New Cesc Fabregas Arsenal Wallpaper I made.

So I haven't made a post about the new  football wallpaper gallery on OleOle yet, so here is my introduction to how things will work for everyone who is interested. The OleOle team have been working hard to develop the best wallpaper gallery possible in terms of ease of use, functionality etc. and it has turned out amazing!

We will feature wallpapers that are relevant to current events in football, and they will change every day. For example, for the Champions League final, we featured our best wallpapers of Manchester United and Chelsea, and then just Manchester United once they won it. For now, the featured wallpapers are just new wallpapers created by the OleOle Graphic Artist team, but we will feature Euro 2008 wallpapers once it starts. 

Always go and check out what is new, what is featured, and if you make wallpapers, just upload your own!

For more updates on wallpapers and the graphic community, you can always check out Niran's blog. We'll both be updating everyone on what is happening until we put together a page just for wallpaper updates! 

Also in the wallpaper gallery you can see a disco deco, a robo ramos, champions with horns, and the country that brought you numa numa. 

Enjoy.

I was about to go to sleep and then read in interesting blog article here on OleOle. And frankly it got me thinking a tiny bit and then made me write this post.

So money in football, good or bad? That's the main question. The aforementioned blogger things it's ruined football, and I think it's done quite the opposite.

When you think about football you have to think of it as an economy -the football economy - driven by the football business enterprise.  Being the sport with by far the largest audience (2 billion people roughly), there is a lot of money involved and a lot of development. Everything is about money... war, religion, welfare programs, and even charity - because either you pay money to charity or volunteer your time (which means you can afford to take time off from working.. I mean.. do you see the mine workers in Africa volunteering at their local food bank?).

So understanding that everything is about money is essential. Then comes what ideas you have about how economies work and what the best approach would be. The way it's working right now is through sort of a trickle down - free market system. And I'll go into why I think that's working in a bit.

I never like the arguments that certain clubs have monopolized football. If there really was one true monopoly in the football industry, then we'd have only one champion every year of everything, and football would get really boring. The fact that teams fluctuate so much eliminates the possibility of even considering that any one team has an absolute monopoly. Then comes the argument that the top clubs have some kid of cartel formed, where they just dominate. But that doesn't explain how come every season there is the surprise team breaking through, and they haven't spent more money than a team they place above in the league. 

Big clubs with big bank accounts help smaller clubs more than they hurt them by "dominating". It's no coincidence that there are by far more professional footballers now than there were 50 years ago. Money that has been pumped into big teams has been spent towards transfers, stadiums, youth systems, academies, tournaments. Teams are making their living and growing because big clubs pay them money for talent they grow. The money they get, they invest in better facilities, higher paychecks, more youth, etc. For some teams it pays off, for others it does not. 

Manchester United spent the money they won from Champions League revenue and the money they got for winning the league on all their transfers. The money they spent was earned through performance, and they received so much money because WE watch their games and see the advertisements, WE go to their stadiums for the matches, and WE buy their merch. Once clubs mature and profit like United has, they invest only money they win. And that's all they need to invest to maintain or add some youth. They don't spend 100 million extra to buy one super expensive player that they don't really need.

Think how much Tottenham have stimulated the football market in the past few years. They've paid high prices for crap players and they've won nothing (well some cup) and they're just abosulte shit. But the prices they paid helped other teams, and in turn that money helped other teams and so on. 

The money invested helps the global football business grow, expand, and frankly employ more people and raise standards. We have a faster game, more exciting, and with more attention than ever before. And we still don't have a monopoly!

I can tell you when I did see a monopoly in football - during communism in Romania, at the peak in 86. No one was allowed to invest in any clubs, they were run by government organizations. The organization with the biggest budget was the Military, and their team was Steaua. They won basically every season, league and cup. And one season they won the Champions League too, with no foreign players. But they completely monopolized football in Romania and there was no money invested to make any kind of difference, making our league pure crap after those years. And we're still recovering from that now. Finally through investment and good management, a small team broke through the ranks and won the league - CFR Cluj. They spent far less money than Steaua, they spent much less time match fixing and hiring referees, but then won the league. And that to me makes a big statement. 

When you have any kind of control and you don't allow the market to do it's job and allow a freedom of flow of money through the system you can't expect progress. You might have some for a short time, but then it all starts to snowball. Money makes people want to do things... like continue playing football, because it pays as well or better than working on a farm, cleaning shit off of toilets, or for a group of footballers, it pays better than managing a big company or being a doctor.

My last example is Arsenal, who spend very little money compared to other big teams in the Premiership, and continue to do well. They don't win the league every season, but they might be able to dominate for the next few years if they can keep their players - WITH MONEY! And with Hleb, Flamini etc. leaving, it's just another bit of proof that it's hard to monopolize football even if you have a completely created team and not a bunch of 50 million dollar superstars. Barcelona are suffering from the "too many superstar" syndrome. And they're changing their ways, selling players, promoting youth, etc. 

But in the end, football has benefited from influx of money over the years. The rise of Eastern European leagues for example is due to money being invested. You've seen Romanian and Bulgarian teams in the Champions League groups for the past few seasons (though they didn't do very well.. but still..) and they were there because  of money. The industries in these countries are growing in terms of football, and it will just give more and more young kids the opportunity to play an amazing game and maybe make a living out of it and entertain us. 

Football sales and industry in Brazil also represents the amount of GDP that it cost to switch from oil to ethanol as their fuel. Eliminate the money in football in Brazil, and you would not have an energy-independent nation. Think about that for an impact.

Plus, if there wasn't so much money in football, you wouldn't have places like OleOle... and that would be no fun. ;)

Seriously. That statement is directed towards none other than Arsene Wenger. One thing that even a gypsie knows is that it takes money to survive, which is why you find them in subways and on streets picking pockets and stealing money. But they're doing it to survive. The same rule applies to football. You need money to survive in a commercialized world of football where teams spend 50 million euros in one transfer season to strenghten their squad. The rich teams should invest money in new talent, something which Manchester United did last season when they splashed the cash on Nani and Anderson. 

A team that has money and never spends any is Wenger's Arsenal. I know his philosophy is different, and I love it, but once in a while, you need to spend more money to get something great. This summer is the time for Wenger to spend some of the money Arsenal has been amassing over the last few seasons and actually win something again. There's nothing wrong with having a grown young team, but there is something wrong with being too stingy. 

To begin with, Wenger needs to look only as far as his home: France for one big solution to a big problem: ARSENAL CAN'T SCORE! For this, I recommend the signing of young French striker Jeremy Menez. 

Menez currently plays his football at A.S. Monaco and is a big prospect for the future of French football. I personally rate him above the overhyped Benzema, because of his speed and possible future growth. He won't be nearly as expensive as Benzema either. Menez was discovered and promoted by Romanian manager Ladislau Boloni - another reason for me to like the kid. If you've never seen Jeremy play, check out this youtube video.

For the midfield, Arsenal badly need a left winger because Diaby certainly lacks in the departament. Luka Modric was the perfect solution for this position, but Spurs have tied him up already (I don't understand why he would go there of all places!). So the next best solution in my opinion is Hatem Ben Arfa from Lyon. The kid is fantastic and has a lot of pace to challange the defences of opponents. Him and Walcott on the wings will make for a very strong Arsenal next season.

The defense needs a lot of work because there are far too many mistakes and far too little backups for the first team. Wenger signed an Australian central defender recently (Mark Milligan), but I doubt he's the answer to Arsenal's defensive problems.  The solution in my opinion comes in the form of two young center backs. The first one is Serdar Tasci from Stuttgart, a defender who is young and has massive potential. The other option would be Marek Suchy from Slavia Prague who is also a very sought after young prospect of Czech football. 

The goalkeeper post is also vulnerable. For this area, there are many good options. The best is Sebastian Frey from Fiorentina. In my opinion, he is the goalkeeper who has by far the best form right now, saving the weak Fiorentina defense every game. A younger option could be Akinfeev or Ustari. Either one of these keepers could improve Arsenal's situation by a big margin.

Arsenal have the opportunity to add to the core of fantastic youth created by Arsene by spending some money and landing these crucial signings. Without them, I can't see Arsenal winning something significant next season again. Chelsea will spend a reported 100 million euros this summer, United will splash the cash once more with money from the Premiership and Champions League, and Tottenham already is making steps towards more investments. Wenger needs to make a move for Menez, Ben Arfa, Tasci and a goalkeeper of his choice and spend that transfer budget he never wants to spend. He will buy young players that fit his Arsenal mould, and create a young team that is unstopable for years to come. I can't see it happening, but I hope he wakes up and does it. 

Who do you think Arsenal should sign for next season, and please don't say Didier Drogba!?