Manchester United won the League. So What?
Money is making football predictable (Steve Woods)
It was not as though it was not going to be one of the big four
clubs (Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea FC and Arsenal) that was destined to win the league. It was not as though the procession of the big four
clubs winning the league was going to end this year. It was not as though a club with money was not going to win the league, again.
The big get bigger and richer. And the rest just make up the numbers and slowly slide down the competitiveness table. And the media and and the FA Premier League twitter on about how wonderful and competitive the league is.
Based on attendance figures for this season, up until this current weekend, a little over nine million (9,020,673) fans attended the homes games of the teams outside of the big four
, compared with around four million (4,045,760) who have attended the home games of the big big four
. It is quite obvious that the majority of directly involved fans do not support the large teams. What does this prove? Probably nothing. But the column inches filled about the big four
by the media do not represent this ratio.
Sports teams, and football clubs in particular, are not typical businesses and the normal practise of the survival of the fittest does not necessarily apply (from a business perspective – on the pitch it is a different matter). They have long term, emotionally attached customers. They operate in rigidly controlled and mandated competitive structures (the leagues) which do not appear in any other business format. It follows then that football, and other sporting codes, need a different set of business rules. Those may include some kind of cap on different parts of the business, including salary, actual transfer spend, etc.
I wonder how the English fan feels about the state of English football. Proud that the FA Premier League is, arguably, the best football league in the world. Happy that he is able to watch some of the best players in the world on a regular basis. Angry because young English players are being pushed out of the top division. Exploited because he is funding the worldwide growth of the brand. Frustrated because the culture of football that made English football famous is slowly being eroded. Sad because the smaller clubs are slowly being pushed aside, and eventually out of existence. Frightened because they will only have four clubs to support in the future.
With all that emotion, who would want to be a English football fan? Or even a surrogate fan in another country.
What is YOUR take on all of this. Add a comment.
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Hmmm, not sure what that first comment is about.
Your post sums up what a lot of people in the UK feel. I am a Liverpool fan and have been for many years. Was I pleased that our club got a massive cash injection when we were bought, no I wasn’t! I seem to be in the minority though, most fans just want to compete.
I remember a time when most Everton and Liverpool players were from (shock, horror!) Liverpool! Nowadays most of the players and the fans are from outside the region, or even the country (especially in the case of Man Utd).
I wish Chelsea had never been bought by Abramovic and I wish we could go back 20 years, back to the days when football was football, not simply a business.
The game has got a lot dirtier over the years too, just look at Joey Barton, he’s just a thug! Football could learn a lot from Rugby. There was a time when he would have been banned from football, but evidently nowadays the business is more important than credibility.
There should certainly be a salary cap, although that would have to be brought in throughout Europe, or the players would just jump ship. It is never going to happen though, and we will be left looking back at the highlight reel thinking “football is not what it used to be”.
I think that the first comment comes from some marketing guy in India spamming every Manchester United group, blog or forum in existence. Seems to be a legitimate competition though so I left it.
I am never one to wish to go back in time. Bit I would like changes made to the current environment.
Every generation has thugs like Joey Barton. Some of us remember Don Revie’s Leeds side of the 1970’s. Not pretty at all.
A biggest issue for me is how young breakthrough players are recruited by the big clubs. If things were on a more even keel money-wise, then West Ham could boast a team consisting of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Glen Johnson, Jermaine Defoe, etc. Half the England team there, and all, with the exception of Carrick, East London boys. And the next crop have arrived, and no doubt the big clubs will come sniffing soon. It means that the less monied clubs will never get traction and never be able to mount a serious challenge on the top 4.
The Premier League was the death of football as we know it and it is getting staler by the year. I am a Manchester United fan but I wish we could go back to the days of terracing and less money orientated.
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