Football Crossroads
By JAMES JACK El OUR years ago British football was in the doldrums. Humilated 6-3 by the Hungar- ians at Wembley, we lost the return match 7-1 in Budapest. The European and particularly the 'Iron Curtain' countries seemed to have moved on to an altogether different plane of perfor- mance. There seemed little hope then of a quick recovery.
Ex Old Trafford semper aliquid novi. This season through a more than usually discontented winter Matt Busby's .babes have been a steady beacon of light against a sombre horizon. They have provided a welcome escape from Suez, General Wheeler, Mr. H, and Jimmy Porter. Here at least are some new Elizabethans who have not run out of petrol.
How good a team are Manchester United? There is no doubt about the answer. They are the best English club side of all time—Champions of the Football League, Cup Finalists and semi- finalists in the European Cup. More impressive even than results has been the absence of 'bally- hoo' and self-pity that has attended them. Like any other team Manchester United have had their share of misfortune—their centre-forward Tay- lor, a vital man in their attacking design, missed both the semi-final and the difficult sixth-round tie at Bournemouth; and centre-half Jones is still missing from their line-up. They beat Bourne- mouth with only ten men despite having the first goal, always so vital in a cup tie, .scored against them. At various times other important figures have been out of the side; four first-team players have been serving soldiers throughout the season. Enough, you would have thought, to explain away any number of defeats. But there has been no time wasted with excuses; they have just gone on playing successful football.
How has their success been achieved? There must surely be some master plan behind it all —deep-lying wingers, double centre-forwards or just a record consumption- of Ovaltine. It is re- freshing to find that there is nothing of the sort. The basis of United's success has been team spirit. Revie plans and gimmicks in general can produce success for a period; but such is the competition in modern football and so quickly do the players adjust themselves to new tactics that it is not long before revolutionary ideas merely astonish but do not surprise one's opponents. There is no real substitute for consistently doing the simple thing well and at the same time a little better than the opposition; Manchester United's strength lies in the fact that they have no key players, and that reserves, when brought in, play in much the manner of those they displace. There is a style of play, based on simple things done quickly and precisely, that runs through the club.
Manchester United have done enough this season to make it clear that English football is again nearing the top. We are once again a power on the world scene. It is therefore a good moment to decide the lines along which the game should develop in this country. Matt Busby's team have pointed the way from the playing point o?view; it remains, however, to bring the players' conditions and systems of rewards into line with modern circumstances.
The present system of a weekly maximum wage, supplemented by a small bonus for a win or draw, and the same for clubs in all divisions of the League, well suited prewar conditions. A career in football was then no more insecure than one in most other jobs open to the ordinary man; there were, after all, some three million unemployed. To be signed by Arsenal or Everton meant one's entry into a completely new and dazzling world, in which the then maximum wage of £8 a week seemed a princely sum. It is far different today. The increase in the maximum wage -to £'15 has done no more than compensate for the decline in the value of the pound. The new rate compares less than favourably with the rate of pay of an un- skilled worker in many industries; it is laughable to contrast the respective skills and remunerations of (say) Stanley Matthews and the £1,000-a-week Bermondsey Rock 'n' Roller Tommy Steele. A differential of 15: 1,000 in a case like this makes no sort of sense. Nor are the bonus rates paid to British players fully in tune with the times. In their matches with Manchester United, the Real Madrid players were on a win bonus of £100 per player—a sum which makes the British bonus of £3 for an ordinary League match look like a tip to a taxi-driver.
A mere flat increase in the maximum wage is not the answer and would merely bankrupt many of the poorer clubs in the League, who find it hard enough as it is to pay their present wage bills. Nor would it be sensible to legalise the Ditchburn system of under-cover payments; much of Sunderland's lack of playing success may well be due to the players being more interested in what the others were getting on the side than in train- ing or results. A system of freely negotiated in- dividual contracts, while it would benefit the stars and the richer clubs, would bear hardly on the average player. Most clubs, even with the rea!". Ne. moval of entertainment tax, have little money to spare; the larger pay packets for star plays could only be found by cutting down the wages paid to the less spectacular performers.
A better answer is surely to supplement the present maximum wage with an increased win bonus and a system by which the prayers draw a percentage of all gates over (say) 20,000; they would thus have an interest not only in winning or losing but in playing attractive football in the process. Something must clearly be done; the foot- . ball legislators, who are Qot quite as stuffy as sporting cartoonists make them out but who lack all the same the wider knowledge of their cricket counterparts in the MCC, have an important summer's work ahead. Perhaps the transfer of Charles from Leeds United to Italy for a huge fee will provide the necessary spur.
Spare a thought, then, for the players and their future as you watch the Cup Final, if you are lucky enough to have a ticket, or your TV set, if you are not; decide for yourselves if you think their skill and endeavour are properly rewarded. Finally,- whoever wins on May 4, spare a cheer for Manchester United. They have deserved well this year of British football.
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