Premier League back with a bang

The first weekend of the 2010/2011 Premier League season draws to a close with tonight's clash between Manchester United and Newcastle. There were goals, there were sending offs and there were talking points aplenty. Martin Samuel from the Daily Mail looks over the main incidents and surprises many with his happiest moment from the weekend.

Remember the age of austerity in English football? Lasted about a fortnight as Portsmouth went skint. Suddenly, everyone was very keen on tightening those belts.

Politicians, administrators, supporters' groups, sports writers, all were adamant football should adapt to the harsh economic climate. Some even wanted the government involved, having done such a bang-up job on the economy.

The time of uncontrolled wages and transfer fees was over, we were told. The best chairman was a cautious one. Those who wanted to live a little, throw a bit of money about, see what happens, were beneath contempt.

Manchester City were a destructive force. Forget winning the league, forget having a go; 14th and a healthy bank balance was the level of success to which the new puritans should aspire.

Bored with that now, aren't we? Bored with watchful and conservative, bored with the absence of risk. Martin O'Neill packed it in at Aston Villa and the spotlight instantly turned to his employer, Randy Lerner, who had balked at the final round of investment required to enter the top four, and sold his best players to balance the books.

Over at Blackpool, Ian Holloway became increasingly frustrated at the failure to improve his first-team squad, resulting in a late round of transfer activity and a wonderful vindication on the first day of the season.

Tough calls lay ahead, though. To some at the club, living the dream involves getting into the Premier League, rather than remaining long term. It is a reasonable assessment given that Blackpool's ground capacity of 12,555 will make it hard to compete financially. Yet who wants tourists in the Premier League?

The most uplifting image of the weekend was the young Blackpool fan with the dyed hair and the face paint, his fists clenched in celebration as the goals flew in against Wigan Athletic.

That is what football is about, not balance sheets. Blackpool made a lifetime supporter yesterday, because that boy will remember the day forever. Try explaining a sound business plan to him, however, and watch his little eyes glaze over.

Football is not an extension of accountancy. We can't have it all ways. We cannot pontificate on the evils of debt one day and bemoan O'Neill's departure the next. Admit it. We want the roller-coaster. We want the highs and lows.

Aston Villa won on Saturday but will sell James Milner to Manchester City and their team will be much reduced. It is a sensible business strategy, in a way that keeping Milner and gambling a further £100m on rising two places is not, but our instinctive sympathy is with O'Neill, not Lerner.

In the same way, it is a source of delight Holloway was finally permitted the sprinkling of players required to make Blackpool competitive. Can his board afford it? Who knows: in the utter delight of the 4-0 win at Wigan, the issue was never raised.

Portsmouth's downfall was supposed to be a salutary lesson to all, but the people who really took notice were the chairmen and owners, who noted the fantastic sums required to succeed and shivered.

Supporters talk about business plans, but only as a means for further investment. The protests against the Glazer family at Manchester United have gathered strength with the perception that the level of debt has curbed Sir Alex Ferguson's spending power.

Nobody claims the owners are affecting Manchester United's famous youth policy. It is the failure to lure big names that offends them.

Even now, every prospective new owner must promise to spend, spend, spend. So what makes a good chairman? Lerner has greatly improved Aston Villa but will this continue to be acknowledged if the extent of his ambition sends his club into reverse?

He may talk about youth as Villa's future - in which case, why take the outstanding youth team coach Kevin MacDonald to manage the first team - but if the club continues to moves its best players to major rivals, it will always skirt the periphery of success.

For all the sermonising, the bottom line is football is supposed to be fun. It isn't brain surgery or fighting the Taliban. It is a sport, designed to deliver excitement, entertainment, skill and pride to the community in equal measure.

We feel saddened by O'Neill's departure because his emboldened vision of Aston Villa was more appealing than Lerner's competent middling club, punching its weight but no more.

Widespread financial catastrophe for the Premier League was predicted last season but well-run and well-financed clubs survived and the basket cases such as Portsmouth and Hull City did not. That is the way business works.

Yet, for all the warning signs, there was once a huge feel-good factor around Hull and Portsmouth, too. We like the idea of good housekeeping, but we like a thrilling narrative more.
Deep down, we all want Blackpool to go for it; deep down, we are all disappointed that Villa will not.