英伦广角 2009-01-18 Issue 142 足球届难抵金融危机

And this is a pièce de résistance. This is Ferenc Puskas, Real Madrid cheered, as they won against Eintracht Frankfurt.

 

John Ryan peruses¹ a lifetime fascination² with football.

 

I have a passion for my hometown, for Doncaster Rovers. I said I would do it when I was twenty. So you know that was a calling for me really, but if it was a business decision, I wouldn’t touch it with a barge⁴ pole.

 

He’s dragged his club from Conference to Championship, pouring in perhaps five million pounds of his own money. It is a familiar story, but never more pertinent⁵.

 

Apart from saying Man city, I think, the cold wind of recession is, is reaching every club.

 

Doncaster Rovers is debt free thanks largely to Ryan, but too many aren’t and the banks are wanting their money back.

 

In the next few months, you’ll see, you might see some big casualties, I mean who knows, but here when Woolworths can go bust⁶, you know, 99 years in business, who knows.

 

These are treacherous⁷ times for football clubs. When Doncaster Rovers emerged from non-league, its wage bill was 800,000 pounds. Now just over 4 years later, it is five million pounds, almost 60% of the club’s turnover⁸.

 

As with so many others, the challenge for Doncaster Rovers and for their chairman John Ryan is for the club to sustain itself financially. Here at Queens Park Rangers⁹ they have not just one, but three very wealthy individuals on board, but they seem suspiciously prudent¹⁰.

 

Amit Bhatia represents those wealthy men, Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, each of whom have lost significant sums in recently months. So far even they have spent less than two million pounds on five players in the transfer window.

 

As I travelled with the team to its way matches and speak to a lot of different club boarders that, that owners are affected¹¹ and they are probably you know have less of appetite to spend than they did 12 or 18 months ago. And in some cases, they have no appetite at all.

 

Q.P.R. have premier¹² league ambitions but they are pledged to build in patiently. And football it would seem in general is slowly coming round to that view. When the January transfer window began in 2003, 33 million pounds was spent in the Premier League alone. Four years later that spending had doubled, but just one year later in 2008, that figure had almost tripled again to 175 million pounds. Unless Manchester City get their man, the figure this year is expected to be down. But at Q.P.R. the belief is that old habits die hard.

 

We may see a year or two of, you know may be less spending, but I think eventually we will go back to times when money is paid for quality, and that’s something that’s always happened in football.

 

Back in Doncaster, however, John Ryan believes recession could prove to be football’s savior.

 

In a strange way, might bring it back to reality. I think that’s a problem with football. It lives in this fantasy world.

 

Manchester City’s large ass³ creates perhaps a dangerous illusion. Football has hit lean times. No question.

 

Ian Dovaston, Sky News.

 

I wouldn't touch somebody/something with a barge pole.  (British & Australian informal) also I wouldn't touch somebody/something with a ten-foot pole (American & Australian informal)

something that you say which means that you think someone or something is so bad that you do not want to be involved with them in any way If I were you, I wouldn't touch that property with a barge pole.
 

1 peruses   

v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的第三人称单数 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字）

参考例句：

2 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

3 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

4 barge   

n.平底载货船，驳船

参考例句：

• The barge was loaded up with coal.那艘驳船装上了煤。
• Carrying goods by train costs nearly three times more than carrying them by barge.通过铁路运货的成本比驳船运货成本高出近3倍。

5 pertinent   

adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的

参考例句：

• The expert made some pertinent comments on the scheme.那专家对规划提出了一些中肯的意见。
• These should guide him to pertinent questions for further study.这些将有助于他进一步研究有关问题。

6 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

7 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

8 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

9 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

10 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。