MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: It's not all about money (From South Wales Argus)

MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: It's not all about money

1:30pm Thursday 28th May 2009

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THE Newport Gwent Dragons could well bow out of the Heineken Cup before it even starts and if they do, no doubt it will be blamed on a lack of funds, which makes it impossible for them to compete with their rivals.

It’s a tried and tested excuse, as predictable as the critics of English football’s juggernaut Premier League labelling it a soul-less cesspit where money is king and the have nots won’t ever compete with the big boys.

However, while the top four (same again) give those critics a strong hand, all four professional divisions this season prove that the English football pyramid can still produce sensational levels of surprise and drama.

Everton’s budget is smaller than Tottenham’s, Man City’s, Aston Villa’s, Newcastle’s and Sunderland’s, yet they finished fifth in the Premier League and will contest the FA Cup Final on Saturday.

Fulham have a small budget, but they will play European football next season when the likes of Spurs, West Ham and Man City will not.

Newcastle’s budget is bigger than Hull’s, Stoke’s, Blackburn’s, Bolton’s, Portsmouth’s and Wigan’s, yet the mighty Toon will be fighting it out with Cardiff City and Swansea next season.

The ultimate pantomime club are joining the pantomime league, where drama, farce and exciting action make it the division that is impossible to predict.

Few would have even entertained the notion that of all the big clubs in the Championship, the two Welsh sides, Wolves, Birmingham, Sheffield’s Wednesday and United, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Derby and the new Chelsea, QPR, that it would be Burnley who will strut their stuff in the Premier League next season.

They have one of the smallest budgets in the entire Championship and built a squad largely on rejects from other clubs, Steve Thompson a prime example.

However, they had a sensible chairman, a supremely talented manager (now tipped to be Celtic’s supremely talented manager) and supporters so used to underachievement they were happy to show a relatively new regime some patience.

Burnley were, of course, giants of the English game in the 1960s, but it’s been a long road back to the top for them, Stoke and Hull showing this season that even the unlikeliest of sides can survive if managed correctly.

However, surely every chairman who sacks a manager at the blink of an eye, every supporter who desperately craves change and revolution at their club, can learn from Newcastle United.

Supporters don’t always know best. The Toon fans, who we are constantly told are the greatest on the planet and who ‘deserve’ successes because of their large numbers, essentially hounded out Sam Allardyce after less than half a season last term.

If Big Sam was still Newcastle manager, they’d still be a Premier League team, if not the one their supporters believe they should be.

The saviour Kevin Keegan arrived but, as ever, he walked away when the going got tough, creating a new super villain, Mike Ashley.

The chairman who stumped up loads of cash to oust Freddie Shepherd, who sacked a good manager to appease the fans, was suddenly receiving death threats.

The credit crunch meant he couldn’t sell the club; he suffered misfortune with Joe Kinnear’s heart trouble and then once again listened to the masses to bring in the new saviour, Alan Shearer, the natural successor to the genius Keegan in the make-believe world Newcastle fans live in.

Except, he couldn’t save them, a poor squad assembled by three different management regimes simply couldn’t rise to the challenge of relegating a Hull side who post-Christmas did everything possible to go down. Newcastle, one of the biggest clubs in the land, couldn’t even manage 35 points.

The culprits? The chairman, various managers and players. Stability is the most important component of success, Newcastle were as stable as Kerry Katona holding an atom bomb and they paid the ultimate price.

United and Arsenal got on top because of excellent management and they’ve stayed on top for the same reason.

Liverpool actually mounted a serious title challenge this season, yet thousands of supporters thought Rafa Benitez’ time had come because they’ve still not won the league. But Liverpool’s owners stuck with him and he proved that decision right.

It’s something Cardiff City might want to consider. The Bluebirds were so unlucky this term, the wheels coming off right at the end of the season, much as they had for Newport County in a far less high stakes environment a year earlier.

Listening to local football phone-ins since, it’s clear that a certain number of Cardiff fans have totally lost faith in Dave Jones.

He pays the price for being uncommunicative at times and extremely edgy towards the Cardiff media, but Jones has done an unbelievably good job with the Bluebirds.

When you have a boss who takes you to the verge of the playoffs, an FA Cup Final and who has the judgement to sign Ross McCormack for peanuts, you really ought to stick with him.

The Swans have a modest budget, but with Roberto Martinez at the helm, anything seems possible, even though the Liberty Stadium might have to endure a difficult second season (as it so often seems to be, much like with albums) before pushing for the Premier League.

The decline of Newcastle and the rise of Burnley should give every club in the country hope.

Bournemouth produced a miracle to survive in the football league and Darren Ferguson has taken Peterborough United into the Championship, amazing feats that rival that of Burnley.

Cardiff and Swansea fans, along with those of all 72 clubs in the Football League next season, can dare to dream.

Football isn’t yet all about the pounds and pence. Just ask Newcastle.

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