Passionless Bucks...

They say,"Money does not buy you everything."Yet there is an ever proliferating majority that tends to think else wise.Be it your kurta clad corrupt officials or a MBA graduate from a top notch institution or your milkman,money remains the epitome of life.Even i felt myself being drawn towards a system with emphasis on nothing but money generation.I found myself dreaming about institutions in Ahmedabad,Kolkata,Jamshedpur and more not because of what they offered me in terms of education but for the huge 7 digit pay packets that alumni of these institutions were assured of.
All this till a month back when certain bizarre events in the Spanish capital questioned the system i had so profoundly begun to adopt.It all began with Mr Florentina Perez making a statement that Real Madrid had signed Brazil and AC MILAN play maker "KAKA" for under 60 million pounds .I first came across this in sportinglife and immediately brushed it away as a farce.After all i had been through this for more than 3 years now.I regarded this as just another dirty tactic on part of Madrid to unsettle their potential targets.But this time i was wrong, I did not have to wait long before Milan confirmed that the deal had gone through.60 million is a huge sum of money and mind you the world is yet to recover from the economic slump.Milan one of those clubs adversely affected by the economic crisis cashed in to sell their star for maximum profit(by all means KAKA had a wretched season).This deal however brought in a sense of anxiety and despair among United fans.The dread that we mancunians had to put up with every time the transfer window opened was back.Less than a week after the KAKA deal United's worst nightmare turned into reality.The shock was in the form of this statement in manutd.com."Manchester United have agreed a deal with Real Madrid over the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo for 80 million pounds"(i might have got the quote wrong). This was something that had been brewing for sometime.The man in contention had been expressing his desire to play for the talent killers for more than 3 years now,3 years which saw him achieve everything a club footballer could possibly achieve.The deal would make him the most expensive player in the world as well as the highest paid one.United on the other hand would be left with 80 million to spend along with a hole in their team that needs filling up(don't put on your thinking cap!!!).

Well 140 million pounds in these times would have saved many a company which would have gone into administration but real somehow manage to dish out huge sums of money to prise away talented players from other clubs flexing their unfathomable financial muscle to good extent.It is ironic to note that real have a debt of over 500 million pounds excluding the 140 million required for these two transfers.Here is something i came across a site recently that explains their curb less spending spree.
"Unlike almost every other club,real has a trump.There is this Real status as, effectively, a non-profit social trust. This means they do not need to generate £30 million a year just to service their debt (like United).Whatever debt they hold (and detail here is murky) is with local banks, many of whom are under political and social pressure not to tighten the screws. Real are too big and too important to fail or to come under the kind of debt pressures that affect traditional clubs. The club's social, political and economic significance dwarfs that of any other club in the world, with the possible exception of Barcelona. In that sense, they play by a different set of rules(courtesy foreignpolicy.blog)."

There is nothing much that other teams can do when a club is financially backed by the country's government.United with the new found cash were in for another blow when their prime target Karim Benzema fell prey to Real's money and this time round the player went for a relatively low 30 million pounds.And if rumors are to be believed French winger Frank Ribery could well be on his way to the Spanish capital for more than 50 million pounds.That's like 220 million pounds spent in 1 month.

It wont be long before the beautiful game becomes the proprietary of the rich,if it already isn't.It wont be long before the passion associated with the game dies.Money can buy you all the players in the world but will it bring to fore the passionate,heart on your sleeve game or will it be about t- shirts,posters,dark haired women and gelled hairs.One thing is for sure the game is something that could do well without all the money.Money is in fact the greatest sin of man,it eventually destroys him but then again can one survive without it?