Team Sky: More Millwall Than Manchester City?
by fmk on Feb 5, 2010 6:32 PM EST
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Soccerball fans hereabouts no doubt know the Millwall chant - "We're Millwall and no one likes us." Well it seems that something similar may soon become the chant of the newly born Team Sky, winners of the prestigious season-opening Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Adelaide.
Shortly after their stunning successes down under, the team's impresario Dave Brailsford was forced to make a heart-wrenching plea for other ProTour teams and journalists to stop picking on Team Sky over the size of their budget.
Accusations about the size of the wedge in Team Sky's pocket are based on their courting of Britain's champion Tour de France cyclist and Paul Weller lookalike, Bradley Wiggins, which in some quarters has been compared to Manchester City's luring of Carlos Tevez away from Old Trafford with the promise of the sort of wealth Croesus could could only dream about.
That episode has lead to calls of 'down with this sort of stuff' from some other ProTour team managers and demands that cycling's governing body, the ICU, start copying professional soccerball and introduce a transfer window.
Brailsford's pleas though seem to have fallen on deaf ears and other ProTour teams are still picking on Team Sly.
Most surprisingly, it is the professional peloton's one time bad boy and now top goody-two-shoes, the Maltese-born David Millar, who is now leading the attack of Britain's top cycling team.
The self-confessed drug cheat recently lashed out at the new kids on the block, claiming that "they're not a popular team within the world of pro cycling, they're not really respected."
Before his move to Team Sky, Wiggins had described his time with Millar's Team Garmin as being like playing for soccerball's Premier League no-hopers Wigan Athletic: "It's a bit like trying to win the Champions League and to win the Champions League you go to Manchester United and I'm probably playing at Wigan at the moment."
Asked about how other teams were responding to Team Sky, Wiggins, who will make his Team Sky debut this week in Qatar's version of the Tour de France, claimed that the reason for the antipathy to Team Sky is quite simply envy: "I think there's a lot of jealousy out there," .
Millar's comments, Wiggins claims, are also fueled by the fact that Team Sky didn't want to sign his former teammate: "I was a bit disappointed with Dave’s comments, he got quite personal. And he’s quite hypocritical because he was desperate to be a part of Team Sky."
Wiggins went on to compare his split with his former teammates as being like a divorce: "In the end I suppose my leaving has been like the break-up of a marriage and everybody has taken things personally, but very few people knew the full story."
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Is Fran Millar working for Sky? Are we sure this isn’t just an attempt to create a rivalry that doesn’t exist in the hope that suckers like me will waste ten minutes giving them even more publicity? D’oh!
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 5, 2010 9:01 PM EST up reply actions
Oh, & you forgot the other bit:
“No one likes us, we don’t care”. Brailsford has a way to go yet, then.
Though Brad is back on form on the Twit thing
One minute wistful
Still thinking of a way Team Sky can become part of the fabric of the sport?
1:27 AM Jan 26th from mobile web
The next just funny
Anyone know where I might get hold of Gareth Gates phone no.?
5:02 AM Jan 26th from mobile web
he should write for the sun
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
I shoulda oughta Googled that chant. TBH though pretty much all I really know about Millwall is violent fans and the fact that Eamon Dunphy played for them.
If Team Sky do turn out to be the ProTour’s Millwall, I can’t wait to see them in the sprint finishes, chopping the ankles off Cav and the others.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 5, 2010 9:05 PM EST up reply actions
To the tune of Rod Stewart's Sailing
Which perhaps spoils it all.
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Feb 6, 2010 12:33 PM EST up reply actions
Not sure transfers is the real issue here, I believe it is the salary
cycling teams have a very small salary compared to most sports. Now I’m not sure about the rules but there isn’t a salary cap right? What if one of these billionaire business men start a team(like a big gun buying a sports team for comparison) what is there to stop him from forking out far more money then other teams are capable of? Now I’m naive when it comes to salary limits in cycling, does anyone know anymore?
March 14, 2010: The great one returns!
Yes
Shockingly, given how poorly represented the riders are, they have not managed to enact a salary ceiling.
"The only pain I got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is." Edvald Boasson Hagen
by Chris Fontecchio on Feb 5, 2010 10:33 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Who is it is in charge of the riders’ union these days? Vasseur got the big elbow last year, didn’t he? Whoever it is, I’d love to see him shuffling into Fat Pat’s office in Aigle one day and demanding that the UCI immediately implement a ceiling on how much a rider can earn in a year, and poor Pat sweating buckets at the hole that’d kick in the UCI’s new revenue projections after their result in the DiLuca case.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 6, 2010 9:13 AM EST up reply actions
There’s no salary limits. But unlike football soccerball, in which you can pump your money into the team in the hope of buying silverware and then eventually selling the team on at an inflated price – eg Sunderland – where’s your return on investment in cycling? Cycling teams are ephemeral. They’re marketing vehicles, that’s all.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 5, 2010 9:00 PM EST up reply actions
That's why I said someone very very wealthy
who can afford to lose a bit on cycling, it’s still fairly cheap to start a cycling team compared to football.
March 14, 2010: The great one returns!
Well you have Vaughters, sinking his wine profits into the sport. And you have Columbia sucking the wealth out of Stapleton.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 6, 2010 5:56 AM EST up reply actions
And – of course – on an historic note there was always Bernard Tapie in the eighties, the man who broke the bank to bring LeMond to La Vie Claire with a million dollar deal for the American whinger. Salaries throughout the sport went up in consequence of that deal, but so too did prize money and the overall attractiveness of the sport to sponors. So whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, who knows.
Of course, were an egomanical millionaire to come along to cycling today and offer to sink his money into a team in return for the reflected glory, it’s not the effect on riders’ salaries that I’d be worrying about. It’s how much he’d be spending on medical personnel and pharmaceuticals.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 6, 2010 8:58 AM EST up reply actions
This whole situation with Wiggins and Team Sky makes me realize how much I'm going to be rooting against Team Sky/Wiggo
and rooting for Garmin this year.
"Let’s plunge ourselves into the roar of time, the whirl of accident; may pain and pleasure, success and failure, shift as they will- it’s only action that can make a man" Faust, Goethe
Don't like Garmin?
I wouldn’t say Garmin is my #1 team to root for, but I like most of the guys on there as they are hard working and get the job done. Also really like what JV has done to the team. Nothing better than to have Garmin stick it to Team Sky this year.
"Let’s plunge ourselves into the roar of time, the whirl of accident; may pain and pleasure, success and failure, shift as they will- it’s only action that can make a man" Faust, Goethe
KICK ASS
hehe, love the video from TDU.. new sky chant
Facebook link
Sorry can’t find the video on the team sky website..
Kick Ass
"the rest was over 30. And that doesn't mean old and useless, but experienced and with the stamina"
Jens! Voigt, Crit Intl Interview, 2009
“Show us your love muscle Russell” ?!?!? Now that’s a chant for a Saturday afternoon.
If they really wanted to show off Russell’s love muscle thought, they shoulda gone with white shorts …
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Look mate, over here, football is Gaelic football, so get with the programme already.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 6, 2010 6:04 AM EST up reply actions
I think it’s a Bill Hicks thing but I’m not sure.
Fact is, whatever I call it, someone’s gonna be upset. I call it soccer and some Brit’s gonna get upset cause they think they have the TM on football. I call it football then the American’s come in claiming that’s TM’ed by their version or one of my own countrymen will wade in calling me a West Brit for forgetting that football is TM’ed by the GAA. Atleast by calling it soccerball I’m guaranteed to offend the most people.
And it might also indicate that I’m not exactly taking the stories that followed with the utmost seriousness.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 6, 2010 9:20 AM EST up reply actions
it might also indicate that I’m not exactly taking the stories that followed with the utmost seriousness.
I think the inspired use of the Father Ted picture gave that game away. :)
For those that don’t recognise the picture – a video aid
This article from Cyclismag – imagining how the season may turn out for Sky – is nicely tongue in cheek and worth a google translate
Tevez
While I don’t like the way Manchester City have done business lately, I don’t think Tevez’s transfer can be compared to Wiggins’. Tevez wasn’t contracted to United and I believe had decided to leave the club before City offered him a ludicrous amount of money.
Lescott and Adebayor were far more unpleasant transfers.
That doesn’t excuse Sky though.
Mark
Ok, how about Ronaldo to Real Madrid then? Making Team Sky cycling’s galácticos, the Surreal Madrid of the pro peloton.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
by fmk on Feb 6, 2010 9:02 AM EST up reply actions
I don't think Bradley Wigan really appreciated how well Garmin supported him.
I watched the end of stage 17 last night and CVV was dropped from the group with Nibali, Armstrong and Wigan but still came back on that same climb to help Wigan over the top. I don’t think you will find very many team leaders who can focus that much on being a helper when their objectives are lost (well CVV did get 8th overall, the man’s a stud! and an awesome teammate/leader.).
Wigan, bah. Team (Rupert Murdoch) Sky, bah.
He who is, is. He who is not, seeks.
Father Ted reference
+1
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
The point where you know Brad is full of shit...
…is the Millar wanted desperately to be part of Sky line. Millar part owns Garmin. Please explain why the fuck he’d want to ride against the team he’s a partner in, and which was set up based on ethical principles that he’s defined himself around. That makes about as much sense as saying that Santa Claus likes to eat babies.
It’s the presumption that we’re all stupid that annoys me.
Moving up is moving up
Nolan Ryan owns two of the minor league teams of the Houston Astros. That didn’t stop him buying the Texas Rangers when the chance presented itself.
As for the principles, its not like he would be selling out is it? Sky is probably, along with Garmin, the most squeaky clean team in the peloton.
Moving from Garmin to Sky is hardly moving from AA to the Majors
And if Ryan owned part of the Astros, don’t you think that would make it hard for him to play for the Rangers?
Dem’s some tenuous analogies you got there.
not really
on both counts.
Whilst BW could be f. o. s., a really good case for why David Millar would deeply WANT to ride for Sky (acceptance back within the British Cycling fold more of a motivation than pounds or euros, thinks I) could be made.
As for Nolan Ryan . . . he’s not the owner, he’s the president of operations.
He has playing history with both organizations and his outside business arrangements can be delegated:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/baseball/rangers/stories/020708dnsporangerslede.967f3c8c.html
Yeah but the Ryan thing only compares if he's for one and owning the other...
…unless you wanna argue that owning just doesn’t really present a conflict since it’s not really that much about competitive success. I could see that, in a limited way.
The Sky / British Cycling thing, meh. In fact he has been rehabilitated to a considerable extent. He didn’t lobby for it, and I doubt very much that he’s lobbying for it with British Cycling. I’m sure he at some point told BW ‘sure I’d love to…’ in a kind of offhand way, but I heavily doubt it’s eating at him heart and soul. I think that’s much more likely BW projecting and reacting out of hurt to what DM said. BTW, DM did put his foot in it first. I don’t care how personally hurt he was by the whole thing, airing that in the press seems like a terrible idea.
That makes about as much sense as saying that Santa Claus likes to eat babies.
You mean he doesn’t?!? My parents lied to me!!! They just used that as excuse not give me any Xmas pressies!!!
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
I was thinking recently they are more Newcastle or maybe Sunderland in the past
They may not have an ownership crisis, but they are bound to score a bunch of points in the second tier and not get invited to the events that really count. They can talk about winning the Tour with Thomas or Wiggins or whoever in the next 5/10 years, but they might not even get invited this year and seem poised to be content to run a sprint train at less hotly contested events and make that their forte. Seems like any classics wins they get from Flecha or Boss Hog and the rest are nice bonuses but that they are content to bide their time for now. Certainly not the “Man U” approach to cycling.
Does that make Liverpool Quickstep for the cobbles/cup competitions similarities? Is Torres Boonen in that analogy and Gerrard Devo or the other way around? Mascherano=Chavanel? Arguably there are more soccer players of higher class/value on the big clubs than cyclists in a team, so the analogy may be limited in that respect.
Nah. City's a good analogy, actually.
Shed loads of money, may not get them where they want to go, would like people to like them, don’t go about it in a terribly clever way.
Shed loads of money
Tsk, tsk, tsk civetta, you ain’t listening to Dave. They’ve only got the sixth biggest willy budget in the playground.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Does that make Liverpool Quickstep for the cobbles/cup competitions similarities?
A lead out train worth folIowing there …I was thinking Saxo Bank must be the Arsenal of the pro peloton. Loadsa people like em and think they race with style, but when they come up against serious oppo they just crumble and fail :)
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
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