United will stand or fall on their own

The call to Lancaster Gate, the Football Association's central London headquarters, came just over two weeks ago and caught officials slightly off guard. Manchester United had become victims of their own success and, warned club secretary Kenneth Merrett, faced the daunting prospect of playing in the region of 77 games next season if they were to fulfil their fixture obligations in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Worthington Cup, Toyota Cup (played between the champions of Europe and South America) and the inaugural world club championship, due to be held in Brazil next January.

As club chairman Martin Edwards was to say later, something had to give. That something as we all now know has been the FA Cup, following one of the most astonishing and controversial decisions to be taken by the FA in recent years.

David Davies, the FA's interim executive director, confesses that every possible avenue had been explored before football's governing body made its decision at the start of the week to offer Manchester United an exemption from next season's tournament. Among the various options was a bye for Manchester United from the fourth round of the cup (suggested by United but rejected by the FA and Premier League chairmen); United fielding a reserve team for the match (eventually rejected by both the club and the FA) and the possibility of counting the FA Charity Shield match against Arsenal, the traditional curtain-raiser to the football season, as a home league game for the north London side. Not surprisingly, this was rejected by Highbury officials. United's formal announcement, when it came last Wednesday, was also hardly surprising. For the first time in it's 127-year history, the FA Cup will kick-off without the holders, who now have bigger fish to fry. Behind the salvo of predominantly angry words that have followed the decision, led by the club's supporters and the game's traditionalists, lies a complex tale of football politics, finance and global power struggles that have combined to deprive the FA Cup of Europe's premier team. Manchester United's absence, albeit for one season, says more about the shape of things to come for football and the global image of the team than any club president or television executive's bold predictions for the game. Just as importantly for the FA, it could influence the role England comes to play on football's world stage. Privately, FA officials are slightly miffed by the way they have been portrayed as the villains of the piece. "United started this whole thing off by approaching us," said a source. "We just responded to their request. They really want to play in this tournament and we have done our best to accommodate them." Davies said: "We have taken the view that as the world is getting smaller. There is going to be a World Club Championship, and the World Cup 2006 bid is part and parcel of all that." When Fifa president Sepp Blatter first mooted the idea of a world club championship two years ago his comments were directed as much towards Uefa as they were towards the world's football clubs. In recent years, world football's governing body has at times played second fiddle to its European sister organisation. The money, and some would say prestige, now lie firmly in the European club game, led by the Champions League, rather than the international game. Winning the Champions League was worth between #40 and #50 million to United. Uefa estimates that its two competitions next season (Champions League and Uefa Cup) will generate around #375 million. Just entering the first phase of the Champions League is worth up to #20 million per club. On the other hand, last year's World Cup in France generated a pre-tax profit of #50 million in total. Blatter and Fifa have been enviously eyeing the slick, multi- million sponsorship bonanza that the Champions League has become, and the knock-on effect it has had on the various leagues, helping to attract the world's finest players to European shores. The World Club Championship is a chance for Fifa to reassert itself and wrest the limelight away from Uefa. Manchester United's involvement as one of the world's wealthiest and best supported clubs is crucial both to the success of the tournament and to Blatter's dream of turning the championship into a regular feature of the football calendar. But this casts up more questions than it answers. What if the tournament is expanded in future years? Would clubs be exempt from cup and league obligations? What happens if the tournament clashes with a World Cup or European Championship? The FA insists that United's exemption is a one-off and that Fifa plans to move forthcoming championships to the summer. But they have already hinted this week at what the future may hold for domestic football, given that the game is now looking at two international tournaments which will operate on a league basis and place greater demands on players. Davies said last week: "We must fall in line with the rest of Europe and that would mean cutting the number of teams in the Premier League." In other words, like the rest of Europe, England should have a Premier League of 18 clubs, perhaps one domestic cup competition and should place a greater emphasis on international club tournaments. For the likes of Manchester United and other big clubs who stand to be part of the new scene, the future is rosy. For the others however, it is not as bright. The World Club Championship will feature eight teams: six representing each of the confederations that make up Fifa along with Real Madrid, winners of the Toyota Cup, and a team nominated by the host country. As the likes of of David Beckham, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs struggle to come to terms with the searing temperatures and humidity on the pitch (January falls the middle of the Brazilian summer), up in the stands English football officials will no doubt be pressing the flesh and finalising their own tactics. If Manchester United have been eager to participate in the tournament then the FA have, for once, been even more enthusiastic in their attempts to accommodate them. Previous complaints over fixture congestion and appeals for help, from any club, have generally fallen on deaf ears but United's participation is seen as crucial to England's bid to land the 2006 World Cup. Not only can the FA not afford to alienate Blatter, given that the championship is his baby and he heads Fifa, but valuable votes will be up for grabs. Next year, Fifa's executive committee will decide who should get the World Cup. South Africa are favourites, with England a close second, and there are six South American and Central American delegates on the committee. All are expected to attend the championship. According to analysts, the six, one of them a Brazilian, are likely to opt for Brazil in the first round of voting, but given that the South Americans have the weakest bid, their transfers for the second round of voting will be crucial to England's hopes of hosting the tournament. There is of course no guarantee that their votes will go to England, but with United in Brazil accompanied by the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, president of England's bid and Sir Geoff Hurst, a lot of goodwill, backslapping and politicking could help to land them. Ironically, if United had not gone, their place would have been taken by Bayern Munich, and Germany is England's closest European rival in the race to land the World Cup. Sports minister Tony Banks claimed that United's failure to participate would "do irreparable damage to our 2006 World Cup campaign." A source close to the World Cup bid said: "United's presence in Brazil is tightly wound to the World Cup bid. Of course many of the fans are not happy about the situation but sometimes you have to think about the bigger picture." A game against the likes of Al-Nasr, the Saudi Arabian team that will represent the Asian Football Confederation at the tournament, might not whet the appetite of United's followers in the British Isles, but across the Far East it would lead to a television audience of millions. For the past few years, United have not only been involved in amassing trophies, but also in the hard sell of global branding. Few need to be reminded of the multi-million pound worldwide name that Manchester United have become. According to some estimates, the Old Trafford outfit could be worth #1 billion within the next three years. Last month, United signed a 10-year deal to sell merchandising to five countries in the Far East and have first option on several more. United's games are already available on a pay-per-view basis in the Far East and once this is expanded, even more untold riches are sure to flow their way. Barcelona, for example, recently signed a deal giving them #50 million per year to have their matches shown on pay-per-view. Experts believe that given United's huge following and the fact that they are well known across the world, particularly the Far East, they could stand to make even more. Negotiations for television rights for the club championship are currently underway and United stand to earn substantially more than the #6 million they made from last year's FA Cup run. At the same time, they will receive further global coverage and should they win the championship, have the distinction of being crowned the first world club champions. For Sir Alex Ferguson and United plc, it is perhaps a prospect too tantalising to resist. As the United supremo explained his club's decision to withdraw from the FA Cup with a touch of regret, outside Old Trafford stood the only group of players from this complex drama who do not stand to benefit. They are not the politicians of Fifa, the accountants of Manchester United plc, the ambassadors of England's World Cup bid, or FA officials. They are the Manchester United fans and perhaps the final word should rest with them. Lee Hodkiss, spokesman for the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association said: "My reaction is one of total disappointment and I think it's an absolute tragedy. "I put the blame firmly with the government and the FA. I think it is tragic that they are about to sell the crown jewels of English football down the pan in the slim hope, and it is a slim hope, of us getting the World Cup." Manchester United are to miss the FA Cup this year, and Vivek Chaudhary says their future is now as much about self-interest, politics and finance as it is football

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