www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/rampaging-fullback-is-ceres-fcs-ufl-win-good-for-philippine-footballNearly 14 months after being crowned champions of Division Two, Ceres-La Salle FC completed its remarkable ascent to the peak of Philippine club football by capturing the 2015 United Football League in its very first season in the first division.
Ceres are the worthy champions — they led the league in all statistical categories, including number of wins, goals scored and goals conceded — and their title run was based on consistent performances on the pitch from the first round until the end.
Few teams can claim to be two deep in every position, but that is certainly the case for Ceres. With a monthly payroll that is reported to be more than the annual budget for some teams, Ceres has assembled a virtual all-star squad of 25 players in their roster.
Good for Philippine football?
The question now has to be asked: Is Ceres winning the league in this fashion — spending big and collecting the best talent possible — good for Philippine football?
It can be argued that Ceres’ win encourages more sponsors to come in and invest money in football. Their win provides a clear and internationally tested template on how to win trophies — spend big and you’re guaranteed to challenge if not win the title.
On the other hand, the manner in which Ceres won the league raises serious questions on the viability of other teams’ competitiveness, particularly those teams whose budgets may not be as big.
Specifically, if other teams are unable to compete financially off the field, will it be a matter of time before smaller teams pull out teams on the field, thinking ‘Why bother?’
Green Archers Manager Monchu Garcia raises interesting points.
“There are two aspects to the question: the what and the how,” he says. “For Ceres to win the league on their first outing is absolutely fine. In fact it is good for the UFL as it’s an open invitation for other teams, clubs or potential sponsors — showing that new clubs are welcome and can do well.
“The fact that Ceres won by buying the best players is also per se not necessarily negative at this early stage of football development.
“We need more sponsors like Ceres who believe in Philippine football and the UFL experiment. I can see how their success might spill over to enthuse other sponsors like LBC, Meralco, Globe and others to put more money in the sport (not just on salaries). After all, it is the most popular sport in the universe!”
Global coach Leigh Manson agrees: “I don’t think investment in the game is a bad thing at all. Investment in the game is a good thing.
“I think what Ceres, what Global and some of the other teams have done is they’ve raised the level of the game. They’re bringing in better players; they’re bringing in better coaches.
“I wouldn’t argue against investment in the UFL, I think we need more, not less.
“You look the other side — Army struggled. We hear that some other teams can’t afford to train every day and I think we need more investment, more sponsors, more TV, and maybe more owners coming in.”
Team Socceroo will finish at ninth place in the league. Their roster and budget is long ways off from Ceres’, but managing director Nicholas Reyes sees the positive side of Ceres’ manner of victory.
“I think Ceres’ win it’s good for Philippine football. I think it shows that a province outside Manila can really (compete) and I think overall in terms of marketing, it’s gonna help all the clubs,” he says.
“For me, it’s good that these clubs are doing well because they also attract talent. Philippine football is being known through these players,” Reyes continues.
“Philippine players also level up because you’re playing with international players.”
Manson adds: “Look at what Ceres got — you’ve got the central midfield of the Azkals, Manny Ott and Martin Steuble.
“You’ve got Martin and Manny both playing in the UFL. You’ve got Misagh Bahadoran playing in the UFL.
“We’ve managed to bring in Masaki Yanagawa and Norio Suzuki from Japan’s J-League to play here in the UFL.
“That’s a good thing for the UFL and Philippine football because the players get to train with these guys every day.
It’s not all about the money
Ceres victory was undoubtedly aided by the acquisition of quality players funded by passionate owners with deep pockets. But is that all that it would take to win in the UFL?
Ceres coach Ali Go refutes the notion that winning the league is all attributed to having a budget bigger than most.
“Everyone is saying it’s all about the money. No, no. I don’t think so. It is a combination of good players and good management, and coaching them. Everything has to fall in place,” he says.
“Everyone will think it’s like that. Yes we have good players, but if you say Real Madrid, they have all the best players, but what happened to their season at that moment?
“If it is all money, (and) you put a coach who cannot handle the team, you’re finished. You’re finished right away, everyone’s gonna fight in training.”
Loyola Meralco Sparks’ vice chairman and UFL president Randy Roxas shares the same thoughts.
“It’s not a proven formula that if you spend, you will win. Sure here (in the UFL this season), it looks like it does. But it’s not always the case,” he says.
“The guy with the highest budget does not necessarily win.
“To give credit to Ceres, they’ve assembled a quality team, at the end of the day, sure it might’ve cost them more than any other club, but they were in better shape than for example, our team.
“They played better as a team compared to some of the other clubs, and they got the result.”
Leigh Manson concurs: “I don’t think it is all about the money. I think it is about how you choose to spend your money. Money won’t buy you championships.
“It gives you tools, and it’s down to the choices you make.”
With Ceres raising the bar, what can the UFL do to perhaps try to level the playing field?
Randy Roxas says: “It’s difficult to control spending unless the league implements rules like salary caps and all that stuff.
“So are we at the stage where we need to consider salary caps? My personal view is, yes. You need to make sure that investments into the sport are being done rationally rather than irrationally.
“If not, it creates quite a bit of imbalances that can create problems later on.”
Then again, there are some teams may have the capacity to compete financially with Ceres, but ultimately perhaps choose not to.
Randy Roxas says: “It’s a balance, even for us. We thought we entered the season with right roster, the right coach to be able to win the championship. I know for a fact that our operational budget is less than Ceres.
“It really depends on the management of the club. What is your vision for the club?
“It would have been easy for us to say, ‘hey we need to increase our budget by this much if we want to win,’ but that’s not the direction that we took.
“We decided, this is our budget, let’s make do with what we have but what’s important is this, and that includes the grassroots development.”
Monchu Garcia further explains: “There are however two types of clubs currently in the league – thepProfessional clubs are those like Ceres that scout for the best players and bring them into their fold. This has actually benefited our (national team) by bringing in and keeping many of the Azkals.
“Then there are the developmental clubs which (perhaps for lack of funds, or as their mission, or both) find players with potential, then build and develop them to get them to the next level.
“The ideal of course is to be a bit of both — develop players through long-term programs AND augment this with a selection of top players scouted from the market. Most successful UFL clubs are both, with differing degrees for each.”
Ceres has thrown the gauntlet and raised the bar very high for the rest of the league. How can other teams cope and hope to compete against a team seemingly teeming with cash?
Leigh Manson offers a suggestion: “I think what you’re doing is, you’re saying to the other teams that don’t have the perhaps the financial clout, that you’ve got to spend your money wiser which in my opinion is (spending in) your coach, and you’ve got to really, really look at the quality of the players you’re bringing in.”
Nicholas Reyes admits to feeling “a little bit discouraged”, but quickly adds: “But at the end of the day, we can’t just be sore losers and say ‘they have a big budget.’
“If it’s not Ceres who wins, you have other teams with international players too.
“It’s not fair, but if you look abroad, it’s actually like that, for the bigger teams too.
“So pagalingan na lang talaga, but for us, the bigger picture for the club is to develop players.”
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