Clubs must be creative with cash

Back in 1996, just before Champions League cash really began to change football, an official from one of that season’s semi-finalists was caught in a discussion about the future of the game.

He was unusually dismissive on the financial aspect: “Football is a love and cannot be translated into money.”

It is a lovely sentiment — but also one sadly removed from reality, particularly in the context of when it was said. The words were uttered by Panathinaikos president and shipping magnate Giorgios Vardinoyannis, as his team prepared to take on defending champions Ajax in the last four. That scenario now seems improbable. Both sides were facing pressure from bigger clubs to sell their best players; neither team has reached the semi-finals since.