Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov bought an even bigger chunk of English Premier League team Arsenal, and that kind of spending is not sitting well with UEFA head Michel Platini. He’s gotten so mad over the rise of money as the central factor in the sport that he wrote to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for help.

“A serious threat hangs over the development of European football: the malign and ever-present influence of money,” wrote Platini in his letter.
“We may be entering an era in which financial profit alone will be the measure of sporting success… Money has always been in sport and football has had a professional component for 150 years. But money has never been the ultimate objective of football: the main purpose has always been to win trophies.”

Well, that and trophy wives. We can just imagine Brown getting the letter. “Yes, hold my meeting with the Iraqi General Counsel and President Bush. The EPL needs savin’!” We suggest just letting this buying frenzy run its natural course: don’t run interference on who can buy teams and let everyone duke it out until there’s a big heaping pile of mess and a few victors. It’s how they came up with the Euro, isn’t it?

[Uefa chief appeals to PM for help] [BBC]
Image [BBC]