadows, learning as much as he can, our Prince believes he is already a football god.

At least, to his credit, Masimba Mambare carries himself in a very professional manner, is a very likeable character, works very hard for his team even when he is not getting support from his teammates in the forward line, and — given what he has suffered, in terms of the cruelty of the injuries which have stalked him — just the mere fact that he is playing again, on a regular basis, should be celebrated and, hopefully, he can only get better and better as his confidence soars.

Now, as DeMbare continue to struggle this season, facing the possibility of finishing outside the top two in the championship race for the first time in NINE years, without a win in their last SIX games, and with only two goals to show for their last HALF-A-DOZEN games, can we say that the Glamour Boys’ struggles is toxic to the domestic Premiership?

While we all cry out for a competitive Premiership, dream of a fairy-tale like the one written by the Foxes of Leicester where a club like Border Strikers can win the league championship, we cannot run away from the reality that, in our unique case, clubs like Dynamos, Highlanders and CAPS United have to be competitive, year-in-and-year-out, for the league to be attractive, for it to appeal to a bigger fan base.

DeMbare, as much as this might hurt fans of their rivals, are the big boys when it comes to football in this country and when they sneeze, as if the case right now, the entire domestic Premiership catches a cold and it’s not a coincidence that the biggest matches in this country have a common denominator of the Glamour Boys.

The biggest game in Bulawayo, every year, is the Battle of Zimbabwe showdown between Highlanders and Dynamos and the biggest game in the capital, every year, is the Harare Derby between Dynamos and CAPS United.

The biggest crowd at Sakubva this year was when these Glamour Boys, even under the guidance of a Portuguese clown-disguised-as-a-coach, came to town and that pattern will play out in every other centre although, as DeMbare’s challenge falters and some of their fans begin to lose interest, those clubs who are going to host them towards the end of the season will not get as many fans as those who hosted them in the first half of the season.

Still, when compared to other games, it’s very likely that those numbers will be the highest to watch a game in those areas.

And it’s not just about the crowds that come to watch our domestic Premiership which are, in some way, influenced by the mood of the Glamour Boys, it’s the corporate appeal of the Premier League, its ability to sell itself to sponsors who also want guarantees that there is a sizeable crowd that will follow their investment, which also need a competitive Dynamos.

The newspaper owners also need a competitive Dynamos because when the Glamour Boys are doing well there is a big appetite for news about what is happening in their camp and, when they are not doing well — as is the case now — newspaper sales suffer a knock because some of the club’s fans, simply lose interest.

Yes, we don’t want a domestic Premiership that will always be won by Dynamos, it becomes boring, but we will be lying to ourselves if we say that the Glamour Boys, just like Manchester United in England, don’t have a bearing in the appeal of our domestic Premiership and, at least, they should be competitive.

It’s also true that, without a competitive Highlanders and a competitive CAPS United, our league will be poorer, will lose some of its magical elements, and that the two giants have not won a league title, in 10 years, has taken some gloss of the championship battle.

Like Scudamore, I know I will attract a lot of criticism, but that comes with the terrain and Kenny Ndebele, a former Highlanders boss, can also tell you that his league — where he is the chief executive — badly need a competitive Dynamos, not the sickling we have seen in recent weeks, a competitive CAPS United, not the caricature we had seen in recent years before this season, and a competitive Highlanders, not the one that has been losing its way in recent weeks.

Reports of the DeMbare camp being poisoned by a booze culture, are a throwback to the ‘80s when Sir Alex Ferguson walked into the Manchester United dressing room to find players who couldn’t wait to get their hands on beer, irrespective of the results, are just an insult to the domestic Premiership and all the people who are working very hard to keep it afloat, with a sponsor or two, in these tough economic times.

TOO BAD, GAZZA HAS WALKED AWAY FROM THE BOARDROOM

Alois Bunjira has an army of admirers, and a battalion of critics, which isn’t surprising given that he is quite a fiery character who believes in saying things the way he sees them and feels that he should always provide a voice to try and help our game take a step forward even when his opinion might upset some people.

I like Alois, not because he is from a neighbourhood that became my second home, but because I always felt he was a very good footballer and I felt for him, in 1995, when he lost the Soccer Star of the Year to his colleague, Stewart Murisa, by just a single vote.

The fact that he is trying to develop the next generation of footballers, through his academy, shows that he really has a long-term commitment to Zimbabwe football and if he is not going to be one of the future leaders, then I can bet you that he is going to be one of the future successful coaches.

During the time he worked on the CAPS United board, he always tried to bring a professional touch, shifting post-match interviews away from the football field to a press conference room, working tirelessly to connect the club and the mainstream media and always trying to bring something fresh.

It’s too bad he has decided to walk away from the boardroom but, refreshingly, Gazza is still around to help our football and that should be appreciated.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!

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Chat with me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber or read my material in The Southern Times and on www.sportszone.co.zw. The authoritative ZBC weekly television football magazine programme, Game Plan, is back and follow our discussions on Monday evening

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