The European Championship is on the horizon, and former Republic of Ireland star Tony Cascarino knows who he’s backing. But he’s also got a question: is it worth betting on international football any more anyway?
The age-old battle between clubs and country has reared its ugly head again. As you might have read, in recent weeks the leading European clubs – the self-appointed G14, including Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan – are demanding compensation when players go away on international duty. What a sense of timing – we’ve got the European Championship in Portugal in just a few months time!
Punters must wonder if it’s worth having a fl utter on international football any more. I think international football is an endangered species, and it’s been heading that way for a while. I remember talking to other players while away on international duty for Ireland and we wondered where international football was going then. The World Cup will always be there, but the European Championship’s days might be numbered.
Since the dawn of the Premiership and the Champions League, club football has dominated. The money on offer has increased to an incredible degree and that has affected international football. The clubs see an international tournament as an irritation that gets in the way at the end of a season.
The situation’s changed for the players, too. People forget what a big boost you got from the extra cash for playing international football. It really helped my income, I can tell you! When we qualified for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy, the top players collected around £40,000 – by the time you’ve played in two World Cups and a European Championship, like I did, it’s a tidy little sum. We used to play because we loved playing for our countries – but we turned up for the money as well. These days, club earnings dwarf international bonuses. How can Roy Keane get excited about extra cash playing for Ireland? He’s on £100,000 a week at Manchester United!
The balance of power shifted when I was playing. In the early days, the whole squad travelled to and from internationals together, but by the end Keane and Denis Irwin would have a private jet sent by Manchester United to pick them up at the end of the game! They weren’t allowed to stay with the team; they weren’t allowed to have a drink. They got on the plane, had a mineral water and headed straight home, ready for training with United on Thursday morning. It was such a change of culture for the Irish team, and United were so powerful, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) couldn’t do anything about it.
I suppose you have to accept that the G14 clubs have a reasonable argument. Why should they put up with sacrificing a player who gets injured playing for his country? He might be on the sidelines for nine months. Where is the benefit in that? But there used to be benefits for a club when one of their players was called up to represent his country – namely the player’s transfer fee would go up. A player rated at £2 million or £3 million would see his value go through the roof as soon as he was able to put ‘international football’ on his CV. Look at Nick Barmby – he never made much of an impact at club level but his transfer fees were extortionate because he had one or two good games for England, which meant he was ‘Nick Barmby the England star’. Barmby moved three times in five years costing a total of £17 million – just think of the signing-on fees! But he wouldn’t be so lucky these days – nowadays it’s the Champions League rather than international football that establishes your reputation.
So I think there are plenty of reasons why international football is on the wane. But don’t get me wrong, the European Championship at the end of the season will still get the players buzzing. I really looked forward to big championships – they’re fantastic. They’re viewed by billions of people around the world, they take place over four or five weeks and there is still nothing like representing your country.
That’s why I think international football isn’t quite ready to die yet and you can be sure I’ll be having a flutter on the big tournament this summer! There are a number of contenders to win the Henri Delaunay trophy, but I just think France are incredible value at 4/1. The team performed badly at the World Cup two years ago, but I have been regularly reading the French daily sports paper L’Equipe and I think the players are determined to react to the press criticism. France have two good players in every position and up front, if Thierry Henry doesn’t get the goals, David Trezeguet will. The only potential weakness is Fabien Barthez in goal because he has had a difficult season, but he is playing every week for my old club Marseille now. France really are the class act. I’m backing them to bounce back and show everybody what an outstanding team they are.
