I think the World Cup might be better without the superstars personally.Originally Posted by Letters
The players might try harder and raise their games.
I think the World Cup might be better without the superstars personally.
The players might try harder and raise their games.
And of course I see some type off salary cap situation. These players better look at what these NFL owners do when it comes to contracts and salary, and see what might be in store for them
Perez said it all last night and confirmed my fears with all of this.
'What is the world asking for? Singapore, China and so many other places. What gives money are the big games, and that game goes everywhere'
This idea that the fans in this country and the fans of the clubs in Europe can do something to stop this, I am afraid, is just wishful thinking.
why would they care about 150 million fans as we are now, when they can have access to 500 million + in China, or the sea of money in Dubai.
The football fans in the UK are small fry compared to the open world market
That's what NQ was getting at above. And he's right of course.
But the point of football - of sport in general - is aspiration. You want to see the minnow take on the giant and hope for a surprise.
You want to play the bigger games but you want to earn the right to do that. The European games when I first used to go to games were fun because they were rare.
You didn't qualify every year and suddenly you were playing Benfica. Got a hiding, but at least we'd got there, we'd earned the right to play them.
When the CL got expanded it suddenly created a top 4 which had access to a big pot of money which the rest didn't. So that immediately created a situation which meant a group of clubs were often there year on year with everyone else desperately trying to break in. Movement was possible, but you had to spend big and gamble (or not gamble if you're a billionaire who could buy your way in).
But this is another step - a group of clubs who are there permanently, no-one else need apply. Yeah, they're throwing a few crumbs by making a few places available for "the rest" but basically the "them and us" between that group of clubs and everyone else is permeant. And that means the excitement of playing a Barca or a Real is gone. You're going to play them next year anyway so it's not an "occasion".
How long is that going to be exciting and draw a crowd?
Yeah that's just a vanity project for the owner.Its been done already. Dial Square FC, they play in my local league in... Surrey
This would need to be fan owned.
You used to be everything to me
Now you're tired of fighting
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56812151
Oh fuck off!
Edit: Hadn't read past the headline when I posted the above
So they invited Arsenal?Perez said the move had been made because young people are "no longer interested in football" because of "a lot of poor quality games".
And Spurs?
Yes, this is definitely about quality...
well they're a club who are called by their nickname (whcih generally is a sign of affection) by fans who are supposed to hate them - i never ever use 'sp*rs' - for me it's always spuds
how many spuds fans call us 'gunners'?
i'm willing to bet it's absolutely zero
and yet many of our fans use their nickname - why?
because it's fewer syllables??
'tottnam' is only two syllables - not a big deal - 'spuds' is only one
so no excuse to use their nickname
I sympathise with everyone on here lamenting this move as some kind of final nail in the coffin (and hate it equally), but let's face it the football we knew died a long time ago.
The Super Leage = WWF...or as people have said a video game with real players. It's football as entertainment, not sport in the way that we understand it. And like WWF there will be plenty of people willing to watch it.
But look how we got here...
Our clubs owned by Oligarchs/sovereign states - to compete, others sell out to American investment funds or individual billionare sports franchise investors - the very people who have planned for this for years, and none of whom give a shit about the game; our traditions; sporting competition or any of the things that most fans care about.
The EPL - awash with TV money. Why - because the EPL is the most popular league in the world (ironically because of tradition; relative competetiveness; the way the English game is played and the self-fulfilling effect of the money pumped in...) - and watched by precisely the huge emerging markets that care little for the things that are precious to the avarage home grown fan.
Fifa/UEFA - de-valuing international club and national comps by bloating competitions with meaningless games that turn so many fans off ('Champions' League, anyone?); and making the big live events 50% corporate and staged with little or no thought for proper fans (Baku, anyone?) - all to line their own pockets and in thrall to big business.
Players - mostly chasing the money, with those with real affinity with Clubs either the exception or at the very junior end of the game. An industry in their own right. I'd be willing to bet that most would jump at the chance of playing in the Super League.
We fans are anachronisms. We are in large part on the 'wrong' side of a generational divide that sees younger potential fans living their lives through the lens of social media where everything becomes a story and the value of the concrete truth seems diminished. A generation for whom scripted 'reality' TV is a norm; who are used to 'instant' gratification and who are not turned off by the idea of buying 'success'. Future global football fans will know that what they are watching is entertainment rather than sport, but this entertainment is skillfully crafted.
The people driving this thing know all of this, and can see the future. They know also that we, the traditional fans are not needed, and this is why they now feel emboldened to show their contempt of us, having worked in more subtle, yet equally devastating ways for years.
Bad times...
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
There are a few things that make me uncomfortable in the reaction to this new super league.
The first is the fact the Government are trying to interfere, not just here but in Spain & France etc. As far as i can see, these private companies (which is what they are) have set up a new competition. There is nothing illegal in that and i don’t see how the Government can change it. In my mind it also sets a worrying precedent where if clubs want to do something but the premier league oppose it for whatever reason, they just go running to the government to change it.
While fully accepting cricket is nowhere near as popular as football but recently they have changed the county cricket structure to create a brand new “100” game with new teams rather then existing counties and effectively paid off the opposition. Now as a cricket fan, i dont like this new league i much prefer watching my county but i don’t remember the governemnt getting involved here at all. Probably because it was the league who wanted it rather then the clubs unlike in this situation. The overall theme is that money talks, fans dont and that still applies here.
The second thing is the way uefa & sky etc are banging on about greed. Yesterday Sky made Monday night football free to air so everyone could see Neville & Carragher accuse the clubs of being greedy and ignoring the fans. As soon as the game kicked off though, they stopped the free to air so that fans could pay to watch the game. Not exactly the best message there!
Uefa yesterday accused the clubs of ignoring the fans and being greedy yet this is the same UEFA that put the Europa League Final in Baku, a place where many fans have to fly via Dubai to get to a European game. Was thinking of the fans? Was it bollocks, it was greed but it was ok greed as it was UEFA. Let’s look at the EUROs, their plan (Covid aside) is to play them all over Europe which only adds to the costs for fans as instead of booking a trip to say France to watch all the games, they have to book several trips.
the thing is, the lower leagues are still like that - most of their games are 3pm on a saturday, they go to the matches and talk about it in the pub afterwards - it's only 'big' clubs like ours that have a mix of those fans plus the armchair ones and tourists - i don't mind the latter as long as they know their place but it's meant the clubs now feel they can cut off the 'legacy' fans i i've heard they're now calling them...
maybe this will actually help the grass roots if soem 'legacy fans' switch to Enfield or whoever else
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
