According to the National Center for Financial Education in Colorado, USA, 70% of people who win the local lottery – lose all their money within a few years. Increase the quality of life in the short term – even if it hurts in the long term.
To use this parable, 15 years have passed since the last time Betar Jerusalem won the lottery. So) to a luxury club, which not only wins in the local arena, but is also able to take Israeli football one step further in Europe.
But as in the case of 70% of Colorado winners, this is not what happened: Gaydamak’s Betar chose the easy, immediate way, out of the owner’s political aspiration – and in the end, when it was sold to the next owner, only ruins remained, nothing approaching the club Capable of lasting years.
On the occasion of the acquisition of 50% of the team by Hamed bin Khalifa, who at least according to rumors has financial abilities similar to Gaydamak’s in the hallucinatory summer of 2005, this is a good opportunity to learn from the past: what mistakes did Gaydamak make and fall, Shaban Khalifa – and his partner, Moshe Hogg – will have to do something different this time, in order for Betar to last.
What will the youth do?
This is perceived as a cliché, but even clichés sometimes hit the mark. Learning from another team, which is sure to serve as a model for the new Betar, Maccabi Tel Aviv – along with the investment in the adult team, which should not be underestimated – managed to build a system that starts from the bottom. A / Bat Yam), she managed to reach the ideal situation: this is where, when she landed on Maccabi the blow of the financial “fair play”, she knew how to prepare and responded with an even better team than money could buy.
Many attribute the success of the Betar youth team – which won the championship in Gaydamak’s time, and then in doubles at a young age – to Gaydamak, but the truth is that the work on that youth department was done years earlier. Sasson Shem Tov and the Levy brothers at the club. There was born the generation of Betar players, who will hold the club later in the difficult years (including in the first half of the “Chechen season”, which every Betar fan will remember well).
There is a very big temptation to invest in the adult group, certainly when it is in a not-so-simple professional crisis, but alongside the reinforcement (which needs to be done sparingly and in order to balance the group) the top tier, celebrates and suites should strengthen the younger ages. And they even have a chance: the new era of the club, and the horizon opened to players of different religions, can also use the infrastructure in the east of the city – and perhaps grow some talent, which at best will help fill the staff, and at best generate future Betar income.
Money is a perishable product
One of the grievous evils of the Gaydamak Betar, and perhaps one of the reasons for the big miss, is the insane outpouring of money invested in vain. The financial play is a blessing. It will require Betar to invest a little in the short term in the player roster, so that Betar can earn more in the long term.
And as has been said before, the greatness of the son of a suit and celebrant will be to understand – that they do not understand. The secret of every system leader’s charm comes from the ability to delegate authority and appoint good people by your side to help you. Not to necessarily see them as an enemy in battle for media attention or audience sympathy, but to see them as partners who will allow the system – and thus yourself – to go further. Betar Jerusalem, more than anything, needs good managers – both in the administrative field and in the professional field – who can prevent managerial farces like they did in Gaydamak’s day. Fares that cost money.
One example is remembered most of all – and that is the decision to extend the contract of coach Yitzhak Shom. In the summer of 2008, after the double, Garlic received a huge three-year contract – a contract he deserved, in light of his accomplishments. But then, came the defeat in Krakow – and immediately after that, he decided to fire, first the entire management (in one night) and then also the coach – while paying him his entire contract, down to the last shekel. So much so that at some point when Betar’s financial capabilities dwindled (for all sorts of reasons) – he was returned to the lines, only due to the fact that Betar paid him too high sums. If Betar wants life for a long time, it must not happen to her.
The end of personality worship
I was there, at Teddy Stadium. Autumn 2008. Home game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, in what was supposed to be another predatory season. In the center of the field stood the owner, Arkady Gaydamak, waving for long minutes to the crowd. I was in it too. I also applauded. This image, for all its magic, is all that the new Betar needs to oppose.
The signs about Celebrating and Ben Suit are encouraging – they sound, at least according to the media interviews, as someone who understands their role in the show. As someone who has no foreign aspirations, but only to take a fancy club – and make it even more fancy (out of interests that always exist, This is still being done for the benefit of the cause).
Because in the end, a celebrant and a suit boy come to rebuild a club – not to invent it. Betar Jerusalem has a long history, also of successes (among others), which the two should respect. Not out of “consideration for character” (the same damn code name for racism that was recently invented); but out of an understanding that in order for Betar to succeed, and realize all What it is supposed to promote for them personally as well, they are committed to proportions.
The story is not about them. It’s not about the city where they play, it’s about the huge crowd that fills the stands (and one day it will come back), it’s about a big club that has been desperate for years to take the next step. Not just for local success, which can reach a certain (and not even large) amount of money, but for new and unfamiliar districts. In this way, Betar, and through it the two gentlemen who lead it, will be able to succeed.
Do not run for mayor of Jerusalem
That’s a shame. really. Why?