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Football as We Know It Is Dying

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Whilst "legacy" fans like ourselves hate it, the rest of the world don't. Neither do the majority of fans of the 6. They're all sitting pretty in a position now where there is no chance in hell they'll never not be able to compete. The likes of Spurs, Spurs for chists sakes, can cherry pick the best players for a cut price fee from the likes of us and Forest. United will no doubt take Branthwaite in the summer. Probably for a fraction of his value. The PL don't care, because if there's 6 competative teams, then that's more than most other big leagues. It's enough to keep the non-legacy fans happy. Which are the ones they care about. The rest are just cannon fodder. There will be no overhaul, there will be no bursting of the bubble. The rich 6 clubs will get richer and the likes of us will disappear into obscurity.
 
I'm sure I read years ago that part of this PSR thing was that clubs could only increase their wage bill by a certain percentage every year. If my memory serves correct, and I'm not just making that up, then that should have set alarm bells off.

That rule basically means that if the clubs with the highest wage bills keep increasing said wages by the allowed percentage, then no club will ever be able to match their wage bill, regardless of any success or revenue growth. Would be interested to know if Man City, for example, have increased their wages to the limit each season.

There is a potential way out of this though, and (no laughing at the back) it involves the independent regulator. As far as I'm concerned, I don't think this mooted regulator will do anything to upset the status quo. However, as a govt. body, they have to listen if enough people demand it. Left to their own devices, they'll introduce a few rules, that the fans generally have no say in. Much like it is now.

What could happen though, and I won't hold my breath, is that fan groups across the country, from clubs of all sizes, get together and draw up a 'fans charter' and put pressure on this regulator to implement it. If fans can't have a say on the rules and governance of football, then what's the point in an independent regulator? Things will just carry on the same as they are now; a panel of 'brass' making rules that fans. players, managers, pundits and coaches might not even agree with.
 
sbbefc said:
Whilst "legacy" fans like ourselves hate it, the rest of the world don't. Neither do the majority of fans of the 6. They're all sitting pretty in a position now where there is no chance in hell they'll never not be able to compete. The likes of Spurs, Spurs for chists sakes, can cherry pick the best players for a cut price fee from the likes of us and Forest. United will no doubt take Branthwaite in the summer. Probably for a fraction of his value. The PL don't care, because if there's 6 competative teams, then that's more than most other big leagues. It's enough to keep the non-legacy fans happy. Which are the ones they care about. The rest are just cannon fodder. There will be no overhaul, there will be no bursting of the bubble. The rich 6 clubs will get richer and the likes of us will disappear into obscurity.
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So true! Can't disagree with your analysis!
 
The game has been on its arse for a couple of decades now. The introduction of Sky and the Premier League meant that football in the purest form had disappeared.

The biggest thing now is the gap between the “big clubs” and everyone else is unattainable for anyone else to catch up.

It’s like getting 20 runners out to do a marathon, letting a few of them drive 10 miles as a head start before they start running, and making all the others walk to catch them up. The rest are just making up the numbers.

I fall out of love with it more and more by the week and I think once we’ve done a season in BK, I’ll get rid of my ST and start watching Bootle and Marine with my lad. Going to the odd Everton game as a one off.

Hats off to the fans that still go home and away, the club and league don’t deserve that type of commitment when the fans are the bottom of their list of priorities.
 
sbbefc said:
Whilst "legacy" fans like ourselves hate it, the rest of the world don't. Neither do the majority of fans of the 6. They're all sitting pretty in a position now where there is no chance in hell they'll never not be able to compete. The likes of Spurs, Spurs for chists sakes, can cherry pick the best players for a cut price fee from the likes of us and Forest. United will no doubt take Branthwaite in the summer. Probably for a fraction of his value. The PL don't care, because if there's 6 competative teams, then that's more than most other big leagues. It's enough to keep the non-legacy fans happy. Which are the ones they care about. The rest are just cannon fodder. There will be no overhaul, there will be no bursting of the bubble. The rich 6 clubs will get richer and the likes of us will disappear into obscurity.
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Some twitter account with 200,000 followers that writes something like penaldo or pessi and gets 20k likes means more to the PL than a bloke who's had a season ticket for 40 years. That's where the game is at.
 

Toffe3m4n said:
Seriously thinking about just packing English footy in and watching the Bundesliga instead.

Far more fairly & sustainably ran were the fans are king. My recent trip to the MEWA Arena (Mainz 05) opened my eyes to what proper 'modern' footy should feel like and I loved it.
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We did the tourist thing last year and took the boy to a Bayern match. Ok, it’s something akin to being a Norwegian and going to Anfield, but it was a good experience and my lad got the taste for it.
He wants us to go again and doesn’t mind where we go.
 
PrekisCrossBarlow! said:
This is the post of the year. Brilliant and absolutely spot on.

But I watch a lot of 80's football on YouTube and I will say that there are two ways in which the game has improved hugely.
1. The actual quality of the football (ignoring the play acting) is way higher than it used to be. Honestly, some of those 1980's matches, even the ones we remember as being high quality matches, the actual footy on show was awful compared to today. Partly because the pitches were so much worse then, and partly the mentality of the managers now and the influence of foreign coaches.
2. The stadiums in most divisions are full these days, whereas most stadiums were a bit desolate and empty for many matches back then. The big matches we remember most were fine, but the everyday league fixtures would be played out to echoing terraces.

Three things to bring the game back to us a bit:
1. Salary cap as mentioned above.
2. Safe standing for entire stands, which would bring the noise and energy back.j
3. Get rid of VAR and put our trust back in competent referees and assistants in order that we can actually celebrate goals again.
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We used to regularly dominate Europe before those foreign coaches came in and those muddy pitches were both a great leveller and brought variety onto the kind of football a squad had to be prepared to play. To me football was better in the 80s than watching the prancing show ponies of today.

Crowds were smaller then because of hooliganism. It was dangerous to go near a ground- not because the football was a poorer watch.
 
Like the current Government, it does feel like a bit of a smash and grab and to hell with the consequences type of situation just now, with the richest clubs/owners/consortiums trolley dashing their way through each season bagging as much as they can before they, inevitably, bugger off, leaving the club to pick up the pieces.

That bubble will burst before long. This thread is a prime example of that. Real fans are losing interest and the occasional fan will ditch it whenever their ‘team’ isn’t doing well.

It’s a money game though, and whilst there is life there is hope. Fans need to take more control and if they vote with their feet, the money men will come crawling back.

It will never die. It’s just [Poor language removed] at the minute.
 
sbbefc said:
Whilst "legacy" fans like ourselves hate it, the rest of the world don't. Neither do the majority of fans of the 6. They're all sitting pretty in a position now where there is no chance in hell they'll never not be able to compete. The likes of Spurs, Spurs for chists sakes, can cherry pick the best players for a cut price fee from the likes of us and Forest. United will no doubt take Branthwaite in the summer. Probably for a fraction of his value. The PL don't care, because if there's 6 competative teams, then that's more than most other big leagues. It's enough to keep the non-legacy fans happy. Which are the ones they care about. The rest are just cannon fodder. There will be no overhaul, there will be no bursting of the bubble. The rich 6 clubs will get richer and the likes of us will disappear into obscurity.
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Six “super” teams are a perfect number for your tv fixtures - if none play each other that particular weekend you can spread the games out nicely - friday night, sat lunchtime, teatime and possibility evening, sunday 2pm, 4pm and rounded off with monday night.

Statistically Every three weeks there’s a clash between said super teams. They don’t need anymore - just 14 dopes to pad out the stats against. Whose those dopes are it doesn’t matter - helpful if they’re the likes of us sunderland birmingham just so you’ve got some one sided derbies to hype but not essential.
 

chrismpw said:
We used to regularly dominate Europe before those foreign coaches came in and those muddy pitches were both a great leveller and brought variety onto the kind of football a squad had to be prepared to play. To me football was better in the 80s than watching the prancing show ponies of today.

Crowds were smaller then because of hooliganism. It was dangerous to go near a ground- not because the football was a poorer watch.
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Oh yep, I'm not drawing a link between the footie and the crowd sizes, but they are two things that are technically better nowadays.

But I agree, even through the quality was hit and miss, it was always utterly enthralling to watch and you never cared whether it was all silky stuff or not. The only thing that really mattered was winning. And the matchday experience was, overall, vastly more exciting and atmospheric, in a chaotic kind of way.
 
The PL is so much of a closed shop that it even pollutes the competitiveness of the Championship too. Look at the last decade of promoted teams – besides a handful of overachievers (Brighton, Bournemouth etc), it's the same set of parachute payment yo-yo clubs that end up running away with it. Their success was making the PL a global product, but like all capitalistic ventures, it's the little people at the bottom that suffer.

A salary and spending cap is essential, even if it means the quality of football eventually suffers. VAR needs abandoning immediately for universally agreed reasons. Ticket prices have to made affordable, especially for away fans and a German-style supporter ownership structure has to be brought in.

None of those things will happen of course, and we will all carry on supporting Everton until the sweet release of death.
 
Toffe3m4n said:
Seriously thinking about just packing English footy in and watching the Bundesliga instead.

Far more fairly & sustainably ran were the fans are king. My recent trip to the MEWA Arena (Mainz 05) opened my eyes to what proper 'modern' footy should feel like and I loved it.
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Bayern win it every year. Hardly fair.
 

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