OK, so the mid-year transfer window is over for another year. I couldn’t help but show my disappointment that Harry was not able to add a strong, consistent goal scorer to the team despite the £40mm of the ‘Queen’s finest’ at his mercy. Instead, he makes us believe that it was a close call for a Blackpool midfielder, who would have just simply added to a long list of existing midfielders. Why couldn’t we just have signed Torres and be done with it. Champions League and Premiership title sewn up in the first season!

Anyway, now that I have that off my chest, I suppose the real point to this blog is the hypocrisy that surrounds us all, whether we are sports fans, business people, or simply opinionated members of the public.

For the last three years, “banker bashing” has become synonymous with the collapse of the global economy (if it hasn’t already done so, the term might even make it into the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary). We all know that the credit crisis / sub-prime catastrophe was largely a result of huge risk taking by bankers who were not fully knowledgeable of the products that they were actually selling. As long as their activities produced a healthy profit, everything was ok – no questions asked. The ultimate bubble that was created and eventually burst, destroyed not only a couple of long-established and previously successful banks, and now has a number of European countries teetering on the brink of bankruptcy as well.

Despite the extent of the financial turmoil that spread around the world, it still remains the case that the global economy is heavily reliant on the financial services sector and this means banks around the world need to continue to attract talented bankers. As a leading global financial centre, the UK needs the City of London and its financial services institutions, not only to provide jobs; offer credit to new business start-ups or first time home buyers; but also to supply a regular and considerable income (through taxation) to the Government.

It’s an interesting irony that in four weeks a handful of football clubs can spend over £200mm on 9 players and fans will continue to flock to their respective clubs to support them. Yet three years on from the start of the financial crisis, there is still significant animosity towards almost anybody who chooses a demanding career in the investment banking world.

Irony or hypocrisy? Why don’t you decide…

"banker bashing", Financial Services, Football