Talk to the brand
Nov. 6th, 2005 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksAs I expected the second that Andy Ward said that Chelsea were the nap of the day at 8-to-11 to beat Manchester United, Chelsea appear to be heading for defeat. Personally, I hardly ever bet odds-on. "Back the better team that's getting points" is a good principle. So this was a no-bet game.
But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the troubles at Manchester United. Me being me, this is not, of course, anything football-related. In the immortal words of Tessio in The Godfather, "tell Mike it was strictly business".
The Big Book of Football Managers' Clichés contains some classic one-liners (although not many one-worders; the best of these surely being Gordon Strachan's response to a reporter's request for a quick word. "Velocity", said our Gordon, before departing apace) and one of these is surely "No player is bigger than the club".
Unfortunately, in the case of Manchester United, this may not be true. The team's tour of the far east last summer, sans David Beckham, was poorly attended. Now it appears that shirt sales are falling as well and, most worryingly, a survey by a branding company found that 30% of "fans" now followed players rather than teams.
Manchester United will always fill their own ground, but that is a snippet of global income. No longer will 80,000 people be willing to watch a friendly in Singapore where the goalkeeper plays at centre-forward. The brand, as they say, is not what it was.
I suspect that Glazer may have taken the company private at just the wrong time.
Good.
But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the troubles at Manchester United. Me being me, this is not, of course, anything football-related. In the immortal words of Tessio in The Godfather, "tell Mike it was strictly business".
The Big Book of Football Managers' Clichés contains some classic one-liners (although not many one-worders; the best of these surely being Gordon Strachan's response to a reporter's request for a quick word. "Velocity", said our Gordon, before departing apace) and one of these is surely "No player is bigger than the club".
Unfortunately, in the case of Manchester United, this may not be true. The team's tour of the far east last summer, sans David Beckham, was poorly attended. Now it appears that shirt sales are falling as well and, most worryingly, a survey by a branding company found that 30% of "fans" now followed players rather than teams.
Manchester United will always fill their own ground, but that is a snippet of global income. No longer will 80,000 people be willing to watch a friendly in Singapore where the goalkeeper plays at centre-forward. The brand, as they say, is not what it was.
I suspect that Glazer may have taken the company private at just the wrong time.
Good.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-06 08:03 pm (UTC)Erm, which it doesn't really.
Andy.
Prices up, value down
Date: 2005-11-06 09:22 pm (UTC)We who have been in the betting trade would have said "11/8 at Betfair" to avoid the confusion. But, mon mal, as they say in Quebec.
To be honest, that price was about right. Still a no-bet game, as far as I was concerned.
In fact, football games are only profitable for me (and, I suspect, for most customers) when I think the automatically - generated "correct score" prices fail to take into account extraneous factors. E.G, look at the average number of nil-nil draws on the opening day of the season, compared with the average number of nil-nil draws throughout the season.
Unless of course you know how to win friends and influence the right kind of people (goalkeepers, preferably).
PJ