Quote Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn View Post
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I totally get what you're saying and I think its the slow and steady divergence of supporters and followers. Where a supporter is more emotionally and financially attached to the club than a follower who adopts a more passive interest. My grandad was a supporter of Arsenal FC, my dad a follower and then myself a follower. Sure I attend games when the rare opportunity arises but I'm not thick and thin. I follow with a keen interest and keep tabs on every match, I also watch some games on telly.
Football used to be exclusively support based but as soon as we formed the leagues this started to change and will forever continue to change. It was about the time that followers started to outnumber supporters that I think the clubs realised they could hike ticket prices without ill effect. Who knows what will happens once they push all the supporters out.... can they get by on just the follower money? As long as the EPL is one of the #1 brands in football I think they probably can.

But it might also be a case of perspective. You've been a fan for ages and can compare the past to the present that gives you this perspective. When you were a kid did you ever hear the same sort of rant yourself from teh oldies? Did they have a similar perspective too? It's also worth bearing in mind that there will be a slew of new Arsenal fans in present and future that will accept this (overpriced, spoilt players) as the norm and find something different to complain about in the future. I'm not sure what my point is though..... did I have one?