There is a very good reason why Manchester United are in the United States this weekend, writes Tom Hopkinson in the Sunday People.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Emirates Marketing Project and Tottenham, too.
They are global brands representing another global brand and the figures being *generated will be mind-boggling.
These trips don’t always sit well with managers and, over the years, no one has bemoaned them more *frequently than Arsene Wenger. The fact his players were being dragged halfway around the world just to appease the commercial department has long been a source of irritation, with the Frenchman convinced they would have been far better served *hiding away on an Austrian Alp and focusing on the real business ahead.
He still holds that opinion, but, as with the rest of us, there is only so much tinkling into the wind he is willing to do. No doubt the arrival of Mesut Ozil last summer and Alexis Sanchez this time out will have offset some of his frustrations as well.
United boss Louis van Gaal picked up Wenger’s baton last week despite being only a few days into his new job. Things will change next summer, he promised, although I will wager that in 12 months’ time his players will again find themselves a long way from home.
Spend some time with the Premier League’s leading clubs on these trips and it is easy to see why they embark upon them.
The furore Chelsea have caused in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong in recent years has been a sight to behold, while in 2009 I saw South African football fans going *vuvuzela crazy as their sides took on Emirates Marketing Project.
This summer, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has opted for a pre-season of short-hop trips to Europe and it will be interesting to see if they start the campaign any fresher than their globetrotting rivals.
Next summer, however, the Blues will be back in Asia and, whatever King Louis might say, United will most likely be with them.
The point is that, for the top flight’s biggest clubs, these trips are a *necessary evil, promoting themselves and the league.
But what I cannot get my head around is what on earth West Ham and *Saudi Sportswashing Machine are doing in New Zealand.
Sure, they are part of the *promotional bandwagon, as foreign broadcasters clamour to fill Premier League coffers with astronomical sums. But wouldn’t West Ham, in *particular, have been far better served staying closer to home, marching around East London and Essex ahead of next season when they have the Olympic Stadium to fill?
They could have been selling *themselves to a new generation of fans.
Instead, they played Stevenage and Ipswich away before setting off on a 23,500-mile round-trip to the North Island for games against Australian A-League sides Wellington Phoenix and Sydney, and will stop off in Germany for three games on their way home.
No doubt defender Winston Reid has *enjoyed the chance to grab a few extra days in his homeland, but the whole exercise seems a waste of time and energy from a purely footballing point of view. Not that boss Sam Allardyce seemed to mind. In fact he was delighted his players’ *horizons were being broadened at their *official greeting party.
“Our welcome was fantastic,” he purred. “It’s a tradition for New *Zealand and we’ve all seen the Haka before, but we’d not seen the whole thing and had it explained to us as it was.”
Which is all well and good, but will his star men be better prepared for the hackers they will meet at one or two of the game’s outposts this season?
We can only hope Andy Carroll wasn’t showing off his Maori war dance shapes to Kevin Nolan when he suffered his *latest ankle injury.
The Hammers’ *season-ticket *hot**line will hardly have been ringing off the hook after the 2-1 defeat by Wellington in Auckland on Wednesday.
And it won’t look great from a *marketing point of view when *images of a half-empty Olympic Stadium are being broadcast all over the world in 18 months’ time.
Of the 20 Premier League clubs, only three have played friendlies in this country over the last couple of days, with new boys Burnley away at Accrington Stanley and Hull at Barnsley yesterday.
On Friday, Southampton ventured the 30-odd miles along the south coast to take on Bournemouth – and will have got as much out of it as West Ham and Saudi Sportswashing Machine, without the jetlag.
So leave the travelling to the big four or five, lads, because they are the ones who are really selling the Premier League in foreign lands anyway.
And content yourselves with the knowledge that you will be richer for it in every way